Being a Foreigner in Rural Mongolia

I was asked by one of my readers (Hello Rose!) to tell what it is like to be a foreigner, how Mongolians react to foreigners, and if their reaction changes when they realize the foreigner can speak Mongolian.  This is a really interesting and important issue for me as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, and I am happy to talk about my experiences as a foreigner in Mongolia over the past three months.


Overall, Mongolians are very interested and respectful to foreigners.  Since the Mongolian population is pretty homogenous (about 90-95% of the population is ethnically Khalkha, and the remainder is Khazakh, Buriat, and other tribes of Siberia and Eastern Asia), anyone who looks different really sticks out.  For example, I know of 3 other individuals and a family of foreigners in my town, and so does everyone else I meet--my coworkers know about the Canadian hockey teacher, and they know that there is a Peace Corps volunteer (Halee) that has worked at First School for a year.  They are catching on to my other site mate, Hannah, who works at our town's technical school.  My Mongolian friends can tell me about the volunteers in town from several years ago, and they still remember quite a few details about their life here.  Needless to say, it is not common for foreigners to live in Ondorkhaan, and I would assume it is similar for other towns in Mongolia of the same size and smaller.

This means that I when I am walking around, I think people often assume that I am a tourist.  They assume I don't know any Mongolian, and that I am probably Russian.  When I am walking around town, here are some of the common reactions I get from people I don't know:

• Open-mouthed stares and/or shock
• People (sometimes drunk people) yelling "hooeeyy Amerikaaa!" (Hey American!)
• Children yelling "Hi!" or "Hello!"
• People continuing to say Hi until I say Hello back
• I walk past a group of people, and they start laughing
• I am mistaken for a Russian person and someone tries to talk to me in Russian
• Someone will say something very quickly in Mongolian, and wait for a response, assuming I could understand them
• Sometimes a reaction like in the US: brief eye contact, then go about your business as usual

On most days, these reactions are something I can brush off.  Sometimes it makes me angry that people don't realize I am not just visiting--that this is my home now too.  But then I realize that there is no way that someone on the street would know this.  I look different, I probably act different, and I stick out. So its something that I have come to accept as part of life here. 


 People's reactions are very different at my workplace in many ways.  For one, they know who I am, and why I am here.  The majority of people are happy to meet me, and are pleasantly surprised when they learn I can speak some Mongolian.  This is a normal conversation between one of my coworkers and a doctor or someone that is not usually in the health department (in Mongolian of course):

• Who is this person? Is she American?
• She is a Peace Corps volunteer who works here now.  Her specialty is infectious disease. 
• Really? She is very pretty (then in English): You...pretty!
• She speaks Mongolian.  She can understand.
• Oh! You understand what we said?
• Me: Yes I understood!
• Oh, you speak Mongolian very well. 
• Me: Thank you. (and then I stand there smiling because they just want to stare at me for a while)

This basically repeats most times there is a new person in the health department, unless they know some English and want to practice that instead. Also, if you say about 4 or 5 words correctly in Mongolian, most people will say you speak very well.  They are very appreciative of people who take the time to learn some of the language.

**Side note about my looks: almost every Mongolian I have met has told me that I am pretty or beautiful (it's the same word in Mongolian, so they translate it both ways).  I think this is mainly because I have big, non-Asian eyes, and light skin, which are both standards of beauty here.  They also often think I look Russian (again because I am white).  However many times they tell me how beautiful they think I am, I still get the feeling that some people are a little grossed out by the way I look.  Like everything on my face is just slightly wrong, although they never say this to me.  My host family from this summer, after weeks of spending time together, finally told me how they all think my nose is really big and weird, since it sticks out so much farther than Mongolian noses do.  This back and forth is usually pretty amusing, and since it doesn't really matter to me much what people think about how I look, it hasn't been a big deal.  I think it does show a little of how Mongolians perceive me and other foreigners.


Sometimes it is very strange to always draw attention, since I am used to just being one of the crowd wherever I have lived before.  But it isn't usually a bad thing.  I cant tell that people are just interested in me and what I am doing, and I know I stare at Mongolians sometimes too.  I am constantly surprised and delighted by things that happen here that I don't expect.  A perfect example of me being surprised by what is going on happened on Wednesday this week. The afternoon before, one of my coworkers, Zoloo, told me that there was an event happening at 8am the next day at the town square, so I should go there instead of to the health department.  She also asked me if I could bring my camera.  So the next morning, I made sure I was on time and showed up to the town square, camera and all.

