Newsstands

Newsstands in Mongolia display the newspapers.  I guess it helps people browse and decide if they'd like to buy the paper.  Notice anything strange about the pages they have choses to display?  Look closely....

Statuary

There are a lot of statues in Mongolia.  This one is in the Bayangol district, near where my part-time job is.  The first time I walked past, I was struck by the huge knockers on this broad (sorry feminists-- I'm a woman and that's my word choice!), but after I took the picture, I noticed that the shop behind this statue is the "Intimate Sex Shop"... perfect!

The Ger District

I'm too shy to actually go into a ger district in UB (that, and I've noticed dogs on the outskirts of the ger districts, and I'm worried that if they don't know me, they might be unfriendly to a stranger walking through the ger district, and that could be a bad situation), but I do think they are really interesting.  Here is just a pic I took (with my "super" zoom on my camera which I mentioned before) from the top of the hill where the magical ovoo which helped me find my dream man is.

The Ovoo

I can't tell you exactly what an Ovoo is (or even how to pronounce it correctly), but I can tell you that what you're supposed to do is walk around it three times clockwise, pick up a stone (or leave another offering) and throw the stone onto the pile of stones and make a wish (thank you, Lonely Planet for those instructions!).  Sounds kind of ridiculous, but my wishes (I'm greedy, I made several) were something along the lines of get into law school (though I can't get in if I don't apply, and I haven't re-applied this year, so that was a wish wasted), and find a nice boyfriend, possibly even the man of my dreams.  Well, about two weeks later, I did meet a nice guy when I went to the ballet, and I think he is the most amazing person I've ever met.  I'm honestly not sure that I've ever been happier.  Is this the work of the Ovoo or is it merely a coincidence?  Whatever!  I'm just happy!

Mini Monks

This photo was blurry because I was super far away from these bos and I didn't want to get too close to them to take the picture because I didn't want it to be obvious that I was taking a picture of them and, ahem, I did not want to ask permission to take their photo and have them tell me "no", so I just zoomed like crazy, and since my current camera only has something like 3.5X zoom, and then I have to go into digital zoom, this picture super sucks (even if the subjects are interesting).  I'll tell you (or Santa) all about my dream camera later on.

Fashion is My Passion

When I talked about the dearth of selection at the State Department Store in my earlier post, this is what I meant.  If these aren't hawt, I don't know what is.

Wodka

No, I didn't make a typo in the title of this post.  That's how Mongolians actually pronounce "vodka".  I have a linguistics degree, so I know a little bit about how to tell people how to pronounce speech sounds, and I tell them all the time, "no, when you talk about how much you love vodka, you have to bite your bottom lip and blow out. I promise I'm not trying to make you look like an idiot; that's just the way we do things in English", but I don't think they believe me, because I still hear a lot about "wodka".  Oh, okay, at least I tried.

More Milk

Last month (or maybe it was even in October-- I'll have to check), I made a post about the outrageous percentages of milk in Mongolia and about how 2% milk is touted as diet milk.  Well, here are the pictures that prove it.  I can'timagine pouring 3.5 % milk on my Cheerios in the morning... ugh!

Bakeries...

in foreign countries kill me!  I mean, they all have these BEAUTIFUL cakes, and you would expect them to taste every bit as good as they look, but somehow, they never fail to disappoint.  And no, I'm really not as picky as I know I sound.  It's like bakeries in Asia don't seem to think that sugar is an important inredient in a cake.  So thy don't put any in.  And maybe they also think that butter isn't too important.  So cakes are lackin in that.  And the result i a cake that is dry and not tasty.  Disappointment.  But they sure are pretty to look at.

