ger to ger #1, family #1

i read about a program called ger to ger in lonely planet, and it seemed right along the lines of what i wanted to do with my time in mongolia...i found the office easily enough in ulan baatar, and went in to talk to them...since it's still considered winter, they have only two options available right now...both of them sounded good to me, so i chose one, and figured out all the details...the not so fun part was the very beginning of the tour, simply because i needed to be on a bus that left at 0800...that meant taking a taxi to the bus station at 0700, which meant getting up at 0600...as it was, i didn't sleep well, and was wide awake at 0530, so i was almost done with my shower by the time my alarm went off anywho...i was completely ready to go by about 0635, having packed everything easily enough...
the taxi took me to the bus station, where it was easy enough to find the bus i needed...the people at ger to ger had given me my bus ticket, so i was good to go...i chose to keep my bags with me on the bus instead of putting them underneath, having read about and been warned about thieves who target tourists in particular...not that my bags are big, but it did make for a very tight seat for the whole bus ride...i wasn't able to move my legs until i got off the bus...hee hee...the bus ride was only 3 hours, down a single highway...it was an easy drive, the road was completely straight for most of the way, and there was very little traffic...it's a majour highway, but still only 2 lanes for the majourity of the road...and those two lines aren't always wide enough to accomodate two large vehicles going in either direction...a few times the bus had to slow down and honk at herds of horses crossing the roads...a mongolian traffic jam, i suppose...the road was in good condition, which made the ride nice...mongolian winters aren't exactly pleasant, which tends to tear up the roads...at least, that's what i was thinking would be the case...i don't know if the road had been resealed recently, or what...the bus stopped a couple times for smoke/pee breaks, but i didn't need to do either one, so i stayed put...
at the first real stop the bus made, someone got on the bus and indicated that it was my turn to get off...she led me to the jeep (being being a word that desribes any vehicle that can go off road...it's not usually an actual jeep) being driven by the guy who would take me to the first ger...this lady had to work, so we dropped her off and he took me to the first ger...there was no road at this point, just tracks in a few places...and there weren't always tracks...this was when i first started realizing how out in the middle of nowhere people live as nomads...this definitely wasn't a smooth ride, thank goodness for padded seats!! surprisingly, i didn't get motion sick at all, which was a relief...but when i thought about it, it was just a bumpy, curvy ride...he wasn't speeding up and slowing down a lot, and that's what always gets me...
my host family greeted me, and almost immediately offered me a small bowl of mongolian milk tea...that's standard nomadic culture...greet the visitor with milk tea...mongolian milk tea is different from milk tea just about anywhere else in that it's made with salt, or butter, instead of sugar...when i drank this stuff i thought i detected a hint of chicken soup...obviously, that wasn't the case, but that's what it reminded me of...the thermos in which the milk tea is kept after it is made is huge...3.2L!!...awkward silence ensued, with everyone drinking (sometimes slurping) their milk tea...language barriers are so annoying...lots of smiling though...after a little while, the wife/mother started cooking lunch...cutting meat into small pieces, cutting onions too...she rolled out dough into a tortilla shape, and briefly cooked it on the stove...then she cut that into small strips as well...while i was watching her, i was also looking around the ger and trying to take everything in...so this is where i describe a typical ger...

