Mongolia Week 2--Snow, Naan, and ChatGPT Saves the Day

It's hard to believe week two in Mongolia has already come and gone!  Honestly, we were just marveling at the fact that just three weeks ago we were still in Utah, frantically checking our passports and wondering if someone would be there to pick us up at the airport in Tokyo!  That feels like an entire past life now--yet somehow, the days here are flying by faster than a Mongolian wind gust in May! 

We're settling in quite nicely and even starting to feel at home.  Our biggest discovery this week? ChatGPT at the grocery store!  Forget Google Translate--ChatGPT is now our personal shopper, translator, rice cooker manual, and amateur artist (see the below caricature we requested haha)! 

Thanks to its guidance, we now know which mystical button to press on the Korean rice cooker without launching it into space!  

Our grocery adventures are feeling a lot less like "Iron Chef: Mystery Ingredient Edition" and a lot more like real success.  The naan with taco meat? Surprisingly delicious.  The spaghetti sauce? Awesome! Slowly but surely, we're finding food we can make, pronounce, and enjoy without needing a survival guide.  

As the only American senior church volunteers here in Ulaanbaatar, we've been adopted into a district with ten junior volunteers.  Let's just say, if we were worried about being the "old folks", those worries are long gone.  They've welcomed us with open arms, incredible humor, and--most importantly--baked goods.  We're talking homemade bread, brownies, cookies, and treats so good they almost make us believe their ovens have magical powers!  In the below photos we are putting on the "armor of God"--because nothing says spiritual power like toilet paper! Honestly, this group is pure gold!  So much fun, so much faith, and did we mention the baked goods?!

These young volunteers spend a big chunk of their time teaching English classes, and we've had the chance to sit in on a few classes.  It's been a blast chatting with the Mongolian students.  Next week, we'll start teaching an English Connect class for Mongolian missionaries that want to learn English.  Time to dust off our best "teacher voice" and remember all the grammar rules we never knew we forgot!

We've also begun getting to know the young single adults at church and attended our first Family Home Evening activity with them last Monday.  It was a great time---and even more fun when a few of them started chatting in Japanese with J.D.!  Who knew that would come in handy in Mongolia!

In other exciting news, we posted our first article to the Mongolian newsroom!  Fingers crossed its the first of many.  We're expecting a Pulitzer any day now (or at least a polite email saying "nice job")! Here is the link to the article if anyone is interested (the google translate feature will be helpful).  

Now let's talk about the weather.  When we arrived, we were wondering why everyone made such a fuss.  The weather was in the 60's and 70's--sunny with a slight breeze, practically perfect.  But this week?  Enter Mongolia's dramatic alter ego: highs in the low 40's, rain, hail, and snow.  In May.  Mongolia doesn't mess around.

I know we mentioned the traffic and parking last week, but we couldn't resist just a few more pictures.  This is the "parking lot" at our apartment.  As far as we can tell, if you need to get out you just honk your horn until someone comes down to move their car.  

This is the street we cross everyday.  One must be brave and confident!  It's actually easier when it is standstill traffic like this.  It's more of a game of chicken when the cars are moving faster....who is going to stop first?! 

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about Mongolia or just want to say hello--we love hearing from home.  Until next time, we'll be here slaying the pedestrian scene and deciphering rice cookers one button at a time.