Flotsam

The first day of every month is a dry day, when no alcohol can be sold. This March 1st also happens to be the day that you are no longer allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants and other public areas, according to the new law. My Mongolian co-worker told me there would likely be many people out partying tonight, buying up booze and smoking up a storm (though of course she didn't phrase it that way)

(On a possibly unrelated note) My neighbor has decided that 10:30 at night is an appropriate time to drill into our connecting wall...he better not disrupt the structural integrity of my bathroom.

Of course, that's not what occupied me most of the day.

I went to the "museum in a box" training at the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, one of the Arts Council's main cultural heritage education projects. The refreshment table had "tacos" (beef, chicken, and vegetarian/bean) and oreos...along with more traditional fare. The program in and of itself was pretty interesting, though the audience quickly lost interest in the powerpoint. The children that were actually participating in the class seemed to find it interesting though, and there was a craft section at the end that was pretty neat (paint your own tsam mask, for example).



My old advisor from the National Museum of Mongolia was there, so we finally got a picture together.





I also took a picture with my co-worker/desk buddy Oyunaa.




After that I went back to the office for a bit and got to take part in the annual blessing of the office. A Buddhist monk came with his stack of sutras and chanted for us. Lots of incense was burned, the executive director and development director took blessed cups of vodka and milk outside to anoint the building (I think?), and we all got some special grain for the "blessings bag" and a special cake that we all rotated clockwise a bunch of times to build karma. It was really neat to experience, and I am very grateful to the Arts Council for letting me experience so many such moments.

After that I had another really lovely interview...two good ones last week and another one lined up for next week. Still a lot of data to collect, but I have 5 more months :)