Hi all. Ben here again with another thrilling installment of Mongoliosity. Nearly a week has passed since my last update. No, I have not forgotten Mongoliosity; far from it. Rather, I have been so flambazzlin' busy that I haven't been afforded one opportunity since then to sit down and write another post. "Why," you ask? Meetings. Truckloads of them. Giant, steaming piles of meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting. In all of my years as a participating member of human society, the cumulative number of meetings I attended prior to Mongolia pales in comparison to the number of meetings I've attended since arriving here. We have met with EVERYBODY in town who has even the slightest relevance to the mining sector: World Bank, UNDP, Open Society Forum, Responsible Mining Initiative, Ivanhoe, LLX, MONAME...the list goes on. I feel as though I have been buried under a landslide of important information. And I love it, don't get me wrong! It just leaves me with very little time for blogging. Or anything else at all.
Fortunately, however, the meetings do stop for the weekends. (The work doesn't, though, as I'll describe in my next post). Saturday morning, Sarah, Burt, Mark and I hopped aboard the #7 bus and took it out past Zaisan to the penitentiary. This sounds morbid, yes, but the penitentiary is simply the final destination on the bus' southern route; we hiked around it and were soon up in hills. Words can scarcely describe the beauty of an otherwise unremarkable pastoral scene after having spent three weeks mired in the smog and dirt that coat UB. The air was so clean, we wished we could somehow capture some and save it for a particularly hazy day in the city. Further up the northern slope was generously vegetated with fir and birch trees, a variety of wild grasses, and a thick moss that carpeted a number of large rock slides. The area was also dotted with a variety of wildflowers, animal skulls, and, further down in the valley, styrofoam. Lots of styrofoam. Bizarre. While we rested atop a craggy ridge, the rain began to pour unexpectedly. Since I have no real rain gear to speak of, I used my umbrella to shield myself. Mark and Sarah mocked me, but Burt affirmed my choice--and all the more emphatically when everyone else discovered that they were soaked and I was not. As we returned through the valley, we passed by the Bogd Khan Ger Camp Resort, which was fully equipped with ritzy gers, statuary depicting fierce Mongolian warriors and their faithful beasts of burden, and a real-life two-humped Bactrian camel. Which I took lots of pictures of. Because it was freakin' cool. Also on the way back to the dorms, we stopped by a park at the base of the Zaisan hill, which featured an impressive 40 foot buddha with an exterior gilded in gold leaf. (Or so we think). Incongruously, at the north end of the buddha park, a couple of Mongolian ladies ran a stand selling American Hot Dogs coated in thicks layers of breading, french fry chunks, and grease. I passed on my chance to eat one, incidentally. Additional incongruity: east of the buddha park was a monument featuring a Soviet-era tank, and further that direction, a massive driving range.
Upon arriving back home, I made two glorious discoveries: (1) Laura and Kylie had returned and would be here for a week (!!), and (2) WE HAVE HOT WATER! Reveling in this second discovery, I took my first hot shower in over three weeks Saturday afternoon. Heavenly.
A last note: a new TAF summer associate showed up on Wednesday. Thank goodness, she's a West Coaster. She is cool and has been very gracious in entertaining us this past week--regardless of whether she's being subjected Thursday trivia at Dave's Place (fun) or Friday's round of the board game Settlers (mind-numbingly painful, dragged on hours longer than it should've).
I have run out of time for this post, so my recounting of yesterday's parliamentary election will have to wait until later. No worries--the experience deserves a post dedicated solely to itself. I'll get on that as soon as I can.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Quick post!
Hey all, it's been a while since my last post so I felt like I needed to get something new up. However, I don't have much time, as it is the end of a workday and I'm at the TAF office. Thus, I'll be brief. The weather here has been fairly insane over the past few days. Actually, the weather itself hasn't been the problem--the problem has been the lamentably poor capacity of the infrastructure in UB to withstand even a relatively minor change in weather. By all of this, of course, I mean that 1) it has been raining continuously for 3-4 days, 2) there is no adequate drainage in UB, and thus, 3) most streets have transformed into lakes filled with stagnant mud and sewage! Woo! Saturday the lakes were relatively small (back then they could still be classified as "puddles" and "pools"); by Sunday much of the city had flooded. Foolishly, I attempted to venture out into the madness Sunday--and was duly rebuked. I spent hours wandering around the city, turned away from one locked door after another (first the internet cafe was closed, then the coffee shop all the way across downtown was closed, then...), until I finally made my way to Baga Toiruu to discover that, mercifully, the German bakery remained open. I took refuge there from the madness for several hours, sipping coffee, studying a corporate finance textbook (WOO), and futilely wringing and re-wringing the endless rainwater from my socks. Frightful.
