So - I went to the dentist..........
I had been given the telephone number of a Korean dentist, who spoke perfect english, and who was very suave and charming. I almost found myself fawning. Almost.
He Xrayed my tooth (as has been done several times before, by every dentist I go to telling them about the pain. As a healthcare professional, I recognise very well the look on the face that accompanies their glance at my Xray, it says "you're faking/imagining/hawking for drugs). Of course there was nothing to see, tho my friend Yadma who had come to hold my hand said she saw the Xray and I had very beautiful inner teeth. So it wasnt all bad.
Anyway, he says, no cracks, no holes, but a very very deep filling. In fact, its more filling than tooth. (in my head at this point I see Alec Guiness as Obi Wan Kenobi's ghost telling Luke about Darth Vader, "he's more machine than man now" in that fabulous singysongy voice that I put on to make my sister laugh so hard she cant breathe). ANYWAY - upshot is he wants to drill it out, and refill. I am carried along by the suave, and by trying not to laugh at the alec guiness thing, and so i dont even look to see if the needles are clean, oops.
So he injects me, and i numb up, and he drills and i dont like it, but its more painless than any dentist i ever saw in the UK (every time I go to the dentist in the Uk I need to take a "time out" - seriously, I dont know what is wrong with me, I just hate having a strange man's fingers filling my mouth and sticking thing in it that hurt). He puts in a temp filling, and says, if the pain continues, come back on tuesday and he will do root canal.
At these words my world goes into slow motion, like in the movies, I say "what" in a voice that sounds like I left half my palate at home,more like "ghuhut" and i watch his lips as he says again
"rooooooooooot caaanaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll"
I dont even know what it is, but it sounds so heinous that the muscle under my eye is twtching, but my britishness is irrepressible - "LOVELY!" i profess brightly, "how wonderful. When can we do it, tuesday? Splendid, I cant wait, awfully jolly of you to fit me in, what, i say, wont that be a gas. well, orf i go, back in a couple of days. toodle pip."
Suddenly I am bertie wooster, and suddenly my world has collapsed. I cant have root canal, i will die. probably, maybe, highly likely at the very least. I cant NOT do anything because i will die, probably. So I stop trying to make a decision and just curse my rotten luck and my even more rottener crappy teeth, and my maxillo facial neural pathways, if it wasnt for them all would be fine and I wouldnt feel like something with claws was burrowing into my jaw using my tooth nerve as a hand rail.
So - thats today, five hours til root canal. I feel kind of sick, although (v naughty I know, shhh dont tell the BMA) a friend of mine has given me a little something designed to help hysterical housewives, so I am planning to pop this little blue about 30 mins before drill commencement and I hope this will subdue me somewhat.
It is -15 outside, I have strted wearing thermals, I forgot that I actually like them, mine, like all of my clothes, are skin tight - and I feel snug and serene in them, its like a full body hug from silk and lambs wool (no messing about with viscose darling).
I actually want it to get colder now. I wont have long to wait, its getting into the -20s at night now.
righto - I have heard tell of an american in the hospital, and I am going forth to investigate.
bayarte
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Friday, 12 November 2010
What -15 feels like. And how I am a walking cliche.
Aaah, winter is upon us, the ice is creeping over the pavements like a subtle spill of slippery slidiness. The temperature is into the double figures of minusness. The snow falls are frequent tho not prolonged.
The snow is nice, tiny mini flakes, cascading from the everpresent sky coming to gently dance upon my eye lashes like so many baby ballerina butterflies brushing my cheeks with soft coldness that is a sweet remedy to the razor sharp wind that boxes my ears and stings my nostrils.
my toes are cold, but all else is fine, i pull my thick tights up high to my middle and wear my wool mix skirt often so i feel like a character in a story set in a girls boarding school in yorkshire circa 1905.
The air is changeable, sometimes so full of coal smog that I become instead a character form a Dickens novel, living in London in the 19th century and wracked with consumption.
my tooth aches, it woke me ast night frm a dream about going camping and forgetting my sleeping bag and being in a bad mood and walking with andrew and carping on about it then narrowly avoiding being hit by a car and andrew laughing at my misfortune, then awake, and pain.
So I am going to go to the dentist. We shall see how this goes. I am pretty hardcore in almost every way, I do martial arts, I have tattoos, I ride horses, I climb rocks and trees and anything with footholds that looks like it has somehting fun at the top of it, I have laid out dead bodies, I have restrained mad men, I have seen some things, and yet - and yet, how utterly banal that I am incapable of dealing with a trip to the dentist.
How embarrassingly NORMAL.
I shall of course report on the events of the visit as and when.
The sleep deprivation and resulting caffeine overdose is to blame for the jerken sprangling of this post.
The snow is nice, tiny mini flakes, cascading from the everpresent sky coming to gently dance upon my eye lashes like so many baby ballerina butterflies brushing my cheeks with soft coldness that is a sweet remedy to the razor sharp wind that boxes my ears and stings my nostrils.
my toes are cold, but all else is fine, i pull my thick tights up high to my middle and wear my wool mix skirt often so i feel like a character in a story set in a girls boarding school in yorkshire circa 1905.
The air is changeable, sometimes so full of coal smog that I become instead a character form a Dickens novel, living in London in the 19th century and wracked with consumption.
my tooth aches, it woke me ast night frm a dream about going camping and forgetting my sleeping bag and being in a bad mood and walking with andrew and carping on about it then narrowly avoiding being hit by a car and andrew laughing at my misfortune, then awake, and pain.
