HOW TO CELEBRATE THE 4TH OF JULY IN A MONGOLIAN WIND STORM

 First you have to light the coals on your brand new barbeque grill (maiden voyage).

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you put up the decorations.

While you wait for the coals to heat up you hover around each other as a wind break.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you try to keep all the dust that's blowing into the other food, out of the food.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you eat the other food standing up because the wind seems just a little less fierce when standing against the wall of the apartment building.

 While you wait for the coals to heat up you move the other food against the wall hoping that everything else isn't too gritty to eat.

 Ahhhh.  The coals look ready for cooking...but alas the wind takes all the heat away from the burgers that are supposed to be sizzling away and the burgers look half cooked (which they are).

 Girlfriend, some 4th of July celebrations are better than others.  This was my first in a Mongolian wind storm.  What an experience!  It doesn't take away from love of kin and country that we felt in our hearts.  It did make my day when we came in from the windstorm and I had these photos on my computer.  So I enjoyed vicariously the 4th of July being held at home.  Look at all those happy faces.  I love the 4th of July.

GOING TO THE RACES

 We drove for a long time and came to a vast flat plain where the horse races are held as a part of Nadam festivities.  There's a carnival feel and an energy that reminds me of going to the Utah State Fair.  As you can see, the weather was overcast and a cold wind blew but I could feel the excitement of participants and visitors and this man was sure to make some money with his balloon game.

 Here are the racers.  You may be saying to yourself they look mighty young and you are right.  There have been terrible accidents in the past because the age of racers included under 7 year olds.  Now they all wear helmets and must be 7 and over.

These little kids have photos of themselves on a horse being held by their fathers as babies.  I have seen photos of 2-3 years olds on horses by themselves.  This is a horse loving country.

 This is the way the men who have been riding horses all their lives look astride their horses and this is the traditional clothing worn.  Their saddles are wooden and I am told very uncomfortable, but these men don't seem to be bothered.

 The horses are beautiful and people riding them guide them right past people who are walking.  It was kind of scary.

I didn't think I would ever see a real reindeer (I'm pretty sure this one is being trained as one of Santa's relief team).  This is a baby and his antlers are covered in velvet.  He was a gentle creature.  The reindeer are found way up north almost to the Russian border so you don't see them down south near UB.

 People were selling kites while people strolled by on foot and on horse.

 I got this great shot of the Mongolian flag waving in the wind.  We were in the bleachers waiting for the first racers to ride by.

The kids look so small on those big horses and they are going full gallop.

 After the kid race is over riders dressed in their colorful dills and high boots (Your father has some.  Does that mean he needs to become a horseman?  Maybe Trudy will let him walk her gentlest horse.) walk their horses around.

 They look so magnificent on their horses, much cooler than the Marlboro man.

 This was my favorite shot.  Chingiis Khaan warriors in the foreground and the food truck behind. (Just to give you a proper time reference into why this is so funny, CK lived in the late 1100's to early 1200's)

 There was even this guy selling watches.  David wanted to buy all of them.

 I thought these shishkabobs looked so good.  They smelled heavenly but we have been cautioned against buying street food.  We all have had GI distress often enough to guide us carefully away from temptation.

 In the ger behind this tent people are making "booz", not booze, although they make vodka, but not here.  Booz (pronounced boats) are like noodle pockets, filled with meat and potatoes and then deep fried or steamed.  I can eat 2 if I'm really trying.

On the way home we had a flat tire.  Can you see me looking out the window?
It was a great day at the Nadam horse races in Mongolia.

NADAM

Nadam is kind of like our 4th of July.  Its the biggest holiday next to Sagan Sar and is held around the 20th of July.  Every year the date changes a little depending on which Buddhist leader gets to decide when the moon is right.  Here you see Elder Harper, the proud owner of a ticket to get into the opening ceremonies.  A little note about scalping tickets in Mongolia.  Tickets go on sale and people of course line up and wait for hours to buy 4 tickets each (the government's way to deter scalping).  Somehow they manage to collect quite a bundle of tickets.  If you wait in line you pay 8,000T a ticket.  Then the fun begins.  Our tickets this year ended up costing us around 60,000T each.  They were being kind to us.  Some tickets went for over 100,000T.  On our way to the opening ceremonies we came across many elders and sisters just outside of the  arena hoping to get inside, but without money.  Father Christmas (David) showed up just at the right moment and got a dozen sisters in and almost that many elders.  Money talks here and the price goes down as the festivities begin and the sellers can see getting 20,000 is better than nothing.  The elders are sweet talkers (they speak the language) and I think got in for 10,000 each.

