Comparisons

PmpKn in a tote hauled from Saipan during our first weeks in Mongolia

PmpKn last week. Look Dad, no room for your old clothes

Let's hope it grows back

The day of the big hair cut finally came. This is a Mongolian tradition which was never explained fully to me. As you can see, the little one has gone for the shaven look on his mighty dome. He took it well, once he realized he wasn't at the dentist. Good news for him is a continuance of the tradition means no more hair cuts until he goes to school,
in Mongolia anyway.
In other news, Erdene and my wedding anniversary is tomorrow and Monday, depending on which side of the International Dateline you reside on. Last year, we both forgot and didn't realize until the next day. As luck would have it, we had a fine day together and treasure the memory of not needing reminders to make every day together a special day. This year we are apart, but are happy knowing it will be the last. Pumpkin is well, but his mom is missing my support. Disobedient, willful, and headstrong seem to sum up his two and a half year attitude towards life. Happy and curious are also in the mix, so all is not lost, but I miss the chance to contribute. Erdene is hanging in there and hasn't lost her cheerfulness. As our friend, Captain Tom, is want to say; the only thing sweeter than her smile is her disposition. Sorry honey, but I have a few years to make up for my abscense in these trying times. Below is a picture from Erdene. She and the lad are managing well in Erdenet. Spring has sprung and Alan Amara participated in the running of the goats at Dad Mashbatt's countryside home last weekend. Much as I miss him, I envy him the chance to be two and free of the city.

Above is a picture of Erdene and I after our first real date. From the sunburns, you might quess we were at the beach all day. Inthe shopping bag is some aloe after sun lotion which was much appreciated. This is also the day, we realized that we might just be in love. And below, our wedding, five months later at Mayor Tudela's office. A happy day for all.
Without a doubt, these two pictures represent our happiest day together so far. The little one has always been a joy. A trial and tribulation at times, but at the end of the day. What joy.

I can only think of one more day which will join the above as big days in our memories. That will be the day of my dreams, when I meet them at LAX baggage claim.

Mongolian Elections

Good report HERE. Erdene tells me her brother is sound asleep after a solid 24 hrs of work for the "other" candidate. Lets hope the party in power didn't read the tales of LBJ's first major election. They went to bed with the election in the bag, only to find the election stolen. Not such a big deal, as they were fairly confident in their ability to steal, but maybe a lesson. Which ever party wins, we are hoping there won't be a repeat of last years rights.
UB is no doubt full of Australians, who won't be too fond of the idea of no rum for a month. I'd like to be hopeful and while I don't see any riots on the horizon, I also don't see change for the better. Read the article, it is more of the same. Oh well, a peaceful change of power, meaningless as it might be, is still breathing room for the populace to organize. Go Mongolia.
UPDATE The Mongolian election commission confirmed the election of Ts. Elbegdorj. The ruling party gracefully bowed out before the official announcement. I quess they didn't forget about last year. Results were close, but the differences between the candidates weren't so great, that a major victory was needed. ie. There won't be much change, just a different name on the label. If anyone besides my sister-in-law, Selenge, is interested, you can read about it HERE.
On a side note, for those curious about Mongolia, the blogger type news and web pages have greatly expanded and improved in realibility. The news link will take you to MongoliaOnlice. Filled with links (that work) and news, this is a good place to start.

Now if Google could clean up their act. They managed to "Lose" Terri and Kevan's excellent blog from Tinian. I'm sure it is to late, but I wish I had been a bit more anal about writing from a word document that I could save, but I still have my pictures, the tales of the PMPKN, and most of my Mongolian pieces. Hope everyone has or had a fufilling Memorial Day and didn't forget those who allow us to celebrate a day away from our work if not everyday cares and concerns. Most especially, those who have fallen in the defense or pursuit of freedom.

Travel

I nearly don't want to post this one, but I must. I'm traveling to Williamsburg, VA this month. I'll be near the roller coaster on which "Fabio" was struck by a bird. Sweet. Not that I feel for Fabio and I've ridden this particular coaster before (not bad. The "Appollo's Chariot" has a decent hang time and some great high and low g moments. Poor Fabio

And this is my contribution to unexploded ordenance on Saipan. Whoops, sorry Noli. I picked it up off the table at bills and left it at the apartments in china town.

