Celebrating Mongolian NAADAM

Naadam is the biggest festival of the year for Mongolians. Although the event incorporates Mongolia's traditional nomadic, sporting, and military cultures, the three-day festival formally celebrates the Mongolian Revolution of 1921 and the nation's independence from Chinese occupation.
We are in the beautiful town of Erdenet and got to celebrate with our friends and the young missionaries. The town practically shuts down and the three big events are wrestling, archery, and horseback riding. I think the really big event is eating khuushuur and drinking Vodka. We avoided the vodka but we loved the khuushuur (pronounced housher) which are something like a taco with seasoned mutton, beef, camel or horse and then deep fried. The wrestling and archery take place at the large stadium which seems to have been built for this purpose and the horseback racing takes place a few miles out of town.
Thursday we spent the day at the stadium eating khuushuurs and watching wrestling and archery. We tried, but we never could understand how the wrestling worked. Sometimes there was a large man with a little guy which didn't seem fair. The smaller guy never won but there must be a reason they do it that way. Most of the time there were large guys paired with large guys but even then we couldn't figure out how the contest works. They all wear a small speedo type suit and have a band or a strap around their middle. An important part of the ceremony seems to be the strutting and waving their arms around like an eagle. It is very majestic and interesting to watch. 

The archery is really interesting. The target is a line of cork cylinders on the ground about 2 feet high and 6 feet wide and is about 250 feet from the archer. The archer shoots the arrow in a long arch high above the target in order to be able to reach it. It is amazing to watch how accurate they could be shooting into the air. I could see how the ancient Mongolian armies would line up and accurately shoot              at the opposing army by firing into the air.

CountrySide near the Cabin

Deni and I were invited by a family to spend part of our Naadam celebration with their family at their countryside cabin. They picked us up in the morning and first took us to their apartment. On the way to their apartment the husband told us that he had gone out early that morning and bought a live sheep, had it killed and skinned and that we would be enjoying it that day. They have a beautiful apartment and as we entered the front door, there on the floor was a dead and cleaned whole sheep. He proceeded to cut up the sheep while the wife boiled the innards. Deni and I waited there for about an hour as they prepared their sheep and then packed their car and we headed for the countryside. To get to their small cabin we took a dirt road out into the country. As we drove offroading we saw herds of the normal Mongolian animals, sheep, goats, cattle, horses and then we saw three LARGE birds on the hill. We drove over to get a closer look and as they ran for a take off we realized that they were Eagles. They took off and joined 2 others already in the air. We watched them circle the valley for a while. When we got to the cabin they set up a portable stove and proceeded to cook the sheep. We enjoyed a fine meal of mutton and potato salad (they really do make the best potato salad here), cucumbers (they serve cucumbers with most meals) and Chocolate cake (provided by Deni). We had a great visit seeing the beautiful countryside. 
On Friday we spent part of the day at the stadium eating khuushuurs and watching the various cultural events. They had dancing and bands and beautiful singing, etc. In the afternoon we took a 15 passenger meeker squeezed in with 23 other people and went back out to the countryside to the horse races. The Mongolian horses are small and strong and the riders are small and young. They start their riders practicing to race at age 3 and all of the riders are between 6 and 12 years old.
We got to the race just as the horse and riders were leaving the finish line headed for the starting line. They rode out of site for the 10K ride to the beginning of the race. After about an hour the speakers announced that the race had started. I figured that it would take just a few minutes to make it back to the start but it took about 45 minutes before we saw them coming.




                                                                          The crowd lined up along the racecourse to get a good view of the winner.

 We got there early enough to get into the VIP stand and we had the best spot to watch the race from.

After 2 hours of watching the crowd we could see a small dust cloud in the far distant. We watched as the cloud came closer and finally in came the young riders. They looked tired as they continued to whip their steeds and raced to the finish. I am told that there is a prize for 1st - 5th place and then last place gets a prize for trying.  A few horses came in without a rider and I can only guess the rider fell off. I understand that several young riders are seriously injured every year by falling off their horse.
Long after the crowd left and they were clearing off the track and packing up equipment I saw a lone rider slowly make his way to the finish line. He was very young and he probably got lost along the path somewhere but at least he finished. He was the last to finish (as far as I know.
 As we headed back with the crowd to find a meeker ride back to town, I realized that with hundreds of people, there were NO Restrooms, trees or bushes. I had had a lot of water to stay hydrated and now it was no longer needed. I decided to be Mongolian and do what came naturally.

The ride home in the 15 passenger meeker with 26 other people. These are some of our young missionaries who we love serving with.

Trans Siberia Mongolia RailRoad

We have been working with a couple who live under the stairs of an apartment building. The room that you see here is their entire apartment. We just love them and we love visiting with them even though we don't understand anything the other one says. They are the "security" for the 9 story Russian built building that they live in. They get their "apartment" and 2500 Tugriks per day (about $1.80) and if they stay for 3 years and don't have any robberies in the building the company will build them a Ger. I don't know how they can keep from having any robberies but we sure hope they can make it happen. 

