Back in 207 Country

After a grueling 30 hours in transit I'm back at 13 Homeplace. Phew.

On my way out of UB I was detained, for lack of better words, in Mongolian immigration. They fined me about $70 but were totally Mongolian about the situation. They are immigration officers, serious people with serious jobs, but they were more than friendly. I offered some food, we broke bread together. The woman in charge gave me her personal number in case I ever had trouble again and the man gave me his email to be in contact about ESL in the US or a beer when I'm back in UB. Mongolians are the nicest bunch in the world.

When I got to O'Hare or course my flight was delayed. I teared up a bit when I saw it at first but jetlag quickly set in and 9pm felt like the time to wake up. My mood went from sour and dying to excited to share my experiences with the other Mainers waiting at C8.

I intend on keeping this blog going to share any memories that I left out- expect a thought tomorrow on the Wild West of the desert and a drunken fight that got out of hand. I'm also going to continue the blog through the process of writing the unit I now owe Fund for Teachers, the awesome organization that made this trip happen. By then I'll probably be back in Mongolia...

GertoGer

I also want to give a big shout out to gertoger. I mentioned the organization before but I really want to give them some airtime. They set up my trips to Bulgan and Dundgobi and I couldn't have asked for more. Their trips are so incredibly superior to any other ones I have heard of so, if you come to see the "sights" of Mongolia, especially the Gobi, you are foolish for not going with them. The sights are rocks, big rocks, smaller rocks, fields, some dunes, and some mountains. It's pretty boring. What is fascinating is the culture. 50% of the country is nomadic! You MUST experience that while you are here an they are the best way. All of the incredible experiences I have written about wouldn't have happened without them.

Another reason gertoger rocks my world is that a lot of the proceeds go straight to the herders. That's the darn point. They are not being exploited, they are making money they need. Last winter was really tough, some families lost all of their animals, and you can support them by visiting! So, if you are heading to Mongolia, and you should btw, go to http://www.gertoger.org/ to plan your trip.

Full disclosure: Their trips aren't all easy. One of mine required you to be in decent shape and be able to handle long bumpy rides. But if you are looking for an adventure, an adventure you will find!

Last night in UB...

Now I say "UB" like I'm an expat. Has a month earned me the right? I think so.

I made it through yet another hellish bus ride today. Of course, a tire blew out. This is what happens when a large vehicle is held together by scotch tape and camel dung. But it was pretty funny. It didn't get get flat. I mean it when I say that it "blew out." It was a loud popping sound and while I silently groaned and rolled my eyes all of the Mongolians acted as though they had been waiting for it to happen. I had been trying to approach it that way as well but I'm too hopeful. So, as we waited around, they started busting out the airag (fermented mare's milk) that they got at the rest stop. At the stop I had rolled the dice with my stomach and got some buuz (dumplings) in a ger and downed a bowl of airag. Nothing like fermented milk before 4 hour bus ride down a dirt road. That's why the Mongolians were filling up their liter bottles. As it turns out, there is no drinking age for airag. They feed it to babies. A healthy baby is a drunk baby. Maybe that's why they don't cry on the bus...

Back to the busted tire... whenever anyone has trouble on the road, anyone passing stops. Normally, that's one car per hour. Or sometimes a bus. We got another bus. So, I eye the driver of the helper bus because I can quickly tell that he's going to be something else. And he is. He looks around the road, lights up a smoke, inhales deep and then opens the door. He's got the cigarette on the side of his mouth as he steps out and immediately pulls a champion move- left snot rocket, front loogie/spit, right snot rocket. These are serious snot rockets too. Like, I think a penny came out. So, he's fat, right, and he's waddling over, and the thing I like most is that he's got a big round blackish stain on the belly of the shirt his mom probably got him for his 11th birthday. The stain isn't cup size either. It's TGIFriday's plate size. That's big. He sizes up the situation, (as it turns out it takes at least six men to really understand the problem) spits again, and waddles back.

Another awesome mini-event in the busted tired saga is that the driver gives a bunch of guys a direction and they start scattering around the fields looking for something. One guy says the Mongolian version of, "got it!" and comes back with a used, rusty tire holdy thingy. It was completely necessary and this happens so frequently that you find that stuff on the side of the road.

My last English class yesterday was WONDERFUL. I taught them teenager slang and they loved it. They learned all sorts of stuff and silly conversations- "That's a total bummer!" "I'm going to hang out with my bff." "What's up?" "Cool" "I just caught my bf with another girls! -That's totally messed up! -Right? -Yeah But he wasn't worth it anyway." -and at the end of class I asked "Ready to bounce?" and they all wanted to stay and, wait, take a seat for this, learn more! After class, which was extended by an hour, we went out to play ping pong.

Tomorrow is the day. Bummer.

Three Dollar Haircut

I tried to tip her but she looked so confused and just handed the money back as though I didn't understand the price. Yet another culture difference. I really like that one.

Today I finished my five day teacher training course. The teachers were extremely receptive and came away with some totally new ideas. They were particularly interested in content based test preparation methods. Their students take a big exam called Concourse that is all grammar based multiple choice. Ew. There are some reading passages too so we worked on those.

