Tsaagan Tsar at the PM's house

I just returned from the Mongolian Prime Minister's house- I was invited for Tsaagan Tsar which is the Mongolian New Year celebration. Today (Sunday) was the fourth and final day. The PM (Batbold) and his wife (Otgoo) were at our assembly on Wednesday, I taught their youngest daughter last year, so Otgoo, his wife, invited me along with Betsy (head of secondary) and a few others. Over the course of the weekend, it turned into a general invitation for ISU teachers; there was probably about 40 of us total, mostly teachers and some other people I didn't know. Here's the funny thing. Since I was personally invited by the PM's wife and not their organizer-person, I wasn't on the list for security. I had to wait for Betsy to show up with Jenny, the PM's assistant, phone number who had to call security so they would let me through. I could hear Betsy yelling into her cell phone, "Kim Carroll, the Director's fiance` and Dulmaa's teacher from last year! Otgoo invited her personally, that's why she's not on the list!" It was pretty amusing.

After we greeted the PM and his wife in a receiving room, we all filed over to a formal dining area complete with pictures of them with various US Presidents and a great picture of Otgoo and Michele Obama from this past summer. We were served a multiple course meal; started with potato, beet and carrot-cabbage salads much like I ate at Selenge's for Tsaagan Tsar on Friday (see my blog for details that are coming soon). Our second course was a fish plate- I am guessing it was Khovsgol fish since Mongolia is landlocked. Another course offered thinly sliced tongue, pickles and smoked Gouda cheese.

The highlight of the meal was a most interesting soup that was served in a sheep's stomach. Seriously, it was served in the stomach; they had to come around and cut open the individual stomachs (we each had one) so the soup would pour out into our bowls. The stomachs were sealed with sticks that were intricately woven through the stomach and we were warned not to eat the stone contained in the stomach. I'm guessing the stone is a means of keeping the liquid hot and cooking the mutton, onions and garlic contained inside. If the initial cut was not done with the correct pressure and a knife wasn't held in front to 'catch' the liquid, the steaming hot contents squirted out across the table with remarkable force. The entire meal, but especially the sliced tongue and stomach soup reminded me of the scene in Indian Jones II where the girl is starving after trekking through the jungle but keeps encountering items on the table that are not familiar; chilled monkey's brains, live baby snakes and finally eyeball soup whereupon she passes out. When I saw the soup squirt out of the stomach of the person's bowl opposite me, I seriously considered vomiting. BUT, you will all be happy to know (well maybe not) that I tried every single thing that was put before me...just not very much of it. I abstained from having a shot of vodka, I just felt like that combination would throw me over an abyss that I would not recover from. Mutton buuz (dumplings cooked in mutton fat) rounded out the meat portion of the meal and we finished with a light fruit salad.

And true to Mongolian's taste for the arts, the entertainment was superb; a horse head fiddle player that I had heard perform at a concert a couple months back played an enchanting solo that nearly brought tears to my eyes; a pianist was featured and a male-female Mongolian opera duo belted traditional songs out in style. They were absolutely phenomenally fabulous; great fun.

On my way out, as I said my thanks to Otgoo, I mentioned that Greg and I are engaged and will be having an engagement party in the next month. After her congratulations, I mentioned that I would be sending her and Batbold an invitation. Otgoo assured me that if they were in town, they would stop by. We'll see what happens but I can assure you, there will be nary a mutton stomach soup to be found at our event.