Sports

I competed in a Mongolian swim meet three weekends ago. My friend from work, who swam for his University in the US, asked if I wanted to participate. I thought it would be a good incentive to work out and get back into shape, but I only got in one 30 minute workout before the big day. 

There were two events, the 50 m breaststroke and 50 m freestyle. My friend and I got first and second in both races. I had a time of 34 seconds in the breaststroke and 27.5 in the freestyle. I was actually surprised by my freestyle time, considering I had done almost no physical activity in over three months. The most interesting part of the swim meet was the ceremonies. They had an opening ceremony and awards/closing ceremony. They were the most official swimming ceremonies I had ever seen, it felt like I had won a world championship. In fact, even the US Nationals has less pomp and flair then this meet. In the closing ceremony, all the athletes processed out and lined the pool deck, there were officials dressed in white uniforms, some officers dressed in military uniforms, cameras taking video, FINA posters, a podium with a giant picture of Michael Phelps... It was pretty awesome. I also won 80,000 tugrugs (about 60 bucks) and a free gym membership. It was quite a rewarding experience haha.

In other sports related news, I have been playing basketball every Tuesday night with my co-workers. There is a gymnasium inside the Ministry building that houses our office, and we rent out time there starting at 8 o'clock. Its been really fun but I still suck at basketball...nothing has changed since my middle-school days. I bought some baller b-ball shoes at the black market for 20 bucks, so at least I look good when I play. We usually play for about three hours, so its a pretty good workout. I usually take a thirty minute break in the middle to teach a yoga class to my female co-workers in the corner. That is all...for sports in Mongolia.

Skiing at Sky Resort (UB)

Went skiing two weeks ago at the Sky Ski Resort about 40 minutes from the center of Ulaanbaatar. This was my first time skiing in over eight years and I didn't know what to expect. I was very surprised to find that I hadn't forgotten how. After just a few minutes I felt very comfortable.

Sky resort is pretty nice. I paid only 25,000 tugrugs, about 20 dollars, for three hours of skiing. This included boots, skis, poles and lift tickets (good deal). My friend and I were able to stay out for 4 hours, because no one checked our lift tickets. There are three main skiing slopes at Sky, a baby hill, an intermediate and an advanced.  Not much variety but still a lot of fun. I spent most of my time on the intermediate hill and had one go at the advanced. The best part was I didn't fall! Probably because I was being very cautious.

My only complaint was the temperature. It was absolutely freezing on the mountain, around negative 40 degree Celsius (about -40 F). To illustrate, on my first run down the mountain I didn't wear my face mask and when I got down I had a layer of ice covering may face and an ice sickle running down from my nose. At first I was just wearing jeans and two layers of long johns on my legs, but after just an hour I had to go inside and rent snow pants for 6,000 tugrugs, about 4 dollars. By the end of the four hours my feet and hands were numb, even with two layers of socks, hand warmers and mittens. When I first took off my skii boots my feet were so cold I couldn't move my toes. The process of defrosting was pretty painful and my fingertips were very sensitive for about twelve hours after finally warming up.

After skiing we had lunch in the cafeteria. The cafeteria food was very expensive compared to food in UB, but thankfully my co-worker's wife brought along stuff to make sandwiches. For instance, the hot chocolate was 4,000 tugrugs (3 dollars), which would pay for a whole meal in UB.


In conclusion, even though it was friggin freezing, the trip was still worth it. I had forgotten how fun skiing was and I am really excited to go again when I'm back in the US, somewhere where the temperature is warmer. 

Week Khoyor: babies, brawls, burgers and fries

View of Blue Sky Tower out of my bedroom balcony window

I haven't written here in a while and quite a bit has happened since my last entry. First off, I have settled into my Guest House quite nicely. My first Saturday morning I woke up to eggs, beans and sausage kindly cooked by my dear landlady Natsaga. I've also hooked up my Playstation 3 and am enjoying Assassin's Creed Brotherhood on the weekends (I've rebuilt nearly 50% of Rome thus far).  In the evenings before bed I've started reading Ender's Game, an awesome book by Orson Scott Card. Shout out to Kelly Devine for gifting it to me.

During my first weekend in UB I went out with the Peace Corps volunteers who were staying at the guest house. It was a volunteer's birthday and we celebrated by going to a very good Indian/Mexican restaurant called Los Bandidos. I ate chicken curry and naan bread, and it was delicious.  After dinner we went to a club where it was salsa night.  I have been to Mexico and Puerto Rico, but I ended up learning salsa in Mongolia.  After salsa we went to karaoke, which is not my favorite thing to do, but I endured what seemed like endless hours of terrible singing.  


I met my first Mongolian baby last week. The baby was introduced to me by one of my favorite co-workers Uyanga, who took me to a restaurant called Aura where we met up with the baby and its mother. The Mongolian baby is a very big baby compared to most other babies.  He was clearly well fed and very cute. He slept on the table almost the entire lunch.  Just as we were finishing he stirred, awoke from his peaceful slumber and began crying for food. Thats when it got a little awkward, so I went and stood by the door while the mother breast-fed the Mongolian baby.

As I was standing at the door I heard a commotion outside. I looked and saw a man in a light purple sweater attacking a group of women.  I stood there wondering how I should react.  I thought, should I be the passive bystander who watches such events but does not do anything to help? Well, the decision was made for me when I realized that these women were actually my co-workers. I rushed over to the scene where the man had locked his hands around one of my co-worker's wrists. Me and the other ladies tried to pry the man off of her, which took a good two or three minutes.  Then I learned never to mess with Mongolian woman. Once freed, my co-worker actually went after the guy and we had to hold her back.  She even picked up a piece of piping and tried to whack him with it.  Fortunately though, the violence was quelled and we departed the scene.  I learned later that the man had been driving and almost hit them as they walked across the cross-walk, a quite common occurrence in Mongolia. The problem started when she kicked the guys car and he got out and hit her.  What an eventful lunch hour! 

A burger and cola from AB&F

More recently I've been going out to dinner a lot.  Last weekend I went to Namaste at the Flower Hotel, an Indian/Pakistani/Desi restaurant far to the east of Sukbaatar, near the American Embassy.   I went with PCVs Leon, Katie and Aaron (or Erin idk). I had another Indian chicken dish with naan bread and a Mango Lasi. This weekend I went to American Burger and Fries (AB&F) no less than three times. Once with a PCV staying at the guest house who happened to share my last name. She was convinced we were related somehow. AB&F serves a burger that tastes exactly like burger king's, along with other American favorites like NY strip steak, chicken tenders, and nachos.  I found that it is a great place to meet English-speaking expats. Whilst there I met many people, including an eighteen year old English lad from Devon who I was very impressed by.  He is here on his own working for a medical charity while he waits to hear the outcome of his University applications. I really hope he gets accepted to King's College (X-ing-fingers).


At work I was lucky to have the opportunity to work on investment teasers last week. I researched some reports and feasibility studies on specific development projects and then wrote short and enticing summaries to be sent out to major investment banks like Morgan Stanley and the Kuwait Investment Authority. I wrote one for a Hydroelectric project in Shuren and another for an initial investment in the first two phases of the national railway project.

You don't have to wait for July to see fire works.  Just come to Ulaanbaatar where they set them off every Thursday night right outside my bedroom window!