I also taught them the stoplight method for essay writing. Green- go into your topic. Yellow- Slow down and give an example. Red- Stop and explain. We used essays that my students had written to learn how to critique writing using the stoplight. It was great.

Only 1.5 more days. NOOOOOOOO!!!!! At least I can look forward to my pot hole bus ride tomorrow. I SWEAR they intentionally hit the deepest puddles and largest rocks.

I probably have herpes...

...sorry. But the reason why is also a lesson in Mongolian culture.

Speaking of lessons, today I taught my students about conditionals and different emotions. One example I like, and one of their favorites is... If I farted in class I would be embarassed. So, we are acting out farting and embarrassment in a kind of charades game and the 7th grader next to me, reaches over, takes my water and starts to drink. She didn't drink a lot, just a little. It was a polite amount to take from someone else. But there was no asking. That kind of behavior is typical. I think I mentioned before how everything is shared. Food, water, sleeping mats, horses, all of it. You don't ask for a person's water, it is just assumed that they brought it share. If it's out, it's fair game (That's what she said.)

I'm pretty sure we can connect this to herder life. A traveler will be welcomed into any ger with milk tea and cookies and snuff bottles will be passed around. Alcohol is always shared out of the same cup. When you are drinking fermented camel milk, moonshine, beer or vodka (if you are lucky) they will put some in a cup and hand it to you. You are expected to drink quickly (women don't have to drink it all but you have to at least put some to your lips) and hand it back. Then the host, the man with the bottle, fills it again and passes it to the next person. When it's his turn, he won't take his time either. Chug, pass to host, fill, pass to guest, chug. You are always offered. I think you have to refuse at least twice for them to stop offering.

This would be hard for me to get used to. I like it a lot, I'm not upset when people take from me, but it would be hard to get used to taking from other people. It's fun to think about what one of my teachers would have thought if I had just taken a sip of her diet coke. She would not have assumed I was Mongolian.

Sharing. It gives you herpes. Right?

Dirty Hippie

It was Dave who suggested I leave a razor behind and I took is advice. Well, guess what happens when you don't have a razor for a month? It's not cute, it's not funny, it's just a tickly, annoying and gross hot mess. Every time there's a breeze I feel like I'm being attacked by a swarm of the aforementioned flies. I keep on dreaming of Gillette commercials.

Christian Children's Fund

There are so many flies. They get all up in your business and as soon as you have swatted one off, ten more maul your legs, arms, face and anything else exposed. I neglected to mention picking desert berries with flies all over my face like a kid in a Christian Children's Fund advertisement. I had eaten only cups of goat noodle soup and tea for five days and I was doing everything possible to keep from shoveling the berries into my mouth so I could fill the bucket with my 8 year old counterpart. Even in my swank hotel they buzz around my ears at night. Good thing I have bad hearing in my left ear.

Sain Banuu Mandelgovi!

Remember those shirts people had that said hello in [insert language] and then the country name? Like, "Hola Madrid!" Well, I'm bringing it back, but like an annoying ironic hipster. Get it? Because, like, I'm in MONGOLIA and that's not that cool place where I did study abroad for 3 months and now think I lived there and understand the culture so I'm entitled to talk about it in my class and take up other students' time along with my professor's.

Anyhoo, today I started teaching the teachers methodology and teaching the students English. (SEE PICS ABOVE!!!) All of the people are great. Sadly, the teachers have zero materials and a rigid state curriculum. These young women all have at least one child, make about $200 a month and have to buy their own chalk, let alone paper. Big ups to the Mongolian government on those budget decisions. I emailed DonorsChoose.org about the international thing.

Here are some new facts I learned- last winter was so harsh that some herders lost ALL of their animals. ALL of them. It was quite common to lose about 50%. This has created a serious social issue as they move to cities jobless and remain jobless in ramshackle ger slums on the outskirts of town. A non-sarcastic big ups to the Dungovi Aimag for trying to give the herders animals to start again.

One of the reasons they lost so many animals is the because of the snow. Instead of harvesting for the winter to feel the sheeps, goats, horses, camels and cows (add in reindeer and yaks in the north, the latter being quite funny looking creatures), they have them dig under the snow to what might be left below the frozen surface. To me, this sounds like the dumbest idea ever in a place that feels temperatures of -40C but I guess it's been working for thousands of years. Kind of.

And I had something resembling a western meal today. I've been dreading food. (Gummy Bears count as a breakfast cereal, right?) It was stirfry-ish with goat and bell peppers. I think the top of the salt shaker was open when they went to sprinkle some in. Oh well, I did it for the bell peppers.

Oh, oh, oooohhhh I forgot to mention my hotel. I'm staying in the AltaiGobi, which I think is the swankiest hotel is this town. I have my own bathroom with running water and even HOT water if I wanted it (but I don't want it because it's 95 degrees out and I'm a sweat monster). I also have a sweet karaoke room if I feel the need to listen Journey screeched in a Mongolian accent. Shiver.

