Mongolian Memories of Bob Marley

Went with Joanna in the morning to language exchange with the artist Ganbold. I learned how to say one of the most important phrases for foreigners living in Mongolia: "Bi arikh dolguui - I don't like vodka." Even if you do like vodka - and I actually do - you don't want to end up in a nightly drinking contest with random neighbors and your host.

In the afternoon, I led a troupe of 5 - me, Joanna, Ariel, Morgan and Julie to the orphanage. As half-expected, no staff was there again and we had no access to the supply room. So everyone just played with the kids for a couple hours. The kids are so friendly and you can tell they need so much affection. I had to stop letting them use my camera this time when one kid discovered the delete button. Then we played soccer on this immense green field with the power plant and Ulaanbaatar's skyline far in the background. It felt like another world - every now and then a horseman would ride by with his herd of cattle.





Afterwards we went back to the Golden Gobi and beered up for the big event of the night - the "Memories of Bob Marley" party, and almost everyone from the hostel went. We were disappointed at first to hear that there wouldn't be live music, but what we saw was not short of spectacular - DJs spinning Bob Marley music, and an MC singing and rapping in Mongolian! Then the Mongolian reggae dudes made a speech in English about being all together and one love, and all of us, from a million miles away in each direction, danced to the power of Bob Marley in a strange city. After too many beers, we went back and passed out feeling like we owned the world.