I apparently am not getting much sleep tonight. It would seem the staff is getting together tomorrow night to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I feel I have nothing to bring. The food situation here is difficult for me and it is hard for me to cook. I was kind of asked to bring some sort of dessert, but were on earth do I find pumpkin pie in a place like this?
When I say a place like this, I mean a country struggling to it's feet. It was very common during the Russian reign to have their thoughts and go to their schools. Now, it seems America is rearing its head here now too. There are two schools here that are English and we seem to be in competition with one another, though I have no idea why. The other school really looks down on us.
I have to admit, I am really beginning to miss Canada. Just for the convience of it all. Today I went shopping with Doogie and on the sidewalk was a man who was too drunk too get up and had actually peed his pants. She told me that it was because he was so poor he couldn't afford food. The only thing he could buy was cheap booze and that's what he takes until he dies. I asked if he could not save the money he spent on vodka and buy food and she told me that they produce such products especially for people like him and this is his fate. It is very, very sad to me. I am glad that Doogie says she has a good job, though her husband does not have one. She keeps inviting me over to her house and I keep saying no. I am afraid to really see. She is a very smart woman and really misses living in Sweden.
We were looking for footwear for me and she said it was better to order it from some where else, as here it is of poor quality. I said once you factor in all the exchange rates and shipping, it was easier for me to just buy it here. I found a pair that I loved and were so beautiful, but she wouldn't let me buy them because she said they were too small for me. It is difficult to find sizes that fit for me. Mongolians have small feet and small everything else. I definately stand out. Small children stare at me as I am so alien looking to them.
Just the other day I had asked if Doogie's daughter could go back to the school to get something from my classroom and she was too afraid, due to the children in the neighbourhood. While they are very pleastant with me, saying hello all the time, they apparently can get quite mean to people who they deem have it better than them. I was surprised but don't blame her. I get nervous sometimes too. Also, some one in one of the ger's feels the sidewalk is the perfect place to do #2. It is so obvious that it is a human and it's really gross. I have to walk past it everyday, practically. I don't know if it's because they don't know any better or if it's some sort of protest against the school. Due to the fact the school is now there, the neighbourhood is growing, in what may be to many in a good way. There is a huge difference between here and the"countryside". As you may well know, more than half the population of Mongolia resides in Ulaanbaatar, leaving the rest of the country the "countryside". It would seem the parents don't raise their own children and leave it up to the grandparents, or else there is just no one at home for them. So differnt from North America where kids aren't to be left alone until they're 12 or some age closer to that. Here, they're in grade 2 and deemed able to fend for themselves.