A DAY IN DARKHAN

If details are not your thing just skip this post and wait for the next one. I love to learn the details of the story so I would have loved to have learned some of the "nitty gritty" of what goes on in Mongolia before I got here. I am going to try to share some of what we see daily in our apartment and out on the street. I will try to include some pictures as I can.
First, our apartment is on the 5th floor of one of the nicer buildings in the city. All of the apartments buildings look pretty standard block buildings but ours has a full time security guard and is pretty well maintained. The seniors (we are called senior missionaries as opposed to the Jr missionaries who go on their missions at about age 19) in UB (the capitol city) pay about $700 per month for their apartment but we are in a much smaller city and we will only be paying $500 for a much nicer and larger apartment. For the next 5 months we are temporally in a small apartment that is only $300 per month. It is still quite nice with a large kitchen/ dining room and a bedroom and a small bathroom. The  bedroom has a modular couch which we have converted into a decent bed. We both sleep great on it and we are happy to have such a nice place to live. When we first got here we though that we would just stay in this apartment but we have realized that we will be having lots of visitors for dinner and meetings and it is too small for entertaining.
Most buildings in town are heated by hot water supplied by the city from large boilers that pump hot water water into the city. The boilers burn coal to heat the water which, added to the cars and the gers that burn coal causes pollution throughout the city. Darkhan air is much better than Ulaanbaatar but it is not good and it is getting worse.  The heat in the buildings and homes is good except that the radiators have no control so if the room is too hot (which it often times is) you simply open the window and let the -20 F air in. It will cool off a room in about 1 minute. We have learned to sleep with our window open just a crack but then the pollution gets in and it is harder to breathe. I don't know if the hot water for the shower and sinks come from the city but it is scalding. It would burn you very badly if you used straight hot water. If I don't shower by 8 AM the water goes from warm to cold to very hot. I think others are turning water on and off as well as starting loads of wash.
Speaking of wash, we asked if we would have a washer and dryer. We were assured that we would have both. We have a brand new washing machine that will hold one sheet at a time and takes about 2 hours because it pumps in cold water and then heats it. The dryer is a rack in our bedroom. We couldn't fit 2 sheets on the rack (after we washed them one at a time) so we went and bought some rope and strung it across our room and now we can hang several loads at a time. They did a clever things with the plumbing. All of the bathrooms have a towel warmer sticking out of the wall where they are pumping hot water into the room anyway.
Most people here use an electric tea pot to make hot water. It will boil a liter of water in about 1 minute. We used ours often to heat water for everything from soup to just hot water to drink. The other night Deni used the electric stove to cook something, took the pan off the stove, and proceeded to put her new electric tea pot plastic side down onto the hot burner. It melted it so we had to go buy a new one. It was 40,000 which is about $24.00.
We have been to visit several families over the holiday. Without exception they all serve the same meal. They are all kind and gracious hosts and consider us honored guests. They always remove their shoes in homes but often tell us that we don't need to. We usually do anyway. As soon as we are seated we are always served Harim which is hot water with some milk and salt in it. When you come into the Ger and you start taking off all the jackets and gloves and scarves and hats they immediately give you a hot cup of Harim which is too hot to drink but feels good to hold. As soon as you drink it they fill it back up right away. We have learned that if they serve you something that you don't like, you don't want to get it down quickly just to get rid of it because they will fill it right back up.We are always served potato salad (which is the most delicious we have tasted), a baloney type meat with slices of pickles on top laid out very neatly on a dish, candy in a bowl and a beautiful decorated cake. We are sometimes offered "milk tea" (just like it sounds) which we don't accept because we don't drink tea or mare's milk which Deni likes OK and I can't stand. They then bring out Bowls of Bodes (don't know how to spell it) which are like a large pot-sticker dumpling. They are steamed and have some kind of meat inside. It is usually sheep or beef but in one of the countryside Ger's it was horse meat. Before we knew what it was Deni commented that it was the best bode that we had had. These families can barely afford to feed themselves but they bring out the best spread that they can provide just for a quick drop by.
We really have had an amazing week and I would love to keep telling but I have written to much already and I'm sure you are tired of reading (those that made it this far) and I want to include some pictures and videos of our adventures. Know that we are well, happy, and loving the country, the town, and especially the beautiful people.
This is a little Down Syndrome girl and her beautiful Accordion playing Grandmother.

Way out in the countryside. This family has 2 Ger's. One for them and one for the brothers family. The weather is below 0 but the Ger is heated by animal dung so it is nice and warm.

 Visiting the family of a handicapped boy. Here you can see inside the Ger. The beds are around the outside of the single room and they are kept as clean as possible. You can see the stove that heats the house to the right. Bright rugs and drapes are on the round walls and the few things that they need to use for eating.

 The rug that you see is the door to the Ger. This family of a handicapped child has a little land, a few animals and very large stack of dried dung for the winter.(Wish I had a picture of the dung. Probably 6' x 10' and 6' high.)

 As you can see, they have no electricity except what the solar panel provides. Enough to run 1 light bulb and a TV in each of their 2 Ger's. They have no plumbing, just an outhouse a ways from the home. I used one. It is a small wood shed with a board on the ground with a hole cut in it. It is so cold that everything freezes right away. The people are beautiful and most important, they are HAPPY. They would love to improve but they seem grateful for what they have.