Just found another sweet blog with entries about the very trip I just did. All of the families are ones I visited too.

Now... time to get some pictures up. Eh?

Mmmmm... Tastes Like Mongolia

Mongolian ice cream. Gross.

After meeting with teachers I will begin training tomorrow I spent some time with a PC volunteer and one of her co-workers who also works for GertoGer, the organization I traveled with. One of the events of the day was going to the store and buying "ice cream." Nanga, the co-worker, said, "This is my favorite. It's more like yogurt." I thought, "Hey, I LOVE Fro-yo!" The PC volunteer said, with words that melted my excitement, "It tastes like Mongolia." And it did. If there is one thing I wish I could bring back for you it would be that goat-yogurt-sand-sweat on a stick. But I ate it because it's really hot.

Back to the adventure...

More Memorable Experiences

• Being told in Mongolian that, "Tand mongloor yarakh boloh" (You should speak Mongolian). Thanks buddy.
• Knowing that I'd have to drive 15km to get cell phone service or 200km to get internet. Oh, and there aren't landlines or electricity.
  
• A guy trying to flirt with me using a dictionary.
• Drinking water from a holy well and not getting sick!
  
• Eating the same food over and over again. It was always some combination of the same ingredients. I flipped out when I was given a bowl of rice for lunch because it was so different... which leads me to

Things I Learned

• Humans do not need vegetables. Mongolians live off of water, white flour and dried goat/sheep (fresh meat in the winter). Some get potatoes if they are lucky. Some get cabbage and carrots if they are REALLY lucky. And if it's time to slaughter a goat- you get REALLY REALLY lucky and eat innards, the meat is obviously sold. (Side note- I have awesome before and after pictures of the goat slaughtering process.)
  
• You do not need a varied diet to do hard labor and be in great shape.
  
• Mongolians have no sense of personal space or personal belongings. This probably comes from living in a ger where there is no place for "alone time." They will rest on you if you are available to rest on. They will hug you if they like you. They will get in really close if they want to see your pictures. They will take your stuff if you have it though you may take their stuff as well. Sharing is their way of life so there aren't many "thank yous." (If a 6 year old knows you have cookies, don't expect to have cookies the next day.)
• In the summer, you sleep a lot. I thought families were just being nice to the traveler by suggesting I rest but no, I'd go to sleep on the floor of the ger and wake up with 3 other people sleeping on the floor of the ger as well.
  
• They spend a lot of time with their families. The men do short spurts of intense manual labor and chill at home when they don't have to be herding.
  
• Women and men have obviously different places in the home. Men have a special bowl and a special seat in the ger. Men DO NOT cook or milk. Women DO NOT go and herd.
  
• Children here are much more competent. 2 year olds do serious chores- Dorma brings hot water back and forth between gers!
  
• Babies do not use diapers. Moms seem to know when their kid needs to go and take them outside or put down some paper.
  
• Children NEVER talk back or fight with parents. It's unheard of.
  
• Instead of air conditioning, you roll up the bottom felt of the ger to let the cool air in and keep the top open to let the hot air out.
• How to make traditional felt.
• How to construct a ger.
• How to do traditional embroidery (though not very well).
• That some Mongolians believe that there is only one type of Buddhism and all the scriptures are written in Tibetan. I tried to ask this woman answering questions in a monastery about why Mongolia has Tibetan Buddhism rather than any other school and how it got there and she told my 13 year old translator that I was asking nonsense questions. As far as I understand there is Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana. Tibetan falls under Vajrayana. And there are definitely texts in Chinese and Sanskrit. Is she ignorant, am I wrong or was something lost in translation. Guess what I think.
• You drink tea out of the cup you are served food in.
• People in the desert are the poorest in the country. I saw serious disparities in wealth. Normally a ger has 1-2 beds, 2 chests, 1 bureau and at least one other piece of furniture for bowls. The families in the greener steppe who had more tourists had somewhat similar setups. But the family by the sand dunes I stayed with had nothing but a mini cupboard for bowls and 7 people slept in the small 5 lattice ger. Come to Mongolia and visit them. They need tourists!

Tomorrow I begin training teachers and teaching English. How do you train teachers who have NO materials?

Munkh-Od, Dorma and Other Nomads: A 12 Day Adventure Through The Gobi

Munkh-Od...
I'm back. And now I'm sick. I think I told many of you that "I know I'm going to get sick, it's only a matter of time." The time came, but thankfully it came on the very last morning of my big Gobi trip. They tell me I have sun poisoning, despite having no sunburns, and whatever that is sucks. And it turns out water can't prevent it. My driver was nice enough to rub my back as I bent over on the side of the road (it doesn't seem fitting to use that word, road, but oh well) to vomit. As it turns out, 50 degrees Celsius is no joke. The weather in the Gobi is nothing less than punishing.

I really didn't want to start out writing about this by saying, "I don't really know how to begin writing about 12 days of absolutely fascinating adventure" because it's such a silly introduction. Too bad I'm such a bad writer. In any case, many of you know that I favor bullet points. In fact, my journal was written in notes and bullet points. Let's just keep going with that.

