Mom Visits and the Last Blog Entry Before Two Years is Up!

So, no more blog blow by blows, but i have a doosey in the chamber to present on June 11th when i wrap up 2 years of Peace Corps service so ill bring you up to speed a tad.

Since i last wrote school really really did wrap up this time. Kids are all out and gone now. Kids without work play basketball, and since it became June the Spring winds have died off at last, making the outside a truly wonderful place to lounge about on.

I got to see mom. She showed up to the airport via First Class and was the first off the plane with her friend Sheila. She was 50 feet away when she first saw me and she was already tearing up. My mom is quite the crier, happy crier but crier still! I was holding a sign that said "Crazy Mother Tour" and she was really letting it out. I shouted: "Your not allowed to freak out until you get out of the way of the foot traffic" I walked over to the side of the airport and mom hugged me and started to cry like mad. Full on, full blown crying. The type where you need to take pauses so you can breathe in deeper. Shed cry at my chest (i forgot how much taller i am than my mom) and shed look up, her face red and stained in tears and then just go back on to crying more. As this went on i had a view of the entire airport lobby...absolutely EVERYONE was looking at us. Seriously there were some people leaving the checking area who stopped to watch us. I just stood there smiling and happy. It was just great, everything i expected. I left my mother on the best of terms with nothing left unsaid, so to see her again...well all it brought was happiness. Good for me, and us.

So my mom flying via first class wasnt particularly uncomfortable or grungy as so many of us are when we fly cattle car (especially us tall folk) so with her and Sheila all doing fine (i had given the first day away to jet lag) i took her to the black market. On the busiest day of the year no less... okay so that was a bad idea, but it did mean i showed mom what UB really was like, not just the postcard pictures and stuff. Still, not smart really. Later that night despite being tired i made them stay awake to see "Altan Urag" at the restaurant. Another not so bright idea as her jet lag caught up to her. Didnt like it all that much, but i think it was just the jet lag talking. They were awesome as always.

Next day was a busy run of going to Bagakhangai and Erdene. The first thing that caught me off gaurd was that unlike me, my mother and Sheila were cold! The wind was doing what it always does, and my mom was not tempered to the weather as i am. Whops. So they saw the town, and my mom remarked on the ugly apartments and the outhouses and food available in the stores, and later she remarked it was at this point that... she finally really did believe me. My mom of all people knows i have been prone in my life to exxagerate certain conditions... and though she read about it all she liked it wasnt until your actually at the abandoned air force base looking at the ugly building and feeling that biting wind that you realize...yea this wasnt an act. This was everything i wrote down and a few details that you couldnt even begin to explain. Very cool

The meeting between my Mongolian and American mother was also a lot of fun. The parallels is staggering. It was also where i got to show off my Mongolian language skills as i acted as translater between my two moms.... hehe... i have two moms! It was at my mothers house that my american mom had her first ever Mongolian meal of Buuz. Couldnt quite say it right, but then again i didnt when i first got here either. Buuz were a little heavy for my mom, and the jet lag still threw her for a loop, but not all that bad actually.

So next i arranged for a bit of a big trip for my mother, Sheila and myself. Taking her just to the west of UB to a few travel spots even i hadnt been to before. Kharkorum, The White Lake and a herder camp. Five days, four nights and some camel and horse riding in between. Mom was terrified (i say that like thats unusual!) but Sheila and i strong armed her into it. It was the car that made the trip enjoyable. We were taking the Russian junkers. Those wonderful volkswagen looking thingys that look like they could withstand a nuclear fallout. In a space that usually held three it just held us. We loaded up on junk food and led by Baatar our driver off we went.

Camel riding.... meh, horses are better. You can control them a lot more and a camel really has no interest in you whatsoever. But since they kneel down it was much easier to get my mother atop one. Once up there we rocked our way out to a sand dune and click went all the cameras. Kharkorum was better... the ancient capital. Personally i enjoyed the Mongolian musisican we paid to hear later in our ger. Some dude (he said he was an air traffic controller!) could play all the musical instruments and throat sing. My mom and Sheila got a real royal treatment. It sounded absolutely amazing. I even got a video that i intend to conclude this entire blog with in a few weeks. Awesome and a true cultural moment even i hadnt had yet.

The White Lake was next. On our way we stopped at an old inactive volcano that once formed the Lake. Id never been here and it too was awesome! I actually climbed down into the funnel and got a picture taken showing just how big the thing is! Mom and Shiela took a more viewing angle! We reached the White Lake and Mom was thrilled that the outhouse actually had a seat to sit on..... oh and the lake was very pretty too! It actually was still partially frozen. We ate a little glacial water and were pretty sure that we were the only people at the White Lake. Seriously never saw another traveler during all of that... Private Lake, how nice. We tried fishing but came up empty, but the cold water of the lake helped us to cool our beer, so it worked out. It was also at the White Lake that my mom and Sheila got another culutral moment because i bought a Mongolian rock BBQ thingy. Click went the cameras... we had an amazing feast, and i taught them how to drink Vodka properly. Baatar and his friend were very impressed with my mom and her friend then.

On the way back there was endless amazing scenery, and all looked and was amazing. How cool indeed. I then put my mom on a train to China.....

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Ive traveled.... a lot. More than most, and my mother hasnt seen a site thats also in site of a beach...

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Ive been living less than a few hundred miles from it for over two years...

and somehow... my mother beat me to the Great Wall of China!!!!!!! Ah well... just strange is all.

After i got mom off safely i made my way back to Bagakhangai where i am now. On June 11th i leave Bagakhangai for the last time, and on June 20th this is all over.... At least this round.

Too many emotions going on to sort out. Its hard to pack, it really is. Not in terms of what to bring but realizing i wont be living in a ger anymore. Its... over?! So many others count the days, and i wonder where all of them went... wow.

Alright, lots more going on but is beezwax and its only got my name on it so we will leave it at that. This blog is almost at it end everybody (all three of you reading this)