First impressions

I was the last person to arrive of the Mongolia Fulbrighters. Most of them arrived on or before July 31st, and when I landed it was 10:15p on August 1 and saw Mongolia for the first time under the cover of night. 

So sight took a back seat. My first senses walking out of the airport were: a) the cool, refreshing rush of air b) the bumping up and down of the van as we drove from the outskirts into the more paved city streets c) the relief of being received by one of my program's orientation leaders. 

Things I learned from the ride from the airport to the guesthouse:

·        Wearing a face mask is totally acceptable and common, and practically essential for the winter months (in the ger districts, coal is burned for warmth)

·        Some of the efforts to reduce emissions include more efficient stoves/ovens and filters on the exhaust pipes

·        Mongolians almost never have ice in their water

·        Student textbooks are often old and outdated, and students will often look to the internet to obtain pirated newer publications and editions

·         Most Mongolians know how to ride a horse

·        Apartment buildings are hard to distinguish at night, i.e. we spent 10 minutes knocking at Room 38 in the building next door 

Walking up to our apartment didn't seem very promising--dark stairwells, chipped paint, unlocked main entryways. But once I walked into our room, it was quite nice! A big screen TV, a shower (with hot water!), a fully-equipped kitchen, a couch, a rug, warm lights. I took a shower and slept like a baby until rain on the tin roof and natural morning light woke me up.

 



Katie lounging, Gina in the kitchen

Our kitchen and fridge after a trip to the State Department Store's supermarket, Nomin Supermarket. We got Mongolian wine (fruity), beer (dark), eggs (with deep orange-yellow yolks), milk (which tastes soooo good and rich), peppers, kiwis, apples, yogurt.



Our bathroom and main entryway

Our main living room area and into the 2-bed room

I packed a lot of stuff. Can't tame it all!

Main living room area

This morning, my roommates and fellow ETAs Gina and Katie made a rather American breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheese, and sausage with white bread. We used a knife that was taped up at the handle and a touch-activated stove to cook it all up. The result was rather deliciously indulgent! 

After breakfast it stopped raining and we walked around and over puddles to Sukhbaatar Square. The main attractions there are the Government House with a great big seated statue of Chinggis Khan (this is where the Parliament meets; like our Capitol) and a big box with a dinosaur in it. The dinosaur is the Tarbosaurus baatar, a close relative of the T-rex. A full skeleton was excavated in Mongolia and although we didn't enter the exhibit space, we think the skeleton can be seen inside. [Aside: Apparently there is a dinosaur park in one of the cities in Mongolia that was constructed by a mining company as a "thank you" to the community for letting them operate there. There are a lot of dinos here, underground and overground.] 

 

In front of the Government House with Chinggis Khaan

T. baatar dinosaur

 

Afterwards we visited the Mongolian Costume Museum. It's less of a museum, really, than a costume shop. Like those booths in America where you can dress up in Wild West costumes and take a sepia-toned photo, this museum offered racks of Mongolian clothing and a small studio where a picture could be taken of you wearing them. After seeing some beautifully adorned representations of Mongolian princesses, you'd almost be convinced to buy a Mongolian headdress.

A lot of traditional clothes! It was like they just walked out of the Mongolian Costume Museum.

 

We wandered further, following the borders of the National Culture and Recreation Park. From the map you would think it's a green kind of park, but it's really more of an amusement park: a brand new rollercoaster, ferris wheel, house of horrors, a Harry Potter-type castle, Pirates of the Caribbean-type pirate ship, depictions of Disney characters, small lake with swan boats, etc. It looks like it would be pretty fun to go to if it were open. (I suspect it may only be open on the weekends.) 




Adventuring south of Sukhbaatar

Afterwards we stepped inside Naran Plaza, a shopping center, to explore a bit. Everything was insanely expensive. We're talking a pair of shoes or a pair of jeans going for over $100. Perhaps the fact that the stores were situated above a BMW dealership might have clued us in: Swarowski crystal, Timberland, Esprit, Samsonite, etc. all going for 1.5x the retail price in the U.S.

Things I've learned are pretty expensive in UB:

-        ANYTHING foreign.

-        Outdoorsy wear: hiking boots for a couple hundred, a pair of thermal underwear bottoms for a hundred.

-        Paper products: 2 short rolls of paper towels for over $4.

-        Oranges: a few dollars for a few tangerines. Most fruits and vegetables are just above U.S. prices.

-        Pasta: several dollars for a bag.

-        Absorbent towels: $14 was the cheapest bath towel we could find.

-        Clothes. 

Really hoping we find ourselves at a black market soon so I can find me some yak socks and a hat. Among other things.

Things that are NOT that expensive in UB:

-        Buckwheat: $1.5 for a bag.

-        Oatmeal: 50 cents a bag.
-        Hard liquor, i.e. vodka

-        Public transportation: less than a quarter to hitch a bus ride anywhere around town.

Other observations from today:

·        English and the Romanized alphabet is much more prevalent than I thought it would be. The big sign for Chinggis Khaan International Airport that you see when you first land is just that: "CHINGGIS KHAAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT." It's not in Mongolian Cyrillic, anywhere. The only place I've really seen Russian is on random grocery products like juice and buckwheat.

·        I need an adapter/converter.

·        It probably costs way more to print and maintain 10 tugrik notes than it's worth. 1400 tugriks is $1. I mean...

·        Thanks for the face masks, Mom. Wearing them is indeed a thing, and people are doing it now, which I don't blame them for given the poor air quality just from exhaust fumes.

·        Smart phones are much less common in UB than in the food court of Incheon International Airport.

·        Landscaping and gardening exists in public places, although besides the main sights (e.g. Sukhbaatar Square), they are basically widely and sparsely planted spindly flowers and shrubs.



Gina and I by a plant-ger

These flowers are common as potted plants in America, I believe