A long month

This has been the month to celebrate Tsagaan Sar (White or New Moon).  It could rival Christmas at home with cleaning, cooking, shopping and in all ways preparing for the celebration.  It follows the lunar calendar and signifies the end of a hard winter.  Bituun is the day before the New Moon and is spent cleaning the whole home (which is often a Ger) and then everyone eating until past full.  It is thought that if you are hungry when Tsagaan Sar starts, you will be hungry all year!

Cal in his deel and great fur hat,
with his new friend!!

The first day of Tsagaan Sar begins with the men climbing a nearby mountain in time to greet the sun and follow some of their other traditions.  Cal, along with some of the other missionaries, made the climb up Chingelti Mountain and had a fantastic time.  When they left, the computer said it was -35C, feeling like -43C.  He wore his new Deel (a long mongolian coat) and was not cold.  He commented that it certainly did cut down his stride length!!  They joined some others around a fire and got great shots of the sun coming up over the valley.  The smoke from the Gers made a surreal picture.

On their way down they saw a little girl outside her Ger and went to see if they could take a picture.  The rest of her family came out all dressed in their traditional clothes, were happy to have some photos taken and then invited them in for a real Tsagaan Sar meal.  It was a once in a lifetime chance for a camera happy Canadian!!

The man of the house cutting off some pieces of mutton from the whole sheep.
Their Ger was all decorated for the holiday.

That night we were able to go with some of the missionaries on the bus about 45 minutes from UB to visit one of the families in our Branch.  Visiting there, we discovered that it was the family of a girl suffering from Epilepsy who we had been trying to find.  There are no coincidences!!  We really are blessed as missionaries.  We left the Ger and headed to the highway to catch a bus back to UB.  Someone then told us that there were no more buses because they quit early on Tsagaan Sar.  It was about 8:15, dark and -35C.  There we were, 9 of us standing on the edge of the highway.  No taxis were coming until finally one, but the elders turned down his offer for a ride for some of us because he wanted 2000 tugs ($1.50 Cdn) each and they thought that was too much!    After about 25 minutes we noticed a few of the missionaries huddled in a group and praying.  Within 5 minutes here came a "meeker".  That is a 12 passenger little van with a few extra benches.  They have no hesitations to pile in as many people as are willing to try and just charge 1000 tugs.  In we went and had our first ride in a "meeker", 23 of us for a 45 minute ride!!  We felt blessed because it was cold!!

When we got back to our apartment, the whole day seemed to be unreal. It is hard to imagine we are really here in "Outer Mongolia", climbing a mountain at sunrise, visiting in two different Gers, eating "buuz" and other traditional food, finding someone we had been looking for, standing on the highway in the dark almost freezing to death and riding in a meeker!!

The missionaries put on a great talent show for the second day of Tsagaan Sar - it was amazing how much ability there is in this group of missionaries.  At least three of the American Elders are gifted pianists (keep practicing all you grandsons!!).  The Mongolians did several traditional songs and dances, they had a big fan dance and spelled out LDS, and even President Clark gave a rendition of "I tot I taw a Puddy Tat".  One of the funniest was Sister England's ballad of "Sly Sam".  It was funny in English but the funny part was watching  Elder Stranski try to translate it into Mongolian - I think it lost a bit in the translation!!

Some of the mountain climbers a bit better dressed

We had several invitations to go to different homes for the holiday.  One was to visit Sister Ichinkhand, one of the first members in Mongolia.  She is now ninety and each year invites all the Senior couples to her apartment for dinner.  She was one who helped translate the Book of Mormon into Mongolian.  She is the Matriarch of 4 generations of members of the Church.  Her Grandson is the Stake President.  Her friend Puji helped  us to communicate!  At each house we were served mutton, salads (always potato and sometimes others), rice pudding, and of course many "buuz".  They are steamed dumpling things - flour dough with meat inside - mutton or beef usually and some fat and a bit of spice.  Some of the missionaries claimed to have eaten over 150 during the week and several paid the price by being sick!!   Where ever you go there is always a bowl of candy ready to be eaten.

We have had more computer issues, thus the delay in reporting but things are looking up and we bought a new Sony one.  Apple is not very common in Mongolia!! (so not much servicing available!)

Life is good and All is Well

Murun

This weekend we flew to Murun for another Branch Conference.  Murun is about 600km to the northwest of UB.  Once again we were able to see the empty spaces, lots of mountains with a few valleys in between.  It appears that anywhere that there is a bit of flat land they have planted wheat or barley.  It is all pretty remote!





Next week is Tsagaan Sar, one of the biggest holidays of the year in Mongolia.  It means New or White Moon.  Everyone cleans their house, they buy many presents, and prepare much food.  It is a time to visit all their relatives, starting with the oldest on the first day and then others for the next two days.  The main food  that they make is "buuz", meat filled dumplings.  Most families make 1000, some in our English class said their families were making 3000! The "Butt of a Sheep" is placed on the table for the guests to eat when they visit.  It is steamed and considered a delicacy.  We have been invited to a home on one of the nights of Tsagaan Sar so it should be interesting to see the celebration.

We visited an older sister whose two children had come from UB to help her get ready for Tsagaan Sar.  Her grandkids were helping too.  They had a sheep thawing out in the kitchen, meat is cheaper in the "country side" so they were getting it ready to take back to UB.

They had a good start - on a lot of "Buuz"!

An Expert tutor -
she made them look like little sea-shells

On Saturday we visited a family who were in the midst of making their buuz.  I tried my hand but definitely did not have quite the right touch to get it sealed just right!

Even the kids help

The mother in the home was a seamstress - she works at home because she has a disabled daughter.

She uses a hand cranked sewing machine (I have seen treadle machines but never one that was turned by hand.)  She turns the crank with her right hand while guiding the fabric with her left hand.  She was making several deels, (the long Mongolian coat).  Her work was beautiful!

Last week we had a pleasant surprise when we were teaching our English Class.  Several times a student came to the door and said something about teachers but we couldn't understand their English!!

A fireworks kind of candle!

The kids made their own shirts!

Finally one came in the class and then one of our students explained that it was teacher appreciation day and there was a get-together happening that they wanted us to attend!!  The kids from the "English Training Club" had made lunch and were having a party for the teachers, complete with a cute program.  

We arrived in time for the cake and a couple of 

Musical numbers - one a song that was done in 

perfect English.

The group of teachers and ETC students

Life goes on and is Good, All is Well!!