NOV 29, 19 .. ULAANBAATAR .. MY LAST MEETING WITH MY FRIDAY HOME GROUP

My Visa for my 90-day visit to Mongolia expires this upcoming December 8th. So the time has come when I must 'take leave' of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and head for 'home'.

Beginning Friday, September the 13th..

https://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

Without fail I have attended this small meeting that begins at 8AM and ends promptly at 8:45AM which is perfect for me. Short and sweet and NOT a full two hours like most all of the other meetings here in Mongolia (and in Russia for that matter).

We've had one large meeting.. 

All of the rest of our meetings have varied between 3 and 5 attendees.

I'll miss these very special friends. 

OCT 4, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER THREE

Meeting one was quite the event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

Meeting two was an absolute non-event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-27-19-last-fridays-meeting-update.html

Today, Chapter Three, Meeting three.

It must be true : The third time was a charm.

Fourteen ( as in 14 count them ) members were here today. So it was a real meeting. Unfortunately there were no English speaking members so I was literally a 5th wheel. Using my smart phone's Google Translate App, I spoke a few words and handed my smart phone to a member beside me who read my words in English that were translated into Mongolian. 

After the meeting adjourned on time, several members sat in a small circle and held a real meeting-after-the-meeting that lasted well over one hour. I did not join them in their circle opting to just stay out of their way.

I had to stay because I was responsible to secure the room after we were finished and to lock the door. I'm the only one with a key to the door.

What more can I say?

Next week the regular meeting leader will have returned from a long trip out of Mongolia and I will just see what happens going forward.

SEP 27, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER TWO

I could title this Post..

'A promise made is a debt unpaid and I promised..' 

Last Friday I published the below Post..

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

And?

At the end of the above Post, I said.. 

"I'll let you know next week."

So what happened?

Nothing. Neither Hannah or Bunny showed up this morning. I showed up. They did not nor did either call me. I called them with a ring-no-answer.

So there you have it..

SEP 20, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER ONE

Last Friday, the 13th of September, a friend here in Ulaanbaatar who chairs an 8AM morning meeting asked me to 'chair' the meeting for the next three Fridays as he would be in China / Korea / Japan for a few weeks. He also arranged for a translator for me and a key to the meeting room in a local Community Center.

I said I would chair the meeting.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a lady (Hannah) I did not know. She asked me if I would indeed be 'chairing' the meeting. She said she would be bringing her sister Bunny.

I said yes I would be at the meeting. 

She replied that the two of them would be there. 

Now we are at today, Friday the 20th of September.

I was there at 7:35AM nice and early. For 'openers' I could not get into the building to get to the meeting room because the building itself was locked. 

At 7:55AM up raced my translator who told me that he had taken a new job, could not translate for me, and off he dashed.

At 8AM I tried the door to the building again. It was now open. In I walked, opened the meeting room door, turned on the lights, set out a few chairs and sat down. 

At 8:15AM a Mongolian lady came in and sat down. I called a bilingual Mongolian friend who told her we did not have a translator. At 8:20AM I put away our chairs, turned off the lights, shut and locked the door, and the two of us left.

I got home to my apartment about 8:30AM and my phone rang.

It was Hannah (the lady who'd called me yesterday) asking about the meeting and where I was.

I told her I was home and had no translator.

She said we didn't need a translator because both her sister and she speak English and in a pleading voice asked if I could possibly return and conduct a meeting for the two of them.

I said I would but it'd be about 20 minutes before I could return.

Hannah said that would be fine.

Back to the building I went. Hannah was outside waiting, came right up to me saying that her sister was on-the-way.

Into the building and downstairs to the meeting room we went, turned on the lights, set out chairs and I called Patti who had a great visit with Hannah. Her sister Bunny then appeared and Patti was also able to briefly chat with her.

At around 9AM we got going.  

For a full one hour the two of them got my 'A' game as if I was talking to an audience of 200 not just 2 shy and reserved Mongolian ladies.

We ended with the Serenity Prayer in English. The two of them said they'd be back next week.

Will they?

Does The Shadow Know?

I'll let you know in one week!

Smiles !

APR 26, 16 .. УЛААНБААТАР, МОНГОЛЫА (ULLANBAATAR, MONGOLIA)

Will someone please tell me where the time goes? 

The time? 

Will someone please tell me what-on-earth the above title says? 

It has been almost one full month since I last showed one of the meeting rooms that I frequent here in Ulaanbaatar.

