Hello
This is probably going to be my last blog from Mongolia as I have only three and a half weeks left here. I leave Mongolia just before Christmas for a months holiday before returning to Edinburgh University for the start of February. I have spent a really wonderful year here in Mongolia, it has been amazing fun and I will be so very sad to leave.
Winter is setting in in Mongolia now. Our daytime temperature rarely reaches above freezing, and at night time it drops to -20. As I walk to work in the mornings it is usually between -10 and -15, which makes your cheekbones ache!! Its always very dry and cloudless with loads of blue sky. Ulaanbaatar and most towns in Mongolia have centralised heating systems to pump hot water to radiators in all the apartment blocks. This works beautifully and my flat and office at work are both lovely and warm, however, there is no way of altering the heating system. You cannot turn it up or down or on or off. The heating in apartment blocks comes on on 15 Sept every year, but in government offices it isn't turned on until 15 Oct. And it was very very cold by 15 Oct - I was in my office working at my computer with gloves and a hat and three layers of clothes on! It's a lot easier now the heating is on! It is much more difficult for people who are living in the ger districts on the outskirts of the city. They live in traditional ger tents and so have to rely on wood or coal-burning stoves for heating. The size of these ger districts increases every year as more and more people leave the rural areas of Mongolia to come to Ulaanbaatar to look for better paid jobs, so the number of fires increases every winter, and consequently the pollution increases. There is now a pall of yellow smog hanging over the city - it is exacerbated by the hills that surround UB, and prevent the pollution from dispersing.
My work is continuing well, and getting busier and busier as my time comes to a close here. Our brucellosis study is almost completed and we are about to send our results to the UK for analysis - our thanks to Judy Stack and colleagues at VLA, UK who have helped us put this piece of work together. At the moment in Mongolia brucellosis diagnosis in animals involves using four different diagnostic tests. We have carried out a comparison of these four tests on over a thousand animals to see if we can identify the best test, and therefore avoid having to use all four.
Mongolia has also recently sadly had another outbreak of sheeppox/goatpox. This disease affects sheep and goats and causes horrible lesions all over the skin. It can kill affected animals, especially young ones. Mongolia had an outbreak in 1975 but then nothing until 2006, and now another outbreak. I have been working with the vets at the State Central Vet Lab to optimise our diagnostic tests for sheeppox/goatpox and to see if we can find clues as to the source of this latest outbreak.
One of the best changes to happen recently is being given the use of a car and driver to get to and from work. I used to catch the bus, but in winter more and more people want to catch the bus, so they get more and more crowded, so it was becoming impossible to fit on to the bus. And if you did make it on you were so squashed you weren't able to breath! Happily, the lab have been able to provide me with one of their drivers so I don't have to do the bus trip anymore! Utzi is my driver, and his car is a 4WD people carrier called a Delica. Being driven to and from work is a real luxury and saves me about an hour a day. I would much rather spend this time at work doing something useful than standing at a bus stop!
Last weekend our laboratory participated in the Agricultural Institutes Sports Weekend. Ten laboratories / institutes / universities / pharmaceutical companies participated, and we played three sports - table tennis, volleyball and basketball. Its an annual competition and taken very seriously. On Friday we played table tennis but I begged to be excused from this due to my complete lack of ability! On Saturday we played volleyball and despite my shocking lack of talent and experience I was drafted into the team. I managed not to embarrass myself but only just - I have never played volleyball before! Our team lost two games and won one, so didn't make it to the semi finals but it was heaps of fun - volleyball is a great game! I highly recommend it! All the teams were well supported so there was a real party atmosphere too. On Sunday was the basketball, and we fared better - we managed to win all our pool games and so made it to the semi final but were beaten in a good close game. I must admit I was a foot taller than all the other players so had a distinct advantage. I was also exhausted, though! I haven't done much (any!) exercise while in Mongolia so was well out of shape!
I recently gave a lecture to the final year Mongolian veterinary students at the national vet school. I really enjoyed the chance to meet this group of students, they were very enthusiastic and eager to learn. I lectured on some sheep and goat viral diseases that they are likely to encounter when they graduate - ovine pulmonary adenomatosis, maedi-visna virus, and sheeppox/goatpox. It was the first time I have lectured with a translator - it was a strange experience! The lecture goes a lot slower, but it gives you more time to think about what you are going to say next! I found the language barrier made interacting with the students during the lecture more difficult, though.
I went to a very interesting lecture about the trade in Mongolian wildlife last month. It was put on by the Mongolian branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WSC). They have been touring the markets in UB looking for illegal wildlife trade and have sadly found a great deal. The majority of the trade is destined for the Chinese traditional medicines market. The species most at risk are snow leopard, grey wolf, brown bears, saker falcons and the dalmatian pelican. The Mongolian authorities have laws in place to prevent illegal hunting and trading of wildlife, and are working with groups like the WSC to implement these laws as effectively as possible. Mongolia has some of the most beautiful and some of the most endangered wildlife in the world, so it was terribly sad to see pictures of pieces of brown bear on sale in markets. I found the most important message of the presentation was don't use traditional Chinese medicines.
As I come to the end of my time in Mongolia I am a fair amount of reviewing and assessing of my work here. It has made me think about the things I am going to miss most about Mongolia - the enthusiastic and friendly people, the beautiful countryside, the bitterly cold and dry mornings, the fresh food markets with smiley vendors, lovely soft Mongolian cashmere products, I'll miss it all!
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