(no subject)

We went out tonight for supper at El Latino, for good Mexican food. There were about nine of us. All the people from Kate's program seem really cool.

It was sort of weird though, since they all knew each other and wanted to know more about me. At one point, I realized that I was talking about my life to the entire table. They wanted to know about my program.

After that, we all went back to their hostel and played this fun game which involved improvisation, and charades.

Kate showed me how two of the guys have rigged up a system so they can send notes to these Mongolian women across the way. It's pretty funny. They're passing notes on a clothesline across the compound. The women wanted to know if the guys were American citizens. I said they were probably looking for eligible men to marry.

All of the students are doing individual projects in different villages. One girl is doing her project on shamanism and Mongolian death rituals, which I think is fascinating.

We had to sneak me into the hostel, but then when we went to leave, we'd been locked in. So this guy Dan, had to wake the landlady up, so she could let us out. Dan and Kate took a cab to my apartment with me, and then they went back to the hostel.

Hopefully we can hang out again soon. They will be going to different villages but then they'll be back in town. It was so nice to just laugh and relax with people my own age.

I offered to make them some tapes, since they have only 3 and no way to make more. So hopefully we'll be in touch soon.

(no subject)

I'm all stuffed up today. My nose feels like I've just spent an entire night in a bar filled with smoke. Fortunately I have a big bottle of water and some Sinutab to the rescue.

Just watched a special on X-men 2. This city needs a movie theatre. Or, I need a movie theatre. Whatever.

X-men 2 looks pretty good. I wish I could go see it today.
Did you know there was a mistake in the first one?

In the scene with Wolverine in the snow, they show a Canadian license plate. Now, Wolverine is supposed to be in Northern Alberta, where the license plates are red. The plate is blue. So unless the Wolverine was driving a car from British Columbia, this is a mistake. Ha ha.

Now that's service...

The streets of UB are dead today. I'm wondering if most Mongolians feel like I do today, which is really lazy and tired. I don't feel like doing anything but lying on my couch.

Anyway, I did go shopping, mostly for groceries. Got a couple beautiful landscape paintings, which were quite cheap, and a bracelet with miniature turtles on it. It's hard to describe but really cute.

I have realized that I am way too addicted to cheese. The Mongolian diet is mostly starch, meat and cheese. Since I don't eat meat, that means I eat a lot of cheese. I'll write more about Mongolian food when I'm not so lazy.

Anyway, got some groceries. The crowning moment was when a woman told me the price of something and I actually understood what she was saying.

I took a taxi home. I started directing the cab driver, but I told him to turn down a one way street. He stopped the cab and phoned his friend who spoke English. I then told his friend where I wanted to go, and the cabbie drove me to that spot. I was pretty impressed by this service.

I finished reading "In the Empire of Genghis Khan" by Stanley Stewart. It's a travel book about this British journallist who decided to ride a horse across Mongolia. It's really good.

And with that, I present the ten worst countries to be a journalist in

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/05/02/journalists030502

(Thank you [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] for finding the short link for me.

Attention Buffy fans....

You want to go here:

http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=GLS====26075&str=&styp=&sfld=&PageNum=8&sortval=3a

There are 8 pages of pics from the wrap party. Includes gorgeous pics of Aly, Seth, James, ASH etc.

For some reason, Sarah and Eliza didn't attend.

(no subject)

I was feeling sort of guilty because I spent most of the day in my apartment, watching tv, laying on the couch, reading and looking at www.fametracker.com.

I was feeling that I should be out "experiencing Mongolia."

In some ways, lying on my couch is probably "experiencing Mongolia."

Anyway, I went for a walk. I had no idea that there were so many university dorms in my neighbourhood.

I opened the door to my apartment stairwell and about 10 kids came out. Mongolian kids are adorable, and these kids were no exception. I generally like kids more than adults because they're generally honest, not pretentious and not fake, which are qualities I don't like.

Anyway, the kids started one coming one at a time, and I held the door while they all trooped through. Then we were all standing there, staring at each other.

I said hello to them in Mongolian. The cutest little girl ever looked at my nosering, pointed at her nose and said something. I went down to her level so she could get a closer look.

Two older boys said "nose" and then I told them it was a nosering, and they practiced saying "nosering."

The little girl kept on touching her nose and the other little ones crowded around to look.

It was all pretty sweet.

On the way upstairs, I was thinking about how excited Dan and Kate were when they saw my apartment. Dan said, "This is so cool. You have your own apartment in Mongolia."

That is cool. If someone had told me that I'd be living in Mongolia a few years ago, I would have thought they were crazy.