All good gifts around us....

As we are in the month of November, the month for giving thanks, we felt it was important to mention all the people who have been so thoughtful and generous in sending us care packages. We DO have everything we need to survive here, but the packages and letters from home really help us to make our place in Bayankhongor a more familiar American home!

Let's first start with the new home for our fresh fruits and vegetables. As you may know, food in Mongolia is slightly complicated and usually involves frequent trips to several stores across town to acquire all the food to make meals we like. Thanks to Sister-in-Law Kendall, those trips are not in vain, and our fruits and veggies have a place to "hang." Notice the wide variety of potatoes on the bottom section. Thanks to China, we have apples available as well!


This will be our first Christmas away from home. One of the most creative items we have received is the "plant your own" Christmas tree from Amy Wills! Amy is the sister of one of Nathan's former roommates, and Leslie's unofficial little sister. Leslie has attempted to make a trade for Amy in exchange for giving her brother Mike back as a friend. No such luck. We're stuck with Mike Wills forever now! :)

Bayankhongor is quickly getting colder, and as we have learned, Mongolians do not account for wind chill in temperature. You never really know what you are going to get! Luckily, Carmela Almquist, Leslie's mom's best friend and Leslie's unofficial aunt, sent her possibly the warmest pair of footwear in the history of time! Plus, look how cute Leslie's feet look in them!

Holy crap, we got pancakes!!! Kendall is a genius! This is something we didn't even know we wanted until they got here. And then we almost cried, along with our site mate, Tysen, and near site mate, Leila! Our tears were controlled as we ate the pancakes.

Please note that we really DO want pictures of everyone! Mongolians love to look at our photos when they visit. Plus, we miss all your faces! Now we get to see Nephew Harrison and his rock star attitude whenever we want! Thanks, Kendall!

This is the "Gee, Bayankhongor is close to the Gobi and thus drier than you think" table. We were not prepared for how dry it can get here! Thanks to Kendall, Leslie's Mom, and Mama Wills (via Amy) we can fight the dessert dry air!
In addition, this lovely table in the second room sports our sweet new pens, bobby pins, ziplock bags, candies, and wash clothes from Kendall, Leslie's Mom, and Nathan's Mom! Thanks everybody!

One of our favorite things is the quote in the PC Mongolia Cookbook that states "I just don't understand how it's possible how an empire that nearly conquered the entire world managed to not bring back any spices..." It's true! It doesn't make a lick of sense. We can't begin to explain it. Thanks to Kevin, Nathan's brother, Nathan's Mom, Leslie's Mom, and Kendall our lives are much spicier! Who knew that black pepper was exotic?

The beverages of choice in Mongolia are milk tea and airag. Milk tea is mostly milk with the lovely added bonus of salt and filtered black tea. It's not even as tasty as it sounds. And I don't imagine you think it sounds too tasty. Airag is, of course, fermented mare's milk. Which is also an acquired taste. In two years, sit us down and maybe we can explain to you the flavor more precisely. Thanks to Kendall and Amy we now have great ways to flavor the 4 hour filtered water! Cocoa! Man, another thing we didn't even remember how much we missed until it got here! Thanks, you two!

Fruit! There ain't nearly enough of it here! Thanks to Leslie's mom for sending great dried fruit! She also managed to pack great snacks and peanut butter! Just like when we were little!
To make life even sweeter, Nathan's Uncle Steve sent glorious natural chunky peanut butter! Did we mention it didn't take long for the snacks he sent to disappear? Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So, Mongolians don't drink so much coffee. The only coffee regularly available around here comes in small packages of pre-sweetened instant "coffee-like-substance" with American Flavour. No joke. We went to the market to purchase the coffee press we had seen. Our site mate asked the store owner if she knew what the contraption was. She was very honest. "No," was her answer. He explained how it worked. She simply responded with an uninterested "oh." Thanks Mom, for a little flavour of Jolly Ol' New England! :)

The only type of tape they have here is Scotch tape. They even call tape "scotch." Luckily, we now have lots of duct tape to assist with our every Mongolian need, such as insulation, taping the plug into the outlet so it won't fall out, making shelves out of boxes, and taping the shower curtain in the faux shower so it doesn't stick to our butts. Ah, the glory of duct tape! We even have fancy schmancy designer duct tape, the envy of PCVs world wide!
Thanks Moms, Amy, and Kendall!

There is nothing like a nice, fluffy, well constructed towel to make the tumpen bathing experience a little more like home! Thanks to Nathan's mom and brother Kevin we don't have to use tiny Chinese towels that easily come un-stitched!

Thanks to Nathan's mom and Kendall, our Halloween party was really a hit when we had real Halloween decorations, Halloween wind-up toys, and Halloween candy! Everyone was really in the spirit!

Best. Socks. Ever! Thanks Georgi, Chamberlain family friend, for making it your quest to keep our toes bright, warm, and happy! We adore them!

Notice the fancy faux shower rigging. Thanks to Nathan we don't have to sit in a tumpen to bathe anymore! Thanks to Kendall and Leslie's mom the shower process is much better with the mitten washclothes and the 3-1 coconut shower wash. And yes, Kendall, it works to remove the funk. You're right, if that didn't work we would just have to smell like dust and coal smoke for the next 2 years! Thank you two for keeping us clean!

Candles, photos, and faux leaves. Now we really feel at home! Thanks to Leslie's mom and Kendall for the candles that our site mate commented "smell like Christmas." And thanks to Nathan's mom for adding the fall leaves! When we are surrounded by the sights and smells of home we feel almost like we are there! Thanks to Kendall and Amy for the photos in frames!!

Please know that this list is not exhaustive! We even removed some things from our wish list because you all were so generous! We've received many amazing care packages filled to the brim (more than we thought possible in those boxes!) We are so very grateful for everything our friends and families have spoiled us with including packages, letters, calls, emails, thoughts, and prayers! We're so thankful for all of you! We could never thank you enough!