Street life

Aaah UB.  What a city.  Every day brings new curiosities and puzzlements.  Just walking around here is an experience in itself.

OK, so we have done roads and traffic, now for somehting more pedestrian.

I mentioned before that there is a lot of building work, road resurfacing and other stuff going on.  The streets round where I live have particularly fervent work going on.  There are HUGE mounds of earth and HUGE craters all over the place.  Nothing is fenced off.  Large machines trundle around with wiry Mongolian men climbing on them.  Blocks of concrete litter the sidewalk.

(NB, I have not gone american, it is just not possible to call what the walk place at the side of the road a "pavement" at the moment, so sidewalk is more appropriate.)

The other day I was almost hit in the face by a swinging lump of concrete as I circumnavigated a crane.  On the corner of the street where LSM lives (his hole has been blocked up! Yana, I will miss him) a group of aimless looking "workmen" constructed and deconstructed a wall three times, before demolishing it and abandoning it.  You've heard of shed boat shed, this was rubble wall rubble wall rubble wall rubble.  I totally reckon it could be a contender for the Turner Prize.

People on the streets are a fascinatingly diverse crowd.  Young mongolians are, for the most part, super trendy and flash.  There are the "migga's" as we call them, who dress hip hop, all baggy trousers and basketball vests and bandanas and attitude.  There are the emo-like boys, skinny with floppy fringes and an air of quiet angst.  There are also the "skin 'eds", neo nazi nationalists, who have shaved heads, wear ripped jeans and bovver boots, and have swastika tattoos and facial piercings.  It was quite weird, I was on the bus once and there was a pair of them, textbook image of a couple of BNP punks (only Mongol).  And I realised that I was the immigrant here, the minority ethnic group.  I had an inkling of what it must have been like to be, for example, an indian living in Peckham in the 1980's or somthing.  We (foreigners) have had a subtle fear of the nationalists instilled in us from horror stories and security briefings.  I just tried to make myself look invisible, and mentally practiced my more ferocious ju jitsu moves.  They pretty much ignored me though.

Then there are the street people, dark red faces and faded brown garb.  Then the traditional people, who are still, in this 30+ heat, walking around in their dels and boots.  They are wizened and dignified.  The men walk with their thumbs stuck in their belts, and wear stetson style hats.  The women are bow legged, and remarkably beautiful despite their deeply lined faced.  They look about a hundred years old, like witchy women from fairy stories.

The young women are the most eye catching at the moment.  In this weather many of them have taken to wearing the tiniest shorts you ever saw.  Others wear beautifuly cut summer dresses, and high heels.  Others look cute in cropped jeans and snazzy vests.

In the evenings the girls go all out, some of the things they wear look like they came straight out of the wardrobe of an eastern european prostitute.  The other day I met a mongolian singer, who was wearing basically lingerie. 

In this heat the men pull up their T-shirts, walking around with their rotund bellies exposed, slappng or stroking them as they walk.  ewww.

There are some bins on the street, and there are street cleaners, but unfortunately the mongolians are, from what I have observed, terrible litter bugs.  There is rubbish everywhere.  Samshed vodka bottles are everywhere and also, oddly, playing cards.  Playing cards all over town. Like confetti outside a church after a wedding.

Then there are bodies and bones.  It is not unusual to see a dead dog in the road, its stiff limbs outstretched, flies covering its mangy flesh.  It is also not uncommon to see a dead, or comatose tramp lying on the ground.  This is the unsavoury side of the city, and of the mongolians harsh attitude to animals and alcoholics.  Random bones are everywhere too, sheep skulls, jaw bones, etc.

In the centre of town, opposite the state department store, there is a huge electronic billboard, that plays adverts all day.  It is like something out of Bladerunner.

Up my end of town, because of all the road works, the cars have taken to drving on the sidewalk.  Every morning I have to throw myself out of the way of an oncoming land cruiser.

