Tsagaan Sar: Mongolian Lunar New Year!

Hello, readers.  I hope you are all staying warm in your neck of the world.  It is still very cold here in Mongolia, but I am dreading the spring--in Mongolia, there are frequent windstorms/dust storms in the springtime.  While I haven't experienced this full-on yet, there have been a few windy days in the past month that have been pretty uncomfortable--I arrived at work on one particular day with no feeling left in my numb legs and probably about a pound of sand on my face and in my hair.  And it was only the day after I bathed, too!  I had to schedule an emergency washing that week!

The last few weeks have been pretty eventful in my action -(un)packed life, starting with the Mongolian holiday, Tsagaan Sar.  Tsagaan Sar means White Moon or White Month, and it is the Mongolian holiday for the lunar new year.  It is sort of like a combination of Christmas (sans Jesus) and a bar crawl.  The holiday lasts for three days or longer, starting on the night of the new moon.  Mongolians celebrate the coming new year by visiting family and friends, sharing small gifts, and eating lots and lots of buuz (pronounced 'boats'), which are steamed meat dumplings.  I ate about 15 buuz on the day I spent visiting my coworkers with Zoloo, along with different salads, boiled meat, wine, vodka, and milk tea; some other volunteers reported that they ate over 100 buuz!  I don't think this is possible unless you also have some sort of liquid diarrhea problem at the same time, but perhaps I am mistaken...

So, the first day of the holiday, biduun--the eve of the new moon, is a time for spring cleaning and preparation for many visitors.  The next day is the first visiting day, when most people will visit their extended family, starting with the elders of their family. The second day of visiting is for friends and coworkers.  I spent the first day of visiting relaxing at home and visited my supervisor for a little while.  The second day of visiting, I went to several of my coworker's homes. 

Each visit follows a similar pattern.  When you enter someone's home, you first give the traditional greeting and accompanying hand movements--greeting each person of the host household from oldest to youngest.  Then you will be asked to sit, and salads, aaruul (dried fermented milk product), boiled meat, and milk tea is served while the buuz are steamed.  Most families prepared over a thousand buuz before Tsagaan Sar, freezing them in the few weeks before.  It is customary to give each guest around 5 buuz, but I think this varies by family and region.  After eating and catching up with the family, each guest is presented with a small gift.  Since it is unlucky to give 1 gift (I'm not sure if the number 1 is unlucky or if it is for some other reason), usually every guest will recieve 2 or 3 gifts together.  For example, at one house I was given a pair of leggings and a box of cookies, then another time I received felt slippers and a box of candies.  I have heard that guests can also give presents, but I didn't see this happen myself.  Many Mongolians spend large amounts of money on the preparations for Tsagaan Sar, from buying the ingredients for all of the buuz and other foods to buying nice presents for their guests.  Just like for Christmas, many of the gifts are well thought out and planned in advance, even if this adds more expense.  After receiving gifts and finishing eating, it is time to thank the host family, say goodbye, and move on to the next visit. 

This is an Idee (pronounced "ee-day"), which is made out of layers of a particular type of boov("bow"), or biscuit, then topped with white foods--aaruul, sugar, candies, etc. The number of layers of the boov are related to the age of the elder of the family and other considerations.  There are always an odd number of layers, usually 3 or 5 layers.  Apparently the president of Mongolia has the most layers--his Idee is supposed to have 9 layers!  When I was visiting homes, I thought that the Idee was just for show, a cool way of displaying white foods for their guests to try if they wanted.  After Tsagaan Sar, however, many of my coworkers brought pieces of the Idee boov to work to share, so the whole structure is broken down and eaten after the holiday.  The boov are actually pretty good!

Next to the Idee, there is a large piece of boiled meat.  I think it is the back of a sheep, but I am not completely sure.  Regardless, the meat was pretty tasty!  A host (in this case, my coworker's husband) cuts off a piece or two for each guest.  The taste is similar to beef jerky, since the meat is boiled and is pretty dry.  Even the fat, which I don't normally like to eat at all, was not bad when prepared this way. This might be a sign that I have developed a taste for foods I wouldn't have considered before Mongolia though, so you will have to try yourself rather than take my word for it.

Another picture of the foods served during this visit.  Below the tray with different salads (there was an awesome one at this house that had onions and garlic shoots), you can see a few buuz, the steamed dumplings that are the traditional food of Tsagaan Sar.
























