My First Week in Sukhbaatar

I met my host family last Friday.  They are really great!  My mother, Ganchimeg, tries to feed me lots of food and makes me take medicine when I had a cold.  Bilgunyam, my sister, is 15.  She is really great, and she holds my hand and leads me wherever I am going.  She also quizzes me all the time on Mongolian vocabulary, so I have learned tons of new words from her (I forget most of them, but she drills me on them so I eventually pick up on them).  Bilgunyam knows a little English, which has really come in handy.  My brother, who is 13, is Ranchipurev.  He is pretty shy, but he loves watching NBA games and cartoons, and he understands a little bit of English, just enough to get some of my silly jokes.

This past weekend, I spent a lot of time getting to know my host family better, walking around Sukhbaatar, and being taken to play-dates with other Peace Corps volunteers.  I think my family thought that if I was looking bored or depressed (I wasn't bored or depressed, but my mom kept pointing to the translation, 'do not worry, everything will be ok' in our little phrase book PC gave us), the best way to cheer me up was to give me time with other Americans.  Another volunteer, Lorre, lives pretty close to my house, so we see each other almost every day.

I haven't taken many pictures in Sukhbaatar yet, but I will describe my house and the city and upload pictures with the next post.  Sukhbaatar is a smaller town than Darkhan, but it is the provincial center, which means that it holds the main provincial hospital, along with other government run entities.  Wikipedia says that Sukhbaatar has about 20,000 residents, but it feels like a smaller city than that.  My family doesn't have a car, so we walk to get to wherever we are going.  My walk from home to school takes about 15 minutes, winding along dirt roads in between fenced in yards.  The placement of housing seems sort of haphazard, and I don't know what sort of building codes there are.  The houses themselves are well built, sturdy one or two story buildings that have large windows to let in the bright Mongolian sun.  They weather is mostly dry, sunny, and a little windy, so the dirt paths get pretty dusty when a car zooms by.  There are many dogs wandering around, and lots of little puppies.  Some families have guard dogs in their fenced-in yards (this area is called a hashaa), but they are not pets like American dogs.  They are meant to keep people from entering the hashaa, and so for the most part they are not safe to walk up to until they have become familiar with you.  My family doesn't have a dog, but there is a dog that lives near the dumpster and eats our trash when we throw it in!

My house is a one-story, two room house with a bright red metal roof.  Almost all of the houses and buildings that I have seen in Mongolia have brightly colored roofs, so it makes the town look very pretty from far away!  When you enter my house, you enter the kitchen.  My family mostly cooks in two big electric pots, and they do not have a stove (some other families do).  We eat lots of meat, potatoes, onions, cabbage, noodles, rice, and bread in different forms.  I have an older brother (or uncle? I haven't quite figured out how he is related to me or what his name is) that is a great cook, and my mom is also very good.  I like the noodle soup that we eat a lot, which has all of the above ingredients except for rice and bread.  My favorite dish is syytai bodaa (rice milk soup would be a rough translation), which is rice in a boiled milk soup, with sugar and maybe some butter in it.  It is great!  There is also a TV in the kitchen, so I often will watch TV with my brother in the afternoons after my school.

The next area of my house is basically one big area that has my bedroom separated by a thin wall, another sleeping area of about the same size, and a small entry space with a little dresser and a mirror.  There is also a refrigerator in this section of the house.  My room is nice, and my bed is pretty comfortable.  I don't spend too much time in my room unless I have some extra time to read.  My family has done a great job of making me feel at home with them, even though we can't communicate very much.

I found out a few days ago that my school has internet (shhh, its supposed to only be for staff!), and so I am at school writing this post.  We got out of class early today, so I figured I would use the free time to write an update.

On a last note, I hope that everyone who has running water and a real toilet takes a few moments to really value them.  I have a squat outhouse (an outhouse with holes in the floor) and no running water in my house, and it made me realize how much I take running water for granted.  I have adjusted pretty well and I actually don't smell too bad (at least no one has told me I do), but it is definitely an adjustment!

Ulaanbaatar and Orientation at Darkhan

6/5/13

So, the internet connection at the Darkhan Hotel usually works fine, but it has not been loading any blog pages for some reason.  This morning, it is being even more finicky, so I decided to try out writing my blog offline and loading it into blogspot.  I apologize if there are mistakes or formatting errors because of this. 

