23 January Natalie (my sister) has arrived from Australia and is sumplementing our local knowledge. We are now in work mode and I have already held meeting swith the five sector coordinators (food security, education, health, economic development and disaster reduction). My head is full of new information, with much more to come. Still no laptop yet, so I am using paper-based communication and walking around a lot to find peope. The picture above was taken at the little cafe where Natalie has lunch most days - about $2 for a plate of food.
I now have a dishwasher. Her name is Nymae. She is the wife of one of the ADRA drivers. She lives in a ger (round felt house) in the settlement ares (read no sanitation, running water, central heating). She has an 11 year old daughter and is an excellent seamstress. She will work for us for three days a week. She is doing well with Keira, but is having trouble understanding what Alesia says. It is also nice to have our floors clean and someone to empty the bin. We fill the bin up so quickly. Rubbish disposal is simply taking your small bag of rubbish to the chute in the corner of every stairwell and sending it on down to the incinerator in the base of the building. Recycling? What is that? It is so strange to come from an environment in Australia where green practices are considered important to a place where nothing “green” is suggested or enforced. This is not because there is no need for green practice, just the capacity of the government and the infrastructure is not able to implement it. As Natalie says when we are running our taps for 20 minutes to get hot water – “don’t worry, Mongolia’s water supply is only fresh glacier melt”. I would like to compost, but don’t have anywhere to put the compost. I am thinking that maybe Alesia and I could start a hobby of making paper from recycled household paper. Natalie says if we fill up a bag of plastic bottles and hang it on a fence somewhere someone will take it and reuse the bottles.
I walked with Natalie to a particular shop that sells a wide range of western food. It was 5pm and it took us about 20 minutes to walk there. I had to learn how to walk on the icy footpaths (scuffing along works well, with a kind of slide over big patches of ice) while watching my breath turn to ice crystals on my scarf. My fingertips were cold through my gloves and I definitely need a better coat. We got back after 6pm and my cheeks and nose were bright red from the cold. Pictured below is one of the many little kiosks on the streets that sell drink, lollies and cigarettes (and maybe other things I don't know about yet). Alesia has already figured out that these places are the source of lollypops when we are out walking.
Small success – first shower this morning as we had hot and cold water. Will need to invest in a shower curtain now to avoid making a big mess on the floor.
25 January
Over one week done. Alesia has been sick, temperatures at night and a cough. She has kept us up a bit and still won’t eat well. Natalie took Alesia out to lunch with her and some work friends. They are going to an Indian restaurant where you sit under a tent. Chris and I booked an ADRA car and went shopping for an ironing board (for Nymae, somehow she doesn’t like ironing on the bed or the floor) and a high chair for Keira. We took Keria with us, as she had not been out of the apartment for three days. One of the expatriate staff here warned us about Vitamin D deficiency so we thought Keira could do with some sun. The problem was that she didn’t like me putting her face into the sun.
I am feeling a bit flat as I don’t know where to go and how to get there. It is hard not being able to just jump in a car and go somewhere. It will be good to be able to walk around more with the girls when it gets warmer. I ended the week with an office chair in my office and some stationary. Still no computer or internet…
28 January
Alesia is still miserable and we are miserable. We have had one night with interruptions about every hour. Otherwise it was a quiet weekend – church on Sabbath, lunch again with Rosie and Dean, a DVD on Saturday night with Natalie. Chris played soccer on Sunday. Alesia slept most of the day. On Sunday afternoon Natalie took me shopping in the 3rd District (it probably has a name, but this is what many people call it). I picked up thermal leggings for under $6. I got Alesia some hot pink winder pants. I looked for boots and gloves for me, but my foot is big here and I ran out of cash. The shopping was ok, just a bit of jostling. People don’t seem to mind knocking into each other here. Maybe Mr Burger may cheer me up. Alesia is still looking for a replacement for "Old MacDonald's" in Australia.