Since then the weather has calmed and the lakes receded somewhat. However, I feel sure that we haven't heard the last from the rain.
In other news, the past two days have been an endless blur of meetings, each one bleeding into the others. I have learned so much that my brain is bursting at the seams, but I think I had a breakthrough moment in my third meeting of the day today: my research topic is finally coming into focus. In a nutshell, there is a proposal in parliament (which is out of session at the moment in anticipation of the national elections on June 29) to take majority state ownership of mining deposits that are determined to be of "strategic importance." The definition of strategic deposits is somewhat hazy, but hazy or not, this has direct implications for a potentially world-class mining site called Oyu Tolgoi (OT) in Omnogobi aimag in southern Mongolia. Ivanhoe, a Canadian mining company that has spent the past 4-5 years exploring and developing the site, has yet to receive an official mining license for OT. The license is contigent upon parliamentary approval of an investment agreement that was drafted in early 2007 but has since stalled. The key question for Ivanhoe (and its investment partner, Rio Tinto) is whether proposed amendments to the Mining Law regarding state ownership will be passed--and what that will mean for Ivanhoe's stake in the OT project. The debate that unfolds over Mining Law amendments will be directly reflected in the fate of the OT project--which makes it a perfect case study for exploring the issue of state ownership of natural resources. Looks like I've got a plan.
The last bit of news is that I went to a dinner party on Saturday. Shelagh's husband barbecued roughly 100 pounds of meat, which (most of us) tore into voraciously. I myself enjoyed the better part of a whole chicken, plus about 40 oz. of beef. It was hearty--and lots of fun. Also that night I got the opportunity to play around with an iPhone, and noted that it gets excellent reception in UB. Apple is taking over the world.
The end!
Since then the weather has calmed and the lakes receded somewhat. However, I feel sure that we haven't heard the last from the rain.
In other news, the past two days have been an endless blur of meetings, each one bleeding into the others. I have learned so much that my brain is bursting at the seams, but I think I had a breakthrough moment in my third meeting of the day today: my research topic is finally coming into focus. In a nutshell, there is a proposal in parliament (which is out of session at the moment in anticipation of the national elections on June 29) to take majority state ownership of mining deposits that are determined to be of "strategic importance." The definition of strategic deposits is somewhat hazy, but hazy or not, this has direct implications for a potentially world-class mining site called Oyu Tolgoi (OT) in Omnogobi aimag in southern Mongolia. Ivanhoe, a Canadian mining company that has spent the past 4-5 years exploring and developing the site, has yet to receive an official mining license for OT. The license is contigent upon parliamentary approval of an investment agreement that was drafted in early 2007 but has since stalled. The key question for Ivanhoe (and its investment partner, Rio Tinto) is whether proposed amendments to the Mining Law regarding state ownership will be passed--and what that will mean for Ivanhoe's stake in the OT project. The debate that unfolds over Mining Law amendments will be directly reflected in the fate of the OT project--which makes it a perfect case study for exploring the issue of state ownership of natural resources. Looks like I've got a plan.
The last bit of news is that I went to a dinner party on Saturday. Shelagh's husband barbecued roughly 100 pounds of meat, which (most of us) tore into voraciously. I myself enjoyed the better part of a whole chicken, plus about 40 oz. of beef. It was hearty--and lots of fun. Also that night I got the opportunity to play around with an iPhone, and noted that it gets excellent reception in UB. Apple is taking over the world.
The end!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Sad news
About an hour ago, I arrived at work and checked my email. In my inbox I discovered a message from Jeff Patterson, our Assistant Dean for Operations at LBJ, passing on the news that one of our fellow masters students, Jordan Nadler, had died of a seizure. I am shocked and saddened at the news of her passing; yet I can't begin to imagine the sense of loss that those truly close to her must feel. My condolences and sympathy go out to her friends, her boyfriend, and her family. From the admittedly brief amount of time I spent getting to know her, I was struck by her passion and her spirit. As my roommate, Ryan, puts it, "She knew what she believed, would debate it with you, but always in a fun but spirited manner." She was an incredible athlete, a dedicated student, and above all a committed servant to society. This summer she had taken a position with Teach for America in San Francisco--the organization was blessed to have her.
