Snow Leopard is here!

If your a Mac user, I'm sure you already know that the latest upgrade for the Mac OS X is here called 'Snow Leopard'. And as a definite computer geek and Mac-lover, I couldn't wait to get my copy. And Microsoft could really learn something here in that Apple offered the upgrade for only $29. Why wouldn't you upgrade at that price. I had to have it shipped to my mom so she could include it in her next care package. Like a cat high on catnip, I probably spent way too much time drooling over this new software.

Like most of the reviewers, most of the improvements are under the hood. My MacBook definitely seems to load faster and there are a lot of small improvements that I really like. But like any software, there are few 'obstacles' that I had to deal with.

KEYBOARD: For some reason the layout for the Mongolian Cyrillic keyboard was changed. Not sure why, but had to find an older layout on the internet so I could keep typing the way I'd been taught here in Mongolia. For those that need the older layout, download here.

QUICKTIME: I had a copy of Quicktime Pro 7 that I bought because I sometimes need to edit video for the blog. The new Quicktime Player is very nice but I get the impression from the forums that it is ahead of its time and the rest of the world has to catch up. Right now it only plays Apple formats. But if you still need Quicktime 7, you will find it was moved during the instillation and put into the Applications/Utilities folder (I moved it back to Applications). And if you had bought a copy of QuicktimeMPEG2, you have to reload it.

TRASH: For some reason, the default for emptying the trash is set to 'Secure Empty Trash'. Most of the time, I don't need to get rid of anything securely so the extra effort is a waste. To change this, go to Finder - Preferences - Advanced and un-check 'Empty trash securely'. Now, both options should appear in the drop-down menus.

SAFARI: Snow Leopard tries to stay on the cutting edge. I'm not sure I understand the difference between 32-bit and 64-bit, but if it improves my computing, then I'm all for it. Unfortunately, it's ahead of it's time. Take Safari, some website features like videos and flash don't seem to work right with 64-bit. If you go to your Applications folder and command-i- (get info) Safari, you can check the 'open in 32-bit mode' and everything should now work better (until such time as the rest of the world catches up to Apple).

TIME MACHINE: Since I switched to the Mac, I'd been using Carbon Cloner to backup my MacBook. The reason is I could boot off the external drive in case anything went wrong with my hard drive. You can almost do the same with Time Machine, but usually you have to boot off the Install disc. But it turns out I can copy the Install disc image to my external drive making it bootable. So, with the upgrade to Snow Leopard, I decided to switch and let Time Machine take care of all my backups.

THUMBNAILS: Now, thumbnails are multimedia. You can actually scroll through a document or watch a movie from the thumbnail. You can't read it, it's too small, but you can get a good idea if it's the document, or the movie that you're looking for. Plus, stacks are now scrollable - before with too many files, the thumbnails just got smaller and smaller - but now they stay the same size so you can see what they are, and just scroll through the list. Oh, I almost forgot - now you can make the thumbnails huge. Before, especially with photographs, you could only make them so big - now you can make them almost 5x larger than before.

PDF: Now I can copy text from PDF documents much easier. No more copying from two columns at the same time, just what I want to copy. That will definitely come in handy for me.

DOCK: The only thing that annoyed me about the Dock was that when you minimized something like a document, email, etc, every thumbnail ended up also on the Dock, crowding it too much. Now you can minimize to the actual application making it all more clean and organized.

PRINTER: But the most annoying thing is of the three printers I use here in the office, the one I use the most won't work (it did before I did the upgrade). Lots of chatter on the Mac forums about this and I hope to get it working this weekend. Otherwise I just have to wait for Canon to get it's software drivers up to date with Snow Leopard.

All-in-all I'm quite happy with the new Snow Leopard. And at $29 it was an easy decision to upgrade. So, if you have an 'Intel' Mac I'd say go for it. I did.

International Day of Peace

September 21st is called the International Day of Peace as proclaimed by the United Nations. For the last seven years, the religious community of Buddhist, Baha'i, Catholic, Muslim and Hindu have celebrated this as a day of hope for the future of both Mongolia but also the world where everyone will have peace, acceptance and tranquility.

In past years, the day started at the Dolma Ling Community Center with a prayer breakfast, but because of traffic-choking road construction, it was decided to start in the center of town at Shedrup Ling, our FPMT center near Parliament and Sukhbaatar Square. It is in the square that tonight there will be the traditional ringing of the peace bell by representatives from most of the religions in Mongolia.