Cooking for one

is fun (it gives me something to think about during the day), but eating alone leaves something to be desired. However, it was pretty good. In Saipan, it was common to see beef ribs in a tangy marinade for barbeques. I made my own version with local (San Diego) ingrediants. Equal amounts of Teriyaki sauce and lime juice, a largeish splash of oil,grated ginger, some chopped lemon grass and a thai pepper. I salted the riblets with DesJardins fajita seasoning, these were the flanken ribs with the bones snipped off to an inch' width, and dusted them with lemon pepper prior to marinading. Just to be different I put a half a can of coke in the marinade. I would have used a sugar syrup for the same amount of sweetness, but didn't ask my mom for advice, until it was too late. Anyone have any additions or another recipe? I was reasonably happy with the results. The lime juice tenderized the heck out of what otherwise might have been a chewy cut. No pictures, but I think we have all seen these ribs before.
I see the Japanese filmed a beer commercial at my favorite snorkeling spot at the meeting house in Tanapeg. Glad to see the MVA is on the job. If I like it, it must be a good place. Shame they didn't pay anyone off or so says Ruth T. Maybe, Saipan is better off paying it forward than cash on barrel for every little photo op.

I miss the cuteness

Erdene went to wall for these pictures. A seriously slow transmission rate caused her to spend three hours for seven pictures. And I thought, my mom's mule driven connection was slow. Thanks Honey.

All is well in Mongolia. The weather has been a little flukely; sandstorms intermixed with spring snow, but a general warming trend. Obviously, pumpkin is in love with the auto. No accident that he looks like he might be driving. At any given moment he is only a well practiced key turn away from motoring on his own. He seems to think his little push car is entitled to space on the streets of Erdenet. Look out world.

I dropped

a comment on Glen588 the other night. Seems like the Saipan blogs have dried up (all due respect to the Saipan Writer, Kelli, Deece, Boni, Wayne, Angelo, and "your name here") However, it seems right to me to fill Glen in on what is going on, my version of flowers, all things being right in the world he is floating amid clouds an heavenly nymphs strumming on harps or electric guitars (I never did learn Glen's preferances towards musical instruments, but I'm pretty certain scantily clad nymphs were among his favorites)
I'm sure he would have love to be amongst the chosen jurors in the fat timmy trial, while he would have most likely passed on a seat in the jurors bench, I'm equally certain he would be among the mob outside the office on Monday waving his little pitchfork and demanding the bastard being thrown out now. The law being the law, it will probably take some months for the Lt to be removed from office, but Glen would be the one, chanting NOW, Now, Now.. We need more Glens and Angelos and even Ed and Tina's. And the quiet but positive movers; the Boni's and the Waynes, and yes even the Harrys and the Bruce's. Sunday thoughts.

Coming soon, to a blog near you

A guest blog from my sister, Rebecca. World traveler, bead collector, and bon vivant. Plus, she was in an elevator with a Mongolian Sumo wrestler, which beats my previous claim to fame as someone who shook the hand of a man who had been hit in the head by a chair swung by George "the Animal" Steele. Not sure if he has an "e" at the end of his name, but I felt Randy S. could use a little sixth degree of connection claim to fame.
And this is for my culinary inspiration, Deece

This is an English derived Trifle. Jello layers on top of lady finger spnge cake. My grandmother (Nanny, in England) managed to teach us all to make this with varying degrees of success. This is Amy and Becky's rendition and pretty tasty. Fun to make, but a bit difficult getting the varying layers of Jello to rest without blending into the preceding layers. As you get more fancy (mixing canned fruits into the jello layers) the difficulty level increase exponentially. Sort of like Earthquake Richter scale levels, but the great part about the process is the entire dish is topped with whipped cream and even if you can't take a picture, it still tastes great. I'm a failure at the English version, so I'm taking a long look at your cake based. Especially, the red velvet.
All is well in Mongolia, except Erdene wonders how many pieces of sugar free gun the boy can swallow in a day before it becomes a health issue.

Picture time

I've been a bit lame lately. I think this whole separation thing is really getting to me. Checkout this picture of the lad,
you may have to click and save as to get a good look at what I'm seeing, or maybe it is me. He's holding a picture of the three of us and damned if it doesn't look as though there is a little moisture in the corner of his eye. Or he just got YA Ya from Mom or aunt Solta and is suffering a bit. All the same, this waiting is tough. I put it aside as much as possible, at least at work I can focus on something else and I generally manage ok. I still have a picture of the two of them in my cube' and say hello every morning. They are well, spring is very close, although I heard Erdene say an infrequent cuss word the other day. She was on the verge of taking pumpkin out to play and to her surprise/dimay/annoyance it was snowing. Seems like either snow or driving winds and dust. Still he was out at the family ger the other day and a neighboring herd of goats came over to say hello. His grandfather is impressed with the lad. He has taken to horseback riding at an early age. Well, it's a rubber donkey named Eyore that he gallops about the apartment, but he has the right spirit and you can never go wrong in Mongolia, if you are an accomplished horseman and being handy with stock isn't a bad attribute either. I spent time on the farm as a lad and I'm happy to see Pumpkin able to do the same. I'm not sure there are even any petting zoo's open around San Diego anymore, so enjoy it while you can my boy.


