A ger is pretty much a glorified tent. It's a wooden lattice base, covered by a few layers of felt. And while it is significantly warmer than the outside, it still gets pretty chilly. My old site mates left me a digital thermometer to update me exactly how cold that cold is. Unfortunately the outside remote has stopped working...but when I think about it, I really don't care to know...
**Side note: Usually when I step outside I have an immediate grump face, and an overwhelming irrational fear that the cold outside will actually permanently freeze that expression on my face.
Usually when I go to bed, my ger is in the 90s, and when I awake in the morning, the temperature can range anywhere from 18-25 usually. Yes, I can see my breath... inside.
Here is a photo of an hour after I make my morning fire.
Fire: I bought a new stove this year, a more environmentally friendly stove that uses less coal and keeps the heat in longer...it's ceramic! I am still getting used to making fires with this stove...the process is completely backwards...you put the coal on bottom and the wood on top...how silly!
With this stove, you have to put all the coal in at once, so unfortunately, when the coal catches, it is extremely hot for a while... The thermometer above records the record high and low temps, and as you can see 114 degrees is no joke. However, this is not the record high of my ger...The inside of my ger has reached well above 130 degrees, which, if you are wondering, is hot enough to melt dried cheese curd and also hot enough to make this thermometer completely not work for 3 days.
It is tricky, because even though it might be so hot when you go to sleep, you have to not take off too many of your clothes layers, because when you wake up, there is...
Ice.
You know how you might invite someone to get a cup of coffee to 'break the ice'? Well in Mongolia, it takes a more literal meaning...Remember that story of how I have buckets of water sitting around my ger? Yeah, you have to literally break the ice in order to prepare your coffee.
To leave you with the words of Robert Frost:
**Side note: Usually when I step outside I have an immediate grump face, and an overwhelming irrational fear that the cold outside will actually permanently freeze that expression on my face.
Usually when I go to bed, my ger is in the 90s, and when I awake in the morning, the temperature can range anywhere from 18-25 usually. Yes, I can see my breath... inside.
Here is a photo of an hour after I make my morning fire.
Fire: I bought a new stove this year, a more environmentally friendly stove that uses less coal and keeps the heat in longer...it's ceramic! I am still getting used to making fires with this stove...the process is completely backwards...you put the coal on bottom and the wood on top...how silly!
With this stove, you have to put all the coal in at once, so unfortunately, when the coal catches, it is extremely hot for a while... The thermometer above records the record high and low temps, and as you can see 114 degrees is no joke. However, this is not the record high of my ger...The inside of my ger has reached well above 130 degrees, which, if you are wondering, is hot enough to melt dried cheese curd and also hot enough to make this thermometer completely not work for 3 days.
It is tricky, because even though it might be so hot when you go to sleep, you have to not take off too many of your clothes layers, because when you wake up, there is...
Ice.
You know how you might invite someone to get a cup of coffee to 'break the ice'? Well in Mongolia, it takes a more literal meaning...Remember that story of how I have buckets of water sitting around my ger? Yeah, you have to literally break the ice in order to prepare your coffee.
To leave you with the words of Robert Frost:
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
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