Экии!

I got to Tuva this morning, after a 74 hour train ride and a 5 hour ride in a shared taxi, squashed in the back seat of a Toyota Sprinter between two Russian babushki. Those familiar with American trains will be shocked to learn that this Russian train arrived within 10 seconds of the appointed time.

Sean (my host here) wasted no time in acquainting me with Tuvan culture. Ayan, one of the singers in Alash, the band Sean manages, offered to take me to the banya. You know you've arrived in Tuva when you're perched on a scalding hot pine bench with 5 other naked men, who switch between speaking with you in Russian and with each other in Tuvan. The banya was, though unfamiliar, a positive experience and a very good way to get clean. Apparently, it serves for a week of showering, and I can believe it. I probably sweated half a liter of water during my hour there. As it happens, Tuvans like their banya extremely hot-- when we checked the thermometer, it was 108 degrees. Celsius.

I'm going to be in Sean's place for the next few days, until everyone clears out to go to Chadaana for the Ustuu-Xuree music festival. It's a nice house, and I'll take pictures of it to show you as soon as I can. By American standards, it is spartan. No running water and no toilet, save for an outhouse in the garden. Sveta (Sean's wife) makes remarkably tasty food with just a hotplate. So far it's been almost exclusively mutton-based. I've learned to strip a bone of every possible scrap of meat, as it's considered rude if you don't.

This afternoon, Sveta decided to rearrange things to better accommodate me and the several relatives who are staying here as well. When I got back from the banya, she'd moved a bed into the living room, and dismantled the book shelf that had been there. Together, we reassembled the bookshelf in the master bedroom, which involved lots of hammering nails into the walls.
There are several very cute Tuvan children in the household. Shonchalai is Sean and Sveta's daughter and is just old enough to walk small distances before resorting to crawling. Yumen is Sveta's younger brother (I think?) and spent a while this evening being fascinated with iTunes and its search capabilities. I taught him how to double click. There is also a blond Tuvan girl a little older than Shonchalai who is somehow related to Sveta, though I haven't figured out exactly how.

Tomorrow, I will go meet some people from the Tuvan national orchestra, try to register myself with the local authorities (required under Russian law) and perhaps go with the Alash guys to a music festival where they will be performing. If you get this, I'll also have succeeded in finding internet somewhere in Kyzyl. There's no landline phone here in Sean's place, so I will definitely be buying a Russian simcard for my cellphone. Hopefully, I will know more about how to contact the outside world within a few days.