Best Experiences

• learning how to sew traditional patterns and del buttons
• playing with 2 year old Dorma, the coolest 2 year old on the planet (SEE LEFT)
  
• riding in my "Russian jeep" or what I like to call, "Soviet carbon monoxide sweat lodge"
• drinking gallons of milk tea in every home
• napping on the floor of gers in the hot weather
• learning how to build a ger
• climbing insane rock formations as well as in and out of caves
• speaking in broken Mongolian
• drinking airag and khoolmog- fermented mare and camel milk
• singing poorly to a family
• riding on a wooden saddle for 15 minutes and then transferring to the back of a motorcycle (still sore)
• running up the Uush Sand Dunes (and then having to stop repeatedly to nurse my burned feet)
• teaching 15 and 18 year olds how to curse in English
  
• bathing out of a well
  
• walking 10km across the desert and not knowing I'm sweating because of the wind thinking I might die there
• taking an horse cart in the rain
• waiting out a gigantic hail storm

Darn, this is getting kind of long. More on "What I Learned" tomorrow.

A Disappointed Star Wars Fan

That fan is me. I am disappointed. I am not disappointed because I just remembered that I used to have a "Star Wars: A New Hope" lunch box (a tin one) and now I don't know where it is. I am disappointed because the royal clothing from Naboo was, in fact, not original or creative, it was just Mongolian. Khalkh, Mongolian to be exact. Compare pictures to the side.

I'm big on clothing today because Sukhbaatar Square had a giant traditional garb pageant today along with a variety show of contortionists, throat singers, mask dancing, merionettes (including one of Obama in a del robe) and dancers. There was a pageant for children and couples that included hundreds of people with clothing on from all different parts of the country. Some of it was incredibly ornate. I particularly enjoyed the lime green cupcake wedding dresses.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Gobi and won't be able to blog for 12 days until I return. Hopefully, I'll come back with sweet ger building skills and a sexy tan. Hopefully, I do not come back with dysentery and lice (both being incredibly likely).

Oyuna

Last night my hostel had a BBQ and the owner brought a traditional musician to play the horse head fiddle. It was absolutely beautiful and I got to spend time with more incredible people doing incredible things. The fiddle only has two strings made of horse hair but it produces the sounds of a violin.

A Day at the Races

I got up early today to get to the horse racing which takes place outside the city. I traveled with the same great people as yesterday. I want to quickly note that for everyone here it seems that the next stops are 1) Bhutan 2) North Korea 3) Afghanistan. I'd knock out #3 and add in South Korea. Shout out to Britan and Nathaniel for keeping me company today and making me feel part of a tricycle rather than a third wheel.

Anyways... The fields and rolling hills were dotted with tents and food selling gers for the big event. Everyone was decked out in traditional garb, especially those who came on their horses- the real badasses with cowboy hats, worn in leather boots, scowls and cigarettes hanging out of their mouths.

I got there in time to see the 5 year old horses race- they are the fastest. They race 30km and the end is packed with excited spectators. When they cross the line the people run and gather to touch the horse because the sweat is supposed to bring good luck. It ends up a minor stampede and then the jockey and the horse owner race away, nearly trampling anyone in their way.

The jockeys are unlike what we have in the US. Jockeys in the US are usually men and always small, right? Like really light and strong. Well, Mongolians know that jockeys should be light, so their jockeys are 5 year old boys and girls. I didn't notice they were children until I saw the pigtails up close. In Mongolia, jockeys are no older than 13 and 3 is considered the best age to start training.

I walked amongst the gers selling huushur, mutton empanadas. We tried our best at archery as the Mongolians chuckled but helped us out. We also got signs made for us in Mongolian script calligraphy. Mine says, "Welcome to Class."

After wandering for some time, we ended up checking out this big blue ger. We thought it might be an indoor restaurant so we milled about trying to get a better view of what was going on. A man outside beckoned us to join him in the ger so we eagerly ducked in. Once inside, we were ushered to sit at seats and quickly given airag, fermented mare's milk, and told to eat from the spread in front of us. Sure. No problem. Then we looked around and there were banners on the wall that made it look like it was run by a mining company (guys in orange and hardhats). At the head of the seated semicircle was a well dressed man who laughed loudly and seemed to get everyone's attention. A man sitting directly to his right excitedly took pictures of us and told us that it was the Ulaanbaatar Electricity Distribution Network's tent. Sweet. We were ceremoniously given mutton meat from the whole sheep at the head's table where there was also a traditional Mongolian cheese and bread platter (SEE ABOVE). Then, they gave us Chinngis Vodka, that's the good stuff, and we toasted with the company to something we couldn't understand. Would ConEd's CEO invite random Mongolian's into his corporate tent at Far Hills? Probably not. I heart Mongolia!

Naadam 2010!

Today was the first day of the biggest festival of the year in UB- Naadam. It features huge tournaments in 4 national sports- wrestling, archery, ankle-bone shooting and horse racing. Today I got to check out the first three.

