Ready, set, go!

And we're off!

We've made our way to Sukhbaatar in Selenge, Mongolia. It is beautiful here! Justin and I took the train from UB- Sukhbaatar. We boarded at 9pm on Tuesday and got to Nadra's apartment at about 5am on Wednesday. Justin and I thought we'd brave 3rd class (even though we'd heard to avoid it). We figured since we are traveling together that it wouldn't be so bad with a partner. And it really wasn't bad. It wasn't comfortable by all means, but it wasn't bad and definitely worth the money we saved from not going on 1st or even 2nd class.

Here's a picture of the inside of 3rd class. There are seats for 8 people per compartment, but we only had 2 other people in our compartment.

There were 6 beds available in our compartment. I took a bottom bed while Justin bunked up top. He strapped himself in with the straps to make sure he didn't roll off the bed during the night.

The beds were just boards (what we were expecting), but no bedding whatsoever was provided (not what we were expecting). There wasn't any heat on and it was a very cold night. :(

But, we made it! And we're here! And it doesn't look like Mongolia to us. There are trees, and grass and actual houses! I've only seen a handful of gers. Which is opposite in Mandalgovi (you'd see thousands of gers, but a handful of houses). Since the town is very close to the Russian border the town has a lot of Russian influence. It is a really cute town.
Here are a couple pictures from Nadra's 5th floor apartment:

Here's Justin and Nadra. Justin was pretty excited to see some fish available at the local market.

Look what I found!

I was so excited when I stepped foot into Nadra's apartment in Sukhbaatar, Mongolia-- even though I was severely sleep deprived from an overnight train ride.
Yes, while I'm here visiting her I don't mind being the weird cat-lady! I love them! It is so weird to be able to show my crazy excitement for them because Mongolians hate cats. I'm not talking about oh-I'm-just-not-a-cat-person type hate. I'm talking about screaming-scared-for-your-life type hate. They can transfer evil spirits, or bad luck. I have yet to meet a Mongolian who likes cats.
Nadra's kitties:

Oh, but it's been sooo long since I've been with a cat! It's been a year now when I had to leave Annie behind. I can't believe it's been that long!
My Annie:

Getting your Chinese Visa in Mongolia

I've been planning for this trip for a while. I did all my research on getting a Chinese Visa, the sites we want to see, the prices, the transportation, etc. I got all the paperwork in order and we got it all printed out (a few times, because...well, just because that's how it goes here in Mongolia).

Justin spent a good portion of the day on Friday running around UB trying to make things possible for us to get our Visas, but really ended up not doing anything because he found out that we needed to get our train ticket information (our way out of Mongolia & into China) for our visit application.

Problem: You can't buy train tickets in Mongolia more than a day in advance. So how can we get our train ticket receipt to show the Embassy in enough time to process our Visas? You have to go through a travel agency. I hate travel agencies. The reason is because they're over-priced. But I do understand that they take away a lot of the headache that planning your own trip can give. So...I was about to give in when......UB Guesthouse saved our lives.

There, on the door of their building, was a flyer saying they'd help with train tickets & visa-- perfect! And it was, they printed out everything we needed then said, 'you're done'. So all the running around Justin did the other day was sadly for nothing, but we went to the Chinese Embassy this morning and pretty much just went in and out. They took all our application papers, pictures, train ticket in, flight ticket out, and our hostel information while we in China. We can pick up our visas next Monday.

It wasn't so bad. Really.

UB Guesthouse has been good to us. We have a private room here, good pillows, hot showers, toilets, they've done our laundry, and now pretty much sealed our deal with our train tickets and visa application. Though, Khongor Guesthouse will always be my 1st choice. UB Guesthouse is a tough competitor.

Wrapping Up the School Year

All the schools in Mongolia start September 1st and end on June 1st. There are 2 and a half weeks of school left. But Justin and I are a little lucky and get to venture into UB tomorrow. It seems like this trip crept up on us-- yet couldn't get here fast enough!

