Naadam!

Naadam: the biggest festival held in UB on July 11 -13 each and every year! It begins with an elaborate opening ceremony including dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians. After the ceremony the competitions begin. There are three major competetions during Naadam: Horse racing, wrestling, and archery. While these sports are usually set aside for men, women have been known to participate in archery as well as the horse racing.

This was an awesome celebration and a really neat experience for me. Although tickets to the opening ceremonies were not available (*tear) I was still able to hang out with some good friends and was taken on an adventure of a lifetime! Here are some of the many pictures taken that day. Enjoy!

Some local camels came out for the ceremonies

Washing of the square

The marching band comes in

Traditionally dressed soldiers wait for their ceremonial totem things

Walking up the stairs to get their totem things

Said totem things

The white symbolizes peace. Black would be for war.

Hosher...yummmmm

Orange slurpee like drink

Mongol Horde

Enjoying orange slurpee drink

Mongolia!

The American flag!

David and the Mongol Horde

Kids had a lot of fun that day

Peace

Airg.....fermented mare's milk

*sniff

*slurrrrp

*smacks lips* "Not bad"

*slurrp*

eeeeew

must get picture

Archery

Knuckle bone hitting

Eagle

Ready

Aim

Fire?

Beautiful day for a horse race or two

Sitting on horses watching horse racing

Big crickets...

The winner!

Sunset

Happy Naadam!

 The end!

Sock Factory!

Today some friends and I went to a sock factory....pretty neat. Here are some pictures: 

 "Mongolian Socks"

 The Crew!

 Cool sock weaver thingie....

 Socks!

 Cotton covered spandex

 Factory floor

 more cotton, from Korea

 Me and cotton!

 Sock that the weaving machine spit out

A pair of socks to those who can name what kind of camel this sock material came from...

4th of July in Mongolia

Happy 4th of July! (one day late) I hope everyone had a good holiday yesterday! Here are a few pictures from a 4th of July in Mongolia! Enjoy...

Baseball with friends!

Le grill - many hotdogs were made on this baby!

Friends!

And the most important: Watermelon.

This is Ezra. It is his first taste....I think he likes it!

Things I have learned...

Things I have learned since coming to Mongolia:

•  Vodka is cheaper than milk.
• Milk is good for you and is what this girl drinks!
• Construction is not uncommon, however entire sidewalks can disappear overnight along with random HUGE holes in the road as well.
• Always carry TP with you.
• There are not always ‘western’ toilets when you have to…
• Cans of soda are more expensive than plastic bottles and there is more in the bottles than the can.
• Mongolian terrain eats shoes for breakfast (pictures to post later).
• When going to a movie one is assigned a row and a seat number.
• Pictures on a menu could have no correlation to what is actually ON the menu.
• When crossing the road it is better to go in a group to look bigger than a car, otherwise you will never get across the road.
• It is never too muddy, too wet, or too uneven to wear ones high heels.

Mongolia has been a very interesting experience for me. Each new day brings along its new adventures. 

Internet......the bane of my existence.

Forgive me those of you that come to read this blog. I have not updated it in a LONG time and I apologize. I have not had consistent internet service for about a month, however that has now changed! Take a look at the slideshow, hopefully that will help ease the pain of checking on the blog and seeing that it had not been updated these past few weeks. I will endeavor to update this blog more often than not. Stay tuned and thank you.

Spring in Mongolia

Spring time in Mongolia is an exciting affair. The week can start off pleasant and bright while the last of the week ends with snow, rain, and darkness. There are dust storms, bouts of sunshine and heat, while alongside this weather there is cold, snow, and rain. There is a saying in Mongolia about spring – something like spring comes like a cranky old woman: doing whatever she pleases and sometimes everything at once. While I do enjoy Mongolia, the weather this spring definantly keeps me on my toes. And my toes are now damp, but tomorrow they should dry out until the next spring storm.