Still no pictures...

Blogging is not as fun when you can't upload pictures.

But on anoter note, GO WHITE SOX!!! From a 9 game deficit, too. I wish I could get daily updates!

Here are the hardest things for me to get used to here in Mongolia:

• Dogs. They are mean. They are not pets. In fact, I go for runs with rocks in my hands to throw at the pyschotic dogs that chase after me.
• Sniffing. People sniff each other in the same way we might give kisses. I made a big Mongol faux-pas on the day I met my host family. They came in for the sniff, I thought it was a kiss on the cheek. Awkward.
• The Jothlon. AKA outhouse. It is a wooden shack built over a ditch with one floorboard missing. And during the heat of the day, it is COVERED in giant black flies.
• The Tumpun. It is a large plastic basin that you fill with a half inch of water and bathe yourself in. you also use that water to wash your clothes.
• Water. It is precious. It takes all my strength to go fetch the water from the pump (these kids have wicked strong arms) and that water will last for a day, maybe.
• Livestock. It is literally everywhere. It is not uncommon for me to come out of the Jothlon and run into a horse. Or for a herd of cattle to me grazing at the school park.

The language barrier is proving to be quite the challenge. Mongolian is WAAAAY different from English (in a recent classroom activity, we practiced translating friend's names into Mongolian: Vanessa, your name is BAHЭCAA. Jennifer: ЖЭHЙФЭP. Brittany: БPЙTTAHЙ). Also, vowels are very very important. If you stress or do not stress a vowel the difference can be huge (bac = and, baac = poop).

Otherwise things are going well. Apart from the occasional bout of loneliness or the lack of privacy, I am holding up well. That is not to say that I don't miss home like crazy. I think I have finally realized how long 2 years really is. So, make me happy... send me a letter :)

Oh and one final thing. I have run into a fellow Gustie! The PC health cooridnator here in Mongolia is none other than a Gustavus Alum. How insansely small is this world?

I hope everything is going well in the states and I look forward to the say when I can chat with you all more freely (after training, I'll have much more reliable internet access). Ok,. that is all for now. Go White Sox!!!!

Until next time,
Sarah