He is quite fearless and he seems to have learned some amount of patience as the goats would have fled for the hills a few months previously. Erdene has found some old family friends living in the countryside with thier childrens small ones (a fairly common circumstance in Mongolia. The adult children work in the city and the little ones stay with the grand parents in the countryside ger. Healthy for the kids and they help out with the animals from an early age which lightens the load on the elders) I see a happy spring for Pumpkin. I'm going to suggest Erdene pick up a tent, so she and the lad can spend some time with them, rather than depend on rides to and from. Did I say, they have small children and baby goats, lambs, friendly dogs, and baby cattle as well. Erdene was out there for the first time a couple of weekends ago and was fairly glowing with her description of the joy of holding a small baby while it sleeps (which pumpkin was never very prone to do at the best of times) She grew up in the same fashion and her visit sent her back to her childhood amongst the snuggly little sheep with warm noses (her words) Alan Amara in for some exciting times.
For those in the shipping line on the 29th of April, early in the AM Saipan time or
28 April sometime in the afternoon East Coast time.. My friend Captain Tom's ship will be passing through the Panama Canal. It will look familar to Saipan residents, as until a few weeks ago it was anchored off the shore. I'll hold the ships name, until the night before. Some of us still take operational security seriously and these days I'm not taking chances. You can go to their website: "Panama Canal Authority" and
in upper right click on "Multimedia" tab and a drop down box will appear. Click
on "live cameras".

As for me, I'm getting out of my funk and am going to try a little cooking. I haven't cooked much of anything worth talking about for months now, but I'm making corned beef and cabbage for my roomates tonight and tomorrow I'm journeying to Coronado to grill butterflied leg of lamb accompanied by parslied new potatoes and grilled asparagus. We are mixing mint with malt vinegar for the mint sauce, none of that jellied stuff for us. I picked up a gas grill the other day and once I find a gas tank for it, I'll be on the grill, so maybe there is hope for me yet. I'm also thinking of picking up a Padre's hat, as the Red Sox seem a bit slow to start this year. Sometimes its a good thing my mom doesn't read my blog, if she saw that my christmas presents would be going back. What I meant to say was, there is a sale down by the Macy's and I can replace the Red Sox hat which I left as a Calling card at the Bateman's and since it is a two for one sale, perhaps a Padre's hat would be a good thing to have as well. And in the blogger world, little Rudi is out of the hospital and home with this brother's and sisters. Great to see the little guy doing so well and to see all the happiness in their home. I would hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, I would step up with the same faith and determination that his parents have shown. Go Rudi

A new Mongolia blog, of sorts

Young fellow here <http://www.chronicletimes.com/> is living on the edges of the Gobi desert and writing of his experiences of Mongolia while doing Peace Corps time. To find his dispatches; just enter Mongolia into the search box from the News page. Great sense of humor and he is living the life out on what passes for a prairie. Winter in a ger, he has my admiration.

Harpoon

Finally, I've been able to save a screen shot from my harpoon game. Don't laugh, this time vampire keeps me out of trouble.

In which I visit Saipan

But didn't have a camera along. However, I have some recycleable pics from the happy days.

The company was good enough to send me to Gaum on business and as I had Sunday off, I grabbed the two am Cape Air flight to Saipan. Obtensibly, I went to pick up some goodies Erdene and I had left with our friend Rick, but in all truth, I needed to ride the scooter and catch up with old friends. My day began as most do with breakast at Wild Bill's. Mali and Wasana were both there and treated me as if I had been gone for a few days rather than a year and a half. My entire day was like that, I think I'm the only one who knows I've been away. Wild Bill told me later, that was an island thing and I'm cool with that. Bob O'C, his wife Bayarama, son Bobbi, and daughter Kali (sp?, sorry, hope your ankle heals up quickly) came down from the hill and we caught up on the local and distant news. I had plenty of knee bouncing with little Bobbi, who shares a birthday with the pmpkn, although he is a year younger. Sweeet little boy, I nearly cried with my memories of the lad in the same place. Overall though, I felt much better for my time with his cuteness. Nong's dog snow, most definetely remembered me and acknowledged my gift of a sausage with his usual affection.
After breakfast, I hit Asia Scooter. Strangely enough, they didn't have a white scooter to rent to me, apparently they are all broken, but I did manage the slightly slower red scotter. Then, it was off to the north for a swim and to check on the familia Bateman. Sadly, they were not in residence, although the boonie dogs were. Either they remember me or someone is slipping, as they were licking my hand before I left. Bareheaded as no one was in residence and lacking a pen or calling card, I was forced to leave my Red Sox hat on the fence in lieu of a note. I'm sure someone was wondering why the hat. I was lucky to arrive during flame tree bloom and had the time to appreciate the beauty which is Saipan.

