a great book, awful movie, and more of Mongolia

What a strange night.

I started and finished "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" this evening. I have no idea how I managed, but I had never, ever picked up the book before... I realized about a third of the way through it what cruel thing I'd done to myself: I'd picked up the first of a series that I would definitely want to read more of... except I'm in Mongolia, and I don't think I'll be breathing anywhere close to another Harry Potter book until I'm in the Beijing or L.A. airport. That's not until the end of February.

So I finished the book, and then felt like moping. The Twilight Zone episode of the man with glasses, also came to mind: he who wanted nothing but to have time to read his books; but in the last scene, when his dream has actually come true, he steps forward toward the city library and shatters his glasses - "all the time to read in world, but unable to read a word".

After finishing Harry Potter tonight, I felt a little like that. Perhaps I was being a little dramatic.

But anway. Okay, so after I finished reading a magical, whimsical tale that I loved, I watched a terrible, horrible movie, The Black Dahlia, with Hilary Swank and Scarlet Johannsen. SO terrible. Think of the enthusiasm that people have for Harry Potter, and then put an equal/mirror amount to figure out just how bad this movie was. And for all you people like me, who might then become interested in seeing what exactly makes a movie so dreadful, save it. It was SO creepy that now I need to reread Harry Potter and take a bubble bath to cleanse some part of my soul. Yuck.

In other news, I went to Ena's house today. Her parents made me khorshel (fried meat dumplings) and 'salad' (equal parts potatoes and mutton, with some pieces of hard boiled egg). They live outside of UB by about 20 minutes; after we ate and watched several routines of Russian couple figure ice-skating on the Russian sports channel, Ena and I ventured outside to fetch water for her parents. It was -30 degrees today. I could swear that it felt colder.
It was wonderful being with her family. Her father is a champion Mongolian wrestler; her mother teaches language arts at an elementary school. I asked if I could visit her classes, and she got very excited. I'll be visiting sometime in the next week or so with Ena...
I think I'll read something by Dr. Seuss.

Yesterday I cooked dinner for group of 8. Everyone came over to my apartment; beforehand, I went out to the wonderful, truly Mongolian market that's about a 10-minute walk away. I bought 2 kilos of chicken legs from a woman gnawing on a pork chop (cooked), as she ate over the horse innards, sheep heads, mutton meat, and fish (uncooked). That was incredible, and one of the most memorable moments of my life. Seriously.

I also managed to find broccoli from one of the vendors.... and through the whole experience, I realized just how Ena and all my Mongolian friends have been my guides to this place; they have helped me so much to navigate it.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Tsogt, a Mongolian man who studied English at Spring last year (while I was here for the first time), and then I'm supposed to go to the Wrestling Palace (yay Mongolian wrestling!) and then afterward, if I'm lucky, Ena and I will go to a Mongolian country music concert at the Circus (although you likely know nothing about this kind of music, if you're not Chris Tombari, you should be excited for me).

Next week's going to be another good week. I've been looking at some horseback riding trekking outfitters, and I think I might brave the violently arctic temperatures to get a weekend day of riding in (or even to do a 'real' hut trip from ger to ger). I'll keep you posted.

missing out on the countryside...

I'm trying to get over my disappointment, but it's a little hard to do: I was tremendously excited about visiting the herdsmen with Baika (see two entries down)... it turns out they're leaving tomorrow, not to return until Wednesday next week. To me, it sounded like the trip of a lifetime (seriously, who gets to be taken by Mongolian journalists, along with WSJ reporters, to interview traditional Mongolian nomads in the middle of the Altai?). I was so, so excited for the experience, but because I teach Monday-Friday, I'm missing out. Oh, the unfortunate drawback to being here for work.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my weekend instead. Every other weekend that I'll be here, I'm sure that I'll be busy with various fun activities (trips to the countryside, day outings to Turelij, day-long Mongolian wrestling competitions, etc.)... but for this first weekend, I think it's going to be a little tame. I should be thankful to have one last quiet weekend- the number of invitations I'll be getting soon will be overwhelming... that's just the way Mongolia is.

In the meantime, I thought you'd all be interested in hearing about some skills I've developed (and will be developing) since returning to UB:

1. learning how to walk. Considering the sheets of ice that cover the sidewalks, this will be no small feat. Mongolians intentionally slide along the ice as they go, taking several steps, sliding, a few more steps, sliding again (a skill they surely developed shortly after learning to walk, when they were much closer to the ground)... this method of movement wouldn't be so notable, except that Mongolian women do this in high-heeled boots, intentionally sliding on the ice as they go (picture those kids' shoes with the wheel on the back; the women do this on ice, in heels). The sidewalks around UB are, consequently, smoother than any other ice I've encountered, though they are sliced/cut up from all those spiky black boots.

I'm not going to master the sliding-on-ice-in-heels (or any other shoe) part, but I would like to be able to walk around with a little more confidence.

2. surviving the strong handshake from any Mongolian man. So far, I was 'injured' twice after a few of my younger male students shook (squeezed) my hand. I remembered what the word "throb" truly means; the pain lasted for about 30 minutes to 1 hour... and then I felt even worse because I realized that I can now identify a little more strongly with Cindy McCain...

3. learning how to cross the street... more on that later

There was more I thought I wanted to say, but to be honest, I realized yesterday that there isn't that much to adjust to. Sure, I don't speak Mongolian, people's concept of time is erratically similar or different to my own (it's the inconsistency that's the confusing part), and I definitely have to be more pushy when I go through a line at a store (check any stereotypes of 'passive Asian' at the door)... but this really is a different experience from last time.

When I was here a year ago, I was always inspecting the cultural differences between Mongolia and the U.S. I felt I was in such a different world; it was foreign- exotic, even. But this time, I don't know if there's much to adapt to. I want to learn more about the country and the people, but in the way I would feel comfortable spending 2 months in Atlanta or LA, I feel the same way about UB. Life is life. People are people.

But it's easier because people here are so hospitable. When I think about it, I think I'd be lonely if I were to spend the same amount of time in some random American city. Sure, I'd find my way around and entertain myself, but as I think about it, Mongolians are, without question, some of the warmest, friendliest people on Earth.

Off to Nayra's Coffee Shop for some reading (this is, mind you, a vacation from My Life), and then, perhaps, on to having a beer at the Irish bar across the street from the circus.

P.S. The pictures I took today remind me that I am in a pretty different world. After class today I ate some of the horse meat that Toshiba brought to the office (it's in the plastic bag in the picture above) and then sipped 'Chingis Khan' vodka...

After that, Ena showed me an old photo of her grandfather, who was a famous and revered wrestler (think of Japan's sumo wrestling culture - in the same way, wrestlers are national treasures here).