So - disjointed post I know, but thats kind of a reflection of street life here.  I was thinking the other day, I am no longer suprised by anythng I see in mongolia.  I love the city for its exceptionally high random factor.  Its such a tiny little metropolis, but every day it changes in some way, its like a living breathing growing entity, that is a bit mental.

Aaah UB.

When you're in UB

I always talk abotu what I have done and how I feel and what I think etc, as I am an egomaniac, and that is how I roll.  However, I have decided to talk a little about some of the aspects of daily life in UB, to put some of my stories into context, and to give to an insight into the things I encounter in my daily life.

I want to start with the buses and taxi's, and traffic and roads, since they are an inescapable, overwhelming, loud and threatening presence n the city, avoiding being run over is an integral part of my day, and nowhere in UB can you escape the sound of the roads, horns are incessant, INCESSANT.

The city roads are always busy.  The main road, Peace avenue, running through the middle from east to west is 6 lanes wide, but is often gridlocked.  Up my end of town, a huge section of the road has been taken up to be resurfaced, this has caused huge problems - buses have been rerouted, traffic jams have increased, its a nightmare.

Anyway, the buses....there are several bus lines, run by different companies.  The big buses, like this yellow one, cost 300₮ for any journey.  They are often crowded, I get a thrill when I get a seat, but often the joy is short lived, as if an elderly person gets on, and wants to sit down, they dont wait for you to offer, they come and hoik you out of your seat.  Fair do's I suppose.

The bus conductor is usually a woman, who seems to have almost supernatural balance.  The bus jolts and rocks constantly, the hand holds are not fixed, they swing from the ceiling, so with every lean and heave of the bus, all the passengers are rocked or thrown backward and forwards.  Sometimes the bus will jerk so violently that everyone is sent hurtling through the bus, landing in a tangled human pile against the front window.  When you have a seat, this is cruelly amusing, when you dont have a seat, it is painful and annoying. 

However, the conductor, seems impervious to the G force, and can walk around the bus with impunity from centrifugal forces.

She is usually very dour, and struts the length of the bus taking money and issuing tickets.  She will poke you in the back to get your attention, and will push you out of the way, if you are in it.

She is fierce and not to be messed with.  A few times I have seen the ruddy faced drunk street men try and get on to the bus, they sway and shout and mumble, and just like in London, all the passengers resolutley ignore them.  Except conductor woman.  Once she has finished collecting the money, she waits for the bus to stop, calls to the driver to open the door, and she pushes them mens right out, usually giving them a good smack upside the head or a kick up the bum as she berates them with shrill ire.

Bus stops are faaaar apart, half a mile or more.  When I first moved to the area, I decided that I would walk to the next bus stop - and pretty much walked the entire way to town.  Bus stops have a little kiosk at them selling cigarettes and sweets, and mobile phone credit (photos to come soon).

Buses squeal to a halt and doors open, people push and shove to get on or off, sometimes the driver gets bored and starts moving away slowly, several times I have jumped on or off a moving bus, oblivious to the engrish sign above the door:

 

At the bus stops the other kind of bus - the hated "micro buses" - also stop. These are people carriers, stuffed with people.  They are a menace on the road, and when they stop at the bus stop, getting in the way of the real buses, a mongol leans out, spits, and then starts shouting the route, in a really annoying monotone.  For me it is "incomprehensible shouting" SPIT "incomprehensible shouting" SPIT, move aside for people to cram in "incomprehensibe shouting" then the big bus wants to get into the bus stop and so beeps his horn long and loud, so the micro bus cheekily beeps back before scooting off, another one hot on its heels, the shouting and spitting to begin again.

I never get the micro bus because, quite frankly, I am 1, disgusted with the conductor person, and 2, I cant understand how they talk so dont know where the bus is going.

What else to say about the bus, hum, sometimes it is so crowded I cant see out of the window, and several times have got of a stop early. There is music playing o the bus, sometimes traditional mongolian warbing ballads, sometimes western pop (mongolians LOVE the Alicia Keys song New York, you hear it at least seven times a day, we all sing along "UB" insteadof New York). 

