navigating a city

June ? I don't know what the date is

So yesterday was the first day I actually had some conversations with mongolians. I have less of a mongolian vocabulary than my 3 year nephew has of English, so it depended mostly on whether they new a little English or not. I went on a bunch of adventures, but I'll talk about the restrant that me and somebody else went to. Though the words don't exactly look like English, they might sound the same.  I figured out that one of the words was cafe. Menu is a common word in both languages too, but that was about the extent of what we could understand. It was the first time I ordered food while having no earthly clue what it was going to be. All the restraunts that I've been to have no pictures. After pointing to a random item on the list of foods, and pointed to the drink we wanted, we got food without too much trouble.

Today, my goal is to shop for a watch. I think the word sounds something like tsag. Buying a watch doesn't seem like it would be difficult to do, but simple things can get complicated. Using the shower and toilet at the place I'm staying gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I felt like a mechanichal engineer after getting it to work, and who knows if I'll have another hot shower anytime soon. Also walking through a building/climbing stairs without tripping is an art. Never take for granted a flat floor or stairs at the same height for granted.

Things really have been easy so far though, and learning will accelerate once the whole group splits up, and each of us start living with a host family. There will be another month or two of training, but situations will feel much more realistic. A bunch of people have asked me what area I'll be in. I know the city where I'll be going for now, but I'm not supposed to disclose locations and I don't know anything about the area where we'll be. It is in the general vicinity of the southern part of the country if that gives you a better picture.

I have no idea when I'll have access to the internet next, so it could be another month or two until I post anything new.