The State Department Store

Lonely Planet describes the State Department Store as worth a visit just to see how much stuff they have all crammed into one building, so I visited expecting an eclectic mix of mayhem, but I was disappointed.  It just had your standard department store shoes, clothes, et cetera, but not even the best selection.  On the top floor, there is a very miniature food court (think, three options) and a bookstore that carries only Mongolian books and a few ESL textbooks.  There's also a stationery shop, which is decent, but much more expensive than the little shops that are everywhere else on Peace Avenue.  There's a gym, too, so if you feel like being pervy, you can stand and watch the buffest Mongols working out.  All in all, the State Department Store kind of depresses me.  And I don't like going there because I always have the impression that the masses of people standing around in front of the store or just inside the entrance are trying to figure out the best method to get into my pockets.

The Boy

As I mentioned a few posts back, I met a boy the other week.  We were supposed to have a date on Thursday night.  And we had also made a day date for Friday.  And we had plans to go to the opera together on Saturday.  And it turned into a massive, never-ending three-day date.  And I'm on cloud nine.  Wow!  He is actually almost too good to be true.  I'm so happy!  This guy makes me happier than my last three boyfriends all added together!  I really hope this feeling lasts, and I can't see it ever stopping...

The Grab n Go

I've never actually eaten here, but it seems intriguing.  It seems like pretty much everything on the menu is meat, though, and I'm afraid of getting really low quality meat from places like this.  I should try it, though-- it just may surprise me.

Pizza Broadway

God, I've been in Asia for far too long.  I am now the type of person who takes photos of her food in restaurants.  A few weeks ago, I had the week off from my full-time job, so I decided to treat myself and go to a restaurant.  I'm not embarrassed to go to a restaurant alone.  This is Pizza Broadway on Peace Avenue.  I was surprised... it was pretty good!  I had the mango-something drink (it was the drink with mango and ice cream in it) and the BBQ chicken pizza, which was not at all like what BBQ chicken pizza is in Canada, but which was tasty, nonetheless.

Winter is Here!

I love everything about this lady's outfit, from her massive fur hat, to the colour of the blue of her fur-lined del.  It's incredible!  If I could pull that off, I absolutely would, but alas! I was in a fur shop the other week, and I was trying on large fur hats just for the fun of it, and they just really don't suit me!  Too bad, especially since they are ridiculously cheap here (think, $27 for a massive fur hat-- I'm not shitting you!).

Anyway, it's -25 Celcius with windchill here in Ulanbaatar.  I've tried telling people here that it's every bit as cold where I come from (the Canadian prairies) as it is in Ulaanbaatar, but still Mongolians insist on condescending to me about my ability to handle the cold.  Well, I've got news for you: with windchill, it is -40 Celcius in my hometown today.  Compared to UB's puny -25 Celcius (actually, -25 was a few days ago-- today felt a lot warmer than that).  It's actually COLDER where I come from, so will you please stop condescending to me about my ability to handle the weather?  Please!

Chess

The title of this post says that it is about chess, and the picture is, indeed, about chess, but o.my.god. I am not going to write about chess.  Just yesterday, I wrote about how my students make me happy.  Then, today, I come to my part-time job, and two classes in a row, my students manage to prove that wrong.  In the first class, I'm trying to explain something, and my students are sitting there talking to each other, joking around, and not listening whatsoever.  I told them that this behaviour was unacceptable, but they continued to do it.  I warned them that I can be either an extremely fun teacher (like what they have seen up until now), but if they disrespect me (and I feel incredibly disrespected when it's obvious that nobody is listening to me), then I can also be an absolute bitch.  Then, I go to my second class.  I start every class by reviewing the homework which I assigned in the previous lesson.  That way, we can be sure that everyone arrived at the correct answer and that they understand what we are learning.  It should take a maximum of twenty minutes.  Maximum.  This fucking class didn't do the homework.  I don't mean that a couple people didn't do the homework.  I mean that absolutely nobody did the homework.  Making them answer a question was like pulling teeth, and it took the entire fifty fucking minutes of class to review their homework.  I ended up slamming my whiteboard marker down four minutes early and walking out of class because 46 minutes of trying to be patient when I'm actually incredibly pissed off that no one did my homework is apparently all I can manage.  Thank you for listening to this rant.