So I am going to go to the dentist. We shall see how this goes. I am pretty hardcore in almost every way, I do martial arts, I have tattoos, I ride horses, I climb rocks and trees and anything with footholds that looks like it has somehting fun at the top of it, I have laid out dead bodies, I have restrained mad men, I have seen some things, and yet - and yet, how utterly banal that I am incapable of dealing with a trip to the dentist.
How embarrassingly NORMAL.
I shall of course report on the events of the visit as and when.
The sleep deprivation and resulting caffeine overdose is to blame for the jerken sprangling of this post.
Friday, 5 November 2010
the pub quiz is dead, long live the pub quiz
its true, the pub quiz is no more. Sad times.
In the last month I have been busy busy. I have been involved in designing a trianing day for the interpreters, as vso state they cant offer a very high salary to interpreters, so they cant get such a high standard of interpreters. So we decided to make a group to try and maximise the efficacy of interpreters, by providing creative training to help them work to their full potential.
It went very very well, and all the interpreters gave very good feedback, so that was a buzz. Short lived as it turned out as things went sour when the volunteers, interpreters and vso staff had a big tangle about how and how much the interpreters get paid.
anyway, I have also been going to the theatre as much as possible, went to see the russian ballet do Romeo and Juliet, which was absolutley stunning, exquisite. I have also been to see two Mongolain Ballets, which are great, wonderful costumes and a really interesting interpretation of ballet. Next I am going to see 'La Boheme' and the magic flute.
Once a week a group of us have a film night, where I come over to Nicks at 6pm and start cooking a vegge pasta dish, others arrive and we watch obscure films and discuss them with hilarity.
I went the other day to see a performance done by a group of expats, a theatre group who put on "the fantasticks", it was hilarious, tho perhaps not always intentionally.....
work ticks along nicely, now instead of the nurses coming to me, I now go to the departments, and give informal lessons on the wards, and everyone seems much happier with this arrangement.
anyway - i am being muchly distracted by poeple talking to me....so now just going to post a load of photos from charleine's visit. these are her photos, and I think they are wonderful, she is an artist and her website is http://www.charleineb.com/
In the last month I have been busy busy. I have been involved in designing a trianing day for the interpreters, as vso state they cant offer a very high salary to interpreters, so they cant get such a high standard of interpreters. So we decided to make a group to try and maximise the efficacy of interpreters, by providing creative training to help them work to their full potential.
It went very very well, and all the interpreters gave very good feedback, so that was a buzz. Short lived as it turned out as things went sour when the volunteers, interpreters and vso staff had a big tangle about how and how much the interpreters get paid.
anyway, I have also been going to the theatre as much as possible, went to see the russian ballet do Romeo and Juliet, which was absolutley stunning, exquisite. I have also been to see two Mongolain Ballets, which are great, wonderful costumes and a really interesting interpretation of ballet. Next I am going to see 'La Boheme' and the magic flute.
Once a week a group of us have a film night, where I come over to Nicks at 6pm and start cooking a vegge pasta dish, others arrive and we watch obscure films and discuss them with hilarity.
I went the other day to see a performance done by a group of expats, a theatre group who put on "the fantasticks", it was hilarious, tho perhaps not always intentionally.....
work ticks along nicely, now instead of the nurses coming to me, I now go to the departments, and give informal lessons on the wards, and everyone seems much happier with this arrangement.
anyway - i am being muchly distracted by poeple talking to me....so now just going to post a load of photos from charleine's visit. these are her photos, and I think they are wonderful, she is an artist and her website is http://www.charleineb.com/
coloured garages in Erdenet
me and uya in erdenet
hiking up the hill in erdenet
funland in erdenet
the black market - felt for gers
horse skulls in erdenet
bed factory security guards ger
lunch with the twins, I dont look so impressed but I was just tired, I actually love mongolian food...
horrid tricksy horse
the view from Zaisan
pollution defence
fabric stall at teh market
monument at erdenet
my beauties
lady and her ger
the main square in erdenet
more photos as and when I collate them.
Friday, 22 October 2010
The post-apocalyptic Fun Fair and the curious incident of the peace corps in the night time
za za za, I am trying to collate my brain cells to write a 15 minute lesson on Cardiac Surgery Nursing, which is hard, as that is realy just 7minutes of me talking, taking interpretation into account, and what on earth can one say in 7 minutes?
So, I am defering this task, to upload the photos I took in the fun fair in UB. It is so funny, it is set in the "childrens park" which was closed until the 1st of september. It has a collection of rides of dubious safety, and is part building site. Being there felt like being in some strange dream, but a couple of the rides were really fun.
The big wheel is not working, and I dont think I would have gone on it even if it was. Health and Safety is not a concern for mongolians..... It is generally not a huge concern for me, but being in a metal contrption that is help together by elastic bands and scotch tape was a step too far even for me.
Oh, I went to party the other day, and it was ok, but strange to see so many new faces, and missing my old pals, and realsing suddenly that I am one of the veterans now! I was just leaving when a scrummage occurred, one of the hosts had discovered a pair of amorous peace corps in her bedroom, and was throwing them out of the party, I had to restrain myself from chanting "jerry jerry jerry" as the americaness of it all was utterly hilarious.
Today the office is quiet, which is so nice, and my colleagues seem to have remembered who I am and what I am doing here. Yesterday I gave a breif (30mins) talk on the Nursing Process and Holistic, evidence based Nursing Practice, to the entire nursing staff, about 250 people. It actually went really well, and I was especially impressed with Zolo. I only saw a handful of people asleep in the audience, and they clapped at the end, and today my colleagues were very nice about it, and want me to do one every two weeks! Yaanaa.