Me, my coworkers, and my coworker's husband.  The couple on the right are our hosts.  They have had the opportunity to travel quite a bit, since Baigalmaa's husband is pretty high up in the Mongolian military.  She also has two sisters that live in Chicago, so we talked about their trip they took there a few years ago.  They had a picture from the top of Willis (you will always be Sears to me!) Tower and they were shocked when I told them that I have never been to the top.  Then Baigalmaa told me all about how her sisters' children don't speak Mongolian well, and how much of a shame it is.  They were great hosts, and they gave me some dish detergent gel, which i am still trying to figure out how to use!

This picture was taken at my friend Zoloo's house (she isn't pictured because she is taking the picture).  Her mom is sitting next to me, and was very sweet.  The baby in the front stole the show though--a few minutes before this picture was taken, they took the baby's pants off and held it out so that it could pee on the plastic mat on the floor.  Why?  This is just one of the many Mongolian ways of life that I don't completely understand yet. 

On the Monday after the holiday, I came to work as usual, not knowing that I was supposed to wear my deel. We all did the Tsagaan Sar greeting with our director, then had a massive photo shoot. I only stick out a little more than usual without my deel on! First we took this picture in the director's office....

Then we moved outside for a quick picture before we got too cold.  Well, many people were wearing traditional winter deels, which are either quilted or lined with sheep fur, so a few of us were cold and others were quite comfortable.  My coworkers continued to take different shots for the next several hours, but I was mostly excused because of my lack of deel.  Later on, one of the ladies pulled an extra deel out of her desk and had me put it on for a group picture! I'm still working on my 'Mongol steel' pose--you can't smile, but somehow you still look happy in the photo.  So far, I just look confused or a little sad if I try!


The next week, I took a trip to the largest Eastern city in Mongolia--Choilbasan, in Dornod province.




 I live in Ondorkhaan, in Khentii Province, and Choilbasan is Northeast, in Dornod Province.

The trip from Ondorkhaan to Choilbasan is about 6 or 7 hours on an unpaved road, which means that we followed tire-worn paths next to the paved road that is being built.  My site mate Hannah and I were planning on taking the bus to Choilbasan, but when we got to the bus stop, a meekr (a type of van that supposedly seats 13 people, but actually seats closer to 18 or more) driver came up to us and told us that the bus wasn't coming today, in a mixture of Mongolian and Russian.  Especially when travelling, all white people are assumed to be Russian, even after you try to explain that you are American and speak Mongolian. So after being offered a fair price for the trip (20,000 tugriks, or about $12 US), we decided to take the meekr option.  The ride was not too bad, and it was actually quite warm inside.  I did get motion sick, but not bad enough to throw up, which I am sure Hannah was thankful for!

The snowy foothills close to Ondorkhaan in Khentii province.  Ondorkhaan is on the edge of the Mongolian steppe, the wide expansive flat prairie lands similar to the Great Plains in the US.  Since Ondorkhaan is also close to the mountain range that cuts through Central and Western Mongolia, we have more rolling hills than flat lands.

In the distance you can see a mixed herd of sheep and goats.  This is a common site across Mongolia, and so the animals rarely surprise drivers along the 'road.'  We did have a close call with a horse running in front of the meekr at one point, but the driver managed to avoid hitting it without much problem.

As we drove closer to Dornod province, the land became flatter.  I hoped to see some gazelle on our trip, but I didn't have a chance to.  I have heard that there are also gazelle farther south in my province, so if I take a trip there, I hope they will be around!

At one point, the driver stopped and tried to help this group of people loading an SUV onto a truck after some sort of accident.  It took several men, but they actually managed to pick up the back end of the the SUV to get it on to the truck!  It is very common for Mongolians to help each other, no questions asked.  In the middle of nowhere on dirt paths in subzero temperatures, there is no guarantee that any other help will come along.






The reason why I traveled to Choilbasan was to help facilitate a seminar that a fellow Peace Corps volunteer had planned for English teachers in Dornod province. There were several volunteers that came to lead sessions and help lead small group discussions over the two day seminar. Hannah, Jerome and I taught a session about positive youth development, experiential learning, and teaching life skills. 

Here we are, teaching our session.  There were about 45 teachers at the seminar, both from the city of Choilbasan and from small towns in the province.

We led small group discussions or activities, giving us more opportunities to talk with the teachers and help them as native speakers.  It was very beneficial for the teachers, and I gained lots of new ideas for my own English classes!




