Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Spring, Spring, Spring, Spring, Spring!!

This has been an awesome break. I can't tell you how happy I feel. The warmer the days get the more my zombie-ways melt. I didn't even realize how stuck in a rut I was. Man, I didn't even know. It's as if I literally am finally waking up. It feels amazing! I have energy and purpose! If only this picture was true:
But, looking at it makes me happy anyway.

Our break isn't even over yet. Some of our PCV friends from the south Gobi, from northern Mongolia, and central Mongolia are coming to stay with us for the weekend. It will be so nice to see them and hang out(in the sunshine!). I want to bake everything for them. I think we'll have biscuits and gravy, oatmeal raisin cookies, some spring biscotti (I'm attempting to make the biscotti for the first time today. I am a little nervous, but it looks oh-so-good!), and whatever else they love. Food is very important to us PCVs, I wish you could sit and listen to our conversations about all the foods we miss and what'd we do if we got to eat it again. Or, when we make something amazing and are eating it for the first time-- that's a funny sight to those who take all the little amazing foods of America for granted.

Here's my biscotti recipe that I will be attempting:


Here's the link to the allrecipe's recipe for Spring Biscotti


By the way, if ANYONE knows how to make Sticky Toffee Pudding, PLEASE, let me know how. I've been looking up recipe after recipe online and I just don't see one that I can fully trust. I need your help on this.

Monday, March 28, 2011

What I'd do for spring...

My mom sent me a sleeping bag liner that has saved my life. Our sleeping bags are really good sleeping bags (claim to be warm up to -15), but I'm a naturally cold person so one sleeping bag at 20 degrees is just not enough. The sleeping bag liner has done wonders!...until I thought it was warm enough to not use it anymore. I tried to convince myself that it's only getting 30 degrees in our ger at night, it's not THAT cold. It should be spring weather, warming up, right?

Nah, the other night I was awake through most of the night because my feet were ice cold and they just wouldn't warm up. I was thinking about all the nuisances that warmer weather brings such as dogs barking the ENTIRE night, spiders and beetles and flies in the ger, sweating, etc. and how I'd take all those bothers and hug them right now.

I'll never complain about the heat again. I promise.

So I've been hibernating all winter...really, it's true. My school is literally a 2 minute walk from my ger (if that even) and all winter long I have been a robot/zombie waking up, trekking to school with my hood on and head down, doing my thing, and trekking back home, where I was still a zombie-slave to imediately making a fire, thawing out a bit, making dinner (which takes a couple hours) then folding myself back up in my sleeping back for another 12 hours of warmth. (Justin was the strong one, grocery shopping every week and running errands.) It was kind of miserable, now that I think about it. But 3 days ago I had an awakening. And I feel free! I went grocery shopping yesterday and was chipper. I had a nice conversation with the ladies at the market and I felt rejuvenated. Since Justin's been the one getting the groceries we haven't had a lot of fruit in our diet (not that there is much selection...just clementines or apples), but yesterday when I came home with my bag of goodies it was like christmas! I bought some yogurt (I was scared to try, because it was already expired, but I needed it so badly), raisins and an asian pear that Justin and I shared (they are kinda expensive to buy more than one at a time). This is a good time to be in Mongolia!

Friday, March 25, 2011

I saw a CAT!!!...but no, not that kind :(


I just put a batch of vegan brownies (not because I'm vegan... I just don't have eggs or milk on me at the moment...but these brownies turn out just as marvelous as non-vegan ones) in the oven and thought I'd take some time to myself and breathe for a minute...which reminded me that I haven't blogged in a long time. So I'll blog while the brownies bake. I have 23 1/2 mins.

We're on school break right now. We've been off all week and we will either go back on Monday, April 4th or Wednesday, April 6th (I've heard different dates, so I'll play it by hear). I have a tendency to mope around and pull my hair out when I get dreadfully bored so I made a plan to stay busy this entire school break-- and I am doing well accomplishing this goal. I've gone to school everyday to tutor teachers and students. Besides that I've given myself some large projects to work on at home. One is boring (school related), but the other is planning our vacation time for this summer. This is no easy thing. We're planning a money budget and time budget and China is very anal about who comes in their country, how they come in and when they leave. So getting a Visa is on the agenda, but mostly I've been researching just how to do this while I'm in Mongolia. I've heard of a lot of people doing this so I know it's possible, but where'd they leave the instructions!? By searching on the internet, I've found a lot of my answers, but time will tell if I've gotten all this right. I'll keep you updated on this vacation process.