So I will probably stop doing my Chingeltei lectures, and focus on the hospital for now, I think I may be bailing out of Mongolia soon, earlier than planned.....so I want to make sure I leave with a whole lot of information collated efficiently for the hospital, so the nurses can access it after I have gone home.
sigh.
So, I am defering this task, to upload the photos I took in the fun fair in UB. It is so funny, it is set in the "childrens park" which was closed until the 1st of september. It has a collection of rides of dubious safety, and is part building site. Being there felt like being in some strange dream, but a couple of the rides were really fun.
Oh, I went to party the other day, and it was ok, but strange to see so many new faces, and missing my old pals, and realsing suddenly that I am one of the veterans now! I was just leaving when a scrummage occurred, one of the hosts had discovered a pair of amorous peace corps in her bedroom, and was throwing them out of the party, I had to restrain myself from chanting "jerry jerry jerry" as the americaness of it all was utterly hilarious.
Today the office is quiet, which is so nice, and my colleagues seem to have remembered who I am and what I am doing here. Yesterday I gave a breif (30mins) talk on the Nursing Process and Holistic, evidence based Nursing Practice, to the entire nursing staff, about 250 people. It actually went really well, and I was especially impressed with Zolo. I only saw a handful of people asleep in the audience, and they clapped at the end, and today my colleagues were very nice about it, and want me to do one every two weeks! Yaanaa.
So I will probably stop doing my Chingeltei lectures, and focus on the hospital for now, I think I may be bailing out of Mongolia soon, earlier than planned.....so I want to make sure I leave with a whole lot of information collated efficiently for the hospital, so the nurses can access it after I have gone home.
sigh.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
the night train, the hypnoscreen and three dramatic characters
Hi - so, wow, I didnt realise it had been a whole month since the last post. Since then, I have had my friend C staying - visiting from Paris for 2 weeks. her first couple of days I had to work, and let her sleep off ehr jet lag, and in the evenings we ate beef stew and drank red wine and created the perfect itinerary for her stay.
We decided to take advantage of how long she was here for to do a kind of minibreak. We decided to spend three days in Erdenet, which is proudly touted as Mongolia's Third Largest City. Mongolia only has three cities. I have a Mongolian friend here in UB who's family live in Erdenet, and she was going ot be visiting that weekend too, so we were very excited, and were not disappointed.
We travelled up on the night train, as this was the cheapest form of transport, and meant we didnt waste a whole day travelling. It was cool, the same soviet train as I went to Selenge in. I didnt sleep much, as I was engrossed in my book, and also kept awake by the snoring and farting of my fellow passengers, but I was very restful, on the top bunk, being rocked by the train. There was a seatbelt that I tried to strap myself in with, but in true Mongolian style, it of course didnt work, so I was mildly concerned that I could be thrown out of my little nest, especially since stopping suddnly is quite a strong mongolian trait....
However, we arrived in Erdenet unscathed, but pretty sleepy, we got poked and prodded out of bed about half an hour before we stopped, but the surly train attentant. One thing I will NOT miss form Mongolia is the constant prodding. Please do not touch me, I am British.
We stood looking bewildered for a while, as the train statoin is outside the city, but deflected the "taxi!" calls, and opted intead to get on a bus we saw. I asked people on it if it went to erdenet, and they said yes, but seemed very bemused. I thought it was just because they didnt see so many foreigners, but soon relaised that all the passengers of the bus were young women who were dressed very similarly....and then the bus stopped at a school nd everyone got off - a haa.
Uya rang and told us to get a taxi to her family home, where her sisters would look after us. This we did and soon found ourselves drinking sudete (salty milk tea) and talking about Justin Beiber (the girls were 17, very cute, very sweet, but with questionable music taste).
After a hearty lunch of boiled mutton spine, me and C passed out the sofa's, both having mad dreams. We were so done in that that evening we just found a hotel, and hung out eating bread and cheese and chatting til we fell asleep.
next day we met up with Uya, and went with her to visit her parents bed factory. It was so cute. A higgldy piggldy collection of ramshackle buildings, with a security guard living on site, in a ger, which we went into too. Unfortunately, I had neglected to charge my camera battery, so after taking the one picture above, which is C and N at the apartment, my camera went byebye, and I am waiting for C to put hers up online so I ca steal them for le blogge.
So we watched the menfolk building wooden bed frames, very nice workmanship, and the then to another building, to see women putting the mattresses together, first compiling a plethora of springs, then upholstering them.
It was interesting to see how they worked, quiet, serious, the place seemed an unorganised mess, but there was also a strong sense of process about it.
After the factory we headed to the black market, which was nicer than the one in UB by a huge long shot. the stuff was much better quality, there were much less people, who were much less pushy, and the atmosphere was super chilled, rather than frenetically tense. I bought a bag and a pair of plimsolls,
after more wandering and a visit to the 'funfair' where we took a ride ont he big wheel, which was very big, and had no security features, so quite terrifying, C and I went to get a pizza while Uya went to have family time. then we met up again at a bar later that night, and went on to a night club. the club was seemingly quite fancy, the light show was the usual seizure inducing dazzlefest, and the music was the usual cringy R&B, and the clientelle were actually a lot less pretentious than the UB lot. Nice place, I thought, til I went to the toilet.... two squat holes, with swinging doors were the unisex loos. one of the doors had a big panel missing, the other didnt shut properly, or lock. nice. People were barging in and out constantly, smoking heavily, and chatting loudly, and the space was tiny, but my bladder was protesting, so I squeezed my way through the puffing gibbering crowd, and went for the squat. I could hold the door shut while I peed, but as soon as I let go to pull up me bricks, the door was flung open, by a girl who had seen me go in there, seen my hand holding the door shut, yet who still thought it would be ok to walk in and trample over me.