I photo-bombed Hannah's picture.  This might be one of the only pictures of us where we both look mostly normal!  We enjoyed the trip, since we got to eat real pizza and go to an actual coffee shop, both of which are not available in our small provincial center.  Choilbasan is a city of about 50,000 people, and Ondorkhaan has maybe 14,000 or 15,000 people, so there are many things in Choilbasan that we can't experience on a regular basis.

Here is the group of volunteers and trainers! There were Peace Corps volunteers from 5 provinces: Dornod, Khentii, Sukhbaatar, Tov, and Gobi-Altai.





After attempting again to find a bus for the trip (one of the two buses was broken, the other filled up right before we got to the front of the line to buy our tickets), we ended up taking a meekr again for the return trip to Ondorkhaan.  I managed again to not throw up--mostly by sheer force of will--and came back to Ondorkhaan with all the necessary additions for an awesome Taco Night!  Then, it was time to return to my normal work schedule.  Not too much has been going on for me over the last few weeks, although I did get to help Zoloo and some of the family clinic doctors do house visits to deliver vitamins to small children.  This was quite fun and I got to see many different Mongolian gers and houses, which was interesting, as well as lots of cute babies!

 

Preparing goody-bags of vitamins for young children in town.



This weekend, my site mates and I are planning a cultural trip to UB.  We are going to go to several different museums and hopefully get tickets to the opera.  And, of course we are going to see the Lego Movie in theaters also!  I will try to post an update about our trip next week!












 

Hello Froberg Students!

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!

Happy Holidays from Mongolia!

The end of the year in Mongolia is a time of holidays and celebration, but it is still quite different from the U.S. holidays.  Since Mongolia is a mostly Buddhist country, Christmas is not really recognized as a separate holiday from New Years.  This means that about the last 2 weeks of December are filled with work and city-wide parties to celebrate New Years, and all sorts of Christmas decorations and traditions are sort of thrown in as well.



So, I started out December by attending Peace Corps Mongolia's In-Service Training (IST), which most Peace Corps volunteers attend after being at site for about 3 months.  Since we have spent these 3 months getting used to our sites, getting to know our coworkers, and starting to understand our work expectations, it is a good time to have a training about how to maximize volunteer effectiveness.  All of the volunteers in my group attended, and each volunteer brought one coworker with them.  For all health and youth development volunteers (there are 16 of us all together), there was an additional 2 day workshop about peer education programs.  I invited my coworker Baasandorj (she is the Infectious Disease Specialist at my health department) to the peer education workshop, and Zoloo (she is a dentist and the Hygiene Specialist for the health department) to the main IST.

Going to IST meant that I took a trip to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, and by far the largest population center.  About one third of the population of Mongolia lives in UB, which has a population of about 1 million people.  It is basically the hub of all goods and information in Mongolia--most things come through UB when they enter the country.  This all means that I got to eat real pizza for the first time in 3 months, as well as Indian food, burgers, Mexican food, and all sorts of great food that is difficult or impossible to get in my town, Chinggis City!  I saw my fellow volunteers for the first time in three months--there are 42 of us in my group, and I had only seen my site mates Hannah and Halee since I moved to Khentii in the middle of August.  As you can imagine, I spent as much time as possible with my friends at restaurants, shops, and our hostels, and so I ended up spending a lot of money.  But it was worth every tugrik!  It was great to see everyone, to catch up and swap stories, and most of all to speak English to so many different people!


The week-long IST was held at a hotel about 45 minutes-1 hour outside of UB, up in the mountains that surround the city.  It was absolutely beautiful out!  Sometimes it was difficult to concentrate on the sessions because the beautiful outdoors were so nice to look at through the windows.  We did not have much time to enjoy the outdoors, since there was a lot of material to cover--most days our sessions would begin at 8am breakfast and would not be finished until after 7 or 8pm!  We did manage to have a fun snow ball fight one night, even though the snow was very powdery since there is not much water in the air here to make more moisture-heavy, packable snow.

The amazing view from the front of the hotel.

The great Mongolian blue sky, beautful mountains, snow, and crisp cold air--what an amazing place!

This is the 8 Health volunteers in my group--we survived our first 6 months in Mongolia! From left to right: Jerome, Laura, Brittany, Kelbe, me!, Sarah, Cedell, and Ryan in the front.  I miss these guys when I am at site! It was great to reconnect and spend time together during IST.



