3 week update

Sain uu naiz nar! (hey there friends!)

This post is an update about my day to day life in UB right now :)

Things here are mash sain (very good). As you can see, I've been brushing up on my Mongolian. By posting notes in popular western-style cafes I found some language partners to practice with. I spend about an hour a day with one of them at a time, first teaching/speaking English and then learning/speaking Mongolian. Right now I'm working with Amra and Khongor who each have their own styles. With Amra I learn a lot of cultural nuances from the language and he works on his pronunciation of English and on expanding his vocabulary. With Khongor I am learning the grammar particularly well because she used to teach Mongolian, and I am reading different books and articles with her to help improve her listening, pronunciation, and comprehension. So far this seems like a great way to learn more Mongolian. I wouldn't recommend it for a total beginner but it's working out well for me. Plus it's free and I get to meet Mongolians and exchange some culture. very cool!

As promised, I'll let you in on the interesting things I've found in the supermarkets in UB. I'll post later about Mongolian cuisine, but here's a list of stuff you probably don't see in your regular grocery store:

instant salty milk tea, suutei tsai
Kazakh style horsemeat sausages
canned horse-stew
powdered mare's milk
fermented mare's milk
dried soured milk curds, aaraal (sweetened and plain)
whole smoked fish
compote (lightly boiled fruit preserved in jars)
a frozen cow carcass in a shopping cart
2-3 full aisles devoted to candy and cookies
seabuckthorn juice
wine made in Mongolia
aarts-flavored icecream (aarts is what aaraal is made out of)

and the most incredible thing I've seen.... vacuum-sealed boiled sheep's head- I thought I'd seen it all but there you go.

I'm not a big fan of most Mongolian milk products but I really like suutei tsai. The instant version is pretty good but I prefer the homemade variety. It's warming, rehydrating, slightly caffeinated, and the fat in the milk gives you some calories. A perfect drink after walking outside in the bitter, blustery cold.
Also there are some tasty Korean products I've come to like including kimchi, salted seaweed flakes, and jars of a sort of marmalade that you mix in hot water to make a sweet and fruity tea. Right now I'm working my way through the lemon and aloe varieties. Aloe reminds me of the flavor of white grape juice but less tart.

That's all for now!