The weeks and especially the weekends pass so quickly… Next week will start my 7th week here. On Saturday we are off to our little adventure, then we have another week before our seminar week together with some other volunteers from Kirgizstan, Tadzhikistan and other exotic central Asian countries. This means nearly half time for me :O But now my curiosities of the last few days:
#BurgerKingUB
Finally people said “Civilization has arrived in Mongolia”. KFC opened its doors one or two years ago and this month it was Burger King. Well, let’s see when McDo is joining them. For me as fast food denier just funny how people could seriously be happy about those fast food chains arriving here…
#vogmask
On Thursday the 22nd of October Jessy and me bought our mask against the smog. It is kind of difficult to get them. You just get them via a distributor mostly from aboard. And lucky us to have bought them because in the evening you can see the smog and it smell like burning whatever… In February there are about two weeks where you cannot see your hand right in front of you. So we gonna see how this will be.
#poorpeople
Very shocking experience… On my way to work I pass by a waste container. Looks and smells disgusting some times. This morning it was full of waste and I saw people crawling between the stinky stuff and even eating directly the food they decide it is still eatable… Very shocking and made me very sad… On my way home two hours later I see the dogs trying to find eatable stuff in this waste container.
#competitioninschool48
Here a link to what my pupils do after school ☺ Amazing how talented they actually are!
#JazzConcert
Starting the weekend with a kind of unknown event. Near my home is a Music and Dance College and every Friday, if there is an international musician at the school there is a little concert. This week Martin (a German who tries to built up the Jazz Department since 1,5 years) and 3 Austrian musicians played together a nice little concert. Two very talented Mongolians joined them for the last song. I got to know the assistant of Sebastian Woitsch, her boyfriend and some other musicians. Lovely crew and we had a blast at the BlueMon Center and the restaurant was called The Bull – HotPot. Yummy and thank you Goethe 😀
#(w)rest(le)weekend
The weekend of the Frankfurt Marathon! I was very excited because Laura is racing and I am a bit sad not to be able to cheer on her! But thank the modern techniques there was an awesome live stream and I really got some impressions on the race and saw her crossing the finish line <3 Nice! While outside snow chaos was going on.
Jessy and me decided to have a kind of rest and organisation weekend because there are still some things to manage before heading to the Gobi. Getting some warm clothes, getting camping gear (spoon, folk, knife, plate and a cup at least) and just relaxing a bit. Watching a movie together, baking a cheese cake (I dream about it since about 2 weeks now!) and fighting with the boys in their apartment. Actually Jessy is living with the boys now because her host family kicked her out of the flat. Not very nice but finally the right decision! The weekend was awesome, hanging around, watching a movie, eating delicious veggie dinner, cheese cake with cherries and chocolate brownies and watching the snow from the inside 😀 But also weekends go by (too quickly as usual) and I had to walk home while it was snowing -_- I took a bus at least down Beijing St – 2.5km not outside 😀 Finally at home I just had to teach Tsogo some german (I have to sounds as I am forced to do it. Actually they told e to give him three times a week lessons, but they do not pay and I pay enough rent, so well lets see how long I will stick to it… One the one hand he is very dedicated to it, what I really like and one the other hand I do have this sense of responsibility to teach him -_-
#gettingreadyfortheGOBI
One week to go until Gobi is calling! We are very happy about this and very glad that we finally met our nice tour guide! Let’s see what this adventure will bring. It will definitely bring us:
1) Cooking “yummy” dinner together
2) Nearly no shower for one week
3) Very cold nights
4) Lots of fun
5) Two birthdays (Jonas and Kirsten) and yeah who can say that they spend their birthday in the Gobi 😉
6) Mogul pists – so we will see who gets car sick 😀
7) Hang around together
8) Camel riding
I am really looking forward to this week.
#howyourealizethatyouhavearrivedinacountry
The cleaner of my fitness club greets me on the street and tries to chat with me. Even all the pupils greet me on the street and are very kind even in school! This is so lovely!
#crazysnow
Snow is back in UB since Sunday and it freaks up the entire streets. Water everywhere, there are puddles as little seas, you have to step back when you wait for crossing the road! Otherwise you will be completely wet when a car passes by 😀
So enjoy your Sunday and have a good start tomorrow ☺