As it turns out, the event was for several hundred children and adults--some sort of campaign for more physical activity.  It was tons of fun!  First, the emcee introduced the directors from several of the health and fitness-related agencies in town, who each spoke.  I have no idea what they said, so this was the most boring part for me.  Meanwhile, in the background on this mini-jumbotron, there was an informational video about fitness, with exercise demonstrations.  After their speeches, the directors and a fitness teacher lead a series of exercises for the crowd, including running in place, lunges, and squats. Then the whole group walked in a big loop around town, which took about 25 minutes.  We came back to the square for a closing speech and a mini-health fair, where doctors were checking weight, height, and blood pressure.  Overall, the event was well planned and implemented, with great turnout from what I could tell.  I hadn't heard anything about it, so it was quite a surprise.  Also, some things are just enough different from the US to be entertaining--for example, all of the people there, from the young children to the older adults, had done similar large group exercises before.  This is not something that is popular in the US, but I often see gym classes at the schools I walk by doing synchronized exercises, like walking in place or doing push-ups.  Here are some pictures from the event:

 

The emcee on the left, introducing different directors.  The health department director is the man in the black leather coat.

 

Doing some synchronized lunges with about 600 other people!I am somewhere in the middle of the crowd!

 

Then, some walking in place with hand raises. 

 

After the exercises, we all reorganized for our walk around town.

 

Some of the health department workers as we walked by, I am all the way at the end of the row.

 

Sometimes you have got to help each other out!  It is very common in Mongolia for men of any age to touch each other.  It isn't viewed the same way as it might be in the US. Adult men will frequently walk with their arms around each others' shoulders, or hold on to each other like in this photo.

 

Many Mongolian schools have matching fitness outfits that way surpass the American gym clothes I had....I am pretty jealous!

 

Here is one of the doctors from my hospital English class taking a woman's blood pressure after the event.

 

The adults were especially interested in the mini health fair!

 

After we all got back to the health department, a bunch of the ladies spent some time looking at eyebrow surgery results.  They decided my eyebrows are fine, but some of the other people could use some better defined brows!

I hope I have provided a glimpse into what it is like to be a foreigner in Mongolia.  The capital is definitely a different story, and in many ways it is like any other big city.  If you have more questions, comment below and I will try my best to answer.

Until next time!

A Work Day in the Life of Marilyn the Health Volunteer

Right now I am sitting in my office at the Khentii Health Department.  I have been working here for about a month now.  I haven't talked much about what I am actually in Mongolia for (oops) so I thought I could give you readers an idea of what my life is like, now that I have settled into a sort of rhythm.

So, my host country agency (or HCA) is the Khentii Health Department, located in Ondorkhaan, Khentii Aimag, Mongolia.  As my HCA, the Health Department is in charge of finding my housing, furnishing my housing, introducing me to the town and resources available, keeping me informed about changes in the community, and basically helping me to adjust to life here.  In return, I should be working at least 30 hours per week directly with my HCA.  The Khentii Health Department is in charge of serving the town of Ondorkhaan, the biggest population center in the province, as well as the villages and communities throughout the province. There are about 25 people that work for the Health Department, and they have all been very kind and welcoming.

The Khentii Health Department is located right next to the hospital, in a very nice, new, 2-story building.  The first floor is mostly larger training rooms, and the office space takes up the second floor.  My office space is in a good sized room that 6 of us share.  It makes the days pretty fun, since there is usually someone else in my office who isn't too busy (and I am never really busy, at least not yet).  The ladies I share my office with are all health specialists in charge of planning trainings, compiling health reports, and completing all of the other mysterious tasks that fill their time that I don't know about yet. 

I spend most of my time trying to think of suitable activities to fill my time.  I am teaching English for doctors and nurses at the hospital twice a week, so planning and teaching takes up a good portion of my time.  I attend health department meetings whenever I know about them, which is about twice a week.  They are not very informative for me yet, since I don't understand most of the Mongolian that is said, but I learn enough to help me figure out what is going on.  I have also observed several different trainings that my coworkers have planned, which has been a fun and interesting way of learning how they plan and carry out events.  So far I have seen trainings on adolescent health, sexual health, pregnancy health, and a provincial-wide report of services including health services.

In the future (hopefully the near future), I would like to get more involved in the planning steps for trainings and seminars.  My coworkers also want me to get involved and help with this, but I think they don't know how to address the fact that we can't always understand exactly what each other is trying to say.  This has definitely improved with time as we get used to each other and know how to understand each other, but is still an issue.  One thing I have learned in this month is to not expect things to move at the same pace that they do in American businesses and organizations.

