Last night after the coffee tragedy, we went to the gym. Vet Net rents the gym for 90 min and we play basketball and volleyball. On the same court. At the same time. It is basically a small full court basketball court with a net across the middle. And they play full court volleyball and 2 half court basketball games all at the same time. It is idiopathic. Now I am not a good basketball player, and I have not been working out, and I have not been eating a healthy balanced 4 leaf diet, but Mongolians are short and they never eat 4 leaf, so I will look good to them, maybe they will even ask me to join their league. Well it is not pretty, it is even humbling, but when I get blocked by a girl, that is just to much. I want to rough her up a bit, but Mongolian women are strong and tough, and I may not win that battle either. If they see I get beat by a girl they will call me names and say I must be a girly man and maybe they make up a big name for me like idiopathic wimpitis or something and then make me sit in Russian van for a few hours until I toughen up. No, I think I will just quit while I am behind. But if she ever comes to visit I will take her to the ski mountain and tell her we will go on the bunny trail, but I will take her on the expert trail, and then we will see who is girly. I know I should be more humble and loving, but that coffee thing is still bothering me.

Today was my last full day. And I am sad about that. I have really grown to love the people here, except that basketball girl, and I enjoy spending time with them and learning about their culture, and we talk about faith and Christian living. They are very open and honest, and they like to talk to you and get to know you. They listen better than most Americans. I have learned more from them than they have from me. They are always happy and willing to learn, whether it is about veterinary medicine, or the bible, or anything you want to talk about. And they want me to come back so maybe I am not idiopathic after all. They also want Nancy to come next time, and that would be great if she can.

We had lunch next to the Russian embassy, and it was very good. I have never had Russian food before, and I can’t remember the names of all the different things we tried (you usually get 3-4 things and then you all just eat off of every plate, everybody shares) but it was very good. I thought maybe we should go next door to the embassy and tell someone about those Russian vans, but they probably don’t care even though I am American and I like borscht and am almost a knight. I guess i will just boycott russian vehicles, which won’t be hard because I have never seen one for sale. I would not even pay 2200 tugrigs for 1. For dinner we walked a little farther because they had a special treat for me. I have been waiting for this, and now at the last meal I finally get to eat old Wilbur the horse. Now I don’t want to hear from you horse hugging celery eating people, or from my sister Judy who begged me not to eat horse, because it was really good. Now I know horses are cute, but so are calves and little piggies and even lobsters (but only the red kind with butter on the side), and it is ok to eat them. And it’s not like I was eating dog or cat or anything smart like that. When in Mongolia, eat like a Mongolian. Except for the milk tea. And Ye Ye. No no.

And on more thing. Even though everyone eats a lot, always, and you are never hungry, except maybe later in the morning because you don’t eat breakfast because you eat so much before, like a yak at the rack, as they say ( or not), they always find room for more. So because I have enjoyed my time here so much and I really like the people, and I even find myself feeling better about the basketball girl, but I still want to take her skiing, I do what we do in America, we eat cake. And do they like cake. They do not eat much desert here, but when they do, they have a lot of fun and eat with gusto. With big slices. I could only eat half. Another reason I like Mongolia. I like them a lot.

Until tomorrow. God Bless
Dr Mike