First Days in Mongolia

SAIN BAINUU? ( How are you)

Alot of things have gone down since the arrival in Mongolia and time is going by fast! We arrived in UB on Sunday and went to the Embassy got our paperwork filled out. Then, we went to the tourist gur camp and got lots of shots--- and there are many more to come. The tourist gur camp was very fancy--  it was a cement building with a bathroom and hot water. I took two small hikes up some hills there--- 1 overlooked UB--it was pretty and I will post pics soon. Monday morning we came to our training site  by bus-- about  four hour ride. Bumpy ride-- but beautiful. We saw many horsemen along the way---- not that we don't have that stateside (or had 100 years ago), but it was unreal to see these herdsmen decked out in their garb and gathering the cattle. Stopped at a bathroom/restaurant and got ice cream-- so ice cream does exist here and I am very happy about that.
We are living in a school (dorm style) and taking language classes, and lots of seminars on safety and the like. We have eaten lots of MUTTON! And I actually like it, not many people do. We ate a salad for breakfast (weird, right? but good to get those vegetables!) and we eat alot of soup and other meats (mostly mutton- fried mutton, mutton dumplings, mutton soup).
The mountains here are beautiful!!! I hope I see lots more (the south is desolate!!) and theres lots of green which is surprising. I will be leaving on Thursday to go to my training soum (village).
The boys in this cafe are playing Call of Duty and its really inhibiting thinking and typing. I hope all is well and BAYERSTEI (goodbye!)