"Flour tea", sheep bones, and little Mary

Hello everyone! Time is just going by so fast! Here it is, another week already has gone by. No, unfortunately, it didn’t work out for us to get reconnected to the internet at our apartment yet. Maybe this week??? :D We are really thankful for the opportunity that we have to communicate by internet. It is difficult for us to imagine not being able to hear from family and friends except through postal mail every couple of months. We are very thankful for how we can keep in touch with loved ones… even if we do have internet problems every now and then!

This past week, we had the opportunity to experience and learn some more about the Tuvan culture. Snyezhana taught me how to make another very common and favorite meal. It is especially popular among those who live in yurts and in the villages.

First, one makes some black tea and adds milk, sugar, and salt.



Then you add a spoonful of some home-made butter.



Next, you add a spice which is made from milk. (Personally, I'm not too crazy about this spice.)


Next, you add some Tuvan flour. It reminds me a lot of whole wheat flour, yet it is not as finely ground and tastes different.



"Flour-tea" anyone?

Snyezhana told me that her mom would add enough flour to make the mixture thick enough to form into a ball. Then, she would give it to the children to eat like a cookie.

It definitely has a different taste and texture, because of the spice and raw flour. I can eat several spoonfuls, but I think it would be quite difficult for me to eat a bowlful. David and the girls tried it as well. David liked it about as much as I did, and Aria and Nina, well… let’s just say I won’t be making it for their supper any time soon. :D
I really appreciate Snyezhana teaching me how to make different Tuvan dishes. She is a great cook and is a great teacher.

While Snyezhana was teaching me how to make ‘flour-tea’, Asis and David were playing with sheep bones. :D Like I mentioned before, sheep are a very important part of the Tuvan culture. Whenever a sheep is butchered, they will save two bones. These two bones are taken from the back legs (and are the bones that feel like a little ball by the ankle… not sure how else to describe them). Each family will collect the bones from each sheep that they butcher. Once they have collected 300 bones (which means, they have butchered 150 sheep!), they will burry the bones, and then begin collecting all over again. If they are able to burry 300 bones, they believe that means they will have a lot of luck.

One of David’s students (who grew-up in a yurt) told us that when he was young, his mom would tie a rope around his waist and the other end she would tie to the yurt. This way, she knew that he wouldn’t wander off and get lost. She would then give him a bunch of sheep bones to play with. The little Tuvan boys growing-up in the yurts didn’t have little cars and trucks to play with, but they sure had fun with their sheep bones. :D

They have many different games that they enjoy playing with their sheep bones. David tried to teach me one of the games he learned. Basically, each bone has four sides. One side is known as the ‘horse’, another the ‘cow’, another the ‘goat’, and the other the ‘sheep’. Each person will roll four bones at a time. If the ‘horse’ side lands up, then the person can move his bone forward. Whoever gets their way all around the bones first, wins.

Friday evening, several students from David’s class came over just to ‘hang out’. We had such a nice time talking with them and learning more about them and their culture. It is so interesting, and the more we learn about these people and their way of life, the more we really appreciate them. They are such a special, beautiful people.

Saturday evening, one of my ‘mommy friends’ along with her little boy and nephew came over for supper. Since it’s been colder outside and we’ve been busy with language classes, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with Inna very much lately. I’m so glad that she was able to come over and that we could catch-up a little bit.

We are so thankful that this week it warmed-up quite a bit. We even got snow! I was able to take the kids outside for at least a half hour a day, and they just thoroughly enjoyed running around outside. Well, maybe I should say Aria did. Nina isn’t all that thrilled about the snow and cold, and Micah is so bundled up, he can’t move around very much. But, the fresh air definitely did us all some good! It’s gotten colder again this weekend, but we were still able to go outside for a little bit.

Lately, Aria and Nina have been enjoying acting out the Christmas story. One evening, David and I were laughing so hard as we listened to Aria (Joseph) and Nina (Mary) playing. Mary would say, “Come here, Joseph!” and Joseph would say, “What do you need Mary?” and would then quickly run to her side. A little later we would hear Joseph say, “Come on Mary, let’s go to the beach!” Soooo funny! Nina likes pretending she’s Mary by putting her baby doll under her shirt. Whenever she has her baby in her shirt, she’s only ‘Mary’. Sometimes I forget and call her Nina. Then she looks at me and says, “mommy, I’m MARY!”

This is how our little 'Mary' likes to walk around our apartment. Her baby doll is too big for her little 'belly', so the head sticks out. It just looks way too funny, and I can't help but laugh everytime I see her like this.

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for checking in and seeing how we are doing.