I got picked up early this morning and was whisked away to the big stadium with a small group of other tourists. We got their early to get seats for the opening ceremony. The ceremony featured singers, dancers, horses, parades, military demonstrations, 5 men who parachuted in and a speech from the president.

The most impressive thing I saw were horse riding tricks. These guys would do continuous acrobatic moves on and of their horses while the horses remained galloping down the field. The parachuting was pretty cool but also got a little ridiculous when the last guy crashed into a few dancers. Ouch.

Archery was exciting because the men and women go at the same time but from different distances. This society is so egalitarian- men and women have the same traditional dress, women compete in archery and horse riding and they seemed to be valued just as much. Pretty cool. I think that there's just no room for frailty and subservience in subsistence living. Both sexes need to be able to chop wood and scoop poop. Another reason the archery was great was because you could go right up to the competitors. It's the biggest tourist event of the year and it looked like only their families and a few white people had come out to see them.

You could also get right up in the ankle bone shooting. This is a sport like poker is a sport. They flick a bone off a slidey thing shaped kind of like a scrabble letter holder and try to hit two sheep ankle bones that are placed next to each other 170cm away. Kind of lame BUT, the Mongolians get serious about it. Men line up on each side of the "field" and scream loudly to both support their team and throw off the other team's shooter. It's very loud and very crowded. Don't worry. I got video.

Wrestling is done in fantastic costumes and doesn't begin without a lot of religious warm ups. How can you take it seriously? SEE PHOTO ABOVE

Crazy Mongolian Health Care

Today I met someone whose friend needed an emergency appendectomy in the Gobi- she got one. With only local anesthesia. Thankfully she passed out from the pain. Whoa. It definitely wasn't laproscopic.

Good thing I already had mine taken out.

Tom? Jijig? I'll take it!!!

I ramped up my Mongolian language skills today and hit the market, Narantuul, with Amy, a Canadian at my hostel Oyuna, whose boyfriend needed my re-hydration salts. I went in on a mission- fabric and traditional clothing for my new students. Mission accomplished. I bought two beautiful del (see above picture) and 6 gorgeous meters of different fabrics. I'm going to have to head to another market to get myself some riding boots.

Once again, this market is amazing. This time, a day before Naadam, the biggest event of the year, I only saw 4 other tourists in a market of thousands. You can get everything there- from rusty, used gaskets to whole sheep.

Sorry Dave, but I lost my gray Nalgene on the plane ride from Beijing. I started with two- now I'm down to just one that smells like goat. I'm trying to air it out after it held boiled water from the gers. The khaloon us (hot water) had awesome goat milk curd floaties that rotted really nicely over the past few days.

"How has Mongolia blowed you the most?": A 5 Day Excursion to Bulgan Province

The title statement came from a girl who rode the mini-bus (Soviet tank/van) back to UB with me today. She is going to spend a semester in Montana and I told her that I thought the US would "blow her mind as Mongolia has blown my mind." Cute ESL blunder!

Have you ever gone off-roading? How about on a bus? How about on a bus from the 1970s Soviet Union? I have. On my way to Bulgan Aimag to learn about dairy products, the highway just ended and the bus just went through fields and dirt roads until it picked up again 20 miles later. I thought I was going to puke/faint/die. So, the ride there was really exciting but most of the stay was very relaxing and there was a lot of down time. How much down time? Well, I'm more than half way though Jane Eyre and if you know me well, that would take some serious down time. While I spent a lot of time enjoying the views, walking around reading about Mr. Rochester there were some fabulous highlights-

1) A huge rain storm on the first day. The floors of gers are either linoleum or dirt because water just washes through them. You also have to be careful to bring in the chimney. I was with a mother and son and I held the son as he shivered with fear as his mother threw goat's milk into the storm to make it go away and tie down the felt and plastic covering their home. He mumbled prayers as we tried to hold the door shut. It was much better than being one of the travelers out on horseback who had to crouch down on the ground with their heels together.
2) Every meal- dried goat and potatoes in either a stew or with noodles (I can make them for you!). There was carrot shaved in a couple times too.
3) Walking out to rock piles, we (a French couple and 2 Mongolian kids) heard a drum, a lam, and followed the sound around a hill of rocks to a real shaman's ceremony. He was dressed in feathers and danced while beating this huge drug. About 10 people were sitting around and when they saw us we were told to move away.
4) The father of the first family came to the ger by motorbike at around 9 and the girl there (a friend of the family) motioned for me to get on with her. She said, "sheep! hun!" and jumped on after me. He drove us 10 minutes to the sheep and I was clueless as to why we were going there at all until we got off and he sped away. We had to herd them home! It was awesome but you can imagine my moment of panic when I am herding about 200 goats and sheep on my own and, because I'm not wearing my glasses, I can't see her with her 200 or the ger.
5) Camel burn- it will take the skin right off your butt. DON'T GO ON A CAMEL FOR MORE THAN 30 MINUTES.
6) On the evening of the 3rd day, I, along with the French couple (shout out of Kyeng-Hy and Jean-Yves!!!!) were taken by horse up to an ovoo on a hill. An ovoo is an ancient and sacred pile of rocks. This one was surrounded by white stupas and the view of the hills, mountains, pastures and sand dunes was majestic.
7) I mentioned that I wanted to buy a del, the traditional robes, and the mother of the 3rd ger said that she would sell one she just made. She said that sewing was her hobby. She put it on me and it looks wild! 40,000 Tugrik and 2 days later I'm ready for Naadam.

