Steppe Into Mongolia: June 2010

27 June 2010

Шэжид Дүг: Shejid Düg Clinic

Shejid Düg Clinic

1/4 MD's from the states

1/4 MD + 1/4 MD + 1/4 MD + 1/4 MD = 1 MD

(me + elaine + claudia + christine)
false logic?

perhaps just wishful thinking

tseegii, the head doctor of the clinic

she's the best

ganjargal and tseegii

the staff at the clinic

lunch at the clinic:

there are no plates and never enough utensils

everyone uses their cups or mugs

claudia creatively uses a tongue depressor as her spoon

teaching jinri to take blood pressure

an excellent student

she practices taking bp on herself

end of the day:

walking to the microbus stop

26 June 2010

There Are Buses; Then There Are MICRObuses

bus 27:

all buses in UB are old korean buses

still with original korean bus numbers like this one above: 9-137

you would think they would at least paint over it....

bus ticketing ladies are not to be messed with:

they are kick-ass mean!
i've witnessed many ladies literally kicking drunkards off the bus at 9 in the morning
alcoholism is a huge problem in mongolia

buses are rarely this empty

my first bus ride in mongolia with claudia

i always see interesting random things or people on the bus

wish i could capture them all on camera...

the regular bus rides are pretty interesting in themselves

BUT

the microbuses...

WOW

i could have sworn this microbus was full of bullet holes

unfortunately or fortunately, they were just stickers, as claudia pointed out
i decided it was still worth a photo

there are no lines

people basically fight to get on the bus since space is limited

how many people can a microbus fit?

too many

and claudia can attest to that:

a stranger falls asleep and keeps head-butting claudia

there are no rules on the microbus

full of passengers, microbuses will stop for gas

ДЭНЖИЙН 1000:

our stop for the clinic

25 June 2010

"National Dish" and "National Clothes" with My Lovely Host Family

dojko, my host brother, is rolling out what i called "mongolian pizza"

which kept getting bigger and bigger

as dojko started to roll the dough,
he said he was making a "mongolian national dish"

i told him it looked like he was making "mongolian spaghetti"

my host cousin helped by chopping all the veggies for this "national dish"

"emee," my host grandma, sat in an old school desk-chair,
and watched the boys cook away like professionals

dojko poses proudly with his "mongolian national dish"
i still don't know its proper name and so i call it:
"mongolian spaghetti with mutton, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes"
(the same ingredients for all the mongolian dishes i've had so far)