Taking Care of Tasks, Getting a Big Treat

I arrived back in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday afternoon, following a brief stay in Japan (story coming on my international blog). After a few days of getting to know my new comrades, the miniature adventures have, once again, begun.

Today, Jeff (an old roommate of my brother), Jonny and I set off into town to try to pick up a few items. We first needed to get a new battery for Jen's (Jeff's wife) phone. She bought the phone just the day before, but somehow she managed to use up the entire battery in a few short hours. Having accomplished task #1, we set off to find a wireless router. Not as easy as it should be. It seems that Computerland decided not to be open today. Task #2 resulted in failure. We decided that maybe 11:30 was simply too early for Mongolians (a reasonable option) and we should eat before trying Computerland again. We started looking for a decent place to eat when I saw a rundown looking place called "Restaurant World". I asked if they were up for a small adventure and they agreed. We stepped into the restaurant and it was like stepping into a four star restaurant. It was beautiful. We glanced at the menu to see that the prices were extremely inexpensive. We had some fantastic meals (Jeff even got his vegetarian dish without any meat), paid up and set out again for Computerland. Task #3, a resounding success. We arrived back at Computerland to realize that not only we, but several Mongolians were surprised to find it closed for the day. Task #2.... failure... again.

Finally, we set off for the State Department Store, found most of the items we needed, and set out for our final task. Task #4, a moderate success. We stepped out of the department store to find the relative quiet day had become quite busy. There was a Mongolian competing for gold in boxing, and it seems that everyone had come to this spot to watch the bout as there is an enormous television screen across the street. I now turn the story over to Jeff, reporting from the front of State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.



Jeff Eng, in his inaugural field report for ASUTV (American School of Ulaanbaatar Television). Be sure to catch future reports.