 Here are some of the elders waiting to get inside, all dressed up in Nadam wear.

 Elder Harris and McHam look spiffy in their Nadam Dills.  Elder Harris asked me to change the band on his hat to pink to match his tie.

One of us got into the spirit of Nadam and the other didn't.  Actually my hontot top is really hot and scratchy.  David chose comfort over fashion.

There was an evening Mongolian opera performed in the open air in front of the Parliament Palace (you can see the statue of Chingiis Khan all lit up behind us).  It started at 10pm and ended at midnight.  We went with our friend Puje and she whispered to me what the story was.  After the opera was over we asked David if he knew what it was about and he told the whole story.  He doesn't need to understand the language.

This was the set and it was magnificent.  This was really a fun evening.  We thought it was going to rain and we heard thunder in the distance but the rain stayed away and we had a great time.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

 Here is the little house (ger) on the prairie.  Its door is open to us in the Mongolian style of welcome.  This family lives about three and a half hours away from any civilization.   The roads are dirt with great holes and rocks and hills and very hard to traverse. When we finally made it to a real road we had a flat tire.  When we looked at the tire it was in shreds (at 11pm and in the middle of a thunder storm).   It makes the trip to the "Seven" an all day affair.
These people are a part of our long distance branch and that's why we visited them.

Here is the fish cooked in the big pot over the fire in the outdoor kitchen.  This is our dinner along with fresh berries picked off nearby bushes and watermelon we brought with us as a gift to the family we were staying with. 

 
 Here is the outdoor kitchen where they fire up the stove for cooking in the summer.  Its enclosed on three sides and you can see a board taken out of the side closest to the hot stove.  It gets pretty hot in there...hence the saying "if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen".

 Its very colorful with the different berries and off to the far right is a big bowl of cream.  Its almost like butter.  I've never tasted anything like it.  A few photos away will show you why they have cream/butter on the table.


 
 It is the custom for the host family to not eat, but watch while the guests eat.  Only when the guests are finished will the family take any food.  Its quite unnerving.  My food always sticks in my throat when eating this way, but it is to show respect so is not to be trifled with.



 

 Do you see the fishing pole leaning against the camping chair?  Yes, the doctor found time to do a little fishing at the stream down the hill from the ger.  It was such a beautiful stream but had no fish...at least that's what the doctor says.
Elder Hill was doing his best to get the meat off the fish and leave the bones.

 This herd of cows give milk every morning and evening.  During the day they roam at will eating their fill of grass and in the evening they mosey on back to the ger to be milked.  They are coming home in this photo.

 They do enjoy a little stop at the stream for a cold drink of water before making their way to the corral and milking.

 I think this is the cow I milked.  I don't know...they kind of look all the same.

 The other incentive to come home is that their calves are waiting for a little evening bottle before settling down for the night.

 This is Osorjamaa, our translator, who is trying to get milk out of this cow.  He's a city boy and did not adjust well to milking know-how.

 When they are finished milking they try to cool down the milk by ladling it up high and pouring it back into the can.  I took over for a spell.  I also had a great photo of me milking the cow (I did really good) but it turned out to be a movie and I couldn't get it to download.

 They also owned three pigs that came and went.  Hey little piggie.

 

This is their little girl who rides her bike down the steep hill by turning it on its side and pulling it down next to her.  She looked like a toddler learning how to go down stairs backwards.  She was a tough little kid.  Her big sister had to keep fetching her and her bike out of the stream.

 

They had built this house to use in the winter and they let us stay here.  It was really nice but had only one bed so Osorjamaa and Elder Hill slept (sort of) on the floor and Sister Hill took the couch and we got the bed.  I felt bad about that, but they insisted...a sort of age before beauty thing.  I got up in the night to use the "big bathroom" outside and saw stars like I haven't seen since NZ.  I even saw a shooting star.  It was marvelous.  What a grand universe.  And what a grand adventure in the middle of Mongolian countryside.