waiting for winter

I think waiting for winter will be the title of my book on Mongolia. It pretty much sums it up. We have been enjoying the last moments of summer. School started on the first so everyone is back in town and kids are everywhere! Last weekend I did a girls weekend in the gobi. It was really fun. We ate, drank, and made merry. Went to an oasis and a old monastary ruin in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by a nasty bog that we had to wade through. Two people fell in and a couple of near misses. We were covered in mud and laughing our butts off. Jesse did a quick in and out of the capital for a pc training while I was away and then hung out with our new site mates.

We have two new site mates, both english teachers. They seem pretty cool. It is hard starting all over again making friends (especially when they live in the same apartment as our old friends) but it is working out fine considering my aversion to people.

This weekend jesse me and two of our site mates went with some mongolian friends to the countryside. We hiked up a couple of hills that were littered with petroglyphs. Someone did a count (not our group) and came up with a number of around 300. There were some really old simple drawings and some "newer" looking ones with a little more detail that were chiseled into the rock. Then we went on a picnic near some rocks. Had fun just hanging out but then one of the girls we were with got an allergic reaction and we hastily packed up and drove to the emergency room. She sounds like she is recovering ok but it was a little hairy for a while. New resolution: carry first aid at all times.

We are excited to start back to work in earnest and have some fun work projects on the horizon I think.

The weather is already seattle winter level but is just the start of fall. We had a rather wet cold summer so I think winter might be colder than last year. This morning we could see our breath in the ger. So gearing back up for winter and all that it entails but the break in the middle for jesse's med school interviews will help us make it through.

Hope all is well. Gotta get off the internet now.

Cheers!