ChIlDrEn Of ThE CoRn!

After a long day at work, Brittany and I decided to have dinner at my Ger with her very female puppy (females are not a common choice for Mongolians). En-route, we met a very cute 8ish year old child. What we thought was an innocent compassionate moment for a girl soon became “children of the corn”-esque. At some point along the way, I had asked this girl numerous times where she lived and, each time, she indicated that she lived in my general direction. Approximately 20 minutes into our walk, a plethora of children, (approximately 20) started walking in the direction of my Ger. For a moment I was concerned I would be entertaining these children in my Ger and a huge sigh of relief washed over me when we waved goodbye, and they all left. After utilizing the bathroom,  I walked out to the same cute 8ish year old child staring at me like she was the girl from Carry. Nasha (go in) I pointed to my Ger, At the precise moment (timed perfectly) my English speaking sister made an appearance. I told informed her about the stalker child, and she came into my Ger to find out where she was from and what she was doing. “It’s my DOG, I have no home, and I have no parents” were what she said as she clung to Brittany’s dog.  Chocking the poor pup, It became clear quite quickly that the childs death grab would no subside until we allowed her to leave with the dog. It also became quickly clear that this child was not telling the truth about the dog because she did not want us to go meet her dad (who had supposedly give her the dog). Approximately 45 minutes later of attempting to (use the mother’s voice) on her, she finally left only after we had clarified that this  was a female dog and her dad had given her a male dog, and after promising we would obtain a new dog for her and have it ready in my office the following day. The child did not show up, I assume she  figured out I worked at her school and was terrified to make another appearance.

            Later, after Will came over and we started to cook, I had another visitor that came into my Ger with my sister. She was demanding money for the food that had been dropped off. I attempted to explain that I in fact, had no money on me and was not going to go to the ATM in the middle of the night (it was about 9:30) to get it. I also explained that while I could give her some of the money, the Peace Corps only gives you a limited amount for wood and I would need to talk to them to see when the rest of the money would be distributed. She did not like this answer and after 15-20 minutes of me saying I do not have the money, and answering her questions about my finances, she finally left.

It was a crazy night full of unexpected Mongolian visits and I can't wait to see what the next drop in brings.