Greetings from Mongolia! Hello Sam and Mr. Price's class, and Hello Beckie and Mr. Miller's class! My name is Marilyn, and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I live in Mongolia, which is on the other side of the world!
Mongolia is a country about the size of Alaska that is located in Asia between China and Russia. The population of Mongolia is about 3 million people. I live in a small town in Eastern Mongolia named Chinggis City, where about 17,000 people live. My town is named after the great Mongolian war hero, Chinggis Khaan (often called Genghis Khan in the US). There are about 10 foreigners in my town, and 2 other Peace Corps Volunteers. I often go days without seeing another non-Mongolian person, so my Mongolian friends are really important to me!
I am a Peace Corps Volunteer, which means that I represent the U.S. while I work in Mongolia. I get a small living stipend each month, and the agency I work for does not pay me. I work at the Health Department for my province, which is named Khentii. At work, I often talk with my Mongolian coworkers, teach English classes, and help with health training classes for children, teens, and adults.
Mongolia is a very interesting place to live! Mongolia has a nomadic culture, since the main way of life for hundreds of years was herding, and families would travel around the lands with their animals. This is much less common now, although some people do still live a nomadic life. Many people in my town live in a ger, which is a circular tent made with wooden poles and felted wool layers.
A Mongolian ger in the countryside--an entire family will live together in one ger! For more beautiful pictures of gers, check out this website: http://www.ottsworld.com/blogs/mongolian-gers/
The inside of a ger. You can see the wooden poles that form the basis for the ceiling, and the criss-cross wooden pieces that form the sides. Two wooden poles hold the ger up from the center, and there is a wood stove to heat the ger.
Here is a diagram of how a ger is constructed. It is easy to set up, take down, and transport. Mongolian people have been living in gers since before the time of Chinggis Khaan in the twelfth century!
Mongolian winters are very cold and long. For the past few months, it has usually been below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, even during the middle of the day. It can sometimes get as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit! I am sure you can understand how cold this weather is with the extreme cold in the United States this winter--now imagine if you lived in a tent in this cold weather! Summers in Mongolia are hot during the day and cool at night. In the spring, there are often large windstorms that blow sand and dirt in the air. The weather is pretty extreme, but the beautiful blue Mongolian sky makes up for it!
A picture of the Mongolian sky and a Buddhist statue I took on a hike this past summer. Almost every day is clear, bright, and sunny in Mongolia!
The next Mongolian holiday is this Friday, January 31st--the beginning of the lunar new year. In Mongolian, this holiday is called Tsagaan Sar, or White Month. It is a time to visit family, exchange gifts, eat traditional Mongolian foods, and celebrate the beginning of spring and a new year. So, happy Tsagaan Sar and I hope you all have a wonderful Year of the Horse!
Mongolia is a country about the size of Alaska that is located in Asia between China and Russia. The population of Mongolia is about 3 million people. I live in a small town in Eastern Mongolia named Chinggis City, where about 17,000 people live. My town is named after the great Mongolian war hero, Chinggis Khaan (often called Genghis Khan in the US). There are about 10 foreigners in my town, and 2 other Peace Corps Volunteers. I often go days without seeing another non-Mongolian person, so my Mongolian friends are really important to me!
I am a Peace Corps Volunteer, which means that I represent the U.S. while I work in Mongolia. I get a small living stipend each month, and the agency I work for does not pay me. I work at the Health Department for my province, which is named Khentii. At work, I often talk with my Mongolian coworkers, teach English classes, and help with health training classes for children, teens, and adults.
Mongolia is a very interesting place to live! Mongolia has a nomadic culture, since the main way of life for hundreds of years was herding, and families would travel around the lands with their animals. This is much less common now, although some people do still live a nomadic life. Many people in my town live in a ger, which is a circular tent made with wooden poles and felted wool layers.
A Mongolian ger in the countryside--an entire family will live together in one ger! For more beautiful pictures of gers, check out this website: http://www.ottsworld.com/blogs/mongolian-gers/
The inside of a ger. You can see the wooden poles that form the basis for the ceiling, and the criss-cross wooden pieces that form the sides. Two wooden poles hold the ger up from the center, and there is a wood stove to heat the ger.
Here is a diagram of how a ger is constructed. It is easy to set up, take down, and transport. Mongolian people have been living in gers since before the time of Chinggis Khaan in the twelfth century!
Mongolian winters are very cold and long. For the past few months, it has usually been below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, even during the middle of the day. It can sometimes get as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit! I am sure you can understand how cold this weather is with the extreme cold in the United States this winter--now imagine if you lived in a tent in this cold weather! Summers in Mongolia are hot during the day and cool at night. In the spring, there are often large windstorms that blow sand and dirt in the air. The weather is pretty extreme, but the beautiful blue Mongolian sky makes up for it!
A picture of the Mongolian sky and a Buddhist statue I took on a hike this past summer. Almost every day is clear, bright, and sunny in Mongolia!
The next Mongolian holiday is this Friday, January 31st--the beginning of the lunar new year. In Mongolian, this holiday is called Tsagaan Sar, or White Month. It is a time to visit family, exchange gifts, eat traditional Mongolian foods, and celebrate the beginning of spring and a new year. So, happy Tsagaan Sar and I hope you all have a wonderful Year of the Horse!
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