A few more tidbits...

Here are a few random tidbits about my life so far here in Ulaan Bator!

The team I'm with have been amazing and lately they have been taking us to eat at places around the city that serve American and International food so I haven't tried too much Mongolian food yet - I think they are easing us into it. When we were at one of the only hamburger joints in UB, I asked for ketchup and got this...

A Mongolian brand of ketchup - it was a thinner consistency and not as salty. Now if you know me, you know that I have a slight addiction to this condiment so I slightly screamed when I found some Heinz in the grocery store later.

This is Hoshuur - thin dough surrounding beef, vegetables or potatoes mainly and then fried. It's a very popular dish here and I've tried it a few times - it's good. They eat with their hands here even though you may get a fork, eating with your hands is encouraged.

One of my best friends gave me a neat device that you can hang your purse from while eating out so that it's not on the back of your chair or on the floor. (The picture above is taken from a sight that sells them, the one I have is much prettier but you get the idea.) It's come in very handy as Mongolians never put their bags on the floor, it's very taboo as they believe that evil spirits will come out of the ground and get in your bag.

I put some hairspray in my hair the other morning and then took off on my 30 minute journey to my company's office in about 2 degree weather. While walking in the shadows of the buildings, the hairspray froze...then when I would walk out from the shadows, the hairspray would melt from the heat escaping the top of my head and the sun. By the time I got to the office, my hair was gross and gooey-ish. Very thankful for ponytail holders. So, I don't think I'll be using hairspray until the temp. gets over 32 degrees.

We've taken the bus a few times now which is an experience as you're usually packed in like sardines. Since everyone is wearing tons of layers and big fluffy jackets, people pushing up against you isn't so bad! Mongolians are nice as they will give their seats on the bus up for older women so I was a little disappointed when a girl offered me her seat the other night. I'm chalking it up she just noticed I was a foreigner...

The traffic here is horrendous, way too many vehicles on the roads which weren't built for high traffic so cars slam on the gas when they can find a spot to drive in and then slam on the breaks when a bigger vehicle than them wants in. Most of the cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car even though they also drive on the right side of the road. Pedestrians never have the right of way - even on the sidewalks! So, when you need to cross the street, you go with a really big group and hopefully walk in the middle of it just in case.

I had my first real language lesson yesterday and it was very humbling. Not only are we learning new words, but learning new ways to make strange sounds come out of our mouths! It took us about two hours to really learn how to say the Mongolian words for "blue", "red", "yellow", "white", "black", and "green". I'm not even going to try to spell them for you. While they are teaching us Mongolian, they are also teaching us how to teach English to Mongolians so it's a lot of good information but can be a little exhausting too.

For the most part, I'm loving it! I'm just about over jetlag, know my way to the grocery store, the post office, my teammates apartments, the bus stop and my company's office, and am very well taken care of by my company and team! I'll be taking more video and will do my best to keep you informed of what life is like as an English teacher in Mongolia!