Photos -- An eclectic bunch of them

Here are some photos with captions. Today we went to the Post Office and got a package from Paul and Tia -- thanks guys!!! We were so excited to see that the postal service does in fact work here, so go ahead and give it a try! If you have sent something small like a letter or card, it is most likely in the PO Box, which we don't have a key for. We can collect things like that next week when school starts again. Enjoy the photos!

This is clayt in Darkhan, at the foot of the steps leading up to Buddah. The blue ribbons tied all over the gargoyles are shaman ribbons.

In this picture you can see a little bit of Darkhan city, and the hill we climbed mentioned below in an earlier entry, and you can see where the bus quit on us.

This was in a museum in Darkhan, and the caption said it was a skull and bone of a "Bull." We are skeptical, as it looks like a Dinosaur to us... any experts out there?

Dinner Christmas Eve at our favorite "Northern India" restaurant. Just to show you we are alive and well, not wasting away.

And here is clayt, also christmas eve, after eating a yummy nontraditional christmas meal.

Here i am with a Santa guy at the sqaure in the city. We aren't sure why he was there, but he charged us 300 tugrugs for the photo op, and hugged me nice and close for the picture. This gives you sort of an idea about their traditional clothing in the winter -- the older people and people from the poorer districts - the Ger Districts - wear these long silk coats with fur and felt linings, and a long sash tied around their middle. They come in all sorts of colors, and clayt insists that he needs to get one.

This is the slipper room at the school dorm we stayed at in Darkhan. I haven't seen so many slippers all together before! They don't wear shoes inside, only slippers. So this is where they go when not in use.

This is the view from the teacher's room at our school. The sky is clear here almost every day.
The cars at the bootom of the picture are on a driver's ed course, and its always entertaining to watch the drivers practice during our breaks -- they must avoid cones, stray dogs, and other drivers.

This is the view from our living room and bedroom windows. The crane has not moved since we arrived, and I like to think of it as my own fire escape ladder. You can see an ice skating rink in the background, also entertaining to watch as kids wipe out or wipe each other out. The building right behind the crane is an auto shop AND and Finland Beer Bar.

This is the man, Chinggis Khan. This is a really huge and impressive statue of him, sort of like the Lincoln Memorial. This is at (sorry for the spelling, not sure) Sukhbaatar Square.

Here is clayt in our chilly living room. We put the couch clayt is sitting on in front of a door that goes onto a balcony to try to stop the draft. Then we covered the couch with a blanket because it was too cold to sit on. Then we had to put a blanket under it, as the freezing air was still sneaking in from under the couch. The tiny white thing is our beloved space heater.

Here is the kitchen. You can see our tiny washing machine (which works awesomely!) that drains into the sink, the dear little scrappy oven, and our little fridge (with a freezer inside, one like a real mini-fridge has, just a frozen little box with a door).