I believe my last update ended right before my trip to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.  The city is an amazing place.  In many ways, it is very similar to any other big city you could go to in the US or Europe.  There are skyscrapers all around, little shops tucked in between big stores, and lots and lots of people walking everywhere.  Then, there are aspects to UB that are more unique to the Mongolian world:  sometimes, a cow will wander into the city and you can see it grazing the trash (I didn’t see this, but I got the story from a reliable source).  The signs are made with big Cyrillic letters, spelling out something I don’t understand yet.  There are statues of everything from Marco Polo, Chinggis Khan, old Mongolian heroes, and the occasional Soviet.  A side note on the Soviet era in Mongolia—I don’t know too much about the time from 1921 until the early 1990s, but I have never heard a Mongolian use the words ‘soviet’ or ‘communism.’  They refer to this time as the socialist period, and the current system is capitalism. 

But back to Ulaanbaatar.  The trip to UB started almost poetically when, about halfway between the ger camp and UB, our bus broke down with a flat tire.  The driver managed to remove the lug nuts and pull down the spare tire from under the bus, but we had to wait for a jack because I guess the bus didn’t have one.  We waited for about an hour or so, soaking in the scenery—the wide blue sky, the hills poking up in every direction, and the multicolored roofs and houses of UB that my seatmate said looked like someone poured Skittles on the hills surrounding the city.  After our wait, some of the great PC staff had fixed up the bus and I got my first views of Ulaanbaatar.  We broke up into small groups after getting our first round of shots at Peace Corps Mongolia headquarters—I am now vaccinated against Hepatitis A and rabies, although I need two more rabies shots over the summer to complete the series.  My group leader was a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV from now on) who has lived in Mongolia for three years.  He is planning on staying for another year, as he got offered a job from his organization. 

The view from our broken down bus.  Not too bad!  The same type of scenery fills all of Mongolia that I have seen so far, which is the Northern region.

We saw Chinggis Khan (who we call Genghis Khan in the US) on the hillside--the first of many Chinggis's we would see in UB.

We left PC headquarters, and walked down one of the main roads.  We passed by some of the luxury hotels and shops that are in UB, as well as many of the government offices.  We went to the ‘Iikh Delgour,’ or Их дэлгуур (the big shop), which is also called the State Department Store.  It is kind of like a Walmart, a really big store with everything from clothes to fruits and vegetables.  We had western food for lunch, and I ordered a small pizza.  I found the Beatles statue, which is really neat—it is a two-sided wall, one side representing the underground listening of Beatles music in Mongolia during the end of the Socialist era, and the opposite side is a relief of the Beatles members.

The 'Mongolian' side of the Beatles monument with some random girl that was taking a picture.  I believe that the man is playing the Horse-Head fiddle, aka my newest favorite instrument!

The Beatles side. 

We also went to the Mobicom (our cell phone service provider) store, the Post Office, Sukhbaatar square, and the Russian-Mongolian friendship memorial (which was at the top of a MOUNTAIN/hill that we had to climb, but I got a great panorama of the city).  We saw a Buddha statue near the bottom of the hill, so we hiked down to see it as well.  It was very beautiful, and I hope that I will have an opportunity to learn more about Buddhism and share what I have learned on my blog.  From what I know, it is a beautiful religion, and it fits with many of the Mongolian cultural ideals of self-motivation and respect for the world around you.  

Sukhbaatar Square.  Named after a Mongolian war hero named Sukhbaatar, who was a key player in the 1921 revolution when Mongolia gained independence from China and became a sort of protectorate of the USSR. 

A close-up of the Sukhbaatar statue.  For more information on this guy, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damdin_Sükhbaatar.

The tourist attraction for Sukhbaatar square--a giant statue of Chinggis Khan.  The writing on his podium is written in Mongolian script, which was the alphabet before Mongolia switched to Cyrillic.  Many Mongolian speakers  in other countries, such as China, still use this script, and I believe that Mongolian children learn the script in school.

Chinggis and I are hanging out.  I'm all squinty because the sun in Mongolia is very bright.  It is very beautiful, but it can sting.

A view from mid-way up the Mongolian-Russian Friendship memorial (which I'm going to call MRFM now, my own made up acronym).  Hiking is still a bit difficult for me because of the altitude, but it is getting better over time.  

The entrance to the circular MRFM.  I accidentally caught my Peace Corps group leader in my shot as well.

