she ate the whole yak

Yep, there was a fresh yak being slaughtered down the street so Dolthamjav collected bits and pieces of its insides for her to cook up for us. She is a great cook, so it didn't kill me. She took the liver, dropped it on the hot wood to sear it, took it out and dipped in a tasty sauce, wrapped it in a large chunk of fat, and put it in the fire for a little longer. And you'd never guess it, but that meal was our favorite of the whole trip so far. I'll make it for you when we get back, don't worry. Anyone know of a yak being slaughtered?

Well, unfortunately along with the liver we also had to taste the heart, lungs, stomach, kidney, large and small intestines, and who knows what else. Some of them were more palatable than others. Mm hmm. I also drank a lot of fresh cow, yak, and goat meat. Most of our meals are mutton. We have been pretty lucky in regards to our stomachs holding up - made it a whole week without getting sick. Just yesterday we were feeling a little queasy, but we are ok now. Here is some info from Joshua on the Mongolian delicacies we enjoyed:

*****

The 5 Treat Organs

Heart
Lungs
Kidneys
Tongue
Liver


Other parts that we ate:
stomach
yak cud stomach
lots of fat

Josh ate this, but Erica couldn't quite handle it:
the Lower Intestine

*****

We were able to see lots of people in Murun, there last area of Joshua's mission. We stayed there in a hotel or a few days, then we took a trip to the lake with a member, Dolthamjav, who owns a tourist lodge. It had just closed for the winter, but luckily she had one ger still up that we slept in. We had a private cook and the whole restaurant to ourselves. Lovely. The lake was peaceful and the air there was refreshing. 

On the way back to Murun we got dropped off in the countryside. We stayed in a ger with a family Joshua had taught on his mission. They were very nice and had a blast showing us how to live a good Mongolian countryside life. They were very proud that we enjoyed herding the malth (livestock) to the forests to water and driving the ox and cart to the spring to collect water for the family. We had fun, especially sleeping with 10 other people on the floor of a ger. :) There were a few other people at the ger too, including a lady and her cute two year old who got pretty attached to Joshua and I. Super cute. Well, my arms got a little tired fro holding her, but it was fun anyway.

Ok we are really going to go now. We are crashing the RM Bi-annual Conference and Ball Dance. Should be fun. I get to see my companions and Joshua will see all the people he worked with on his mission who went on missions too. Hopefully before the dance I will find a nice Mongolian jacket to look fancy in.

More adventures to come. Over and out. :)