Driving in UB

To all the drivers of UB, I have one question: How is it to drive in UB?
I feel like I'm participating in crazy drunk driving game that we play in computer games. You have to be aware of unprofessional drivers that might suddenly pull out of nowhere. No proper usage of signals light can be seen among city drivers. Everyday you could see drivers running thought red lights. Many people are injured in accidents. You hear horror stories, "2 killed, 9 killed in road accidents." People are shocked for short time, but then the chaos on the roads continues. Driving schools are for 45 days. Can you imagine that you would acquire required driving techniques and knowledge in such a short time? Worse, one can buy the driving license in Mongolia. Is isn't it ironic?

Another thing to point out is the inadequate culture of pedestrians. They cross the roads anywhere they want, look to totally wrong directions, run then stop, etc. Obviously, better and nearby crosswalks are need to be built, be it on the road, the bridge or underground tunnel. We better educate ourselves about danger and safety of crossing motor passageways.

What those dumb traffic policemen are doing? Nothing! They do not manage the traffic, instead they create the jam keke. They on the road only to charge the penalty and pocket that money! Poor men!

After all, what should the driver do? Follow the crowd, be as aggressive, impolite and improper. Viva UB roads!

FACTS THAT ARE GOOD TO KNOW

Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.

If the sun stopped shining suddenly, it would take eight minutes for people on earth to be aware of the fact.

The world's first speed limit regulation was in England in 1903. It was 20 mph.

The wristwatch was invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier.

There are 31,557,600 seconds in a year.

Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.

The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, 0.5% argon and other gases.

The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.

The chemical n-acetyl-cysteine found in raw eggs is proven to help hangovers.

Between 1931 and 1969, Walt Disney collected thirty-five Oscars.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was created in 1939, in Chicago, for the Montgomery Ward department stores for a Christmas promotion.

The first time the "f-word" was spoken in a movie was by Marianne Faithfull in the 1968 film, "I'll Never Forget Whatshisname." In Brian De Palma's 1984 movie, "Scarface," the word is spoken 206 times - an average of once every 29 seconds.

The term karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese, and the karaoke machine was designed originally to provide backing tracks for solo cabaret performers.

Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1938 was Adolf Hitler.

The under construction Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is the world's current tallest freestanding structure on land, rising 604.9 m (1,985 ft) as of 5 February 2008. When completed, it is planned to rise over 700 m (2,297 ft).

Leonardo DaVinci began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503. The Mona Lisa is 77 by 53cm. He was still working on the painting when he immigrated to France in 1516, and is believed to have finished it three years later, just before he died. The painting has remained in France ever since and is owned by the state.

(http://www.corsinet.com/trivia)

Preserving water? Being Economical?

Every morning I have to go through rather "distressing" process. I have to let open my hot water for about 30-40 minutes in order to get proper hot water to take shower, wash my face, etc. I cannot imagine amount of clean water wasted each morning by me. Probably, most apartment residents do the same. I heard my friends do the same, who live in different parts of the UB. Tons of clean water is wasted just to get hot water. Is it economical? No. Environmentally, it is disastrous. However, I need hot water. All city residents need proper hot water flowing from the mixers. It made me think about electricity, water, and heat usage in UB. It is very inefficient. Nowadays, when it is very warm outside, people do not need central heating, and they open their windows to cool down the rooms. Central heating for residential areas will stay until May 15, for another 1 month. I thought to myself, how come we do not build houses and apartment blocks that utilize unit boilers, room and water heaters. It is obvious that Mongolia is not rich in natural gases, and if we were to utilize gas as the source of heating and cooking, it would not be economical too. However, each house, apartment could have electric mini-boiler, that heats the radiators in the rooms and hot water whenever needed. I would prefer to have electric heated shower, than to run the water for 30 minutes. It will save me time, money, obviously and most importantly it will save clean water. Is there anyone experiencing the same problem and feeling bit guilty? Why can't we do something about it? Or am I being too sarcastic and spaced-out? Keke

Smell of Elections

Mongolian Parliament Election is in June 2008. You could already smell it. In anticipation of upcoming elections most officials are busy with promoting themselves, making propagandas, and election campaigns in their election regions. There is nothing wrong with that, every country has this issue. However, in Mongolia it has good and bad sides. Every street and road becomes clean and paved. Your apartment blocks are fixed, if you have any problems the officials, election candidates, are very nice and will listen to you. They will build playgrounds, they will fight for the rights of the residents in the local area, will get your land back from greedy businesses, etc. However, as soon as the election finishes, it suddenly becomes so quite. Feels like the area, which was just bursting and bubbling with activities, got empty. Until the elections, no major decision will be made. Do not hope to accomplish your job before elections. "Wait until the end of it", is the usual recommendation. All mobile phones are switched off. Office numbers are either busy, or the officials are not there. As soon as the officials step into the "power seats" reverse will happen. Your living area will be trashed, the land will be granted to greedy corporates etc. The playground will break down, it will wait for 4 years, until the next election.