The Three Hills of Misfortune 3

This is my last post with a picture of the Three Hills of Misfortune.  Again, I thought it was a beautiful ballet.  The costumes reminded me a bit of Ukrainian dance (particularly the men's costumes).  This is my favourite photo from Three Hills of Misfortune.  I couldn't get a non-blurry photo because I had to turn off my flash and the dancers wouldn't stand still for long enough for me to get a good shot.  I think the blurriness kind of adds to, rather than detracts from, this photo, though.  :)

In other news, I had a rather unfortunate and unsettling incident on the bus yesterday.  I started off this week on top of the world.  I didn't tell you before, but at the ballet on Sunday night, I met a boy.  I really like him.  He's cute and smart and really, really nice.  We made plans to go to the opera together this coming Saturday.  And we might bake a pumpkin pie together for American Thanksgiving (even though it's not Thanksgiving for me).  I was so excited about meeting this awesome guy, I felt nothing could ruin my good spirits this week.  Nothing whatsoever.  I was wrong.  Yesterday, I was assaulted on the bus.  For doing nothing at all.  I was sitting there, just minding my own business, when this crazy rabid bitch (a person, not a dog) attacked me.  She punched me in the face (she had a wimpy punch, though, so it didn't hurt), kicked me in the legs (again, she had a rather wimpy kick, so it was ok), and then she grabbed handfuls of my hair and pulled as hard as she could (that /did/ hurt).  Then, she starts bashing my head against the wall in the bus.  She had my head down and she was pulling my hair, so it was hard for me to put my head up to see, but I tried to hit her back anyway (I mean, I had to protect myself).  Finally, at last, I managed to grab on to a handful of her hair, and I think I was actually just about to get the upper hand when two people got in between us.  Funny how when she was kicking the shit out of me, none of the Mongolians on the bus got up to help, but when I started to fight back, there were immediately two guys in between us.  She is a lucky bitch.  At the risk of making myself sound like a crazy bitch, I wanted to pummel her.  I wanted to pummel her face over and over and over again.  I wanted to beat that bitch black and blue.  I wanted to knock her down and kick her senseless.  I did muay thai for three years, and I believe I would have been capable of this.  Never in my life have I ever wanted to beat someone up as badly as I wanted to beat her up (I have actually never ever until yesterday even remotely had the desire to even slap a stranger, but when you're attacked out of nowhere for nothing, it makes you want to fight back).  She is extremly lucky I didn't fight back (much).  She's lucky that the only fighting back I did was in the interest of defending myself.  She's lucky that I did not fight back in the interest of defending myself and of hurting her.  She's just incredibly lucky, that's all I can say.  I don't know how I held myself back (I could have gotten past those two guys in between us), but I did, and I guess that makes me a better person.

As I'm typing this, I'm reminded about the incident a few summers ago on the Greyhound bus in Canada.  I guess I'm lucky the crazy bitch didn't have any knives or guns on her, or else things might have been much, much worse.  As it is, my hair is considerably thinner today than it was yesterday (yesterday, after the incident, as I ran my fingers through my hair, I was also pulling out handfuls and handfuls of hair), and my neck and shoulders are killing me, but other than that, I am fine.  I need a hug.  I need someone to hug me while I cry.  But I'll be fine.  It doesn't make me think too much of Mongolians right now.  When I look at my colleagues or my students, I try to remind myself that they are not the same as the girl on the bus, that the bus incident is an isolated incident, that the people who are normally around me are good people.  Still, I can't help feeling that when my contract finishes, I will be out of here so fucking fast, they'll never see me go, and I never plan on looking back.  The only thing that is getting me through this week now is how much I'm looking forward to seeing the boy this weekend.