Since her passing was so abrupt, some of those who were close to her may regret that they were never afforded a chance to tell her how much they cared for before she left. I would urge them to take some solace in the fact that there was no way of knowing that this would come, and that I am sure that her faith in your love was implicit, whether you had told her yesterday or a year ago. That being said, this tragic loss should remind us all of how important it is share and reaffirm our love with others. So to all of my friends reading this blog: I care for you all deeply and am grateful for your continued support and friendship. Thank you for enriching my life in all the myriad ways that you do. And to my family: I love you all. Thank you for raising me to appreciate the importance of maintaining meaningful relationships from which to draw strength, compassion, and conviction.
My heart goes out to all those who have ever known and cared for Jordan.
Since her passing was so abrupt, some of those who were close to her may regret that they were never afforded a chance to tell her how much they cared for before she left. I would urge them to take some solace in the fact that there was no way of knowing that this would come, and that I am sure that her faith in your love was implicit, whether you had told her yesterday or a year ago. That being said, this tragic loss should remind us all of how important it is share and reaffirm our love with others. So to all of my friends reading this blog: I care for you all deeply and am grateful for your continued support and friendship. Thank you for enriching my life in all the myriad ways that you do. And to my family: I love you all. Thank you for raising me to appreciate the importance of maintaining meaningful relationships from which to draw strength, compassion, and conviction.
My heart goes out to all those who have ever known and cared for Jordan.
Break dance
Hey y'all. I last wrote on Sunday, and since then not much excitement has occurred worth writing about. Except for one really fantastic thing. Which I will get to momentarily.
Sunday, Mark and I discovered the utility and practicality of the common room kitchen, whipping up some pasta with red and green peppers, cheese, and herbs de provence. It was fairly magnifico. Inspired, I rushed out to the Sky Department Store on Monday afternoon post-work to buy more supplies and since have maintained a steady dinnertime diet of Korean noodles with peppers and mushrooms. This evening, to spice it up further, I ate a few pieces of nori and a slice of cheese. Outrageous, I know. Also, I finished the last of my Stella Artois, which was starting to get a little skunky at six months beyond its expiration date (yeah--they don't seem to care about expiration dates here so much). In other quotidian domestic news, I hauled my first load of laundry over to the local Metro Express, across from the Chinggis Hotel. In the future, if anyone ever contends that Mongolia is a third world country, remind them that UB just barely passes for "Mongolia"; the charge for two loads of laundry was 12,500 tugrugs, or almost 12 bucks USD. Call me crazy, but that's not really so cheap.
As for work, things have started to get fairly interesting. I am going ahead with the topic that I had mentioned on Sunday, although I think my research will probably incorporate some other related issues as well. On Monday I felt like I had just been thrown into the topic with no real bearings or leads. But since then I've managed to find a number of resources, which have developed the socio-politico-economic context for mining in Mongolia and address fiscal and ownership policy and regulation in the industry. Additionally, I've come across the names of a few people who may turn out to be valuable contacts. So in three days I've gone from being hopelessly under-informed to being buried under a landslide of information. Help(?)
Yesterday another summer associate, Emily, and I shared an interesting observation over lunch (at this amazing Chinese restaurant--seriously, I'll get you the name and address in case you're ever in UB--they even had hot running water in the sink; first time I'd felt hot running water in 12 days!--fantastic). The observation was this: thanks to the nature of our jobs, which involve spending long hours in an office conducting research, and the advent of broadband technology, our experience, for long stretches of time throughout the day...doesn't really differ all that much from daily life back in the United States. We paused upon reaching this realization. Don't most Americans envision Mongolia as lying at the farthest, remotest end of the earth? Doesn't the country comprise, for the most part, a vast, open wilderness where one can travel for days at a time without seeing another human being? Well, yes, actually--that description is right on target, for much of the country. But UB, in many respects, is a modern, thriving city, well-connected to the outside world. And, honestly, conducting research over the internet in an office in Ulaanbaatar feels pretty much the same as conducting research on the second floor of Foley Library or in the LBJ computer lab. On the few other international trips I've ever made--all of which have been to more economically developed countries than Mongolia--I've always felt more disconnected from home, further away, than I do now. And yet I've never been further, in a physical or cultural sense! It's powerful to realize that for many of us, the internet has become so much a routine part of our environment that despite its virtual nature it is imbued with the same degree of familiarity as our living room might be. Further, it's almost baffling to think that over the course of the last week, I've held conversations (via G-chat) with friends in family in such disparate places as Washington State; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; Austin; Nairobi; New Dehli; and northern Thailand. Halfway across the globe in far-off, foreign land, and yet I am able to spend my lunch break hearing about the latest preparations for my sister's wedding from my mom, or how a friend was just in a car accident but, thank goodness, is just fine. It's almost...too easy. Not that I'm complaining! But I can only imagine that life for expats here must have been very different not more than five to ten years ago.