This is the first half of the MRFM monument documenting the friendship between Mongolians and Russians.  I think there are pictures representing the Russian revolution but I would have to have more information about Mongolian-Russian history to know what else is being referred to.

The friendship continues.  The last picture (which I see did not make it on to this panorama) is supposed to represent the future friendship of the two nations.  It is a very neat monument, and its location gives breathtaking views of the city and surrounding areas.

Scroll to the right to see the whole picture here.  The views from MRFM were amazing, as Ulaanbaatar is spread out in front.  After we left the monument, we walked down to the Buddha statue you can see in the bottom left corner of this picture.

First Mongolian Buddha statue! Very neat.

After a long day with lots of walking, I felt that I had seen a lot of the downtown section of the city, and could, with little trouble, make my way back to PC headquarters if I traveled to UB on my own.  After getting back from our trip to UB, we spent our last night in the ger camp.

The next morning, on Monday, we ate breakfast and loaded the buses for our trip to Darkhan, where we have orientation.  I slept for part of the trip, but the rest of the time I spent looking at the hills, gers, and herds of animals we were passing by.  The mountain region is a beautiful place from what I have seen, and does not seem desolate as many travel book descriptions can make it seem. 

Rolling hills, some paved and some dirt roads, and even some farmland!  In the background, you can make out a tractor.

Here is a lone ger, probably for a family that is herding in this area.  I saw men herding on horses, on foot, on bicycles, and on motorbikes.  I also saw all five of the sacred Mongolian animals: horses, sheep, cows (and yaks, they are considered the same), camels, and goats.  Many herds were mixed, and it was not uncommon to see three or four different types of animals all in the same herd.  A few times the bus driver would honk his horn, because a herd had started to cross the road.

When we arrived in Darkhan, the PCV trainers and our Mongolian language and culture facilitators (LCFs) greeted us at our Soviet block hotel.  They all seem so nice, and I can tell that I can learn a lot from them.  We received a sleeping bag and a water filter, just a small portion of the complimentary equipment that PC Mongolia gives out!  I had dinner at a Korean restaurant, and it was very good.  There is a Buddha shrine in Darkhan as well, and we walked over to see it as well as the large Children’s park. 

My second Mongolian Buddha statue.  I am not sure what a lot of the symbolism around the shrine means, and it is one of the many things I hope to learn about Buddhism while I am in Mongolia.

My artsy shot of the Buddha with the sunset in the background.  Sunsets here are beautiful here!  The sun is up by 5:30-6:00am and sets around 9:15-9:45pm, and every day so far has been basically bright and sunny.  I can now visualize why Mongolia is called the land of the blue sky!

The next day, Tuesday, was my first day of PC orientation.  It started out with an inspiring welcome from the PC Country Director, and then some kids from a local high school performed traditional Mongolian songs, dances, and contortionism for us.  The songs were amazing, and I love the Horse-Head fiddle—it is a traditional Mongolian instrument that is sort of like a long necked violin.  It has two strings, and you play it in front of you with the bottom held between your knees.  After hearing it twice during the welcoming ceremony, I definitely want to take lessons to learn it if I get the chance!  Another girl performed a dance that seemed to have popping and locking in it—and her costume had long cuffs that covered her hands, making her wrist and arm movements look incredible.  I think the best performance was by a young girl, who could do amazing contortionist moves and made it look so simple.  The performances reiterated for me the great cultural history of Mongolia, and how important it is to Mongolians.  Each type of art that was represented was absolutely beautiful, and it made me so proud to be here, to learn more about such an amazing place. 

I also went to my first language session on Tuesday, which we had all been anticipating ever since our first big group meeting in DC last week.  My Mongolian repertoire now consists of:

·      Hello/How are you?

·      I’m good.

·      Hello/How are you all?

·      We’re good.

·      Hello/How are you (formal)?

·      I’m good.

·      What is your name (formal and informal)?

·      My name is…

·      What’s your name (shorter version)?

·      My name’s… (shorter version).

·      Oops, sorry!

·      It’s ok.

·      Here you go.

·      Thank you!

·      Goodbye!

·      Great!

