mystery solved

there has been an ever-increasing foul stench emanating from my kitchen for the past week. i bleached every available surface and still the stench grew. on thursday a handyman came and attempted to fix something under the kitchen sink, but still the stench grew. it had gotten to the point of being so unbearable that i could barely stand to be in the kitchen long enough to boil water. i was determined to have someone come and fix it for good tomorrow.

today i had some girls over and they wanted to help me do the dishes. i told them i didn't want them in the kitchen because i was embarrassed of the odor. they said that they smelled it today and had noticed it last week, too. we all guessed that it was coming from the fridge, and they suggested we pull the fridge away from the wall to see if we could find anything. we all nearly gagged when we got a whiff of the exhaust from the back. we unscrewed something at the bottom of the fridge but couldn't find the source of the smell.

i planned on calling someone in the morning to come look at it. so i decided to clean out my fridge tonight so that there would be no way that the smell was coming from food in the fridge. it's a good thing i did! not only did i find the problem, i fixed it, too! apparently some chicken blood from a package of chicken i had thawed in the fridge had dripped down a drain hole in the back of the fridge. i poured some bleach down the hole, and voila!!! the foul, or should i say fowl (hehe) smell disappeared!

fun with my blog

thanks so my friend sarah, i just discovered all sorts of ways to have fun with my blog layout. what could be better than some bling, and a picture of my cat? hehe

a week of feeling weak

this whole "immobilization" thing is rather tricky when i don't have a car and have to walk everywhere. what makes it so tricky is how stubborn i am. i want to just say that the 10 minutes it takes me to walk each way to school isn't going to damage my ankle any more. but then i realize i'm just being stubborn, prideful, and rather foolish. it takes every bit of humility i have to take a taxi instead. i hate taking a taxi when it's less than a kilometer for me to walk and traffic is so bad that it isn't even any faster to go by car. i hate looking like some sort of lazy, spoiled american who would rather pay to sit in a car than walk a short distance. i hate it that i'm not getting any exercise. i hate it that i feel trapped in my house except for necessary outings. and i just hate feeling so weak. but i remember the promise that HIS strength is make perfect in my weakness. i know that he is using this time of limited mobility to teach me - not sure just what the lessons will be, but i'm trusting Him.

all's well that ends well

this week was a bit unusual for me. i spent thursday afternoon at the hospital here. don't get freaked out. it wasn't an emergency. i've been having increasingly bad pain in my ankle since last spring. i was hoping i could wait it out until thailand in january and have it checked out there, but it became absolutely unbearable. i had heard good things about a new, private, korean run hospital, so that's where i went. it was a surprisingly pleasant experience, and thankfully i got a diagnosis. unfortunately the diagnosis wasn't good. i have an old fracture that has been causing inflammation in my tendons and ligaments. the doctor doesn't seem to think that i'll ever have 100% recovery because i waited so long to have it treated. however, he suggested i wear a brace and try to be as immobile as possible for a few weeks. he said that i could hope for a decrease in pain with this treatment.

the tricky part is trying to be immobile when i don't have a car and i have to teach all week. usually i walk back and forth to school a total of 8 times per week. i'm going to try to cut that down to 5 times and hope that helps. i'm also going to just force myself to sit more while i'm teaching. i prefer to be up and about checking on students as they work, but for the next few weeks i'll have to cut that down significantly.

so to explain the title of this post...i had a kind of crazy week but classes this afternoon went really, really well, so i'm happy - even with a bad leg!

on the run coffee

mongolia is a country that seems to be just beginning to adopt the concept of going to a cafe for the mere purpose of chatting with friends and sipping something hot. i get the sense that for most mongolians eating is more about practicality than socializing. or maybe i just haven't made friends who like to go out to restaurants. hehe

anyway, one of the aspects of american life that i miss the most is being able to go to a cafe and just sit for hours either reading or talking with friends. there are a few places in ub that make this possible but most of them are expensive or not really cozy enough to make me want to spend any amount of time there. in the past few weeks however i have found 2 places that i would actually want to return to with a friend. one of these is called "cafe amsterdam", and it was filled with foreigners (not so great) but it was also filled with light from many windows (super great) and serves a fantastic panini (amazing). if you ever come to visit me in mongolia, i will definitely take you to eat and chill out here.

