The rest of Tsaagan Sar – Saturday, Sunday, Monday – briefly, sort of

Saturday was by far my busiest day. It began with confusion. I had gotten up to go to Shurenbolor’s home at 9am. That time came and went as I tried to find small things to do that I could easily quickly stop and be ready to leave. By 11 o’clock I decided she wasn’t coming and went to the office to send some emails. Around 1pm I came back and as I was preparing to shave all of a sudden Batgerel appeared in my room, decked out in his shiny blue del. I was so confused. He wasn’t supposed to show up until 3pm. I guess it worked out though right? The first person was a no-show so he, without knowing it, made up for it by showing up early.
Through the course of the day I ended up going to 5 different homes, all relatives of Batgerel, or “Batush.” By the end of the day I was not sure when I was supposed to do the official greeting followed by giving a gift as in some homes it was done and others it was skipped over. The constants were the tea, meat, salads, buuz, vodka and all the visitors/guests receiving a gift from the host. I came home with 2 notebooks, two different fancy chocolates from Poland, a pen, a picture of Chinggis Khan, and a miniature ger.
It was an interesting day because Batush knows very little English. It was hard watching him search through his limited catalogue of words to try and find a way of explaining things to me. We usually found a way, somehow, to communicate the gist of things to each other. A highlight of the day was when he took me to the river at runs a little outside the city. He brought me there between the 4th and 5th homes when I was beginning to feel tired from being around so many people, especially in unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable settings. It was great timing, serving as a refresher for me. The river was solid ice. We ran and slid on it as the sun set in the background, illuminating the white hills in its pink glow. It was ridiculously cold as the wind wafted over the ice, freezing my ears and my hands whenever I took them out trying to capture the serenity. On the way back I saw some kids playing “Red Rover”, I had no idea it was an international game.
Sunday I went to Ganaa, the Team Leader’s/ADP Manager’s apartment after church. I really enjoyed playing with her two children, ages 1 and 3. Her uncle came over and seemed really interested in what I thought about my experiences thus far and also in the US. I learned that his family is nomadic, they move with each season through the year, a total of 4 times. He invited me to visit him in the countryside during summer but when it came out that I would likely be gone before then he decided to have me over to his ger on Monday. We went to 2 other homes that evening.
Monday evening I went to Ganaa’s uncle’s ger with one of the staff, Solongo or “Soko”, as my interpreter since Ganaa’s plans changed last minute. I met Ganaa’s uncle’s mother (I guess that would make her Ganaa’s great aunt?) who was 94 years old. That is quite uncommon for Mongolia as the average lifespan is about 65 years. They were telling me that her memory was still good and she was strong in health. They proudly showed me letters that she had received from government leaders—the president, the province governor, and the city mayor—thanking her for her long year of living in peace and contributing the country. Later I felt dumb because I didn’t grab the opportunity to ask how Mongolia has changed in the last century.
All in all I visited 10 homes in 3 days. I’m guessing I ate probably close to 100 buuz.
I think that this holiday is really a special time because it emphasizes togetherness and giving. This is the one time of year where families spend time with each other when they are normally living in all parts of the country. The hospitality is amazing, each family has so many people over, including strange foreigners like me that they can’t figure out. In addition to providing everyone food, they give everyone gifts. That’s a lot of giving. There is plenty of receiving too. All the kids in the apartment buildings knock on all the other doors in the complex, collecting their booty, kind of like Halloween.