This is another thing I will never understand, the mongolian delusion that two solid objects can occupy the same space at the same time.
Anyway, the club was fun, we danced, and were 'chatted up' by a group of giggly young men (never understand giggly men, it is all wrong in my opinion, and freaks me out - are you a 9 year old girl or are you a MAN?)
The next day me and C were up early ish to go for a wee hike in the hills, which was ace, the fresh air, the views, and then we were invited into a ger by a very sweet lady called muugii, who offered us aruul, and spoke to us in the broken english she had taught herself from a book, she had a hilarious little booklet called "american idioms" which contained some funny little colloquialisms.
back to the flat for salty tea and watchig "dance your ass off" which even dubbed in mongolian is probbly the BEST reality show I ever saw, fatties dancing to lose weight, performing, getting judged, getting weighed and crying. aaah, bliss.
We had a slap up korean meal before finding a car to drive us back to UB. The drive back was long and a bit scary at times. Mongolians drive as if they really truly do want to kill themselves, their passengers, and everyone else on the road. We have been told never to be driven at night, and I was a bit nervous as after it got dark at around 8pm it got pretty hairy. We passed a big accident as well, which added ot the fretfulness. But we made it back in one peice, and spent the rest of the week exploring UB, museus, markets, monuments, the fun fair in UB, aving a dinner party, doing the pub quiz (and losing, and the pub has closed down, so what am i going ot do now?!?!), going to the cinema, and the theatre to see a mongolain opera called "three dramatic characters" which was ace, such a spectacle. Didnt think much of most of the singing, but the costumes were amazing, and the last scenes was a wedding party, which had dancing and wrestling, a wonderful show.
We went out on C's last night to kareoke, well, we werent going to go, but we got convinced, and were so glad we went. Loads of people were there, a big ex-pat crowd for the leaving do of an AYAD, and we were all singing awy happily. then there was a power cut, and the music stopped, but we were undeterred, and all kept singing, in the dark, all together, which was so funny and happy.
Not so funny and happy when we had to get up at 4.30am after getting to bed at 3am, to put C on her plane!
So, now life is back to kind of normal, back at work, back to living alone again. We had the interpreters training, that I helped design, and we got very god feedback from that, and our training materials are going to be duplicated and used in other areas, so that is nice.
I had to cancel my Chingeltei lecture today as a doctor at the hospital wants to hang out with me this afternoon, so i am a little nervous about that, as they alwasy seem to misunderstand my role, and start asking me diagnostic questions, which I cant answer, so then they lok disappointed and I die a little inside.
Photos to follow in next post.
Oh yeah, the hypnoscreen - did I ever mention it before? Its a huge screen in the centre of town that shows adverts and stuff, and showed the world cup matches when it was on. it freaks me out a bit, especially the other day I walked past it at dusk, and the light it emitted was so eerie and hypnotic.
it is getting colder here, down to -12 at night, but still around 8 or 9 during the day, and super hot inside as the government has turned the heating on.
so back to hypo/hyperthermia seesaw. What FUN!
We decided to take advantage of how long she was here for to do a kind of minibreak. We decided to spend three days in Erdenet, which is proudly touted as Mongolia's Third Largest City. Mongolia only has three cities. I have a Mongolian friend here in UB who's family live in Erdenet, and she was going ot be visiting that weekend too, so we were very excited, and were not disappointed.
We travelled up on the night train, as this was the cheapest form of transport, and meant we didnt waste a whole day travelling. It was cool, the same soviet train as I went to Selenge in. I didnt sleep much, as I was engrossed in my book, and also kept awake by the snoring and farting of my fellow passengers, but I was very restful, on the top bunk, being rocked by the train. There was a seatbelt that I tried to strap myself in with, but in true Mongolian style, it of course didnt work, so I was mildly concerned that I could be thrown out of my little nest, especially since stopping suddnly is quite a strong mongolian trait....
However, we arrived in Erdenet unscathed, but pretty sleepy, we got poked and prodded out of bed about half an hour before we stopped, but the surly train attentant. One thing I will NOT miss form Mongolia is the constant prodding. Please do not touch me, I am British.
We stood looking bewildered for a while, as the train statoin is outside the city, but deflected the "taxi!" calls, and opted intead to get on a bus we saw. I asked people on it if it went to erdenet, and they said yes, but seemed very bemused. I thought it was just because they didnt see so many foreigners, but soon relaised that all the passengers of the bus were young women who were dressed very similarly....and then the bus stopped at a school nd everyone got off - a haa.
Uya rang and told us to get a taxi to her family home, where her sisters would look after us. This we did and soon found ourselves drinking sudete (salty milk tea) and talking about Justin Beiber (the girls were 17, very cute, very sweet, but with questionable music taste).
After a hearty lunch of boiled mutton spine, me and C passed out the sofa's, both having mad dreams. We were so done in that that evening we just found a hotel, and hung out eating bread and cheese and chatting til we fell asleep.
next day we met up with Uya, and went with her to visit her parents bed factory. It was so cute. A higgldy piggldy collection of ramshackle buildings, with a security guard living on site, in a ger, which we went into too. Unfortunately, I had neglected to charge my camera battery, so after taking the one picture above, which is C and N at the apartment, my camera went byebye, and I am waiting for C to put hers up online so I ca steal them for le blogge.