Our Peace Meditation was opened by kind and inspiring words of Mr.Tsedendamba, Advisor of Religious Affairs for former president Enkhbayar. Also attending was Louise Lambert, United Nations representaive and chairperson of this years Peace Day festivities in Ulaanbaatar. Before Ani Gyalmo led the meditation, Ani Samtan led the nuns from Dolma Ling Nunnery with some dedication chants.

Mr.Tsedendamba opening International Peace of Peace

Ani Samton leading the dedication chant

Ani Gyalmo leading the Peace Meditation

After the meditation, we handed out flyers on how to make 'origami doves', the symbol of peace, to all the guest who had come. (Click here for the origami instructions) Then everyone headed down to the VIP room in the Stupa Cafe for some cookies and refreshments. Even with the recent snow and cold weather, today was looking like a wonderful bright sunny day - perfect to celebrate peace.

Louise Lambert from the UN enjoying the conversation

One of our honored guests was Dr Barry Kerzin (Ven. Tenzin Choerab) who is one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's personal physicians, but also a monk who has participated in extensive research on the benefits of meditation. He has been in Mongolia for the last three weeks at the request of His Holiness and has had an almost non-stop schedule of speaking engagements talking mostly to university students but also to government officials and scientists.

Dr Barry Kerzin (Ven. Tenzin Choerab)

For more information about Dr. Barry, these links might be helpful:

Philadelphia Meditation Center

Buddha.mn

Mind and Life Institute

Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal

First snow in Mongolia

Who would have ever thought that our first snow storm would be in September. Yes, September 19th to be exact. A little early this year (last year the first snow was on October 10th). But I thought you'd like to see a few pictures.

The first dusting of snow on the marigolds

Now it's really coming down!

Blowing snow but maybe none will stick

View of the nearby mountains

Having a plan (or no plan)

Usually I post what's been happening on this page, but today I wanted to post an email I sent to a friend, Monica who writes a great blog called Buddhist in Nebraska. It was too long to post on her comments section, but thought here was okay. I hope she doesn't mind.

Hola Monica,

A plan is good. But plans change. That's life. If you make the plan too rigid, you won't see other opportunities when they come up.

Everyone told me in high school, 'Engineering' is right for you! So, that's what I signed up for at university. But in my last year Engineering design class I finally figured out that the goal in 'real world' engineering wasn't to have the best design, it was to design what the client wanted (which isn't always the best choice - they're human after all and have their own hangups). That was really discouraging for me.

I graduated, re-hired with a firm I worked at during college. But my bubble had burst and it all looked like every other engineer had just sold out. I hated it in the office. I did work a year in the field and loved that, but it was pretty lonely for a single guy, out in the boonies working on a huge construction project (power plant). I wish I had tried other firms, but I didn't.

I went back to school to become a secondary school teacher until I tutored some high school kids. I knew right then I didn't have the patience to handle a room full of the monsters called teenagers (although I loved tutoring one-on-one). So, ended up in limbo for over eight years, working a part time job at the university library which landed me a job in a private library at a research facility.

The funny thing is that nothing 'intentionally' helped me on that next part of the plan, or path. I researched every job, did all the personality tests, just about everything they said would help me find my next career. None of it worked. Really a waste of time, listening to other people who don't have any more clue about the future than I do.

But I gave massages at the library. Not really my job, but I liked doing it. It made people happy, especially my boss (who always got hers first). In the early 90s, massage therapy wasn't a possibility (we still had massage parlors in KC then). But I found out Physical Therapists did massage. Unfortunately, PT schools were supper competitive. I mean super-super competitive (at KU, only 28 were accepted out of 400 applicants). I didn't get in, not in the 10 schools I applied. I did find a PT Assistant program at the community college, and did that.

I worked in a hospital for 13 years. I loved working with my patients (but not healthcare system as you can imagine). Who would have ever figured I'd go from Engineering to Medicine. But it's a young persons profession (my coworkers were all in their 20s) and very physical. I'm lucky I didn't get any back injuries in those 13 years. And guess what, the hospital where I worked, closed. Yup, I finally find a nitch where I'm needed and useful and they close the doors. I was devastated.

Really crashed that time. But that was the life changing event that got me into a Buddhist temple, to finally put into practice something that I'd been reading about for years. I took refuge vows a few months after the hospital closed.

Got a new job working at a nursing home but hated it. Not the patients, I loved them. But it was the degrading conditions we put people in and and still make oodles of money (not me, some corporation). Made huge huge plans to get out and travel through Europe.

But one month into my travels, I chucked everything I'd spent a year planning to do. My heart just wasn't in it. It was just another way to run away from problems (or perceptions) that I couldn't run away from because they were inside me. After a chance meeting, I ended up volunteering for two weeks at a Buddhist monastery in France. But I stayed for three months, and it was great. When I left, I didn't know what I was going to do, but that was okay. I was more open to see what would unfold. And unfold it did.

