So I'm up for about three minutes this morning when Raf springs me with the question,

How would you like to live in Mongolia?

While I'm not typically grumpy in the morning, I don't awake singing campfire songs, either.

"Huh?"

"There's a job in Mongolia I'm thinking of applying for."

Being awake for four minutes, I begin to verbally chomp off Raf's head, until she retreated into the kitchen, saying, "What is wrong with you today?"

Nothing. I'm just not going to Mongolia.

But I checked it out on the

Here's some Mongolian trivia that you probably need to know:

Mongolia is slightly smaller, but not by much, than Alaska.

The population of the country is 2,751,314 (July 2k4). That's way more than Alaska's 643,786.

Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, is 786,500. That's bigger than Alaska's population.

I have to admit that at this point, things were looking up for me. I loved living in Fairbanks.
But then I kept reading.

Half of Ulaanbaatar's population live in yurts. (Raf thinks this would be great. I disagree)

Number of AM/FM radio stations? Only 16. Fairbanks had more!

Number of Internet hosts? 40. Uh-oh. That's not much.

Number of Internet users? 50,000. Gulp. You've got to be kidding!

Number of TV Channels? 9. And you know that One Life to Live is not on any of them.

Now I'm getting freaked out. I kept looking.

Main religion? 50% = Buddhist. 40% = nothing. The remaining 10%? Shamanist, Christian and Muslim. That's a fine mix as far as I'm concerned.

Number of internation disputes? None. You should see what the CIA Factoboks has for the US on this one!

AIDS prevalence rate? Less than 0.1% That's really low. In 2003, less than 200 people died of AIDS/HIV. In America, it's 06% (that's 14,000 deaths in 2003, versus Mongolia's 200.)

Did they sign the Kyoto Protocol? Yes, so they're ahead of the USA in a few ways.

Later in the day, after a sad review of our finances, or lack thereof, I must reconsider the potential of Mongolia as a possible place to live.



It sure doesn't look like there's much going on, does there?

And I thought Portland was dull. I guess I could change the name of the blog to Mind Boggling Trivia of Inner Mongolia.
Can you blog in Mongolia?

Raf keeps saying how amazing it is there, and she forwarded me to this blog.

Uh-huh. Notice how no one has posted in over a year? Notice how there are only 2 posts total? Nice try, Raf.
What else do you have?

"You saw the Weeping Camel. You saw the movie about the throat singers, Genghis Blues."

Yes, I did see those films, and that's not a recommendation. They only verify that the dusty lands of Genghis Khan are still, er, dusty.

And I'd bet that just like chow mein or french fries, the best place to get Mongolian barbecue is right here.

Woe is me.

Want to save me from Mongolia? I'm taking donations.