So we watched the menfolk building wooden bed frames, very nice workmanship, and the then to another building, to see women putting the mattresses together, first compiling a plethora of springs, then upholstering them.
It was interesting to see how they worked, quiet, serious, the place seemed an unorganised mess, but there was also a strong sense of process about it.
After the factory we headed to the black market, which was nicer than the one in UB by a huge long shot. the stuff was much better quality, there were much less people, who were much less pushy, and the atmosphere was super chilled, rather than frenetically tense. I bought a bag and a pair of plimsolls,
after more wandering and a visit to the 'funfair' where we took a ride ont he big wheel, which was very big, and had no security features, so quite terrifying, C and I went to get a pizza while Uya went to have family time. then we met up again at a bar later that night, and went on to a night club. the club was seemingly quite fancy, the light show was the usual seizure inducing dazzlefest, and the music was the usual cringy R&B, and the clientelle were actually a lot less pretentious than the UB lot. Nice place, I thought, til I went to the toilet.... two squat holes, with swinging doors were the unisex loos. one of the doors had a big panel missing, the other didnt shut properly, or lock. nice. People were barging in and out constantly, smoking heavily, and chatting loudly, and the space was tiny, but my bladder was protesting, so I squeezed my way through the puffing gibbering crowd, and went for the squat. I could hold the door shut while I peed, but as soon as I let go to pull up me bricks, the door was flung open, by a girl who had seen me go in there, seen my hand holding the door shut, yet who still thought it would be ok to walk in and trample over me.
This is another thing I will never understand, the mongolian delusion that two solid objects can occupy the same space at the same time.
Anyway, the club was fun, we danced, and were 'chatted up' by a group of giggly young men (never understand giggly men, it is all wrong in my opinion, and freaks me out - are you a 9 year old girl or are you a MAN?)
The next day me and C were up early ish to go for a wee hike in the hills, which was ace, the fresh air, the views, and then we were invited into a ger by a very sweet lady called muugii, who offered us aruul, and spoke to us in the broken english she had taught herself from a book, she had a hilarious little booklet called "american idioms" which contained some funny little colloquialisms.
back to the flat for salty tea and watchig "dance your ass off" which even dubbed in mongolian is probbly the BEST reality show I ever saw, fatties dancing to lose weight, performing, getting judged, getting weighed and crying. aaah, bliss.
We had a slap up korean meal before finding a car to drive us back to UB. The drive back was long and a bit scary at times. Mongolians drive as if they really truly do want to kill themselves, their passengers, and everyone else on the road. We have been told never to be driven at night, and I was a bit nervous as after it got dark at around 8pm it got pretty hairy. We passed a big accident as well, which added ot the fretfulness. But we made it back in one peice, and spent the rest of the week exploring UB, museus, markets, monuments, the fun fair in UB, aving a dinner party, doing the pub quiz (and losing, and the pub has closed down, so what am i going ot do now?!?!), going to the cinema, and the theatre to see a mongolain opera called "three dramatic characters" which was ace, such a spectacle. Didnt think much of most of the singing, but the costumes were amazing, and the last scenes was a wedding party, which had dancing and wrestling, a wonderful show.
We went out on C's last night to kareoke, well, we werent going to go, but we got convinced, and were so glad we went. Loads of people were there, a big ex-pat crowd for the leaving do of an AYAD, and we were all singing awy happily. then there was a power cut, and the music stopped, but we were undeterred, and all kept singing, in the dark, all together, which was so funny and happy.
Not so funny and happy when we had to get up at 4.30am after getting to bed at 3am, to put C on her plane!
So, now life is back to kind of normal, back at work, back to living alone again. We had the interpreters training, that I helped design, and we got very god feedback from that, and our training materials are going to be duplicated and used in other areas, so that is nice.
I had to cancel my Chingeltei lecture today as a doctor at the hospital wants to hang out with me this afternoon, so i am a little nervous about that, as they alwasy seem to misunderstand my role, and start asking me diagnostic questions, which I cant answer, so then they lok disappointed and I die a little inside.
Photos to follow in next post.
Oh yeah, the hypnoscreen - did I ever mention it before? Its a huge screen in the centre of town that shows adverts and stuff, and showed the world cup matches when it was on. it freaks me out a bit, especially the other day I walked past it at dusk, and the light it emitted was so eerie and hypnotic.
it is getting colder here, down to -12 at night, but still around 8 or 9 during the day, and super hot inside as the government has turned the heating on.
so back to hypo/hyperthermia seesaw. What FUN!
Sunday, 19 September 2010
dancing geese, daylight robbery, and falling off a horse
Soooo, whats been happening.......
Well, UB has been the usual crazy noisy dust bucket it always is, thought the weather has been nice still, slowly dropping, during the day it was still sunny in the 20's, but every evening got that bit colder. Its coats and proper shoes time now. But what a scorching summer, I am almost looking forward to the chill, though I must remember to set aside an extra ten minutes for getting dressed in the morning.
So last weekend I went to the CIRCUS! It was a much anticipated event, there was a buzz about it in the city. Mongolians LOVE spectacle, pomp and ceremony, and it was hard no tot get caught up in the excitement as we took our places in line, clutching our tickets, which were not cheap at 8000₮ but came gaudily decorated with photos of the many wonders that were in store for us, acrobats, clowns (eurgh), bears and - er - geese.....
