sheep ankle bones = fun times

Sister Munkhnaran, Sister Battsetseg, and Sister Nelson (Wheatley!). Their names don't change, just mine.

Shagai is played with sheep ankle bones. Similar to some kind of dice game, but much funner. Munkhnaran wanted me to make sure I noted that her husband (the one in purple) won. Her mother-in-law gave us a set that we are bringing back. We didn't think we'd slaughter enough sheep ourselves to collect a whole set of bones!

Best RM party ever! Look at us, all married and everything. :) We had dinner and played shagai (see below) at Joshua and my apartment on Sunday afternoon. They approved of my cooking even, so I was happy. It is fun to see my good friends doing so well and married to great boys.

We got her a BYU snuggly blanket.

We had a great weekend in the city. Friday we spent mostly all day with Munknaran and her two moms (Mom and mother-in-law). She lives with her husband's family. And her mom was visiting there too. Sadly, Munkhnaran gave birth to her cute baby boy too early and after a week he went back to heaven. "He was just too perfect," Munkhnaran said. :) The moms made us very tasty food and I ate a lot and we looked at all her pictures. I had fun seeing myself in lots of her mission pictures! Felt famous.

Saturday we went to the RM Conference 2010 - only happens every two years! Nobody told us. Joshua loved seeing everyone as return missionaries, and some of his good friends married to each other! We event went to the "ball dance" that evening and danced around a bit.

Sunday was busy, church-hopping and all. We saw lots of people Joshua knew and worked with on his mission.We set up lots of appointments for the week One of my favorite parts (and his too) was seeing Naranbat (Battsetseg's dad, who Joshua taught, and who we went to the temple with a few weeks ago) conduct the meetings. And one of his sons + Battsetseg's husband bless the sacrament. Very sweet. Such a great family!!

Then after church I made some yummy food and we had a married people triple date :). They were fun to spend the afternoon/evening with talking, eating, and playing games. I liked getting to know my companions' husbands too.

And then finally today we met with Munkhnaran and her mom-in-law for a trip to the zakh (a ginourmous swapmeet/ bazaar place). I got a scarf and Joshua got some little Mongolian stools that I guess he has been missing sitting in. And, of course, I got some material to make a bedspread, curtains, and pillows. Luckily we had a mom with us to figure out how much we needed!

Now we are off to dinner at the Naranbat household, ... maybe try to track down a couple other people on the way.

So maybe living here wouldn't be my first choice (especially not being being able to communicate with anyone aside from smiles and pointing!) but I am having a good time. Joshua is getting in the habit of translating and I am enjoying seeing my old friends. The city is nice because there are lots of nice food places and shops, but I miss the peacefulness and clean air of the countryside! Oh, and anytime anyone says that CA people drive crazy should come here. I have never been so scared for my life than when I was sitting helpless in the back of a miker (pronounced meeker) van as we were passing one really big truck with another really big truck driving straight towards us. That one gave me the shivers!


p.s. Today I saved Joshua from stepping on a dead puppy. Smashed flat in the street. So sad. And the worst part is that we were looking for this internet cafe and had to walk past it like 7 times! ugh. Good note to end on, huh?