Random Notes

Today is the first day of our spring break vacation. We had initially wanted to go to the Gobi during this break, but decided it would be better to save our money for the quickly upcoming return to the US for the summer. More details on our homecoming will be posted here as soon as we know what the plan is. Now for the randomness -

As you can see, we aren't the only ones excited about a week off from school! Here are the scholarly and intellectual students of the second grade.

Clayt and I decided after living here a year and some months that we wanted to finally try to clean one of our patios. We never tried before because of the layer of dust and dirt that covers the whole thing - there is no drainage for the patios, so there is nowhere for the dirty water to drain. Here's a photo of me busting through the caulk along the bottom of the patio, to make our own sort of draining system.

Clayt brought me bucket after bucket of hot water which I mopped to the homemade drains in the corner. I was a little worried, as the water was just running down the building, onto the patios of all 7 floors beneath us. Nobody came to complain.

This is a poor little frozen puppy. We see him every day on the way to work. When I first saw him, he was on the ground, frozen stiff in a position that made it apparent he didn't pass on peacefully. Clayt and I were (still are) perplexed as to how an animal can freeze in a position of struggle. More disturbing is that one of its legs is missing, chopped off, either before or after it froze. So, at some point somebody took the time to place the thing on top of a concrete block that covers a steam pipe. The steam has relaxed his posture, as you see in this photo. Actually, now that it's getting warmer, I think being on top of the hot steam pipe might cause more problems - i'm not sure if anyone will bothering moving it again. Anyways, these are the kinds of things we see on our way to and from work each day.

Well it was almost a year ago that I had my appendix removed. Here is a photo of the torture chamber/hospital. This is, in this city, one of the best places to be treated if you're sick. Would you have surgery here?

We saw this near our apartment a few weeks ago. This is somebody's patio with a clothing line strung with drying meat. Dried meat here is called Bortz, and we know from experience that it just might be the toughest substance in the world to chew. I'm sure this batch will have a nice "smoky" flavor from the coal dust. You can't really see because of the glare on the windows, but the row of meat goes the whole length of the patio.