Wow, it just shows that even though technology is rapidly coming to Mongolia, the weather and the almighty sky still reign supreme. My two-hour stop in Hovd turned into an overnighter! The most frustrating part of the whole situation is that I couldn't understand exactly what was happening -- you think I would have gotten used to this in the past 6 months, huh? The captain kept making announcements in the airport, I received a few calls from the PC safety officer who was in touch with the airline, and Bahtgul kept trying to keep me in the loop, but, in typical Mongolian fashion, they all seemed to be saying something different. I heard that the airline would arrange for a bus to take us into the city and that they would put us up for the night in a hotel. Bahtgul said we would stay with her uncle's family. I heard that the plane would leave this morning at 10am. Then I heard 8:30am. Then 9:45.
The idea of staying in a hotel really appealed to me (I thought it would allow me to sulk in private), but Bahtgul was determined that we would stay with her family. You see, Monoglians and Kazakhs take a fundamentally different approach to family. In a siutation like this in America, you would take the hotel in a heartbeat. To Bahtgul, however, a hotel (even a free one) is too cold and impersonal. Family is warm and comforting. Afterall, why would you want to sit alone in a hotel room when you could be surrounded by your relatives?
Needless to say, I surrendered myself to the situation (something I have gotten used to) and went along with her to her uncle's house. The night started out awkwardly like always, but we all soon warmed up to each other. Bahtgul's uncle is a 60-year-old retired economist from Kazakhstan. He told me upfront that he doesn't really care much for Americans and that he has never had an American in his home before. This threw me off my game for a bit, but I was determined to win him over -- this is what the Peace Corps is all about, afterall. I think my natural charm really won him over because by the end of the night he was calling me his son and saying that he loves Barack Obama. He said his wish was that I would one day return to Mongolia as the US ambassador and maybe even become president. I think he really appreciated the fact that I am learning to speak Kazakh and that I am trying to learn the culture. I think he also liked that I held my own in helping him kill a bottle of Chingiss vodka.
Again, as always, the family was very kind and accommodating. They were excellent hosts -- Uncle even tucked me in last night and he gave me a Christmas present this morning.
I'm at the airport now and it's looking good. The plane came from UB, I'm all checked in, and I just went through security. The skies are much clearer and the storm seems to have pushed east deeper into Mongolia.
It's a Christmas miracle!
1 comment:
you ARE winning, hunny.
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