I'm back home in the U.S. for my research leave, and though traveling to and from Asia can be a long and jet-lagged journey I had an awesome time!
From my Mongolian driver with a good sense of humor at 6 in the morning
to the Mongolian language professor I met in line who was traveling to Japan to see her daughter *
to my seatmate en route to Korea who is taking a leave from his job in UB as a water systems engineer (and from his wife and two lovely daughters) to get his masters and who wanted to discuss the value of cultural diversity in a global economy *(two conversations I was able to have because of my Mongolian language courses, thanks to Tserenchunt bagsh!)
to finally arriving in Seoul and getting to spend a wonderful time sightseeing with Natalia and Alex (amazed again how much we packed into a few short hours! and how eagle-eyed I become for spotting dunkin donuts lol)
to my adorably quirky Korean earrings
to movies and bunkbeds and heated floors
to peaceful metro rides
to 13 hour flights that let you watch Ratatouille and get hooked on the first season of BBC's "Sherlock" and feed you three solid meals (and as much orange juice as you want)
to the friendliness of the workers at O'Hare international airport and delicious chicken parmesan paninis
to the first hug from my parents....
It's already been a great visit.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Information Age
I had a discussion today with my Mongolian friend about her children's constant internet use and how accustomed they are to having access to a computer. They are currently visiting their father's relatives in countryside during the winter holidays, staying in a ger which has a generator-powered television with satellite TV but definitely no computer..."Yes," she laughs, "They are probably very bored now without the internet."
I know Mongolians are not considered to be the most tech-savvy, but it's interesting to me as technology becomes such a driving force in the way life is conducted in the "first world" how the rest of the world adapts and is newly disempowered or is alternatively enfranchised...thought for another time. Also, I wish the google chorme translate feature would recognize that Mongolian is an actual language and let me correct the translate feature /end rant
On a somewhat related note, a few weeks after I started blogging, I noticed a few weird things on blogger's automatic statistics...weird hits from Russia and England. Figuring out they were most likely spambots, I started using the google analytic service. Supposedly it's more reliable, but sometimes I still get weird hits. A few people have made their way from google (including someone from italy!), and I'm not sure I really met their keyword search intention but hey. When I checked today, I had a recent hit from Pelotas, Brazil and a few hits from someone who lives in Newport News, Virginia. I've never heard of either of those cities, so it was fun to read about them on wikipedia. All the same, the power of the internet is both wonderful and weird...and some days are definitely more weird than others
I know Mongolians are not considered to be the most tech-savvy, but it's interesting to me as technology becomes such a driving force in the way life is conducted in the "first world" how the rest of the world adapts and is newly disempowered or is alternatively enfranchised...thought for another time. Also, I wish the google chorme translate feature would recognize that Mongolian is an actual language and let me correct the translate feature /end rant
On a somewhat related note, a few weeks after I started blogging, I noticed a few weird things on blogger's automatic statistics...weird hits from Russia and England. Figuring out they were most likely spambots, I started using the google analytic service. Supposedly it's more reliable, but sometimes I still get weird hits. A few people have made their way from google (including someone from italy!), and I'm not sure I really met their keyword search intention but hey. When I checked today, I had a recent hit from Pelotas, Brazil and a few hits from someone who lives in Newport News, Virginia. I've never heard of either of those cities, so it was fun to read about them on wikipedia. All the same, the power of the internet is both wonderful and weird...and some days are definitely more weird than others
A few flurries from the land of ice
I keep having all of these great ideas for posts...food, winter attire, the weird light fixtures I see in homes around the city, able bodied-ness in Ulaanbaatar, more day in the life snippets....and then I finish work, make dinner, and all i feel like doing is surfing imgur, skyping with my parents, and watching a movie....exciting, i know. also pretty cushy for "field research", i also know.
so...today's day in the life:
woke up expecting the power, heat, and water to be shut off from 9 to 11, as the foreboding sign on the building door yesterday promised
waited...got on my computer, finally was able to connect to the internet, fell asleep again for a short nap
woke up to a message from a friend and skyped...at one point we decided to put on our winter hats and left them on for the rest of the conversation
drank some carrot/lemon/orange juice
tried to give directions to this malaysian restaurant
put the cookies i baked last night and present into a bag, grabbed my keys and facemask and headed out
walked and slipped over to venus cafe
tried to give directions in mongolian, finally just let the waitress explain
exchanged presents
ordered and ate waaay too much
discussed why mongolians don't really do doggie bags (and other various topics)
made up a doggie bag for dinner
got dropped off by state department store (state is in the former socialist state, not state as in united states of america)
wrote a reference letter
finished packing my suitcases
mostly finished my carry-on
wrote this post
not the best day to use as an example, because tomorrow i leave for two weeks so i'm scrambling around trying to remember everything. there's the possibility i might post while on leave...but it's also not very likely
i promise i'll do my best to improve on posting, especially as more and more interesting things are starting to develop
plus, when i get back there will be Tsaagan Sar!!! (the Mongolian lunar new year and one of their two biggest holidays)
For now, hope you are well and that 2013 is off to a great start!
so...today's day in the life:
woke up expecting the power, heat, and water to be shut off from 9 to 11, as the foreboding sign on the building door yesterday promised
waited...got on my computer, finally was able to connect to the internet, fell asleep again for a short nap
woke up to a message from a friend and skyped...at one point we decided to put on our winter hats and left them on for the rest of the conversation
drank some carrot/lemon/orange juice
tried to give directions to this malaysian restaurant
put the cookies i baked last night and present into a bag, grabbed my keys and facemask and headed out
walked and slipped over to venus cafe
tried to give directions in mongolian, finally just let the waitress explain
exchanged presents
ordered and ate waaay too much
discussed why mongolians don't really do doggie bags (and other various topics)
made up a doggie bag for dinner
got dropped off by state department store (state is in the former socialist state, not state as in united states of america)
wrote a reference letter
finished packing my suitcases
mostly finished my carry-on
wrote this post
not the best day to use as an example, because tomorrow i leave for two weeks so i'm scrambling around trying to remember everything. there's the possibility i might post while on leave...but it's also not very likely
i promise i'll do my best to improve on posting, especially as more and more interesting things are starting to develop
plus, when i get back there will be Tsaagan Sar!!! (the Mongolian lunar new year and one of their two biggest holidays)
For now, hope you are well and that 2013 is off to a great start!
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