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.

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!

a candlelit quiz, galloping through the steppe, and the best breakfast ever.

Over the last couple of weeks I have had a right old time of it.  The days after the music festival I took very easy, as I was so tired after the excitement of having Kate to visit, and staying up late so much.  I went with my good friend (now sadly departed, back tot he USA, sad face) to see "Salt" - I think my discernment about films is eroding out here, I just love going to the cinema so much that even this utter drivel I was entertained by, it was a fun watch, but ultimately frivolous, convoluted, and ridiculous.  Sorry Angelina, but I dont rate you one bit as an actress.

Anyway, so for the following week I was just staying in, eating healthy, going to bed early and generally being very quiet.  Went to the pub quiz on thursday and lost at the TIE BREAKER! Such a disappointment.

I even had a quiet weekend!  Although on the sunday I went to play scrabble and have dinner with my elderly friend George, and then I went off to the airport to meet the new VSO vols.

Then from Monday things got fun again..... My friend Naomi came over from JApan where she lives, and we had a really fun week together, all the phots that illustrate this fun time were taken by her.  I have given up on my camera.

So, she arrived on the monday evening, and as part of her travel package, she had a free night in the Byangol hotel, so we decided to sneak me in too.  She arived on Monday evening, and we went for a slap up meal and cocktails before trundling home to chat until we fell asleep.  The next morning I was so super excited to go and have a BUFFET BREAKFAST.  Surely one of the most amazing things imaginable.  OK, so breakfast is my favourite meal, taking time over breakfast, and eating a lot for breakfast is totally my bag.  I also like a varied breakfast. I was in seventh heaven.  Omlette, sausage, rice, fruit, rolls, jam, chilli sauce, mushrooms, coffee, juice, stir fried vegetables, ham, cheese, I had it all. 

the week was spent wandering round the city, looking at museums, markets, finding authentic mongolian cuisine and me making my debut as co-presenter on "strolling through the decades", a radio show that was sadly cancelled last week, helping film for voice box tv, the english language tv show shown on mongolian national television (which i have been on 3 times now, ahem).  We then spent the weekend at a riding camp in the countryside, galloping through the rolling steppe, stopping for a bowl of yoghurt in an old lady's ger, chasing the cows when they tried ot eat her washing, eating hearty grub and watching marmots bounce around.  All of this activity is now documented below in picture form.....

in the museum, we later saw one of these birds on the steppe!

owls in the museum, they make me think of me and my sister when we were young.

a display ger in a shopping centre....

me standing atmospherically by window in shopping centre

Some modern/traditional mongolians

Zolo and I running to lunch through thte rainGerUs riding through the steppe!Me "filming" (nb, this consisted of pressing a button.sleeping in the ger, i am not a "morning person"..my living room...me the radio star, video killed me....

inside old lady's gernewly wedsfilming from a different angle..ger campmy kitchenyou can see a couple of my students this time!laundry munching cooscanteen we often go for lunch intuftel, one of my favourite mongolian meals

the old lady in the ger

Sorry the photos are all out of order, it was an absolute nightmare trying to upload them, for some reason.

Anyway, Naomi left at 4am on the mondya morning, and i had ot go back to work - then my other friends came back from their travels in Urhangei, for some hastily put together supper, as I had to dash out for a leaving do.

We managed to have a quiet night in watching "Rachel getting married" which we took great pleasure in making fun of pretty much all the over inflated characters.  But all agreed that even thought the characters and actors were pretty wack, the film itself was well made and told an interesting story.

Weds another leaving do.  Thursday the PUB QUIZ, the last one for my dear friend Michelle (she who has recently returned to the USA).  It was a special one, as there was a power cut, so we did the quiz in candle light.  very atmospheric.  And then we WON!  Such a glorious victory.

This weekend, I went with two friends to Terelj, just to hang out in the countryside.  I got sunburned, and climbed some rocks.  I also got an early night, but was not impressed to be woken early early but kids playing football, kicking the ball against the side of our ger.