**A note about time and scheduling in Mongolia: It doesn't matter to Mongolians the way it matters to Americans.  In the US, for example, if you set a meeting up and say that it will begin at 2 PM, you can figure that most people will be there by 2 or at least 2:15, and if they are not there, they will have contacted you to let you know why they are running late.  In Mongolia, it seems common for people to show up more than 30 minutes or an hour late, and no one seems to think anything of it.  Family or friend issues are just as important, if not more important than work related responsibilities, and everyone understands if you need a few hours or a day to go help your friend fix something or go to the countryside to check on a cousin or uncle.

This attitude is refreshing in many ways, because much of the American obsession with letting your schedule and your work rule your life is gone.  Mongolian people are proud of the work that they do, whether it is working as a taxi driver or as a program director, but they are also very proud of their families and their home life.  The vast majority of Mongolians get married and start having children when they are maybe between 20 and 25, so it is very common for me to meet a doctor who just graduated from medical school and is married and has 1-2 children.  More on this phenomenon another time--back to my work day!



So, now that I have been working for a few weeks, I have the start of a weekly schedule forming.  On Tuesday and Friday afternoons, I teach English at the hospital.  This means that I spend some of the day before planning out my lessons.  I also am involved in usually at least one training that goes on each week, so I have time working with my counterparts on their training, and attending the training.  I am still working with my counterparts and supervisor to fill out my schedule and have more set plans for each week--I can't help it, I am American!  Having a schedule makes me feel good.


This Tuesday, one of the sexual health trainings for high school students was completed with a presentation about health and community services at the school.  About 20 students attended a weekend workshop on sexual health and STI prevention, and then they helped to present the information to their classmates.  I attended part of the weekend sessions, and then I helped out a little for the presentation.

These are two of the doctors that attend my English lessons at the hospital and were also presenting at the school.  I haven't memorized their names yet, Mongolian names are really hard for me to remember!  I am working really hard on it though, so hopefully by next class I will remember.

Some of the students that attended the weekend seminar.

The (mostly) attentive audience!

After the presentation, the Health Department ladies led a fun game: it's called AXA (like aha!) in Mongolian, and its a trivia game. 

Participants stand in a line, and the first person gets a question.  If they know the answer, they return to the back of the line. If they don't know the answer, they lose one of three stickers they started the game with, and keep playing until they are out of stickers.  You can see me in the background of this picture, doing what I do best now--observing.

You can see the stickers on this participant, he still has two left!

The students were totally into the game.  Even though I couldn't understand a lot of the questions, I was totally into it too.

The line got shorter...

...and shorter!....

...and shorter!

Then we were down to less than ten competitors, who all got a prize.  But they really wanted to know who would win overall!

And then this dude won!

He got a special prize, presented by my supervisor, Dashnamjilmaa.

The school doctor, who helped plan the training and the presentation, was also given a gift. Overall, the activity seems to have been a success!  I hope I will be involved in more events like this and help with the planning stages as well.

Sorry for the excessively long post. I will get to what it is like to be a foreigner (where I stick out like a sore thumb) in my next post! 

Until next time!

Apartment Life with my Super-Cute Roommate!

Greetings from Mongolia!

Sorry my posts have been infrequent lately.  I have had multiple issues with my internet connection, both at home and at work, and for several days I did not have power.  But hopefully these issues will be sorted out soon! 

Anyway, I wanted to talk about one of the best things that has happened since I came to Ondorkhaan: I got a puppy!  She is a female 'bankhur' mutt.  Mongolians call any dog with her markings a bankhur, but it is actually also the mongolian name for a Tibetan Mastiff.  She is just a puppy, so I don't know how big she will get, but I am almost positive that it will not be Tibetan Mastiff-sized.  

There are many, many dogs in Mongolia.  There are tons and tons of street dogs that roam around, eating all the edible (and some non-edible) trash that lines the streets before it is cleaned up.  There are also dogs that are usually chained up inside a haashaa, or fenced in yard, to protect the space.  These dogs are often beaten to toughen them up, and some can be very vicious.  There are basically no pet dogs in Mongolia.  People do not fully understand having an animal for the purpose of companionship, like what is so common in the US.  Even the word 'pet' does not have a good translation into Mongolian.  The closest is 'animal that lives with you' and anyone that has had a pet knows how far from accurate that is.  I decided soon after I arrived in Mongolia that I wanted to get a pet dog, since it would help keep me active and help me deal with loneliness.  And all of the puppies and dogs around are so cute!!  I had looked into the possibility of bringing a dog back to the US before I even left the US, and so I knew that I would be able to take in a puppy and not just leave it to fend for itself after 2 years.  

