As Dan and I wandered around Mercury, the flea market of grocery stores, we soon became distracted. I had bags of meat, vegetables, and a random assortment of random junk. Dan said he'd meet me outside he was going to the bathroom, or the korean shop, or the meat market. I didn't really hear him, I just smiled and nodded. So I went outside, and stood there, probably looking like an idiot.
Another American looking guy, and what I presumed was his wife, came up to me. He put his finger to my chest and asked, "Missouri?"
Looking down, I realized the SMSU was barely visable through the crease in my jacket. I informed him I was from Minnesota, and had come here to teach. He was here with Athletes in Action, and had been for a few years. We chatted for a while, realized we knew a lot of the same people in the states and in Mongolia. We exchanged numbers, and parted ways.
A few days later, (Steven was his name) Steven called me, and asked if I wanted to hiking around Zaisan that sunday with a big wig in the judo world. I decided it would be a good idea, the trail was close by my apartment.
Turns out the guy Steven was introducing me to was a big deal. He did something with the armed forces, and was pretty high up, or something. I didn't quite understand other than this guy was a big deal. We hiked the mountain, I only fell once, while the two older gentlemen managed to stay on their feet.
One the way down, we shook hands with many Parliament members and other people my new friend knew, always making sure to take off my glove before shaking hands. I'm pretty sure it is a respect thing, but I saw everyone else doing it, so I caved to peer pressure.
Not long after that, Steven phoned me again to ask if I was free to go to the National teams practice. It only took a few times of rescheduling and shuffling plans around for a time to work out mutually. The Mongolian National team works out at 4, and the earliest I can make it into the city is 5, if I'm hustling. He introduced me to the coach and a few of the wrestlers.
Sain baina uu?'s for everyone.
I was able to work out with another group coming in at 6. Steve and his friends had to leave, but they made sure the coach (that didn't speak english) knew I was there and needed help finding a partner.
Steve was quick to tell me before he left "Well you'll know what he think's of you if he pairs you with one of the girls." Sadly, some of the girls looked like they could kick my ass if I didn't out weigh them by so much.
Instead I was paired with a solid guy, a few cm taller and maybe 5-10 kilos heavier. It felt good to wrestle again. I didn't really know what was being shown, but I just followed along, and had the guy show me first. A few times I would look confused and point, and he was quick to correct my hand placement, or my footwork.
Since, I've been 4-5 more times, usually working out with the big guy, once pairing with a guy just a bit smaller. He quickly tired me out, and I was back with the big guy for the rest of technique.
The last practice we worked on top and bottom wrestling, something I was usually fairly good at in high school and college. Except that was folkstyle, and these guys wrestled freestyle. For any non-wrestlers reading this, instead of the bottom guy trying to get up and get away, his goal is to lie perfectly flat and not get turned over.
I was on top, trying to work legs in, get arm bars, etc. Nothing was working, so I thought why not go for an assassin.
This is ultimately what ends up happening.
It worked and for the next 20 minutes I showed them how to choke each other out. I'd do it to one of them, they'd tap, then grab an unsuspecting victim, and try it on them.
Outside of wrestling, Steve had a friend coming to Ulaanbaatar from the countryside. His friend's brother and friend were also coming to visit. He arranged a trip to Hustai National park.
2 hours into the countryside we arrived. Our driver took us into the park, and stopped. He had spotted some elk. It took us awhile before we saw them. We were just heading up to get closer, when he heralded us to head the other direction.
He had spotted some Przewalski horse. He were able to sneak up on them to get some decent pictures.
These horses are believed to be some of the oldest horses with it's ancestry in debate on where it relates to your usual horse. It went extinct in the wild in the 60's. They were later reintroduced into Mongolia from zoo stock, and seem to be doing alright now.
We followed these animals around for awhile, and decided we couldn't come to the park without climbing a mountain. When debating which one to ascend, I facetiously mentioned we should climb that tall one a ways off with the weird white thing on top. Of course they agreed.
So we set off to climb this peak, and took the absolute worst route possible. Hindsight is 20/20, no doubt. It was up and down, and back up, then you think you can follow the ridge to the top, but nope. It drops down again, and then you have to climb back up.
We did rise over a small ridge and catch of few of the horses unaware.
We did rise over a small ridge and catch of few of the horses unaware.
He didn't seem to mind us too much. We got to the top, snapped a few more pics of the weird white thing, and took the easy way down.
We saw this guy on our way out.
So far, things have been working out really well in Mongolia. Since my last post I've gotten involved in wrestling, been hiking, met new friends, started writing a novel, changed my class to be a video game, and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. Looking back, I'm glad I chose to go with the SMSU shirt instead of fighting dragons.
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