Todays activity

Alright, this will probably be more interesting as I will present a more detailed description of what we are doing everyday:
Yesterday I had to run by the Chinese embassy and apply for the tranist visas for Amina and I. I had one of Tugsu's relatives meet me there. He is an Inner Mongolian so speaks fluent Chinese and was very helpful in making sure the application went smoothly. We didn't even lose a passport (sorry pat). Tugsu and I had very busy days planned so we didn't have much time to talk. I was finishing up an "action plan" for my stay here and working on persoanl statements for staff as well as putting together educational materials for bird-flu. The UN has made a large donation for organizing a bird-flu campaign at my work. I had a qick errand to run in the morning also. I am having a tailor-made suit. The tailor had gone out with me to the black market to buy the material a week ago and needs me to ome in for some further measurements. All this work for roughly $17! The material cost me maybe $8. What a deal! A great reason to come to Mongolia. Then I had lunch with a social worker from the UNDP (UN development program) about community organizing and was encouraged by their focus on the issue for carrying out projects. After work I had dinner with the organizer of an international herbal medicine conference. I will be presenting a paper I am writing about the feasability of developing an herbal medicine processing center in the Darhad Valley. They were very excited about my work and interested in working together with me to develop a proposal for this project.
Tugsu was busy also after work, she had a dinner party with some of her office staff hosted by the Nature Conservancy. They are a very large endowment for conservation projects. They focus on working with the market to preserve these lands. A project she is working on in the Dornod, community ownership of newly privatised Mongolian lands, is being sponsored by them. She had a great time networking and was excited by the level of interest in her personally by the majority of these international big-wigs. They even said they had never met anyone with the foresight to receive a Sociology degree with an environmental minor. And at U of M no less! She came back from that meeting so proud of herself.
We came home (about a 30 minute drive at night, 10 minute in the morning) and found Amina and Bilguun really enjoying each others company. I often feel guilty that Amina is not more involved in other activities but she and Bilguun seem to have a great time and Tugsu thinks this is more fitting to Amina's personality. She is nto the most outgoing of people and loves to use her imagination. During the day it is hot so kids do not play outside and in the evening we are home and want to visit with Amina. Also, it seems alot of kids in our building sleep to 1 in the afternoon and stay up until midnight playing outside. We bought Amina some clay so her and Bilguun have another big day of art ahead of them.
I have a meeting with WorldVision's health programs director today. This should be interesting and helpful despite the fact that the Mongolians have tended to agree with my assessment of their working style here (sorry dad). I will see what he has to say and if there is any chance of us working together on projects in the future. I will have more pictures tomorrow. Until then take care and hold down the fort.