Great Britain

So once upon a time when we first got to site, Anthony's director had trouble saying my name and started calling me 'Britain.' I decided to forgive easy since foreign names can be difficult and I STILL haven't gotten down many Mongolian names of people who attend my classes.... (should proooobably get on that.) Anyway, we've come too far and it's been waaay too long for me to all of a sudden correct her now, so in her eyes, I AM BRITAIN. And since she is the boss, several of Anth's OTHER counterparts are jumping on board so, I guess  my transformation to Britain is complete... tell your friends.


So what's Britain been up to lately you might ask? Well, lots. We just got back from 10 days in the capital which was both great and draining. Of course I managed to injure myself, but what was confusing to me, was that no actual injury occurred, but here I sit left with Achilles tendinopathy. Basically the insane pace in which I walk coupled with the frequency I was walking around the city, and the fashion boots I was sporting, resulted in an inflamed Achilles. Bad timing considering I had juuuust started training for a marathon I'm running later this summer. But I'm choosing NOT to take this as any type of sign....


The training we attended was a project design and management seminar. We got to bring a counterpart from our community that is involved in our project. When I originally applied, the person I wanted to bring ended up having too much experience, as she'd been to a training of that nature in the past. So we moved on and found someone from the Agriculture Department in my town, met with him, and caught him up to speed on our greenhouse project. Two days before we left, we found out that he had a seminar of his own to go to that was both work related and mandatory - therefore taking precedence over OUR seminar. After scrambling to find someone, we landed on my original counterpart's husband Nayanbuu.  We were scheduled to meet up at the PC office promptly at 7:50 on Monday morning, and I still hadn't met this person face to face. Luckily it all worked out and we were able to spend 3 solid days working on the finer details of our project and planned where to go from here.


So our big idea is to construct a greenhouse using solar technology that will be able to operate year-round. Going along with that, I'd like to have a training to teach people in our community about new and different types of vegetables and seasonings and how to incorporate them into their diet. 


I think the biggest thing I've walked away from this training with, is that nothing bad will happen if I fail. It won't be an ideal situation, but ultimately I'll only have to deal with my own disappointment, if this doesn't all turn out the way I plan it to; the process is just as, if not more important, than the end result in this case. Going out and building a greenhouse isn't what I'm trying to accomplish. What I'm trying to do, is motivate and guide my Mongolian counterparts to recognize needs in our community and make changes based on those needs. At the end of the day, if my work here isn't sustainable to some degree, I will not have done my job. This whole concept has been somewhat difficult for me to grasp since it goes against everything I have ever known volunteer work to be. In the US we often define volunteer work as the giving of our time and energy for someone or some cause that we deem 'worthy.' In the context of PC, that is the exact opposite of what they want us to do here. While doing things is great, they instead want us to develop the skills of the Mongolians we live and work with so that they can keep on keepin on after I'm removed from this equation. At first, this task seemed extremely daunting to me, but I'm beginning to find ways to reach this end result day by day, and being patient with myself when things don't go my way, or I don't feel as if I'm accomplishing anything, is a tough balance to strike.


On a lighter side note, and yet still related due to the titular nature of this blog, I have been practicing my British accent lately (or as of late, as they might say in England.) The reasoning for this is two-fold. One, who DOESN'T want to brush up on their accents... I mean, reeeeaally? And two, I'm reading 'Lord of the Rings' and I'm finding extreme amounts of pleasure in reading out loud (to myself) in my British accent, and I just can't deny myself this little gift at the end of my days.


Studies have shown that pictures are directly correlated to people's interest in certain subject matter, so going along with that, even though these pictures are completely unrelated, perhaps it has helped  subliminally to keep your interest... Njoi!

My friend Krissy and I and our counterparts working on our projects at the PDM seminar. Did I mention I'm also working on a Business Women's Training with her in her province in June?

Just some cattle headin into work...

A monastery we visited while in UB. The birds were quite active this particular day.

