Scenic Route

Here and there, in between journeys to Mongolia, Beijing and back to Mongolia, I've been sewing.  Especially therapeutic during the weeks after the girls left and I found myself having to re-establish activities and relationships due to the constant flux of life here in UB.  This makes me appreciate long-standing relationships so much more than I would have if I would have never left the US 8 years ago.   Mr. M has spent this entire Sunday afternoon working on this baby: I bought her, reconditioned, on the spot when I picked up my daughter's serger from the repair shop back home.  Mr. M insisted on taking it back to Mongolia with him--as carry on.  Is this love or what?  I got a real deal on her and she has worked like a charm.  Until today.  Granted,  we took a chance as  I didn't even plug her in before moving her across the world .  --but Mr. M was leaving for Mongolia the next day.  Early.  Besides, wha...

What a time we had in this city!  Given that the 3 of us pretty much HAVE to eat roughly every 2 hours and the fact that I was operating off of a guidebook obviously written just after the Olympics in Beijing (meaning that the restaurants we tried to track down are now closed), Get Lost-Eat-Repeat was the order of the days we were left to ourselves.   For two days we enjoyed tours of all the must-see sights.  The sights were stellar, the obligatory sales stops at a pearl market, tea shop, jade shop, etc. wore a little thin by the end of the 2nd day.  But we tried to be a gracious captive audience.  OK, the grace factor wore a bit thin at the end--who knew my girls could say "no.  thank you.  no." with such steely-eyed determination.  By the time we got to the silk store, they simply glided right past the sales staff and made for the exit. On our last day there, we were relieved to get back to our Get Lost-Eat-Repeat routine.  Who knew tha...

I'm a wee bit after-the-fact with this post; but alas, a large deal of my life is taken up with trying to get enough sleep on either side of the 15-hour time difference I am constantly throwing at my body.  Sleep is essential to brain activity with me. Anyway!  Our two beautiful daughters recently journeyed to Mongolia with me to see the world their Dad has worked in for the last 8 years.  Mind you, UB is more civilized now than it was not so long ago.  Still, it's waaaay different than the US, which is what 3 flights entailing almost 30 hours of travel deserves, right?  Right. The week flew by and then just us girls flew to Beijing for almost a week.  China, too, is a bit more civilized, though still definitely China.  Nikki was frothing at the mouth by the 2nd day of internet connection sensor (FB is illegal, for starters).  I think it's been 6 or so years since I've even flown through China.  Just too much drama and too little English ...