the other such place is called "on the run coffee". it's a cafe attached to a big hotel, and it was quiet and cozy. my friend muugii had gone there before and told me about it. we decided to check it out last thursday, and i'm so glad we did. the walls are painted a deep orange color and we sat in dark red, comfy chairs. the light was dim and warm, and i felt like i could sit there for hours. unfortunately i had a class to teach at 4:00, but at least i know i can return some other time. here's a picture of muugii enjoying the peace and quiet.


ps. i got a new wallet after we had coffee :)

a bump in the road

this week someone stole my wallet, my bible, and a large roll of packing tape from my purse... while i was in the school office! i was in the same room and someone had the nerve to take it when i turned my back. thankfully everything in my wallet can be replaced pretty easily and i didn't have much money in it. i think for me the worst part is just knowing that someone at the school did it when i was in the room! i have always said that if anyone ever steals my bible they obviously need to read it more than i do, so now i guess it's actually come true. please ask that whoever took it will read it and get to know the Author.

friday night

thursday's classes went really well. i'm so relieved that even my lowest level students were able to accomplish the main objectives of the lesson. it gives me hope for the rest of the year. if thursday's class had bombed, i think i might be afraid of slowly pulling out all my hair in the next few months. hehe

in other news, i had a great day off. i spent the morning watching a movie and chatting with my boyfriend. then i ran some errands and did some shopping. i scored a pair of really great earrings, and i'll probably wear them tomorrow. :)


tonight i came home and made some delicious borscht for dinner. for those of you who might not know what i'm talking about, it's a vegetable soup made with beets. mine happens to be a glorious purplish, red color. i used a mini-food processor to chop up all the vegetables into tiny pieces. this made my soup a really uniform texture and so fun to put a whole spoonful into my mouth.


and as always muji is ridiculously adorable and irresistible. i love seeing this face everyday.

week 3

this week has been a lot better than last. my students and i have spent a lot more time laughing together, and i've been seeing a lot fewer blank stares when i ask them a question. tonight i meet with the group of students who have the lowest level of english though, so i might take back my previous statement in a few hours. hehe

second week of teaching

i've completed my second week of teaching at the humanities college, and i must say that i feel a bit frustrated with how things are going. i have 9 different groups of students that i only see once per week. so even though i've already been teaching for 2 weeks, i've only seen each group of students twice. normally i feel like we can begin to have some routine together after about 3 classes, and normally this happens within the first week of teaching.
instead i'm beginning week 3 of classes and still feeling somewhat disorganized. today (friday) is my only completely free day per week, so i'm hoping to get some rest and to get a few things more organized for teaching. please ask that i can soon feel more settled and that i can build relationships with my more than 200 students.

horhog with the duffer family

on monday my team and i had our weekly meeting in a special location. the duffer family has bought some land on the outskirts of ub, and they are in the process of building a house there. some friends of theirs are living a ger on the property right now and serving as the "manach" which basically means security guard. we went to the duffers' place and this lovely couple made "horhog" for us for dinner. horhog is kind of the equivalent of real mongolian barbeque.

the first step for making horhog is gathering several large river rocks and making sure they are clean. next put the rocks in a stove until they get really hot. this step can be a little dangerous because the rocks can explode if they get too hot. two of the rocks actually did this on monday. thankfully they were inside a sturdy metal stove when it happened and no one was nearby.

once the rocks are sufficiently hot, they go into a large metal jug and then comes the meat and maybe some vegetables. the jug is sealed tightly and the meat is cooked by the heat from the rocks and the pressure in the jug. i've been told that sometimes the pressure becomes so high that the lid on the jug can explode. thankfully this did NOT happen on monday. :)


i'm not sure just how long the meat needs to cook in the jug, but my guess is at least an hour or so. once it's done, the lid is carefully opened and the cook tastes some of the juices that have cooked out of the meat. on monday, the cook decided that is wasn't salty enough, so she added a big handful of salt to the jug and resealed it. then came a sort of tricky part. two guys had to grab the hot jug by the handles and try to shake it up and down to get the salt distributed through everything. once this was done, it was time for us to all drink some of the broth from the meat.