Welcome to Camp Destiny

So while settling into my sleeping bag last night, (my nightly routine,) I came to the realization that I have technically been 'camping' for the past 200 or so nights. Every night Anthony and I fold down our futon couch, bust out our sweet PC issued sleeping bags, and transform our living room into our bedroom. I initially called dibs on what is known as the 'sitting' portion of the couch... big mistake. It's quite uncomfortable since over time, two prominent ass grooves have been permanently imprinted into the cushioning to making laying down on it an interesting experience. Anthony gets the back side which is essentially just plywood. When we first took stock of things, I laid down, then stood back up and we realized quickly that there is no support for the backside of the futon, as Anthony went flying off and the whole 'bed' tottered to one side. After solving this problem with reinforcements (luggage,) I can now get up safely to go to the bathroom and Anthony won't plummet to an early death. Although sometimes I still pull a fast one on him and remove the luggage and get up, if nothing else just to keep him on his toes... or face. Before you go judging me, remember that we don't have as much to do out here in Mongolia, and I find great joy in this leisure activity. I'm hoping none of this is coming off as a complaint, because it's definitely not meant to; just trying to show what our arrangements are like to those who have asked and don't know.  

This is an action shot of Anth all tuckered out after he stayed up til 5 am helping his co-workers decorate the gym for a performance. I was in the room talking to him... went into the kitchen, and came back (still talking my face off,) and found him like this. Cracks me up every time... LIGHTS OUT!

Tsagaan Sar - The Gist

Tsagaan Sar or TS since yes, I'm THAT lazy....


In my previous post, I talked a bit about this holiday and if you need more brushing up, JFGI (you can google THAT too if you're not up to snuff on your common chat acronyms.) Anyway, it was a lot of fun to be a part of this traditional holiday and overall Anthony and I visited 10 homes of our Mongolian friends and counterparts. Wait... hold it. Literally juuust got another invitation as I'm typing this, better bring that total up to 11; guess this holiday has yet to officially declare itself as over! I think people just continue to host until the buuz run out and the vodka runs dry. Let me briefly break some of the traditional celebrations down into phases for you. 


Phase 1: The greeting - TS has its own greeting which I really enjoyed. You greet your elders first and go in for a face kiss/sniff of each cheek as you place your arms under their arms to show respect, while saying ' ta amar sain uu?' Then snuff bottles are exchanged, typically by the males, and you reach for it with your right hand, left hand under right elbow, give it a quick sniff, and hand it back. Of course everyone is dressed to impress in their deels and looking fab.


Phase 2: The appetizers - Milk tea is served, mayo salad is consumed, then out comes the sausage and pickle plate. I'm always surprised at how creative they get with their salads, and equally surprised of the person that dreamed up pairing fruit with mayo - but it's actually not too bad!


Phase 3: The vodka - You are offered vodka and candy at several points throughout the meal. At Anthony's director's house, we were offered a honey pepper vodka in lieu of standard vodka. Not only did the pepper add more heat to my throat that was already on fire from several shots, but the honey did nothing to soften the blow, and they didn't stop at 3 shots, but instead decided to drink until the bottle was empty. Hmmm vodka for breakfast.


Phase 4: The buuz -During this phase, the famous buuz make their appearance. They urge you to 'id, id!' which conveniently, sounds like 'eat, eat' and has the same meaning, so one point Mongolia for clarity on that one! Since I'm a vegetarian (sort of,) I basically am force fed plates and plates of mayo salad (back to phase 2.) Many of our friends had competitions of who could consume the most buuz. Since I am a non-mutton eating individual, I decided to keep my own tally and guestimate at how many cups of mayonnaise I've consumed. I wanna say maybe 3?!? Gross.


Phase 5: The gifts - Small gifts are given out to you at every house visited, and since we didn't host at our house, Anthony and I decided to give all of our hosts a crisp $1 bill and a bag of caramel popcorn - gotta represent Amuurica! This is also when it would be a safe bet that you can be dismissed to leave and move onto the next house to do it all over again! 

Some of our Tsagaan Sar SWAG... I can practically feel the cavities.

The Oyuna Situation


Soooo THIS is a funny story of what I hope has happened to someone other than me. But I got a text this past weekend and just for fun, I'll give you the play-by-play of exactly what it said and is not at all atypical of texts I get from my Mongolian friends. "Hello. I am inviting yuo and Antony at 7.10pm at my home. Oyunchimeg." My friend Alyssa was also invited, but didn't know where she lived, so we decided to go together since I knew the way. So we make the 20 minute trek across town (leaving AT 7 because it's Mongolia,) and arrive at her ger. We walk in and start giving out the traditional TS greetings, when I notice Alyssa freak out as the realization hits her that this is NOT the Oyuna who texted us and I had confused her with another Oyuna (whose full name happens to be Oyunstesteg,) but we know from the same circle. We quickly and embarrassingly explained the situation and trotted off back to where we came and finally arrived at the correct Oyuna'shouse, which conveniently was only a quick 5 minute walk from my apartment... go figure! We ended up being 45 minutes late and her daughter met us outside and lectured us for being late, talk about irony!

