Saturday!

So yesterday we just hung out and did tourist-y things...

Tim found out a few days ago that they have a Russian Orthodox church in UB and asked Keith if there was any way we could go see it. We were supposed to go see the Buddhist temple, but a lot of it is outdoors and it was pouring yesterday. The church was beautiful, as expected. It was really neat to get to go to an Orthodox cathedral in Mongolia - I know Tim was loving it. He was telling everyone about everything, he was so excited. :)

At lunch we got to try horse meat finally... we had horse kabobs! It was actually really good - seasoned very well.

Then....... SHOPPING!!! :D We got lots of little souvenirs, each got a cashmere scarf (only about $30 each!). We also went to a wool store where they had all handmade genuine Mongolian wool products. I got a SWEET laptop bag (it is so so so cute!), some little magnets for my white board at school (I actually got quite a few little things for my classroom, I'm excited!), and Tim and I each got really cool wool beanies.

AND! Outside the wool store was this awesome monument type thing - it was the body and part of the neck of a guitar coming out of the ground. It was already cool, and then when we walked around to the other side, I found out it was dedicated to the Beatles!! There were statues of the four of them on the other side - SO awesome. It was pouring though, so I didn't get a picture... so I'm hoping we get to go back today to get one. I know, I know... I'm a dork.

After that we went to a cultural show where they did their special Mongolian throat singing (you should look it up on You Tube, surely they have some on there... it is CRAZY!! Or maybe I'll be really cool and post a link someday...). They also had traditional dancing, lots of music with interesting instruments I've never seen before, AND contortionists!! They were incredible! Crazy that people can actually bend like that, and their arms were SO strong - and they were these tiny little girls! Crazy.

We had Mongolian BBQ after that, and it was really good... not to mention that the place had free WiFi - I'm ever amazed at how connected we can be in Mongolia!

We got home and drank some 3 in 1 (I will explain in a minute) to help stay awake til midnight so Tim and I could celebrate our one year anniversary!! I can't believe it's already been a year - it kinda flew by. It has definitely been one of the best years of my life. Everyone talks about how hard the first year of marriage is, but we really didn't experience that. It has just been wonderful - I have the greatest husband and feel like a very blessed girl.

Okay, so 3 in 1! Everyone drinks this instant coffee here called 3 in 1 - it's got the cream and sugar already mixed in... actually kinda tastes like cocoa, so it's definitely my kind of "coffee" - if you could even call it that! We found out later that it has something like 12% coffee, 50% sugar, and the rest creamer, HA. PERFECT. :D

The boys made breakfast this morning and it was fantastic! I love when boys cook. I think it's sweet. :) Makes me happy. We're going to church (it doesn't start til 1pm - my kind of church!) today, then the Buddhist temple, then maybe some more shopping, then hanging out with the missionaries and their kids tonight. We're going to attempt to stay up all night I think, because we have to leave here at like, 3am to catch our flight. Then once we get to Bejing we have an 8 hour layover - SUCK!!

I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow morning - it's almost over. It went by really fast; I knew it would. Part of me is ready to get back to my own home, my own bed... and part of me is really not ready to leave yet. I guess that's probably how it always is...