the good ol' bark and spit

1. three part scary story

part one: the outhouse is aptly named because it is outside, and even though it stays light outside here until 10 pm, if you have to go to the bathroom after that, you have to go outside...in the dark.  better take a flashlight.

part two: Of the numerous amount of shots that I have gotten here in Mongolia, two of them have been rabies shots (and I will be getting a third rabies shot in a week).  There are quite a lot of dogs running aroung the streets, and some of them are vicious. During our orientation, it was drilled in our heads that these dogs do and will bite...and if you get bit, you have to get even more rabies shots directly in the wound.  Bartok, the dog, has a gang that she runs around with, and there are always a ton of dogs in and around my hasha (yard), and there are tons of dog fights that just happen because of it.

Part three: Around midnight one evening, I went out to use the outhouse, and walked out into a dog pack in my yard.  it was terrifying.  I shined my flashlight directly on them as I made my way to the outhouse, taking the long way there.  I took safety in the enclosed outhouse, and as I did, a huge dogfight broke out.  I could hear all the snarls and biting that was going on, and I tried to wait until it died down a little to leave, but I didn't want to stay in the outhouse forever.   When I did start my journey back to the house, I used the same flashlight strategy, but the out of no where, this random dog started running straight towards me, mouth open.  I quickly changed my flashlight placement, and made big 'threatening' stomps, and luckily the dog went towards the gate... I focused my attention to the rest of the pack, and made it safely back indoors.  Terr.i.fy.ing.

In more recent news, Bartok is now preggos, so the dogs hang around the house less.

2. the basics

peace corps gave all of us a 'guided activity sheet' of things to do with our host families, so that when we live by ourselves, we can survive.  Activities like 'hand wash clothes,' 'make a fire with wood and dung,' 'kill an animal for food,' you know, the basics.  I have been slowly checking off my list, and this morning, I accomplished the clean the carpets and floor to a home.  For this, in some confusing charades, my host mother told me to get the broom, and then she puffed up her cheeks and slowly acted out spitting out water by blowing the air out of her mouth.  I was, of course, bewildered, and did not know what she meant.  She then led me to get some well water, and then put some in her mouth, and made me put some in mine.  Then, onto the carpets in my room, she spit that water right out of her mouth to spray on the carpet.  Me, with water in my mouth, could not hold in my laughter, and had to run to the nearest open window to choke and get the water out of my mouth.  Then, upon further instruction, put some more water in my mouth to try again.  My host mom once again demonstrated, and with a similar conclusion I laughed.  The next time, I gave it all my effort, and failed to spray water out of my mouth, but rather it just cascades directly onto the floor in a puddle.  I tried one more time before trying to tell my host mother that I am incapable of purposely letting liquids exit my mouth in such a manner, I was then told to get the tupin with water, and from there, we dipped the broom and swept the rug with a wet broom.

look how clean that rug is!