Yesterday morning there was the usual fish mixed with eggs, and also a bunch of meat on a bed of lettuce. My host dad told me to try the new dish. I asked if it was meat, then asked if it was sheep head. The and the answer to both of those questions was yes. I proceeded to try the meat, and was pleasantly surprised with what ever sauce he used. Although, I have to admit I was not a fan of the slimy texture. Next step is to order an entire sheep head from a restaurant just for the experience. It is a delicacy that is not eaten all that often, but unquestionably unique to Mongolia.
I just got done watching the five-part youtube video of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern in Mongolia. You should watch it if you want to have a visual of some of the very odd things I’ve eaten. I had watched it prior to my arrival in Mongolia, but I have been wanting to re-watch it just to see how much of this I have personally encountered. I can totally relate to his experiences with dairy products.
Yesterday afternoon Juli, Thea, and I went to a Fair Trade gift shop. I have to say it was one of the coolest shops I have been into yet, and the fact that it was Fair Trade made me so excited. I will definitely be going back to get gifts before I leave! Walking around the city again has reminded me how many stray dogs there just roaming. Makes me sad, but few people have dogs as pets here.
I forgot to mention a few things that happened last week. First, when we were staying in the ger camps, before we went to bed one night Thea spotted a mouse near the door. So we opened an empty Pringle can and it walked right in. It was actually really cute and looked like a hamster because it didn’t have a tail. Then we put the little guy back outside, but the poor thing was probably cold because that was the night of the snowstorm. The second story goes back to Bayan Khongor when we were at a restaurant, and I wanted to practice my language skills by asking for rice, so I said “будаа”, it sounds like buddha. A few minutes later he comes out with a carton of juice called “Fruita”. It was pretty funny because stuff like that happens often. We all laughed and ended up having to point at the menu as usual. Foreign language problems…
Letters from UB 