Our glee was soon quashed though; the main doors of the circus opened, and we braced ourselves for a forward surge as people pushed to get in and get seats, but none came, some mongolian was being spoken at the front, and the crowd visibly sagged and began to disperse. what??
Luckily one of our mongolian colleagues was in the queue, and had spotted us, she came over to tll us that since the animals for the circus had been detained at the border, the show was being postponed.... yeah, so, thats several hours by car away, yet you let us all stand around until 5 minutes before the show was due to start, for what? hoping for a miracle?
Anyway, our tickets were good for the next day, so 24 hours later there we were agian and this time it was the real deal. And what a show. First there was a gang of acrobats in the most bizarre costumes doing crazy tricks with a jump rope, then hula girls, contortionists, dancing geese - yes, DANCING GEESE! They were amazing, my new crush (shh, dont tell camels). Then trapeze artists, and then some truly terrifying stunts done by young men, seesaws and sticks, cant explain it, but it gave me conniptions. Then a strong man, who my word, was STRONG. All this was interspersed with clowns who I wont talk about as I dont agree with clowns.
Then, the finale....the moment I later felt deeply ashamed of looking forward to so much....the bears. It was awful. the poor poor bears. I had got so excited at teh thought of seeing a real one in real life, that I spared no thought for the reality of the situation. It was just painful to watch. There were three bears, and their fear, distaste, discomfort and sheer despair were palpable. the mongolians whooped and cheered, waving their glow sticks with wild abandon, us westerners sat aghast, hands over mouths, horrified at what we were witnessing.
Anyway, I wont go on about it, suffice it to say that I am now a campaigner for getting performing bears banned.
So, the next day was a scorcher, and I was strolling through town in my floaty dress, one last time to wear it. Now, I am usually hyper alert about my belonings, I cant afford ot lose anything, and I am deeply attached to my things, however, while crossing a busy road, my attention was more on not getting run over than it was about guarding my bag, and having just been to a shop, stupidly, my wallet was at the top of the bag, well, not for long it wasnt, as a little artful dodger went and nicked it. I felt him do it, but as I turned around and grabbed him he made a hulabaloo, in hindsigh I realise this was to distract me form the fact that he was swiftly passing my wallet to his colleague, twisty, so no matter how much I shouted at him and shook him and pinched him that was it, my wallet, and all the money I had - gone.
So that fair took the wind out of my sails I tell you. I was heading for an energy crash anyway, and have spent the last week being ill, flopping around incapable of doing anyhting but feel sorry for myself. In the midst of the misery was a ray of light in the form of a skype with home, meeting my newest nephew for the first time, a gorgeous scrumptious, beautiful baby boy, who made me want to stick my face into the internet to eat him all up.
I even missed the quiz, THAT is how ill i was.
So, today is sunday, and I was convinced by friends to come along on a horseriding trip, country air to blow away the bug. It was good, bu u u u t ... i was given the most psychotic horse, and the most annoying saddle and stirrups.
the stirrups were tied together under the horse, so i had no ease of movement, and right form the get go I could feel that this horse was mental. He bolted almost as soon as we set off. Now, I am cool with galloping, since my first foray with riding here I have done a lot more and got very confident on a horse, so I wasnt worried, until I realsied that the horse was not runnin gfor pleasure or exercise, it was properly bolting. I also realised that my feet had become stuck in the stirrups, so if he tried ot throw me I was in deep trouble....and I ALSO realised that he didnt care how hard I pulle don the reins, he was not stopping, and he didnt seem to be looking where he was going, so one trip on a marmot hole or loose stone, of which there are multitudes, and I was going to be cut into a rather easy two peice jigsaw....
Through divine intervention or runnign out of puff, he finally came to a halt, and cursing I began to try to free my feet. I managed ot get one out, but it had been stuck so tight, and I had such little leeway, that as i pulle dit out, the final release resulted in a kick back into the horses side, which sent him off again - oh f*ck.
That time was ok too, as he got distracted by a water hole, and I was able ot gently free my other foot. The rest of the gang caught up, and I complained to the horse man, who undid the rope that had been tying my stirrups together, and, as it turned out, pre-emptively saving my life.
So, after that it was much more comfortable, and my horse seemed content to walk with the herd, which was really cool, being on the steppe, in the sunshine, with a cool breeze in my hair, atop a horse, amid many horses, this is how I love to ride.
Closer to home, with the camp in sight, horsie stopped to graze, and I saw this as my chance to put my jacket back on, having taken it off earlier while we were in the midday sun. I was moving as gently as possible, and seriously, I have made far more jerky or sudden movements on a horse before, but this one must have sensed I wasnt hodling on properly, and took his chance to bolt again. And this time he threw me. It is a funny feeling, realising you are about ot fall off a horse that is galloping - for a split second I considered making the effort to stay on, but to be honest by now I was sick of this recalcitrant beast, and was glad of the excuse to jump ship.
So jump/fall I did, like, according to eyewitnesses, a stunt woman (curtsy). horse streaking of into the distance, I was glad I wasnt still on it. Up I bounced, lit a rollie, and reassured my fellow riders of my physical integrity.
The horse man brought the horse back, and back I got on it, and this time kept him on a tight rein and led him back to the tether. But that was me, knackered, and pissed off. So after a hearty lunch in the chill wind, I wasnt reeeeally up for another ride, but I got a different horse, which was nuts in a different way, and had a wee trot for a bit, but my heart wasnt in it, so when th horse decided it had had enough, I didnt argue.
So, here I sit, bruised, thinking of having a beer this evening and then going home for an early night with one of the movies I downloaded. Bayarte.