There were many more amazing moments that I'd love to tell you about but I'm sure you are done reading. The purpose of this trip was to learn to make the traditional dairy products. I learned quite a bit (including how to turn yogurt into vodka) and was given plenty of bowls of cream and yogurt to sample. My students next year will get to eat delicious orom (sliced dried cream) and aarts (fresh milk curds)!

The Market and a Stomach Problem

I'm sick. Not the kind of sick where I need that bathroom, thankfully. My tummy just hurts. This is when it sucks to be alone in Mongolia.

Today I set off for the big market with a Stanford med student. We got there early, which was great because it's obvious that the place gets nuts in the afternoon. It's the largest market I've ever been to for sure. There's a section for hats, a section for tires, a section for leather, a section for ger (yurt) stoves and so on. I was able to check out all the stuff I want to bring back for students like fabric and traditional clothing. There are amazing leather boots I hope to bring home with fantastic Mongolian designs. There are also some amazing fur hats that are $20 and will make you think KGB.

After the market, we walked to the Bogd Khan Palace. Temples, temples and tangas- silk mural paintings. Our adorable guide spoke horrible English and it was clear that it was more for her to practice than educate us.

I had to leave early to get my lesson in Mongolian nomadic social graces and get the details for my trip tomorrow. I leave at 8am on a 5 hours bus ride into the country. I'll be staying with 3 different families and I'll keep my gps spot on for you to follow. Unfortunately, I'll be completely out of contact until the 9th or 10th. Wish me luck!

Mongolian Museums and Heritage Sites: A Mixed Review

I already blogged this morning about yesterday but today has been so full that I think I need to again before I forget anything. I'm also super tired...

After breakfast and blogging I decided to take Lonely Planet's walking tour and hit up a few extra museums on my list. On my way out of the hostel I came across another guy staying there who is totally off his rocker and he ranted at me about the Chinese for about 30 minutes. It was absolutely fascinating. He had spent months there in the minority provinces and has traveled to 112 countries. He went on and on and on about Han complacency and the oppressive government. I suggested that maybe not all Han Chinese follow the party line as he suggested (thinking of our family friend Yangkan) but he didn't believe it. Everyone I know who has spent some time in China has strong feelings about it.

First I walked down Peace Avenue, the huge street with the State Department mall. I took it to Sukhbaatar Square, named after the man who declared Mongolia's independence from China in 1921. There's a big statue of him in the center. The square is surrounded by the Parliament house which has a huge monument/statue of Chinggis (hey, that's how they write it) Khaan and Kublai who is is next to him on the east, the Palace of Culture and the State Opera and Ballet Theater which is pink. In the square there was a really interesting photo exhibit. I didn't have to read the captions to get the message behind pictures of overindulgent politicians and the homeless. There were a bunch of people all around it too- just regular folks checking out the art in the square.

From there I went on to the museum of Mongolian Costumes. It's a really crappy museum and they charged me $25 to take the pictures I needed to take. (Thank you Fund For Teachers!) It also took a lot of work to figure out what the woman working there was trying to tell me. I communicated in broken phrasebook Mongolian and she answered in Mongolian I couldn't decipher. Uuchlaarai, bi mongoloor yairdaggui. [I'm sorry, I don't speak Mongolian.] Though it was a crappy museum, I did get to see the fabric store and successfully used Mongolian to figure out how much a meter cost and when they were open. I'm hoping to bring some traditional fabric back to my students.

Then, on to the museum of Mongolian History which happened to have an excellent exhibit on traditional clothing and beautiful jewelry. Each region has a distinct style and you can kind of tell where they are from. The silk brocade stuff is obviously from closer to China while the fur hats and unisex sashes and tunics are from near Russia. The women's hair covering is from the Khazak region. The Khazak clothing reminds me of some Bedoin patterns I've been before. Here's a list of the more interesting things I learned in the museum:

• Communism brought literacy.
• Mongolia was the 2nd country in the world to become communist.
• During the communist purges, 36,000 people were killed and many more went missing. That's out of a population of roughly 750,000!!!!
  
• The ethnic majority is Khalak.
  
• They became a democracy in '91.
• There are ancient burial sites throughout the country marked by square stones.
  
• There are two distinct kinds of gers (yurts) and some Mongolians use tents.
  
• You can touch anything that isn't behind glass, even the petroglyphs.
  

Yup.

The Museum of Natural History came next. What a joke. The animals were done by amateur taxidermists. I mean, you could see the seams. Most of the place was empty and I'm not talking empty of people, well that too, but there were just empty spaces. There was a ton of dinosaur stuff but all of it was kept in broken glass containers with holes in them, resting on thin sheets of Styrofoam. I kept thinking, hmmmm... so, this stuff is 7 million years old and it's in this dusty building without temperature control basically rotting away. Good thing first world countries took the good stuff?

