Byamba and Sarangoo

We ate a breakfast of fried dough, yak butter, and milk tea at the stranger's house before leaving at 8:30.  We drove back out to the forested middle of nowhere that had been unoccupied last night, and thankfully, the Samaritan's Purse family was there!  It was the first time I visited someone in a ger. There were a million flies outside, but the stove in the ger kept out most of them, so after wandering and taking some pictures, I took refuge inside with the drying yoghurt (which, along with horse milk, is also not my favorite).  

The kids were less outgoing, but equally adorable.  When the girl who had heart surgery realized Gany would be taking pictures of her, she sorted through a barrel for a cuter outfit and had her sister redo her braids.

We only stayed for an hour or so, and after praying with them, we got in the car.  Which had a dead battery.  I assumed we were doomed, but Gunee and the father of the family had it going in just a few minutes.

After more driving and stopping at random gers to ask for direction, we arrived at Byamba and Sarangoo's ger around 2:00.  They knew we were coming sometime around this time of July, so every day they were ready for us to come!  I gave them the gifts from the Paulis and the letters from the Wrights.  They were super excited, and asked about Woodland.  They showed me the photo album that Steve and Candie had put together of their time in the States.  It was so weird to see pictures of Woodland in the middle of a steppe in Mongolia!  I admit, it made me kind of homesick.

I met some of Byamba's other children and her adorable grandchildren.  Her other daughter was just accepted into art university, and Byamba gave me a bunch of the pictures she had drawn and painted.  

Of course, we were given lots of milk tea, horse milk, and dried yoghurt.  I fell asleep for awhile, but woke up when Gany and four of the grandkids came screaming in.  They had been super hesitant around me at first, but once we played the "You Scare Me and I Scream" game way past its expiration point, they loved me.  Also, the youngest kid was naked the whole time, and it made me super uncomfortable.  I kept imagining being sued for wrong touching or the whole hygienic aspect of it, and...I am still USian at my core, I guess.

They slaughtered a goat and we all sat around outside and gnawed on it's legs.  I threw the fat to the dog.  Then Gany and I set off to take pictures of the yaks grazing, and a bunch of the kiddos came along.  We forded a stream and tried to sneak up on a baby yak, but that was unsuccessful.  We skipped back, and sang, and I was once again reminded of how much easier it is to connect with kids rather than adults when there is a language barrier.

When it got cooler, I wrapped my scarf around my shoulders, and the youngest girl went and got a towel to wrap around hers.  Cutest thing ever.  Several of the men played volleyball in a circle, and once it got dark, Gunee took me out to the horses, where they were being milked.  So weird.

Byamba laid out blankets on the floor of her ger, so Gany, Gunee, Gunee's brother and I slept there.  Gany and I woke up last, at 9:00.  We were served a huge breakfast, and Sarangoo hurried outside because some traders had just come by.  She traded a lot of her mom's dried yoghurt for a pair of pants, which was her promised birthday present from March 19.  

We were going to pack up the truck, but found out Byamba was cooking for us.  So only one hour after breakfast, we had rice and goat seasoned with garlic.  And oh my word, it was delicious.  I ate so much, and wished I were actually hungry so I could eat more.  We finished eating around 10:30, then had to say goodbye.  It was actually very sad.  I didn't expect to feel so close to them, but seeing familiar faces in a strange country is a powerful thing.

Luckily, I was coming up on three days of not showering and barely changing my clothes, so the thought of a shower made our parting far easier.

We drove back to Tsetserleg, dropped off Gunee's brother and picked up one of his female relatives who wanted to go to Ulaanbaatar.  We got coffee from the lovely Fairfield hotel, and the long drive back to UB was relatively uneventful, except for when we hit a bump so hard my coffee flung itself all over the back of the driver's seat and we knocked off a front head light.  Ah, Mongolian traveling!