Molon Khan.

Walking home from work Oyuntugs and I were talking about pets. Namely that Mongolians don't really have pets and Americans generally go gaga over them. Specifically I mentioned cats, as I noticed that no one here seems to like them. "It would be nice to have a pet," I mentioned.

A meowing noise was heard while I was tutoring the "ger English kids" (gEk?). Living in a ger, I assumed that whatever was making the noise had a 99% chance of actually being in my ger. We looked around: found nought. Mamu went outside to check the premises and came back in with a cat. The other two students were less than pleased about this (most Mongolians hate cats), so I told him to put it back outside.

Mr. cat decided that chilling out on top of my ger was the best of all possible worlds. When gEk left, the cat came in. "Oh, drat" said I, with all sincerity. The feeding of the cat was started immediately. My landlady came in and jumped approximately 3 feet when she saw the thing. Not terribly pleased. I asked in every way I know how (didn't take long) if it really was ok to keep it.

The naming process went as follows:
1) Mongolian name or other? Mongolian.
2) Normal Mongolian name or odd? Odd.
3) A Khan name (consult the calender with all the khans on it that Dogo lent to me).
4) The strangest names were written on pieces of paper by Mamu.
5) They were placed face down on the floor.
6) The cat was placed on the floor near the papers and we waited for him to step on one.
7) He chose: Molon Khan who ruled Mongolia from 1456-1462.

The next day saw Tysen buying meat in Mongolia for the first time. The cat was greatly pleased with his choice cut of beef. Milk was also purchased. A giant metal tumpin with sand serves as the bathroom and is cleaned daily I can assure you.

Pictures are forthcoming.