More on Terelj

So I'm reading the posts about or ger-to-ger experience and wanted to add my point of view into the mix. Being able to stay with a family, in their home, was a little awkward at first. At the first ger, it became apparent that the language barrier was going to be an interesting problem for us to over come. When the herdsman picked us up from the bus stopped we were welcomed to Terelj by a short and silent ox cart ride to the ger. No one really knew how to break the ice. After an initial "hello" we didn't know where to take the conversation. We forded the Terelj river on our ox cart, reminiscent of our "Oregon Trail" days as kids playing on the computer, and very shortly came to our ger for the night. Once inside, we were greeted by the wife of the herdsman, who immediately served us tea and started dinner. Eager to break the language barrier, we broke out the mongolian phrasebooks to aid us in our slow and hesitant conversation. Soon we realized that Yelena spoke about as much Russian as our host. Between the little Mongolian we knew, the little English the couple knew, a few Russian words here and there, and the trusty phrasebooks and English to Mongolian dictionaries, we were able to communicate really well. By the end of the night, we were laughing, eating and playing card games. Always a good combination! And of course, some things always translate well, like "Sean Connery" and "Kevin Costner, Dancing with Wolves!"