A blustery day
Apr. 16th, 2003 04:51 amIt was fricking cold today. It actually felt like winter again, which sucked. Ingrid and I almost froze walking around to meetings. We went to a meeting with the head of the Mongolian Agricultural Cooperatives group, and then went to the World Bank library.
I spent a good hour chatting with my mom on MSN messenger, which made me feel a lot better.
It is sort of freaky in UB right now. Everyone is wearing masks. I read in the paper that 5 people are quarantined. It is suspected that they brought SARS in from Inner Mongolia, which is actually part of China. Apparently the government told everyone to wear masks and to avoid large crowds. The outdoor markets are closed and the protest in the square was forced to halt. No outside acts, such as entertainers, will be coming in for a while.
It was so nasty out today that both Ingrid and I just felt like hibernating. We worked on a survey to administer to co-op members. We also attended a meeting with members from CUMIC (Central Union of Mongolian Industrial Co-ops). I may get to interview some old socialists, including one 90 year-old guy who organized a collective full of lamas. (Ingrid was laughing about this one, as she knows about my fascination with Buddhism and monks)
Forgot to mention that they had Chinggis Khan dolls in the shopping mall yesterday. They were about the size of Barbie dolls. Now children can play "Barbie goes on a date with Chinggis".
Chinggis is the Mongolian name for Genghis Khan. He is on everything. There is a camp named after him, and a hotel, and a beer, and he is on the money. He is a real symbol of the nationalism of the Mongolian people.
I spent a good hour chatting with my mom on MSN messenger, which made me feel a lot better.
It is sort of freaky in UB right now. Everyone is wearing masks. I read in the paper that 5 people are quarantined. It is suspected that they brought SARS in from Inner Mongolia, which is actually part of China. Apparently the government told everyone to wear masks and to avoid large crowds. The outdoor markets are closed and the protest in the square was forced to halt. No outside acts, such as entertainers, will be coming in for a while.
It was so nasty out today that both Ingrid and I just felt like hibernating. We worked on a survey to administer to co-op members. We also attended a meeting with members from CUMIC (Central Union of Mongolian Industrial Co-ops). I may get to interview some old socialists, including one 90 year-old guy who organized a collective full of lamas. (Ingrid was laughing about this one, as she knows about my fascination with Buddhism and monks)
Forgot to mention that they had Chinggis Khan dolls in the shopping mall yesterday. They were about the size of Barbie dolls. Now children can play "Barbie goes on a date with Chinggis".
Chinggis is the Mongolian name for Genghis Khan. He is on everything. There is a camp named after him, and a hotel, and a beer, and he is on the money. He is a real symbol of the nationalism of the Mongolian people.