posted by Cinda
Our teacher called it a party, but we think it was a lesson in disguise! Whatever it was, the food was tasty, everyone was dressed up, and the singing and dancing were terrific. Toby wouldn’t wear his dell after the first five minutes, but aside from that, he had fun. The kids weren’t sure about most of the food, so thankfully there was plenty of fresh fruit and dessert to make up for the things they wouldn’t eat. Mark was called upon to answer a few Tsagaan Sar history questions, for which he was well-qualified since he’s gathered a lot of information about it lately. Some things never change!
We mingled, we wrapped and re-wrapped our dells, then we had the teachers re-wrap us, we learned about the foods, we ate the foods, and we enjoyed the traditional music and dance. Then, when we were sated and lulled into complacency, they tested our Tsagaan Sar greetings. I think we did okay. We find out tomorrow when we start visiting for the actual holiday. We have 3 days off school for the holiday. We have at least 4 invitations to visit Mongolian homes and will get to practice our language while we celebrate with our friends and their families. Everyone says we will be expected to eat boadz and drink milk-tea nonstop. We joked about having a weigh-in today and another one next Monday–too bad we don’t have a scale at our house . . . Maybe just “before and after” photos will work! The kids will be given a lot of candy — anybody know a good dentist?
It’s a huge privilege for us to be serving here. We are very thankful for so many things, among them the opportunities for our children to learn about Mongolian culture. Mongolia is a beautiful place with an intriguing history and amazing people. There is no doubt it isn’t easy to live in Mongolia, but God has used difficult circumstances to create incredible strength and perseverance in Mongolia’s people.
Mongolian Singing and Mooren Hor (Horse fiddle)
9 comments
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February 25, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Grandma Linda
The pictures are wonderful. What type of food do you eat during this celebration? Your dells are so colorful. They look like silk. Annika, are you learning Mongolian dancing as well?
February 25, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Sharon
I was wondering what the food item in the third picture is? Looks like everyone was having fun. I like to see photos of team members children playing together. Let us know how much you weigh by next week. Sorry, but I don’t know any dentists. Perhaps your team needs a dentist and hygenist added to the mix. Do you know of any potential candidates?
February 25, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Sarah
awesome pics. Have fun visiting! So is rewrapping each other’s dells something you do by way of a greeting? And the obvious follow up question to that is what do you wear under one of those, or do you do like the Scotsmen do?:)
Our boys were ho-hum about the story until the candy bit and now they want to head over there w/ Betsy. We’ll start processing everyone ASAP.
February 25, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Mark
The food is a combination of hoorack (mixed food with rice) some potato salad, sliced beef (traditionally lamb) known as “oats” and a hoser- fried meat pancake.
February 28, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Mark
the dell situation is that the fabric is silky (not silk, probably mostly a poly blend) and the cloth that is wrapped around it is nylon, so it constantly comes undone. Not to mention that the cloth is very long and is meant to be wrapped around you several times, so it’s just difficult for us non-Mongolians to get the technique right. Ladies will stop us on the sidewalk or outside a store and offer to fix it for us, especially for the kids’ dells.
February 28, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Cinda
FYI, that last comment was posted by Cinda
March 2, 2009 at 5:38 am
Sharon
Would love to see the dancing and hear the music played. The dancing looks so graceful. However, I doubt that I wll ever be there during Tsagaan Sar or any winter celebration. Perhaps there will be ceremonial dancing during the warmer months?
March 2, 2009 at 5:40 am
Sharon
Would love to see the dancing and hear the music played. The dancing looks so graceful. It’s doubtful that I wll ever be there during Tsagaan Sar or any winter celebration. Perhaps there will be ceremonial dancing during the warmer months?
March 2, 2009 at 5:43 am
Sharon
I heard that Matt??? messed up the website while I was trying to leave a comment, so guess it’s his fault that my entry was double-posted. Easy to say since I have no idea who Matt is or even where he is.