Busy day!! Night at ger camp

So yesterday was the last day for this session of worker co-ops. A lot of participants were hung over. At lunch they served hang over soup, which contains flour, grease, eggs and mutton. I haven't tried it yet.

At the closing ceremonies, the participants gave us gifts. They even gave me a gift, even though I didn't do much except take notes and hang out papers. They gave me a leather painting of a ger camp and a box of chocolates.

Bryan was interviewed by Mongolian radio and Mongolian television. So there is a chance that I was on Mongolian national tv!

When we got home, we had an email from CCA that told us that Bryan could not go home through Beijing, due to SARS. Ingrid had to make new travel arrangements for him, but was able to book him through Seoul.

After that, we went out to a tourist ger camp. Gers are yurts- (the Russian word is yurt), which are tents made of hide, canvas or felt. The camp we stayed at is the Chinggis Ger camp, which is one of the oldest tourist camps. We got there at about 6 and then went hiking. After that we had supper, and made a fire in the gers. Gers are quite neat. It's like a little cabin inside, with a fire and a light and beds. We all slept in the ger and it was quite warm and cozy. In the morning, we got up and went hiking again, this time for a really long time.

I had my first experience with pit toilets. Basically a pit toilet is a hole in an outhouse that you squat over. There are slats where you put your feet. I find them quite scary, as I fear falling in. Ingrid said that the ones at the ger camp were quite clean and safe ones. Some of the villages have worse ones. I think I would rather go in the bush.

Mongolian horses look more like ponies. They are small and stubby. Ingrid says that they are not too well-tamed.

I have learned some other things- Mongolians living in gers sleep in separate beds. Condoms are big here. Mongolians don't think much of extra marital affairs.

When we drove back, there was a huge dust storm. So my allergies are acting up and I've dosed myself with Sudafed. I'm tired from hiking too.

Other interesting thing I learned- The costumes that Queen Amidala wears in "The Phantom Menace" are based on Mongolian designs.

Crappy sleep

I had a very cruddy sleep, mostly due to the fact that my apartment was too hot. In Mongolia, they have central heating. The entire city is heated by a coal factory, and pipes go underground to all the buildings. Therefore, it is impossible to change the temperature of your apartment. There are not even thermostats. The heat goes on September 15, and comes off May 15. Interestingly enough, people (like street people or street kids) live underground next to the pipes in the winter. Sometimes they burn themselves on the pipes and die.

Anyway,I opened the windows to cool things off, then woke up because I was freezing. When I looked outside, it had snowed a little bit. Fortunately I have the day off, so I will do nothing, then go to a museum.

Personal guilt

I have some guilt because I have not being following the war. I could read on-line, or watch tv, since I have no newspapers available to me. I know that the US forces are in Baghdad, but I'm sketchy on the details. It's not that I don't care, because I do. Perhaps there is no excuse for this.