Arriving in my new home, sweet home.

After an interesting arrival, life settled down quickly in my new town. Leah arrived and was impressed I had already met the entire police force and immigration. To be fair, they were all lovely and quite strapping. I moved into Leah and Andrew's flat and slowly settled into the nuances of Mongolian life. Outside the flat each morning is an old Mongolian lady who throws milk to the sky in a blessing. Milk men line the park on motor bikes, with jerry cans of the good stuff. The pervasive scent of mutton fat fills the air.  

 

With Leah and Andrew's place being delightful but way too intimate for a six week guest stay, I still needed a place to stay long term. Mongolian hospitality began to show itself in abundance. I was offered a small hut in the ger district out of town by a lovely family, who promised to have me for dinner and fill up my water containers when I needed it. But with no phone reception and a dog gauntlet into town, I had to turn it down. I was still holding out for a ger.

Leah and I headed to an NGO to ask for any accommodation leads. We walked into a big, white Soviet style building with a flaking paint job. The lights were on, computer screens lit up but it was completely deserted. We walked out the back yard to a ger. It was packed. In a ceremony for a volunteers, the workers had packed into the ger in a big circle. Vodka, cheese and Airagg (fermented mare's milk- once again as good as it sounds) were being passed around freely. A Morin Khurr (a traditional two-string horse head fiddle) was being played and people would take turns to stand up to lead a song. It was 10 am.

After a bit of Vodka, cheese and a bunch of introductions, I got roped into singing. Embarassingly, Waltzing Matilda was the only thing that seemed appropriate. Somewhat less impressive than the throat singing that preceded me. But on the plus side, it is also easily picked up on the Morin Khurr, leading to a rock n roll jam Mongolian style. It was all a bit rowdy and hilarious but as we left, I thought that would be the end of it. Later that afternoon, Leah received a call, stating that my fellow rock n rollers would be happy to assemble a ger for me and have me live in their yard. Win!