Where Are We At?

Many people that know me well know I have a saying "Things happen for a reason". Over the past 3 weeks and five days I have been asking myself what is the reason we have been having this problem with finding housing.

One of the families are leaving so we went to view their apartments. It seems that this is one of the better apartment blocks here in UB so I had high expectations. Well I cant say that I don't know what all the fuss was about I thought after viewing this apartment it was small compared to other ladies apartments I had visited when having coffee. The housing department lady came with Ben and I and she asked "So what do you think?". I was honest and said its not what I expected and I thought it was quite small". She then replied " I would like to live here, this is so nice". I really wanted to scream at her as I think the past weeks have just gotten to me I wanted to tell her that "Mongolians live in dog boxes and wouldn't have a clue when it came to Western Standards and want to rip all of us off " but I didn't as I know it wouldn't help the situation. So where do we stand now? Well we are moving to a guest apartment finally for only a week as the apartment has been promised to another family at the start of March. We will continue to view apartments during that time and hope something better will come up if not we may have to go into the families apartment who is leaving and will just have to get used to living in a small space and in the city.

I am not to sure how long I will be off line due to lack of Internet access but fingers crossed it wont be long. Until next time.

Bernadette

Looking Back

How time flies! Paige turns 3 on the 24th February, 2007 so I thought I would put some pictures together to see how our little girl has grown.

Paige 7 days old

Paige's first swimming lesson

(2 mths)

Paige's first Christmas Day while in Adelaide

(10 mths)

Paige as a princess in Balikpapan

(1 yr 9 mths)

Paige on her 2nd birthday

(2yrs)

Paige in Balikpapan, Indonesia
(2 yrs 10 mths)

Did you know these things about Paige?

Countries Lived: Australia, Indonesia & Mongolia
Countries Visited: Singapore, America, Vietnam, Malaysia
Nicknames: Pip, Squeaky Monkey, Little Sausage
Likes: Watching Dora DVDs,Swimming, Wearing no clothes, Driving mum dad crazy
Favourite Foods: Chocolate, Hot chips, Noodles (Noo-noos)
Favourite Sayings: “I do myself”, “No, I wont”, “Ding Dong (instead of excuse me)”, “I want”, “I said”
Favourite Colours: Pink, Yellow, Blue
Hates: Brushing Hair, Wearing clothes

Still Not Settled

I bet your all wondering whats happening with us? I wish I could tell you lots of interesting things but we are still in the hotel (23 days)!!!! Yes its a little depressing and I haven't really been doing that much. I have gone to a couple of lunches for the ladies birthdays and trying to get Paige toilet trained as she can not attend the school until she is, so things here havent gotton off to a great start. After viewing a number of houses and agreeing we would like to live in them all it turns out that they are all out of our budget. We are given a budget from the company and depending on what level Ben is at work and how many children we have determines the budget we get. I cant believe children are some sort of barging chip, anyway thats the way I see how it works. The Mongolian people also would rather see a house remain empty then to get a reduce rent. We could pay an extra $500 per month out of our own pockets to move into a house but all said and done no one else does that from the company. The housing department has totally let us down and we have spoken to people about this and things are going to be sorted out they have asured me. We came here thinking we would be living in a house but turns out we will be living in an apartment. I have come to terms with that but what I can not figure out is how can we choose an apartment if I dont know whats on the market? Which once again I have let it be known. Since we have been here I have been shown three apartments and all have been unsuitable (dog boxes) so thats why we viewed the houses, I am hoping to view some more apartrments next week. If we can not find a suitable apartment we may have to pay the extra money to rent the house which I hope it doesnt come to that. I am hoping that next time I write I will be able to tell you all about where we will be living.

Bernadette

Still Hotel Bound

It's been two weeks and three days and I wish I could say that we are now settled in but we are still in the hotel. After deciding on where we would like to live last week the housing department has been having trouble contacting the landlord of the house. So that means we are stuck at the hotel. I was hoping that things would have been sorted out by now but looks like our luck isn't with us at the moment. We were meant to move into a guest apartment but consultants are staying there instead of us. Both Paige and I are suffering with colds so remaining positive is becoming quite difficult.

Ben returned back from site after his first week at work and things didn't go as smooth as expected, lets just say settling in will require ironing out some wrinkles.

