Naadam 2012

Summer in Mongolia means Naadam, and Naadam in C-town was quite the sight to see.  Having only experienced a soum Naadam, I was pretty excited to see a big city Naadam.  And as my Women's Empowerment Seminar was the following weekend, a few friends came out early to partake in the festivities.

 Group shot at the Soldier's Memorial, which is right next to the Naadam Stadium.  L to R: Koty, Ellen, Me, Jessica, Kate, Chris

 Ameriks sittin' on a tank...NBD.

 Vendors outside the stadium.

 Khuushuur tents!

 First khuushuur of the day.  10am was just a bit too early for me.

 It was really, REALLY hot.

 Finally the band started.

 Cute dancing girls.

 Deel fashion show.

 LOVE the pants deel!

 Ttraditional dance.

 Then all together to finish the opening ceremony.

 Then we headed out to Bayantumen soum (about 30 mins outside the city) for the first of the Three Manly Sports, horse racing.

 At the finish line.

 Winner!

 Ellen, Kate's friend visiting from the States, wanted to see one of the racehorses up close so we stuck around...

 Which then meant there were no meekers to take us back to the city!  We started walking then hitched a ride in the back of a truck...

Truly, we were in the back of a truck.  And we were perfectly okay with it!

 Naadam Day Two: Khuushuur at noon, a far more reasonable hour.

 Men flicking Shagai.

 Men shooting Shagai.

 Wrestling!

 Saluting/showing respect.

 This is my favorite of the Three Manly Sports!

 Last but not least, archery.

 Guess he hit the target!

 After spending the day at the stadium, we headed to the Fake Lake to relax.  Lauren (yellow) and Ashely (blue) arrived from UB in time for Day Two.

 This is Oyunga, the neighbor girl who loves Bams.

 And loves squirting herself in the face apparently.  :)

 We were a little bored so we decided to take pictures with our Zodiac signs.  I'm a rat.

 Then we just starting taking random photos.  Puppy love!

 After the fake lake we stopped into the square for cotton candy.  Yum!

We decided to skip Naadam Day Three (cuz really, how much wrestling and archery can one watch!?) and instead spend the day at the river.  As Ellen is a tourist, I had to get her in the river!

It was a fun three days and I'm glad to have seen what a city Naadam can be like.  Pretty sure I'll seek out a Naadam celebration in the States next summer and rock my deel too!

Khorkhog

Nim, an internal medicine doctor at a private hospital in UB, wants to practice her English with us this summer while she's in C-town.  To finally meet each other, she organized a khorkhog for us!

The ger camp.  We were in the one to the far left.

 Little boxes...And they all look just the same!

 Khorkhog cookin'!

 Delger, Hongora and me at the river.

 Me and Nim.

 This is what was waiting for me as I came up the trail!

 The khorkhog needed 30 more minutes so we decided to hike up this hill.

 View from the top.

 At the top...You know what that means!  Photo series!

 Hurrrrr!

 Strike a pose!

 Yeay!

 The thinker.

 Jump!

 John, Bimba and me at the top.

Back hangin' in the ger.

 Khorkhog!  Those black stones do the cooking.

 Shine naiz!

 This is Nim's brother (he's the director of their hospital).  He came late, but announced his arrival by squirting us!

 So cute.

 Then we played gar bombog.  I actually missed this serve which was totally embarrassing.

 Always coaching...

We stayed at the ger camp until about 11 when the meeker came back for us.  It was much later than I expected but having been here for a year now, I kinda knew that was going to happen.  I thankfully left Bambuul out of her crate and with a new chewie in anticipation of exactly that happening.  Luckily she only piddled once the entire 15 hours I was gone! Although when I did get home she wanted to play and I wanted to sleep...

Up next this week: Naadam!  Followed by my Women's Empowerment Seminar this weekend and the trip out to Khalkhin Gol early next week.  It's gonna be a busy/fun two weeks!

July 4

Happy 4th of July!  Of course today isn't a holiday in Mongolia so I had to work, but after I came home to an Amerik khool feast of coleslaw, potato salad, pickles and a hot dog, washed it down with a beer then had (frozen) Thin Mints for dessert.  No fireworks tonight either, but can anybody guess what movie I was watching on my laptop?  Here's a hint: "Welcome to Earth!"

Hope you all celebrate the day safely and with family & friends.  I especially miss you all on occasions like this.  Here's to celebrating NEXT 4th of July together at a backyard barbeque!

Walking Eastward

So after wandering farther West than we had ever gone last weekend, I decided to do the same this weekend only walking farther East than we had ever gone.  There's a heck of a lot less to see East, but it was still nice.

 The trees make a pretty "tunnel" over the sidewalk.

 Firefighter memorial (?) in front of the fire station.

These three followed us for a good 200 yards, although they weren't quite sure if Bams was friend or foe.

 The power plant cooling ponds were throwing some huge mist!

 The "Dornod 80 Years" sign in front of the power plant.

 The old train station.

 The coal mine.

 The pilots' memorial, again.

Looking further East, to the wide open nothingness.  We turned around shortly after this.