Weekend tales

The shower house

There is a shower house in Bayankhongor that I sometimes go to.  You gather up your shower things and your clean clothes and take a hike across the dusty plains to the building.  It is about a 15 minute walk for me. This past sunday, I went and had a splendid shower.  After I was finished, I dried off, and was pulling my clothes out of my bag to get dressed, when I realized...I forgot to bring underwear.  I was not planning to go straight home afterwards, but instead did some grocery shopping...which I did, commando.  No big deal really.  

I stopped by a friend's house on the way (who has a blow dryer so my hair wouldn't freeze) and before leaving for the market, I visited the outhouse.  Now usually when I am wearing 3 pairs of pants in the winter and go to the outhouse, I prefer to take the time and pull all my layers up separately, to ensure maximum comfort, with no layer bunching...well on this particular outhouse experience, I had forgotten that I wasn't wearing any underwear, and had a little freak out moment when I couldn't find my underwear to pull up.  It may not sound like that big of a deal, but when it is freezing outside, and you want to pull your pants up as quickly as possible, you don''t want to waste time looking for underwear that isn't even there.

The well 

I also took a water trip to the well on Sunday, to fetch a pail of water...and that's when I saw the pupsicle that is next to the well.  What's a pupsicle you ask?  It is a puppy that froze to death...yes, the name is a little harsh, but it is a way to deal when you have to see these types of things everywhere you go.

Also outside of the well, there were little seven year olds running about and playing, and of course, when the foreigner walks up, they are all my instant best friends.  They stood around me as I filled up my containers asking me all sorts of questions, and when I was done, they really wanted to push my water cart home for me.  They were really small children and the task was hard for them, but they really insisted, so I let them.  So two of them set off pushing the cart, but they couldn't steer it too well, and then the cart got stuck when they accidentally ran over the dead puppy.

Another puppy tale.

While at the market to buy food, there was a big pile of trash that had built up, and a small puppy dead beside it.   It's body was half on some trash, and its head was hanging upside down on the ground.

Now, from what I have learned here in Mongolia, is that it is Mongolian tradition that when you see a dead animal, you can spit at it in condolence, as if to say, 'I am sorry you are dead, but I am not the one that did that to you.'

I will let you assume the next part of the story and fast forward to the end.  Let's just say that puppy was NOT, in fact, dead.