When I met my supervisor in Darkhan, I asked her if I would be able to get a puppy and keep it, since I would need to have approval from my landlord.  She said it would be fine, and the last volunteer at my health department had adopted a puppy as well!  I was glad that she didn't think I was insane, which was the reaction that many mongolians had already had when I told them I wanted to get a dog.  

My supervisor, Dashnamjilmaa, the US Ambassador to Mongolia, and me after the M-24 Swearing In Ceremony.  Dashaa is a sweet, quiet lady with three children.  She is my next door neighbor, and loves to talk to me in English to improve her speaking.  She is very capable at her job and I am glad I have her watching out for me.  

So, when Dashnamjilmaa and I arrived in Ondorkhaan, the very next day she asked her son (8 years old) and daughter (9 years old) to help me find a puppy to adopt.  That evening, the kids in the apartment complex showed me a litter of 5 puppies that live near our apartment building.  Their mother was nowhere around, so I guessed that they were abandoned.  All of the puppies were so cute, I couldn't make a choice on the spot which one to choose, so I told them I would think about it and decide the next day.  That is when I decided to adopt this beautiful and fluffy puppy, who I named Sukhbaatar, or Suki for short!

Suki on day 1: she was so tiny!  I estimated that the puppies were about 5-6 weeks old when I adopted Suki, but I really have no clue. 

A couple weeks later, Suki is playing outside after getting yogurt all over her nose!  She is a really picky eater--I have only been able to get her to eat meat and yogurt so far.  I am working on getting her to eat rice and fruits and vegetables as well.

Suki is a very attentive puppy, when she feels like it.  She knows 'sit' and we are working on more commands!

Here is Suki playing with the antler that Tracey sent.  She isn't a super playful puppy yet, but every week she is more active than the last.

Suki has helped to make my apartment more welcoming and less empty.  She keeps me busy, and her siblings, two of whom still live outside, keep me up most nights!  In addition to a growing puppy, every week it seems that I get more things for my apartment, either from my agency, or that I buy in the store to fill some need.  So, my apartment is slowly becoming more living-friendly and more homey as well.  Last week, I finally got my wardrobe (woohoo for no longer living out of 2 suitcases!), a fridge (yay for milk and non-spoiled food!), a hot water heater (hot or maybe luke warm showers!), and today I got a manual washing machine from a previous volunteer in my town.  I have so many appliances and shelves, its so great!

My new wardrobe: finally those suitcases will be empty!  Maybe (just maybe) I will clean off my bed instead of using half of it as a big shelf.  

My fridge, which is so handy!  Since almost everything in the shops here is family sized (Mongolians basically never live alone or cook alone), it really comes in handy to be able to refrigerate things.  Once it gets a bit colder, my window sills will also probably be the temperature of a fridge or freezer, but its good to not have to wait for cold weather to keep things cold!

The hot water heater all ready to be hooked up to my space-age shower.  Believe me, the shower looks much cooler than it actually is, but the hot water is pretty revolutionary for my cleaning habits!  I try to wash my hair about twice a week, and spot clean everything else 'as needed.'  

I am really settling into my apartment, and life in Ondorkhaan, Mongolia.  I have been told many times that the highs are higher and the lows are lower when serving in the Peace Corps, and this has definitely been the case for me.  I have already had days that even small wonders will make it an amazing day, when i feel invincible and great about all of my life choices that have led me to such a great experience.  Then other days, when I am feeling particularly purposeless or family-and-friends-sick (like homesickness but so much worse), I curse myself for my craziness at agreeing to sign myself on for a 2 year experience in isolation and despair.  I think that as I give myself more time to adjust to my surroundings, I will hopefully have less low days and more even and good days.  

Other than getting used to Ondorkhaan, I am preparing for the cold weather coming.  Winter is coming, and every week has been getting colder than the last.  Temperature fluctuates extremely in Mongolia--in the morning I might wear a sweater, jacket liner and jacket to work and feel a bit cold, and then at lunchtime I can wear a sweater only and feel pretty hot in the sun.  But still it is easy to feel the cold creeping in the weather.  The heating system in my town is being turned on on October 1, and I think the next couple of weeks will start to be pretty rough as the temperatures dive overnight.  I have a warm sleeping bag and lots of layers, so I will be able to handle it just fine!  But it definitely doesn't make getting out of bed in the mornings very easy.  I will keep everyone posted of what the weather is like in one of the coldest countries in the world!

