The Great Mongolian Gher And Super Hospitality Experience! (named by Demara, of course)

Hi big world out there, Andreas writing
Here in Mongolia is quite a bit going on right now. It has been a challenging time for me where we had to go out of our comfort zone (a couple times).
We had the opportunity to spend a night in a real Mongolian “Gher” (Mongolian house/tent) where you basically just have one room. This room is your kitchen, living room, bed room, change room and your hallway (room), (thankfully not your bathroom, therefore they have an out house, brrr). Our team split up into three groups (Demara by herself, Calvin and I, Anika and an YWAM stuff member) and we left on Tuesday night and stayed there until the next morning. It was very interesting to stay over night basally in someone’s master bedroom. For Calvin and I it created some awkward moments not only because communication problems like you can probably imagine, but also it is a tradition to serve the guests a special Mongolian drink which is a delicious sounding “salted milk tea”. Even though my team members don’t seem to have a big problem with it, believe me, I’m fighting hard with it. This tea is something the Mongolians seem to love, I wonder why. Anyway, let’s move on from this and tell you what you can find in a gher: Things like a TV, a fridge, and sometimes a computer is not unusual, there is a bed, some dressers and stuff and most important a stove to keep the gher warm. Calvin and I were sleeping on the floor, with a bunch of blankets on top and underneath, it was pretty warm, but pretty hard too. We got also introduced to the real gher live which includes stoking the fire, spitting wood, clearing the sidewalk around the gher, getting coal and getting water from the well. On the street, if you meet a dog that kind of seem scary, you better pick up a rock and get ready to throw it at him, just in case, because it is not uncommon to get bitten by it. (silly dogs, I always liked cats better…) So that was a need experience after all, but it would be difficult for me here, I guess. Thanks be to God for what he does here in Mongolia and for the things he has shown us. Sheep up and God bless, by Andreas