Une Canadienne Errante

That's me! Just another wandering Canadian, moving around the globe, always looking for my next adventure and my next destination! I started this blog because, before I made the decision to move to Mongolia, I wanted to see what my new city would look like, but all I could find when I searched for images of Mongolia were landscape images. I had no clue what Ulaanbaatar looked like right up until the day I landed. This blog was born so maybe other people might have a better sense of what Ulaanbaatar looks like, if they want or need to know. I've been an expatriate in Ulaanbaatar since September, but before that, I lived in Korea, Kuwait, and France. I'm considering moving to Myanmar in June-- I'll keep you posted. I'm kind of a homebody and a loner, but I also like to walk around a lot, which provides plenty of opportunities for pictures and observations. Being a loner, I rarely share my observations with others, but I'll share some here. I never proofread and rarely edit, so sorry in advance for all the typoes that are likely to sneak their way into this blog.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

On why I plan on spending a shit-ton of money in Mongolia

I love to shop.  It might be a problem.  It doesn't matter what I'm shopping for, as long as I'm shopping, I can get /really/ excited about it.  I even love grocery shopping-- it means I get to go out of the house and buy things.  In Mongolia, the obvious thing to shop for is wool products. 

I don't know much about cashmere and the other assorted wool products that come out of Mongolia (there's sheep wool, yak wool, camel hair-- what animal does cashmere even come from?  and what makes it just so soft and itch-free?), but when I peeked into factory which was described to me as 'abandoned', I saw piles and piles and piles of wool, and workers busy stuffing it into bags (the reason I peeked was because, as I was walking past, I was thinking that that abandoned factory smelled like a stockyard).  I can only assume that it will be shipped to another factory where it will be washed, spun, and dyed (or something-- I have a very vague notion of how wool and other threads are made).  Now, about Mongolian cashmere and the other wool products on offer here, I'm in love.  I want to buy three of everything, except for I'm earning a very modest slightly-better-than-average-but-modest-nonetheless Mongolian wage, and I just can't afford it (it doesn't help that I've got debt to pay off-- kind of like Shopaholic, but not quite so dense and selfish, I hope).  Well, there is the cashmere, and it is delicious.  My dad wears sweaters all year round, so I plan on getting him a nice sweater for Christmas.  There's also camel hair blankets, which are divine (I bought one for my younger brother for Christmas, and I'm seriously scared I'm going to end up keeping it, I love it so much).  There are yaks wool long underwear, which I'm constantly daydreaming about purchasing as soon as the temperature hits -15Celcius (I plan on staying warm this winter).  There are sheep wool blankets, which are a little scratchy, but which I think have good character (I bought a green one for my parents for Christmas.  This is another Christmas gift which I want to keep!).  I'm in love; I want it all.

On a side-note, the flies here are atrocious.  I think they're on a mission to drive me crazy.

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