More E-mail Trouble

By Charlie

There was no hot water this morning, so I took a cold shower. I had to do it because I didn’t take a shower yesterday. I didn’t take a shower yesterday because there was no hot water.

The good news is that the internet worked this morning after being off all day yesterday. Then it collapsed again this afternoon.

The city is covered in a blanket of what I suppose is dust. I can’t see the sky or the horizon.

And now that I’m doing some actual work, I’m facing the considerable challenge of working with Mongolians. I hate to generalize, but the Mongolian work ethic can be frustrating.

I can think of one Mongolian colleague in UB who can be counted on to keep appointments and to do exactly what he says he will do. Another dozen people I work with absolutely cannot be counted on to show up or to follow through on anything. I try not to let this bother me, but it’s tough.

Aside from the cold shower and lack of internet, this day was pretty good until I had a series of mind numbing interactions with Mongolians at The Asia Foundation.

After one of these people spuriously accused me of not sending her an important document, I cracked.

Me: “I did send you that document, and if you actually read your e-mail, you’d know that.”

Her: “But I get so many e-mails and I am very busy.”

Oh! Well, in that case, I totally understand. Forgive me.

Gimme a break.

Just when the good starts to outweigh the incredibly frustrating, I am reminded that life in this country is a total pain in the ass.