I have had a few responses to my post about what the audience would like me to talk about, which I am going to start addressing in my next post.  Thanks again for reading my posts!  I am glad that I am able to keep in touch with so many of you, and feel free to contact me on facebook or through email (marilynalice@gmail.com) if you want to catch up!  

Peace out for now!

Thank You, Loyal Readers! Any Questions from the Audience?

Hello again!

I want to thank everyone who comes to my website to read about my adventures, or catches a copy that my mom tells me she shares with our many family friends.  My page is just about to hit 6000 views, which is so many!  I am so glad that people are interested in what I have to share, and I hope that everyone will feel welcome to give me tips or ideas for new blog posts, or questions that you want answered.  Just comment below, or in whichever blog post you have open, and I will address your questions with my next post.  I am hoping to post more regularly now that I am starting to work out my schedule, but it seems that my posts are dictated mostly by how much internet access I have. 

I am going to write about my town, Ondorkhaan, soon, as well as how my work at the Khentii Health Department is going. I also want to talk about many of the unique cultural traditions and ways of life here in Mongolia, so if anyone has some pressing questions, I can tackle those first.

I am sorry that this is not an informative post, but I will be back soon! 

Peace Corps Mongolia Swearing-In and First Week in Ondorkhaan

I am now an official volunteer, with an actual home, an actual stipend, and an actual job.  At some times this is a little overwhelming, being completely on my own where I am the only non-Mongolian in almost every situation.  I have been a minority before, but never quite so different from everyone else. Still, my coworkers and neighbors have made me feel welcome in this new place, which has been a real comfort.  I am sure I will feel better and better about it as time goes on, I make more friends, and my Mongolian language skills increase.

First, let me tell a little about the Swearing-In Ceremony and Darkhan Final Center Days.  After a full week of sessions preparing us for our new sites, and joint sessions with our supervisors, it was time (and we were definitely all ready) for pre-service training to come to an end.  At the completion of PST, Peace Corps Volunteers are sworn in as official PC Volunteers and representatives of the US government.  The swearing in itself only takes about 5 minutes, but the ceremony was a special time for us, for our trainers, for our host families that could make the trip, and for our new supervisors.  We had representatives from the Mongolian Department of Education and the Department of Health, as well as the US ambassador to Mongolia and of course the Peace Corps Country Director.  They all gave speeches about how important PC volunteers are, and things to keep in mind during our years of service.  Then, we were officially sworn in and got to shake hands with the ambassador.  After that we had a small talent show--three volunteers gave speeches in Mongolian about their experiences in PST (I was one of them! It was a great honor), we had a picture slide show of everyone's summer, and then several groups sang Mongolian songs, played Mongolian instruments, or danced Mongolian dances.  The 8 health volunteers sang a funny Mongolian song called 'The Rendezvous' or 'The Date,' about a woman who is mad at a man for not coming to their date after they ran into each other on their camels and agreed to meet up.  The song ends with the man saying, "I'm married!" and the women are left to be righteously pissed off.  We did alright, but other groups and individuals had amazing performances that the Mongolian crowd went wild for.  After everyone who had learned something was finished, we all sang a group song and took a group picture.  Then it was time to say goodbye to our visiting host families for the last time, and head back to the hotel for lunch with the ambassador, then loading everything up and leaving for Ulaanbaatar.

The health group before the ceremony--all rocking our awesome Mongol deels!

 

A kind-of-poor picture of me giving my speech.  I talked about how great the summer has been, and how thankful I am for all the help I received.  I shared a funny story about mispronouncing 'come buy hooshor!' which I talked about in my Naadam blog post. Everyone thought that part was hilarious, which was good--they actually understood what I was talking about!

Our group performance of 'The Date.'  Our language teachers found the costumes for us, and we had to make some last minute adjustments to our lineup--since there are 6 women and 2 men in our group, 2 women were 'men' for the song.  I was originally a man, but switched to being a woman because I could fit into the woman's costume (barely).  Some things in Mongolia are 'one size fits all' but they are actually the size of your average ten year old.  For example: chairs at any school, even high schools; baby forks and spoons that are actually not for babies; and these costumes.  Anyway, the song was a lot of fun, and I was glad when it was over so that I could breathe again!

  

All of the M24s: we are the 24th group of Peace Corps volunteers to be sworn into service in Mongolia!  