My site mates and I at our friend Tonga's home with the typical spread.

Glad our first TS has come and gone and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Anthony and I will head to the UB on March 8th to participate in a Project Design and Management seminar with a Mongolian counterpart. Anth will be working on a resource room for children with disabilities in our town and I will be working on building a greenhouse that can operate year round. Stay tuned folks, there's always more to come!


Fun Fact: When going around town to the local delguur (store,) you will quickly realize that none of the stores have cash registers. Cash and change is usually kept in a small box that they dig through and just keep out. Often they don't have the correct amount of change to give you, so they offer you a piece of candy, gum, or instant coffee packet in exchange depending on how much they owe you. Bartering - 60% of the time, it works EVERY time...

Camels.... Two Humps

Timee:
A few weeks back we got invited to visit the countryside with a friend of ours, who comes to our weekly English Club, and ride her camels, or timee. She is a really sweet woman and has a great family; When our kitchen chair broke, her husband fixed it, when she sees me walking around town, she pulls over to give me a lift. She is a natural at our monthly cooking class (like so many others,) and I could watch her cut and peel for days. So when she extended the offer, I didn't hesitate and plans were set. 


Tone and I, along with our site mates Chris and Eric, met up at their ger at 9am one Saturday morning to head off on the little adventure that awaited us 25 km away. We were immediately served fish and potato hushuur, which was bomb. Her son and 3 year old grandson, Jamka, accompanied us on the trip and soon we were off. When we arrived, they had 15 or so camels waiting for us, and before we were even invited inside, they were saddling them up for a little ride. I never before realized how TALL camels are, but it was a ton of fun riding around on them for a bit, and we all had a blast. They tied all of our camels together, so we traveled as a pack (do camels ride in packs? herds!?!) It was a bumpy ride at times, but definitely something I can check off of my Mongolian Bucket List and hope to do again.

 Chris, Eric, and I gettin our ride on

Making friends through dry humping....

Tsagaan Sar:
Tsagaan Sar is all we've been hearing about lately.... the apparent Super Bowl of all Mongolian holidays. It literally means 'white food' or 'white month' and is the lunar New Year. Most always in February, but varies based on the moon?... I'm kind of guessing as I go here.. ya caught me! Alright I googled it, and the White Month holiday is celebrated two months after the first new moon following the winter solstice... BOOM. From what I've gathered, it's basically back-to-back-to-back food eating contests, an opportunity to dress up all fancy-like in our deels, and learn a little something about fellow Mongolians, but regardless, it should be a good time had by all and something I'm really looking forward to. The traditional food served is buuz, which are steamed mutton filled dumplings, and each family literally makes thousands of them, to be served and consumed over the course of the week-ish long holiday. More updates to come post-Tsagaan Sar. 

after

before

Doesn't everyone enjoy a good before and after? No.... just me? Well this is one of the filtration candles that lives in my water filter. I clean them every few months, or whenever I remember, but its crazy to think of all the impurities these bad boys suck out. I've been told that Gobi-Altai's water supply is on the dirtier side, and most of the people who live here also use some sort of filter on a consistent basis or boil their water.

Fun Fact: If you step on, or kick a Mongolian's foot, you must immediately shake their hand. It's more like a grab n' squeeze situation, but this clumsy girl does it OFTEN.

The Art of Moseying

If you decide to make your way to Altai, Mongolia and want to do some people watching on a weekday morning, you may find a small girl speed walking. You will watch as she slows down suddenly, only to work her way back up to a rapid walk, again and again. This girl... would be me. I guess if I think about it, I've been this way since can I remember; walking extremely quickly and leaving whoever decided to make the trek with me, in the dust. It can't be helped, it's just one of those natural things. My legs end up working so hard, my muscles ache a bit and the soles of my shoes wear down quick... but so is life as a speed-walker.


