A mouthful of teeth

We went to the indoor market on Sunday. When I was in UB last year, I shopped at a regular grocery store, one not too different from an American one (apart from the lack of produce, ha!). On Sunday I discovered where Mongolians 'really' shop, and I felt like I'd come across a secret, underground world: nearly a full square block, two stories high, of rooms and shops with individual merchants selling items ranging from piles of ground mutton meat to ginger-wrapped candies to cotton bras to leather boots. I was definitely the only foreigner in a place crowded with well over 200 people, milling from purchase to purchase... and I felt very fortunate to have Ena at my side as my guide.

In the second room, the first thing I saw on the counter was a large tray - filled with what I knew could only be intestines from some large mammal. I asked Ena; horse intestine, came the reply. Yep, I guess that's what horse intestine would look like...

Next were chicken legs, then chicken breast, then came the pile of frozen heads with cloudy eyes and a mouthful of teeth still intact. They might have been arranged in a pyramid, if I remember correctly.

"And what are those?" I asked, swallowing
Ena's reply: "Sheep heads. [looks at me, as my face turns white and I become queasy]... No, really, they're very good. You should try some while you're here this time."
I swallow again, smiling at her, wanting to believe
"My mom will make it for you. It goes in a soup."

So I'll be having sheep head soup sometime while I'm here.

If I saw 'sheep head soup' on a menu, I would be disgusted. But if Ena's mom makes it for me, the second American to have ever entered her home, there's something special about that, you know?