News From Mongolia 6-29-04

Phil just pulled out with Mindee. Mindee is his driver most all of the time. They are headed out for Hongor. One wonders what they can do today as it rained all day and all night and is still raining this morning. The major task at hand is the laying in of sewer pipe. The ditch that is dug is at least 3' deep which will keep the pipes from freezing over the winter. He was trying to figure out if he had enough rainy day projects to do for the day. He thinks that aside from a couple of projects and a bible study he needs to do for the men, he might be home early. He came home early yesterday.

We have found a small grocer who we like very much as she is a neighborhood lady, very sweet and is not blasting the air space with great kabooms of music. We have decided to buy from her as much as possible.

This morning I made pancakes for Phil's breakfast. We took some dried peaches and cut them up and cooked them in water with sugar and made a syrup. It was not bad. I have been working on my baking skills. I haven't tried bread, but is on my mind to try my hand at making pizza. A bit of back home, if it works out.

The grassy mall out in front of our building is looking greener with the rain. It was fairly brown when we first got here. I think we have trees becasue the Russians planted them. Darkhan is a town that was built by the Russians in the 1960's. We are about 150 or so miles north of UB (Ulaan Bataar). UB is the capital of Mongolia and Darkhan is the next largest city. There are 2 1/2 million people in Mongolia. 1 million live in UB. I am not sure yet what the population of Darkhan is and the rest live in the countryside. If you get out in the country you will see Mongolia much as it used to be. They are a nomadic people. They have cattte, camels and horses. For the most part, they heard sheep or horses. The herders live in gers (yurt is the Russian word, but the Mongols do not like their word). A ger is a portable round house with a hole in the middle for the smoke to escape. The say they can put one up in about a half hour. It is a wooden frame with lattice work on the side. Over that is thick felt from the sheep's wool and then canvas. The hole in the top is about 4 feet in diameter. That leaves enough light to see, especially if you leave the door open. If it gets too hot, you raise the side wall of the ger, much like they do with a tent. There is generally always a breeze. The furniture inside is usually painted in red with orange, blue and white design. The floor is usally painted in the orange color; and the doors are often painted red.

The blue color is a favorite and we have seen it in the fabric and scarves they tie around their shaman rock piles (high places) and at the big stone or concrete Budha that sits on the hill overlooking the city. I saw a budhist priest the other day. He looks just like the ones you would see in the media.

There are a lot of Mormons in Mongolia and several in Darkhan. Apparently the ladies all were black skirts. I had such a trouble when packing whether to pack my black skirt. And I left it at home as my brown shoes are more comfortable and I didn't want to pack another pair of shoes. Today, I am grateful that I did not bring my black skirt, lest I be taken for a mormon lady.
Well, I need to get on with dises and housework and some Bible study, so will sign off for now God bless you and thank you for praying for us.

Mary

[ June 16] [ June 20 ] [ June 22 ] [ June 26 ] [ June 29 ] [ July 1 ] [ July 15 ] [ July 16 ] more to come