Julie's Family's Turn

Now it's my turn to tell you all about MY wonderful host family. Wish I'd had time to do it earlier, since, at this point, we have actually moved on. But I certainly intend to stay in touch with these lovely people while I'm here in Mongolia and beyond.

My mom, Haltar, is an absolute stitch. She cracks me up every day with the way she pretends she is going to have a nervous breakdown if I don't eat more dinner. She has so many endearing mannerisms, including referring to herself in the third person all the time. I think that might be a cultural thing; mothers here are very highly esteemed, and moms wear their titles as well-earned badges of honor. She loves to laugh and does so most of the day. She is also highly respected in the community, as she is a medical doctor. Everyone knows her. When I come home from visiting Jimmy in the center of town, all I have to tell the taxi driver is "I'd like to go to the doctor's house." They say, "Oh, Haltar," and take me right to my door. My dad, Nansungsuring, is just as cute and sweet. They're both around 57 years old. They both treat me like I am truly their daughter, and they treat each other with a tenderness and affection that is, apparently, quite unusual here. They are the world's cutest couple.

My sister, Boloroh, who is in the photo with us, is 17, with the maturity of a 25 year-old and the playfulness of a 5 year-old. She has taught me bunches of games and 2 beautiful Mongolian folk songs, that I will sing at our "Host Family Appreciation" ceremony this weekend. She sings like a sweet songbird, and she's just as beautiful, inside and out. Everywhere we go, she puts her arm in mine. She is also an incredibly patient and helpful teacher. I don't know how she can hear me ask the same questions a dozen times and, each time, act like it is a perfectly reasonable question. I don't know what I'd have done without her.

My 19 year-old sister, Egee, is in the photo to the right. She was only here with us for 2 weeks, since she's a university student in Ulaanbaatar now. Her impact on me was great, though. She is also a beautiful, patient and loving young woman.

The best thing about my family, though, is the laughter. We laugh constantly! Sometimes we laugh at my language mistakes, but usually we just laugh at those things that don't require language to understand. I feel like the Peace Corps couldn't have done a more perfect job in placing me with my family. We all have similar sensibilities, plus there are no little kids banging on my door at all hours, like some of the other trainees have. Those other trainees are fine with their situation, too, so I think we were pretty much all put with families into which we fit great.

So, this week we said very tearful good-byes to our families, with great hopes of visiting often during the next 2 years. These people will certainly live in my heart forever.