What did you do today?

[Charlie Horse]

So I thought I was all Mongolian with my Ger and my Yak and the bit of Russian I know.

I tell you what-- I'd love to live there for a year or two, myself. There's so much to learn and see.

However, I'm a little confused. Are you really planning to live there long term? And in a small village too? (Every town except Ulan-Bataar is a small town). I'm really curious about how this is going to work. For sure a Westerner could show up and settle down in that area for peanuts-- Money isnt a big issue since we're all zillionaires compared to the locals. And for sure if you learned the language you'd have a valuable skill as a translator for all the multi-national companies going in there and mining the crap out of the place. (I'm mainly against gold mines there that use mercury and arsenic and poison ancient rivers permanently just to make a buck for some foreigner today. I'm a gold prospector myself but I never use chemicals or damage the landscape). It seems to me like it could get pretty boring there in the winter, since like anyone that lives in Siberia you'd be hiding indoors most of the time. Be sure to fill up your Kindle with lots of books before you go! But riding a horse (ahem...pony) everywhere and the open range would be amazing. One of the coolest things about Mongolia is they really do stick to their traditions in a lot of ways-- Still live in gers, still have the long sleeved coats, and all that, despite the Russian occupation and the influence of the West. And yet every ger has a solar panel sticking off to the side hehe.

Hopefully you'll have internet somewhere in town to keep us up to date!