It seems that we're leaving when we're just getting started. I feel like I have so many things that I am going to leave undone and waiting for me when we return. We'll come back to Mandalgovi on June 20th for a short couple weeks. Then the next time we come back won't be until the new school year starts (and we'll have some lucky new Volunteers at our site!). Wrapping up everything is difficult. Yesterday my 7th grade students (whom I LOVE) wanted so badly to talk to me (in English!) the whole class period because they knew they wouldn't see me for a while. I told them about all the traveling I was going to be doing (our lesson was about traveling) and tried to fit in as much of a lesson as I could-- but at the end they gathered around me and wanted a picture to be taken. I almost started tearing up after the picture when they, one by one, came up to me to say 'goodbye, see you next year!' Man, what will it be like a year from now when we are saying goodbye forever?

I have a meeting with Peace Corps and the Ministry of Education (the head honchos of Education in Mongolia) on Friday morning in UB. Then on Monday Justin and I will be buying our ticket to Beijing and going to the Chinese Embassy for our visa application. It takes a total of 4 days to get our Chinese Visa. Then we have a few days before our Training of Trainers (since Justin and I will both be trainers for the new Peace Corps Volunteers this summer), we will visit our friend, Nadra, in Selenge. Selenge is straight north of us, and very close to the Russian border. I hear it's a drastic change of scenery from the Gobi. They have trees, I hear. :)

Finishing with TOT (Training of Trainers) Justin and I will be waiting at Chinggis Airport on June 4th for those new M22's coming in fresh from America! It's really weird to think I was in their shoes one year ago.

Straight from the Airport Justin and I will head to the train station and be on our great Asian Adventure!

So, here's to one more night using a jorlon (outhouse), washing my hair in a bucket, cleaning sand out of my ears (literally) and sleeping in a sleeping bag! We'll be in a real bed, with toilets, showers(...I don't even know which I am more excited about anymore. It used to be the good food in UB, but now I think the toilet is trumping over it all.).

And just one more snapshot of our weather for today... It's just geting worse and worse, man. It feels like 8 outside on May 11th! We've been getting hit by sandstorm after sandstorm. It's not fun. They don't have sandstorms up north! Goodbye Gobi Desert weather! Khongor Guesthouse here we come!

***Edited: Khongor Guesthouse once again has let us down. They're full and don't have beds available...so we're off to our second Guesthouse choice! UB Guesthouse!***

A visit to the Gobi Desert-- Camels!

Ashlee & Scott Burt came to visit us down here in the Gobi for a few days. They have been here a year longer than we have and will be going back to America in about a month (Congrats to you!). They came down here for the Gobi experience. It was fun to have them here and be able to show them a little bit around the Gobi.

I told my teachers at school that some friends were coming down and wanted to see camels. Once I said that teacher after teacher came up to me 'My family lives only 30 kilometers away', 'My family lives int he countryside with many camels', 'My mother milks camels about 45 kilometers away', etc. I loved how eager they all were to help me. So, we piled in Erkham's (our hashaa father) car and set off to somewhere uncertain in the Gobi. We had two little girls with us 'leading the way' (as much as they could lead the way, there are no roads and herders are nomads moving a lot in the warmer months). We somehow got to where we wanted to go and got to see baby camels, big camels, baby goats, goats, and a weird sheep that just stared at us from the distance. I don't know what his problem was. I think we concluded that he was a retarded sheep-- because he did not move a muscle the whole time we were there. I found it amazing so I took a picture. But it was deleted on accident. Anyway, We were welcomed by an excited Emee (grandmother) with milk tea galore, some bortsik (fried dough) and some oodom (milk fat). I wish, now, that I would have gotten a picture with her.

Just stopping in the middle of nowhere:

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I know, I know-- I'm posting too many weather reports on here-- But, it's just blowing my mind! It's like we hit a nice warm high of 70 degrees once in mid April and since then it's been downhill. I mean, it feels like freaking 14 degrees outside right now. Why did the weather even begin to get warmer in March in the first place if it was just going to go back down? The last couple of weeks have felt more like February than April-- and it's May! Needless to say, the sandstorms do not help whatsoever.

Well, I have a few more things I'd like to post, but school is beckoning me to make the trek in 38 mph wind.