Need a Calendar

My neighbor dropped in this evening. He'd been away for a bit.  He asked if I wanted to go get some trees to plant.  At first I thought he meant immediately.  It was 6 pm, or so.  Then he asked for a calendar.  So we showed him ours with pictures of National Parks.  He said it wouldn't do.

 "Don't you have the little one that tells what days are good for planting trees?", he asked.  No, I don't have one of those.  I'll find one, he said.  So I figure in the next week or so, I'll be planting trees on a day that the Buddhist calendar says is good.  I'm okay with that.  God will make that day too. 

Did I mention about half the trees we planted last fall died?  Maybe he wants to be sure to pick the right day so the trees don't die.  Mongolians are very hospitable.  Even though they were planted in our yard, without his help, he may still feel some responsibility for the death of 7 or 8 pine trees.  I don't know.  

 

Anyway, it was the first real look into the religious life of my neighbor, (the calendar is like a very detailed zodiac, what little I know of it) who like most Mongolians is not very religious.  

"You've Fattened Up a Little"

Just thought I'd pass along some outside perspective.  It's funny that you can know something is true.  But when you actually hear it out loud, it becomes real.."And the truth shall make you free".

All that to say, Mongolians don't have the same taboos on what you can say to someone that we Americans do.  Or what you can ask:  "how much money do you make? How much did your house cost?  Wow, is your horse skinny??!"