Well, UB has been the usual crazy noisy dust bucket it always is, thought the weather has been nice still, slowly dropping, during the day it was still sunny in the 20's, but every evening got that bit colder. Its coats and proper shoes time now. But what a scorching summer, I am almost looking forward to the chill, though I must remember to set aside an extra ten minutes for getting dressed in the morning.
So last weekend I went to the CIRCUS! It was a much anticipated event, there was a buzz about it in the city. Mongolians LOVE spectacle, pomp and ceremony, and it was hard no tot get caught up in the excitement as we took our places in line, clutching our tickets, which were not cheap at 8000₮ but came gaudily decorated with photos of the many wonders that were in store for us, acrobats, clowns (eurgh), bears and - er - geese.....
Our glee was soon quashed though; the main doors of the circus opened, and we braced ourselves for a forward surge as people pushed to get in and get seats, but none came, some mongolian was being spoken at the front, and the crowd visibly sagged and began to disperse. what??
Luckily one of our mongolian colleagues was in the queue, and had spotted us, she came over to tll us that since the animals for the circus had been detained at the border, the show was being postponed.... yeah, so, thats several hours by car away, yet you let us all stand around until 5 minutes before the show was due to start, for what? hoping for a miracle?
Anyway, our tickets were good for the next day, so 24 hours later there we were agian and this time it was the real deal. And what a show. First there was a gang of acrobats in the most bizarre costumes doing crazy tricks with a jump rope, then hula girls, contortionists, dancing geese - yes, DANCING GEESE! They were amazing, my new crush (shh, dont tell camels). Then trapeze artists, and then some truly terrifying stunts done by young men, seesaws and sticks, cant explain it, but it gave me conniptions. Then a strong man, who my word, was STRONG. All this was interspersed with clowns who I wont talk about as I dont agree with clowns.
Then, the finale....the moment I later felt deeply ashamed of looking forward to so much....the bears. It was awful. the poor poor bears. I had got so excited at teh thought of seeing a real one in real life, that I spared no thought for the reality of the situation. It was just painful to watch. There were three bears, and their fear, distaste, discomfort and sheer despair were palpable. the mongolians whooped and cheered, waving their glow sticks with wild abandon, us westerners sat aghast, hands over mouths, horrified at what we were witnessing.
Anyway, I wont go on about it, suffice it to say that I am now a campaigner for getting performing bears banned.
So, the next day was a scorcher, and I was strolling through town in my floaty dress, one last time to wear it. Now, I am usually hyper alert about my belonings, I cant afford ot lose anything, and I am deeply attached to my things, however, while crossing a busy road, my attention was more on not getting run over than it was about guarding my bag, and having just been to a shop, stupidly, my wallet was at the top of the bag, well, not for long it wasnt, as a little artful dodger went and nicked it. I felt him do it, but as I turned around and grabbed him he made a hulabaloo, in hindsigh I realise this was to distract me form the fact that he was swiftly passing my wallet to his colleague, twisty, so no matter how much I shouted at him and shook him and pinched him that was it, my wallet, and all the money I had - gone.
So that fair took the wind out of my sails I tell you. I was heading for an energy crash anyway, and have spent the last week being ill, flopping around incapable of doing anyhting but feel sorry for myself. In the midst of the misery was a ray of light in the form of a skype with home, meeting my newest nephew for the first time, a gorgeous scrumptious, beautiful baby boy, who made me want to stick my face into the internet to eat him all up.
I even missed the quiz, THAT is how ill i was.
So, today is sunday, and I was convinced by friends to come along on a horseriding trip, country air to blow away the bug. It was good, bu u u u t ... i was given the most psychotic horse, and the most annoying saddle and stirrups.
the stirrups were tied together under the horse, so i had no ease of movement, and right form the get go I could feel that this horse was mental. He bolted almost as soon as we set off. Now, I am cool with galloping, since my first foray with riding here I have done a lot more and got very confident on a horse, so I wasnt worried, until I realsied that the horse was not runnin gfor pleasure or exercise, it was properly bolting. I also realised that my feet had become stuck in the stirrups, so if he tried ot throw me I was in deep trouble....and I ALSO realised that he didnt care how hard I pulle don the reins, he was not stopping, and he didnt seem to be looking where he was going, so one trip on a marmot hole or loose stone, of which there are multitudes, and I was going to be cut into a rather easy two peice jigsaw....
Through divine intervention or runnign out of puff, he finally came to a halt, and cursing I began to try to free my feet. I managed ot get one out, but it had been stuck so tight, and I had such little leeway, that as i pulle dit out, the final release resulted in a kick back into the horses side, which sent him off again - oh f*ck.
That time was ok too, as he got distracted by a water hole, and I was able ot gently free my other foot. The rest of the gang caught up, and I complained to the horse man, who undid the rope that had been tying my stirrups together, and, as it turned out, pre-emptively saving my life.
So, after that it was much more comfortable, and my horse seemed content to walk with the herd, which was really cool, being on the steppe, in the sunshine, with a cool breeze in my hair, atop a horse, amid many horses, this is how I love to ride.
Closer to home, with the camp in sight, horsie stopped to graze, and I saw this as my chance to put my jacket back on, having taken it off earlier while we were in the midday sun. I was moving as gently as possible, and seriously, I have made far more jerky or sudden movements on a horse before, but this one must have sensed I wasnt hodling on properly, and took his chance to bolt again. And this time he threw me. It is a funny feeling, realising you are about ot fall off a horse that is galloping - for a split second I considered making the effort to stay on, but to be honest by now I was sick of this recalcitrant beast, and was glad of the excuse to jump ship.