After IST, I headed back to site and prepared for the next big happening--my site mates and I hosted a weekend-long Christmas celebration.  This mostly consisted of constantly eating lots and lots of food, which we broke up by going ice skating, singing at a karaoke bar (in Asia it is common for karaoke bars to actually be many private rooms, so we could sing American songs to our hearts content), walking from one ger/apartment to another, taking lots of pictures, exchanging presents, and holding a Christmas talent pageant.  It was all lots of fun, and I really appreciated all of the volunteers who made the trip to Chinggis City.  Here are some highlights:

Eating lots of food!  We had veggies and ranch dip (Halee's family sent her dry ranch packets, which mix perfectly with Mongolian yogurt!), cheese and crackers from UB, and lots and lots of chocolate!

We made mulled wine in my rice cooker--it actually turned out pretty tasty!

While we had our big Christmas dinner in my apartment, Krista was much better at doing the cooking than I was.  I kept getting distracted by the great food and company! Here is Krista checking on the chicken, which we baked in my toaster oven. Delicious!

Hannah is tired of mashing the potatoes.  

My site mates and I! I love these ladies--we spend lots of time together, watching movies and shows, discussing books, cooking and eating out, and enjoying the company of fellow English speakers.  I can't imagine what Chinggis City would be like without my site mates! Halee, on the left, is an English teacher at one of our complex schools (elementary and high school together), and she is from California. Hannah is a youth development/social worker at the tech school in town, and she grew up in China, but her parents are from Michigan.  I am so lucky to have such a good relationship with my site mates!

This is Marcus, the cool Canadian hockey coach that lives in town.  He loves coffee as much as I do!  The four of us are the only young foreigners in my town, so we get together whenever we can.

After our feast, we played a fun game--each balloon as a strip of paper inside with instructions.  Everyone has to grab a balloon, pop it by sitting on it, and then do whatever the paper says.  I had to walk around and act like a zombie!

Hannah was supposed to act like a frightened puppy--a common sight in Mongolia, where dogs are mostly unclaimed and quickly learn to be wary of people.

 Marcus had to wear his socks on his ears!

The gang that made it to Khentii Christmas--and now I know I can fit at least 10 people on my bed!

We had a white elephant gift exchange.  I actually got a cool present--some drink mixes, a good daughter quote-book, and a pencil case.  No complaints from me!

 On to the talent portion of the night--Jake played a song on the flute he was given at site!

Rae-Ann, frustrated by the long wait for the next act, composed a haiku about how we should get going.

Jake and Ryan performed a wonderful rendition of 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.'

 Halee, Hannah, and I created a puppet show about the Christmas Caterpillar (we created him too). Halee was the narrator, and Hannah and I were puppeteers.  Halee has a video, which might be available on our facebook pages at some point.


There were many great moments of the weekend that I didn't capture.  It was very difficult being away from our families during the holidays, but getting together and having some fun made it easier to handle.  I was lucky enough to be able to Skype with my family on their Christmas morning, my Christmas evening, and that made me feel like I was still a part of the family Christmas.  Overall, I feel like a had a great first Christmas in Mongolia!

My Skype date with my family--It was around midnight Christmas evening in Mongolia, and about 10am Christmas morning in Illinois!




'Shin Jil,' or New Year's, is a big holiday in Mongolia.  Basically every workplace will host a nice party at some point in the week or two before New Years Day, and everyone will attend.  It is important to look very nice (wearing something sparkly is best), and many Mongolian women will get their nails and hair done especially for the party.  I did my best to glam it up for the big event, and I had a blast!  My health department's party included a nice dinner, drinks, karaoke, and lots of dancing.  I drank wine and champagne--and of course a few shots of vodka, although I managed to only pretend to take most of the shots I was offered, a common technique here where vodka is an important part of many events--and tried my best to learn how to Mongolian waltz. I taught my coworkers the Macarena (they loved it!) and I sang 'Call Me Maybe' for my karaoke song (...they thanked me, but I don't think Mongolia is ready for Call Me Maybe yet).  I think it is a sign of how well adjusted I am to life in Mongolia that I didn't think anything of my coworker's shiny gold suit or the other fashion and decoration choices that you probably wouldn't see at a fancy American party.  I have to admit that I love the sparkly Mongolian style!

My supervisor, Dashnamjilmaa, and I at the Christmas tree!  Dashaa is quite tall for a Mongolian woman.

