Childrens' Park

We are really enjoying our teaching at Progress School--especially the D Class which is the advanced English class.  The students all can speak pretty good English and we just have a good time.  Anyway, after we had the party down at the river, they wanted to plan another one, so we told them to go ahead.  They planned a party at the Children's Park, which is an amusement park.  There were only about 7 of us who went, but it was fun and we had a good time with those who went.

This is Ayu and Aisulu, our two Kazak students. 

Urta and Aisulu

Nomio, her two brothers, Nomin, Togii, Aisulu, Bogii, Urta and Ayu (and LaNice.)

Each student bought 4 tickets and then decided what rides to do.  I gave one of my tickets to a student who got there late (Baylag) and Alan used the other one. In this picture is Alan, Bayleg, Urna and Nomin.

LaNice and Nomio's little brother.  He didn't last long on my back.  I don't think

Mongolians carry their children like this much!

Togii,  Nomio and her little brother in the bumper cars.

It was a great party and no one complained with only 4 tickets or when we had to

leave to go home.  Mongolians are the best!  Aisulu, Ayu, Alan, Nomio and her

two brothers. 

Khorkhog/Picnic on the River

Right after the official Naadam was over, we went out to the river for another picnic.  Mongolians really know how to have a picnic!  This is the preparation to leave Ganzorig's house. 

President Gankhuyag and his sweet wife, Nara. stand on a piece of land the will move to and raise animals

Many Mongolians move their gers to the river for the summer and enjoy the cooler air, water and greener landscaping.  They bring their animals with them and watch them graze.  It's very peaceful there.

At least until the rowdy bunch of Mormons come to disturb the peace!

Alternating adding meat and hot rocks to the milk can.

Ampaa and Khlamma carrying a bag of dried dung to feed the fire across the river.

They love to play football, or soccer as we call it.  Ganzoreg washing some clothes.

Lamsuren and Nara doing laundry.  They wrung out as much water as possible before laying the

clothes out on the ground to dry. 

This was a blanket that was big and took several of us to wring it out. 

Erdenee washed Gankhuyag's car while waiting for the food to cook. 

This little guy loved to swim in the river.  He had a great time. 

We also played Skipbo and Uno waiting for the food.

They love those games. 

      

The food is finally ready!

And it was really good!  Sister Lamsuren is enjoying it.

As is Sister Aruynjargal!

Amraa is using a huge knife to clean off the bone.  They leave nothing on it and when they are dong eating, all there is left is a pile of bones. President Gankhuyag even cracked the larger bones open and drank the marrow!  I almost gagged the first time I saw him do that!  It's supposed to be really good for you!

Khlamma and Ganzorig - great people!

This Mongolian was riding by on his horse and Gankhuyag asked him to come over to our picnic.  He readily agreed and they chatted for awhile.  President is a very friendly man and seems to know everyone.  Those he doesn't know, he gets to know quickly.  Anyway, we asked if we could sit on his horse and he readily agreed.  It was a small horse to start with and the stirrups were very short for both of us. 

It was a great day and turned out to be the last Khorkhug we had with these wonderful families. 

Naadam in Khovd

As usual, Naadam is a contest of horse racing, wrestling and archery.  Our translator went to UB for that week, so we were thinking we would miss most of the events.  However, one of our sweet students, Nomio, invited us to attend the activities with her wonderful family.  They took us to the opening ceremony, which we thought we could walk to, but it turned out to be at the stadium way out of town and it would have been a long walk.  Her family is really wonderful and we enjoyed their company.  They didn't speak any English, but Nomio's English is good so we were able to communicate through her.

LaNice a Nomio at the Opening Ceremony.  She is really an awesome young lady!

These are some of the dancers, wrestlers and military who presented during the ceremony. 

Naadam is a family time with many pictures.  We don't know

who these people are, but we liked their native clothing.

That night we invited to Nomio's home for dinner.  They are very gracious people and we had 

a wonderful meal and a great time.  They have a Buddha in their home and were one of the

few families we met who seemed to believe in their religion.  She told us this was the god she worshiped and tried to be obedient to.  She's very impressive.

The next day we went to the horse races with her family.  It was a really long

ways out of town and we would not have made it otherwise.  There were so many people there.  We actually ran into some of the students from our class.  It was good to see them with their family and friends. 

Her little brother was playing a game while we waited for the races to start.  There were rows and rows of people with this and other games, as well as many food vendors. 

It was really hot so we were glad we took our umbrellas to shade us from the sun. Nomio and I and her siblings and cousins practices as much English as they could handle.  It helped the time go by while we were waiting for the races to start.  It's a whole day event, leaving early in the morning to get a good parking spot I guess, for about 10 minutes of watching the end of the race.  And then it's over and we headed home!

Pictures of Mongolians in traditional clothing.  They really are a beautiful people.

And the horses were beautiful too.  This is the 10 minutes of the race that we spent all day to watch. 

Member Visits in Khovd.

We visited this member family that has 10 kids and they were all raised in a ger.  They have cute kids and some of them were married and weren't living right at home

The mom did beadwork to sell and we had fun modeling some of the headdresses

she had so beautifully made. We actually bought two to take home to

add to my dress up box.

The boys did needlepoint pictures to sell.  We bought several of them too.  One

depicted the four harmonious friends--en elephant, monkey, rabbit and bird.

They actually did very nice work.  Their names are Munkhtsooj and Munkhjin. 

Here's the family who was there.  The father was a non-member. 

Alan had a great time playing "Old Maid" with the younger kids while the older people

played Skipbo!

The Farmers sent us this picture taken in Murun.  We were skyping with them and they took a picture of us on the big screen.  We sure miss the wonderful friends we made in Murun, but know they are still active and doing the Lord's work in their part of the vineyard!

Ganzorig's daughter and her husband had this darling baby girl while we were there.

They wrap the babies up like little Indian babies.  They are so tight and they sleep really well!

In honor of the baby's birth, they had a celebration and made khorkhog--a goat cooked in

a big milk can with other vegetables around it.  We had this quite a few times in Khovd and only once in Murun at Dorjhand and Oyundalia's.  We get a little more used to everyone eating from the same bowl and with their hands after each such dinner. President Gankhuyag cracks the larger bones and drinks the bone marrow from them.  That about made me gag the first time I saw him do that!

The provided the Americans our own bowl to eat from--I was very grateful. 

Cute little family!