I took a lunch break and I think I accidentally ate some spam. I tried to pick around the sticks of meat in my pasta salad but I think eating canned me is pretty unavoidable in this country. It was going to happen at one point.

After the break I walked to Gaandan Khiid, the large old monastery. The only reason this thing made it past the purges is because VP Henry Wallace wanted to see something Buddhist on his visit to Mongolia (who had helped fight the Nazi's with Russia). The Mongolian leader at the time had to hide the fact that he had just assassinated most of the country's monks and leveled all the temples (or used them to house prominent party members) so he cleaned up Gaandan Khiid and used it as a front. Inside the largest temple in the complex is a, surprise!, giant Buddha (see above). Pretty cool but built in the 20th century. There's also a structure that temporarily housed the Dalai Lama in 1913. Most of it though appears to be run down, dusty and falling apart. It's obvious that the foreign money isn't being use for restoration. Still, 600 monks belong to the place.

OOOOOOHHHHH crazy man is back. Got to go...

I've Landed on Mars

Yesterday morning started with a 4:45 am wake up, street dumplings (hurray! my intestines are fine!) and a long ride to the airport. I started smiling to myself a little bit when I walked up to the counter labeled Ulaan Baator. Holy crap!

I made a great decision about the flight. Airplane food is crap, right? Well, if you get the special "low-fat" meal it's a little less crappy. Instead of spam, I was given turkey. As it turns out, Mongolians seem pretty big on canned meats.

I've titled this post "I've Landed on Mars" because the plane landing gave me a view that you can only get coming into Mongolia or if you've taken a ride on a Mars rover. A huge portion of the flight was over the Gobi and it got clearer as we landed. The vast, never ending dunes with white spots (yurts) and the pale grassy fields are astounding.

Unfortunately, my cab driver form the airport ripped me off and dropped me off at the wrong location. Some things are universal.

I finally got to Zaya Hostel, which is much more like a nice hotel and immediately met some Australians. They are here observing health development work which is fascinating. I ended up hanging out with one of them, Grace, all night. More on that in a sec.

I started walking around the area a little bit, exchanged some money and checked in with gertoger, my tour organizer. As it turns out, I'll be doing BOTH trips completely alone. It's going to be intense. Getting a feel for the area was hard because this city is so weird. It's dusty but not polluted with bright blue skies and amazing weather. The buildings are all Soviet style concrete boxes, including the biggest mall, "The State Department." Mongolian people look so different than other Asians- they are tall and not as thin- which one told me was from all of the meat. I buy it.

I got a late lunch at Cafe Amsterdam and chatted for a while with some guys from Holland who were excited for the soccer match. They are just renting a driver and going across the country. I wish I could go with them but I have my own adventures.

After lunch I took a walk through a local grocery store. I tried to use my pocket phrasebook to figure out if something was salty or sweet but the guy had no clue what I was trying to tell him so I splurged on it (less than a dollar for 2 pounds of biscuits) and ate a terrible version of a Russian tea cake with my Coca-cola Light.

I met up with Grace and we went to a cultural show designed for tourists at which I saw and heard the craziest things I've ever seen or heard in my whole life. It started with cultural dancing which was amazing. It's like Russia meets India meets China and yet distinctly Mongolian. For example, in one dance they danced with a stack of tea cups of their heads (Chinese style Russian bottle dancing?) with Russian style footwork with Indian style bells on their hands. In the end they showed there was tea in the cups by pouring the liquid from one cup to another- and it's a Mongolian white dairy drink. I loved it. But the craziest thing I saw was a contortionist. Whoa. She did the impossible and I don't think I can explain it. Just imagine a person doing something with their body that you think is completely impossible. The craziest thing I've ever heard now is Mongolian throat singing. They do something to produce two notes which sometimes sounds like a whistle over a didjeridoo (sp?) and at other times just sounds like a regular duet. I highly recommend checking it out.

After the show, Grace took me to a bar that has live music. There was no where to sit so the waitress set us up with some Mongolian girls who had reserved a large table. They were amazingly friendly! One was an endocrinologist who had fascinating things to say about Mongolian hospitals (if anything happens to me, get me the hell out of here!) and health policy. Another one was exactly my age and studying English. She offered to drive me around the city so I'm going to give her a call today. It's so rare to meet women like that in other countries. Normally, you have to fight off creepy men so this was special. Mongolians are super friendly and love talking crap about China and Chinese people. And some things are universal, so naturally we talked a lot about boyfriends and husbands. They were there to see what they called their favorite "boy band." We thought they weren't translating that correctly but no, they were. We saw a good chunk of a Mongolian boy band concert but had to leave before our ears started to bleed.

On our walk back we stopped in front of the State Department to get the feel for local culture as a huge crowd sat and watched the Holland-Brazil game on a big screen. I think the whole city was out!

So, wow, that was my first day in Mongolia. In fact, just half a day.

