When I lived here 10 years ago, going to the aimag, the nearby town where we buy food, was a torturous undertaking. After breakfast I would start walking about the town looking for the one taxi in town/listening for its horn as it drove around looking for passengers. This could take an hour or two or be a total bust if it wasn’t going that day. If I did get a seat in the taxi, we would then usually sit next to the bank for another hour or so waiting for other passengers since it never left without a full load. (I still have nightmares of the trip with 29 other passengers). We would eventually leave–praying that it would only take one hour to get there. About 95% of the trips involved getting a flat tire, breaking down, or running out of gas though (I wish I was exaggerating) and so it was a real cause for celebration when we finally got to town. Upon arrival I would frantically run around going to the bathhouse for my semi-monthly hot shower, checking my email, and buying all the food I could carry. The taxi would usually set a departure time around 3 or 4 but because this was before cell phones, it was not uncommon for passengers or even the taxi to be missing/late until 5 or 6. By the time I got home it was often dark and I was exhausted. I really disliked going to the aimag.
Yesterday we went to the aimag, but as Brian likes to say “living here is now officially easy.” While we don’t have our own car yet, most everyone else does, so it is not hard to find a ride. In fact, nowadays we prefer to pay extra and have our own car and driver for the day. Our driver showed up around 10 and we got the aimag around 11. He drove us around town to all our stops and we slowly filled the car with Pedigree dog food, Mongolian made fresh tofu, Asian pears, soy milk, and canned refried beans among many other staples. By 12:30 we were done and back home by 1:30 for leftover homemade pizza. After lunch we went to our local bathhouse and for dinner we had crispy panko tofu and refried beans with all the toppings-everything purchased in the aimag. We rounded out the day by watching episodes of Modern Family I had downloaded using the free wireless internet at work. Don’t tell anyone-but we are getting soft out here.
A delicious dinner with a handsome man in need of a haircut.