Today is Saturday, and the sun is shining through a bright blue sky. It is a brisk morning but then what should one expect, when you are in Mongolia. My computer at the apartment is not working so I came over to use my office computer for some personal emails, only to find several staff were already here and working on Saturday. I left the office around one, leaving a bunch of folk glued to their desk, and headed for the gym, hoping to catch the DUKE U. basketball team on the tube while I did my time on the treadmill. On the way to the gym, I saw these guys out on the ice playing what I decided to call Swish Ball. I could just hear these guys planning this, saying well it is Saturday and it is below freezing but it is the warmest day we have had in months so let's go do something. Then they figured that what they had to work with was ice, and there is always ice in the winter in Mongolia. snow brooms that are used with clearing this very dry Mongolian snow, some kids ball and a dog. So what else do you need for a good game of swish ball where you don't need ice skates or a hockey stick or anything like that. I think the dog was the referee because every time the guys would fall down, and they fell down a lot, the dog would run out on the ice and bark or he might have been keeping score. The guys were definitely laughing too much to keep score.
On the way back from the gym, I took a couple of pictures of these uncovered
manholes that are dangerous for people and cars. The one man hole has been uncovered for two weeks and is on a rather busy street. A good rule here is that if you are going to walk at night, be sure to carry a flashlight. Slipping and falling on the ice would be nothing compared to falling into a manhole. They say if you are homeless and don't get down into a manhole, where there are some hot water pipes, then you will freeze to death. It is a strange way of dealing with the homeless population but I am sure the Mayor of San Francisco would vote for it.
After my Saturday workout, a little shopping and dinner, I came back to the office this evening to work on this blog. It was 7 in the evening and the accounting department was still working, Serjmaa was working on the third floor and here in this nice large office suite I share with five other people, Oyuntungalag Zundut, the lady whose picture you see below was still working. She was working on the Value Chain Program in preparation for the new grant that officially starts the first of April.
It was an easy Saturday for me and I hope a productive Saturday for all of the staff who were working here in the office and not out someplace risking life and limb playing Swish ball.
