A week ago Friday was a very special day for both Teresa & I.
Last Friday I was asked to attend my female Mongolian language instructor's father-in-laws Buddhist funeral. This was very special for be because 1 year earlier my Mongolian instructor's father passed away. I was asked to go to the morgue & the reception, but was not allowed to attend the Buddhist funeral. This time I was asked to attend everything, present at the morgue, at the funeral in the countryside & attend the reception.
I was asked to take two Mongolian gentlemen with me in my vehicle. One of them was a good friend of Bat (my language teacher's husband) & was a government official. The government official was wonderful because everything thing that happened he would explain to me what was going on & why Mongolians or the Lama would do what he was doing. It was an awesome learning experience for me.
The thing that is edged into my mind was when Bat was reading the account of his father & started crying because he was going to miss his father. We all were standing close together surrounding the open casket, crying for the loss of their father, father-in-law, brother, husband & dear friend. When everyone opened their tear filled eyes & saw me quietly crying with them they gave me a look of respect. They saw that I deeply care for them & their people.
There was one practice that everyone did after I watched them dig the hole, say our good-byes, cry together, lower the casket, cover the casket with dirt & cement the headstone in the ground that I did not feel comfortable with. The government official motioned to/invited me to participate in the last practice. I motioned to him that I didn't feel comfortable & he respectively motioned to me that "it was ok."
During the reception he introduced me to many people he knew, telling them that a was a really good guy & loved Mongolians. After eating our meal Bat gave me gifts & deeply thanked me for coming knowing that I am usually busy working at the community centre.
Teresa & Esme had a great day too. Three kids from the orphanage came to our place to hang out. This time it was awesome as Teresa put it because our home helper was there to help Teresa with her Mongolian. All 6 of them played games, laughed, taught each other both English & Mongolian as well as cooking a meal together. Teresa, Esme & our home helper were so happy that the kids came again & wanted to hang out at our place. The kids were at our place for 6 hours & Teresa felt that they were really able this time to communicate. It gets Teresa & I so excited when we are able to be there for people & really build relationship with them, at our home & elsewhere.