Steppe 1

I'm Here! It was a really really really long trip... but I have finally landed in my hom efor hte next 5 months. Here's the low down on the journey here and the state of things:

Warnings: Sorry for the really long sentences!!! I'm just trying to get all of this down and posted. 
Sorry this is soooo long! I've sectioned it off a bit so you can skim. :) 

Wednesday/Thursday, January 20/21st

So woke up prodigiously early with the lovely family and we hit the road at 3am to get to Burlington Airport for a 5:40am flight. There is a sad fact of extremely bad packing on my part which I'm going to skim over... let's just say it wasted some time and money packing and repacking throughout the boardings and disembarkings of planes. Anywaayyyss, I finally boarded the plane to Dulles Int'l Airport in Washington, D.C.
Extremely frusterating situation #2 (baggage was #1), the lady who checked me into the Burlington flight had become distraught when the computer was asking her if I had a visa because she was silly and ignorant. I didn't have a visa, because I didn't need one. She was worried about the airlines getting fined "millions" for letting me check in without a visa. But since I was going to miss the flight, she checked me in only for hte flight to D.C., where I would have to collect my bags and re-check-in. Once I got to Dulles, of course, Korean Air knew the ropes and checked me in without a glitch. God bless them.

HOWEVER, Korean Air also did not remember to order perfect weather fo rme so that I could fly into Seoul on time. So my flight to Seoul was delayed 3 hours. So they booked me for a new flight to Beijing out of Seoul. I finally get on the flight to Seoul, and spend 14 + tedious hours between two sweet ladies, watching movies and trying to sleep, and eating delicious Korean food at the allotted times. Finally arrived in Seoul--LATE AGAIN. Hooray. And the next flight to Beijing? The next morning at 8:45am. So I got a free hotel room at the Hyatt and free dinner and breakfast. All of this worked out because my flight from Beijing to UB (UB: Ulaanbaatar, Capitol city of Mongolia) I had originally booked 15 hours after my original flight to Beijing. So the fact I had an almost 12 hour layover in Seoul, with amenities, was in fact a Sweet Deal compared to a 15 hour layover in the Beijing Airport, without amenities. Anyways, I slept and ate well in Seoul.

Friday, January 22nd

Free breakfast and shuttle to the airport, security check, and on my way to Beijing by 8:45am. Once I arrived in Beijing, I was all in a panic because it was 11:45am or so and my flight for UB left at 12:55. So I collected my bags, went through numerous security checks, and found the shuttle to the correct terminal--after asking exactly 1 million people where I needed to go LOL. So I'm panicking about missing  my flight, and the shuttle bus driver is absolutely dtermined to squeeze as many people and baggage as possible onto his shuttle bus. We waited what seemed to me an age until everyone was crammed on. Then we get on the road. Only to stop at the next terminal and squeeze even more people on! Then we return to said road. Now I learn an important lesson about the Beijing airport: it's fucking HUGE. I'm pretty sure it took us about 20 minutes to take the HIGHWAY around to the next terminal (These 20 minutes seemed to me like an hour. ) Finally I arrive in Terminal 3--I think this is the "Turtle Shell" Terminal, the largest in the world. Naturally, I'm lost. Especially because Air China has way too many check-in desks and each has a specific designation. My watch is telling me it's 12:55. So I rush an innocent China Air check-in clerk and beg to be checked in. China Air check-in clerk seems to be quite unconcerned and assures me I will make the flight. I'm mystified, but I get checked-in and then proceed to attack several security lines which lie between me and my last flight... I reach a pinnacle of despari when I realize I must board a train shuttle to get to the departure gate! (Are you paying attention? A shuttle bus, now a train shuttle...) As the train shuttle runs on for a seemingly endless time, I finally turn to a nice Chinese person next to me and ask for the time? It's 11:55. An hour earlier than I thought: I had my watch set to Seoul time. Thank you, God, but that was a horrible joke. So I finally get to the departure gate, from which I take YET ANOTHER shuttle bus... to the plane. Short flight, great views, terrible food.