When we arrived, we each received a glass of wine, a card with our table number, and an order to stand for a photo.  Mongolians don't always smile for pictures, but I always do!

Everyone seated at my table!  The neat thing about Mongolian workplace events is that everyone is invited--the director, the health workers, the janitors, the front desk guards--and everyone is treated equally.  Within the workplace there is a pretty strict hierarchy, but outside of work tasks people do not let their job titles define their relationships.  It seems like a very nice system.  Everyone is proud of the work that they do.  And everyone gets to dress up and celebrate together!

Unroo (Unurbayar) and Urnaa (Uransaikhan) were our lovely emcees for the night.  They kept everything moving forward and gave out nice presents!

After the first course, it was time for the first round of champagne!

 And then some dancing--I love watching the Mongolian waltz, and I tried to learn during the party.  But I am terribly clumsy and slow!  It doesn't help that it seems like all Mongolians are very good, and so they don't expect me to not know how to dance!

Then Santa arrived!  I'm not quite sure why Santa is blue, he just is. Maybe because blue is a sacred color for Mongolians.  Or maybe because it looks cool.  Also, here is my coworker wearing a shiny gold suit. If I was giving out awards, He would win for best outfit!

Then it was time to start hip-hop dancing--we all got in a circle and danced together. This got more and more interesting as more alcohol was consumed!

 After dinner, each table performed a karaoke song for Santa!

I contributed as much as I could to karaoke--it is difficult to do karaoke on a song you don't know in English, and even more difficult if the song is in Mongolian!  There are maybe 5 or so songs about New Years that were favorites, so I got pretty decent with those songs by the end of the night.

Then it was time for presents--some people got camel wool lined blankets as an award for something (I don't know what exactly).  Santa presented them and 'sniffed' each person as well as shaking their hands--basically the Mongolian equivalent of kissing someone on both cheeks.  It is mainly done by the elderly to their younger family members, but Santa gets to sniff anyone!

One of the camel wool blanket recipients--Hannah has one of these blankets and says its pretty warm.  I might just invest in one soon!

I got a picture with Santa! Later, Santa (when he was out of costume) taught me how to waltz.  He didn't seem to mind that I messed up a whole bunch!  He really had the Christmas/New Years spirit.

Three of my coworkers with perfect Mongolian picture taking skills--volunteers call it Mongol Steel.  I can't take a non-smiling picture without looking sad or confused, but Mongolians often take serious pictures!

The ladies of my office room (we are in charge of public health trainings) with Santa.   From left to right: Dashaa, my supervisor and Non-Communicable Disease Specialist; Zoloo, Dentist and Hygiene Specialist; Baaskaa, Infectious Disease Specialist; Tsendjav, who has been on maternity leave since I have been here so I don't know her specialty; and me, resident Peace Corps Volunteer!  There are two positions that I think are open as of now--Children and Youth Specialist and Fitness/Healthy Lifestyles Specialist, who will also be in my room.

The Khentii Health Department staff--Happy New Year!

 Time for more champagne!

My camera died when we were getting gifts, but I got mine before it died.  I got a pair of yak wool socks!  Mongolian socks are much warmer than any American socks I have, and much cheaper in comparison.

So, then my camera died so I have no pictures of the last part of the night, when many of my coworkers were quite intoxicated and singing loudly to Mongolian karaoke songs and waltzing around in circles.  Maybe its better that I don't have picture evidence of it, now that I think about it.  But I had a great time, and I am looking forward to the next time my work hosts a nice party.  We got towards the end of the night and still had more champagne, so then we just drank all of the rest and then I walked home with my supervisor, who is also my next door neighbor!

New Years in Mongolia is very different from Lunar New Year, which is called White Month, or Tsagaan Sar.  This holiday occurs at the end of January, and is a time to visit family and friends at their homes.  I am sure that I will have a lot to tell about my Tsagaan Sar experiences, so if Christmas/New Years seemed too much like a big party and not enough about spending time with family, that is because they happen at different times of the year for Mongolians!


These have been the big events that have happened in December.  I have not had much work to do at the health department, since there were important end-of-the-year reports due, and I cannot help my coworkers with them.  Now that January has started, they will be hopefully many more opportunities for me to get involved in planning and attending health trainings with my coworkers.  I also have several English classes that have just begun or will begin by next week.  I think it will be good for me to be busy, it will keep my mind off of the cold months to come!


I hope you have all had wonderful holidays, and are re-energized and ready to return to work or school.  Until next time!