So jump/fall I did, like, according to eyewitnesses, a stunt woman (curtsy). horse streaking of into the distance, I was glad I wasnt still on it. Up I bounced, lit a rollie, and reassured my fellow riders of my physical integrity.
The horse man brought the horse back, and back I got on it, and this time kept him on a tight rein and led him back to the tether. But that was me, knackered, and pissed off. So after a hearty lunch in the chill wind, I wasnt reeeeally up for another ride, but I got a different horse, which was nuts in a different way, and had a wee trot for a bit, but my heart wasnt in it, so when th horse decided it had had enough, I didnt argue.
So, here I sit, bruised, thinking of having a beer this evening and then going home for an early night with one of the movies I downloaded. Bayarte.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
four meetings and a party
I am meeting'ed out man. New VSO vols have arrived, and in addition to the ICT working group meeting, the VolCom meeting, and the Health Programme meeting (5 hours long, starting at 9am on a saturday - WTF!!) I also had an Interpreters Wrking Group meeting.
We also had a big party to welcome the new volunteers, to what I assure them wil be the most random year of their life, if they make it out alive, and to network with other people in UB.
I cant be bothered to go into it, and bore you with the details, but the Health Programme meeting was really good, and very positive, I was very vocal and attentive, despite the meeting being help the morning after the party, and at parties I tend to dance til 4am, and this one was no exception....
Anyway, the interpreters meeting was also very good, I had a hard time with Zolo at teh beginning, as neither of us knew how to manage the dyamic of volunteer and interpreter, so we learned things the hard way, and I was determined to make sure other people didnt have to. So I am designing a couple of trianing tools, and have roped Zolo into helping me.
I am starting my proper lectures again tomorrow, after a summer of paperwork, audits and holidays. I am actually looking forward ot getting bakc into it - especially since getting the translations of my evaluation forms from my las tlot, which included such heartwarming statements as
"After the lessons I organised group training twice. The nurses were very interested. It is good if Catherine continues her lessons."
"I have got new information"
"The lessons were interesting, I learned many things that I did not know. Thank you Catherine. Thank you Zolo"
woo hoo - I dont need to crawl home a snivelling failure after all. Something is getting through, and now I am more experienced and imprvingin my teaching, and Zolo is pretty much an expert now on all things nursey, and I have got some kudos in the hospital, things can only get better - right?!?!!
anyway, more importantly than development work - I have a big spot on my cheek, and very dry skin. This is not acceptable, face masks are making some difference, but with all the dust and crap in the air, I am fighting a losing battle, and now I actually look my real age, its pretty tragic. Face creams here are stupidly expensive, so I am giving myself inner monologue therapy about getting wrinkles, and how not to have a nervous breakdown about it.....
Most of my pub quiz team has now gone, or quit (you know who you are.....I dont care if you found my competetive approach unnerving.....no one likes a quitter!) so I am gradually rebuilding it, and I think we may emerge a stronger crew.....we have representatives of mongolia, canada, america, and europe. We have a range of ages and experiences, and I think tonight we are in with a chance of winning, although while it used to be JAG American, and Patio who were our main rivals, the new vso's have formed a formidable team aswell, so it will be a tense battle tonight.
Wish me luck!
We also had a big party to welcome the new volunteers, to what I assure them wil be the most random year of their life, if they make it out alive, and to network with other people in UB.
I cant be bothered to go into it, and bore you with the details, but the Health Programme meeting was really good, and very positive, I was very vocal and attentive, despite the meeting being help the morning after the party, and at parties I tend to dance til 4am, and this one was no exception....
Anyway, the interpreters meeting was also very good, I had a hard time with Zolo at teh beginning, as neither of us knew how to manage the dyamic of volunteer and interpreter, so we learned things the hard way, and I was determined to make sure other people didnt have to. So I am designing a couple of trianing tools, and have roped Zolo into helping me.
I am starting my proper lectures again tomorrow, after a summer of paperwork, audits and holidays. I am actually looking forward ot getting bakc into it - especially since getting the translations of my evaluation forms from my las tlot, which included such heartwarming statements as
"After the lessons I organised group training twice. The nurses were very interested. It is good if Catherine continues her lessons."
"I have got new information"
"The lessons were interesting, I learned many things that I did not know. Thank you Catherine. Thank you Zolo"
woo hoo - I dont need to crawl home a snivelling failure after all. Something is getting through, and now I am more experienced and imprvingin my teaching, and Zolo is pretty much an expert now on all things nursey, and I have got some kudos in the hospital, things can only get better - right?!?!!
anyway, more importantly than development work - I have a big spot on my cheek, and very dry skin. This is not acceptable, face masks are making some difference, but with all the dust and crap in the air, I am fighting a losing battle, and now I actually look my real age, its pretty tragic. Face creams here are stupidly expensive, so I am giving myself inner monologue therapy about getting wrinkles, and how not to have a nervous breakdown about it.....
Most of my pub quiz team has now gone, or quit (you know who you are.....I dont care if you found my competetive approach unnerving.....no one likes a quitter!) so I am gradually rebuilding it, and I think we may emerge a stronger crew.....we have representatives of mongolia, canada, america, and europe. We have a range of ages and experiences, and I think tonight we are in with a chance of winning, although while it used to be JAG American, and Patio who were our main rivals, the new vso's have formed a formidable team aswell, so it will be a tense battle tonight.
Wish me luck!
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