We Are Sooo Spoiled (Blessed)...

Communicating with these good people is our greatest challenge. We often have someone around who speaks "some" English but then they either don't really understand or they go on and translate what they thought we said and we have no idea what they said because we don't speak their language.

We had the 4 missionaries and a branch member over for dinner last night.  Three of the four missionaries are Mongolian and we wanted to give them an American experience.  We went out and bought as many authentic American pizza ingredients as we could find. We have found mozzarella cheese in the past but we couldn't find it this time. Deni sent me out looking for mozzarella cheese and fresh mushrooms.  There are small stores everywhere and almost all of them have EXACTLY the same thing but occasionally one will have something that the others don’t have.  I went into a small vegetable shop in the basement of a small department store about ½ mile from home where I knew they had a fridge.  I knew that they had Gouda and Edam cheese (like all the other stores that have cheese) but I thought they might have others. I asked for cheese for pizza and they pointed at the Edam and I said “no, I need mozzarella”. They lifted a few things off the bottom of the fridge and pulled out a wax sealed block of cheese. I futilely tried to find any words that I might know on the label and asked if it was for pizza and he kind of shrugged his shoulders. I decided to take a gamble and I had him cut off a small piece. I drew a line in the wax to cut off and he cut off about an extra inch which I had to pay for.  I tasted a small piece and it wasn't mozzarella (maybe swiss) but I hoped Deni wouldn't be so picky.  They didn't have fresh mushrooms but they did have dried mushrooms so I bought the cheese and the dried mushrooms and walked home to the boss.

Deni tasted the cheese and said “that isn’t mozzarella”.  I tried to look surprised but she had me go back out and look again and if I didn't find any I was to walk to the large grocery store and buy some Gouda because most of the stores were closed by then. I went looking but didn't find any so I walked about a mile to the store and bought Gouda cheese.

We had met some really nice people last week from Holland who spoke English. They are vacationing all around Mongolia. We had them over for dinner and enjoyed visiting and learning about their country and their lives. When they left for UB and a tour to the Gobi Desert they stopped by our place and dropped off a large bag of wonderful fruit. Things that we see at the stores here but never buy because they are very expensive: watermelon, grapes, plums, large apples, etc.

After church on Sunday Deni went home and made the pizza dough, cut the watermelon in half, cut up the fruit, added a few things that we had like canned peaches, pineapple and bananas and put it all back in the half watermelon bowl.

 When the Mongolian’s saw the fruit bowl their eyes got big and one of them said “this is culture stock”.  They were so excited and so cute.  They loved the fruit and the bowl and they were so appreciative. When most of the fruit was gone I poured the juice out of the watermelon into a glass.  One of them tasted it and said that it was like from heaven. She let her companion taste it and then it was like two cats fighting over some milk. They loved it and said it was the best cultural experience they had had.


We then had them make their own pizza. We had cut up red, yellow and green peppers, reconstituted mushrooms (which were OK), pineapple, onions, ham, etc. and of course, lots of cheese. They heaped on the goodies and we baked it. 
The pizza was another great hit and then we made waffles, something they had never seen. We served it with powdered sugar (from the US, very expensive), syrup and some of the fruit. They said that they were stuffed but they couldn't stop eating. We thought that we would have some pizza or fruit left over for today but it didn't happen. They ate every bite and licked out the watermelon bowl.   

We really love being here and learning to love the people and their culture. We are the ones having a Cultural Experience. They treat us with such love and respect and we are the ones who really respect them. They are like pioneers, working hard to change the way things have been and make them better. 

DARN THOSE SOCKS....

When we left for two years in Mongolia we knew that some things would be different but we did not realize how much would be the same. We have enjoyed the wonderful people and the weather and the food. We are learning to cook so many new things that we knew about before but we had never tried. The big difference is that the fresh vegetables are really fresh and tasty. We have started eating boc-choy and leeks and curry and we really love them.
I knew we would be walking more but I didn't realize how much more. In the US a pair of shoes would last me close to a year so I figured that I should get at least 6 months out of a pair here. NOT SO. Our first 3 months here were so cold that we wore our heavy boots which we hope might make it through next winter but we started wearing our street shoes about two months ago. I think that I wrote in my last blog about the street vendor who repairs shoes. The sole of my shoe was coming loose so I stopped and asked him if he could fix it. He pulled out a tube of super-glue, ran a bead of glue around the sole, stuck it down, and asked me for 3,000 Tuges (about $1.80). That was a few weeks ago and surprisingly, it is still holding. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the shoe. They are already about worn out. We walk a few miles a day over very uneven ground, through mud and rocks, etc. This week has been snowy and our boots are already packed away so the street shoes will have to do. I brought two new pairs of shoes with me but will have to buy another pair here soon. We were warned before we came that larger size clothes would be hard to find in Mongolia but we figured "we're not that large so we won't have a problem". NOT SO, especially shoes. Deni looked for boots all winter and found many she really liked but never found one that would fit. Most of their stores here are very old large Russian buildings that have rows and rows of small "booths" where a person will set up a shop to sell a little something. The interesting thing is that the entire building will have maybe 50 booths and Every Single booth will have Exactly the same thing. Booth after booth after booth of boots or pants or whatever that building has and none of them fit. The people do seem to have smaller feet but they aren't small people. Generally, they seem about the same size as us but not as much obesity.
As I thought about the fact that I might go through shoes faster in Mongolia I didn't think about the fact that that my socks would also wear out faster. Sure enough, I am wearing holes in my socks quickly. During TsaganSar we received gifts at each house that we visited and many of them gave us socks. (Seemed like a great custom to give gifts rather than expect the guest to bring a gift but socks seemed a little interesting) so as I am wearing out my socks I decided to use some of the new socks that we got as gifts. I wore 3 pairs over 3 days and all 3 pairs wore out with one wearing.  I then went into one of the booths and bought a few pairs that looked more like the gold toe socks from home and they seem to be wearing better. I am also learning to DARN the holes in the good socks brought from home.

