It is a somewhat guilty pleasure. We have a cleaner. They come twice a week. They make the beds (Jordan’s, we make our own every day), wash dishes, fold laundry, sweep and vacuum. They clean the counters, the tub, toilet and sink. They tidy up things too. And it costs a total of under $19 a week. We do have to supply the cleaning supplies though.

We have them (sometimes it is more than one cleaner) come on Tuesdays and Fridays. It is nice to come home to a house that is cleaner than when you left.

But it is $19 that could go to a bill. It will add up. In a year it will come to just a bit under $1,000. But with the amount of time that we’re away from the house it really helps that we can enjoy more of our time at home together. I am typically away from the house for about 12 hours a day. When not coaching it may drop to about 10 though.

The lifestyle here may sound luxurious if you just skim the cream from the top. We have a cleaner that comes twice a week. We have a driver that comes and gets us daily to go to the school. Our housing and utilities are paid for by the company we work for. Dining out costs almost the same as buying and preparing some western meals at home. Haircuts with a scalp massage for under $30. Hour long massages for just as much. Restaurants representing every area of Asia on every corner. And even a few decent pubs just minutes away by foot.

But consider that we live on the 6th floor of a building without an elevator. It sometimes takes an hour to get home because of traffic. Sometimes the air is so poor that we can’t open a window. Our first week in this apartment we had no hot water. And at least one night we had no water at all. Sometimes the most mundane thing takes far longer to complete than anywhere else. Like finding shortening to make a pie crust.

So allowing a luxury like not having to clean a toilet in the few hours I’m home and awake seems justifiable.

This banner is near the public bus stop near the school.  I’m pretty sure Angelina doesn’t give foot massages there though.

Yesterday Pepper and I were out of the house by 9:30 to get some things together to have brunch with Meghan and Liz. All the stores we tried to hit were closed until 10 though. We lingered in the sun and found an ATM that worked (1 out of 4 isn’t too bad). We did some enthusiastic shopping – found almost everything we were looking for and at decent prices. We’re celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving today and needed some provisions. (One big benefit of having friends and coworkers from around the world – more holidays!) We left the market and headed home and as we crossed one of the main streets near our place (we live between the two main east-west roads) we realized there were no cars on the street and people were brazenly walking down the middle of the street.

Huh?

We were heavy with groceries so we just headed home. When Meghan and Liz arrived they told us it was “no car day”for the city. Kids were out with rollerblades, bikes and scooters. In a city with the second worst air pollution in the world (although the majority is due to the sprawling ger districts burning coal and other fuels incompletely) it was refreshing.

Unfortunately, by the time I went out to take pictures at about 5:30 the roads were reopening. So I don’t have pictures of it. But there will be future days and I’ll be sure to capture images next time.

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I used to check on my site’s statistics every week. It has been over three years since I peeked at them all so let’s see what changed in the three years…

Here is where things were in July of 2008:

1. 1,680 posts
2. Comments – the new WordPress UI doesn’t make this easy to find!
3. Technorati Authority: 32 Rank: 222,916
4. Google Page Rank: 3
5. Alexa: 386,664
6. Page Strength: 4
7. Feedburner subscribers: 17
8. BlogTopSites: 86
9. RealRank: 575

And today…

1. 2,852 (1,172 new posts)
2. 4,040 comments
3. Technorati Authority: 96 (down 64) Rank: 51,481 (Improved 171,485)
4. Google Page Rank: 4 (up 1)
5. Alexa: 866,671 (down 480,007)
6. Page Strength: No longer free
7. Feedburner subscribers: 51 (up 34)
8. BlogTopSites: Not listed
9. RealRank: Defunct

It’s a mixed return. Google rank up one is good. My Technorati authority went down but my rank went up. Alexa dropped considerably but feed readers went up quite a bit. So without trying to I have improved in some core areas – ranking and followers and dropped in some of the measures of authority. I’m happy.

Today we went to the black market. I like to go there. It is chaotic, the people watching is great and the things you can buy there are amazing. We browsed through dozens of stalls looking at used shoes and boots. Think of this place as a giant flea market although most areas the vendors all sell the same type of thing. There is the vinyl flooring area, the entrance we went in had lots of people selling fishing gear, or there’s the building packed with appliances. You seem to be able to get just about anything there.

You also can get pick pocketed. Even students have said to me “be careful” when I have mentioned going there. Every book and website that mentions the place says to watch your pockets and bags.

So we do. I’m on edge there constantly. The first time we went I’m pretty sure a “razor blade artist” had me in his sights but I turned to him right after he touched the backpack I had on. I see most Mongolians with backpacks wearing them on their fronts.

Today we were headed toward the front entrance down one of the main rows. They are crowded and people bump and push. I heard a zipper sound and felt a tug on the bag so I spun around. A large man, taller than me and probably at least 50 pounds heavier glanced at my face and then he turned around and went the other way. He was wearing a blue sweater and appeared to be in his 30s or 40s. I checked the bag and it was open a few inches. Nothing was missing though. Or at least I didn’t think so.

I thought for a moment and then I went after him. There was a shorter man wearing a black jacket that also had stopped and turned around. He was making his escape slower so I pushed by him. Pepper was chasing behind me asking if he had stolen anything. I caught up after maybe 50 feet and then just walked behind him. He stopped and turned around – I think because his friend said something. I stared at him and he came at me and pushed me. He was big. I knew that a fight wouldn’t end well for me. Pepper pounced in and separated us. He said some words and the two then went off a different way. Pepper thought that there might have also been a woman with them.

I was stupid. But if I can make at least one guy reconsider messing with foreigners it was worth it. I was the victim of theft in Ecuador and it really made my trip a hassle. The thing on the top of the bag was a pair of Pepper’s shoes. She had just bought boots so she was wearing them and i had her shoes in the bag. If he grabbed them it might have been hours before they would have been available in the used shoe area.

One of the reasons that we decided to take jobs teaching in Mongolia was because it was a wise financial move. With the job market too uncertain back home having a two year contract for both of us was a good move.

But there are all sorts of other financial benefits that are showing up…

Cell phones – we brought our phones from home. It cost over $400 to cancel the contracts that we had with AT&T. And we were paying over $100 per month for the two of us. We signed up for pay-as-you go plans over a month ago and to date have spent less than $40 for service for a month. We don’t know how much more credit we each have on our phones but we’re certainly saving money on this!

Transportation – I was fueling up my car twice a month in Alaska. That ran from $50 to $75 each time – $100 to $150 monthly. Plus the cost of vehicle insurance and maintenance. Right now we take taxis to work and ride the school’s staff bus or the public bus home. On the most expensive days – when Pepper and I go to school at different times and leave separately too it costs a total of $8. it is usually less – about $5 a day. The savings here isn’t huge but does add up.

Housing and utilities – Our apartment and utilities are paid for. We have some rental income coming in from our Alaskan home but still have a mortgage payment to make. I’d say we’re probably saving about $900 per month right now on that!

Vacationing – We’re planning to escape the bitter cold for a few weeks this winter. We have three weeks off and the cost for a flight to Thailand is $800 for both Pepper and I and Jordan’s ticket would be $600. We couldn’t get back to NY for the holidays from Alaska for that much. Once we’re in Thailand or Laos the living expenses will be even less than if we stayed in Mongolia.

Banking – We’re earning 6% interest on our bank accounts here!