Back in UB

Sorry it has been so long since we have talked to anyone. Last week we went to a tourist camp with our counterparts for In Service Training and we were out of cell phone range. We are now back in UB and will be here for the next week just relaxing and getting some work done. All is fine and as I am not feeling to well at this moment am goinig to have to cut this one short. We will write again soon. Love Mike and Alli

Plugged In

Thats right baby we got internet in the ger now! Who would have ever guessed, I mean we don't have running water or a indoor toliet but we have the internet. So you will all be hearing alot more from us now that we dont have to risk hypothermia to send out an email. By the way it was -35 here today, a little brisk. Besides for that fantastic bit of news we just arrived back from a seminar that we helped teach in a small soum called Ihk Hul. It was a pretty little town that we will post some pictures of now that we have the internet in OUR GER! Well we litteraly just got home an hour ago and hooked this thing up so Im keeping this one short. Stay warm. Love Mike and Alli

The Other Red Meat

Horse, its whats for dinner. While culinary exploration is an unofficial requirement for being a volunteer we never really though that we would indeed be eating horse, and not only horse meat but intestines as well. So not even two weeks after putting down her first steak Allison heroically sat down and ate some horse with me and our hashaa father Bymba. Horse is actually pretty tasty, just as tender as beef but it has a little more flavor. Nothing like a big bowl of horse.

Thanksgiving

New pictures are posted!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This was a tough week for us. Luckily we only have to make it through one more Thanksgiving and two more Christmas and we are good. In lieu of family, friends, and good food we tried to have a little Thanksgiving of our own. We made mutton (which was all grizzle) and mashed potatoes and gravy(which turned out good) corn bread (which turned out real good) and our friend Nick brought over pumpkin pie and tapioca (which was also very good). Fortunately for us Nick doesn’t drink and the bottle of wine that we bought this time was not a bottle of vinegar so we were able to enjoy that as well.
We are homesick, that is for sure, but we will be ok. On the bright side I haven’t once thought about getting Alli pregnant so that we could come home. OK, maybe once, but no more than eight times did I think that.
Allie was able to share a bit of Thanksgiving with her students which they enjoyed. She also fed the English teachers at her school their first pumpkin pie. They loved it!!
We don’t do a whole lot of preaching on this blog, our goal is to give you an upbeat description of our daily trials, tribulations and cultural phenomenon’s that we deem appropriate. However, I hope that everyone that reads this makes the most out of the time that they have with their friends and family this holiday season, because not being able to do so really sucks. We just want everyone to know that we miss you and think of you often, and how much we appreciate those of you who make it possible for us to be here with your letters, emails, care packages, and thoughts. Happy Holidays.
Love Alli Mike and “Nick, Destroyer of Worlds and Crusher of Dreams” (our new cat).

Novemeber 20th

As most of our loyal readers know last week we went to Erdenet to officially participate in teaching an English teachers seminar and unofficially to go on vacation for a week. I am happy to report the seminar went well and the collateral damage was kept to a minimum. While we were in Erdenet a monumental event occurred, Allison, my wife and a veg head for 15 years ate her first steak EVER. I swore a solemn vow 4 years ago that I would destroy the bunny loving, free spirit, everything has a right to live part of her, and that vow has now been fulfilled. My work here is done. She has officially crossed to the dark side (insert maniacal laugh here).
Now as many of our more insightful readers may be wondering (there are at least one or two of those) how did our poor butts afford steak and wonderful real ice cream and good steak at a restaurant no less, not one that I killed and butchered in some alley, again. Well luckily for us a benevolent force taking the form of our friend Salomon’s father blew into town and treated us to a culinary expedition that was literally the highlight of the last six months that we have been here. I’ve said it before and I’m sure that ill say it again, “the only thing better than steak is free steak”.
Aside from the copious amounts of food and drink consumed we were also indulging on the use of Salomon’s shower and toilet. It’s weird that after not really showering for a couple of months when you take a shower two days in a row you start to feel a little too clean. However, I never once felt like I was abusing the toilet, although surely I was. That seems to be an appropriate image to end this post on. More coming soon, love Alli and Mike.
P.S.
Before we left for Erdenet Allison had a Halloween party for her second grade class. I wish that you could have seen it because it was great. There was candy everywhere and she had the kids bob for apples then bob for candy in a bowl of flour. Hysterical. The culmination of the event was when Alli started throwing handfuls of candy into the air and the kids had never seen anything like it, they had no idea what to do with themselves, because maybe in only the most imaginative Spielberg like mind had an event like this taken place. We will hopefully be able to post some pictures of it.

Life Without Windows

I have been thinking alot lately on the psychological impact that having a house without windows has been having on us, and I have come to the conclusion that it has no positive impact. Waking up in the morning and having to rely on artificial light (a flouresent tube) doesnt really get you set to tackle the day. Besides for that it makes us feel real isolated from the rest of the world. Even though we only have some felt between us and the world once you walk into the ger its like walking into a totally seperate world. Maybe ill expand on this another day, today Im just here to tell you that there are new pictures up. Stay warm.

Now We Have A TV Show

Yep, we are now on TV. How could this have possibly happened you may be asking yourself? Well as it turns out it is a question thet we have asked ourselves. Last week a local TV station called Allis school and said that they wanted to put together a series on teaching english, her school then in turn asked Alli to do this and by default I was drug into it as well. Here is how the conversation went- Allis school-"How about doing english lessons on TV?"
Alli- "Sure that sounds like a good idea."
A's School- "Good, you will film tonight."
A- "What"
A's School- "Yes, each show has to be 30 minutes"
A- "What? Wait we cant tape tonight we dont have anything prepared."
A's School "Oh OK,you will tape tomorrow then."
And we did, we taped the first one on friday and tomorrow we will tape three more. They will run everyday for the next month on local TV.
On a completely different subject we are going to Erdenet on friday for a week to take part in a seminar that Alli and I will both be presenting at, and the best part is that we will be staying with our friend Salomon who has an apartment there. An apartment with a shower and toilet. It will be heaven. While we are there Salomons father will be visiting and we are looking forward to meeting him. Not much else going on besides for how cold its getting and the lack of daylight. The sun rises at about 8am and sets around 630pm now, and it only gets colder and darker from here. Stay warm out there-Mike and Alli