Since coming to Mongolia, I've learned that it's not so much about where you are going, but the steps it takes to get there. But old habits, I'm finding, are tough to break. I have to constantly remind myself to slow down and take in all the beauty I'm surrounded by; the colorful buildings, the snow capped mountains, the small children who pass me and whose faces light up in recognition that I'm an American, as they practically shout 'HELLO' and 'HI' at me as if I might disappear if they don't yell it like, right now. But even these things have a way of slipping out of my present moment of conscious thought and I find my little legs once again carrying me passed several Mongolians as I fly by. Not only this, but it's also a constant battle between looking at my surroundings, and keeping an active eye on the ground. Rocks lurk out to trip you, ice covers the ground, and manholes threaten to eat you... it can be a dangerous place for a mosey-er. I, of course, try and attempt both, and as a result, trip at least twice daily.... it's becoming a problem.


And not only that, but where do I have to go that I need to get to so quickly... I mean reaaaaally? Time is viewed extremely differently here, and it's a lot more flexible than the rigid schedules we're all accustomed to in the states. Nothing bad will happen if I arrive a little late - Mongolia's biggest lesson to us all. When you're stripped of the constant demands on your time, the urgency begins to fade a little and you're left to ponder the simple decision; to haul-ass or not to haul-ass...? And if I didn't have all of this extra time on my hands, I might not get to ponder all these random, yet important things while moseying, like why are there still birds in Mongolia? Shouldn't they have flown somewhere more south by now? And what element makes snow good for packing, and why does Mongolia hate me and not want me to have snow fights...? 


But since we are onto the '5th Nine' of winter, this is all really just a moot point. As temperatures teeter around -40 degrees F, you walk fast to escape the cold and get to the next building that promises some warmth. Maybe I'll master sauntering come spring...

Enough

Apologies for the long delay between posts! Life has apparently gotten in the way of me updating all of you fine folks. It went from us being here 100 days, to over 200 while I blinked, and things don't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Another cause for delay was a little mishap with my laptop that included me, a water bottle, and slow motion horror as I knocked said water bottle over my entire keyboard resulting in the death of my computer. Help is on the way though - currently in the process of filling out a claim and getting it replaced.... THANK YOU decision I made to insure my possessions!

SOOO moving on... So much has happened, I don't even know where to begin!! The weather is dropping and my eyelashes are freezing. From what I hear, its been a pretty mild winter so far compared with last year's. Most days have been sunny and nice. People assume because it gets so cold here that we get a ton of snow... but that is juuust not the case. Mongolias typical dryness combined with our semi-dessert location, give us little precipatation and hardly any snow. And the snow that does come has no packing potential... waaaamp wamp.


Christmas & New Years
Being in Mongolia for the holidays was great; Different, but in a good way. While Christmas isn't celebrated here, I had plenty of Americans around to keep me occupied for the grandest of American holidays. Leading up to Christmas was fun and sharing our seemingly weird traditions with Mongolians made it really special. In our sitemate gift exchange I was the proud recipient of a bottle of olive oil and some delish oatmeal cookies.... nifty! Also got so many amazing and thoughtful gifts from home that made life seem not so different after all. We were even able to string some lights up that lasted for about a good 10 minutes before they burnt out due to outlet incompatibility.

Our pretty lights and paper tree



New Years was a different story. Mongolians DO celebrate this holiday and they know how to do it right. The week before Jan 1 is filled with work parties, while New Years Eve is spent at home with family. Typically spouses aren't invited, but Anth tagged along to my work party, and I tagged a long to his. This essentially entails a restaurant being rented out, people dressing up in prom-worthy attire, heavy waltzing, and  lots of glitter and delicately frosted cakes. 

The ladies of Altai's Children's Department.... and me at Anth's Shin Jil party

While teaching during our weekly community English Club last week, I came across the word 'enough.' Next to it, was a simple definition that really hit home for me on a few different levels- to have everything you need. If I had to sum up what 7 months in Mongolia has taught me so far, it's that I can get by with a lot less than I've been accustomed to. It's in a way shifted the way I view the things that I have. I'm sure all of us volunteers limited what we thought we might need when we desperately scrambled to pack for this great adventure... hoping to cut the excess fat and live a simpler life, if only for these 27 months. But I've reconsidered the meaning of 'necessity' and am realizing I can go without a lot more than I may have ever realized. Mongolians are a great example of this. While they have considerably less than Americans, they seem happier in many ways. They aren't constantly worried about keeping up with the Jones' and seem to just be able to live life, and live it simply. While many Americans  seem to tie their happiness to their possessions and think if they can just get this or that, they might be better off in some way. It's been refreshing to be a part of such a different culture and everyday I'm thankful to be here and learn so much from them. Its a nice reminder that we can all do with a little less and that what we have at the current moment and where we are in our life just might end up being 'enough' for now.

