Last day of work before Naadam

Well, the great festival is upon Mongolia once again. This year it is gripped by an even greater anticipation for the return of Genghis Khan for the 800th anniversary of the Mongol Empire. Interestingly enough, the governmor recently went to China to invite the president of that country to attend, and he agreed! Here is a link to more info:http://mongolia.neweurasia.net/?p=294
Well as for me, I am trying to decide what to do over Naadam, and yes I am sad to say staying Ulaanbaatar is not one of my top options. I am trying to find a way to escape the city for the festival. A stay in a sanitorium is a traditional Mongolian way to relax, I may try that. There is also a very nice city (much less crowded than UB) called Darhan where we might go by train. The price for a train ticket is only $5 round trip! I will let you know.
Last night we had a nice time hanging out at home and playing UNO. Here are a couple pictures of the place.

As it is Friday and I think Bilguun and Amina must be tired of playing at home alone all day we have taken them with us to work. They will spend the morning with me and we will lunch together then they will go to Tugsu's work in the afternoon. Right now I have had them go to the gym as after half an hour they were already driving me crazy. Oh well, they will love the gym I am sure and nobody goes there in the morning. After that maybe they will wander around a bit, then we will take them all to a nice place for lunch. Then in the afternoon they can see Tugsu's work and maybe also go to a movie or something.

I had a very interesting meeting yesterday with the health program manager from World Vision. I was surprised by a couple points of the meeting. One, he and the organization seemed resigned to the fact that the Mongolian countryside is becoming uninhabitable due to lack of resources and social services. They are investing the bulk of their resources in managing the huge urban migration that is following. Two, they are focused on only a few areas of health in UB, despite being the reputed largest NGO in the coutry. They are focusing on TB/HIV and nutrition. That is all! Anyway, more to say but not the time to do it. All for now, talk to you all later,