NaaDam! 7/10/2013

Naddam was fun! I dressed up and not so surprisingly all of the older people were thumbs-uping me and giving me high fives. It was pretty amusing.  We made it in time to watch the opening ceremonies. There was some major dancing going on. I loved it! Some people were dressed in Delle’s, and other people were not. There were some gorgeous delle’s that people had made. I figure I can do that in the near future as well. There was so much going on at Naddaam.  There was archery, horseracing, and dancing while we were there. Ger’s were set up as restaurants and you could order a variety of foods (hoosier, a vegetable and sometimes meat stuffed bread seemed to be rather popular). They also had fermented mare milk and arrow (a type of hard cheese also made out of mar milk). It was interesting but not something that I would go out of my way to buy. It is very tart. Sadly, Shammar CYD PCV’s as well as the Health PCV’s had to leave around 1:30 or 2 because we had afternoon class at 2:30 back in Shammar. On the way home, I was taken to Salink, the opposite way of class. It was a confusing and frustrating moment; especially since I arrived 45 minutes late to class; however, the Peace Corps teachers completely understood because at one time or another they have also been kidnapped by their families. It was a hard lesson for me, because I really value control over situations and at that moment, I had absolutely no control. It is a great lesson to learn early since time is not as important in the Mongolian culture, as it is in the American culture.