I've had many birthdays in my life, but last week was the first time I'd ever seen snow on May 5. This picture didn't capture it falling as well as I'd hoped, but if you look at the cars and whatnot outside, you get the idea.
Oh, and I stole that Happy Birthday. If I'd taken the pic from farther away, you'd see that it actually says "Happy Birthday, Terrence," in honor of another PCV who apparently had a birthday in the same guesthouse that Kaede and I were staying in a few days prior. They didn't clean the window after his celebrations, so I stole it!
Other than petty theft, my birthday was very nice and laid back. Kaede and I had been in UB a couple days already, so my best present came a bit early, but on the day itself, we laid in bed all morning, got burgers for lunch with some friends, bought a bunch of ingredients, and used said ingredients to make...
BUFFALO WINGS!!! And they turned out pretty damned good, too. Kaede made some blue cheese dressing from scratch which was phenomenal, and we even picked up a couple Dos Equis, which is what the guys and I normally wash our wings down with at the Fajita Grill, our weekly wings haunt back home. I got to speak with lots of friends and family from back home, and we topped it off with an old Clint Eastwood western, which is just what I was craving for some reason. I wouldn't even have changed the snow if I could have. Since we didn't really have to go out much, it just made for something pretty to look at.
Unfortunately, some of the joy of my lovely birthday was shattered the next day, when I got pickpocketed on a public bus. We've been warned numerous times to be vigilant in the big city, as UB is becoming notorious for it's pickpocketers. I thought I was being vigilant by keeping my wallet in an inside pocket of my coat, but the bus was very crowded and super hot, so I didn't want to zip my coat up. I guess it was hanging open enough for some little twerp to reach his hand in, unzip it, and nab the wallet. To make things worse, it was a brand new wallet Zoloo had given me the day prior as a birthday present. However, I was quite lucky in that my camera, which is a lot more valuable than the wallet and its contents, was in the same pocket, and he didn't take that. When we got off the bus, I noticed it was gone, and a woman came up to us to say that she'd seen the crime take place. It had been a boy in his mid-teens with a medical face-mask. People wear those a lot around here when they have a cold to keep from spreading it. Kaede and I wanted to know why she hadn't said something at the time. Turns out, these thieves have spread a vicious rumor that people who interfere with their work are followed home and killed. It's probably quite far from the truth, but it's enough to get people scared. Oh well.
Because of that whole incident, I had to stay in UB an extra day so I could go to Peace Corps on Monday to get a new ID. It meant more time with Kaede though, so I wasn't too upset. As for the reason I was in UB, helping Zoloo with the Olympics, she was so busy seeing her family and I was so busy seeing Kaede, we only met a few times, but she did decently in the Olympics just the same. She's more concerned about the TOEFL, which she signed up to take in early June. If she does well enough, she has a decent shot at winning a scholarship to teach in the states next year, which would be pretty cool.
So yeah, I came back yesterday. My VSO friend Easterlina, who was back home in Kenya for the last couple months, had just returned, and she got me a ride with her in a private car. It cost a bit more than the bus, but I'm never traveling overland any other way again. The bus usually leaves around 8 or 9 and gets in between 11 and midnight. This guy left closer to 9:30, and we arrived in Choibalsan just after 7 PM! I was flabbergasted. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when we saw the city growing larger in the distance. I realized I'd never come into Choibalsan during the day time. Plus, the ride was much more comfortable than the bus, and he went a different route, which proved to be more beautiful as well. I'm still kind of in shock about the whole thing. UB suddenly seems so much closer. If only I'd figured this out eight months ago.
So now I'm back, with three weeks left of school. Then I head to Arkhangai to help Kaede with the English for Tourism seminar she's putting on. After that, we're not entirely sure what we'll do before we go back to America. As I may have mentioned, we were hoping to take part in this technical training Peace Corps was putting together. However, yesterday we found out that they'd screwed up the schedule for that, and now it's mandatory that you work all summer long to be part of it, so that doesn't really work for us. However, it doesn't really work for any other PCVs, so maybe they'll adjust it a bit. If not, we might try and help out with our friend Sarah's English summer camp down in Sukhbaatar aimag. It'd be nice to get Kaede moved out to Choibalsan at some point before we head back as well, so perhaps we can squeeze that in somewhere. All this stuff should work itself out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Oh, and I stole that Happy Birthday. If I'd taken the pic from farther away, you'd see that it actually says "Happy Birthday, Terrence," in honor of another PCV who apparently had a birthday in the same guesthouse that Kaede and I were staying in a few days prior. They didn't clean the window after his celebrations, so I stole it!
