Last night in UB...

Now I say "UB" like I'm an expat. Has a month earned me the right? I think so.

I made it through yet another hellish bus ride today. Of course, a tire blew out. This is what happens when a large vehicle is held together by scotch tape and camel dung. But it was pretty funny. It didn't get get flat. I mean it when I say that it "blew out." It was a loud popping sound and while I silently groaned and rolled my eyes all of the Mongolians acted as though they had been waiting for it to happen. I had been trying to approach it that way as well but I'm too hopeful. So, as we waited around, they started busting out the airag (fermented mare's milk) that they got at the rest stop. At the stop I had rolled the dice with my stomach and got some buuz (dumplings) in a ger and downed a bowl of airag. Nothing like fermented milk before 4 hour bus ride down a dirt road. That's why the Mongolians were filling up their liter bottles. As it turns out, there is no drinking age for airag. They feed it to babies. A healthy baby is a drunk baby. Maybe that's why they don't cry on the bus...

Back to the busted tire... whenever anyone has trouble on the road, anyone passing stops. Normally, that's one car per hour. Or sometimes a bus. We got another bus. So, I eye the driver of the helper bus because I can quickly tell that he's going to be something else. And he is. He looks around the road, lights up a smoke, inhales deep and then opens the door. He's got the cigarette on the side of his mouth as he steps out and immediately pulls a champion move- left snot rocket, front loogie/spit, right snot rocket. These are serious snot rockets too. Like, I think a penny came out. So, he's fat, right, and he's waddling over, and the thing I like most is that he's got a big round blackish stain on the belly of the shirt his mom probably got him for his 11th birthday. The stain isn't cup size either. It's TGIFriday's plate size. That's big. He sizes up the situation, (as it turns out it takes at least six men to really understand the problem) spits again, and waddles back.

Another awesome mini-event in the busted tired saga is that the driver gives a bunch of guys a direction and they start scattering around the fields looking for something. One guy says the Mongolian version of, "got it!" and comes back with a used, rusty tire holdy thingy. It was completely necessary and this happens so frequently that you find that stuff on the side of the road.

My last English class yesterday was WONDERFUL. I taught them teenager slang and they loved it. They learned all sorts of stuff and silly conversations- "That's a total bummer!" "I'm going to hang out with my bff." "What's up?" "Cool" "I just caught my bf with another girls! -That's totally messed up! -Right? -Yeah But he wasn't worth it anyway." -and at the end of class I asked "Ready to bounce?" and they all wanted to stay and, wait, take a seat for this, learn more! After class, which was extended by an hour, we went out to play ping pong.

Tomorrow is the day. Bummer.