I think its important to write about both the positive and negative experiences that we have as many people expect living overseas to be exciting and yes it is but when things don't go to plan it makes you realise that you have to expect the unexpected and your not living in a first world country like Australia anymore. Well I just wanted to update everyone on whats been happening with us I wish it was a bit more exciting but you will all just have to wait until next time hopefully our luck is changing, fingers crossed.

Bernadette

Taking a Tour on the Net

Toady Paige and I have been having a lazy day due to both of us coming down with colds. I was given a lot of information to read as an introduction from the company when we arrived so I finally sat down to do some reading.

Seeing as we weren't doing any exploring today outside I decided to jump on the net and tour UB and Mongolia that way. You may have noticed I have added some links to our blog as I have found these web sites interesting and the sites are filled with lots of different types of information.

Here is a question for you. What informtion about UB, Mongolia would you like to read about in our blog? In our coming blogs I hope to write about all types of things but maybe there is a question you would like me to answer on something that you would like to know about everyday life here, for example money, banking, cost of housing ect.

You can either post your question in our comment section on our blog page or email me direct. In my comming blogs I will ensure I answer all your questions.

Bernadette

One Day at a Time

How things can change from one day to another. We were going to be moving out of the hotel into a guest apartment but a number of consultants are coming for the company so that move has been put on hold.

Yesterday I got to go for a walk on my own to explore the city. Ben and Paige had daddy time together, we all met up for lunch.

Exploring the city on my own was well worth it as I was able to get more of my bearings, even did some window shopping.

In the afternoon we called for one of the drivers to pick us up and take us for a drive. I wanted to see what the distance between two of the areas were we are looking at living in. The house which is out of town is only 2km away and the apartment we are yet to view is on the other side of the city about the same distance away from the heart of the city. We will get to view the apartment sometime this week when the person returns from break. Its such a big decision as we will be here for a while.

There is so much to get used to here that is new for us. As I mentioned we have to call for a driver as we are not given our own personal driver. This takes some getting used to as once we get settled I have to email a week ahead my travel plans so a driver can be arranged for us. If I decide that I want to go out on a spare of the moment plan then I have to call dispatch and they will send a car if one is free. If no car is available then a taxi will be sent which we have to cover the costs. We can look at hiring our own driver at our own cost so I am looking into that now. I am still getting a feel for the way things work here.

Ben headed out to site today so at least he can now settle into his position.

Bernadette

Waiting to find Our Home

We are still staying at the hotel, set to move into one of the companies guest apartments until we find a suitable house or apartment. Maybe Monday 5th or Tuesday 6th Feb we will make this move. Once we have moved from the hotel I am not to sure if I will have access to the Internet and how long I will be off line so I just wanted to let everyone one know.

Picture: Latest family photo taken while staying at the hotel

Ben heads out to site on Monday 6th of Feb to start work. His working days will be Mondays to Fridays on site and weekends at home in UB. He is looking forward to getting settled in and meeting everyone he will be working with. I hope to tell you all about his adventures as well.

Thank you for all the comments on our blog, feel free to make any comments you like good or bad. If you don't what your comments published just send your feed back to me via my email address.

A number of people have let us know about not being able to use the subscription link so I think we have now sorted that problem out. I am sorry if you have come across any spelling mistakes, I am trying to do my best in picking up them before I send the blog out.

I am enjoying writing a blog and getting used to using a new program. It sure keeps me busy and at times a little stressful not being able to work things out but I will get there in the long run

Bernadette

Talking a walk in UB

Today Paige and I went out for a walk as I wanted to start to get my bearings around Ulaanbaatar or as most people call it her UB for short. At the moment there is so much that I have to think about when considering going for a walk outside for long periods of time.

Lets see. Ensure both Paige and I are rugged up, only take what money I will need while out, try to get away without carrying a hand bag if I can also take note of my surroundings and what is happening around us. A number of people have given us advice on our personal safety and both Ben and I always take the advice seriously. Being so cold here many people say crime is higher in the winter then in the few summer months, at the moment its winter.
It seems the stories I hear are mainly about what some of the men have had happen to them. For example;
After a night on the town as one of the expat men did every Friday night, he walked home and was assaulted and robbed. People believe someone must of known about his routine. Other expats have had their pockets picked due to being bumped into from the front and someone from behind picked his pockets. One of the ladies had her bag snatched which happened a long time ago.
In hearing all these stories the first thing that comes to mind is these types of things can happen anywhere in the world when you are travelling. The important thing is to always take the advice and not become to blasé with your safety.