I looked on Weather.com 10 days ago and today (according to the 10 day forecast 10 days ago) was supposed to be in the 50's...this would have been the 1st time we'd hit 50 degrees. Now it is still freezing outside and no, not in the 50's. But the 10 day forecast forecasts that we will get in the 50's 10 days from now! I feel like Weather.com is playing games with me...shaking that carrot too far for me to reach. *sigh.

I went to the shower house for the 1st time since November (that tells you how much warmer it's gotten...all through winter I practically hibernated). I took some pictures on our 10 minute walk to the shower house.

Here is our hashaa. Our hashaa parent's house is with the green roof. You can barely see our ger roof to the left of their house.

We walk through a gas station on our way to the shower house. What we saw at the gas station surprised us. First of all, I've never seen a machine so big. Second, I NEVER expected that to be here in Mongolia. Justin says it's for the coal mining going on. They were HUGE!(PS. this was the 'cat' I was talking about...I still have yet to see a real kitty in our town. Makes me sad.)

This is inside our shower house.

Justin waiting impatiently for a shower. (We got there at 11:05-- it opens at 11-- but all the showers were already taken.)

This was inside my shower.


There. Now you know the intimates of my life.

Oh! The brownies are done.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

No, wait... putting them back on






So, spring's here. And it looks something like this.

The annual miracle of new life and warmer weather was abruptly crushed by something akin to what the families of the Dust Bowl may have endured. As Ashlie wrote in her previous blog, yesterday was brilliant. The sun was shining, the air was calm, and hope was springing forth in the form of a 44 degree high temperature. Everywhere life was awakening from it's winter slumber and beaming forth. It was the type of day that would make the crippled cast off their wheelchairs and walk. Then there was today.

I first noticed the impending doom from my second story classroom window while waiting on my Saturday tutoring students to come. On the horizon their was building a large cloud of dust. I had a quick vision of the apocalypse and then my students arrived. Near the end of our lesson one of students looked out from the window and astutely observed, "Mohai (ugly)." It was indeed mohai. Sand was whipping across the streets, people were running for shelter and I dismissed class.

On the walk home I didn't see many people. People were huddled together in pairs with their backs against southward facing walls. Other unfortunates like myself scurried across open areas like cockroaches on the bathroom floor of my college apartment. Finally I made it home to the warmth of my ger and wife.

Fast forward to a little later in the day. Ashlie and I were curled up on the bed watching a movie. In the film, the protagonist is gradually becoming insane. I don't know if I've ever been more empathetic to a character. The wind was driving me out of f***ing mind. The ger was raising up a little with every gust. Things were falling from the ceiling and the windows were rattling. One of the panes eventually fell to the floor and shattered. I, with my quick thinking, devised a strategy to begin shouting a string of obscenities that was so powerful it would curtail the wind and alter the atmospheric conditions into a more favorable state. It failed.

So I grabbed the duct tape and covered the hole. I remember in kindergarten learning the saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." I guess the lion is here.

I'm taking my clothes off!

This is what I'm missing from back home. Soon most of Texas will be covered by her legendary bluebonnets.

Speaking of soon...I think soon I shall be taking off some excess layers of clothing. (For the past 3 months I have been wearing two pairs of pants, at least three pairs of socks, at least two shirts, a sweater, two jackets, gloves, a hat, a hood and a scarf wrapped around it all covering everything but my eyes-- then to top it, I usually have my sunglass on so no part of my skin is visible) I can't believe that the temperature here got so warm yesterday! After school (around 4pm) I took a walk 'downtown' to pick up some grocery items and I felt naked. My head wasn't covered, my face wasn't covered, my neck wasn't covered. It was just me in my one jacket. While I walked it was very pleasant and I realized it right away because that walk is usually a painful one (the bitter cold burning your skin, the blasting wind holding back your steps, the sand/ snow blowing around). Nope. It was blue skies and sunshine and I broke a sweat in my little jacket. I was sure it was in the upper 20's F. And I was happy! I felt free! I felt rejuvenated, awakened, alive! When I came back to our ger I told Justin all about it and checked the temperature on weather.com. 44 degrees! Forty-freakin'-four degrees! For a while I just stood there saying 'Forty-freakin'-four! Forty-freakin'-four!'. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just outside thinking it was 20 something, I don't know why knowing it was now forty-freakin'-four degrees changed things so much. But it did. Hope. It gave me hope. The temperature can rise above freezing. I know this to be true.