It is crazy for me to think that I have known all of my fellow volunteers for less than 3 months, because I feel like I have known some of them for years.  They have been an amazing wealth of support for me, since most of my friends and family are asleep when I am awake!  This makes it a bit difficult to have regular conversations.  It helps so much to have other people that can relate to what you are going through, because they are also going through it.  I look forward to meeting up with my fellow volunteers over the next two years, and spending way to much money on phone units to call and text them whenever I need some advice or just need to commiserate.


After the swearing in ceremony, everyone started their journey to their final site--for most of us, this meant staying in Ulaanbaatar for a night or two.  I managed to buy some oatmeal and have a great lunch of Indian food, and I was reunited with my second bag of luggage which I hadn't seen since I left the airport back in the beginning of June.  When my supervisor was ready to go, we loaded down a car with all of my worldly possessions and 7 people (it's Mongolia, there are always tons of people in one car) and made the 6-ish hour ride to Khentii Aimag, Ondorkhaan soum, my home for the next two years.

We made it to our apartment building (my supervisor is my next door neighbor) around 1 am last Monday morning, and quickly unloaded all of my stuff.  I immediately went back to sleep, and didn't wake up until late morning.  When I woke up, I realized that the water was out--and I was super thirsty.  So, I decided to explore and find a shop to buy something to drink.  I found a shop nearby, but when I was at the cash register, I realized I only had about 400 tugriks in my wallet (about 25 cents) and so I gave back my juice and tried to find a bank.  I didn't notice the ATM on the opposite side of the store's building (my duh! moment for the day), and so I gave up after 20 minutes of trying to follow the cashier's directions with no luck.  I came back home, and my supervisor's eldest daughter (she is about 15) came to my apartment with bread, a fried egg, cucumber slices, and tea and I was finally not thirsty!  She told me the water was out for the day for repairs, and that her mom would take me to work that afternoon.

I put on some nicer clothes, and we walked to the Khentii Health Department--a good 30 minute walk from my apartment building.  I met some of my coworkers, but many people were out of the office--it is very common for Mongolians to take long vacations after Naadam (July 10-11) until the school year starts (September 1), either to spend more time with their families, go to the countryside, or take a trip somewhere.  My supervisor is currently on vacation until September 5, so I have used the past week at work to get to know my coworkers, or counterparts as Peace Corps calls them, better.  It seems that everyone's work is slow at the moment since so many people across the country are not at work, and so there is not much for me to do.  I have spent a lot of my time looking up information about my province online, and trying to prepare information on important health topics and English language lessons while I have the free time. 


I am looking forward to when I am busier at work, which I am sure will happen soon.  I will keep you updated on what I am up to, and post pictures of my apartment and of Ondorkhaan hopefully later this week!  I am at work now, and I don't have any of my pictures with me so you will have to wait until my next blog post!

***Drumroll.........Site Announcement Time!!

It is now the last week of Pre-Service Training.  All of the Mongolia PC Trainees are in Darkhan for our final week of training, which is region and site specific.  Our supervisors also have a two day conference in Darkhan this week, and we all meet our supervisors before travelling back to our site together, where they help us get settled in at our new living quarters.

This tumultuous week started early Monday morning, when I left my host family's house for the last time, all of my bags packed.  When we were at home, my host mom said something like, "wow, you have a lot of stuff!" in Mongolian.  After the four of us left home (first my эмээ, my grandmother, said goodbye and sniffed me, then we were out the door) and saw some of the other trainees' piles of belongings, they decided that my amount of bags was just fine.  I am going to miss my host family so much!!!  They have all been so great, and it was so sad to say goodbye.  However, I am sure we will keep in touch--I have been away from home for about 38 hours, and my host mom has already callled me 5 times.  She is so caring and concerned about me living alone, and wants to make sure I am doing alright and that I am happy.  I couldn't have asked for a better host mom and host family!

My host family and I at Selenge Aimag's second Naadam celebration!  I finally have at least one picture with all four of us in it!!  Also, we noticed after we took this picture that we had arranged ourselves in height order.  Oops!

I am going to miss moments like this, when my mom does something crazy, like put these nasty looking seeds with their gooey excretions on her face as part of a new beauty routine.  My host family is always laughing and joking, and this made me feel able to make jokes and feel like part of the family.  My mom loved to joke with people that I got super drunk and she was shocked (I drank 1 shot of vodka on two separate occasions and that was is) and I always had to repeat some funny thing I said to everyone who came over to visit.  I am really going to miss the easygoing atmosphere at my host family's house.

I will also miss Sukhbaatar and the surrounding area--what a beautiful place!