Other than petty theft, my birthday was very nice and laid back. Kaede and I had been in UB a couple days already, so my best present came a bit early, but on the day itself, we laid in bed all morning, got burgers for lunch with some friends, bought a bunch of ingredients, and used said ingredients to make...
BUFFALO WINGS!!! And they turned out pretty damned good, too. Kaede made some blue cheese dressing from scratch which was phenomenal, and we even picked up a couple Dos Equis, which is what the guys and I normally wash our wings down with at the Fajita Grill, our weekly wings haunt back home. I got to speak with lots of friends and family from back home, and we topped it off with an old Clint Eastwood western, which is just what I was craving for some reason. I wouldn't even have changed the snow if I could have. Since we didn't really have to go out much, it just made for something pretty to look at.
Unfortunately, some of the joy of my lovely birthday was shattered the next day, when I got pickpocketed on a public bus. We've been warned numerous times to be vigilant in the big city, as UB is becoming notorious for it's pickpocketers. I thought I was being vigilant by keeping my wallet in an inside pocket of my coat, but the bus was very crowded and super hot, so I didn't want to zip my coat up. I guess it was hanging open enough for some little twerp to reach his hand in, unzip it, and nab the wallet. To make things worse, it was a brand new wallet Zoloo had given me the day prior as a birthday present. However, I was quite lucky in that my camera, which is a lot more valuable than the wallet and its contents, was in the same pocket, and he didn't take that. When we got off the bus, I noticed it was gone, and a woman came up to us to say that she'd seen the crime take place. It had been a boy in his mid-teens with a medical face-mask. People wear those a lot around here when they have a cold to keep from spreading it. Kaede and I wanted to know why she hadn't said something at the time. Turns out, these thieves have spread a vicious rumor that people who interfere with their work are followed home and killed. It's probably quite far from the truth, but it's enough to get people scared. Oh well.
Because of that whole incident, I had to stay in UB an extra day so I could go to Peace Corps on Monday to get a new ID. It meant more time with Kaede though, so I wasn't too upset. As for the reason I was in UB, helping Zoloo with the Olympics, she was so busy seeing her family and I was so busy seeing Kaede, we only met a few times, but she did decently in the Olympics just the same. She's more concerned about the TOEFL, which she signed up to take in early June. If she does well enough, she has a decent shot at winning a scholarship to teach in the states next year, which would be pretty cool.
So yeah, I came back yesterday. My VSO friend Easterlina, who was back home in Kenya for the last couple months, had just returned, and she got me a ride with her in a private car. It cost a bit more than the bus, but I'm never traveling overland any other way again. The bus usually leaves around 8 or 9 and gets in between 11 and midnight. This guy left closer to 9:30, and we arrived in Choibalsan just after 7 PM! I was flabbergasted. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when we saw the city growing larger in the distance. I realized I'd never come into Choibalsan during the day time. Plus, the ride was much more comfortable than the bus, and he went a different route, which proved to be more beautiful as well. I'm still kind of in shock about the whole thing. UB suddenly seems so much closer. If only I'd figured this out eight months ago.
So now I'm back, with three weeks left of school. Then I head to Arkhangai to help Kaede with the English for Tourism seminar she's putting on. After that, we're not entirely sure what we'll do before we go back to America. As I may have mentioned, we were hoping to take part in this technical training Peace Corps was putting together. However, yesterday we found out that they'd screwed up the schedule for that, and now it's mandatory that you work all summer long to be part of it, so that doesn't really work for us. However, it doesn't really work for any other PCVs, so maybe they'll adjust it a bit. If not, we might try and help out with our friend Sarah's English summer camp down in Sukhbaatar aimag. It'd be nice to get Kaede moved out to Choibalsan at some point before we head back as well, so perhaps we can squeeze that in somewhere. All this stuff should work itself out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
I enjoyed this.
ReplyDelete