It is getting cold at nights now, and despite the warmish weather, we all know that Winter is on its way.  I have got so much new stuff for my flat, what with all these people leaving and donating stuf they cant/dont want to take with them, but because of the incessant leaving do's and welcome parties i am barely in my flat!

So - as August ends, I look forward to a quieter September, although I have a friend coming for 2 weeks at the end of september, so who knows when I shall manage to catch up on my beauty sleep.....

Thats not James, its James!

Wowee, what a week.  I had some days off as I had  friend come to visit me from the UK for a week.  I had to work some of it and as she is also a nurse she came to see me "in action".  Here are a couple of photos, from my lecture at Chingeltei FGP, and me in my training room at the hospital, looking very much like a GEEK!

When I wasnt having to work, I managed to take my friend out to the countryside, where she took some great photos, which I have shamelessly stolen.

This is an Airag stall, Airag s the fermented mare's milk.  A big bowl of it cost 2000₮ and we shared it, passing the bowl around, sipping and grimacing.  Airag is hard to describe, it is like tangy liquid yoghurt, it tastes kind of furry, a bit like desicated coconut, only sharp and also like sour milk....it is an aquired taste to say the least.  To me it tastes a bit "wrong" but I still wanted to drink it....

More camels, because, let face it, you cant have too many pictures of camels, they are the most wondrous beasts imaginable.

LOOK at it!  Its like a donkey only better!  I love them!

dude with a bird, he said it was just four months old....not sure how accurate that is, but it is definately a young;un.

me climbing up a rock

katie and I atop rock

mongoliaaaaaaa

birdie flying

Gollum? No - me squeezing through a crevice!

So, that was the trip to the country, it was really nice, although I did have to chuck a hissy fit that morning, seems to be happening more and more, I think it is jsut the hormones..?! Or maybe I really am just a bit of a highly strung madam.

Katie also took some good shots of the area where I live,

sleeping tramp

Ger district

me by my apartment block

So - that was Katies visit in a nutshell, walking, talking, eating, drinking, riding various animals, etc.

The day she left, I went to a music festival in the countryside, with my friends.  It was ace, at firt the weather was so nice, and the setting was stunning,

There was just one stage, a few food vans and a beer van, and about 400 people we guessed.  It was a very relaxed atmosphere, and the music was on the whole pretty good.

(spot the crusty)

It is quite funny, the mongolians, when watching a band, do not dance.  They stand solemnly still watching intently.  It was just us foreigners that were bopping away.

So, we drank beer and ate kebabs and danced and wandered and sat and talked and laughed, and watched the "Mongolian Choppers", the neo nazi's, on big motorbikes, dressed in full nazi regalia.  It would have been scary if it wasnt so ridiculous.  Plus they were jut not threatening, when it started raining we were all crammed in a tent together, and the nazi's were fine, they mostly just pretended not to see us,  but then there was one drunk and a skunk one who came and shook our hands!

I heard people talking about the fact that there was going to be a British act playing, and then I heard someone saying that James was playing.  Now, there is a band called 'James' and I got well excited thinking it was them, but when I looked up to the stage I saw this guy James up there.  I exclaimed, "thats not James, its JAMES!" to the hilarity of my companions.

So, that was the festie, by about 9pm we had kind of had enough, and then it started POURING with rain, as it has been doing quite often lately.

We commandeered a bus to take us back to UB, a bedraggled but cheerful crew

oh, yeah, so I have been complaining about the intense heat, but I take it all back now it is getting chilly....and keeps raining..........

Ok, enough for now, this week I will be working on more lectures, and proposals for measures to improve patient safety, and stuff.  New VSO's arrive over the weekend, then my other friend is coming from Japan to visit, so there will be another long absence and then another photo-filled post, so watch this space.

men at work

wotcha.