No longer third world...

Bird's Nest and Lama Temple

Beijing has changed soooooo much! But let's start with the beginning...

I forced myself awake today at 9:15am and during breakfast made day plans with two dudes from NYC- one who works at Barclays, the other is doing a Fulbright on education policy in Taiwan. We decided to hit Temple of Heaven first and got on the subway. Unfortunately, Fulbright got us going in the wrong direction and we ended up in the Stamford of Beijing, about 40 minutes out of the way. Alas. So, on our way back, we stopped at the Lama Temple. Lama Temple is amazing. It builds up with temple after temple of Buddhas to the final temple which has an enormous Buddha carved from ONE white oak tree. You have to tip your head all the way back to see the head. It's phenomenal.

Then it was on to the Temple of Heaven. We were hungry and couldn't find anything to eat so we stopped in Yoshimaya or something like that. There's one in Times Square and it's MSG hell. The Temple of Heaven was quite nice. The main attraction is the Temple of Harvests which has a great view of the city. It rained all day so the view was much clearer than it would be on a brown haze day.

I want to give a shout out to YangKan who set me up with his friend Sissi. We met up in the Financial District and went out for a hotpot dinner. It's Chinese fondue and is delicious! After a long dinner (which is customary) and excellent conversation about environmental policy (she translates for an American NGO) she took me to the Olympic area. 8 years ago, Beijing was a disgusting city that left a film of filth on your body after 2 hours outside. People were spitting everywhere and the place smelled like a dump. Beijing in 2010 is an entirely different city and the Olympic games made a lot of that happen. There are a bunch of new, clean and easy to use subway lines, there are public toilets everywhere and there is a ton of security. And no one spits. Well, almost no one. The Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube are unbelievable works of architecture that are ultra modern. They symbolize a new Beijing.

Jet lag has hit me and my eyes are closing involuntarily. I've got to get to sleep for my 8am flight tomorrow.

The Swedish woman next to me looked over my shoulder and told me that it isn't jet lag, it's the partying. Probably true.

A Big First Day In Beijing

I arrived at my hostel yesterday at 5 after an easy journey through the subways. A nice British/Korean kid helped me navigate the system from the airport but I was surprisingly competent given the time change and new surroundings.

I arrived at Xisi station with no big landmark around me. I was a little nervous following the directions to the hostel because it was obvious that no one in the area spoke English and I had to walk down a hutong alley. It was well worth it. Chinese Box Hostel is a great oasis in a nutty city. It's a totally different Beijing than the one I saw 8 years ago. This hostel is amongst regular Chinese housing in a quiet and normal neighborhood out of the way of the tourist sites. I love it!

I was worried about being lonely during this trip but immediately after I arrived I struck up a conversation with a Swede. I ended up walking through the local hutong market with his family, perusing the unidentifiable meats and stinky pickled vegetables. They came back to the hostel for dinner but I kept walking alone. Hungry, I stopped in a bakery and tried a dried pork bun with a lemon buttery paste. I asked for directions to Houhai (a bar and restaurant area) using my hands and pretended like I understood the Chinese response. The woman wrote down directions (in Chinese) and I drew 2 pictures: one of a bus and one of a person walking. She pointed at the bus. :) Then, kindly, she had me follow her to the station on the street and it was easy from there.

I watched Beijing life from the #13, snacking on some dried pork. There were no foreigners in site. The bus driver let me know when to get off and I was a little worried because I didn't see any landmarks (it's super hazy here) but after walking about 100 feet I was betwen Houhai and Beihai park. I took stroll through the gigantic park which I hadn't seen before. There was some hilarious aerobics going on and the people that looked insane were actually practicing Tai Chi.

Walking out of the north gate of the park I could see the lights of Houhai. There are hundreds of restaurants and bars around this lake. I kept on walking because I couldn't choose a place to eat! After walking around the whole lake I finally sat down at this place where I ordered the stuff that looked most palatable. Crap, I hate Chinese food. I forgot. No, I didn't forget, I had just hoped for the best.

I took the 13 back to the hostel and the people staying there were finishing their "family dinner" and planning their next move. I immediately met about 7 other people traveling alone and they convinced me to ditch my plans of turning in early. We all went out and danced our butts off at a super fancy club called "MIX." The place was swanky with some serious security. Well, kind of serious. A Chinese bouncer is the size of a normal white man. They aren't so intimidating. Best part- Chinese people singing Ke$ha.

I got back at 3am, read a little bit to relax and try to beat the jet lag and fell sound asleep. End of Day 1. Today it's raining- we'll see what happens.

Preparation!

Today is a huge preparation day. I'm starting to check things off the packing list and I have a great itinerary set up. Oh, and I also finally set up a hostel and hotel for my first nights in Beijing and Ulaanbaatar (UB).

If you want to track my travels just check out this website-

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0Xa8IQqHEJyD9zRBfYgyMpntNcA3nu4gK

It follows me via my GPS tracker (thanks Dad!) and I can post a message every now and then telling you that I'm alive. Pretty cool, huh?