Last weekend Teresa the kids & I went on a 4 days camping trip in the countryside to get away from the heat, business of the city & just to spend time together as a family. You can see some of our pictures in the slideshow on the right side. I have to say that camping in Mongolia is nothing like camping in Canada. In Mongolia all you have to do is drive & when you see a place that you like you just stop, make sure it is not a special Buddhist prayer mountain/place & set up camp. Teresa, the kids & I wanted to be able to cool off so we decided to go close a freezing (10 degrees Celsius) mountain fed river. We called our friend that had an off road 4x4 van & off we went. To get to our spot we had to drive through the lower part of the river 3 times & 1 time almost got water in the doors of the van (water almost waist deep.)
The 1st night Aunt Jenna & Tuya camped with us which was lots of fun. However, because Mongolia is basically entirely arid - desert land (hot during the day & cold at night) the night temperature dropped down to 6 Celsius. Teresa & the kids were freezing. The second night was better. Two Mongolian families came to camp also right next to us. They blasted the "Back Street Boys" from 8pm that night until 2:30am. They stopped at 2:30am because I had enough & went over to them & told them they needed to turn the music off because we needed to sleep. The third night I was woken up to a Mongolian horse rider asking me if this was my campfire & tent while sitting on his horse.
I was talking to the Mongolian rider in Mongolian while in the tent & when I came out of our tent to continue the conversation he was so apologetic. Based on my Mongolian (while I was in the tent) he thought I was Mongolian. Next he asked if my wife was Mongolian. When I replied that my whole family was Canadian, he again apologized. He told me that his ger (home) was across the river because it was so late his horse would not let him cross. He then asked if there were other Mongolian families sleeping near by. I told him there were & he thanked me.
The reason why this Mongolian horse rider asked if the fire & tent were mine is a big part of their culture. If I was Mongolian or my wife was Mongolian I would have had to offer this man a place to sleep & a meal in the morning so that he could continue on his journey. Every Mongolian that lives in the countryside does (has to) many times a year. Some people they know, but many they don't know. It is even true for Mongolians that live in the city. If their family or a families friends friend needs a place to stay for a night or 3 weeks. They culturally must welcome them in & feed them.
Although we did not get really any sleep the days of resting, eating over the campfire, using the bathroom next to a tree (you have to use it like all the other animals around) & swimming in the river for hours was awesome. We came back with dirty clothes, smelling like campfire, tired, but relaxed from the fun we had as a family together. Oh, only in Mongolia does your tent pole snap from a cow. A herd of cows while we were swimming in the river decided to check out our camp & eat our campfire leftovers. In the process 1 cow tripped over a tent fly line & fell on our tent breaking a pole. We were laughing. The tent was only 2 days old & a cow broke it. Well we are Mongolian & just duct taped the pole back because it is not like we can take it back on apart of the cows doing. Life is crazy here from time to time & you learn to laugh at this stuff.
We have not had hot water for 12 days now which in not that bad considering that the temperatures this week have been 34, 36, 39, 40, 42, 41 Celsius in the city not at the airport (the internet temperature shows) which is out of the city. I boil 3 kettles of water & add some cold equaling 8 letres of water in the tub. The kids get washed 1st then me. Not bad 8 letres of water & 2/3 people can get cooled off & clean (body & hair washed.) We live in the land of crazy extremes -45 (without windchill) in the winter & +42 in the summer.
Some good news came this week by the president of JCS International asking if Teresa & I would be our home groups new leaders. She said that our family is loving, welcoming, hospitable & caring. Our responsibilities would include organizing/preparing our weekly "home group/study" meetings, welcome new short term/long term people, have them for meals, make them feel as comfortable as possible, show them around, help them find apt/other things they may need. We are excited because it is what we enjoy doing for others.