Because I am from Switzerland, I always valued the nature around. We got such beautiful landscapes !!! A weekend in the mountains would remain me Valis, the tight roads and the fresh air; the simplicity of a breakfast outside and the wood’s walls of the house of a friend over there ! Since my host family told me we would go to the mountains, I knew I could except something totally different !
So on friday after school, I went to the « alos » place, the public showers, and then I came back home, ate something and packed my stuffs. Just my only one cashmeere shirt and my camera, actually. The other volunteers and their host families arrived, so we started to get in the mood ! We packed beers with, chips and food and finally we left for the aunt’s place ! Such a place… such a road… I would never have tried to drive here by my own and one of us had some troubles to make it ! The two others host fathers (obviously they are driving) did manage pretty well ! After some crazy curves, patience and a lot of fun, we arrived in the middle of nowhere. A peacefull place, a little river, a lot of sheeps and the typical mongolian yourte and ooooh ! Lets strech my legs!
By the way, safety is definitely not priority over here; my 2-years-old-kid had not belt and was just playing in the car while we were almost dying because of the stones of our ways.
So we enjoyed the nature, we ate so much… a sheep expressely sacrified for all of us, we cooked, I did ride a horse, took pictures, laughed, played volley ball, poker… I have not much to say except that we truly were there and adapted ourselves to the culture, to the place, learnt a lot ! We even had a campfire in the evening ! Sometimes it is just good to take the time, not to do much and being a bit bored. 🙂
Aline in Altai 