Mongolians have a different concept of personal space than westerners.  They have no qualms about holding halds and draping their arms around eachother.  Even "tough" looking boys walk down the street in a tender brotherly embrace.

On the bus people will practically sit on top of you, when I have had a seat, I have had people put their bag on my lap, lean onto me, or put their hand on my shoulder to steady themselves.  I am pretty ok with it most of the time, I find it hilarious really, and I have enjoyed embracing it, perhaps being a nurse, and having lots of tactile siblings has helped.

The other day an old lady asked me to help her across the road, she took my hand, and we walked hand in hand - she actually seemed reluctant to et go once we got to the other side, and we walked a little way still holding hands before she laughed and patted me, grinning toothlessly.

Taxi's are great here, I dont get them often as my salary wont allow for too much extravagance, but I do love getting them.  Every car is a taxi, you just stand at the side o fthe road and hold out your arm, fingers down, making a 'camp' gesture, and within 5 - 10 seconds someone has stopped next to you.

It is important to make a show of checking out the milometer though, as taxi fares are charged at 500₮ per kilometer, but some of them will rip you off somehting chronic if you dont stand up for yourself.

the old cliche clichedly annoys me, the assumption that if you are white you are rich.  I rail and rage against the idiotic racism of this assumtion.  Anyway - I wont get into it.  Just when you get in a taxi, make sure they know you are looking at the milometer.  Then when you come to a stop, ask not what the price of the trip is, but how FAR it was.  If you know, then dont ask anything, just give them some money and bail.

Oh, and the roads are basically a free for all, I have already described how crossing is perilous, cars will speed up and come for you.  There are se traffic lights, but mostly people pay them no heed.  At intersections cars and buses all rush to the centre, only to get snarled up for ages, until a policemen comes to untangle them all.  If the road is clear, it becomes some kind of whacky race, the other day the bus overtook a car (on a single lane back street) and I once had a very exhilarating taxi ride - I no longer need ot wonder what it woul dbe like to be in a car chase like off of the movies, for this driver was going very fast, weaving in and out of lanes, it was terrifying but also very fun....

Anyway, that is enough for now.  Having been here for a few months now, and being quite a laid back go with the flow person, I have adjusted well to this place I think.  I tend not to notice or question many of the vagaries of the city.  Although even I raised an eyebrow when I saw a naked man bathing in a pond in the centre of town, but I seemed to be the only one to even notice him!

this chicken has really big talons....

Yesterday I had such a super fun day!  I went with my friends who make the TV show here, to the countryside where they were making an episode about the national park, Terelj.

It is about an hours drive from UB, and our friend Ash drove in his very comfortable car.  Spirits were high, and there was much laughter and singing.  On the way we saw a man at the side of the road, with a big "mad max" style motor buggy, and a HUGE EAGLE!  We stopped the car to have a good old gawp, and the guy beckoned us to come and have a closer look.  He then let us hold the eagle (for a small fee of course) and then pet it! It was sooo cool, the bird was magnificent, and very docile, and not as heavy as I thought it was going to be....

 Whan we got to Terelj, we had lunch first, in a cute little restaurant.

 Then Ash and I climbed to the top of Turtle rock, to be filmed, waving and posing, from the ground.  As we climbed up and around the rock, we came across a gthering of mongolians having some kind of shmen ritual.  there was feathered headresses, coats with bells, and some cool singing.  It reminded me that shamans are somehting I havent seen yet properly.  I made a mental note to find a shamen in UB and see what they're about.

Scrambling down from the rock a little later, we were met with the news that the guys wanted a to get a shot of riding horses.  It is tourist stuff, so you just get a gentle walk on a very docile horse for about ten minutes, for 2,000₮, but it is still quite fun, and you know that the guy with the horse probably doesnt have any other way to make money, so for less than £1, it is fine.

After the horses we walked up to the Buddhist temple, over the rope bridge and up all the steps.  I had been here before, but in the cold - it was a very different experience in the blazing sunshine.

