Wrestling Pal for Edi

Edi or Edward V is a bachelor from the city of Archduke, Vienna. His height around 1,87 meters and has baby face on Samson posture. Tall, sturdy, smiley face, with long brown hair, and Wookiee voice-- he really was a human incarnation of Chewbacca. That was the moment he got his nickname, Chewie.

Chewie sleep over the vast steppe.

Just like these-day Vienna young inhabitants, his true interest was in the art of mocking and sarcastic praise. He called me 'Princess' to tease my hygiene habit and good manner words. So there we were, the Princess and Chewie,  driving the horseland in the Planet Steppe. All we need to find was the Jedi. Defeat  the bumpy road, three days with minimum size of beer, and a painful introduction to the intellectual demands of group's life philosophy, Edi need a pal to release his frustrations. Wrestling field was the answer.

As one of my companion during the Mongolia trip, Edi has shared a lot of his brilliant wisdom about shamanism. As well as his vast knowledge about the way they got "high" or trance in a manner way, and his beautiful skeptic mind toward the spirits world. I was sure Edi realized that it took more than cute big grin to survive in Mongolia, and it included wrestling.

That's why, on the way to Binder, when our jeep crossed the Khentii and the steppe, I finally found a wrestling pal for  Edi. The driver told me we were going to have our own wrestling session in Kurtsbaatar's summer camp, soon. All was arranged, finally Chewie got his Jedi.

Wrestling in Mongolia is a nation's pride activity. That's why,  you cannot separated wrestling from their culture, and don't even dare to mess with it. This sport has been an integral part of existence there for centuries.

From my opinion, there's a logical based why these people have the wrestling culture. Mongolian tend to likely touch their people, they loved to play and have fun as well. I also consider, the nomadic life they had for generations has developed an instinctual lifestyle. Therefore, wrestling had important role in their society. No doubt if most of us spent our free time checking our mobile just to kill the boredom. Mongolians, they do wrestling.

Amraa the Buryat wrestler.

There was not much competition feelings shared, no anger show,  they just loved it. To my surprise, it was an aggressive act happened in a very lightest mood. The way it looked to my eyes, wrestling in Mongolia was very intimate, friendly, with a touch of freedom carved out from their vast landscape and nomadic lifestyle.

On July 25th morning everybody were ready for the sessions. Edi, stand for our group versus Amraa, son of Kurtsbaatar. They took off their clothes, change with Jodag (top), Shuudag (pants), and Gutal (boot). The outfit is traditional, with scarlet top, blue Speedo-like to cover the thigh, and finished with traditional leather boots embroidered in bright colors.

Master Kurtsbaatar-- the retired wrestling champ and the summer camp owner-- gave a nod to the wrestler to begin the play. Edi was amusingly happy when he did the eagle dance as a warm up on the field. Inherited from shamanistic tradition, the wrestler must dance imitates the movement of the eagle. They did it in Buryat style.

Soon after that, there was not much more than two man locked up and tried to bring down each other to the ground. Well Edi, his position was tragic. Two sessions with two score went to Amraa. Just like my friend words after that, which was really meaningful under the funny sarcasm,

"There's no greater feeling to  feel the real steppe in Mongolia until you smell the grass on the ground when someone flopped you down, because I don't like horse riding. I cannot count that in," he said swiftly with his big grin.

This post is dedicated for the Chewbacca guy himself who's having birthday TODAY! Not to mention today is Halloween. Happy birthday Edi, thanks. You've taught me how to face this life with funny sarcasm. After all, there's so many reason to take life easily. There's so much beauty in this world.