This past Thursday I accompanied the Cooking Club's teacher again to make cinnamon rolls. I don't know why I get so nervous around her...Well, actually I think I do...One time when I made pizza with my English Club students she suggested I add more oil to my pizza crust-- which personally I didn't think I needed to and I don't think she has ever made a pizza crust in her life or eaten one for that matter...So I guess I'm scared of being criticized by her because I'm a self taught baker (well, she is as well, but she is a lot older than me so has a lot more experience). Anyway, I screwed up on the recipe. I totally left out the water needed to help the yeast activate. However, I did use the milk, butter and egg...so that was moisture enough but the yeast just didn't look right. It wasn't frothing. Anyway, I continued on with the recipe. It ended up being a hit! None of them had ever had cinnamon before. I tried to explain what it was but my Mongolian cooking vocabulary is horrible! So I didn't accomplish anything. They all tasted the cinnamon powder and said that it was 'hot'...like spicy hot. It made me laugh a little. Everything is spicy hot to them. But the Cooking Club teacher said I was a very good baker to the students and also other teachers (they passed around the cinnamon rolls to the faculty). It makes me happy that I can finally be recognized for something. So far they know I can't play volleyball, can't play basketball (which is HUGE here!), don't drink, don't eat meat (which is almost an insult here), my Mongolian isn't the best by far, and I don't like going to parties (which is also an insult to them, but I hate being pressured). I am a good teacher though, and I know that. But I'm not so sure how important that is to them. Baking, though...Baking may have saved my volunteer service.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Ready in 5 Hours- A Mexican Food Recipe

A peak inside Dinner with the Newberrys:

We had Mexican night on Thursday night. It was scrumptious! If you follow our "Ready in 5 hours" recipe your tummy will be a happy tummy, too! We're not boasting it will be ready in 45 mins, and I laugh (actually, I cry) when I remember those nights in the States making those "20 Min Meals" successfully. Nope, this was 5 hours...Wanna know our secret??? We have one burner. Dinner preparation began at 4pm and we sat down to eat at about 9:30. It was all worth it though. We had black beans (they were dried beans we had to soak and boil), rice (not minute rice...20 min rice), chicken fajitas (frozen chicken drumsticks we had to boil/thaw then cut the meat off), pico de gallo, and tortillas....all of this homemade.

The funny thing is that Justin and I labored over this meal not really thinking a thing about how lengthy the process was. But when we sat down at 9:30pm I thought about if we were in the states how the whole dinner making process would go: beans in a crock pot before you leave for work, 4 large burners for boiling rice, chicken, sautéing, and making tortillas...All of that could be going on at the same time! We would have had that same laborious dinner in about 45 mins. Which somewhat depressed me, but..

Eh, what else are we going to do with our evenings?

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Ger, Sweet Ger

We're home! It was a great 5 days of not making fires and smelling of smoke. Also a great 4 nights of sleeping in t-shirts and no socks (because the rooms stay heated all night long!) It was great not having to layer up before going to bed.

Speaking of great...It was great to see all my friends. We didn't do much more than eat at amazing restaurants, go to American food stores and lounge around, taking showers-- not bagging coal, preparing lessons, adding dung to the fire, etc.
This was my frist bowl of cold cereal in 9 months! It was really amazingly awesome. I also ate the cup of noodles (pictured) with my breakfast. Gotta eat good while you're on vacay!

We didn't end up staying at Khongor Guesthouse because it is apparently being renovated. So we stayed at UB Guesthouse. It was nice, but I am partial to Khongor. Khongor's beds are magical! But, UB Guesthouses bathrooms are cleaner and nicer...

One of my friends went to America a couple of weeks ago and brought back a bottle of Dr. Pepper for me and Justin. Can you believe it?! Every where they sell Coke we look for Dr. Pepper. No luck. This was our frist sip of the Dr.'s orders in 9 months. It was delicious.

Another one of our friends, Erin, invited us to dinner with her Mongolian friend. It was a great meal and the Mongolian couple actually had a lot in common with me and Justin...same age, same graduation year, started dating the same year, have been married for the same amount of years. It was interesting to compare lifestyles that are so similar yet different to ours.

All in all it was a success! I only got thrown up on once on the bus to Ulaanbataar. Our bus seats 28, yet on the trips to and from UB there were over 40 people on the bus, so we were packed. On the way back we even had a live rabbit sitting on a man's lap waiting to be taken to his ger for supper. This is my last visit to the big city for a long while. Now I'm back at school, smelling like smoke and just not as squeaky clean. But it's okay because summer is on its way, right? :)