"best before Apr 2009"

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Friday, November 26, 2010

We celebrated Thanksgiving with colleagues tonight, and in preparation, I managed to get ahold of a can of pumpkin in order to make my first pumpkin pie in years. Only as I was spooning the pumpkin into the bowl did I notice that the bottom of the can read "best before Apr 2009." Oh well. In it went, and the pie came out just fine. You can't be too fussy when you live in Mongolia.

Thanks to colleagues for bringing the rest of a lovely Thanksgiving meal...

Light a fire

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Tuesday, November 23, 2010

To be fair, it's only 5.0 °F (-15.0 °C) outside right now--though it felt colder when we walked home an hour ago. But just now I looked out the window and noticed two gentlemen under the hood of a car with what appeared to be an open flame. Further inspection revealed that they were most likely trying to warm the engine block enough to get the car started. But still, I am not sure that holding burning pieces of wood under the hood of one's car is such a good idea.

(A few minutes later they gave up and pushed the car across the parking lot -- what? to await spring?)

Thanksgiving fruit

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, November 21, 2010

An enormous pile of tiny mandarin oranges greeted me at the market today. More than anything, they remind me of Thanksgiving as a child. I'm sure it's just coincidence that made them mysteriously appear a few days before Thanksgiving, but it was a happy sight.

Five of them will fit in the palm of your hand.

Still blooming red

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Sunday, November 21, 2010

Five months after coming home from A's pre-school as a seedling, our petunia is still blooming. One flower regularly every week. Apparently this flower doesn't know (or care) that snow covers the ground outside and that the temperature is predicted to drop to -9° F (-23° C) later this week.

Wrong color apron

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Shopping in UB, as I have mentioned before, is all about pattern recognition. Lately, my favorite flour has not been anywhere to be found. Then, last week, I found some and snapped up a couple of bags. Only today when I opened one to bake some bread did I realize why I had a nervous feeling when I bought the flour: it was the wrong stuff. The package DID have the little Russian girl on it, but her apron is the wrong color.

Looks like I ended up with either whole wheat or rye flour. Can't quite tell.

Diwali comes to UB

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Saturday, November 6, 2010

Colleagues hosted a Diwali party this evening. It was a chance to learn more about Diwali, eat some wonderful food, and bask in the glow of lots of lovely light provided by candles and oil lamps of various kinds. Outside it was dark and 25 °F (-4.0 °C)-- which isn't bad for UB. But it may not be typical weather for a Diwali celebration.

Thanks, P & E!

Learn more about Diwali here...

The world is white, for a while

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Woke this morning to the first snowfall of the year. The mountains surrounding UB were covered in a lovely layer of white, and the courtyard below was pristine. Birds swooped around the courtyard, dark against the white. I commented to A that the birds might have a harder time finding breakfast this morning. She replied: "Well, they can eat the snow if they want to."

By late afternoon, worker bees had removed most of the snow into piles around the courtyard, and the parking lot was a sea of floating slush. Sadly, if the snow is allowed to "stick" around, it becomes an icy, icy hazard.

But it's always lovely, at least for a while.

Sewing a black border

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Our winter break ends today, and I am almost finished sewing together the tessellations that my students created last week.

Some of the students' color choices were not very "contrast-y" which makes it difficult to see the tessellation patterns clearly. Next year I will have to wield veto-power over their fabric combinations.

Still, overall, I am pleased with the results. And something to decorate my classroom with, too.

A sea of blue boxes

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Sunday, October 31, 2010

The Polish milk has returned to UB. You laugh. Hardly worth a blog posting, you think. Well, it comes in 0.5% and 1.5% and it does NOT taste like cream--or chalk--AND it's "long life" milk, which means it does not require refrigeration until you open it. And it tastes good. We haven't seen the stuff in UB since February.

I realize there is something supremely ironic about buying imported milk in a country with SO many cows, but Mongolian milk only comes in 3.2% and 3.6% and (in my opinion) has this really "cow-y" taste which I really don't care for.

Anyhow, this morning I spent $50 on the stuff.

Enough to last a while, anyhow.