With almost a week of experience in the Mongolian hinterland, I've made a few observations. I'll be so kind as to share the news with you.
- Don't get appendicitis: The lead Mongolian professor started feeling stomach pains that slowly migrated to his right side. After I confirmed that these were the exact symptoms I experienced before I had my appendix removed, everyone started to freak out. A helicopter rescue was $25,000 (but the nearest hospital was 3 hours away by boat). Eventually, a baot and a doctor made their way here and took the sick professor away. He's doing fine and will be back at camp on Sunday.
- A simple meadow may look like it only has two species of flower and grass, but it actually has far too many: For the past few days I've been doing vegetation censuses of the field near our camp. This requires not only leaning over a small lot of land for hours, but also learning to ID every plant. If you ever need to know the grasses of Northern Mongolia, I'm your man!
- When taking students on a trip, give them low expectations: Then they'll never stop raving about the trip. Before I came, I expected nothing more than a ger and a hunk of meat every night. But the food has been the highlight of this trip. Anyone can take a WARM (albeit army-style) shower. We get plenty of time for hikes, runs, reading, and rummy. It's still rustic (and wet when it rains) but this place could easily turn into a resort.
- Mongolians aren't so much into pets: During our first full day at camp, a tiny, baby kitten wandered into our work ger. Although I'm still not sure why she was here, she was the cutest distraction. But the Mongolians (who are also wary of dogs), weren't too keen. She survived being thrown out of gers- and even punted across the camp- until she was taken back to her mother.
- Mongolian is a hard language: And English is tough on Mongolians. The sounds are just so different, that I can't get my mouth around them.
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