Sagaalgan

     Sagaalgan started on February 16 this year and lasted one full month.  We arrived from the States on the 14th, one of the important days of preparation for this important Buryat holiday.  We felt fortunate to be here during this special time, especially now as we are living in a Buryat village.  A few years ago we started a tradition  of  having a "white party" for Sagaalgan, which is also called "White Month".  This was a way to get to know some of the people from our Englsh Club better.  This year we had two white parties.  One for our English Club friends, and one as a way to get to know our new neighbors.


     The first party was at the Brubachers'.  We ate white foods and played silly games with white ping pong balls, cotton, and marshmallows. 



     We had a competition for groups to work together and build something with mini marshmallows and toothpicks.

This group won with their yurt!

     Dima has come to our white party every year since we began the tradition.We gave gifts of white soap and Leif shared a bit and gave a blessing from the Bible to each person present.

     The next day we had a party in our neighborhood.  We didn't know who would come, and it worked out perfectly!  I think I counted 28 people total, but people came in waves, so it was really nice for connecting and conversations.  I was so thankful that one neighbor knew how to make buuzi (traditional Buryat dumplings) and helped us out!

Ella, helping to get the buuzi ready to steam

     I really enjoyed getting to know ladies from the neighborhood.  This party has been a catalyst for us running together in the mornings and getting our kids together to play.  Everyone is so friendly!

Some of the guys, eating buuzi and talking

     The second wave of guests stayed until midnight.  It was impossible to put our kids to bed with all of the other kids over, but they did great!  At the end of the evening some of us moms and kids played games while the guys talked.

I wanted to get a picture of all of the kids, but they were always spread out!

Here are some more pictures of us all hanging out...

CUTIE PIES!!!

     It was so fun to be reunited with this friend again!  Right now she's in the hospital after an appendectomy.  I visited her this week.  Poor girl!

     One of our friends pointed out that Nettie's shirt looks like a party hat on this boy!  =) 

     Since the party, there's a group of 4 of us who go running in the mornings.  On this morning it was -20C!!!  Toooooo cold!

     Ike had this friend over yesterday.  His friend is so quiet and Ike is naturally chatty.  It was very cool to overhear Ike explaining how to play a very difficult game in Russian to his pal.  I was amazed that they could play!  They are both six.  =)

     We're thankful for the parties and for the ways that we've been able to continue to build relationships in the days following!

Ten Minutes of Fear, and You Are Home

     We're in the process of looking for a car right now.  This is a bit tricky because cars don't lose much value (price-wise) over time, but Russian roads are bad and do a number on cars very quickly!  So, of course, we want something reliable that will withstand our village roads.  In the meantime, Nettie has been nice to give us rides, we walk, and we take buses.  And we take taxis.  The taxi system here is actually quite fantastic.  If I understand Uber, it's like that.  A bunch of people with their own cars are signed into the taxi company.  When we want a ride, we just type our starting and ending address into an app and within minutes someone comes and picks us up for a very reasonable price.  This has created many interesting experiences and great conversations. 

       I mentioned in the last blog our connection with a neighbor we'd never met when we ordered a taxi. Leif has since run into him outside and he invited our family over. Another time our driver drove across the river because he wanted to avoid traffic.  Going over the river itself was very smooth, but going over the banks before and after the river made for quite the exciting ride!  One morning, a mom from our village picked us up.  We'd never met her before, but she has a daughter Ella's age.  She gave me her name and number to connect later. 

     The sign above says "Ten Minutes of Fear, and You are Home".  This sign was in the car of one of our drivers.  When we first got in he was helping jump start someone else's car.  He asked us if we could wait a few minutes so that he could help them out.  Then he said, "Don't worry- it'll just take 5 minutes and then I'll drive really fast". 

     Probably the funniest story was from this week.  Ike started going to a local kindergarten and I called a taxi to get home.  The driver looked at us and then said, "Let me guess you're names... Hmmm.... you're Mike, no- Ike!  And you are..... Jami!"  It was a little disconcerting because I'd never met this guy in my life!  It turns out his son in in Ike's class and the teacher sends out text messages each day with class information and had introduced us to everyone in the group.  It also turns out that he is a believer!

     We hope to find a car soon, but in the meantime we are thankful for the many blessings God has given us through this car-less season.