The temple caretaker, this nutty old mongolian guy, really took to us.  And took advantage of having mongolian english speakers there to ask us some mongolian "riddles".  One was

"a man is travelling, he is carrying water in a bag.  He visits a Ger, the woman of the ger gives him some milk.  he puts the milk into the same bag with the water, yet the water and the milk do not mix.  How is this possible?"

Answers on a postcard....it took us ages, we didnt get it right, but I was quite close with my idea. 

the other one was hilarious,

"there is a man, he sees another man walking in the distance.  He wants to go to him.  Why?"

the answer is so mongolian.  I'll tell you next week.

While we were talking we saw a hawk soar overhead, we all turned to look, and the caretaker told us that the hawk lived in the temple, we thought it was a mistranslation, but he pointed to the eaves on the front of the temple, and peering behind a big wooden slat, we could make out the hawks chicks, who started squawking and ruffling, so we tip toed away.

Back to the car, and off to find some camels!  Afer a stop at the river, to paddle and skim stones and mock J for his pronuncialtion of the word foal (he says it like 'fowl').

The camels were pretty scraggly, but we had a quick go anyway, as I just LOVE camels, and I love riding on them, they remind me of star wars creatures.  I cant get enough of them.  My next ambition is to meet a camel baby, oh, what bliss that would be...

Then back to UB, singing songs in the car, and then a slap up chinese meal.

What a great day!

Couple more things from the conference

There are a couple of things I forgot to mention about the conference, the first one, is about finding the snake!!
ONe of the boys found it in his tent, and we all had a good old gawp at it for a while before he took it away, far from the camp site.

Then I just wanted to say a bit more about the train, this is the only photo I could find of me on the train - I was feeling camera shy

THen the fact that apart from at UB, there arent really "stations" as such, just "places that the train stops".  this meant that we had quite a distance between the door and the ground getting off -

And getting back on was even harder! 

Also, the rope bridge, I have come across more rope bridges in Mongolia than anywhere else, its great, very "temple of doom"

Anyway, so that was what I missed out of the last post (these photos I 'nicked' off someone else, but he'd put them on facebook so I dont think he can sue me for copyright - I hope....).

Now, back in UB, life back to however normal it can be in this city.  It is the World Cup, so there is a slightly manic atmosphere, there are tents up for people to watch the football in.  Due to the time difference, the games are live at 10pm and 2am here.  I am NOT into football so will be avoiding all things WC related. 

The last pub quiz used the world cup as a template, the table round was "identify the flag" and embarrassingly, I failed to identify the english flag......hummm....

I hope to go to the countryside on wednesday to take part in another voice box episode, about tourism, I might get to ride a camel again!

I met up with a guy the other day who is doing a very interesting project, travelling the world photographing capital cities.  check out his website at http://www.streetsoftheworld.nl/ 

Oh, and workwise, last week I had the BEST LESSON EVER!  I finally have got the hang of writing a proper lesson plan - and we went through the homework I had given them, and everyone participated and came up with some really good answers.  I was so pleased, I was buzzing.

Tomorrow the lesson is moving the patient, which I did with another group a while ago, and it went very well then, so I hope to repeat that success....

Slipping standards

Yes Mother, you are right, I have been using my blog as a way of bitching and moaning, and its boring - I began to think of it like a private diary - I shall try and make it more interesting!

STILL got the head cold, so life is actually a bit difficult, constant discomfort in my face, and slight deafness, but even I am bored of complaining about how under the weather I feel so moving on....

For the last three days I have been staying at a summer camp in the countryside.  The whole of VSO mongolia went, staff and volunteers, for a conference, where we confered about vso's work in mongolia, practical and logistical issues, directions, networking, etc etc.

The conferring was fine, but boring to any non vso, so I feel I should talk about two notable things.

1, the weather, it was so hot last week, I packed light clothes for the conference.  It was NOT hot at the conference.  It was lovely the first day we got there, and we swam in the river.  That night however, it began to rain......and rain and rain.  We were all sleeping in these wooden cabins, with holes in them......I awoke in the night, with rain pouring into my bed.  No fun!

