Sukhbaatar Square

Sukhbaatar Square is the square that has a Chinggis Khan memorial statue as well as a statue of a man who's last name was Sukhbaatar. It is a huge square of cement where people gather daily. It's a great place to meet someone new...an artist who sells his/her wares, a mildly drunk man who wants to strike up a conversation in English (yep, had that happen when Kevin was along and we cut that one short), go to an outdoor concert, attend Children's Day events, watch high school graduates get their pictures taken (last month), watch people grill and sell their shish-ka-bobs (there's a Mongolian word for that...but I can't think of it right now!), etc. This Square is a six to seven minute walk from our apartment, so we often walk over there in the evenings. I run through the square on the mornings I go running.

Just a few days ago, there were gers (known as yurts in the American's mind...but never ever called a yurt here...always a ger...which rhymes with "hair"), set up...almost like a "model home show". It was at the end of Naadam festivities, and we just happened to get to see these fabulous gers. They ranged in size from teensy (almost like a child's tent), to extremely large. Here's a picture of one with a window. All throughout the ger districts on the edge of town, we had never seen a ger with a window! I told Kevin, "Hey, I might be able to live in one with a window!" And then I muttered "And running water!"




Also at this exhibition was a 31-layer circular display of "bov"...a bread which is a heavy breadish-cookie served during every festivity in Mongolia. The pile as in this picture is exceptionally large. Usually, homes might have a 5-7 layer display...more the size of one of our layer cakes (always ending with an odd number). You can see Kevin in the background of this photo, wearing an orange shirt.




Our Mongolian language teachers had never seen a bov display this large, nor a ger with a window. They enjoyed looking at the pictures we took.