the entrance always faces the south...mongolia is far enough north that the sun is always to the south...as you come into the ger, you notice the stove in the middle of the ger, with a stovepipe that goes through a hole in the middle of the ceiling...it works as a skylight, and plenty of light comes through, so the ger was well lighted...(its a round room, no shadows that come with corners)...on the west, north and east sides of the ger are beds...typically the west side is the male side, and the east side for women...but the west side also functions as the guest side, which meant that my stuff went on the west, and i thought that's where i would sleep...the insides of the ger walls are covered with felt carpets, and though you could hear the wind, you couldn't feel a thing...housing in korea is a whole lot more drafty than any ger...go figure...there was a cabinet that functioned as a pantry, from which the mom got all her supplies, and she had a cutting/rolling board that sat on her bed...(no flat space anywhere else)...the floor itself was covered with the fake wood stuff you see all the time in korea...if i hadn't known better, i wouldn't have known there is wood under there at all...there was an altar just to the left of the bed on the north side, and another cabinet with family photos just to the right of the bed on the north side...i saw this same set up in every ger in which i stayed...there was also a solar panel outside, and a small satellite...and inside, i saw a tv...a VERY OLD tv...black and white, which had the knobs to change channels, something i haven't seen since i was in primary school...who knew you can get cable out in the middle of nowhere?!?!
the family had two sons, and a daughter...the daughter is 15 years old, and throughout my stay she helped her mother with everything, cooking and cleaning...the two sons were out most of the day, i didn't even see them until evening...
lunch was cooked in a big (BIG) pot on top of the stove...every meal is cooked in that one pot...and every meal consists of meat plus something made from flour...lunch was meat and noodles...remember the tortilla things i talked about earlier? when the mother cut them into small slices, she then put those over the meat in the pot, and added a little water, and covered it...15 minutes later, everything was cooked, and they tasted just like any other noodles...dinner that night was steamed mutton dumplings...i liked them, but they didn't have a lot of flavour...it's easy to see why people say mongolian food is boring...there isn't a lot of variety, and the only real spice is salt...then again, when you're nomadic, you can't be expected to put vegetables into each meal...i could tell really quickly that i was going to miss veggies, but life goes on...
sometime after lunch the dad asked if i wanted to ride a horse...which of course i did...we never went faster than a walk, he took me to a place of worship, or an altar, i don't know exactly what it was...there were about 7 stelae (i don't know the word for the big white thingamajigs that kinda make me think of big grave markers) on a little hill...i say little, because it seemed little compared to the mountains i could see in the distance...windy as all get out...my hands were nearly freezing by the time i got off the horse...while i looked around and took photos, he got out his binoculars (which every nomad man carries in a pouch) and was looking at i don't know what...i didn't stay long, as the area was small, but i enjoyed it...on the way back, we herded some of his camels to another area...two humped camels, bactrian camels i think they're called...they look so goofy, and have such flat feet...
after we returned, the mom served me something she called aarts...it tasted a bit like warm sour yoghurt...i loved it...so she gave me more...the rest of the time i was with that family she kept serving me aarts, she figured out i liked it better than the milk tea...hee hee...
at some point that afternoon/evening, i tried to say that i'm american, but i live in korea...a few hours after that, they said "anyeong" to me...hee hee...for those of you who read this who haven't lived in korea, that's how you say hello to your friends in korean...i had learned from the ger to ger head office that this family had actually traveled to korea, which was why i told them i lived there...i was dying to ask all sorts of questions, like when they'd gone, how long the trip had been, who took care of the animals while they were gone, where they'd stayed, etc...but the language barrier didn't really allow for those sorts of questions...lol...

later that evening, i could hear all the animals outside...sheep and goats...(the horses and camels don't come in for the night, sheep and goats do)...they get pretty loud when the moms and kids are trying to find each other...after the animals were fed and otherwise taken care of, everyone was inside the ger...i ended up moving my stuff to the east side of the ger, and that was my bed for the night...i don't know why...the two boys slept on the floor, and i don't remember where the mom/dad/daughter slept...after dinner we watched tv for a while, then everyone went to bed...i was out like a light!
the next morning i woke up to a beautiful day...the previous day had been gray, but this day had a blue sky, and it was amazing...the wide angle option on my camera didn't come anywhere close to doing justice to what i could see...
breakfast was meat with noodles, in a thickened sort of soup...i'm sure there is a name for it, but i don't know what it is...anywho...it was good, but bland, and very filling...i was only able to eat about half of what she served me, i felt bad...i watched her cook the whole thing just like i had watched the meals the day before...i don't think i've ever seen complete meals produced with such little space...amazing...
a little while after breakfast they asked me if i wanted to go to the next ger by horse or by car...i chose the horse, which seemed to surprise the family...i figured it was more "authentic"...lol...the older boy took me...he took my bigger pack...i had to connect the straps, he didn't know where all the clips go...hee hee...i had my day pack and purse...my horse followed his, and an hour and a half later, we were at the next ger...i felt a little saddle sore at that point, which wasn't surprising that i hadn't ridden a horse since high school, but i had no idea what awaited me at the second ger...lol...