УЛААНБААТАР is our English word Ulaanbaatar written in the Mongolian Cyrillic Alphabet just in case you were wondering. МОНГОЛЫA means Mongolia. 

I will make it a little easier for you to see:

Ulaanbaatar             Mongolia
УЛААНБААТАР   МОНГОЛЫА

Yes! I am learning (slowly .. one character at a time..) the Mongolian Cyrillic Alphabet. I find it absolutely fascinating. By-the-way the Mongolian Alphabet and the Russian Alphabet are identical except for two characters. So now I clearly know what the Russian Alphabet 'looks like' also.

As if I don't have anything else to do. This past week I gave four talks .. each 2-hours in length. All of these 2-hour meetings become quite intense.

I may have said in a prior Post that they take a 10-minute break at the top of the hour. At 6:56PM (4-minutes before 7PM) the other evening I was ready to take-a-break and I said to my translator ..

"Whew! Let's take a break!"

He looked me straight in the eyes and said ..

"We break at the top of the hour." 

I filled the 4-minutes by calling on a very startled new comer to say a word or two. It can take a Mongolian 4-minutes to say a word or two.

Let's see another meeting room in УЛААНБААТАР in МОНГОЛЫА.

Honest to goodness I can actually 'read' the above words in Mongolian!

I never tire of feeling great appreciation for the meeting rooms that we have in the U.S. I feel such deep humility for being here and for being a part of the fellowship here. 

In the basement of the apartment buildings there are small rooms.

We are not talking fancy here.

The word .. the concept .. fancy is not commonly used here.

We are talking 'real .. intense .. life' here.

Watch your head. 

No lobby. You are in-the-room as you enter the door.

To the left above you see another small room that you also can view below.

Do you see that the floor has been 'finished' using scraps (trash) from broken materials? 

How much more basic .. How much more intense can it get?

Notice the 'door opening' into the meeting room below.

Back to the meeting room.

In the right corner of the above photos you see Chinggis Khaan.

You want D' Man? .. You got D' MAN!

A few close-ups of items on the walls.

Steps / Preamble / Serenity Prayer / Traditions ..

Looking back at the entrance. 

Before the meeting began I said ..

"I need a restroom."

"No problem BUT watch your head and some of the pipes are very hot!"

Basic ..

Intense ..

I love it .. I can DO this ..

The meeting? 

Basic .. Intense .. 

"I am so blessed and so honored to be here this evening! Thank you so much for asking me to join you!"

MAR 28, 16 .. ULAANBAATAR .. MONGOLIA ..

On Thursday July the 16th of this past year 2015 my life was about to make another of my 'forever' changes.

I flew North from Hong Kong to Ulaanbaatar the capital city of the nation of Mongolia. 

I joined a group of six other members of the fellowship from several countries (Australia/Hong Kong/China/The UK/Fiji) to participate in a two day workshop (Saturday and Sunday the 18th and 19th) that was devoted to discussing the 12-steps and the 12-traditions with some 120 or so members of the Mongolian fellowship.

The others left Ulaanbaatar on Monday the 20th of July 2015. I rented an apartment and remained until mid-November. I returned this past March the 1st and will remain until May the 19th at which time I will fly to Hong Kong and then back to the U.S.

This post will show what is rapidly becoming one of the more important meeting rooms of my entire tenure in the fellowship. Because there are so many of you who are supporting and encouraging and rooting-for-me I wanted to share this special room with you.

Below is 'just-another' high-rise apartment building here in Ullanbaatar. 

You can see the above building on the right of the below photo. I am just showing you this photo and the several that follow so you can see the general area. We are in the Sukhbaatar District also known as District Number 11 located in the Northeast section of Ulaanbaatar.

 A closer look at the building you see on the left edge of the two above photos.

In the below photo focus on the small reddish-brown entry structure at the end of the fence on the bottom left of the photo.

You are looking at the entry door into the basement of the above building.

Come on inside with me. Looking at the photo above, at the bottom of the stairs you can see the below door. SMOKING is not permitted in most .. if not all .. Mongolian buildings.

Below we have walked down the stairs, have opened the above door and stepped inside.

The Ulaanbaatar 'Central Office' is through the door on the left above.

Let's open it up and take a look-see.

Very nice. As in .. VERY VERY NICE ! 

Now walk through the open door on the right of the above photo and you see an amazing-to-me 'sitting room'.

