Ploofle

Just got in yesterday afternoon from Khovd – the flight to Khovsgul (in the north) is tomorrow afternoon. The conference was, as with all conferences, alternating exhausting, idle, and frantic – and I’m glad it’s over. We’ll see if there are long-term effects from it…

So, right now in Khovd, other than the power, it’s nice right now – probably in the mid to low 50s. Lately it’s been a new moon or cloudy, so it’s pitch black at night and I tend to stumble a bit. FYI it’s hard to pack for a couple months and seasons by candlelight. Outside it’s interesting – the trees are pretty much at the same point of budding they have been for the past 2 months. I’m starting to see a little bit of green in the clumps of scrubby yellowed grass you see around town. Also it seems like hawks or some other similar bird just come out in force about this time – there are always some circling around the town, and you’ll see them perched on the cell phone antennas – they make a kind of whistling sound when they call to one another. The pigeons and smaller dogs seem unconcerned though…

Anyway, off to work-land for me. So many little thingies to do…and a birthday potluck here in Ulaanbaatar tonight.

Tags: birthdays, electricity

It’s been quite a week – sort of. As mentioned previously, my Khovd flight was delayed, but I was very kindly treated – so I think I’ll bring a poundcake or some such back to their office on my way in next time. I’m still recovering from the massive walking-about and general lack of time (and money) that is UB, not to mention Francine the puppy being her puppyish self. Today my supervisor helped administer vaccines – I bought them in UB and was going to do it myself, but why when there are dozens of experienced injectors at my office location? She was very good and only whined a little bit. 2 more in the next 6 weeks, and also I need to figure out how this deworming medicine works – oral or injection? The power has been out lately due to apparent nonpayment of bills aimag-wide or some such. The times they’re off are random to me, though, so perhaps it’s something else, like repairs. Needless to say it’s helped to add more uncertainty in my life. The internet has also been bad out here, and Bonnie hasn’t been able to really call in several days, so it’s a bit rough going cold turkey…hopefully things’ll be better during the weekend.

My bread has been bad lately – not as bad as in the US, but more dense than I would like. As I’m feeling rather short on money at the moment, I may make some more tonight. Also Suzie passed on to me various lamb recipes from her parents, one of which is…korma? That middle eastern ground meat thing? As I have both yogurt and and mutton, I thought it’d be a good time to try it. Too bad I won’t have some super tasty pilaf to go with it…lately I’ve been grazing, so it will be nice to really eat something. UB’s Indian and Chinese food spoiled me. I’m also testing out a concoction to prevent Francine from chewing on, say, my insulated inner door. I boiled some hot dried peppers and orange peel and daub the liquid on things. I think it works, but I don’t know how long it remains potent once it dries out. Adding oil to it may help, but then Francine thinks it’s a snack. Booo….

Think I’ll read some research articles or something for the remainder of work. I’m tired and prolly would make mistakes doing anything else…

Tags: bread, electricity, francine?, khovd

These past few days have been a bit icky, as they have had the power and thus heating and water turned off for the past day and a half from 7am to 7pm. Mostly it’s affected internet access and cooking, but those bits are two rather major portions of my life, so boo. And perhaps I can blame the puppy on that…

It’s the same puppy that I’ve seen milling around for the past 3 days or so. She’s the one that followed me to work one day, and yesterday she was hanging around the health department, and thus I picked her up. She’s actually rather heavy, so I ended up sticking her in my backpack and carrying it from the front like a dork.

She’s really cute and doesn’t move much – my favorite kind of pet. Though I’ve heard when you first get animals here they tend to be really tired at first – big transition from constant cold and moving and scrounging to, well, being fed and warm. So maybe she’ll be a terror later. Being rather adverse to this kind of commitment, I continually have second thoughts – my track record with pets is not all the great if I’m responsible for them – but perhaps I will have free time and thus it’ll be ok. I figure she can play with Jason’s puppy and tire themselves out so it’ll be minimal effort on my part.

I’ve been trying out names on her and I think she may be called Francine. Again, ew, responsibility.

Tonight there be latkes and people over for em. Plus they can help tire out the puppy

Anna, if you’re still out in internet land, thanks muchly for the card and padded envelope – I’ll attempt the Mongolia-Ethiopia postal adventure very soon…mmm…coffee

Sharlene – I got it! It took like 2 weeks and the cheez-its arrived in wonderfully intact condition – I had em for dinner the same night and almost made myself sick

Bonnie – remember eggs Benedict. plerf.

Tags: cold, electricity, francine?, latkes