Last night we went to visit the home of a large family in the branch. We went with 4 young missionaries who knew how to get there. We rode in a meeker which is a van designed to hold about 15 people. In the one last night they had 28 people each paying 400 Tuges (about 24 cents) so they don't make much money but they sure pack them in. We got to their Ger (see previous blogs for pictures of Gers). I have learned that Gers come if different sizes and this one seemed to be about a medium size. The family of: mom, dad, and 6 children all live in one round room about 15 feet across. They are such a wonderful family who work together and make it work. We were treated like royalty with herium (traditional Mongolian drink of hot milk, water and salt) and homemade raisin bread made in the little wood burning stove seen here in the middle of the room.
There was a very large pot of soup boiling on the wood stove when we came in. After visiting for a while large sheep ribs were fished out of the soup and we all shared them, chewing off the meat and working on chewing it for a while. It was tough but very tasty. The mom and oldest daughter were busy making what looked to me like the traditional boodes which were small pieces of dough made into a flat circle, filled with meat, then dropped into the soup. When we were each served a large bowl of soup I commented that I have never had boode soup and was told that it isn't boode soup. I don't remember what they call it but it isn't boode soup. I said that I've watched them make boodes and they are exactly the same as these and they said that they are very different because boodes are steamed and these are boiled. Well, they looked the same and pretty much taste the same but apparently, they aren't the same. (They suggested it might be like brownies and cake. Same ingredients cooked differently.) The soup was delicious and even the baby enjoyed chewing on one of the sheep bones. All of the kids participated in a program for us of singing, dancing, reciting traditional Mongolian poems, etc.

Last week we got to take a meeker to Darkhan for a meeting. We had a great time visiting with our friends and learning from our Zone Conference.

 On the way home we rode with about 10 young missionaries who were hungry about half way home and wanted to stop for something to eat. We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

Here is the meeker and the restaurant. 

I asked an English speaker where the restroom was and he told me that it was outside. He looked at me like I should know where it would be. I walked outside expecting it to be an outside door around the corner but this is the view that I saw. The outhouse is one of the little wood buildings against the wood fence clear across the field. In the background you can see several Gers. 

As I got closer I could see that this was no ordinary outhouse. This was a 3 room executive suite maybe with seats. When I got there I was disappointed to find that it was not that delux. No seats, no TP, just nature but 3 "natural" slots rather than just one.

 When I returned to the restaurant I asked where I could wash my hands. Again, they looked at me like I had something wrong with me. Didn't I even see the sink as I walked in. I really thought that the miniature sink by the front door was a decoration of some kind. It was the sink for washing up. The blue container above the sink is supposed to have water in it but there was no water or soap. Washing isn't really that important.

Back at home our town is cleaning up after a long cold winter. They aren't very efficient but they seem to be quite effective. The city really is quite clean considering what little they have to work with. I have come to realize that the way they do things might just be the best for them. If they had large garbage dumpsters and two men in a garbage truck they would have two men employed. They do have the large garbage trucks but they have many people who go around and shovel the trash from piles thrown in or near little trash  sheds near the apartments and businesses. They then drive up close and shovel it into the trash truck. All along the main street they have large shrubbery strips with bushes and what look like they may soon be flowers. They have a large water truck with a large water hose that pulls up close to the strips to water them. Several people with small buckets use the hose to fill a bucket and go down the street and water the plants. Two could do it by one driving and the other using the hose on each plant but then only two would be employed. You see here a street sweeper lady sweeping the street. Dust and dirt are everywhere and moving it around does seem to help.

Here is a great short video of the family that we visited in their Ger.