Between a holiday celebration and a mountain to climb we decided to settle down, now there's a few things you need to learn. I've found a place to love. Every province has a gift, and every mountain top get higher on the list, Mongolia is everything I could ever wished and every mountain; How big, how green, how beautiful. Meanwhile we have an election going on in the states, and everyday I think about my family and friends, its like a cloud hanging over me, lightning striking me. What am I going to do? I open the door and soak in the view. Could it all really be true? I am a year into service and the skies are more blue. How big, how blue, how beautiful.
By now I hope that you have figured out that I am no longer in America and I reside currently in the Northern part of Mongolia. The town I live in is much bigger than the soum I first was placed at. There are 6 districts, and they all have something special in each of them. The town is popular in Mongolia for a few things; mining, carpet and its beauty. The mining company here is in a shared ownership between Mongolia and Russia. That means that a district in town is filled with Russian families that work at the mining company. From this, I am treated to not only Mongolian food, but Russian food as well.
Being that I now live in a city I don't get a countryside experience like I used to. A few weekends ago though, I was able to get back into nature and smell the fresh air of the Mongolian countryside.
My best friend came to visit me from America. She was here for a few weeks and I wanted to let her see what the Mongolian countryside had to offer. I think it was much more than she had bargained for. Along with one of my sitemates and her English teacher we went out the the countryside to visit a Mongolian family. You see, around this time is when baby goats and sheep are born and so we picked the perfect time to go and share time with a nomadic Mongolian family. When we arrived they greeted us with hot cups of milk tea, which is a salty tea infused with milk and they don't go easy on the salt.
We shared small talk in Mongolian about our jobs and what we love about Mongolia. My favorite person was the Emee' (grandmother) who sat inside the ger and never moved from her bed. She had a smile on her face the entire visit. After our milk tea, we quickly went outside of the ger to explore the vast countryside. First though we had to stop and see all the baby goats and sheep that were just born that week. The parents were out to graze and so the babies were in the pin, just relaxing and enjoying the warm sun beating down on their fresh skin and hair. We of course had to hold some of them.
After a few minutes of playing with the fresh babies we decided to talk a short walk to the river we had seen when we had arrived. Once we returned we were greeted by the men of the family slaughtering one of the goats and preparing what is called 'new soup'. New soup is reserved for special guests and its a fresh batch of soup using the goats innards. I remember my sitemate and I finishing our bowls of soup in probably under a minute, it was delicious. They then took different parts of the goat, such as the lungs, heart and stomach and put them over the fire to let them burn. We then cut into them and began to eat. It's probably one of my favorite Mongolian meals. After such a hearty meal, we helped the family herd all of the baby goats and sheep out of the pin and into the countryside nearby so that they could find their mothers and drink some of their milk. Herding the animals is one of the most stress relieving activities I have participated in so far. You're in the countryside, the sky is blue, the grass is green, you have the smell of fresh dung infesting your nostrils and you're just walking along with these animals (almost 300 in total).
This is a weekend I won't be able to forget for a long time. Now back at site, I keep busy with being a TEFL teacher trainer and different community projects along the way. I am helping out with a world map project at a local orphanage and helping put together a summer leadership camp for students in town as well. I have almost reached my 1 year mark since coming to Mongolia, and thus far the people are amazing, the food is delicious, the scenery is breathtaking and the experience is unimaginable.