The director at the monastery contacted me later, once I was back in the US, to tell me that there was a Buddhist center in Mongolia that needed native-speakers to teach English. And a year later, I ended up in Mongolia. Now, I've finished my year-long commitment but have decided to stay. At this point I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen in the future. Even without a penny to my name, this prospect doesn't scare me (like it probably should).

Life will happen, just as its supposed to, all I have to do is keep my eyes open and live the moment. I know it all sounds like new-age mumbo-jumbo but for me, that's really the only words I can come up with.

I mean, look at the beginning. Who would have ever thought I'd end up in Mongolia. [laugh] I'm glad I didn't get stuck in any one track, especially the one society says I should strive for (career track, house, wife, two kids, dog, etc). I could have had a thousand different lives, making any number of infinite choices along the way, but I'm here now, and that's perfect, because all those paths are the same - just the details are different.

So, my sage advice is, to relax. Enjoy school, enjoy your studies, even the boring ones, and don't worry so much about the future. Take a step in one direction but realize that that next year, or maybe next week, or the next minute, something might, just might make you take a step in a totally different direction. Or not, but it doesn't matter.

You are just where you're supposed to be, right now. And it's perfect.

Jim in Mongolia

Second year in Mongolia

I've been living and working in Mongolia for a year now. It seems like just yesterday that Tsetsgee picked me up at the airport and drive me through Ulaanbaatar to the FPMT Buddhist Meditation Center. That was on September 5th, 2008, a Friday. I didn't have much time to adjust because I started teaching my very first English class two days later on Monday. Here's what I wrote after my first week:

First, I couldn't be happier with everyone here at Shendrup Ling, the Buddhist meditation center where I live and teach. Everyone from the director to the guards have been so welcoming. Tsetsgee, who teaches the Beginner English level classes has done a lot to help me fit into my role as a teacher. This place has such a great energy about it. But that's not to say it's like Shangrila here, the needs of the community are so great that sometimes it seems overwhelming what should be done to help and that can be very stressful for all involved. In only a few days, I have already been approached to expand my English teaching to include even more people. Even if I was ten people, I wouldn't be able to scratch the surface of the need. For now though, I'm content to do the best job I can with my current students and let the future take care of itself when it arrives.

After a year I can say that the staff at Shedrup Ling but also those at Dolma Ling are more my family than my co-workers. It is such a joy to work with 'family'. Yes, the work is important, but we're in this together and life doesn't follow a time-clock. Besides hearing "How's your work?" I get just as many "How is  your family? How is your mother?"

And, if anything, the work seems just as intense now as it was in the beginning. Besides my teaching, there seem to be an un-ending "honey do's" around here that don't fall under my job description. I'm the graphic art guy, the computer guy, the tsa-tsa guy, the plant guy, etc. Sometimes I get multiple requests almost simultaneously - "Jim can you do this...?" I do my best to help all that ask, which isn't easy and sometimes I forget because there are too many needs. But I guess I've reached that part in my life where I don't worry so much about 'me' and put much more effort into 'others'. I don't go out much, I don't have many friends outside of the center, but then again, my life is pretty darn rich right here, right now.

Now that the teaching is easier, I've tried to do more to help the staff and especially the nuns at the Dolma Ling nunnery. Gardening is almost an unknown art here in Mongolia. So, once a week I spend a few hours working on the neglected grounds of the nunnery. It's a daunting task for just one guy. And anyone who works with plants knows that it is an job without end - things always keep growing, even when you don't want them too. But at least it gets me outside and away from this computer. [smile]

I have to be honest, my first day of teaching was exhausting, mainly because I was so anxious. Each day brought highs and lows but by the end of the week I think I can see that I can really make a difference and that I have the ability to 'do this job.' My students range in age from 8 to 49, they are pretty evenly spread out from high school through college to professionals. I even have a few medical doctors in my classes and a few monks too. Some students actually have a great grasp of English, both in speaking and in writing. Sometimes my exercises really bomb (my textbook is British and written almost 20 years ago) but at other times the students really get into what we are doing. I know that as I go through each lesson, I will learn more about my students and what works best for them to learn the best English.

Well, eventually got rid of that old British text and replaced it with a conversation-based series. And now, it's my students who energize me. No matter how bad a day I've had, or how tired I am, when I come into the classroom, the students smiles and enthusiasm are the nectar of the gods - making me feel like a million bucks.