As the hotel lobby door opened the rush of chilled air hit my face. "Warm hotel room or a walk in the sunny cold day (-10)?" I seem to ask myself.

"Lets do it" I thought grabbing Paige's hand. It was nearly lunch time so if all else fails we can crab a bit to eat. I wanted to try and find one of the shops I had been to once before with one of the ladies thinking it was up around the corner a little way. After walking a while I realised that the shop wasn't where I thought it was so Paige and I headed to the Irish Pub. This pub is one of the local lunch spots where we had eaten before so I knew the food was good, plus Paige wanted to see the ice sculpture tiger she had noticed while walking past.

Picture: The Irish Pub where Paige and I had lunch

After a good feed and a chat with one of the expat ladies we had bumped into, we made our way back to the hotel.

Everywhere you walk, you have to be careful with your footing as the footpaths can become quite slick with ice. I have already learnt to always hold onto Paige's hand as she has lost her footing a couple of times. The uneven surfaces are a hazard as well.

Sometimes the simple things you see have some meaning behind it. I noticed that a manhole at the side of the footpath was missing its cover. As we walked by I glanced down to see the bottom of the short hole littered with rags and a blanket. I thought this must be where someone sleeps at night. "How sad" I thought and made a point to remember if I see this again I think I will drop some money into the hole. People say not to give any money to beggars as they can have someone pick your pockets while your stopped.

I cant save the world but I think it will be my way of making a difference to someone as they are curl up in the evening trying to keep warm. Ben said one of the expats told him that some people take the man hole covers and sell them as scrap metal for money.

Picture: Paige standing in front of an ice sculpture tiger

I was glad Paige and I had gone out on our little walking adventure. Turns out the shop I was looking for was located on the next street over. Maybe we will go for a walk tomorrow and explore.

Bernadette

One Week In Mongolia

Friday 2nd Febuary will be one week since we arrived in Mongolia. I don't know where the time has gone.We have been staying at the Bayangol Hotel close to the city centre. We are lucky as we are in a deluxe suit that has two rooms, one where we sleep and one is a lounge room. There are a couple of different restaurants which most of the food selection is nice. We have just started to venture out to try some of the restaurants in the town. See attached link to view hotel http://www.bayangolhotel.mn/ the site also has information about Ulaanbaatar you may find interesting.

Over the past week we have been kept busy being shown around. Apart of the induction was we visited the company's office and where introduced to the staff members there. One afternoon we were shown around the town by some wonderful ladies from the spousal group that had given up their time to help us settle in.

The last two days we have been house hunting. We are lucky as there is a department at the company set up to handle this type of task for us, all we have to do is be ready to go to the viewings when they are arranged.

There is really only two types of housing available in town, apartments (flats) and houses (town houses). The apartments are where most people live as the concept of housing isn't as high as apartment living so there are not as many houses on the market for us to view.

One Wednesday we viewed three houses, two of which were in the same housing location and out of the city centre and one which was in the city in a great location but one problem was the rent was too high for the budget we are allowed and the owner wouldn't come down to met our price. Bummer...............

I was surprised that we where shown the house in the first place being so far out of our budget. Most business people wouldn't come down as much as the housing department wanted them too. "Oh that's right I am not in Australia any more, I am in Mongolia, ah the "M" factor starts".

Thursday we viewed four apartments and all were not suitable due to one reason or another. I really had to re state what I am looking for to get the message across to the person who had arranged the viewings.

Tomorrow is a new day, fingers crossed.

I have a wish list for housing and don't really want to live in an apartment but I know that what I want and what I get is two different things so I am not totally closed to the idea of apartment living. When we were in Indonesia we found that what we first wanted seemed to change once we knew what was on the market, "Oh how I wish for the housing complex we lived in back in Balikpapan right here in Mongolia!".

Paige is taking most things in her stride. Sometimes she takes a while to get sorted when we are going out but I think that is more to do with her age then the changes in her environment. I think she likes me saying "I will count to three" testing me all the time. She seems to be coping with the weather, its been about -24 and yesterday was a bit warmer -6 (heat wave) even Paige said "Mummy I don't need my coat its not cold".

Well until next time, everyone needs to cross their fingers to give us some luck in finding a house. I hope you will all subscribe to my blog as I am not going to email out the newsletter anymore.

Bernadette