Hello all!
I just wanted to write a few interesting tidbits about life here so far.
Shopping: There is one western style "supermarket" called Nomin. It reminds me of a cross between Costco and walmart. They have electronics--washers to refridgerators and stereos--, beautiful mongolian made rugs ( wool-from the next smallest city Erdnet), clothes, as well as the food and household items in a regular supermarket. We do not go here very often as the types of food they carry are pretty similiar to other places plus some European candy :) Each apartment building here is about 5 stories high and houses probably about 500 people. We are in building 4-4 on the first floor. Every building has its own little store (at least one) that carries the essentials--bread, boxed milk, TP, candy, flour, apples, potatoes (so far). It is quite nice having to walk only 40 yards if we need something. I'm sure it will come in handy when the temperatures drop. The building right across from us is even stocking "Pringles" and yogurt and tuna. He seems to be very aware that 4 Western families occupy two of the closest buildings. It is a little hard to get used to shopping so frequently and not stocking up like I used to at home. The majority of our shopping is done at the beerg--the open air market. Here they also have everything from pig's heads on a horse cart to electronics, curtains to tires, couches to banannas. This is fun (kind of). We are still learning our way around. You cannot just go and get what you want and go home. It is akin to a scavenger hunt finding what you want, and the weather can make it unbearable. There is really no real soil here, just sand; so when the wind blows it is good not to be outside. Thankfully we have had only a few days like this, but they say the spring is like this nearly every day. Someone asked me about grinding meat. There is a meat grinder in the market, if you like they will grind it after you purchase--I haven't gotten my nerve up yet. They grind quite a bit of mutton to make a meat pancake they call "hosher". There is something about the smell of mutton that is not easily gotten rid of. They do not have much lamb. Mostly mutton, goat (which they try to pass off as mutton), horse, and beef. I have yet to see the chicken. At first I was worried about learning my cuts of meat--now I just try to remember the correct word for beef. We have had some mutton--at our homestay, and by accident and at a restaurant--some of it is OK but mostly always not preferred.
School is pretty good. We love our teacher. She will be 30 two days after Jeremy. Of all the teachers, she speaks the most English. The classes are very small. One teacher: 2 students. She has agreed to teach us at the guest apartment next door when the weather becomes unbearable. All of the teachers are worried about Johanna being brought outside. Our two week crash course is completed. Studies included Post Office, Restaurant, Greetings, Introductions, Banking, Phone Lingo etc. The greeting is "Sang Ban OO"
Darhan is known as a city of youth. There are at least two universities here and it is true, everywhere you look, young people--all are learning or want to learn English. School boys in the courtyards think it is a grand game to say "hello" in the courtyard over and over. I think it is the only word they know. They will follow you around mimicing your words in English and getting a real kick out of themselves. For the most part though, English is not spoken here.
For all of you that have been praying for my aversion to the cold--how about this for an answer from the Giver of Every Good and Perfect Gift:
The apartment we are in used to be used as a Kindergarten. By law, Kindergartens are required to have extra radiators installed. Instead of having the usual 6-7 bars we have two rooms with 14 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is so warm right now (once the city turns the heat on Sept.15 there is no temp adjusting or "off" switch until they decide to do so-probably mid-May) that we have to have all of the windows open. Our temp gauges indoors are reading 80+ some days (and evenings).
Jeremy's knee seems to be healing. We are so thankful for the Korean doctor who has been treating the wound--daily for two weeks and now every other day. The only downside is he insists "no showering"! He doesn't want the infection to flare up again. He has given two injections and several rounds of antibiotics. What an answer to prayer to find someone to give it the attention it needed on this continual basis.
Slowly we are getting our place set up--trying to do so before the weather makes it impossible. Wood is fairly scarce here so furniture is an issue. You can find some things from China like shelves and coffee tables. We have some twin beds and chairs and table the mission is letting us use. We have a mattress and our bed we contracted with a German carpenter who lives here--should be done mid-October. We were able to purchase a kitchen hoosier-type cupboard from the mission, left by a past missionary, as well as a stove and refridgerator. Our next concerns will be with dressers and desks--a pretty important peice of being a student:) We got the cheapest automatic washer we could find--didn't think it much of an issue that it was a floor model and all the labeling is in Russian :) So this took awhile to figure out--in fact, I'm still not certain I am using it correctly. I was delighted though. Even though the romance of a wash/spin type which many have here was a draw, the price was the same and my efficient? sensibilities won out. There are no dryers and we have no balcony, so I usually dry on a drying rack in front of the heater at night so I can put it all away in the morning.
I hope this isn't boring --some will appreciate more than others.
Pray:
1.) The continuing adjustment, especially for the girls--not only is mommy's time taken up with school but also with new baby Johanna and extra effort of "life" here.
2.) Continued health--there have been some bouts with food/water reactions etc.
All for now--
Renee
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