I would write them, but we have been only speaking since most of the trainees do not know how to read the Cyrillic alphabet.  I don’t want to butcher the Cyrillic or manuscript transliteration, so I won’t do that yet.  The language is very different from English and Russian, and there are a few sounds that are physically difficult for me to make—I can’t quite get my mouth to do what I want yet.  I am excited to learn more, and I am looking forward to next week, when we start four-hour language lessons every morning. 

It can sometimes get really awkward to be living in a place where you cannot communicate with most of the people around you.  The small victories really give me a high, like when I was able to tell the waiter what I wanted, tell the cashier after the meal what I ordered, and even get a to-go box by myself.  I got strawberry juice instead of orange juice, and I ended up owing 500 tugriks (about 50 cents) for the box, but I still count it as a success.  I have also gone to the store and bought things without help!

_________________

UPDATE 6/6/13

So I finally was able to get my blog site to load this morning.  I think I'm on a lucky streak, because I also got a mostly warm shower this morning as well!  I am on the hunt for the elusive hot shower, and was very pleased by the results this morning.  I cannot tell you how difficult it is to shave your legs with barely-warmer-than-ice-cold water!  

Yesterday (Wednesday), orientation was a lot of information about Mongolian culture, customs, and foods.  I won't go into it now, but I will post an entire entry about Mongolian customs that I have learned and experienced at some point after I get into a more regular schedule and each day isn't a revelation of its own.  

Today, we will have our last day of orientation.  We are learning some more health information, and we have our second language lesson along with some other logistics things.  I find out information about my host family today, and I am very excited to start living with my host family tomorrow!  I am a little nervous about the first few weeks, since I can't speak very much Mongolian, and most host families do not speak much English.  I'm going to have to use all of my charades knowledge and act out everything!  I am not sure how regularly I will be able to access the internet, so do not be surprised if I do not update for three or four weeks.  If I do not have internet access at all with my host family, I will be back in Darkhan for a few days in about a month, so I should be able to upload something then.  

Goodbye for now!

First Day in Mongolia!

Mongolia is amazing.  We arrived late last night, and it was impossible to see anything beyond the windows of the bus that took us to the ger (Mongolian tent) tourist camp we are spending our first three nights at.  When I woke up this morning and stepped outside, I was blown away by the beautiful peaks of the hills surrounding the camp.  I have loved the food so far, and we have eaten a lot of the cultural Mongolian foods so far.  More pictures of food to come later!  They have been giving us huge serving sizes, I think because it is a tourist place and we are Americans, but I haven't been able to finish the food at any meal yet.  Mutton is definitely an acquired taste, but it's growing on me.  I really like the Mongolian meat dumplings, they are delicious!

Here are some pictures of my first day, especially the hike up the hill across from our camp that I just came back from.

This is the top of our tourist ger. I love the decorations on the wood, and it was nice to have the sunlight stream in in the morning to start the day.  This is not a traditional ger in many ways, but it looks similar to one.  I will post more pictures of a traditional ger when I get to experience one!

This is the meeting place at the ger camp, where we have eaten our meals and had some training.  The inside is more ornate than I was expecting, with chandeliers, nice wooden furniture, and bright windowsills with lots of plants.

We climbed the hill next to camp, this is a view off of the other side.

This Ovoo is at the top of the hill, I don't know too much about them, but they are a shrine that you can tie a scarf to as an offering.  Hopefully more will come about Buddhism and Shamanistic beliefs in Mongolia.

I'm in Mongolia!  Right behind my head is another ger camp (not the one we are staying at) and the beginning of sunset as well.

I caught a jump pic of some of the other volunteers, they are a great bunch!  There are 46 of us, and we have been spending a lot of bonding time together.  Even though I am awful at remembering names, I am doing my best to try to remember everyone's name.

Here is a shot from the bottom of the hill, of the sunset's rays hitting the hill.  The picture can't do justice to the beauty of the Mongolian sunset, even on an overcast evening!

Another picture of the gorgeous Mongolian sunset, I hope to see many more!

Today, we received a bit of spending money and our Mongolian cell phone.  We also had more safety training, met the country director and a bunch of the PC staff, and discussed what the rest of pre-service training (PST) is going to be like.  Tomorrow, we are going on a trip to the actual capital, which we are staying right outside of at the ger camp.  I am excited to see Ulaanbaatar, as I have heard many great things about the city!  I will update again next time I have internet. 

[We learned goodbye in Mongolian today, but I don't know how to spell it, so just imagine a cool Mongolian word here for now (: ]