tourists for the first time

we've gotten to see our home through tourist eyes this last week and a half...it's been kind of nice...

here are some shots...

adventures in camping!

we just got back from a camping trip in the countryside...

pull off the road...pop up a tent...and sleep to the bleating of the nearby herds...the real mongolian adventure we were hoping for...

but it wasn't until early the next morning that the REAL adventure began.

a man from a neighboring ger called us out of our tent, explained that his wife was in labor, and asked if we could take them to the nearest hospital.

we hopped in the car, and headed to their camp...where we realized that we were the only ones in a real hurry. we were ushered into the ger, served airag (sour horse milk...at SIX AM!!), and waited while the wife bathed (which in a ger means standing in a bucket of water...in front of EVERYONE...chris basically got a nice looooong look at their ger's floor!)

we headed outside where we loaded up one of the sheep for payment at the hospital and were on the road. the "hospital" was an hour away...on dirt roads...with a woman having contractions in the back seat. when we got to the village...we had to hunt someone down to open the door...then head to the doctor's house to pick her up. she examined the wife and realized the baby was breech...and they were going to have to take her by "ambulance" (a russian jeep the doctor's husband owns) to the aimag center.

we were unable to go with the family from there...but assured them we would be praying for them and asking God to bless them. we returned to camp and were welcomed by the rest of the family to an afternoon of (more) airag and salty milk tea. we took pictures and were invited back to visit on our upcoming in-country survey trip! it's so amazing...because without all the extenuating circumstances...we would have camped right next to this family and never even gotten to meet them...or had we camped somewhere else...who knows!? God is good, and we look forward to the opportunities He has for us to impact them in the future!

saihan naadarai!

this year is our first naadam...the yearly celebration of the three manly sports...wrestling, archery, and horse racing.

though we didn't get to partake in the festivities as much as we'd hoped...we were invited to our jijuur's (doorman/guard/building cleaner/there's really no good translation into english's) ger...which was a lot of fun...man did they LOVE our kids! they decided it would be a kick to dress us up in their dell and take pictures! they ever so sweetly said "they look great...look...they fit PERFECTLY!"...obviously...they LIED!! ;]

saihan naadarai! (have a great naadam!)

happy 4th!

well...it's the fourth of july...

and the only independence we're celebrating is that we're free from language school for the summer! :]\

abby and i tried to get in the spirit by making some red white and blue star cookies...that turned out pink white and teal...but hey...it's something! and tomorrow we get together with all the american ex-pats at an embassy hosted bbq. we'll take what we can get!

happy 4th of july everyone...light some fireworks for us!

close to home

last night around 8:30 our doorbell rang...it was a neighbor asking us to turn on the tv.

what we saw unfolding was something we NEVER expected in mongolia! less than a mile from our house, a mob of protesters were setting fire to the communist party building, throwing rocks, breaking out windows, overturning cars. it was all images i have seen a hundred times on the nightly news...but this time it was in our city...so close we could see the smoke out our front window.

it was all outrage over the elections this past weekend, and it was absolutely unbelievable to see!

everything has settled down today. there is a citywide curfew for the next four days and the military has the central road blocked with tanks and guns. we were able to get around today and take some photos...it was definitely eerie around the building, but the rest of the city was business as usual.

you can find out more about the story here: ulaanbaatar protests.