The Three Hills of Misfortune 2

Today, another post about the Three Hills of Misfortune.  I really loved this ballet.  For me, it's right up there with The National Ballet of Canada's presentation of the Four Seasons, Alberta Ballet's Carmina Burana, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's interpretation of The Magic Flute as far as favourite ballets I've ever seen.  One thing that really struck me about The Three Hills of Misfortune was the amount of flexed footwork (the second photo of this post is a great example).  I've never seen so many flexed feet in a classical (character-classical?) ballet, and it was BEAUTIFUL!

The Three Hills of Misfortune

When I went to see the Three Hills of Misfortune last month, I didn't really know what to expect.  I wasn't even entirely sure whether I was going to see a ballet or an opera, but I was delighted to find that it was a ballet!  I adore the ballet!  I did ballet for twelve years when I was growing up, and I did Ukrainian dance for ten years.  Since there was some overlap in the time I did ballet and the time I did Ukrainian dance, I actually danced for thirteen years.  Now that I'm getting to be an oooooo-la-looold lady, that's just under half my life that I spent dancing, but it's still a pretty significant chunk of my life, particularly considering that I don't remember most of my first three and a half years, but I do remember all the years I spent dancing.  But I digress...

... back to the ballet!  It was incredible!  It was classical ballet, but it managed to make me nostalgic for both ballet and Ukrainian dance at the same time (usually, I only ever miss one or the other, but not usually both at the same time).  It was incredible.  It was beautiful.  It was moving.  It made me want to cry (I sound like a big baby, don't I?), and I'm not usually one to be moved to tears by art or dramatic presentations.  It was just incredible.  The storyline, itself, was little more than a Mongolian adaptation of Romeo and Juliet (from what I could gather-- I was too cheap to buy a programme), but the sets, costumes, and especially the dancing was were all absolutely amazing!  If you ever go to Mongolia and have the opportunity to see this ballet, please do. You won't regret it!

The Fountain of Bakhchisarai

Tonight, despite the cold outside and the invitingness of my bed and my comfy blankets, and the fact that I've developed an attachment to sitting by my window sipping delicious hot chocolate made with hot milk, I made it to the opera.  Tonight's opera was "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai".  Because of the title, I was expecting a Mongolian opera, but then, when I went to buy my ticket, I saw a notice on the wall that said it was an opera by Puccini, so then I was expecting some kind of Italian opera.  Imagine my surprise!  It was closer to a Mongolian show after all!  So, when I got home, I googled "Fountain of Bakhchisarai" and found that it was actually originally a poem by Pushkin.  But, my surprise didn't actually stop at the fact that it was a Mongolian-type performance.  I was also surprised to find that I was watching a ballet, not an opera.  The poster outside definitely said that the show was an opera, but I adore the ballet, so I was so happy to find that the sign outside was misleading and we were watching the ballet version of this story, instead.  And it was so cool.  It was part classical ballet, part character ballet, part Ukrainian-type dancing, part belly dancing (en pointe), and all beautiful.  This is my second Mongolian ballet that I've seen.  I have to admit that I think I enjoyed the other Mongolian ballet (The Three Hills of Misfortune) slightly better, but really only slightly.  Maybe tomorrow, I'll post some pics from The Three Hills of Misfortune so you can see what I'm talking about, and later on either next week or next month, I'll post some pictures which I took from The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.

The Hi-Fi Music Store

I love this music store.  It's on Seoul Street.  Remember the post in which I talked about finding Time and Newsweek in English and then said that I thought the Mongolian porn was much more interesting and bought some for my brother as a Christmas gift?  Well, this is the same store.  Only, every time I've gone back, they haven't had any more Time or Newsweek in English.  Too bad.  But I still really like this store for some reason.  One day, as I was walking down Seoul Street, I heard Arcade Fire blasting down the street.  What do you suppose was the source of this musical delight?  You guessed it!  Hi-Fi Music Store!  I'm in love.