Summer Break

 

Our delicious "Sea & Shore Fruit Cake" 
by sister-in-law Yaedam

I last posted very soon after my birthday, which turned out to be premature on that topic.  Yaejin's family is in the habit of observing birthdays on the following weekend, and with 14 family members that means it isn't unheard of for two people to share a birthday. So this Saturday I shared with Ju-il ("Andrew"). Their family tradition is to bring out the cake before dinner, sing the song and blow out the candles (in this case we each blew out our half -- mine being the sand and his the water) and then set it aside before dinner. Then Yaejin's dad says "Ok, presents!" and everyone scatters off to go retrieve the presents they had stashed away for the occasion. These get brought back and piled up in front of the recipient in a somewhat chaotic but festive manner. We were given a fair amount of chocolate and other snacks I'm known to appreciate, and at the end her dad was like "and for our Andrew... money!" So i wondered whether they'd also give me money, which isn't quite the same for me as for a 15-year old! But instead he went, "and for our Daniel..." and pulled out a new phone! That was a huge shock and I really didn't know what to say. They told me since it is my first birthday here they wanted to do something extra, and extra it was. It was very nice of them and I think they all enjoyed keeping the secret from me, haha.

The following week (7/11 - 7/18) was a national holiday in Mongolia, known as Naadam. Normally this period would mark a time of nationwide feats of local horse racing, archery, and wrestling tournaments but this year the government decided to prohibit such festivities for Covid safety -- which was protested by the horse farmers (who apparently need the races to offset their costs) at the capital and counter-protested by health-conscious university students; neither with any discernable effect. Even without the events, however, most businesses took the week off and even more of the city-dwellers set out for their country-side homes, in addition to those who already went for summer break. Our own building was feeling kind of empty as most of the larger families also went out to remote areas so that the only kids left were those of our family. The kids at our church school had the month of July for summer break, which filled many more of our days with their activities and entertainment than under normal circumstances. Usually the church would all go on a camping trip together at some time during the summer, but again, all the usual plans are on hold. Personally I would have been happy to see some more remote areas, but I was quite glad not to be stuck away from our home, bed, and shower!  We did manage to get the kids on a few day trips, which they seem to have loved. 

I went on two of these outings with Yaejin's family + the Russian and Chinese Teachers. Both were beautiful days with fun activities in the crisp fresh air. Here are pictures from the first trip:

We eventually had about six of us up here. 
No one was hurt, although the Russian teacher gave us a scare when she
tried to join us and the branch she was grabbing broke. She said she was ok.

Youngest brother-in-law and I sitting in some tower we found with my oldest brother-in-law.

I thought I had posted this weeks ago. I don't want to make these entries too cumbersome and I want it out there, so I'll wrap this up for now.
There has been a lot going on this month, including an odd health scare for me and an impending job change, so please stay tuned for another update soon!