Mongolia Mission Week 24
Our hope with this blog is to share highlights with our family and friends about our exciting opportunities and awesome responsibilities in Mongolia. It's an impossible task, though, because it's hard to condense everything into a few words and pictures. So ask us individually if you'd like to know more about anything! You can contact us by email (jrose219@gmail.com or krose213@gmail.com), Facebook messenger, or you can text Kathy's phone (515-537-3273).
Our goal this week is to share some pictures from both Sainshand and Ulaanbaatar that just caught our attention and were fun. We hope you enjoy them, too!
--Some young Mongolian girls were drawing on the board after English class at the church, with drawings representing their teacher, "Eves," and the two of us!
Wonder why they characterized us that way?
--South of our apartment complex, a large performing arts center (we think) is being built. There wasn't much activity during the winter, but with spring there is construction everywhere in the city.
One day we set off walking and saw a taxi by the performing arts center. Workers were stacking a large quantity of foam boards on top of the taxi. The stack had become taller than the taxi and very out of reach of the people who were trying to load it, and we found the project interesting. Then we realized what was really happening. A slight breeze kept picking up and blowing the top few foam boards off the stack. No sooner did these wanna-be sails get caught and pushed back into place than they blew off again. We needed to get to a class we were teaching and didn't get to see how the story ended.

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There's also a construction project to the west of us, most likely more apartments. It has suddenly sprung to life with 12 - 20 workers, depending on the day. New industries are coming to Sainshand in the next few years, and we see a lot of apartment buildings in different stages of construction.
--This is an area known for dinosaur discoveries, which is celebrated in our city logo, signs, etc. In Sainshand there is even a life-sized statue in front of the local cinema. It's made of keys that have been welded together. Both creative and amazing!
We also see evidence of petrified wood discoveries, like this short wall with pieces of petrified wood set in concrete along the top.
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This is larger example in a store where you can get jewelry made with petrified wood. |
--But we're starting to see a new face of the Gobi:
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The seemingly dead twigs lining the streets have timidly but persistently been pushing out some green. |
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The streets are coming to life! |
The amazing thing is that we don't see many drip lines for water.
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We did, however, see a water truck with a hose attached and guys watering trees by hand!
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--Also on the streets, we see horses and camels being hauled, but never a horse trailer. Stock is often hauled in the back of not very big trucks with short racks. The camels are hauled with them kneeling in the back of the truck. They seem fine with it.
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This one has a cover, which is unusual. |
--Every city seems to have a sign like this. In Sainshand's case, the "60" represents the 60th anniversary of the city in 2021.
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Notice anything strange? No winter coats! |
--John is compelled to check out each food market in town, and there's a small one on practically every corner. However, you can't really have a go-to store for some specialty items, like squirt whipped cream or baking powder, because the inventory is always changing. One thing that is very ubiquitous, though, is all the snacks, drinks, and ramen, much of it imported from other countries.
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The ramen isle in one store. There was more on the ends of the racks. |
There are also lots of ice cream bars - not much ice cream in containers, and certainly none in large tubs, but lots of bars. John's favorite treat is a chocolate ice cream bar covered in dark chocolate with pieces of shortbread cookie in the coating. We don't eat much ice cream, but he's always on a quest to find them.
And the flavors! If we find tortilla chips (only in the city), they're usually flavored, like cheese or salsa flavored. And we were excited to find Cheetos until we realized they were ketchup flavored-
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In the "unusual foods to find at the supermarket," add horse jerky. |
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Squeezing coconuts must be rather challenging- |
When you go to the local supermarket (the closest thing we have to a warehouse store) and find a stuffed cactus in a pot, the good news is that it never needs water.
--One of the interesting aspects of travel is just the differences in cultures and expectations. Americans have a certain way of life and we find anything else to be strange. And so it is with restrooms. We stopped at a very new convenience store that is about the half-way mark between our city and the capital. The store just opened in the past month or two, completely remodeled and everything new. We were delighted with their clean, free restroom. But it is shared. You walk in to the sink area, then turn down this alcove that contains three stalls - the first two for women and the third for men - directly across from the men's urinals. Stand close, fellas.
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Turns out our dashboard works great for reheating pizza! We took leftover homemade pizza on our last trip to the city. |
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We ran across a poster in the capital. Evidently, One Republic was performing at the end of April.
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--We have developed a reward hug system for each other for the one who does the dishes. It's nice to be noticed for doing the dishes, and a hug from behind is our tender way of saying thank you. But one day Sister Rose did the dishes and didn't get her hug. When Brother Rose realized this, she got more than the agreed upon hug.
Being called as couple volunteers at this time of life has many advantages over what the young people experience:
- we get to choose our own companion
- we have already learned to live with them
- we've already worked out some relationship goals
- we've already begun learning each other's language
- we've learned to be patient with each other's weaknesses (and boy, does living with each other 24/7 give a chance to refine that patience!)
- we've committed to a forever relationship and have the Lord as our partner in that relationship
--But a favorite photo - the picture more so than the selection inside the bakery - is a picture taken just for the sake of the name!
And finally, we thought the sunset in the rearview mirror was fun. We end our blog with the end of a day. Once again thanking God for all his creations and for all the experiences we get to have as we strive to serve Him in Mongolia! We are so blessed every single day! Some may be harder than others, but every day is a blessing and we thank God for those particular experiences. We either cherish the experience or are grateful for the growth and learning gained from it. Either way, we are blessed!