July 10, 2010

Saturday my family and I went on a picnic. Let me just begin by saying my family is so very loving. They were all very welcoming to me even though I lack Mongolian language skills. At times I am sure they were speaking and laughing at me but I was cool with that. We went to a river of sorts. My mom told me it was the biggest river in Mongolia. I told her she needed to see the rivers in America and it would put that river to shame. She laughed. Her and I went wadding in the river and the water was cold but not nearly as cold as the Mountain waters in Tennessee. Also my Grandpa, I have declared, is the best rock skipper I have ever seen. I thought I’d be cool and show them how to do it but I soon found out that they were better then I was. Also they call it ‘bunny rocks.’ (I think that is a loose translation but essentially the rock resembles a bunny to them)
Let’s see what else…my family feed me all day long like I was starving. I feel like that is all I did was eat. There was a bunch of candy, bread, juice, candy, veggies, and meat…the meat I steered away from. Then more family arrived after our being there for about twoish hours. Guess what they brought with them!!!! I newly slaughtered sheep. It was in that moment of seeing the gutted sheep that I knew I was finally going to get sick in Mongolia. I have made it about 5 weeks without getting sick, which I was extremely happy about. I just knew the minute I saw it I was in for it. Thanks to my background of several family members who like to hunt I wasn’t terribly grossed out from the meat. I found it funny I was sitting on a blanket with some family members when they began to cut it up and the lady sitting next to me told them to move the animal away so I didn’t have to see it. My response was I got up and walked over to the men and started taking pictures. They laughed. Let me just tell you, Uncles of mine back home these men could teach you a thing or two about cutting meat. They had that animal chopped up in 30 minutes!! I was impressed. THEN came the interesting part. (Which I took a video of and will be posting it on my fb soon) From the fire came hot rocks, which they put into a metal container along with the meat, potatoes, carrots, onion, salt, and water. Then they placed the container over the fire to cook.
Once dinner was cooking my family proceeded to begin a game of cards. Let me tell you all this, I watched this game for an hour and half to still be as confused as when I sat down. The only thing I picked up from the game was the fact that there were two teams but it was a lot of fun to watch them interact with each other. After the game it was dinnertime. Surprisingly the meal was really really good. I was hesitant at first but I actually enjoyed it! Soon after the meal we got back into the car and headed home. Upon arriving home I proceeded to the outhouse where I got sick for the first time. My luck I guess ran out but I am fine now. The moral of this story is when cooking with hot rocks expected the meal to be great but to expect to get sick.
That was my picnicking experience in Mongolia, hope y’all enjoyed reading!
ZA,
B