By the numbers. 

1. Russia is Mongolia's Northern neighbor. 2. Russia has had a very great cultural influence on Mongolia beginning with the implementation of the Cyrillic Alphabet in Mongolia. 3. Chess IS big in Russia.

I idly asked them .. "How is Boris Spassky doing?" .. Stunned they snapped their heads up and looked at me in utter amazement. 

Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and Bobby Fischer of the USA played for the World Chess Championship in 1972. Bobby Fischer's ultimate victory turned the Chess world upside-down and ended 24 years of absolute Soviet domination in Chess.

I mention this because when I stand before them to carry-the-message of recovery it is so important and critical for the local members to feel that I am indeed an all-right person .. one of them.

We say that resentment is the number one offender. I hope that neither member of the below match 'copped a resentment' at losing and 'went-out'! I see chess being played often in many places.

Back to business. Speaking of 'business' .. 

Directly ahead is the fully equipped 'necessary room'. 

As you can see in the below photo .. not all restrooms are fully equipped. Here in Mongolia not all 'sitters' have seats.

And .. Last but certainly NOT least ..

To the right is 'our' meeting room. We are now going to open this door and walk inside.

As you look-the-room over .. Notice 'our' yellow circle/triangle symbol on the ceiling.

Do you want passion in recovery? You are looking at life-and/or-death passion in this wonderful room. The effort to put the symbol on the ceiling 'speaks volumes' about the passion the local members have for their very special fellowship!

Notice the wooden benches. No backs.

The member who 'chairs' the meeting sits in the black chair at the head of the table. A U.S. fire marshal would faint if they were to see 40-or-so members at a meeting in this small room. Luckily he would not fall down. He could NOT fall down.

Do any of you recognize the two gentlemen in the photo to the left above?

When I give a talk I often turn to the photo and place my index finger on either Bill W. or Doctor Bob for emphasis.

In most of these photos the table is placed parallel to the main North-South axis of the meeting room.

Sometimes when I speak the table is turned 90 Degrees from normal as you see below. Further down in this Post I will show close-up photos of the items on the walls and explain what they are. 

Now I will walk to the front of the room .. turn around .. and photograph the rear of the room.

 Notice the blue stools above. No backs.

Have a seat on a stool! Your name is on one. You have paid quite a price for a seat in this wonderful room! 

The glass mugs are primarily for drinking hot water and tea but many also drink instant coffee. They do not go to the enormous trouble and expense and waste of money making and discarding unused coffee. Life and money are earnest and life and money are intense here in Mongolia. 

Intense?

AA is so intense here it will turn you upside down!

The ever present yellow symbol above on the ceiling.

Now to the items on the walls. We will start out looking at the West wall and The Serenity Prayer and the Preamble.

On the left above and below you see the Serenity Prayer complete with Camels!

On the right above and below you see The Preamble.

Time to turn our attention to the East wall.

To the left above and in the photo below are the 12-steps.

To the right above and below are the 12-Traditions.

Let me tell you all .. When you work with a translator you learn what it means to be a Part-Of-A-TEAM ! You and your translator are joined-at-the-hip !

I have exactly three (3-count-them) local Mongolians who speak English well enough to translate for me.

The meetings are two hours (2-count-them-hours!) in length. In each and in every single meeting I say to the assembled multitude that:

"In the rest of the world the meetings are one hour long." I am greeted with silence and impassive inscrutable eyes.

They take a short break (and I mean short .. 5 / 10 minutes maximum) at the top of the hour.

Last week at about 4-minutes before the top of the hour I needed a break. Turning to my translator I said .. "Let's take a break." .. 

He looked me directly in the eyes and was dead serious as he said .. "We break at the top of the hour."

When I said that AA here in Mongolia was intense .. I mean AA here in Mongolia IS INTENSE!

I called on a newcomer to share. I was right-on. He was brief and gracefully used up the remaining three minutes.

There are a respectable number of ladies in the fellowship. Maybe 1 in 5 will be ladies.

At the end of a meeting .. each and every single member hugs another member. They go around in a rotating circle of hugs and no one gets missed.

To quote the late and the great Lou Gehrig .. 

"I AM .. the Luckiest Man Alive."

For those of you who are not familiar with my web site you can click onto the below link and see a post I published about another very special meeting room in Sukhbaatar Mongolia.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2015/10/oct-1-15-sukhbaatar-mongolia.html

Just for today let's not pick up a drink.