Feast of gratitude

Day: 263

Sunrise:
06:32

Sunset:
20:14

Total kilometers:
1341

Soil condition:
Ice, snow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
6°C

Temperature – day (minimum):
0°C

Temperature – Night:
minus 8°C

Latitude:
51°33’337”

Longitude:
099°15’341”

Maximum height:
1981 m above sea level

Gusts of wind drive dark clouds filled with snow over the mountain range that borders our camp to the west. It doesn’t take long before they open their gates to unload the frozen water over the camp. Within a very short time, everything is white again. It has been snowing almost every day since the beginning of April. Then the sun licks the white splendor away again. The changeability of this month is terrible. Above all, the temperatures fluctuate from 15 °C in the sun to as low as minus 20 °C at night. I wish more than ever in my life so far for pleasant temperatures, but we are told that it will remain cold and windy until the end of May.

In the morning, Bilgee arrives on Sharga to help Tanja prepare Buuz. It seems that the meat-filled dumplings are his favorite dish, because he wanted to eat them again today. So we have a good basis before we go to the party,” he says with a laugh.

Now that most of the hunters are finally back in camp, we have announced our long-planned party for tonight. Because Sansar, the son of Gamba and Purvee, is celebrating his 27th birthday today, the date is ideal.

“If you want, we can invite you to dinner tonight,” I say to Tsaya and Ultsan. “Oh yes! That’s great! A fantastic idea!” Tsaya exclaims happily as these buuz things are apparently also her favorite food. “We eat buuz and then we go to Gambas and celebrate your successful wintering,” she says. “That’s exactly how we do it. See you at 7 p.m.,” I say and go back to our yurt. When it’s 7:20 p.m., our two neighbors are still not there. “I’ll go over and see where they are,” I say to Tanja and Bilgee, who are just taking the first batch of dumplings out of the wok. “Okay, but don’t stay too long or they’ll get cold,” Tanja replies. As I open the heavy, felt-covered wooden door to Tsaya and Ultsan’s baishin, my gaze falls on unfamiliar faces. “We’ll be back later. As you can see, we have an unexpected visitor who is eating my fresh bread that I baked for tomorrow. They are heavy alcoholics from Tsagaan Nuur who arrived earlier on a moped. Apparently word has spread to the village that we’re having a party today. Oh man, I tell you how I loathe these people. Last year I paid that bastard over there 20,000 Tugrik (11.23 €) for a reindeer we wanted to buy. He drank the money away and sold his reindeer to someone else. Today the cheeky guy is here, drinking our tea and eating our bread,” she complains, curses and swears. “Didn’t you ask for the money back?” I ask, surprised by her annoyance. “Ha, ha, ha, asking for money back from an alcoholic. Try that.” “So I guess our dinner together won’t be happening tonight?” I say. “Oh yes, you can. For God’s sake, don’t eat them all away. We’re coming for sure. We’re ravenous. When the drunkards go to Gamba’s hut, we’ll hurry to you and enjoy it,” she promises. “Well, we’ll wait,” I reply and tell Tanja about the arrival of the boozers. “Oh no, they drink it all away,” she says disappointedly. “Never mind a few more or fewer men. You know that everything that happens has a purpose. That includes the arrival of these men,” I reply. “You’re right about that. Maybe they’re not as bad as Tsaya says,” she says and serves the first buuz. Hungry, we devour the Mongolian delicacy. At 8:30 p.m. they are still not there. I go back over to ask if they are still coming. “The men are just about to leave,” says Tsaya.

At 9 p.m. we all eat the rest of the buuz together and set off 1 ½ hours late to visit Gamba’s Baishin. As we are in Mongolia, none of those present take offense at our late arrival. Everyone gives us a friendly welcome. We immediately wish Sansar a happy birthday. Purvee assigns us the seats of honor on the opposite side of the door, which have been kept free especially for us. I immediately hand Gamba a five-liter bottle of beer, which he opens and pours several cups full. Tanja places two bowls of snacks and sweets on the table that Purvee has specially prepared. With the first cup of beer in my hand, I give a short speech and thank them for their open welcome, hospitality and the trust they have placed in us. “It was certainly not an easy decision for you at first to give in to the request to share the winter with two strangers. And yet you have accepted us into your close family circle. Since, according to you, this has never happened before, we thank you especially today. Let’s celebrate Sansar’s birthday and the fact that we didn’t freeze to death together.” “Ha, ha, ha! That’s right! Let’s celebrate!” they shout. “It has also been an honor for us to spend the last four months with you. You should also move from camp to camp with us every other season. You’re real Tuwa now,” says Purvee, to which Gamba and Sansar raise their beer mugs.

After the first bottle of vodka, everyone present has to sing. The supposedly evil alcoholic turns out to be a very funny person who motivates everyone to join in. To everyone’s great amusement, they put a towel and plastic bags in the collar of the singing manager’s shirt, who doesn’t seem to notice. When he gets up from his seat and asks the respective singer to sing a song, the stuff dangles back and forth on his back. Ha, ha, ha, hi, hi, hi!”, the festival community almost collapses with laughter. The other bad boys are also nice, sociable people, one of whom is even completely dry and doesn’t touch a drop.

We look forward to your comments!