whereintheworldareryanandstephanie...
Somewhere- out there...
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
crazy taxi, paragliding, like Israelis
So I have got three things- and unfortunately no pictures yet-
Last weekend I was on my way back from the capital city, I decided to take the taxi because I missed the bus. We drove for a while, took a different turn than normal and ended up in a ger district. He stopped at a xashaa (a fence around a ger) and left all 5 of us in the car. We sat there for 15 minutes then he returned. Just so you know this is a pretty normal procedure in Mongolia- a taxi driver might stop in the middle of nowhere to visit a friend for a half hour- you just have to wait. After the driver came back, I thought "finally we are on our way." We drove for about 5 minutes on a dirt road back towards the "highway"...but right before we got there the driver pulled to a stop. I looked ahead and saw a giant ice pond (melted with ice on the outsides). You see, normally we had to go through a tunnel under the train tracks to get to the main road- but this time it was full of water from the snow melt. My first thought was "ahh man, looks like we've got to go back the other way." But then, all of a sudden, the driver floored it and we plopped right down in the pond (I call it a pond, because it was big enough to have a small whale living in it:))I couldn't believe what the driver did- We started driving through the water- the water was coming over the hood and the engine was steaming! Next thing I noticed was water was coming in through the door- I couldn't help but chuckle at this point, even though the driver had his "serious face" on...I pulled my legs up- and was in fetal position. luckily the water reached only the bottom of my seat. We started going through the tunnel, and then...clunk clunk...clunk clunk...the car came to a halt. At this moment I thought "great I'm going to be stuck in the middle of ice water in a one-way tunnel- and I might die" (just kidding... but seriously) A few minutes later to my surprise the car started back up again... and we were on our way like Titanic through the deep...water was still coming over the hood...and we came out of the tunnel... but then, the driver had to figure out how to get out of the puddle- because there was about a 1-2 foot drop from the ice edge to the water level... He saw the lowest point and went for it...next thing you know we are high-centered half way into the ocean and half-way on the land- We are like a beached whale! ha- the door was opened and everyone jumped for land... we made it- it was the same feeling I bet the immigrants used to have when they made it to Lady Liberty! Anyways...to finish the story- car came over, towed us out, we used a bucket to empty the car, rode the next 3 hours with a wet floor- my feet were cold and my socks were wet- When I asked the driver why he drove into the puddle he said that the baby in the car was like a god. I repeat, his reason for entering the puddle was due to a baby in the front passenger seat. -Gotta love shamanism- In America two things would be different- baby wouldn't be in the front seat and the reason to NOT drive into the ice pond might be that there IS a baby on board...well why would you drive into an ice pond anyways... well got a kick out of the story...hope you did too.
The other two things...I will make it real short since I already wrote a good page.
-Apparently, according to my co-worker, Mongolians have the same IQ as Israelis. Yep, that's what he said. Don't really know what to do with that.
-I went paragliding last weekend. It was awesome.
Last weekend I was on my way back from the capital city, I decided to take the taxi because I missed the bus. We drove for a while, took a different turn than normal and ended up in a ger district. He stopped at a xashaa (a fence around a ger) and left all 5 of us in the car. We sat there for 15 minutes then he returned. Just so you know this is a pretty normal procedure in Mongolia- a taxi driver might stop in the middle of nowhere to visit a friend for a half hour- you just have to wait. After the driver came back, I thought "finally we are on our way." We drove for about 5 minutes on a dirt road back towards the "highway"...but right before we got there the driver pulled to a stop. I looked ahead and saw a giant ice pond (melted with ice on the outsides). You see, normally we had to go through a tunnel under the train tracks to get to the main road- but this time it was full of water from the snow melt. My first thought was "ahh man, looks like we've got to go back the other way." But then, all of a sudden, the driver floored it and we plopped right down in the pond (I call it a pond, because it was big enough to have a small whale living in it:))I couldn't believe what the driver did- We started driving through the water- the water was coming over the hood and the engine was steaming! Next thing I noticed was water was coming in through the door- I couldn't help but chuckle at this point, even though the driver had his "serious face" on...I pulled my legs up- and was in fetal position. luckily the water reached only the bottom of my seat. We started going through the tunnel, and then...clunk clunk...clunk clunk...the car came to a halt. At this moment I thought "great I'm going to be stuck in the middle of ice water in a one-way tunnel- and I might die" (just kidding... but seriously) A few minutes later to my surprise the car started back up again... and we were on our way like Titanic through the deep...water was still coming over the hood...and we came out of the tunnel... but then, the driver had to figure out how to get out of the puddle- because there was about a 1-2 foot drop from the ice edge to the water level... He saw the lowest point and went for it...next thing you know we are high-centered half way into the ocean and half-way on the land- We are like a beached whale! ha- the door was opened and everyone jumped for land... we made it- it was the same feeling I bet the immigrants used to have when they made it to Lady Liberty! Anyways...to finish the story- car came over, towed us out, we used a bucket to empty the car, rode the next 3 hours with a wet floor- my feet were cold and my socks were wet- When I asked the driver why he drove into the puddle he said that the baby in the car was like a god. I repeat, his reason for entering the puddle was due to a baby in the front passenger seat. -Gotta love shamanism- In America two things would be different- baby wouldn't be in the front seat and the reason to NOT drive into the ice pond might be that there IS a baby on board...well why would you drive into an ice pond anyways... well got a kick out of the story...hope you did too.
The other two things...I will make it real short since I already wrote a good page.
-Apparently, according to my co-worker, Mongolians have the same IQ as Israelis. Yep, that's what he said. Don't really know what to do with that.
-I went paragliding last weekend. It was awesome.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Multitasking
Oh yeah, here is the picture of my multitasking experience- Nothing like peanut butter and jelly in the shower.
Soldier's Day
So we haven't been the best about updating our blog the last couple of weeks- so here is a little review...About two weeks ago there was a national holiday called soldier's day. Also mongolians call it Men's Day. There was a little performance in front of the theater- they did a really cool martial arts display, marching, etc...
The weekend came and we headed to U.B.- we partied like rockstars-
Then Steph was gone all last week at a conference- aimed at helping mongolians teach kids about AIDS- I got sick and didn't go to work for a few days...I think I almost died without her being around...:)
The snow is melting and the windy season has started. The good thing about the snow was that it covered up a lot of garbage and kept the dust down. Now- not so much. Last week I also discovered a new way to save time...eating breakfast while showering...
This week should be interesting. There will be some demonstrations in major cities across the country where people will be demanding more money and parliament to dissolve...should make for a good show. That's about all for now...
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