Airag adventures

My friend Todd and I are having a great time during his visit here. One of the things we've been doing is conducting water surveys in the countryside surrounding Hongor. This is part of the overall water project our ministry is working on, in cooperation with and support from the Mongolian government. As a result of the water contamination in Hongor (see previous posts), the government has essentially requested that we go to every single Mongolian home in Hongor and collect data on water usage and family health. It has even expanded to the entire state, and we now have an open door to do something on a national level. Although the cyanide contamination is specific to Hongor, water quality is a national problem. The survey data will be summarized into reports used by American scientists and water experts. We plan to follow up with providing water filters in the homes. It's been an amazing experience to be invited into every home.

Mongolians are very hospitable, especially in the countryside. Todd and I visited families in their countryside gers. Each visit has similar customs: we enter and sit on the left side of the ger (and if you're tall Todd, you bang your head on the low door frame), we introduce ourselves, and they begin serving us all manner of dairy products. The most common is milk tea and curd, but we've also been served cheese, milk cream, Mongolian vodka and airag. Yesterday we visited a family with a good number of horses, including the cutest foal who is only 2 months old (above). The woman let us watch while she milked the mare (also above-recall mares' milk is for making airag). Then we went to the next family who had an unusually large cow skin to make airag in (above). We each took a turn stirring the tasty concoction, and of course we got a sample. Mmm, mmm, good! Actually, Todd and I agreed it wasn't bad! Definitely the best airag (or should I say, the "least bad") that I've had in Mongolia. It was a good day.