May Snowstorms bring Summer ????

Well, it wouldn't be May in Mongolia without temps well below freezing and snow. Yes, you heard me right we had our annual May snowstorm this past Friday morning. It began to rain on Thursday evening with temps around 40F, then during the wee hours of the morning it turned to snow when the temp dropped to the teens. Then it warmed up to freezing again around noon; therefore, turning to rain again. It stayed like this well into Saturday. Finally, Sunday the sun emerged to begin the vast process of drying out the land. Since Mongolia is so dry and rocky that the water often won't penetrate the ground thus creating vast pools and mud slicks all over. Not good when trying to keep a clean apartment.! C'est la vie!

Truck Driver and Want-to-be Wrestling Coach

A funny story from my adventures out into the countryside. While there, Ron received a huge load of goods from Ulaanbaatar including many items for construction projects within and around their hashaa. Included in this shipment were 5 beams each being 8 meters (around 27 feet) and 10 beams each being 6 meters (around 20 feet). At first only some Mongols were unloading these off the truck because I did not understand their procedural discussions. After 2 of the 8 meter beams, the truck driver thought that I should be in the mix of this, so I jumped in. These particular beams were on the top of the truck bed area, so we were dragging one end onto the ground and then dragging it far enough out to get the other end of the beam off the truck. Well, lets just say that I thoroughly impressed the truck driver. He instantly started calling me his "really, really, really, really good friend." Furthermore, he wanted to be my coach and have me wrestle for him during Naadam come July. Fortunately, I didn't plan any trips out to Khovd again and also I won't be in Mongolia during July.