Originally I agreed to teach for 12-months. But the job is so rewarding, my students so grateful, and the community has such a need, that I've agreed to stay at least one more year or more. As long as I feel I'm needed, I'll stay and help.

I could tell you some of the highlights of the last year, but maybe you should read them yourselves. With the modern communication tool like the internet, I'm never really far from home. At least information-wise. So, even though I'm almost half-way around the world, I still hear all the news fit to print, including the health care issues in the US.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Even at it's worst, the American healthcare system is still light years ahead of many parts of the world. Let me tell you a story:

Enkhmaa is a tall, seemingly shy university student who just happens to be president of Mongolia's largest Buddhist Students Association. Despite her heavy class-load, she organized almost monthly service projects for their association. I was amazed at her energy and drive. In May, she graduated with a journalism degree, but by the end of the summer, still didn't have a job. You see, unemployment is over 30% here in Mongolia. Davaa, our director, has ties to summer tour businesses and helped Enkhmaa get a job as a guide/translator because of her excellent English.

There are very few roads in Mongolia, so travel is of the 4-wheel variety, especially for tourist in the countryside. But anyone who saw my video of my trip can appreciate that it could also be dangerous. And, that's just what happened - Enkhmaa was involved in a serious crash. But, remember, there are no roads. It took three days to organize a airlift by helicopter to get her to medical care in Ulaanbaatar. One reason it took so long was the $10,000 for the helicopter had to be paid up front. Some of the tourists involved in the accident helped pay most of it, but Davaa herself put up a $1000, three months of her salary, to make it happen.

Once in hospital in Ulaanbaatar, tests revealed that Enkhmaa's spinal cord was still intact and shouldn't suffer any paralysis. That was great news for everyone. But she still needs surgery to repair many of her broken bones. So, now, she sits in a hospital bed while family and friends try to find the money to pay for the surgery because it won't be done unless the money is paid first.

And forget Rehab. Once she leaves the hospital, she's on her own, with just her family to help. Who knows how this is going to physically effect this young 20-something woman for the rest of her life. She has a spirit that will turn adversity into something positive, I just know it. But, her experience with a serious injury in a developing country should give many people in other parts of the world a new appreciation for how thankful they should be for any type of healthcare receive.

Okay, enough of my soapbox. I hope many of you like the new website as I thought it needed a facelift. I still have to do a little work on making it as functional as the old webpages but it's still very usable. I hope that you will all continue to come back every week to see what's new for me in Mongolia. It still amazes and humbles me to know how many people visit these ramblings every month. I will try to keep bringing you wonderful news from Mongolia in the next year too.

Durimaa's Wedding Celebration

Sometimes I just feel out of the loop. Durimaa, the Stupa Cafe manager usually picks stuff up for the residents when she does the weekly shopping for the cafe. But one Thursday, one of her assistants picked up the list. When I asked why, she said Durimaa would be off for two weeks because she was getting married. What? Married?

Later I found out that, yes, Durimaa had taken a few weeks off to get married. Both of their families are from the countryside, so most of the time was spent away from Ulaanbaatar. Tradition is that the groom goes to the girl's parents and asks to marry the daughter. But tradition also says that the father is supposed to be a hard sell for at least a day, making the prospective groom work for it.

Anyway, they both arrived back in Ulaanbaatar and wanted all the staff at work to come and visit their new ger. Traditionally, the families provide the new couple with a complete ger, furnished and everything, so they can start the marriage in a good way. So, on Tuesday, at 2pm, we loaded up a few taxi's and headed over to Durimaa's.

Traffic was murder but it was a nice sunny day and not too hot either. We got lost which isn't hard to do in any Mongolian city, especially Ulaanbaatar. Eventually both Durimaa and her husband drove out to find us and guide us back to their home.

Waiting for us were both Durimaa and her husband's fathers. who still live in the countryside. We were invited in, usually guests and men on the left and women on the right. They also had a couch, so that was reserved for Gyalmo and the two fathers. Then Durimaa and her husband wined and dined us personally. Difficult to describe in detail, but there was lots of arag, fermented mare's milk, and other assorted hard liquors, cheese, and meat. After a lot of drinking, I mean a lot of drinking (which was still pretty low key since most of the staff at our center are women) and eating, there was singing.

Gyalmo presents Durimaa with gifts from the Center

Just part of the food served

The ornate painting of the top of the ger

The two fathers holding court with the staff

The fathers passed around their snuff bottles.

You sniff and give compliments, then pass back.

This repeats for everyone present.

Did I mention, there was a lot of drinking

Durimaa and her husband

And the traditional group shot [smile]