Suddenly everything was okay when the cabin crew brought out the cups of vanilla ice cream from the dry ice bins...

It's 8:45p Eastern Standard Time. We left San Francisco at 10:45a (1:45p EST), and this flight to Seoul lasts just under 11 hours. So according to my calculations we will be arriving at Seoul around 12:45 EST, or about 4 hours from now. We're just past halfway.

Just about the only thing I've done this flight is sleep, watch (with my eyes only) Iron Man 3 again, gush over adorable Korean toddlers, and read the ETA (English Teaching Assistant) Handbook that was sent to us weeks ago but I've only just gotten around to reading. It goes over tips on how to shop, cultural norms, how to get around, etc.

Some interesting things I found about this handbook:

- Many of the sections suggest to go somewhere or do something with "your Mongolian friends" or "a Mongolian friend" first. So... considering this is an intro to ETAs in UB, does that mean our ETAssistantship just comes with a trusted Mongolian buddy included in the program? There's no section on "How to Make Mongolian Friends"!

- It is very cold, with winter temperatures regularly reaching -40F. (HOLY MOLY! "Regularly"??) The key to surviving is layers. This starts with at least one layer of long underwear, pants, a shirt, a sweater, a long coat that goes at least beyond your waist, at least one hat (this is calling up memories of a children's storybook where a character is wearing stacks of hats... a Dr. Seuss book, perhaps?), a scarf, thin gloves and big mittens to go over them, and a least one pair of thick wool socks and heavy boots. Make sure you have enough room to comfortably wear your boots with your thick socks and wiggle your toes. (I got 7.5 hiking boots off of Amazon... guess I should have gone a size up!)

- You can try being vegetarian in UB, but goodness forbid you try and be vegan: you'll basically be written off as rude: It may be difficult to interact with Mongolians during meals. Mongolians always feed you when you go to their house, so it can make visiting difficult as well.

- 1 USD is 1440 MNT (Mongolian Tugriks). There are no coins, as the smallest bill is 1 tugrik (bills less than 50 are rarely used). Internet cafes are common and you can use the internet for less than 600 tugriks an hour. A taxi ride is 700 tugriks per kilometer.

- Mongolians usually only refer to each other using their "first" names and those with identical first names use a patronymic (name of the father) that precedes their first name. (In Russian, it's first name followed by the patronymic.) For example, since my dad's name is Germelino, my Mongolian name might be Germelinogiin Kristine or G. Kristine.

- Names are often two nouns or adjectives. Examples being:

               Turmurbaatar "iron-hero" (male)

               Chuluunbold "stone-steel" (male)

               Narantuya "sunbeam" (female)

               Sarangerel "moon-light" (female)

I think girls' names are so pretty! My friend Enka's name comes from the word Enkh meaning "peace."              

- "Do you have a boyfriend?" "Why aren't you married?" "How old are you?" "How much money do you make?" "Do you have children?" "Why don't you marry a Mongolian?" are all common questions. In a society where human relationships are so important, these are attempts to build intimacy across vertical social structures. Sometimes these are the only English phrases that a Mongolian may know. Remember that people are trying to be friendly.

- Like in Russia (and in some cities in the U.S., unfortunately!), recycling is not a thing. But peddlers will often collect and even buy plastic and aluminum bottles to turn in for more money. They can be identified by their burlap collection bags. I will be close friends with these folks!!!