Please tell me what there is complain about…

It has been far too long. What is wrong with me- two months and no update? Another whirl-wind of months go by, and I realize how little time I actually have left here (11 months, WHAT?!). So lets back this train up, and make a (short) list of happenings:

-My CP is preggos, but you already knew that.

-That same week, I proceeded to break my iPhone on a rock (v. bleak moment for me, but I got the whole screen replaced in the capital. Who knew?)

-Altaa is preggos too! And the baby is due around the time that Suvdaa's is!
-Also that same week, I was told I was going to move apartments (I haaaaate moving)

-Ashley left Mongolia :(

-Went to MST (Mid-Service Training), and it was actually a lot of fun, with good discussion and painless seminars!

-Went to Anhaa’s (Sarah’s CP) wedding, hung out in the houdo
-My life being spent watching episodes of TV shows:

       -I finished watching The Tudors (sooo good)

       -Started watching Mad Men (sooo good)

       -Re-started watching all my favorite shows this month (sooo good)

It wasn’t all bad… that same week I had the crazy stuff happening was the same week I had found out from Soyol that we were getting *two* new volunteers instead of one! And dearest Ashley came to the BU as a sort of “final farewell”… more like she was here for seminar purposes, but it was nonetheless so nice to have her here.

After packing up my whole life in boxes, thinking I was going to move that next Wednesday, but not actually moving until Friday and going to the capital on Sunday (with barely unpacking and Mika not getting to adjust to the new place), my brain was fried. I was a crazy hot mess for a couple weeks there!

My place is finally put together (after like 2 weeks of cleaning!), but I still have yet to get a kitchen sink and a shower. But I did get a carpet that makes my place look like there’s a runway in it, so I’ll call that a victory. The sink should be here eventually because my landlord’s (one of the doctors at the hospital) husband is going to be the one to do it, and he’s in China. Of course. Could be worse! Could be raining… oh wait:

Rain? In my apartment?

Hasn’t rained in my apartment since (scratch that- it did last night), even though it was raining this week. So, whatever. It’ll be snowing soon enough. And it has been COLD. I had a moment of “oh yeah. THIS is what the cold feels like.” It warmed up for a while, but windier than I remember it being this time last year.

Work is crazy busy and I love it. We’re really getting into the groove of regular nurse-teaching sessions, and I’m starting some cool programs in the hospital.

Enough small-talk. Picture time!

Boy racing at Naadam

Can you spot the bird?

Anhaa and Zorgoo... the newly wed couple and soon to have a baby :)

Seriously, the creepiest men I've ever met (the two on the left). They were drunk as skunks (as you can tell) and couldn't remember/get over the fact we weren't Russian. And this guy looking at the camera wanted me to call him later. YEAH. SURE BUDDY I'LL GET RIGHT ON THAT. He was also confused on why I wasn't eating a second helping of mutton soup.

Sarah and her "forever six year old buddy"

FALL! Some of the only trees in the BU and they're on hospital grounds.

Happy Fall!

"This is shrine to gambling. I think life is gamble... everything you do."

This lovely quote from the rickshaw driver that I was taking a ride with. I don't care that it is pretty much a tourist trap! I got to see the other side of the city and I had time to kill before my train arrived. The guy was really informative though, and there was a lot of historical shrines/houses around that area.

Yesterday we traveled to the lovely Nara, Japan. The only thing I ever heard about Nara was that there are deer everywhere that you can feed and pet and stuff. And holy moly, they weren't kidding. Those things are freaking everywhere, and they are SMART (they cross at crosswalks! How awesome is that??). You can get a stack of deer crackers for 150 yen, and they will follow you around begging for them.

I had a wonderful time hanging out with deer. The only times I'm ever that close to deer at home are when they're dead on the side of the road. Those ones aren't too much fun. As modern as Japanese are, it shows a deep connection between the old and the new. It was so thrilling to walk around this centuries-old city and think that even the samurai were feeding the ancestors of these very deer. Speaking of old, we were in Nara for a very important anniversary- the 1300th anniversary since Nara was made the capital of Japan. I know, I know, it isn't anymore (it was Kyoto after that, then Tokyo), but that is pretty sweet that in 710 they were celebrating. That's like 34982734 times as old as our country... I never said I was good at math. Anyway, here are some more deer awesomeness:

We also went as a group to Todaiji, which is a huge Buddhist temple (ji means temple), with the Great Buddha inside. That thing is MASSIVE. Something like 54 ft tall. Yeah. Huge. I read in my guide book that when it gets dusted, 4-5 monks can stand inside the upturned palm. 

That really doesn't show the perspective, but take my word for it. Really.

This last one was taken farther south at the Wakamiya Shrine (I think... I just kept walking and I'm not too sure which shrine I was near). I adore this photograph for the color contrast of the orange and green.

Beautiful day. I hope at some point I upload my camera phone photos... I've been keeping track of some engrish on t-shirts and signs (Japanese phrases translated into English = hilarious). It's because literally translated, it sounds wacky, but it makes total sense in the Japanese language. It's English that's the messed up one, really. My absolute favorite that I've seen is a t-shirt that Erin took a picture of in Tokyo: "SMOOTH TROOPER LOVERS YO MAMMAS FLAPJACKS," multi-colored with a Storm Trooper doing kind of a Michael Jackson move by holding his junk and giving the devil horns. Yeah. Classy. If I was there, I totally would have gotten that shirt for Luke.

We have a free afternoon after class today, so I think the gang and I are going to Nagahama to see some glassblowing and have dinner at a microbrewery thats there. THEN I will work on my portfolio :) Hiroshima tomorrow!