Last weekend we had a great time out for dinner at the home of Duma, my Mongolian teacher's home. The photo above is of us with Duma and her father. The photo above that was from the week before last, we went out to a friends Ger in the countryside with a collection of kids, the adults sat inside in the warm with coffee and cake while the kids adventured and played in the chilly wind having soo much fun.

The cold weather is starting to kick in now - we had a high of -8 C yesterday. Today, Justus and Steve braved -15 C out to the edge of town up Zaisan hill to get some UB snow photos (to be posted soon). When I asked Justus how cold it was outside, he though for a while and then replied "Well, if you went outside in just your undies you would freeze" Yes, we believe this would be true. Our apartment continues to be toasty warm and Justus thinks that at least it is warm enough for just undies inside most days.

Steve has had a week busy meeting with lots of agricultural and leather industry players, it sounds like the project he is involved with is progressing well for now. I continue to be challenged as to how to help the many people here who really only just manage to scratch out a living collecting and recycling rubbish. I have occasionally shared some food or money with them but am still working out how I can most effectively provide help and encouragement to these people. I am trying to find out about soup kitchens or food banks in our neighbourhood that we might be able to contribute to but this is still in progress. If anyone out there knows of any projects, please let us know.

Lots of love b.