It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...well not exactly an Aussie one

our snowy courtyard 

watch where you step, slip and/or slide...

A new year tree apparantly

snow makes everything a lot prettier!

nice advertising coke

Peace Avenue

Down town UB out the front of the square

Roller disco monday...

Karina, Tanya, Me and photo bomb Francis

snowy sunday

snow boarding and trans gender beauty pageant...why not!

another day at sky resort... 

Mark and I running so we dont miss the last bus home...

Best way to shake a hangover...sky resort.  Liz and I are determined to become little shredders.  We made some progress today (with a little thanks to Mark) and are pumped for the next session! 

Saturday night we were told about a secret trans gender beauty pageant.  How could we resist.  Took a little searching to find the club but it was interesting to say the least.  The venue changes every month I guess to keep haters off their trail.  It was an awesome night...no photos unfortunately as to protect peoples privacy but trust me it was all glitz.  Got to love some secret underground action!

My first thanksgiving UB style...

 

eclectic thanksgiving dinner 

Not enough cutlery so chopsticks are the way to go

strings...don't ask me how we got there

round 2 after d-floor action.  Absolute carnage

Mikes packet icecream...awesomeness

End of my first working week...

Thursday equals the day before the long weekend.  Had a lovely lunch with the kids at Lotus.  Imagine twenty five kids staring straight at you while you try to eat your tsuivan and soup.  Lotus has a school where the children from reception to year five attend.  It's nice to be able to share a meal with them everyday.  The kids are amazing but with some very complicated life stories.  It's been hard not being able jump straight into my role as social worker at the orphanage.  They are in the process of employing a new Mongolian social worker who I can work with as the previous one has just quit so language is a huge barrier.  Any one who knows me is aware that patience is not my strong point.  So until I have a translator I will just continue to learn what Lotus does and spend time at the orphanage, kindergarten and school.

After work Ben and I attended the first ever ethnic festival run by the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the UNDP.  It was unreal.  Lots of costumes, dancing and free alcohol and food...what a great way to end the working week!

Got to love free vodka...oh and mares milk! 

orchestra 

horse head cello

Queens dance

love this woman...

throat singers

      

My walk to work...

you can see my bus stop on the right - great view bumpy journey!

local commuters

slippery fun 

The road to Lotus

Little miss Lucy Thornton

Wish I was home for a cuddle.  Big love and congratulations to Tess and Paul.  So happy for you both.  Cannot wait to meet the precious little angel xxx

First day at work

Caught the bus out to Lotus today.  All the windows had ice frozen on the inside...I had to scratch a small circle with my fingernail so I could work out if I was on the right bus or not.  Luckily the bus stop near lotus has a bright orange petrol station right out the front so I could see where to jump off...and I do mean jump off as you have practically have to jump off while the bus is still moving and try to land on the icy road without slipping over.  Once off the bus it was a short walk through the neighbourhood, past the piles of frozen rubbish, smokey gers and stray dogs to the orphanage.  I had one of those "oh my goodness I am living in Mongolia" moments while trudging through the snow and trying not to fall on my butt.  Today is the first day I have really felt the cold.  The weather was apparently -25 degrees this morning.  It's funny how quickly this weather becomes normal though.  This time last year I was just back from my stint in Phuket and never would I have guessed that in a years time I would be wearing fur lined boots and woolen thermals.  I will never complain about the cold in Australia again.

At Lotus I settled into my office and had time to look at my work plan and what I wanted to achieve for the year.  There was a constant flow of people coming in and out of the front door at Lotus.  The driver, the cook, house mothers, gardeners, the fire man and of course the Lotus kids.  Many people popped their heads into the office to see who was this white girl sitting there behind the desk.  I've realised that I need to extend my welcome vocabulary to more than just 'sain banuu.'  It's strange being in a space where there is so much energy but you cannot understand any of the conversations.  I felt a little useless today not being able to communicate with people...especially being a social worker.  There is only so many times you can ask someone - how are you, what is your name, where do you come from and do you like meat.  Goal for this month = find a translator as becoming fluent in Mongolian may take a little longer!

Ankaa is a fifteen year old boy I met today.  I asked him why he was not at school and he said that he didn't like school he only liked to sing.  He then proceeded to open up his notebook and sing a whole heap of Mongolian songs to me while sitting on my desk.  After his impromptu concert he then drew me a picture...

sorry for crappy lighting but I'm too tired to correct it.  It says:
Mongolia Ankaa
I'm from Mongolia

  

Hangover hangouts

The W.A.N.C party (Waz, Anna, Nat & Carl birthday celebrations) proved to be quite the night out.  Golden Lounge & FACE night club did us well and left most of us with sore heads trying to piece together the night at Nayra cafe over brunch.

Ben, Karina & Nat... the day after the night before!

So ends my in country orientation and begins the work part of this journey.  Stay tuned for part one...Mongolian public transport!

Sky resort and birthday festivities

Liz carving up the slopes

hot house shredders

sexy harry high pants

Waz movember styling in Francis Labrador hat

Mike and Mike @ golden lounge

lovelies xx

Little red, big red and Karina

group L.O.V.E

serving our community better...sexy Mongol officer

Kindy and Lotus...

Spent the morning at Liz's Kindergarten No 10 which is set up to provide day care for children with special needs.  I loved it.  We had two AusAid officials pop over from Beijing to touch base with what AusAid and AYAD are doing in Mongolia.  Liz and I were both chosen to show our workplaces.  Met some very gorgeous children at Kindy no 10 with very complex health needs.  Hope to spend some time out there again soon.  Had an awesome conversation in Mongolian with a young boy with Down Syndrome on a pretend telephone!  At least my language lessons got me that far!  It was hard to witness some of the disabilities the children had due to the fact that in Australia there would have been more early intervention and progress made health wise.  To see so many children in the one place with such severe and multiple disabilities was a tad confronting.

I spent a lot of the day thinking about the distribution of wealth in Ulaanbaatar and the different standards of living that I've witnessed here.  The courtyard that we live in has two massive hummers and a brand new BMW 4WD parked next to an open man hole.  In this man hole two old men live that spend their days going through the rubbish left on the side of the road while swigging on bottles of vodka that cost less than a bottle of spring water.  I know we also have issues with distribution of wealth in Australia however here it is way more obvious and part of the everyday scenery.  Here's an article on homeless people in UB that set up their homes in the underground tunnels that support the heating and sewer system...

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/mongolian-homeless-living-underground-in-sewers.html

After kindy no 10 we drove over to Lotus.  It's school holidays at the moment so Lotus was pumping with energy.  I don't officially start at Lotus until Monday so it was good to meet quite a few of the kids and house mothers before I settle in next week.

Lotus cherubs!

 Friday night drinks at Ix Mongol...

the crowd singing along with the live band

  

Hot house happiness

Liz and I are a tad obsessed with Mad Men and eating random foods from the supermarket.  Most nights we sink a few episodes and a work our way through the dairy or the pickle section of our fridge.  This is Thursday's selection.  Loving the plaited smokey cheese and freshly purchased love heart frame from Naran Tuul.

Sky Resort...

Where else in the world can you snowboard for $12 Aussie dollars...

Nat and I

We had the slopes to ourselves!

Even monks like to ski