One last note before signing out: Mark and I stopped in Sukhbaatar Square today where a crowd was gathering to watch none other than...Mongolian breakdancers. No shit. And they were GOOD. It was spectacular to watch. Then afterward, just for fun, Mark and I went up to talk to them. The leader of the crew spoke pretty decent English, so Mark asked him if he knew any capuera. He said he did, so he and Mark performed their own little impromptu capuera session, which drew another crowd. It was pretty cool; all I had to do was stand there and I just looked cool by association.
That's all for tonight; most of you on the west coast are probably just getting up, but it is time for me to hit the hay! See you again in a few days.
Sunday, Mark and I discovered the utility and practicality of the common room kitchen, whipping up some pasta with red and green peppers, cheese, and herbs de provence. It was fairly magnifico. Inspired, I rushed out to the Sky Department Store on Monday afternoon post-work to buy more supplies and since have maintained a steady dinnertime diet of Korean noodles with peppers and mushrooms. This evening, to spice it up further, I ate a few pieces of nori and a slice of cheese. Outrageous, I know. Also, I finished the last of my Stella Artois, which was starting to get a little skunky at six months beyond its expiration date (yeah--they don't seem to care about expiration dates here so much). In other quotidian domestic news, I hauled my first load of laundry over to the local Metro Express, across from the Chinggis Hotel. In the future, if anyone ever contends that Mongolia is a third world country, remind them that UB just barely passes for "Mongolia"; the charge for two loads of laundry was 12,500 tugrugs, or almost 12 bucks USD. Call me crazy, but that's not really so cheap.
As for work, things have started to get fairly interesting. I am going ahead with the topic that I had mentioned on Sunday, although I think my research will probably incorporate some other related issues as well. On Monday I felt like I had just been thrown into the topic with no real bearings or leads. But since then I've managed to find a number of resources, which have developed the socio-politico-economic context for mining in Mongolia and address fiscal and ownership policy and regulation in the industry. Additionally, I've come across the names of a few people who may turn out to be valuable contacts. So in three days I've gone from being hopelessly under-informed to being buried under a landslide of information. Help(?)
Yesterday another summer associate, Emily, and I shared an interesting observation over lunch (at this amazing Chinese restaurant--seriously, I'll get you the name and address in case you're ever in UB--they even had hot running water in the sink; first time I'd felt hot running water in 12 days!--fantastic). The observation was this: thanks to the nature of our jobs, which involve spending long hours in an office conducting research, and the advent of broadband technology, our experience, for long stretches of time throughout the day...doesn't really differ all that much from daily life back in the United States. We paused upon reaching this realization. Don't most Americans envision Mongolia as lying at the farthest, remotest end of the earth? Doesn't the country comprise, for the most part, a vast, open wilderness where one can travel for days at a time without seeing another human being? Well, yes, actually--that description is right on target, for much of the country. But UB, in many respects, is a modern, thriving city, well-connected to the outside world. And, honestly, conducting research over the internet in an office in Ulaanbaatar feels pretty much the same as conducting research on the second floor of Foley Library or in the LBJ computer lab. On the few other international trips I've ever made--all of which have been to more economically developed countries than Mongolia--I've always felt more disconnected from home, further away, than I do now. And yet I've never been further, in a physical or cultural sense! It's powerful to realize that for many of us, the internet has become so much a routine part of our environment that despite its virtual nature it is imbued with the same degree of familiarity as our living room might be. Further, it's almost baffling to think that over the course of the last week, I've held conversations (via G-chat) with friends in family in such disparate places as Washington State; Washington, DC; Los Angeles; Austin; Nairobi; New Dehli; and northern Thailand. Halfway across the globe in far-off, foreign land, and yet I am able to spend my lunch break hearing about the latest preparations for my sister's wedding from my mom, or how a friend was just in a car accident but, thank goodness, is just fine. It's almost...too easy. Not that I'm complaining! But I can only imagine that life for expats here must have been very different not more than five to ten years ago.
