Gers and Horses = Heaven on Earth

Gers

My classmates are trying to teach me
how to do selfies!

Hannibal likes to go, go, go!

My Ger buddies!
Me, Nan, Paisley, Guiannina, and Callie

Beautiful sunset!

Huge, beautiful eagles flying everywhere

Me and my Professor Jerry

 My horse was named Hannibal - which truly reflected his spirit!  He was a feisty beast but I loved him!  He and I ran the hills of Mongolia faster than I have ever run on a horse before!  I LOVED it!

Callie, Scott, Jerry, Paisley, Me and Nan

Lunch back at the Ger

 They milk horses 14 times a day.  The milk is put into a big container in the Ger and stirred a gazillion times a day for a day and then rests for a few days.  The process is continued until the milk is fermented.  They drink the milk like we drink water (flies and all).  I tried some.  It smelled like my Grandma Wendy's homemade bread dough.  But it tasted like sweet vinegar.  I know that doesn't make sense but truly that is what it tasted like.  It was something I thought I might be able to get used to.  There are big barrels of the mares milk in the open market and people just down huge bowls full!

Got to milk!  It sprayed all over me and was sticky

Our guides!  

The guide on the left was the one who ran with me through the hills.  He kept whistling to my horse and Hannibal would run faster and faster.  It was amazing!

I have had the best weekend!  It was such a wonderful experience to go into the rolling hills of Mongolia and ride horses!  We slept in a Ger, which is a round home that can be packed up "easily" and moved from place to place as needed to keep their herds fed.  Maybe I will just start at the beginning of our trip to the country side.

The car ride to get there was probably the most scary car ride I have ever had in my life!  They went soooo fast, ran up over a curb and switched lanes constantly.  We got to the country on a crazy pot hole, dirt road. Then that night we ate a traditional mongolian meal of goat, potatoes, carrots and I even ate the liver -which was very tender and actually tasted good!  Before we could eat we had to toss the hot rocks that cooked our meal for us back and forth between our hands and then pass them to the person next to us to bring us good luck, healing and show appreciation for the goat.  We stayed up late and the men sang to us.  There is a cool video on mine and dad's Facebook as well as at the end of this blog, that shows the candle while they sing.  Listen to it!  it is soo cool!  They also did some throat singing for us which was amazing.  I stayed up and watched the shooting stars and thought about you all!  Then we slept in the ger which is the best night's sleep I have had here.  When I woke up In the morning there were cows laying right outside my door.   we had a big breakfast of eggs, toast, and flat scones- oh and rice.  rice with almost every meal! Then we saddled up and went for a two hour ride.  This was the best riding I have done since I had my own horse.  I told them that I used to compete and run barrels.  They put me on a medium horse to start with and we went off into the rolling hills.  When we were in to the ride just a few minutes one of the other horse took off with one of the girls and wouldn't stop till the guides caught up with her.  I offered to trade her horses which turned out to be very good for me!  I got her horse named Hannibal with one blue eye.  He was amazing!  I asked the guide how to get my horse to run and I ran the fastest I have ever run on a horse in my life!  The guide and I ran and ran and ran.  He asked me if I wanted to go faster and when I said yes he whistled to Hannibal is a certain way and we really took off!  I LOVED it!  These horses are small but sturdy!  Mongolian stock.  The horses are trained differently than our horses back home so I had to hold the reigns differently.  The clicking is different to get them to go and stop too.  So after our long ride, We went back and they fed us an amazing lunch that included rice.  Oh, and they drink a lot of tea and coffee here so instead of tea and coffee, we used jam in hot water with milk to make a tea and then one of the girls used their version of nutella to make hot chocolate.  It was really good!  The sadddle is different too and it kept hitting the inside of my legs so I am more bruised than I thought I would be.  It looks pretty bad. My"out in the country" experience reminded me of Man From Snowy River movie.  The hills are rolling and so green.  It is beautiful country.  I had a sweet experience while riding today.  A feeling of gratitude and peace come over me while I was riding .  I am so grateful for all of the beauty that Heavenly Father created for us.  Every thing I was enjoying today was here because of Him.  

Also, on the first day that I was here, we met a homeless boy and talked with him and bought him some lunch.  He was with a bunch of kids and we were walking by them, they eyed scotts pockets and started to follow him close so I hollered scotts name and he turned around right as the boy came up behind him.  So this boy said that he sleeps on the streets in the day and scavenges for food and money then does gaming all night.  We will be interviewing and talking to more homeless kids later this week.

Kind of off the subject but, it is 11:00pm sunday night here and there are still workers working outstide my window with a crane to build something on the back of the hotel.

The nuttela here is different.  It is even better than what we have at home.  I bought a jar to bring home.  You will LOVE it!

When we got home today, I showered and tried to use my straightener but it blew a fuse and burned my thumb. I won't be using that again and it may even have ruined my straightener   All the other things, like charging my computer, camera and even using the other curling wand has been fine.  Not sure why it did not work.  We had to look up the Mongolian word for electrical outlet to explain what happened to the hotel management.  My thumb may have a huge blister but at least there was no damage to the hotel.

Oh and I also peed in an outhouse that only had a hole cut in the ground so I had to squat over the hole.  Fun Times!  Actually after I squat peed, I realized there was a seat in the other stall but I actually preferred to squat because of the filthy condition of the seat.  

Sorry this picture is hard to tell what it is but- Yes this is the hole!!!

The Mongolian goat meat 

Potato and carrots

The rocks that cooked our meal....They were hot!

Our guide liked to show off!  He was amazing!

Something else I find interesting is the herd of horses are not fenced in yet they do not just run off.  They may run some when they don't want to be lassoed but they do not keep running.  They only run as far as they need to to discourage the men from catching them and then they come back to the herd.