everyone got a small bowl of broth and drank it before we dove into the meat. horhog is definitely a hands on meal. mongolians say that before you actually eat the meat you should first take one of the hot rocks and toss it back and forth in your hands. this is said to be good for your kidneys. i find that it's just too hard on my hands, and i've never managed to actually do it without dropping the rock and just waiting for it to cool off. monday was no exception. :)

after attempting to toss the hot rock, it's time to eat the meat. monday's horhog was a bit unusual because it was a mixture of beef and mutton. i definitely prefer beef, and i was able to get several chunks of beef and no chunks of mutton. every time i eat horhog i sort of feel like a cavewoman. the meat is usually still on the bone or full of fatty chunks that i have to somehow separate from the parts that i want to eat. i end up sort of gnawing on it and ripping at it with my very greasy hands. it's not something i'd want to do for every meal, but it's fun every now and then. (although i still can't bring myself to eat those huge turkey legs they sell at fairs and amusement parks in the states. hehe)


i think horhog is the kind of meal that could potentially last a long time. people usually sit around and eat chunk after chunk of meat until an entire sheep has been consumed. unfortunately for me, i had to rush away on monday because i had to teach a class in the evening. it was fun to get away from the city for the afternoon and have a bit of a real countryside experience with my team.

muji cuteness

muji has a little chute that he likes to play in, and it was next to his water bowl. i came into the living room to see this. hehe

teaching begins

saturday marked my first day as a teacher at the humanities college. i had 3 classes and felt both wiped out and invigorated by the end of the day. i really, really, really love teaching english and am so incredibly blessed to be doing what i love in a country i have grown to love.
here's a few thoughts about what my life is looking like these days:
* i don't have any classes that begin before 4pm. i am not really a morning person, so it's awesome to be able to have a few hours to wake up. when i have time to linger over breakfast and coffee it feels luxurious no matter what the rest of the day holds.
*i've met 4 of my 9 classes, and so far it seems like they will be a great bunch of students. when it's all said and done, i'll probably have around 250 students.
*the other teachers at the school seem nice and good to work with. i'm most impressed by their level of english speaking ability. it's a comforting thought to me that the students are learning from these very skilled women.
*it will take a little while for my feet to get used to wearing heels again. i think i'll leave my heels at the school and do my actual walking back and forth in my comfy maryjanes.
*i'm noticing a significant increase in my mental energy level this year. being able to come back to a familiar place instead of having to completely start over again has done wonders for my mental and emotional well-being.
*things on sundays are going well. it's awesome to see how the Father has brought healing and new life to our fellowship. i'm excited to see what he has in store for us.

wannabe

thanks to melanie i know that i am not a nerd. phew!

things that make life good

earlier this week i think i had a little bit of food poisoning. even though it was miserable to have to run to the bathroom all night, i kept thinking about how thankful i am that i live in a great apartment and didn't have to run to an outhouse all night. being thankful for my bathroom, led me to think of other things i'm thankful for this week.

muji is the sweetest cat ever. he follows me everywhere and purrs contentedly whenever i pet him. how can i resist this cute face?


mongolian hair and my white american hair are two very different textures. finding a hairdresser who knows what to do with my slightly curly, thin, fine hair is a challenge. thankfully i've met the answer to that challenge in the person of batmonkh. he's cut my hair twice now and both times it's been just what i wanted. this isn't the greatest picture but you get the idea.


this morning i discovered this lovely pink flower growing from one of my plants. if that's not enough to make me smile, i don't know what is. :)

yummy

i've visited korea a few times and always love the custard filled little corn shaped cakes that are sold at bus stops and in the subway. i admit that sometimes i even dream about eating them here in mongolia.

today my dream came true! a korean department store here now has a little stand that makes the warm, delicious, cream-filled goodies. yum, yum!