soupy says

Before the Pre-Service Training crew left Sukhbaatar for Darkhan, we stopped at a trainee’s home to tell the host family about an event later that week. The trainee poked his head into the mikr, “I have the 5 latest issues of The Economist. Anyone want them?” Doug jumped out to retrieve them and came back a few minutes later.  Brody noticed the lack of magazines when he returned, “You only got one?” “Yes,” Doug replied because Soloman lent me-” he removed the magazine to hand to Brody and revealed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows underneath. I yelled, jumped out of my seat, and almost tackled the book. Doug shielded it with his body and explained, “I have to give it back to him next week.” Bouncing in the car seat I chant, “Read it fast! Read it fast!” “Stop yelling,” Brody chimes in from the back seat, “I have never read a Harry P-” I wave my hand toward him, “I don’t care!” and clap quickly, like a small child, unable to contain the excitement over such an amazing surprise.

Doug and I both read the book in less than 5 days.

Now, I better be able to find a bootleg copy of Movie 5 when I go to UB.

I love living here. Except for the complete and utter lack of live music.

I hadn’t really thought about this complete absence of something I truly love until a friend sent me a CD care package. It contained two new Barenaked Ladies albums.

This weekend I felt physical pain realizing that I won’t go to a concert in at least…two…years.

I try not to think like “I won’t/can’t ___ for two years.” Such lines of thought never lead to anyplace I want to be.

But that’s easier said than done when I comes to longing for the complete and utter ecstasy of a really fucking good rock show.

It’s wrong to want to live in a ger because I’d get to live in the “Roundhouse.”

ger, a round, traditional Mongolian house:



“Roundhouse,” an early 90s Nickelodeon television show:

This morning, while frying an egg to put on my toast, I caught a bit of “Good Morning America.”

Anchor: Sad news out of Indonesia. Thousands dead due to a massive earthquake. [beat] Good news for Brad Pitt and Angelena Jolie. Their daughter Shiloh was born today…
Me: Two people had sex and produced a child? Why isn’t this the top story?

And then my head exploded.

The Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime (Live)”

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons,
packed up and ready to go
Heard of some gravesites, out by the highway,
a place where nobody knows
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance,
I’m getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstore, lived in the ghetto,
I’ve lived all over this town

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
this ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey,
I ain’t got time for that now

Transmit the message, to the receiver,
hope for an answer some day
I got three passports, a couple of visas,
you don’t even know my real name
High on a hillside, the trucks are loading,
everything’s ready to roll
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nightime,
I might not ever get home

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
this ain’t no fooling around
This ain’t no mudd club, or C. B. G. B.,
I ain’t got time for that now
Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?
Heard about Pittsburgh, P. A.?
You oughta know not to stand by the window
somebody might see you up there
I got some groceries, some peant butter,
to last a couple of days
But I ain’t got no speakers, ain’t got no
headphones, ain’t got no records to play

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time
Can’t write a letter, can’t send a postcard,
I can’t write nothing at all
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco,
this ain’t no fooling around
I’d like to kiss you, I’d love you hold you
I ain’t got no time for that now

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock,
we blended with the crowd
We got computer, we’re tapping pohne lines,
I know that ain’t allowed
We dress like students, we dress like housewives,
or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle, so many times now,
I don’t know what I look like!
You make me shiver, I feel so tender,
we make a pretty good team
Don’t get exhausted, I’ll do some driving,
you ought to get some sleep
Get you instructions, follow directions,
then you should change your address
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day,
whatever you think is best
Burned all my notebooks, what good are
notebooks? They won’t help me survive
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace,
the burning keeps me alive
Try to stay healthy, physical fitness,
don’t want to catch no disease
Try to be careful, don’t take no chances,
you better watch what you say

Also, on this Memorial Day, ditch the magnetic ribbon, and support the troops.

The horrific celebrity stalker rag US Magazine has a feature called “Just like US!” The magazine points out, with photographic evidence, that celebrities are indeed human beings: “They hail a cab - Just like US!”

I am shamelessly stealing their phrase to provide evidence that Mongolia, a developing Asian nation, is really no different than the good ole US of A.

The Mongolian government montiors the press’s phone calls.

Last Thursday, if you called the MM News Agency at /97611/ 300771, your conversation would have been heard by somebody in a room of the financial collection department of the Public Radio and Television. This blatantly illegal act of wiretapping was done under the order of N.Altanzul, chief of the department.
The department was listening in to the number to gather information that might help it impose some control over the agency, according to Altanzul

Just like US!

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

“It’s time for you to get some new cell phones, quick,” the source told us in an in-person conversation.

The difference between Mongolia and the US? The Mongolian government discontinued their monitoring after three days.

Blogs. Some good ones can be found. Many are bad, and most are just ugly.

I’m a blog reader. Since applying to the Peace Corps, I have read many different accounts of many different experiences of volunteers all over the world. When I thought I was headed to East Timor (and then when it became Mongolia) I immediately searched for volunteer blogs from these regions.* Others have done the same with my blog. I know this because Kate contacted me. Thanks to my blog, Kate discovered we were nominated for the same program.

Since my Monoglia invite, I have read the fantastic neweurasia mongolia blog. Today, the author, Luke found my blog and left a comment on my previous post. Neat!

* Did you know that Ewan McGregor adopted a Mongolian child? Well, I do. A few days ago this topic came up many times in my search of the key word “Mongolia.” (If you were curious, many fans think this proves that Ewan is a wonderful person.)

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that journalist Jill Carroll was released after almost three months of being held hostage.

Her release was announced during “Good Morning America” on March 30th. With the announcement, the video described in this article was shown. Charlie Gibson said it was an interview for a Bagdad Television station. There was no commentary on the fact that Jill said she was “not threatened.” Well, there was no commentary except exclamations of “She’s alive!”
Oops:

I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be aired on television, and broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn’t threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times.

There is also another video that she made her last night in captivity, and as you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly praising the US. As far as I know, this video has only appeared online. The blog world had a field day with these videos. If you want to know some details, this Right-Wing Nutcase sums up the whole situation quite nicely.

Although applied to a slightly different context, Speak Up, a graphic design blog, dubs America “Culture of the Quick.” Later is too late, and thus ABC News doesn’t think before airing a suspicious video, the blogger world gives a knee-jerk reaction to this video, and when I used to buy ice cream from the the student center, I would start eating it during my five minute walk back to my room.

—

I was about to hit send, but the Washington Post just sent me an email news alert: Rep. Tom DeLay isn’t seeking re-election. Hooray.

Note: I have mentioned my GMA viewing habits a couple of times. My mother watches this particular morning show. I usually catch some of it while chatting with her, drinking coffee, and making breakfast. You know, I’m telling you this because I don’t want you to think I actually watch it on my own.

This is cool.

Blogs for African Women (BAWo) is looking for mentors to participate in a project for young African women who are new to blogging, from early May to the end of July 2006. The project will initially target Nigerian students aged 10 to 13, but will later extend to the rest of Africa.

Serial No. 3817131

The life of an eighteen-year-old girl in Israel is interrupted when she is plucked out of her environment at an age when sexual, educational, and family values are at their highest exploration point. She is then placed in a rigorous institution, where individuality becomes a secondary matter, making room for nationalism. “I solemnly swear…to devote all of my strength and to sacrifice my life to protect the land and the liberty of Israel,” repeats the newly recruited soldier during her swearing-in ceremony. She enters the two-year period in which she will change from a girl to a woman, a teenager to an adult, all under a militaristic, masculine environment, and in the confines of an army that is engaged in daily war and conflict.