Christmas in August (Mongolian Style!)

When Big D got back from Monogolia a couple of weeks ago, he came bearing gifts…

It was a lot of fun going through the stash because most of the items he chose had a story attached, and it was interesting to hear about the culture of Mongolia as told by its wares.

For one, it is hard to get good coffee in Mongolia.  Just ask Bernie, who is trying to run a good, quality coffee shop in its capital city.  They do have, however, MacCoffee, which is single cup of coffee (cream and sugar included) in a little packet.  All you do is add hot water.  It is pretty good.  Dirty Harry drinks them with extra cream, if that tells you anything.  MacHotChocolate and MacGreenTea is also available.  The kids love the chocolate, but the green tea strangely tastes a little like soap.

He also brought back authentic, non-soapy-tasting  green tea, cute little mugs, and a press/brewing thingy…

The thing is I’m not a huge fan of green tea.  Except for, I’ve now discovered, in this form…

Green tea Kit-Kats.  Bliss.  Once you get past the fact that your candy bar is neon green, it is bliss.  Pure bliss.  And sadly we haven’t discovered a way yet to get them here in the states.  So if any of you are traveling to Asia in the near future I will pay handsomely for a case of these babies.

Wool items are big in Mongolia.  Because, for one, they have a lot of sheep, and two, it’s cold most of the time.  Both of the kids got hats, which I forgot photograph, and I got a really cool shawl thingy (which was actually made from camel fur).  Big D got all the partners at his office traditional Mongolian hats.  There is one female partner, and she got this….

I’m sure she’s wearing it all over Nashville.

Above is a wool perpetual calendar.  The little gehr (Mongolian tent)  slides along to display today’s date.  And at the bottom it is adorned with pieces of sheep bones.  Monoglians do not waste, so when they have some spare bones, they hang them on their calendars.  Clara, by the way, is very plagued by those bones.  About every other day I catch her licking them.

A little wooden doll.  We also have a wrestler and a little clown-like person.  The above one is now in Indiana Mimi’s dining room.

Paper art is also very popular.

The above is an elaborate form of origami.  The figures are based on a popular Mongolian folk tale where the animals all want some kind of food at the top of this tree, so together they make a ladder to reach and share it.  Big D wanted it for his office as a reminder of team work and comraderie.  Well, somewhere on the trip back home, the rabbit decided he had had enough of team work and hopped down.  Big D thinks he can be glued back, but the little quartet is currently sitting on my mantle like that, which means they will probably be there, unglued, until 2013.  Because that’s how we roll.

This ornament was made from discarded beer bottles (thanks, Renee!!)…

It serves as a good reminder to pray for Mongolia because alcoholism is major problem in that country.

I saved the best for last….

A goat leg whip.  And I thought Clara was bothered by the bones.  This thing still has the fur!  It may very well be the solution to our house-training woes… (I jest.  Do NOT call PETA.)  Hey….Arby, maybe you could smuggle one of these into Wrigley Field some time…?

I’ll have more on Mongolia soon hopefully.  Between jet-lag and having to be back at work, Big D has been hard-pressed to get all of his photos in order.  I’m sure you’re just dying to know what he did with all those lights.  In the meantime, he has a good sampling of photos posted here for your perusal.