We went to the countryside yesterday, it was so beautiful! Green hills as far as you can see with little pockets of trees here and there. We also got to eat in a ger (traditional circular tent)

The food has been great! We had mutton (old sheep) for dinner and after the meal they had these hot rocks that they wanted us to pick up and toss back and forth with our hands. They said it was traditional and helps you sleep or something. We all took a big bus outside of the city and drove for an hour or 2 to get to the place in the country where we ate food and rode horses 🙂 we stopped along the way so people could pay money to hold birds..

There was an eagle and a vulture. It kind of made me sad that the eagle was on a rope. I loved the country though. Absolutely beautiful.

I have been surprised by how slow the pace is here. I’m so used to going from one thing to the next. The culture here has reminded me a lot of America, at least with the younger crowd. They said 100% of Mongolians have Facebook and are on it an average of 4 hours a day. They also dress like us and have picked up similar American habits. There are so many different restaurants here too, Korean, BBQ, coffee shops, some fast food. It wasn’t until we got to the countryside that we really got a traditional meal. Most of all I am surprised by how nice the Mongolians are. They are very gracious and go out of their way to help you.

On a side note, we finally got hot water in our hotel after a week of not having it lol needless to say, after a long day of horseback riding and hiking, it was perfect timing! Our day today will look like team time at 10, then lunch. After that who knows since it’s raining today. There is English practice tonight at Papa Cafe which we probably will go to. Life here starts picking up around noon, so before that not a lot of people are out and about.

Will post more later!