The next day it rained constantly too, but morale was retained, as everyone spent the day cuddled up to eachother for warmth.  The family who work in the kitchens there live in a ger on site, which was the only place with a stove, so they said we could go in there to get warm.  There were 56 of us - so we took it in turns for groups of around 10 to squeeze in to the ger and dry out a bit.

2, horse riding. I have mentioned before my colleague PF, an alaskan who has three horses out here which he has trained using 'mnatural horsemanship' methods.  He brought them to the conference, and when the weather calmed down a bit, he and I, and another girl went for a ride.  We were out for about an hour and a half, first walking and taking in the scenery, then PF suggested a "lope".  Now, I havent ridden a horse since I was about 6 years old, and back then I was "ponied", as in, someone else help the reins, and I never went faster than a light trot.  I have never actually RIDDEN a horse by myself, but I am game for anything, and felt that I was getting the hang of controlling the horse and that me and him were getting on ok, so I said yeah, why not.

So we galloped through the rolling steppe, and it was so amazing.   Until my horse - for some reason (PF said it was just overexcited) - bucked.

That was probably the most terrifying experience of my life, but I held on for dear life, and got the horse to chill out and stop.  PF said he was impressed.  All I could think of was my sore bum, I had gone clean off the saddle, then WHAP back onto it a fair few times.  It hurts.

Me and the horse made friends again though, and we even did some more galloping - then walked to a river, where my horse became stuck in some mud and started bucking even more wildly than before as it tried to free itself.  WHAP WHAP WHAP! I kept my cool, and kept on the horse, and we got out of that fangle.

here we are having just returned to camp, I was a jellied wreck but kind of pleased with myself for still being alive

The rest of the conference was pretty uneventful, good food, good conversation, a bonfire, a quiz, speeches etc.

We got the train back today, and I am v tired, bed remained wet the whole time, so v v v vcold at night, not a lot of good sleep.  but the place was stunning, and the three days were enjoyable, and although i do have a VERY sore bum, it was worth it for the experience, and PF said I was a real trooper, and I am going riding again soon!

Now though, home to my flat, and to my lovely warm dry bed, and a very early night.

Tomorrow I have to organise the whole of friday's session, and next week's chingeltei lecture.

It is raining hard here in UB too, miserable!

Oh, and we got a trian there and back, that was cool, it was exactly like this train I got one time from Riga to Vilnius, in Lithuania.  The vso bunch took over a whole carriage and it was fun.

Phew, ok, home to bed now - slaters - hope that was a bit better mama!

Some photos of the place, it was stunning -

the railway station

the conference hall

me

some horses

some delinquents

a flower

Mongolian flowers are exquisite - it is a little like something out of the imagination of one of the animators on "Avatar" - they are all so lovely.  I will take some more photos and show you in another post.

total system collapse

Uh oh......

When I was 16 I had Glandular Fever.  Glandular fever is a bit like cystitis, or 'nam, if you havent experienced it yourself you have no idea of the full horror of it, you cant concieve of the misery it brings.

Now, technically, you can only have GF once, BUT once you have had it, your immune system is never the same again, and you can have "relapses".  When I get overtired or run down I begin to get these horrible familiar feelings - weakness, fatigue, low mood, light headedness etc.  it is a bit like when you get a certain feeling just before your muscle cramps, or before you fall off something, that hideous split second when you are suddenly aware of what is just about to happen - the "no man's land" after the pont of no return, but before the onset of the horror. 
So I got the feelings, and I knew I had pushed myself too far energy-wise.  I have had this virus for nearly 2 weeks now but hadnt slowed down my work or fun at all.....stupid girl.  So I fell off the edge of health.  For me, the WORST thing about this, the thing that I dread more than anything else, is the coldsore that I get when this happens to me.  I dont get it on my mouth, that would just be mundane, no I get it in (and crawling out of) my nose, which not only makes me look like an alien is eating my face, it HURTS, it throbs constantly, I am acutley aware of it at al times and I hate it.  The other thing is that it is accompanied by a runny nose and you can imagine the logistical (painful) implications of this.

