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GEO-Mongolia
Real-life experiences from Mongolia
You might be in Mongolia if...
... red meat isn’t limited to beef (horse, sheep, camel and goat are common).
... milk isn't limited to cow's milk either (yep, all the above can be and are milked).
... you put perishables in the window sill instead of the fridge.
... you have to step around dead dogs while walking downtown.
... your floors are bright yellow and your walls are painted swimming pool blue.
... when someone knocks at the door and you ask, "Who is it?" they answer "Men [it’s I]" even if you don't know them.
... you have to watch out for cows when you go to take out the trash.
... you never know when people are going to show up or when they're going to go home again.
... the walls and roof of your house are made of dirt.
... neighbors pile dung onto the roof of their house to dry out and use for fuel later.
... you clean your toilet with a shovel (blowing sand and dust, not--well, other things).
... your toddler has her ice cream snatched out of her hand by a giant hawk.
... you pour sheep's milk into your morning coffee and think it tastes good.
... cleaning the yard involves touching bones. (Samson so readily finding a donkey's jawbone used to seem odd.)
... someone asks your foreign guests if they intend to ride horses to America.
... your toilet has no door or roof (a breezy place for star-gazing at night, not to mention a great work-out for those thighs).
... you're served mutton, horse and yak meat all on the same platter.
... your children are given baby goats as parting gifts.
... you have to learn (the hard way) to duck through every door frame in the house (about five feet high).
... your kid picks up a hairy cow hoof still attached to a bone in her own yard and waves it around.
... your salt bowl is just as big as your sugar bowl (salt for tea, you know).
... a cow leaves a "pie" in your yard and you think, "Hey, I could use that!"
... driving out of town requires a 4WD.
... your three-year-old refuses to use regular white toilet paper when it's offered to her, saying, "This isn't toilet paper...it's soft!"
... the local freeway is the frozen river (winter only).
... you put on snow pants just to run out to use the toilet.
... the most common greeting after "hello" is, "Is your house warm?"
... your neighbors know exactly how many whole animals and kilos flour they consume in a month.
... serving a cooked sheep's head is a way to honour a guest.
... you can hear the dish or hand washing water freezing up as it hits the ground.
... your trash can (new three gallon metal bucket with lid) is laughed at as a sign of excessive wealth.