Mongolia: Day One

I'm in my apartment in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, waiting for the sun to come up and for things to open. I arrived yesterday afternoon. In the meantime...

Typical Mongolia story: my flight arrived to UB a little early, so when I arrived in the airport and didn't see Ena, I took a seat - to be surrounded by Mongolian cabbies.
"Taxi?"
"No. My friend is coming."
(with a big smile): "are you sure?"

I pull out my book; several of taxi drivers, equally resolved, just hang out around my bags, waiting.

Ena arrives about 20 minutes later... with Ganbaatar, a really sweet older student from the first class, and two wrestlers - one whose parents will be asking Ena's parents for her hand in marriage soon...

In their Lexus SUV, she tells me the other car broke down, and that's why they were late to the airport.

Ganbaatar loves politics, but speaks very little English. We jump to politics, Ena interpreting between the two of us:
-last week MPRAM split into to agencies - the Petroleum Authority and the Mineral Resources Authority. Two new chairmen will be appointed soon.
-the strangeness of the post-parliament elections and riots this summer
-Lu Bold's appointment to Minister of Defense (he was the Chairman of MRPAM when I was here last year, but in a non-technical way, I can now say I've dined with Mongolia's Minister of Defense)

Small conversation about New Years celebration:
They ask how my New Years was: I relay that I was in the LA airport, boarding the plane to Beijing when the clock struck 12; had about 8 hours of January 1 before crossing the dateline, and joked that 2009 would be a fast year. The only thing missing for me was the champagne.

onto American politics:
I ask: "What do you think of Obama?"
Ganbaatar, with his limited English: "I like Obama. His father was a communist."
I smile. "What?"
Ganbaatar, through Ena this time: "I read on the internet that his father was a communist. Very good. We are happy he is president of the United States."
... leading to me explaining that in the US, calling someone a communist doesn't have quite the same meaning as it does in Mongolia...

We arrive at my apartment: the wrestlers grab my bags, including my roller bag of books (no joke, that bag weighed about 80-100 pounds). We stand in the elevator, and I stare in disbelief of this young guy holding it in his left hand, my 50-pound backpack in his right. The bags might as well have been stuffed animals.

We walk into my apartment, which is in the same complex as before, but in a different tower, and put my belongings down. All I want in the world is to take a shower; Ena and I step out to get shampoo and conditioner from the Korean grocery store that's in the basement of one of the other towers in the complex, while the guys sit down on my couch to check out my cable TV. When we come back, Ganbaatar is also walking in, with champagne and a box of chocolates.

I forgot that if you make a suggestion, like, "The only thing missing at New Years was the champagne", Mongolians take that very literally, and will go out to get some. Ganbaatar opens the bottle, the wrestlers have the TV on, and I become concerned that this shower is never going to happen. We toast, everyone takes a sip, Ena wants to take a picture - and while doing so, I mention to Ena as we cuddle up to fit into the group shot, 'sorry, I know I smell."

Picture taken, everyone stands up and zips up their coats. They had tasted the champagne, but didn't drink it; we took the picture almost as proof that it had happened, though I didn't quite know it then. Ena gives me my new cell phone, and says if I need anything, just to call her.

And they're out the door. Once again, the comment: I need to take a shower, which I very much meant instantly, was understood. I just didn't understand that one can open a bottle of champagne with a group of 5, and be in the shower 4 minutes later, with full champagne glasses still fizzing on the table.

Anyway, it's after 8am here, and the sky's beginning to turn from black. I'm not sure what I'm going to do today. I have groceries and closet hangers to get; I need to prepare for class on Monday... but I really didn't get much of a holiday. I might run out to Happy Video Shop on Peace Ave and pick up a few movies to watch inside my apartment instead.