This week I have been mostly sweating.  I know I say it a lot but it is SO HOT here, and the humidity has just been hoiked up, so even more rancid.  I am sweating from my eyeballs.  The gross factor has skyrocketed, and I was already pretty gross to begin with

I havent done anything of interest, this is just a rambling post to fill time while I wait for Zolo to show up, so we can carry on with our ward visits.

So, I finished my 'initial programme' of training - this was, to recap for you, a series of lectures, discussions, demonstrations and assignments on five fundamental aspects of nursing,

1, the nursing process (assessment, diagnosis, planning, implemetation and evaluation)
2, Infection Control (basic microbiology, the spread of infections, the effective use of personal protective equipment, and how to deal with exposure to infection, eg, sharps injury.)
3, The physiology, prevention and treatment of pressure damage.
4, Safe moving and handling practices
5, Good practice for nursing patients with a disability

I then did three sessions of basic nursing knowledge, Vital signs, how and why we measure them, and the clinical implications of abnormal readings.  Coronary Heart Disease, phsysiology, signs and symptoms of an impending heart attack.  Respiratory physiology and common diseases of the respiratory tract, including TB, Pneumonia and acute Bronchitis, emphysema and Asthma.

I have also covered Wound Assessment and wound care and nursing documentation.

I have also started researching the WHO's (the world health organisation, not the band) recommendations for improving patient safety, and have written a proposal for the introduction of patient ID bands. 

Anyway, so now lessons are off for the summer, thank goodness, trying to teach when you have sweat in your eyes and you can feel your feet literally swimming in your shoes is NOT FUN. Although I have still been doing my Chingeltei lectures - more on the latest debacle there later.

So I have taken to ambling around the wards asking my students how they have been implementing and sharing the information I gave them.  In ICU they have totally taken on board the pressure area care stuff, and I nearly cried with joy when I saw how consciensiously they were applying all that I had taught.

In the Cardiac Surgery ward, the moving and handling techniques have been adopted, and appreciated.

It is such a buzz - especially since in a lot of the lessons they all just kinda sat there staring at me, falling asleep, or chtting on their mobiles.  Although as I said before, I did notice a definate shift after a while and they became more attentive.

Yesterday, after a comedy of errors, in which I forgot what day it was, lost my memory stick and threw one of my epic hissy fits, I had a lecture at the Chingeltei health centre.  It was on Diabetes, and it started off very well.  However, Zolo began to lose concentration after a while, and then my computer collapsed, and then I pulled the plug accidentally on the projector, couldnt access the english version of the lecture, so I tried to illustrate Ketoacidosis through the medium of contemporary dance, realised I couldnt remember exactly what it actually was, realised the next slide was hyperosmolarity and decided to quit while I was behind and while Z was still at least something resembling conscious.

Went home and had a lovely evening as I have had, for the past two nights, a couple staying with me.  they are friends of friends, but now I have adopted them as they are so lush.  I made a big beef curry, and we sat around my plastic table having some beers and indepth chats about life, love, the universe, party anecdotes and Mongolia.

* I have just been handed, by my colleague, a chocolate biscuit thingey, which was quite nice, and says on the front "It has been prepared with care with naturalness, freshness and lasting superior taste in mind".*

Oh, this is spiralling into another bohemoth post, but I have to add my photos, I saw these mongolian men painting a building the other day, and I loved the visual, so I want to share it.  I had to zoom in, so the picture quality isnt great, but it reminds me of this puzzle I used ot have as a child which was of men at work. Also I just remembered I went for a walk in the country the other day, and climbed up 666 steps to a monument on top of a hill, and then went to a bizarre little garden in the city, half real half plastic, but pretty pretty. So here are a collection of photos for your delection.  Enjoy.  Over and out.

buddha park

Buddha

Soldier dude

Zaisan Monument (thts Lenin and Sukhbaatar)

View from the top of the hill

A decorated hill

Centrepiece of the city garden

Mongolian Felt Slippers

Men at Work

Awright dawlin'

City street

City Slicker

(me)