I went to the hodoo last weekend with my counterpart Tamira, her husband Bayar, and a couple he works with - Batbold and Oyunaa. We left at 9:00 p.m. on Friday and didn’t get to their friend’s ger until 3:00a.m.! His name was Poinsic and his wife’s name was Nergui, which means “no name”. It is a common name in Mongolia. I was so tired and I know I was snoring in the car. We walked in and the husband offered us fermented mare’s milk to drink and his tobacco to smell. I like smelling the tobacco, you can sniff it or rub a little on your nostrils. The mare’s milk tastes sour! I just pretend to take a sip which you do even if you don’t like it, but I try to really act like I’m doing it. I wonder if they know!? I found out that you have to milk the horses every 2 hours! How annoying! Tamira and Bayar bought 60 liters of mare’s milk to take home! So when we got there Friday night, I asked where the outhouse was and they told me to go just anywhere outside. I was peeing in the middle of a snow-covered field! It was just funny. Then the dog was trying to come near me so I had to finish quickly! They also had about 100 goats and sheep. When I would walk out at night to go to the bathroom, all I saw were eyes in the darkness staring at me! It was a little frightening at first!
The next day, we went hiking after breakfast and the boys went to try and hunt some birds. They didn’t catch any, so we didn’t eat lunch. It was ok, I was reading a good book that Liz sent me (yes…it’s about vampires) and didn’t really care. For dinner, we had goat. Goat meat is actually pretty good! But listen to how Poinsic cooked it…In our ger, we had a stove with a dung fire (because it was so cold!) and he put hot coals in there to heat them up. Then on the top of the stove, he put on a pan with onions, garlic, and the goat meat. He then took the coals out of the dung fire and pushed them into the pieces of goat meat to sear it! I probably ate a little bit of poop! We also peeled potatoes and put them in there and let it all steam with some water. It was so good!!!!!!!!! Goat = good, mutton = terrible. After that, we played a Mongolian card game. I know the rules, but I am so slow and really have to think about the moves I’m making! On Sunday, the family was having some tourists stay with them for a couple days but they were staying in their winter ger. So we had to move everything from their summer ger to their winter ger! It was 10:45 and I said, “When are the tourists coming? When should we be ready?” They were coming at 11! Oh well, they were late and we were running behind also. They were a nice family though from London. They didn’t want us to go home because they didn’t speak any Mongolian!
Poinsic making the goat on top of the stove
Me taking a picture with the grandparents
They made me put on the dung basket so my family would think I had picked up dung. You guys know me better than that! I tried to sling it in the basket but it went about 15 feet behind me. I was afraid it would fall on my head!
They had the cutest children and they were so happy!
Group picture!
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