ger to ger #2, family #2

to get to the start of my 2nd ger to ger tour i had to take two buses...normally you only have to take one, but for whateva reason, the drivers of that bus were on strike...i was told bus 17, and the name was written in cyrillic so i could ask the bus driver...i ended up getting on 20-17, which worked well enough...i was lucky in getting off that bus at the right stop...then i caught a minibus (a van) with 23 of my closest friends to terelj national park...
you'll notice that i don't have an entry for the first family i stayed with during this second ger to ger tour...that's because there is absolutely nothing to write about...i arrived, they fed me...an hour later, at 8pm they took me to their extra ger, and that was it for the night...the next morning i was served breakfast, and that was it until someone arrived around 11 to take me to the 2nd ger...that's not really worth an entry, is it?
the following morning, a guy showed up on a horse, and put me on another horse, we rode 15km or so to ger #2...it was another two hour ride, and we kept a pretty steady speed the whole way through...we were going faster than a walk, not quite a gallop, though we did get to a gallop a few times...i didn't bounce so much on this horse, so the ride was really nice...
the second family greeted me with milk tea and bortzog...bortzog are like donuts, sortof...bits of dough made with water and flour, then fried...not nearly as sweet as donuts, but pretty darn good anywho...it would be easy to keep eating bortzog all day long...they're usually in a bowl on the table, so it's a test of willpower not to keep eating...

this family consisted of a young mother, her husband and 3 year old son...it took me a long time to figure out that the kid was a he, as he had very long hair, and his mom had it tied back in a ponytail with a girly rubber band...when i saw pictures of his older sister (who is 7, and goes to school in UB) i could see a really strong resemblance between the siblings...it took the little boy (named yichmer) a little while to warm up to me, but we ended up playing together quite a bit...he and his mom have quite the collection of foreign currency...he and i played for a while, taking currency out of his piggy bank, then putting it back in...playing with kids never has to be complicated...
just before lunch, i watched her answer the phone...this particular family must've had issues with reception, as they were quite particular in phone calls...they had the phones hanging from the ceiling, and when they answered them, instead of holding the phone in their hands, they yelled into the phone where it was hanging...it may not have been yelling exactly, but it was very loud speaking...i don't know if the person on the other end of the call had to do the same thing...every phone call that happened while i was with this family was answered like this!

lunch was rice, meat, potatoes and carrots...good, simple, just like every other meal i've had...
during the afternoon the mom showed me the work she does on a regular basis: sewing traditional clothes...she even let me sew a little! (under careful supervision, of course:)...the fancy clothes are still worn all the time in mongolia, which is great to see...there are lots of seams in each garment...if i had been able to figure out a use for anything she made, i would've purchased something...
the rest of the afternoon was filled with playing with yichmer...he loves to climb, so the fences around the yard are a great playground for him...he also loves to be in photos...hee hee...while we were out, we saw a group of foreigners taking a walk...after chatting briefly, i found out they all live in UB...several are australians doing the australian version of peace corps, the other two are former peace corps volunteers...they were staying nearby...
i slept in the extra ger, which was very cosy with a fire going...
the next morning i felt as though i was having the most authentic breakfast of my stay in mongolia so far...we had leftovers from the night before, and warmed them up by pouring milk tea over the noodles...not too bad, i guess there is a use for mongolian milk tea:)...the family ger was pretty warm, yichmer didn't want to put on all his clothes, lol...
i got to help out with chores after breakfast...i got to milk a cow!!! i'm not very good at it, but if i had to do it regularly, i'd get a lot better...the family has 7 cows, and all of them have to be milked by hand...while milking the cow i kept thinking of my first milking experience, in new zealand in 2009...this time no cow attempted to shit on me...lol...(you had to be there)...
to get me from this ger to the next ger, the family had an ox cart...i was supposed to leave just before lunch, but it took a while for the husband to bring the ox back...whoops...while i was waiting we played traditional games with ankle bones...we tied both times, but i'm pretty sure she let that happen...also while waiting we had visitors...4 ladies and 3 very young kids...all three of the kids had bells on their shoes, which meant we heard it everytime they moved at all...one of the kids was very active, and hardly stood still during the entire visit...he also managed to get yogurt all over his face...hee hee...

and then, the husband came back with the ox...we took a family photo, though one of the horses did his best to get in the way of the camera...lol...