One last note before signing out: Mark and I stopped in Sukhbaatar Square today where a crowd was gathering to watch none other than...Mongolian breakdancers. No shit. And they were GOOD. It was spectacular to watch. Then afterward, just for fun, Mark and I went up to talk to them. The leader of the crew spoke pretty decent English, so Mark asked him if he knew any capuera. He said he did, so he and Mark performed their own little impromptu capuera session, which drew another crowd. It was pretty cool; all I had to do was stand there and I just looked cool by association.
That's all for tonight; most of you on the west coast are probably just getting up, but it is time for me to hit the hay! See you again in a few days.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Basketball
One other thing I thought to mention: they love basketball here. It's kind of crazy. There is a basketball court outside my dorm room and they play from like 9 am to midnight, constantly. And the kids out there are really good--they would school me if I tried to play with them. Crap. Also, there's random graffiti all over town of NBA stars' names. For example, on the way up the stairs to the TAF apartment LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Tracy McGrady are immortalized. And at NUM there was a GIGANTIC poster of Allen Iverson hanging in what appeared to be an administrative office. Wha?
Lazy Sunday afternoon
Hello again from Ulaanbaatar! It's Sunday afternoon here (making it around 10 PM Saturday on the West coast) and I have Mark's computer for the next few hours so it's time for another installment of Mongoliosity. I am pleased to announce that on Thursday afternoon our science-and-ed based orientation came to a close and the law and policy group was able to meet with the Securing our Future (SOF) project manager for the first time. She is very motivated and well connected with the Who's-Who in UB, so I think she'll be an excellent manager to work for.
I haven't written anything much on the content of our orientation yet, so (despite its being over already) I'll mention a few interesting details. Our four-day orientation focused on teaching us the basics of freshwater ecology in Mongolia. The background information we received was valuable to each of the associates, but obviously more so for the science and education associates. (In case I haven't made it clear, there are three different types of "associates," as they call us, involved in the SOF program this summer--Law and Policy, Science, and Education. L&P associates, like me, will mostly be researching selected topics; Science will be out in the field most of the summer doing water quality sampling and analysis; and Ed folks will split their time between UB and the countryside at various schools, demonstrating for science teachers something called a benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) water quality test.) The first two days we were cooped up in a small conference room in a hotel near Sukhbaatar Square, but on Wednesday we all took a van out to a site on the Tuul River a few km outside of UB and spent the day assessing the physical habitat of the river site and running BMI tests. Running a BMI test involves thoroughly disturbing the rocks and sediment in the river bed at a particular point in the river and catching the benthic macroinvertebrates (bugs) that are kicked up in fine mesh net. Once the "kick" part of the test is complete, then the tedious part begins (or fun part, depending on your perspective): identifying each of the bugs at the order level and counting them. Woo. We looked at lots of stoneflies and mayflies, let me tell you. We also had quite a few runs-in with stray dogs, goat herds, grazing cattle, wild (?) horses, and curious onlookers. All in all, it was pretty fun.
Thursday we went to the National University of Mongolia (commonly known as NUM--num num!) to hear a lecture on Mongolian ecology from a delightful gentleman from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Right before lunch we examined specimens that we'd collected the day before under microscopes. It was a pleasant combination.
In the afternoon the L&P folks split from the others and our boss presented us with a list of research topics that TAF wants more information on and I am particularly interested in one that deals with government majority-share ownership in mining operations in Mongolia. The research will involve looking both at Mongolian laws on ownership and government structure and at cases in which other governments have attempted similar actions. I don't know much beyond that preliminary description; more details will follow in future posts.
