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Written by Julie Larson
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Predicaments
What should you do when there aren’t any garbage cans? The Mongolian
capital and countryside are littered with wrappers, cans, and bottles.
Our
group took a rafting trip in the north countryside with a Mongolian
man helming one of the three boats. A girl on his raft offered
him a Choco Pie (a delicious marshmallow snack with a 30-year estimated
shelf life). He gladly accepted, opened the individually wrapped
snack and tossed the plastic into the river. She gasped in disbelief.
The Mongolian man panicked, understanding that he had offended her,
he was momentarily frozen with social anxiety. Five seconds later,
he leapt into the river fully clothed and swam to recover the wrapper.
Priceless.
Garbage
and restroom facilities are relatively uncommon here. There are
random holes in the ground in the city filled with garbage, and the
countryside doesn’t appear to have a standardized method for disposal
of trash.
Bathrooms
here are always an experience. I now understand the value of readily
available toilet paper, and find joy in toilets instead of holes in
the ground with narrow weathered boards on either side for your feet.
The privacy afforded by an enclosed “outhouse” is to be celebrated
too.
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