To the dacha!

About a month ago I spent a few picturesque days at a countryside home with my co-workers and policy analysis students. Khaatnaa, my co-worker at the Millenium Development Goals project, and his wife Bilgee invited us to their dacha for a weekend of food, rest, and friends. Khaatnaa and Bilgee recently bought their weekend home in a dacha village north of Ulaanbaatar where many other Mongolians escape the hustle of UB. If I were to move to UB, I'd promtly buy a dacha and commute.

This is our only real successful attempt at a group photo, kids and all. The timer caught Mogie en route to his spot. His young son is named Ulaana, which means "red hero." He shares this name with Ulaanbaatar, which was named in the 1920's in honor of the communist victors.

It's traditional for men to slaughter, skin and butcher goats and sheep, and in some cases, prepare the entire dish. Here Mega and Naidan prepare the goat to be boiled with herbs and vegetables. Then everyone sits around the cooked dishes while the oldest male in attendence hands out portions. Guests are fed first, then men, then older male children, then women, then smaller children. Everyone is given a rib and we suck away - down to the marrow, which is considered tastiest. I don't have photos of us eating - we were too messy.

Later, Tungaa, Aryuka, Yoshie and I prepared khurshur, which is either ground mutton or beef and green onions inside a pastry, which is then fried. It's delicious and addictive, like little meat doughnuts.

As we cooked, the boys played on the porch.

Three-fifths of the MDG 9 team (Yoshie, me and Khaatnaa), plus Bilgee

Each huge meal was topped of by a walk and games in the woods. The next day we passed around the airag which is the famous fermented mare's milk eveyone loves. It's slightly alcoholic, due to the fermentation, and a staple of the Mongolian summer diet. It tastes like one would imagine fermented mare's milk to taste like. Strange dairy and all, it was a very happy weekend.