On Friday the law and policy associates attended a multi-stakeholder meeting hosted by TAF at the UB Hotel. Several dozen representatives from Mongolian NGOs and community-based organizations were also in attendance. Aside from an introduction by TAF's country representative in Mongolia, and a short closing statement by my boss, the meeting was conducted entirely in Mongolian. This required us non-Mongolian speakers to hold an ear piece in our ears for roughly three hours in order to follow a simultaneous English translation. I found the whole process to be intriguing but also slightly frustrating, as I am still relatively uninitiated into the world of Mongolian mining policy and the translation was spotty at points. Oh, and holding that damn ear piece in place for hours on end became fairly annoying. I think my ears were too small for it; other people seemed to have no trouble just wedging it in and leaving it there, but mine fell out the second I took my hand off of it.
Yesterday I ventured forth into UB to do some more exploring on my own. This city is chock-full of delightful surprises if you just take a little time to root them out. As I wandered down Baga Toiruu aimlessly, I happened upon a little bakery called Backerei Conditorei Cafe which served tasty sandwiches, fresh-baked pastries, and hot, sumptuous brewed coffee. Real coffee!! Marvelous.
Hm, I'm not sure that there's any real flow or continuity to this post. I apologize. But in that spirit, now seems an appropriate time to end it, with no warning or concluding thoughts whatsoever. Bye for now!
I haven't written anything much on the content of our orientation yet, so (despite its being over already) I'll mention a few interesting details. Our four-day orientation focused on teaching us the basics of freshwater ecology in Mongolia. The background information we received was valuable to each of the associates, but obviously more so for the science and education associates. (In case I haven't made it clear, there are three different types of "associates," as they call us, involved in the SOF program this summer--Law and Policy, Science, and Education. L&P associates, like me, will mostly be researching selected topics; Science will be out in the field most of the summer doing water quality sampling and analysis; and Ed folks will split their time between UB and the countryside at various schools, demonstrating for science teachers something called a benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) water quality test.) The first two days we were cooped up in a small conference room in a hotel near Sukhbaatar Square, but on Wednesday we all took a van out to a site on the Tuul River a few km outside of UB and spent the day assessing the physical habitat of the river site and running BMI tests. Running a BMI test involves thoroughly disturbing the rocks and sediment in the river bed at a particular point in the river and catching the benthic macroinvertebrates (bugs) that are kicked up in fine mesh net. Once the "kick" part of the test is complete, then the tedious part begins (or fun part, depending on your perspective): identifying each of the bugs at the order level and counting them. Woo. We looked at lots of stoneflies and mayflies, let me tell you. We also had quite a few runs-in with stray dogs, goat herds, grazing cattle, wild (?) horses, and curious onlookers. All in all, it was pretty fun.
Thursday we went to the National University of Mongolia (commonly known as NUM--num num!) to hear a lecture on Mongolian ecology from a delightful gentleman from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Right before lunch we examined specimens that we'd collected the day before under microscopes. It was a pleasant combination.
In the afternoon the L&P folks split from the others and our boss presented us with a list of research topics that TAF wants more information on and I am particularly interested in one that deals with government majority-share ownership in mining operations in Mongolia. The research will involve looking both at Mongolian laws on ownership and government structure and at cases in which other governments have attempted similar actions. I don't know much beyond that preliminary description; more details will follow in future posts.
On Friday the law and policy associates attended a multi-stakeholder meeting hosted by TAF at the UB Hotel. Several dozen representatives from Mongolian NGOs and community-based organizations were also in attendance. Aside from an introduction by TAF's country representative in Mongolia, and a short closing statement by my boss, the meeting was conducted entirely in Mongolian. This required us non-Mongolian speakers to hold an ear piece in our ears for roughly three hours in order to follow a simultaneous English translation. I found the whole process to be intriguing but also slightly frustrating, as I am still relatively uninitiated into the world of Mongolian mining policy and the translation was spotty at points. Oh, and holding that damn ear piece in place for hours on end became fairly annoying. I think my ears were too small for it; other people seemed to have no trouble just wedging it in and leaving it there, but mine fell out the second I took my hand off of it.
Yesterday I ventured forth into UB to do some more exploring on my own. This city is chock-full of delightful surprises if you just take a little time to root them out. As I wandered down Baga Toiruu aimlessly, I happened upon a little bakery called Backerei Conditorei Cafe which served tasty sandwiches, fresh-baked pastries, and hot, sumptuous brewed coffee. Real coffee!! Marvelous.
