The 10 hour trip to nowhere

This past Friday I took a 10 hour trip to nowhere. The tale first begins with my excitement because I was able to catch a free ride with my school to Arvaikheer, the aimag, where there are 8 other volunteers. On Saturday there was going to be another English Olympics competition there.I was excited to help students and also to see my friends. Well, nothing comes for free apparently. As 23 of us all piled into the mini-van (called a mikro), I was worried that maybe I wouldn't be able to go due to a lack of room. It wasn't vital that I go, so I was going to be the first to volunteer to not go. I don't know why I doubted I'd be able to go because mikros are usually packed in! 23 people just seemed a little over the top though! Soon, we started to depart and I was happy despite being crammed. My counterpart Nomio commented, "My ass is sick!" haha. I told her that my ass hurt and was uncomfortable too.

After a little over an hour, the mikro stopped. I thought it was the normal flat tire and we'd soon be off in a matter of minutes. This was a wrong assumption, and I should know that nothing in Mongolia can be that predictable. There was something wrong with the car and it was more serious than a popped or flat tire. 22 of us hopped out of the mikro as the driver got down on the wet, muddy ground to look under the mikro. Just two days before, a cold front had swept through Mongolia so there was snow all around. Three days before it had been in the 70s, though of course it would happen to be cold as we make a mikro trip! As my favorite hashaa sister says, "Mongolian weather is like an angry, moody woman in the spring." Some students only had a light jacket on because they didn't think it would be that cold, though I had on my layers as I'm always a bit colder than everyone else it seems! The driver attempted to work his magic on the mikro and the rest of us looked for somewhere to get warm. As we walked over some low hills, I looked around and had this image of that movie, "Alive" flash through my mind. It's that movie in which the soccer players get deserted in the Andes because their plane crashes. The empty wide space and snowy mountains just made this similarity pop in my mind. I felt like I was in that movie and soon I would have to be eating people in order to survive. ha.

Over one of the snowy hills we came across a ger. We all walked towards the ger, though the Mongolians did with more caution than myself, whispering " Nohoi ban yy? Oh! Hoir nohoi ban!! (Is there a dog? There are two dogs!!" I always feel so brave when Mongolians get scared of dogs. Ha. We realized there was no one home inside the ger, but we decided to go inside anyway! About 17 of us piled into the ger and one student began to make a fire. I sat there laughing a little because it is just so strange to me that 17 people walk into someone's home without the owner being there, without the owner knowing any of us and we start to make a fire and heat up some tea! As one of the boys came into the ger, he told us all that the owner was coming. Nomio grabbed my hand and said with a light laugh, "OH! I'm scared! The ger's lord is coming and maybe he will beat us!" I laughed because I knew this wouldn't happen but at the same time I worried a bit that the owner might be a bit angry. I mean, who wouldn't?! Even though Mongolia has a strong hosting culture, it is still a bit rude to make yourself at home in someone else's home without them being there. An older woman came in and looked at us. One of our older teachers greeted her and asked how she was. The owner just said good and looked at us. She obviously wasn't too thrilled that 17 people just walked into her ger. She served us all tea and we all just sat there. When we first stopped the car it was 7 o'clock, and by the time we left this ger it was 1 o'clock in the morning. We were all cold, hungry, and tired. By 11 o'clock the woman's husband and three other men had come into their ger and wanted to go to bed, so about 17 of us (some others had left in a smaller car) were all piled onto one bed; some sitting on water containers and other random things. My fellow teachers would occassionally call the driver to ask where he was and if he was really coming or if it was hohdla yerek (lying talk) and to tell him that we were all cold, tired and hungry so he better be coming. We were relieved to be leaving that ger at 1 o'clock in the morning rather than not at all!

We started heading to Arvaikheer once again, though the car would get stuck for a moment in the mud. I worried that maybe going to Arvaikheer was a bad idea. The other mikro passengers began to talk about this and that maybe we should go back home to Kharkhorin. From what I gathered, I thought we were heading back home! After an hour of driving, at 2 o'clock, the mikro stopped once again. I asked Nomio what was going on and she said that we were trying to decide whether to go to Arvaikheer or back to Kharkhorin. I was so patient and even cheerful throughout this ordeal, though as we sat there for 30-60 minutes, trying to decide what to do, I grew a little impatient. One school director told us to go to Arvaikheer though the accompanying school's director said it didn't matter. The driver kept asking, "Haasha?! Where to?" to which the teachers would reply, "Medexhgui! Yamar hitsuu yom be! I don't know. Oh, how difficult this is!" lol. They even turned to me, asking, "What should we do?!" I didn't want to decide for them because this was their Olympics. I just asked if it was dangerous to keep going to Arv and how important this Olympics was to them. Well, after at least a 30 minute standstill we started going to Arv once again. I was just happy to be moving again! After about 40 minutes I heard a metal clinking sound and the driver got out of the car. Although we had decided to go to Arv, that metal clinking sound seemed to change our direction and we drove back to Kharkhorin. So after 10 hours, I ended up right back where I left from! lol. By 4:30 in the morning I was so completely relieved and happy to be snuggling inside my sleeping bag, in my own bed. I laughed to myself as I dozed off, just thinking of how ridiculous things are sometimes and how happy I am that Mongolia has taught me to be a happy person amongst these things.

The theme of this story: Travel in Mongolia is an unpredictable and adventurous feat. Be happy.