Seasons

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

By far, the biggest changes from season to season is the weather. Winter, which is about eight months, is cold--really cold. It actually doesn't snow that much since Mongolia is a land-locked, very dry place. In Spring it could be hot, cold, calm, windy, dry, rainy, snowy, dusty, or nice all in the same day. Mostly it's windy and dusty, and everyone is tired. Summer is generally hot with some rain around August. Fall is short.

Altargana

Welcome to Altargana, the Buriat version of Naadam (a Mongolian festival held every July). As for Altargana, the story goes that about 12 years ago, some Buriats from Mongolia, Russian, and China got together and, seeing a need for more interaction and celebration between the Buriats scattered across the region, it was decided that they should have a festival every two years. And, because the Nadaam festival of Mongolia is such a smashing success, and because Buriats and Mongolians are very closely related and so presumably have very similar athletic traditons, it was decided that Altargana would consist of the same three "Manly Sports" as Nadaam: Archery, wrestling, and horse-racing. It should be pointed out that women or girls may participate in two of the three "Manly Sports". These archers were marching in the opening parade of Altargana. They are wearing traditional Buriat clothing, which has some distinct differences from the traditional clothing of most other Mongolian tribes.

Progress

Well, in the past few days I have figured out how to post photos (although there is room for improvement in this area) and how to occasionally change the color of fonts--exciting stuff, I know. Next week you might be lucky enough to find even more improvements since I'll be spending the week with my nephew, sister and brother-in-law; one of whom is the star of a blog, one of whom picks the photos for the blog, and one of whom has figured out most of the backroads to blogging and whose knowledge I plan to draw from. Stay tuned.

The Ancient and the Modern

In the countryside of Mongolia you see an interesting mix of new and old. The ger (tent) has been used by Mongolians since before the time of Chinggis Khan. The motorcycle and solar panel are more recent additions.

The Highway

yup, that's really what most of the roads look like in the Mongolian countryside...

The Very First Post

Who knows what sorts of stuff will eventually appear on this page...

I am trying to get some stuff ready to put up this week. Hopefully everything will be sailing smoothly by the time I head back to Mongolia where I'll get the fun of posting while battling a dial-up ISP with personality!

Za, enough on this--time to get to work on some real postings.