Гном Небесный

Days go by and all I have seen is: hotel, car and office. So here I am again, people are late but I managed to get an Internet wire and lulled by the gentle sound of Mongolian all around me, as rest of the team keeps chatting, I`m shortening my time by writting this... I have come up with a reason why one feels so energetic here, regardless the fact that she has to wake up at 3am (LV time, surely). Since most facilities are covered in syntetic carpets, every touch of a metal object tends to bring a little eletric shock. A bit of eletricity couple of times a day is good to stay wide awake and brisk. It certainly works for me!

What is the most overwhelming feeling that lingers when I think about these few days in UB city? No other place I have been to so far and for such a short time has instilled such respect for what is .. a wish to accept and understand the course of events and reasons behind them, instead of trying to change this reality to match with the right one . Though very welcoming, this is another continentality

A short account on our travel to the Chingis Haans „village”. The place. The place reminded me our licensing workshops because foreigners have to pay a special tax (3000 tugrik) for exiting the place. Locals are charged 300. Now, does that not remind you the museums in St. Petersburg or Moscow? : ) The trip. But the trip was nice. I`d say Mongolia – nuts and bolts. Ichka took us to a nearby ger village – a replica of what real one should look like. Us means – two Latvians and David from South Africa.The v alley was lovely and quite, the day still is absolutely fabulous, warm (no wind), sunny and the sky...Well you already know what I think about Mongolia’s sky. We got our of no-roads experience, a nice ger to have lunch in (for those interested, I had a very liberal (as David, also a vegetarian said) vegetarian lunch – a meat dumpling and a meat soup: ). Valts tried to ride a horse and in turns we amused the little boy who took care of us by trying to pretend to be good archers. Our ...

Today was the first time we saw Ulaanbaatar in daylight. It means - I walked futher and longer than to the office and our newly discovered supper place. A nice little Babel. We spent some fun but depressing time shopping for souvenirs together with one of our interpreters – Byan ( Mongolian names are complicated!!). He told me mass of funny stories about Mongolian language. One of them was about Mongolian sense of direction. From now on I’ll always remember that whenever a Mongolian talks about directions " straight, to the right and then to the left" must not be followed directly, that is, it`s better not to follow the direction where he or she points her finger. Instead we must pull out our little compasses and find the South. Then turn to the East and then to the West. In Ulaanbaatar it’s much easayer. For those who have no clue about where is the South – just find the Big Mountain! If its cloudy (and it happens sometimes)…you’ll just have to trust your pears… Oh, oh, ...

23.02.2006. Whether there is such a word or not, Ulaanbaatar is the centre of continentality . The city is hardly a beautiful place and because of the ger districts on the outskirts in winters it is always covered with smog. Though I must admit that all I have seen so far is (surprise, surprise) the landscape from my 11th floor window and a 3 minute walk to and from the office. Have you ever felt like living in a different reality? The country, the city.. everyone seems to follow logic and rules beyond the reach of our thought. But people – people here are kind and beautiful, and the best audience ever . And the sky.. the sky is amazing... outworldly blue. Traffic in UB is wild. This morning we decided that having a driver for a 3 minute drive is weird and tried to cross the street over the crosswalk…Well…I have to admit that if that was not my only (non-weird) possibility to get to work, I’d probably think more than twice before repeating this venture!!! Short after landing at 6am y...

They say that every second someone creates a new blog. Against such background this one is a little contribution to the common good! But I don`t mind: ) Should I decide upon a dedication? You know... for mum, my dear aunt Berta, peace in the World.. I certainly will. When I can think of an appropriate object! Any suggestions?