Settling In

I arrived safely in Ulan Bator (or Ulaanbataar, theres like 6 different spellings) on Saturday night.  On Sunday I got to live the Mongolian dream with the Barrett's and another missionary-type family working for Samaritan's Purse.  We left town driving for about an hour (driving in Mongolia is an adventure all in itself) to a National Park.  First we came across a kazakh bird keeper and I had the opportunity to hold a six foot vulture which towered over the two fully grown golden eagles he had.  Then we had lunch at a nice lodge and of course went horse back riding on mongolian horses.

Since then its been all about getting settled in, getting sim cards, unlocking my iPhone, learning to get around, learning to shop, getting a visa, etc.  I've quickly learned that if you get anything accomplished here its a good day because even the simplest tasks can end up being impossible, or just taking the entire day.

I also have been able to get into local wrestling gyms the last three days.  The first gym I went to had no one my size or age (it was mostly little kids) but I got to drill some Steve Barrett which posed plenty of a challenge.  The last two days I went to the Sport Palace where the national team wrestlers train for the most part.  I jumped in and drilled with the guys there but they sometimes have trouble understanding that I can't wrestle live because of my wrist.  Needless to say I'm anxious to be ready to go and so are they, plus there are a lot of tough looking guys I'm excited to go after.  I also met a journalist Tim who was a college wrestler at Virginia State and is writing about the national style of wrestling here.  I'll get to work out with him some over the next week or so.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to start taking Mongolian language classes, but I usually gotta see it, to believe it with plans out here so we'll see.  Other than that, I'm excited to keep getting more connected, I should start helping with a couple youth groups, and start teaching english classes at a university in the next month.  Please keep me in your prayers and let me know if you have any questions!