Hm, I'm not sure that there's any real flow or continuity to this post. I apologize. But in that spirit, now seems an appropriate time to end it, with no warning or concluding thoughts whatsoever. Bye for now!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Random observations
I don't have much time to post today, as I have a meeting to be at in under an hour. But I will leave you with a few noteworthy observations about UB:
Traffic. The streets here are Soviet-style, mile-wide behemoths, and every time I have to cross one it's like playing a real-life game of Frogger. Traffic signals are trivial annoyances to drivers, who brake only for larger cars. Within the first couple of days I had to become very comfortable with the idea of wandering out into the middle of a busy street and identifying the narrow gaps between alternating traffic lanes where I am least likely to be rammed by an oncoming grill.
Weather. The weather is crazily unpredictable here. The first few days that we were here, the temperature hung around the high 80s/low 90s. Then, out of the blue yesterday, the temperature dropped into the 30s and I went from t-shirt and shorts to heavy coat, scarf, etc. Today, not 12 hours later, it again blazingly hot. WTF. Also, on related note, the pollution is kind of insane. Some days it's so hazy from both smog and sand that it's difficult to make anything out half a mile down the road. Today it's refreshingly clear, but who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Eclectic. I feel like that adjective best describes the strange mix of architecture, infrastructure, and language that constitute the cityscape here. Buildings alternate between Soviet concrete blocks, Buddhist monasteries, and ultramodern glassy skyscrapers. Signs are plastered with a confusing mixture of traditional Mongolian script, cyrillic, and English. And streets and sidewalks are paved in 1,001 different ways, alternating every 100 feet. The only thing that remains constant from block to block is potholes and crumbling concrete. Oh also, there are many Mongolian restaurants here, but Western travelers certainly need not resign themselves to weeks and weeks of mutton, as there are also a great variety of moderately delicious international choices as well. We've already enjoyed pizza and hamburgers (recipes slightly tweaked) this week, so it hasn't been quite as much of a culture shock as I had expected. I still have yet to enjoy a real cup of coffee, though. Oh how I crave it!
That's all I have time for now. Stay well!
Traffic. The streets here are Soviet-style, mile-wide behemoths, and every time I have to cross one it's like playing a real-life game of Frogger. Traffic signals are trivial annoyances to drivers, who brake only for larger cars. Within the first couple of days I had to become very comfortable with the idea of wandering out into the middle of a busy street and identifying the narrow gaps between alternating traffic lanes where I am least likely to be rammed by an oncoming grill.
Weather. The weather is crazily unpredictable here. The first few days that we were here, the temperature hung around the high 80s/low 90s. Then, out of the blue yesterday, the temperature dropped into the 30s and I went from t-shirt and shorts to heavy coat, scarf, etc. Today, not 12 hours later, it again blazingly hot. WTF. Also, on related note, the pollution is kind of insane. Some days it's so hazy from both smog and sand that it's difficult to make anything out half a mile down the road. Today it's refreshingly clear, but who knows what tomorrow will bring!
Eclectic. I feel like that adjective best describes the strange mix of architecture, infrastructure, and language that constitute the cityscape here. Buildings alternate between Soviet concrete blocks, Buddhist monasteries, and ultramodern glassy skyscrapers. Signs are plastered with a confusing mixture of traditional Mongolian script, cyrillic, and English. And streets and sidewalks are paved in 1,001 different ways, alternating every 100 feet. The only thing that remains constant from block to block is potholes and crumbling concrete. Oh also, there are many Mongolian restaurants here, but Western travelers certainly need not resign themselves to weeks and weeks of mutton, as there are also a great variety of moderately delicious international choices as well. We've already enjoyed pizza and hamburgers (recipes slightly tweaked) this week, so it hasn't been quite as much of a culture shock as I had expected. I still have yet to enjoy a real cup of coffee, though. Oh how I crave it!
That's all I have time for now. Stay well!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Greetings from Ulaanbaatar!