"I'm really sorry to bug you Mr. Authority Official, but I need my tasks to be completed and my work to be done. The world does not wait until end of the elections! Jesus! Please hear me and do your job!!!"

Land of dreams

MORTGAGE MARKET

I and many other young people are struggling to get a decent mortgage. There is limited mortgage market in Mongolia. Only few lenders offer mortgage up to 70 million MNT with sky rocketed interest rate for very short period of 15 years. The lowest interest available is 1.3% per month, which makes 15.6% annual interest. In addition, it is very hard to get one of those mortgages for young people, as they do not have sufficient funds, guarantees.

Recently, I saw an advertisement on new apartment. Their offer was 800 USD per sq. meter. This was newspaper from March 14, 2008. I called the company on March 31^st. They told me that they have changed the price to 1,000 USD a week ago. So, in two weeks the price of the housing increased by 200 USD/sq. meter. Insane? Reality? Check please!

MY PARENTS AND ME

One of the biggest obstacles in my life now is my parents. Please, do not interpret as I do not love them. I love them very much! I respect them. I get inspired by them. However, circumstances are that I do not get along with them.

As shameful as it is, at the age of close to 30, I live with my parents. Financially and personally, I am relatively independent. The truth is, my parents are afraid to let me go. One thing I do not understand is that they let me go when I was 17 to foreign country, all alone. I lived with a host family, but they were strangers, and my parents trusted them. Then at later stage, when I joined university, I lived on my own for 3-4 years. Yet, they still do not trust me. What can I do to gain their trust back? What have I done to lose their confidence, respect in me?

Maybe circumstances have changed and I have a child. However, I have proven to them that I can live on my own with my child. Yet, still they do not let me. I work hard. I think hard and try to be good mom, good daughter, good friend, good employee, and good in everything I can. In spite of everything, it is not enough for my parents.

One thing they do not realize is that they did not live my life. My mother did not have to suffer same as I did. They do not feel the pain and pressure of a single parent. When they were young, the apartment was ready for them. The job and salary was secure. They did not have to think hard about making a living. Education was free for their children. Only recently, after shift to market economy my parents struggled to make a living. I appreciate that my parents given me and my brother the best education and best things they could afford. How can I make them feel my pain? Will they be able to survive what I have gone through?

I think our parents should be thankful that they did not have to struggle to pay the mortgage, to make ends meet with monthly salaries, and pay for the good education for their children when they were our age.

Maybe there are many young people like me, who experience the same difficulty with their parents. I have a question to all of you. Why do they not realize the difference in their and our circumstances? Why they are so hesitant to understand? Whose fault is it?

Is Mongolia a trash bin?

Is Mongolian economy and society becoming a trash bin for foreigners? In last few years, the illegal immigrants, workers from China and other countries seem to be increasing substantially. It is estimated that 100-200 thousand Chinese illegal workers inhabit in Ulaanbaatar city. There are no accurate estimates for illegal residents in Mongolia. It is obvious that most of whoever comes here to reside are not rich and successful business people or talented and highly educated employees. Why would successful one want to work in Mongolia, where Mongolians themselves are reaching for UK or USA to work abroad? Sure, we do pay more to foreign specialists than to Mongolian professionals. However, these types of expats are sourced and invited to work in Mongolia. What about who voluntarily come to Mongolia?

There is logical report that Korean and Chinese business people that come to Mongolia are not successful in their home country. Usually they get low interest rate loans from Korean/Chinese banks and come here to set up their business. You can see Korean and Chinese restaurants and shops flourishing all over UB. I even would not want to start talking about Chinese construction workers that roam UB like cockroaches. Disgusting!

Are these businesses, workers helping Mongolian economy? I guess not, as the money pours into foreign businesses, and it is in turn bounces back to Korean/Chinese market through import of goods and services. Are these unqualified foreign workers bringing any value to our society and culture? I don’t think so! Foreign males, which are unwanted at their home, are using vulnerable Mongolian girls (however, I blame those girls too, for seeking easy money!)!

So, what can we ordinary citizens do? Try to purchase goods and services that are domestic and shave the hair off from those foolish girls? I think the main duty lies in the government. It should build policies that are domestic production benign, aids and supports domestic consumers, and also tighter residency and immigration policies are urgently needed.

The Government and the whole state now are in kind of recess for anticipation of upcoming elections. Jeez! They are in no state of bringing up policies, if this government could not do it, will the next one be able to do? Anyways, this was my brief thought, that usually comes and goes in my brain, J

So, my ultimate question is:

Is Mongolia a trash bin for unqualified, undeveloped foreign workers?

Don’t we deserve better?