Anyway, thats where I'm at. 

yesterday was nice at first, it was "childrens day" a national holiday, and there was also a visit from the chinese president, so the centre of the city was crazymad.  I went to a river south of the city for the afternoon, which was very nice

This little group are lovely, we played scrabble and cards, and had a nice picnic.  However, after a couple of hours I was getting restless, and needed the loo, so headed over to the pub nearby where some others I knew were.  It was nice to see a couple of them, but some members of the group was not my cup of tea.

There is something about some people who work in development, or in english teaching abroad, which I find  makes me uncomfortable......one type, is the "save the world" type, earnestly earnest, which is fine, and admirable, but sometimes there is a tinge of desparation about it....

the other type is the "rah rah rah i waaark in development aaarnt i graaaate yaaaaaah" posh SOAS grad with a name like Artemis or Sebastian who are freakishly intelligent but also a pain in the arse.  Then there are the "oh so outgoing" ones, the "I'm mad me" bunch, who are so pleased with themselves for working in a foreign country, you can almost see their minds ticking away with the conversations they are going to have when they get back to their own home "yeah, when i was in Mongolia I - whats that, wht was I doing there?  Oh I was just teaching disadvantaged kids how to read - nothing special, you know, blah blah blah"

Anyway, this is a bit of a bitchy rant, most of the people I have met along the way are great, and fun and nice and laid back, and I have made some lovely friends that I really enjoy hanging out with and who look after me and make me laugh.  Some people are just a bit "meh", and some have given me a bad vibe, and lets just say there were elements of yesterdays afternoon group who gave me the heebie jeebies.

Oh, and what kind of development worker am I?  I am the type that is just a free wheeing hippie, that couldnt get a job anywhere else so thought it seemed like a good idea at the time.....I also owed money so leaving the country was a good option, ha ha.

ps and I am on youtube, voicebox, health episode.  Dont laugh.

Summer sun, somethin's begun

Sain bain uu!

Well, I still have the stinking cold but the sun is BLAZING! This weekend was like being on a mediterranean holiday.  And, like a true "Brit Abroad" I hung out with the lads and got sunburnt. 

I have been reading over my last few blog posts, and it seems like I have just been either partying or battling with mutant mongo viruses, I havent really talked about the fact that aswell as this I have also been working hard!  I have a five chapter booklet on the way, covering nursing fundamentals, Infection control, The nursing process, Pressure area care and pressure sore prevention, Caring for the patient with disabilities and pre and post op nursing.

I am still writing lectures madly, and organising translations, which with nursing terms is an arduous process.  IN the UK i could say, "this patient has friable skin, Waterlow score of 15 as sacral area macerated due to urinary incontinence" for example, and my colleague would immediately know what I was on about.  Here though, not only the language is foreign, but also the concepts, so each word becomes a long explanation.  it is a fasconating process, dont get me wrong, I am relishng the challenge, and I find it very satisfying to come up with transferable metaphors and examples.  but it does take rather a long time.

I'm going to give my students a test on friday, and also give them homework, they each get a very generalised nursing scenario, and I want them to write a little about what they would do in the situation, or in some of them it is what do they think or feel about a certain set up.  I HOPE that this will give me some idea about the prevailing attitudes and modes of practice in the hospital, thereby giving me an insight into the kids of things that I need to address after covering the basics.

I am also trying to design a way of auditing infection control, but it makes my brain ache so I am putting that on hold for now.  I am also doing two 2 hour lecture/seminar sessions per month at the Chingeltei Community Health Practice, and have my schedule for that sorted, last week I did Coronary Heart Disease, next is Asthma and Respiratory disorders, then Diabetes, then the health implications of alcohol misuse.

I was on Telly on sunday talking about health and staying healthy, and extolling the benefits of abstaining from alcohol.

I missed seeing myself on TV though as I was in the pub.

Right, off to sunbathe...........yeee haaaa