Deni and I have been able to travel to UB a few times over the past month. Earlier in the year when we went to UB we took the bus which took about 6 hours and was just a long bus ride. I knew that there was a train that ran from Erdenet (where we live now) to UB but everyone that I asked about it said "oh, you don't want to take the train". Well, why not? I really wanted to experience the train so when Deni broke another tooth and we had to go to UB to get it repaired I talked her into taking the Trans-Siberia-Mongolia RR. The train leaves Erdenet at 6:30 PM and arrives in UB at 5:30 AM. We weren't really sure what to expect and when we asked the young missionaries who take the train regularly they couldn't really tell us much. Turns out that there is 1st class, 2nd class, and public. We have now ridden all 3 classes but our first time we went 1st class. We were in a room with one other couple who spoke almost no English and we, of course, spoke almost no Mongolian.  The tickets were 20,000 Tugriks ($12) each, and then on the train, if you want sheets and a pillow, it's another 2,500.We had a great time working out ways to communicate. We crossed some of the most beautiful countryside that you could imagine.  

We laughed and took pictures and got up and wandered and just had a really good time. Since Deni and I were the old ones we got the bottom bunks. 

It gets dark here about 10 PM so we got to see a lot of scenery before it got too dark to see.  When we first got on the train I thought that I smelled campfire and I thought "there is no way this train runs on fire so maybe I just smell someone who has been out at a camp. Turns out that they have a wood burning water heater to serve hot water to the guests.  Who woulda thought. 

Here is our cabin before our roommates got there. The cabin was quite nice and and we were comfortable. A few weeks later we had to go back to UB to have Deni's crown attached permanently. We decided to try 2nd class and the only difference was no door on the cabin and 6 people to a cabin. It cost about $4.50 less but was a little more crowded. 

Sunrise at 4AM 

The next week we went to Youth Camp for a week with about 300 youth. We got a ride to the camp but got to walk 10 Kilometers out from the camp to the train tracks that run up the valley in the middle of no where. It was really a thrill to walk out with about 200 youth. We sat by the tracks waiting for the train to come along and stop. About half of them were going South to UB and our half were going North to Darkhan. We boarded our 3rd class train car at 1PM and got to Darkhan at about 5PM. Third class means that as many as want to get on can get on, seat or not. We all had a seat but it was a little crowded. In Darkhan we had to wait with those going onto Erdenet to catch the 3 AM train. We got home at 7AM on Sunday after a week of being outdoors with no shower and were supposed to be to church by 9AM to speak in Sacrament Meeting. We quickly cleaned up and dashed just to be told that they had changed the schedule and we didn't need to speak. Oh well, at least it got us to hurry to church. 

This is Deni at the Dentist Office getting another new Crown.  The first one cost about $150 but she didn't like the fact that they used a bunson burner to heat some of the equipment so this time we went to a more modern dentist and it was about $300.  In the states it is about $1,000 so we are still getting a good deal. 

Today I went to a local Erdenet Dentist and got a filling and had my teeth cleaned. It was 30,000 for the filling and 30,000 for the cleaning. ($18 + $18) Last week in UB I went to the Dermatology Hospital and had the pre-cancers burned that I have had to have burned off every 6 months for the last several years. The Dr spent over an hour burning the spots on my face and my head and then told me that it was usually 5,000 but since she had to take so long she needed to charge 10,000 ($6.00).  We have health insurance and can get paid back but the health care here is so inexpensive that it is hardly worth turning it in. These simple basic services are great but we pray that we never really get sick here because the real health care is not very good (there is a new state of the art medical center in UB now).  When someone really has to go to a hospital for major care it is really sad. We went to visit a lady who had cancer and she had to go back 3 times after being sent home after surgery. She was oozing infection and couldn't afford bandages. We went and bought some bandages for her and the nurse put them on her. The family had to bring food every day for her while she was in the hospital and even though they tried hard to keep it clean, it wasn't.  We wouldn't want to have to stay there. 

Here is a picture of Deni at the side of our church in Erdenet. Notice her two friends. We don't usually see cows in town during the summer because they have plenty of grass in the fields to eat but these thought maybe the grass by the church might taste better. In the winter the cows come into town and eat the garbage from the garbage rooms in the large cement 9 story apartment buildings. 

Many want to know about our weather. It is absolutely beautiful. It is usually in the mid 70's during the day and in the 50's at night. We are told that we will see a bit of rain most days but it doesn't usually last very long. The fields are green and lush and it is hard to remember how cold and bare everything was just a few months ago. I guess it will start getting cold again in September but we will enjoy this beautiful weather while we can. 

Well, we are healthy and happy and greatly blessed. We like the food too much and it shows but we are committed to start working on doing better as soon as we can which may come as soon as we are more committed. Until then, we will just keep thinking about doing better. 

Thanks for checking on us. Let us know how you are doing.