Caleb is really doing well with the language

Thursday Kristie and I spent some hours with Bill & Marcy Patterson. They are good friends! We left Caleb at our room. There are other people in the building including Noah Kruchkow a missionary kid about Caleb's age. We told Caleb to talk to Noah, read his book, and get some rest.

While we were gone, Caleb went out, found a little Mongolian cafe, and ordered himself some khuushuur. It is one of my favorite Mongolian dishes. He said he waited for a while, and no khuushuur came for him. So he finally asked the cafe how long he would have to wait. They told him thirty minutes. So he left, came back thirty minutes later, and got his khuushuur. 

My wife and I are amazed at his ability in the Mongolian language after being away for five years. He never spoke it much when we lived here only using a few phrases and simple sentences. But on this trip he has been answering questions and following conversations.

Also on Thursday, we had dinner at Bob & Ganaa's house. They are one of our oldest friends in Mongolia. Ganaa was a help to my wife particularly, helping with the issues of running a household in Mongolia. She also taught my wife Mongolian which is one reason that my wife speaks the language so well. They seem to be doing better than they have in the past. Bob has a bum knee. The doctors say that surgery would be the best way to treat it. He injured it thirty years ago playing soccer. At that time, he did not seek treatment for it. After a few months it seemed better. But recently it has been troubling him again.

On the way home last night, I told Caleb to go ahead and tell the taxi driver where we wanted to go. So when we got in the taxi, Caleb told the driver the directions. I spoke to my family in English but was tired and said nothing in Mongolian to the driver. We were most of the way to our destination when the driver as traffic slowed rolled down his window and asked a Mongolia a particular about Caleb's directions as if he did not know exactly where to go.

At that moment it occurred to me: the driver clearly understood what Caleb said; he just did not know that district well enough to make it to the end. He waited until he reached the district Caleb mentioned to ask a Mongolian if he was going the correct way. (He was.) Second, the driver, who had never heard my wife or I speak a word of Mongolian, assumed that Caleb was the Mongolian speaker for the family. 

As soon as I heard the driver asking for directions, I spoke up in Mongolian. "Keep going straight," I said. "You're on the right road."