And now, on to the information that you actually want to hear about:  my site placement!  I have been waiting (not so) patiently all summer to find out where in Mongolia I will be living and working for the next two years, and I finally know a lot more of the details about my site!

After leaving my host family and arriving in Darkhan Monday morning, we all went over to the school in Darkhan where our sessions are held.  In the late morning, we were given our language proficiency results.  I scored at the Intermediate Low level, which is one step up from our necessary minimum of Novice High!  I am happy with this, and hope to really improve my Mongolian at my site as well.

Then we had a lunch break, and several sessions in the afternoon before walking to the nearby Darkhan Children's Park.  There is a gigantic map of Mongolia, drawn out with concrete raised borders delineating each aimag and a big wooden square marking each aimag center (each provincial capitol).  The map was so large that you had to shout to the people in the neighboring aimags, and I couldn't even see my friend Jerome, who was standing on the other side of the map (and he is over 6 feet tall, so it takes quite a bit of space to hide him).  To start out, all of the trainees grouped together, nervously waiting to hear their fates for the next two years.  Then, one by one, each site was announced with a pause before a trainee name was shouted out, and one by one, we were escorted (none of us had any clue where to go!) to our place on the map, and got a big packet of information about our host country agency (HCA for short), our village (soum/сум), our housing arrangements (apartment/байр, Mongolian ger/гэр, or wooden house/модон байшин), and other information including current volunteers in the area.

I am going to be living in Ondorkhaan Soum, which is the aimag center of Hentii Aimag, which means that it is the largest town in the province (tallying in at around 16,000-17,000 people).  Hentii Aimag is known as the birthplace of Chinggis Khaan, who is believed to have been born in the mountainous northern part of Hentii.  Ondorkhaan is located about 6 hours east of Ulaanbaatar, and a paved road connects the two, making travel much easier and comfortable.  I will be living in a Soviet block apartment somewhat near the Health Department, and I am excited for the prospect of hot water!

Hentii Aimag is located just east of Ulaanbaatar.  On this map, you can see that Ondorkhaan is at the edge of the mountainous region of Mongolia, where the mountains border the steppes (flat prairie-type land) of Eastern Mongolia.  Directly to the south of Hentii is the Gobi Desert, which covers the entire southern section of the country and includes about 60% of Mongolian land mass.  

I am working at the Ondorkhaan Health Department, which is in charge of consolidating information for and helping to supply resources to the entire aimag, as well as working to improve the health in Ondorkhaan Soum.  I have a very general idea of what I will be doing at site, and I will learn more when I meet and talk with my supervisor later this week, and when I begin work next week.  I know that I will be working with several different people at the health department, helping to plan, implement, and evaluate health programs, holding trainings for health department and hospital workers, teaching english a few hours a week, and other tasks as well.  I will be working at the health department about 30 hours a week, and will spend at least 10 hours working on other secondary projects in my town, which I can pick out depending on my interests, the needs of the community, and the available resources.  

From all that I have heard about Hentii Aimag and what was included in the information I was given, I am very excited to move to Ondorkhaan and start to work in the Health sector!!  There will be many more updates to come about my new home in the future!  

For now, I am preparing for meeting my supervisor on Thursday (eeeeeek!) and I am one of three trainees that will be giving a speech at our swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, when we officially become volunteers, so I am working on and worrying about that as well.  I am so pumped to head to UB and on to Hentii this weekend, and hopefully I can pick up some things that I have been told are scarce in Ondorkhaan.  

I will update again as soon as I can about swearing in and moving to Ondorkhaan!  I am sad that I will no longer be with all of the great friends I have made during pre-service training, but I am also excited to hear about what life is like in so many different areas of Mongolia.

Until next time!

Дахиад Наадам (Second Naadam): How to Make Hooshor!

Hello everyone!  I just finished my language proficiency exam and my last health volunteer assessment interview, so now I just have a long weekend separating me from finding out my site placement where I will live and work for the next two years!  I thought that the exam and interview went well, but I won't know any results until Monday, when I will get a certificate with my language proficiency (novice intermediate, novice high, intermediate low, etc).  Mongolian Peace Corps volunteers are supposed to reach novice high level by the end of summer training, so let's hope that I got at least that!

Today I am going to talk about how to make the Mongolian traditional food called Hooshor (Хуушур).    Hooshor is basically like a flat, meat filled empanada or hot pocket.  Many families eat it often, and it is basically the only food that is eaten for the two day celebration of Naadam.  Another food, called Booz (Бууз, pronounced like the word 'boats'), is eaten regularly and also during White Month (Цагаан Сар/Tsagaan Sar), which is the Mongolian Lunar New Year celebration.  I'm sure I will have an update about Booz closer to Febuary for White Month/Tsagaan Sar.

