This is a pretty delayed posting... last thing mentioned was a month or so ago...

Was still in UB when I left off, it was awhile ago, maybe a month. Anyways, lectures went good, the orthodox guy was very cool, said I could come hang out on Sundays with them if I wanted. The Catholic Church also interesting, they do a lot of social work-- they have a nice library for people in the area (it's off to the West of the main drag, where the outskirts begin), a few orphanages. Also have things set up in Darkhan and countryside. Like Orthodox, not teaching religion (actually there is a law against this) but of course if people come and ask it's fine. The priest is from Cameroon, speaks fluent Mongolian (has been here 6 years now). There is also a bishop, though of course Mongolia isn't a diocese itself. He's Belgian, I believe, one of the first people to come in the recent era. We also visited this place called the Mahayana Center (Mahayana- one of two types of Buddhism, later form in China, Japan, Mongolia, Tibet (some classify Tibetan Buddhism- practiced in Tibet and Mongolia as a third type, branch off of Mahayana)). Anyhow, this place was set up by Westerners who started an international organization in the 70s to set up these centers in many countries to teach in the local language, support local monasterys and other institutions, etc. They came here in 94, were first people teaching about Buddhism in Mongolian (traditional to do everything in Tibetan, of course). They have a nice building near the center with library, cafe, teach in Mongolian there, English courses. They help support the monks at the big monastery in Ulaanbaatar, Gandan, and set up the first nunnery in Mongolia since the transition. We talked to a French nun and a Swiss guy who has been working with this organization for a lot of years.
One night we met this guy Amare in an expat-y cafe with wireless internet that we like to go to. He's Mongolian, but got an MBA at Princeton (undergrad in Singapore). Good English, but heavy on the slang ("I was like, 'oh shit, guys'") He also went to high school in Moscow (8 years), so able to dicuss that when others got tired of the conversation. Anyhow, he owns a cashmere company, bemoaned the lack of business ethics in Mongolia... everyone working under him corrupt. Sounds like he's having a fair amount of success now, but his operation is mostly outside of Mongolia. Telling us he just signed a contract to provide cashmere for Rolls-Royce, some luxury jets. On corruption though, said he's afraid to go back to Moscow, at least people in Mongolia aren't killing eachother. Also interesting to talk to him about Russian education system, sounds like not too much has changed since the 80s.
After this week we moved out of the hostel where we were all living together into separate families in UB. I requested a family that spoke Russian, I got a family with two Russian-speaking parents and three girls (17, 19, 21) who all speak varying degrees of English and two speak some Russian. Many of the others got families with English-speaking parents. My family lives a little further from school than is convenient (the school is to the West, I'm on the East side). It can take an hour just to get to Sukhbaatar Square, about the midpoint. My father is a policeman (haven't spoken with him too much still, he speaks Russian and Mongolian quickly and with a heavy mumble/accent.), mother works at a different police station. Oldest sister studying law, second economics, third is a senior in high school and wants to be a plastic surgeon.
I went to Gandan Monastery with my mother and sister the Saturday after I moved in, it was interesting. First we went into the temple housing the gigantic statue of Avalokiteshvara (a buddha of compassion, the Dalai Lama is an incarnation of his). Before this we went through the whole area, during which I was haggled by more people than any other tourist place I've ever been (not too much, but was a little suprising to me). First guy spoke to me in Mongolian (how are you, whatever) but my host mom shook him off. Second guy while we were going into a temple, haggled me in Russian (Devyshka...), which was pretty suprising. Instead of saying I was German which would probably have been a good way out, said I didn't speak Russian or English, to which he said, you just don't want to. Finally went away. At the entrance to the Avalokiteshvara temple guy wanted me to pay five dollars, go back to front and buy a foreigner ticket. Let mom argue with him for a little bit, then just got out the student card. Worked fine, but he said no pictures.
Best part was going to one of the "prayer halls," I guess you could call them... A bunch of lamas in one large room, you choose a prayer in an annex and pay an attendent, then take the slip of paper given back to you to a free lama. We were there for quite awhile, incense was heavy. Noticed that some of the lamas had cell phones, would run out to answer them. This place wasn't in the walls of the main monastery/temple area, just outside in a pretty Soviet area looking building. The prayers are in Tibetan of course, ritual-heavy; people going back to attendent to fill cups with milk, oil, the monks do some hand gestures. My mother was at it for awhile, went to fill a cup maybe three times. I didn't feel too uncomfortable, lots of other people hanging around (Mongolians, of course), a little bored. When we left mom said that the lamas were looking at me and talking to their neighbors about me.
The next week was lectures on the environment; not many lectures, but interesting. First we went to the United Nations, where a guy inundated us with statistics. Most didn't like the presentation, but he just had pretty limited knowledge. He runs a program that gives small loans to local groups working on environmental projects (examples: strawbale housing projects, river protection/cleanup, programs to provide more people with solar panels for their gers). One with guy who helped set up a national park (Hustai) with the Dutch to reintroduce Prezhwalzki's horse (takhi in Mongolian). We visited this place driving back from homestay in Central Mongolia (Bayanhongor), pretty nice, small, but saw a lot of takhi, even some elk. Also marmots. Second lecturer was an alumni of this program, he did a study with funds from the World Bank to study the trade in wildlife products. Still quite a lot of illegal hunting going on; elk have been decimated by the demand in the Chinese market for velvet antlers (cut them into rings, people buy as an aphrodisiac. Other parts used as well). Marmots, foxes, wolves also heavily hunted. Mongolians think that marmot is really tasty, there has been several country-wide bans on hunting it. Basically, during socialist period, hunting very well regulated, after transistion, basically no regulation at all. He also had a friend with him, down from Krasnoyarsk, where she's teaching English (with Language Link, a company that many Beloit alumni work with in Moscow). She was trying to get a visa here, which I here is really difficult. Anyways, I was able to talk about Russia with her for a little, something that I really don't get to do nearly enough here. I've aquired such nicknames as Marussia among the other students...
We flew to Bayanhongor-- nice small jet. Newly refurbished, small Saab they bought used from American Eagle. Stayed in the aimag (province) center for one night. That evening a few of us went to the market, played pool. I had to drop out, started talking with two guys who said they were students who spoke a little English and Russian. At dinner we met some Peace Corps guys, after we had a dance party with students at the local management college we met them at a bar. Did some karoke, everyone liked "Pesnya pro zaitsev." After that went to the pretty nice apartment (nice big living room) of one of the guys, but everyone else wanted to stay out longer than me and the language teacher who had to follow us (apparently, they have been told to follow us around). I talked to him more than I had before, he used to work for a Russian gold mining company as a guard (discussed it more with him on the way back to UB). Finally got another student to go back with us. The next day we visited the history and natural history museums. Interesting, but the first came with a long-winded tour guide. They had nice archeological, Buddhist, and socialist era stuff (apparently Bayanhongor had a special tie with Yakutsk). The natural history museum was much smaller, covered all the bases. Rocks, stuffed animals, a standing dinosaur skeleton and a pretty cool mural. We moved out of the hotel, I and two others were late to lunch because we were exploring the half-frozen river next to town.
At lunch they had a few Americans working in the area to talk with us. I said near this guy Dustin, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with an elk embroidered on the breast pocket. Came from farming family in Eastern Oregon, here now with his wife and young son (I think 2 years or so?) working with small vegetable gardens. He's with some Christian organization in UB (I saw a doctor at the Korean hospital who is with them also). There's also a Brazilian (former soccer player) there now, who set up a soccer league for kids in UB and is now doing the same in Bayanhongor.