Taking Stock

As we drop under the 5 weeks left in country mark, some of my thoughts are for the future and our upcoming adventures.  But more and more, I find myself thinking over the last two years here and evaluating the good and bad.  So, in honor of the 5 week mark, I give you a list of 5 Best and Worst of Mongolia.

5 Things I Will Not Miss:
1)  Being so far away.  We both really like Asia, and plan to come back here again if we can, but at the same time I'm looking forward to being a bit closer to home and better connected to the rest of the world.  And here's hoping it will not take 5 months to receive our household goods this time.

2)  Pollution.  I'm glad my poor little lungs only had to handle 2 years of this.

3)  Traffic.  Poor roads, insane congestion and a total lack of traffic laws or common sense once someone gets into a car makes driving here ridiculously stressful.  I've never used my car horn so much or yelled at so many people as I have over the last two years....

This actually looks much more civilized and less congested than usual.

4)  Food.  There are some Mongolian foods I really like.  Salty milk tea is actually quite tasty, and their homemade noodles are good.   But a cuisine that is dominated by fat, mutton, fatty mutton, and sour milk products can be difficult to love.  I think Susan's face in this picture says it all.  (sorry Susan!).

Mmmm... sour milk cubes and gravel cookies!

5)  These curtains.  Imagine waking up to these everyday!

5 of Many Things I Will Miss Greatly:

1)  The scope for adventure.  There is so much of this country that is still completely untouched.  I'm not sure we'll ever serve again in a place where we have so much freedom to just get out into the wilderness with such ease.  Little private property and little roads... the adventure is up to you.

2)  Wildlife.  Herds of horses, sheep, goats, yaks and camels abound.  It never gets old enjoying the herds roaming freely across the countryside.

3)  Hiking.  I didn't even really like hiking before I came here.  Now I love it, and am already planning trips I want to do in Trinidad.

4)  Landscapes.  Related to my hiking note above, I can't even count the number of amazing vistas we've seen here.  I could post probably 100-200 pictures to support this favorite, and had to just pick one at random.

5)  The Mongolians.  I love the people we've met here.  I will miss working with my staff so much, and can only hope that I'm fortunate enough to get to work with people this wonderful and crazy in the future!

Suiting up for our staff retreat.  I think it was only around -30 that day.