So, I don't have a recipe for Hooshor.  I'm not sure if a recipe exists, because it seems like the sort of thing that you just get a feel for making over time.  Here is my best guess for the ingredients involved, and hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of amounts:

For the floury outside layer (I don't have any pictures of this being prepared because my host mom usually makes the dough in advance and lets it rise a little):

• flour
• salt
• yeast
• water

For the filling:

• ground MEAT.  Lots of it. 
• garlic (optional)
• onions or green onions (optional)
• salt (NOT optional to Mongolians!)

***You can also make potato hooshor, which are very delicious!  They usually are made with boiled and mashed potatoes, a few carrots or other boiled and mashed vegetables, possibly some meat and salt for flavor. Besides the filling, all of the steps are the same.



First, start by preparing the dough and letting the dough set for a while.  Then, mix the meat, salt, and whatever else you feel like adding in.

The dough is ready, and after deciding to add a bit more garlic, we were ready to begin!

Our meat mixture:  my host mom likes lots of garlic.  I have seen Mongolians taste a little bit of the meat mixture by licking some of it to see if it is good.  I would not recommend this, for obvious meat safety issues!

The dough is ready to be rolled out.  To do this, first cut the dough into roughly ping-pong sized pieces, which will be rolled out to form each hooshor pocket.  

Our ping-pong sized pieces.  My cousin is spreading extra flour on the pieces and the board to help with rolling out.  Also, the bruise on her arm is from getting in a small car accident--from what I understood, the car suddenly stopped or hit a large bump, and she hit her arm really hard on the door--about a week before this.

My cousin was in charge of rolling out hooshors the day I took these photos.  My mom was frying, and my mom's younger brother was pinching the hooshor closed, which is an artform you will see later on.  I was in charge of taking pictures (self assigned), staying out of the way (self assigned), and assisting in pinching hooshor (half-heartedly assigned to keep the American involved).

After the small piece of dough is rolled flat, a small amount of filling is added.  Too much, and the hooshor will not pinch closed, and too little and the hooshor is too doughy.

After some filling is added is the trickiest part of preparing hooshor.  There are multiple ways of pinching the hooshor closed, and I just couldn't get the hang of my uncle's method even though I tried for a good half hour.  First, he would fold the dough in half, with most of the filling in the center.  Then, he would start to pinch the sides together, alternating between each side of the dough edge.

This forms a neat edge where there are alternating puckers and no open holes in the dough.  He makes it look easy, believe me!

Then, after the hooshor is fully sealed (look at that beautiful edge pattern!), pat the hooshor to flatten it and squish around the filling to be equally spread out. pat, pat, pat!  This is one part of the hooshor pinching that I could actually do!

My uncle's finished hooshor, ready to be fried.  Note the pretty edging and uniform appearance....

And then here is one of my best attempts at hooshor pinching.  Easily recognizable by my awful edging and uneven dough.  My host mom ate this one, and she said it still tasted good, so there is yet hope for us beginners!

Hooshors being fried:  The vegetable oil is heated up, and then hooshors are added.  Depending on the filling, size, and temperature of the oil, the cooking time can vary.  The best method is to check the underside, and if it is lightly brown, then it is time to flip!

You can see the light brown color of the top hooshor, which was turned at just the right time.  After a little while on this side, check the underside again and remove when both sides are lightly browned. 

Let cool for a few minutes before devouring as many as you can.  Beware of dripping juices escaping from the bottom of the hooshor as you eat!  It is hot and will probably stain your clothes!  

The best location to eat hooshor is Naadam, the two day festival held every July.  A man from Celenge Province where I am living won the national wrestling competition that is an integral part of Naadam (the other two sports being long distance horse racing and archery).  He decided that the best use of his prize money would be to host another Naadam in his province, so Sukhbaatar had a second Naadam last Friday.  We made these hooshor at home on Friday with the intention of bringing them to Naadam to watch the end of the wrestling tournament, but we finished just as Naadam finished.  Instead, we picked up the rest of our family that had stayed at Naadam, and headed down to the river to eat our hooshor.  Definitely a great way to start the weekend!

Now, I am off to take a nap before celebrating the completion of exams with my friends.  I hope everyone has a great weekend, and that everyone in Boone County has a great fair week!

Баяртай! Goodbye!