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