Today was a hard one. I started it at 4am with Esme not being able to sleep. I went into bed with her to see if that would help her fall back asleep, but she was totally wide awake. So we got up to see if watching a Franklin DVD would tire her out to go back to sleep. Nope, she was not falling asleep. So when 6:45 came woke Kiel up to start his day, make breakfast & get him out the door for school.
I then went to my best friend/instructor's home in the ger district for my Mongolian lesson. When I arrived to his home, entered his hasha (fence) & noticed that Bailie, his 6 month old puppy did not come running to lick me as usual. I went around to the door & it was opened. Bailie was inside the outer door, wining & looked very sick. I went into the house & met my friends mother at the door & asked (in Mongolian) what happened to Bailie. She said that she didn't know, but she had not eaten in 4 days. My Friend/instructor entered the room & I could tell he was hurting. The dog went to the vet twice, but the drugs had not worked. We sat down together & drank our tsutea tsea (Mongolian hot salty, milk tea) & 30 minutes later Bailie stopped wining. We opened the kitchen door & watched her die.
I asked my friend if he wanted to go out because I had to do one thing. He was happy to leave the house. It is really hard when you are with your best friend, watch someone he loved die & know that he wants to cry, but feel he can't. Please pray for my friend. He has experienced many loved ones dieing. His younger brother, father, many cousins, aunts, uncles, both his dogs & oldest sister. I can see in his eyes that having to deal with so many deaths has really affected him. Today I didn't say much to him, but as we walked downtown put my arm around him.
Most Mongolians have to deal with many people (family, friends) & their animals (pets, herds) dieing in their lives. For the most part everyday I get an e-mail or a text message from people asking me to pray for them or their family because there has been a death. Dealing with death & grief is a normal part of Mongolian life.