The day went to debauch from there. Looking for my buddy Rick who had moved; I ventured to Round Two and didn't leave for quite a while. No troubles though. Virgie was behind the bar(she, her husband Noli and son Kyle were neighbors of ours in Chinatown and great friends to Erdene and I). Bobby Cadillac and Noi's husband Dave were in residence, along with my buddy Rick's new partner in crime, Butch. Butch recognized me as the Mainer who went to Mongolia Apparently in the marine diesel district of Saipan, I am legend.
I did manage directions to Ricks new place. Typical for Saipan. Go up and over Capital Hill, after you pass two stores in a row on the left, look for a house for sale on the right, take your next left down the hill, after the second house, take the left fork marked with a piece orange tape eight up the side of a palm tree, contiue down to the second house which has from two to three trucks in the yard. I decided to wait at the bar until Rick made an appearance, as that would take less time then trekking up the hill, although, I'm pretty certain I could have found it. Those were pretty decent directions by Saipan standards. Rick did make it in and I took a short trip to Dan Dan, in search of Erdene's sister. Found her apartment, but no Selenge. However, Captain Tom made it in to shore and we were able to text her, before getting into the rum. On my way to pick up Siigi, I saw Beu the bartender from Hamiltons and a good friend, trudging along in the median on middle road in search of his bike, which I had noticed locked to the window grating at Bills. The day was looking pretty good at this point. We picked up Siigi and headed back to a beach bar. Stella's Five, if memory serves. Spent the entire afternoon on the beach, with Captains Tom and Morgan along with Rick, Camille, and new friend Butch. After dinner at Bill's (Juni's exquiste, green curry) and happy greetings with CharleeRat, Nong, and Wasana's guy, the estimable 'smoking Matty G', I was all done and nearly ready for my nine pm flight back to Gaum. Of course, we had to rendevous at Godfathers and bloggers Ron M and Harry the dive animal were among the last people I saw before departing to the airport with Gee, the last of the Thai taxi drivers. Note to the regular taxi drivers, why twenty-seven dollars? Well, that's my story. Sorry, to miss everyone else, but I figured you were all at church. I envy you all for having such a lovely place to live everyday. Thanks and good times to all I visited with and sorry to miss the rest.
Nearly forgot. Erdene passed along the latest pictures. She was having me on, as they didn't cut off all the lad's hair. He's looking good and having fun, though.

Here's to Mongolian women

Yes, it is that time of year again. Mongolian Woman's Day.

Erdene and sister, Selenge, on the afternoon of our first day in Mongolia and Selenge below, looking her best on Saipan.
Had to add that, I'm continually reminded to not blog less than attractive pictures. In the first picture Selenge (Siigi) had spent much of the previous evening and into the wee hours waiting for our arrival at the aiport, and then showed up the next day at daybreak in case we needed anything. Not the least of her efforts on our behalf, by any means, but she does deserve a more realistic picture.
Sister Selenge, Solte (to the right and below), and their mom have gone more than the extra mile in their love and care for Pumpkin and Erdene. Not so different than my sisters here in America, but in Mongolia, to my experience, such caring is a family tradition carried across the entire nation. I can't say anything against this holiday, Mongolian women work hard under trying circumstances and still manage to maintain grace and dignity.


By the grace of the postal gods, my latest parcel arrived just on the eve of the big day. Fortunately, as, as with most holidays and special events, I'd forgotten.
Erdene was quite graceful with her gentle reminder along with her thanks for the package arriving on such a special day. I had to suck it up and profess ignorance again, but her Mom and sister, Solte, are quite touched by my skill at having a gift box arrive on the very eve of the day. In turn, I am touched by the devotion and care her entire family have lavished on the lad I'm so indebted for my mother and sisters-in laws help with our stay in Mongolia. So here is to them and the other fine women of the "Blue Sky Country"



The two pictures above, represent Mongolia to me. The elderly lady, medal bedecked, and dressed to the nines with her family at her side, off to a concert at the Wrestling Palace in Ulan Baatar. Hard to imagine, what she went through to reach this point in her life, but I'm happy and humbled to see her treated with gentle kindness by her family and country.
Most especially, my love and greatest respect to the Mongolian woman who will always be front and center in my life. Pumpkin called me daddy for the first time this evening. I know how much practice and coaching on her part his words cost, What greater gift can anyone receive?

I'm rather happy; Erdene will celebrate three holidays each year, beyond the usual; Mongolian Womens Day, International Women's Day, and the other Mother's day. As for my part, I'm going to need a better scheduling calendar or bring her to realize every day is a special day for her.

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