Greetings, all! I write this blog post from an internet cafe just east of the central square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The local time here is 5 pm on Sunday, which makes it 3 am in Austin and 1 am back on the west coast. The trip to Mongolia was loooooong and exhausting, but mostly without event. I left Seattle for LA at around 4 pm on Thursday. My layover in LA was long enough that I was able to leave the airport and grab dinner and drinks with Linda before hopping on my red-eye to Beijing. Following the 12-hour, 40-minute flight, I was deposited in the heart of the Beijing airport's brand-new, eye-poppingly extravagant terminal three, where I enjoyed a beef udon lunch at the seemingly incongruous local time of 6 am. When I arrived in UB, the Asia Foundation (TAF) had sent a couple of friendly staff out to meet me and drive me back to my dorm building. Turns out I'm staying a rather fancy apartment with its own bathroom. However, I haven't yet been able to get any hot water--nor has anyone else, as far as I'm aware--which means I'll likely spend the next ten weeks sponging myself with lukewarm sink water from a tub. (If you're interested in the details, ask me and I'll explain at greater length; I've already bought the tub, and I expect it will be a thrilling process).
Shortly after getting settled in, I met the first of my new summer associate partners, Mark. He and I ventured out in search of Mongolian food, which we successfully secured after wandering randomly for some time. It was a somewhat tricky process; not only do neither of us understand a lick of Mongolian, it is written using the Cyrillic script, which poses an additional obstacle to our understanding even the most basic of words. After returning to our building, we were both fairly tired, and decided to take a mid-afternoon nap. What began as an innocent snooze around 3 PM Saturday, however, became a 14-hour marathon sleep that finally ended at 5 AM this morning. Absurd.
As nothing in UB opens before 10 AM on Sundays, I had a lot of time to kill, which I spent variously studying Mongolian language basics, roaming the sparsely-populated streets, and starving. I met up with Mark later in the morning, and we took a trip to the state department store, where we did some grocery shopping for fundamentals (bread, shampoo, beer). As a side note, it really is remarkable that despite the unfamiliar nature of nearly everything on the streets here, from the people to the language to the crumbling Soviet infrastructure, a bottle of Pantene Pro-V is as readily available here as in any drug store in the States. In support of that point, the clerk here is currently playing a song featuring Mariah Carey and Nelly that I don't even recognize, probably because it is so new. Since when are people halfway across the world more in tune with American pop culture than an American? One final story: as Mark and I approached the department store today, we were accosted by a group of small children who insistently demanded that we relinquish our "Money! Money!!". When we declined, they saw fit to douse us repeatedly with their water bottles. We tried to escape, but they were persistent little bastards. We did get the last laugh, however; Mark managed to grab the bottle from one of the kids and douse him right back. It was awesome.
That's all for now. Fewer long-winded posts in the future. I promise! Hope all is well back home, or in whichever part of the world you're currently residing.
Shortly after getting settled in, I met the first of my new summer associate partners, Mark. He and I ventured out in search of Mongolian food, which we successfully secured after wandering randomly for some time. It was a somewhat tricky process; not only do neither of us understand a lick of Mongolian, it is written using the Cyrillic script, which poses an additional obstacle to our understanding even the most basic of words. After returning to our building, we were both fairly tired, and decided to take a mid-afternoon nap. What began as an innocent snooze around 3 PM Saturday, however, became a 14-hour marathon sleep that finally ended at 5 AM this morning. Absurd.
As nothing in UB opens before 10 AM on Sundays, I had a lot of time to kill, which I spent variously studying Mongolian language basics, roaming the sparsely-populated streets, and starving. I met up with Mark later in the morning, and we took a trip to the state department store, where we did some grocery shopping for fundamentals (bread, shampoo, beer). As a side note, it really is remarkable that despite the unfamiliar nature of nearly everything on the streets here, from the people to the language to the crumbling Soviet infrastructure, a bottle of Pantene Pro-V is as readily available here as in any drug store in the States. In support of that point, the clerk here is currently playing a song featuring Mariah Carey and Nelly that I don't even recognize, probably because it is so new. Since when are people halfway across the world more in tune with American pop culture than an American? One final story: as Mark and I approached the department store today, we were accosted by a group of small children who insistently demanded that we relinquish our "Money! Money!!". When we declined, they saw fit to douse us repeatedly with their water bottles. We tried to escape, but they were persistent little bastards. We did get the last laugh, however; Mark managed to grab the bottle from one of the kids and douse him right back. It was awesome.
That's all for now. Fewer long-winded posts in the future. I promise! Hope all is well back home, or in whichever part of the world you're currently residing.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
First post!
Hi everyone. This first post is just a test to ensure that this blog I'm blogging is blogging properly. Actually, I haven't even left the States yet. I will check back in over the weekend, once I've reached Ulaanbaatar (UB). Ciao!
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