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UB

UB is a big city, there are lots of things to do and buy.  It has been good to see other americans but it is quite a shock to go from complete isolation to living in a dorm room with 8 other people, even if they are all really nice.  I have spent a ton of money (but that makes up for never spending money at site). I am ready to go home, I miss my little town and my little house.  But i do like having heat avalible all the time so when i wake up it is as warm as when i went to bed.

Thanksgiving!

So I thought my thanksgiving was going to be a complete wash, and that I was going to be all alone in Mongolia. Instead I was invited to Khovsgol lake (a pristine lake in Northern Mongolia), and spent an amazing weekend with several other American families. And we ate chicken! It was absolutely amazing, the family that hosted us was so very friendly and welcoming. I had such a great time. And the lake is as beautiful as they say!

I guess I really don’t have much else to say, it snowed today (as I said it is not that it snows a lot here it is just that I always write blogs when it snows!) It actually hadn’t precipitated in about a month so we needed it, and I didn’t have to go anywhere today. It is supposed to get super duper cold here, someone up at the lake was saying on Wednesday their high was supposed to be -17 F on Wednesday, but here it will be warmer. When I said I was going up to the lake all the Mongolians told me I didn’t own anything warm enough to wear there, but it turned out to not be that cold so I was really happy. I guess we will test my fire making abilities. My host mom has loaned me her sheep lined del to wear to chop wood etc in while I am here. It is super big but also warm because if you sew a sheep pelt into a layer of silk it will stop all wind and keep you really warm, and if it doesn’t it is heavy enough that you have to work hard to walk around in it so that will keep you warm.

So I was going to post this right after thanksgiving but the internet has been down. So it is going to be one of those ever growing blogs written over a long time. As I predicted in the first part of my blog it was really really really cold last week. It was cold, but I survived without losing any toes or fingers or ears or my nose so I guess I will live through the winter. They tell me February is warm, I assume the definition of warm is relative to January – but I will let you know in February. It really hasn’t been that cold with the exception of a few days here and there, granted for you Texas or Florida folks it is colder than it has been in years but for Mongolia I have been pleasantly surprised. It hasn’t been below 0 that much, but it has been cold enough for my entry way to act as a freezer, so I have the best of both worlds!

My haashaa family put up a Christmas tree in their ger last night, but it is not for Christmas. It is very interesting during communism the Russians brought all the trappings of Christmas in, Christmas trees, tinsel, I don’t actually know about presents but maybe, but called it New years. So when ever I talk about Christmas they say new years which is slightly annoying.

A note on packages:

I really appreciate all the packages i have recieved they make me feel really loved.  If you are going to send a package i really like to have coffee (impossible to buy anywhere but UB and i am buying some) and peanut butter (dito).  Thank you all.