I promise there will be something worth reading soon.

Mongolia, as a nation, has an inferiority complex of a sort. Of course, no one would ever tell you this, and it seems like it's just the opposite. Mongolians are more patriotic than Americans by far, but I've noticed that they don't direct their admiration to anything tangible. They put a lot of energy into denying the existence of any sort of dichotomy in the country. Mongolia is a normal, modern nation full of cheap Chinese junk, just like all the other normal, modern nations full of cheap Chinese junk.
I've come to this conclusion based on how people react when I try to take a picture. The Christmas tree in the lobby was covered in money (like shrines and such are covered in money) and I wanted to take a picture of it. Before I got the chance, however, someone took all the money off.
I decided that since the tree HAD been covered in money, I could cover it in money myself, take a picture, and then take all the money off again. Itgil saw me come down the stairs with my camera and money, and immediately told me not to do it.
Why? I asked.
"Because you're going to put it on the internet" she said.
"So?"
"You'll say it's a Mongolian Christmas" she said.

I told her that was overly simplistic. She didn't know what simplistic meant. I got out the English - Mongolian dictionary and showed her. She stuck to her original statement that I shouldn't take the picture.

The same thing happened at the store. There were girls there dressed up as elves, or some other mythical creature that wears red and white Christmas outfits lined with fake fluff that might be mistaken for fake fur. I asked one of the girls if I could take a picture. No one understands what I say except my friends, I think it might be a plot of some kind. I had to ask her twice, and when she finally understood she hid her face and said no!
Today I tried again. It was a really lousy picture because she wouldn't look at the camera, but whatever.

Here is a slightly better picture of the inside of the skate rental shack. The words say "get skates" and "give shoes"