Finally, I landed in Mongolia! They didn't want to let me through cause I didn't have my address or a phone number, but eventually I got through. Tuya was waiting for me (Tuya and Amartuvhsin: Wonderful Mongolians who have been taking care of the Mongolian side of arrangements for my working and living in Mongolia), and after loading her care with my atrocious luggage and exchanging some money, we hit the road. Two plans were considered and eventually discarded for the last leg of my journey, the 3 hour drive north to Darkhan. The first involved taking a bus immediately and the second plan became for me to spend the night in UB and drive to Darkhan Saturday morning. After a dinner of Mongolian pizza, (...) Tuya dropped me off at an empty apartment for the night.

Thus, my first night in UB, Mongolia: alone in a quite nice 6th floor apartment, in my sleeping bag on a sofa, with a lovely view of the city. Was actually quite lovely! Mostly because I was too exhausted to care about being alone in the middle of a new city and a new country where almost no one speaks English!

As far as what UB was like, it was full of cars which don't appear to have any traffic rules, and a variety of buildings, many of which are lefover from Communist days, when Soviet influence was heavy. The air is thick with smoke from the many fires and factories. The pavement is rough and many of the homes are arranged in "suburbs" on bare dirt. Of course, it's winter right now, so perhaps it is greener in the summers. The people are wonderful! They are friendly and pleasant, despite the fact they love to stare at foreigners; it is a very friendly stare. UB is nestled in a slping valley crowned by a ring of the clustered peaks that break up the steppes throughout the country.

Saturday, January 23rd

The next morning I was up at dawn with jet lag, and a couple hours later, Amartuvshin picked me up and took me for some water, breakfast, and put me on the bus to Darkhan! The bus was a MARVELOUS adventure! I got placed in the far back of the bus (the only, rather conspicuous white, blond, blue eyed person) on elevated seats, from which I had a WICKED view of the countryside (and an acute feeling fo rhte speed and insanity of Mongolian driving!!). And countryside it most certainly is!! Once the suburbs of UB dissipate, the steppes are absolutely amazing! They are broken up by clusters of peaks, as I mentioned in describing UB, and the peaks are mostly comparahble to the hills and mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, as far as I can tell, espeically in the central regions, as far as height goes, not shape. These clustered mountains are quite provacative against hte expansive steppes. Everything is frosted with snow, which has been blown smooth by the wind, and in many places trampled down to the remnants of the grass by the grazing livestock. As the bus drove north, there were more peaks clustered together and they grew higher. The road (yes, singular, there's only one paved road that goes directly norht from UB, through Darkhan, to Russia) passes by many small villages as well as ger (also known as yurts) camps. Herds of sheep, cows, and horses are seen often, especially farther north. One of the most beautiful scenes: the traditionally dressed Mongol men and women riding the ponies, herding more ponies, or sheep, or cows. 

The bus ride was about 3.5 hrs long, and I knew when we had reached Darkhan, because of a conspicuous 16 story apartment building, which used to be the tallest in Mongolia. Saraa, the head of hte English Department at Darkhan School #19 picked me up, and took me to the apartment where I'll be living...

The Beginnings of My Life in Darkhan

I am living in a 3 room apartment. My flatmate is a Swiss guy named Steve, from Zurich. He's been here since the beginning of school. Both he and Nadine, another teacher from Switzaerland, were at the apartment to greet me yesterday and both are absolutely lovely! They have been giving me tips on living among the Mongols and teaching the children. They are both quite close to my age, and speak amazing English, of course. Nadine lives a couple of buildings away. The schools is also a few few buildings away. 

The building I live in was also built in the Communist period--it's ugly as sin, and any degredation that doesn't have to do with proper fuction has been allowed to happen without repari... But it is pretty tight, hot water is plentiful and heat is, thus far, quite satisfactory. Our apartment, since it has revolving inhabitants, is not quite as nicely repaired as the apartments of Mongolians who live here permanently. The toilet is flushed with a wire sticking up from the basin, and the sink in the bathroom is held up by a wire! But it's all quite exciting and adventuresome! Steven has been eating out quite a lot cause he doesn't like to cook, and can't very well, but it appears we will have a great arrangement: I want to cook and save money, and he loves to clean, which I don't. 


And we have a third roomate: Peek-A-Boo, the Mongolian kitty! She's an orange tiger cate Steven took in as a kitten. Apparnetly Mongolians are not fond of cats once they are grown, so they are mostly out on the streets. Peek-A-Boo is absolutely lovely! She loves to play and talk, and will be quite wecome company throughout the quiet and cold. :) 


Must return to the apartment, Steven is coming back from boxing class and we only have one key... more later.