Fun Fact
When serving or accepting food, candy, or gifts, it is always to be done with the right hand. IF you are wearing a sleeve that is rolled up, you must first unroll it and reach your little paw out to accept. NO EXCEPTIONS!


I will be traveling back to Michigan from May 15th-June 11th. GET EXCITED! And if I may, please everyone stop getting engaged, married, pregnant, and promoted.... your forward life progress is interferring with my life! Just kidding, but seriously... much love always!

My Octember

So the title of this blog is a common error my English students have been making when remembering the date. Its so close, I almost hate correcting them.... yet I must! "October, October, October!" (Apologies for that minor outburst...)

Anyway, so it has been getting pretty cold here (I’m shivering as we speak.) BUT, the business incubator I work in houses a boot maker and dell maker, so as a gift, I got my measurements taken and was given custom fit boots and a beautiful Mongolian dell. I was so excited when I got my boots, that I wore them home.... BIG mistake. Two big mistakes actually, in the form of blisters on both heels! Let's just say they need some more wearing in =(

So, randomn thought, just when I thought I was adjusting well, I woke up the other night and didn’t know where I was. I literally had to say to myself, “you are in Mongolia, this is your apartment.” It was the first time since coming here that this has happened, and it was a crazy feeling. But despite my midnight freak-out, Gobi-Altai is beginning to feel like home and we love it here... still.

Housing Upgrades

So our apartment is amazing. Can’t say it enough, but we were in need of a few things and a few weeks ago we were lucky enough to get everything on our list. Up until now we haven’t had a refrigerator. It’s been a little difficult, but unfortunately it isn’t a Peace Corps requirement for us to have one, so we made due and made a makeshift one out of our window ledge (it gets pretty chilly there.) After a few weeks of this, we decided to suck it up and purchase one, but Anthony’s agency came through for us big time and decided they would buy us one and they could use it after our service was up. Our apartment is also one large room, so not only is there no privacy to speak of, but it’s of course harder to keep such a large, open space warm. So Anthony suggested we make some type of curtain divider (I think he just misses his curtain from home) and fashion something out of a bed sheet and some rope. I mentioned the idea to my director and she took charge of it and got us a beautiful matching curtain and had it properly installed. We were also in need of a second insulation door to keep the cold out. Not to mention that our one and only door doesn’t close at the top and lets in a big draft. So the wood maker I work with built us a beautiful door and had it installed. I think the fact that my regional manager was coming to town to do a housing check, served as a deadline to make all of these things happen in one week’s time. It definitely gives our house a more “homey” feel and we are thrilled we can buy more than 4 eggs at a time now! 

 Our new fridge addition!

Work Update

So at the beginning of the October we had our Regional Manager, Enkhee, come out for a visit and the two of us had a meeting with my director. We all agreed that a tourism project is needed in our town and is something that can benefit everyone. Some ideas that were thrown around were a training on customer service geared toward local restaurant and hotel owners, translation of menus and hotel rate sheets to English, and widening our monthly cooking class to include local chefs. Tourism is something that I am very interested in, so I’m looking forward to working with my counterparts and local business owners on this project. I will keep you posted on my progress…

Halloween Progressive 2011 & Thanksgivings

We are having a Halloween party next weekend and I am so excited! We are going to do it “progressively” and have a different food, beverage, and game at all of my site mates’ houses and hop from house to house, until we finally settle at our house (it’s the most beer pong friendly) and party our little hearts out. We are adding an Olympic factor to it and will have some type of competition at every person’s house, and the person who scores the most points at the end of the night wins. Fun.times.had.by.all!!

Only 2 short weeks later, all the cool kids residing in the western part of Mongolia will make our way to Hovd for the "Western Thanksgiving." We are going to have a M21 vs. M22 football game and a glorious feast. Our In-Service Training (IST) is coming up at the end of November, so Anth and I will get flown into UB for that and be reunited with at least a portion of our M22 group-also very exciting! All of the non-TEFLers will be at our training and we get to be flown in early to celebrate Thanksgiving together on the 26^th. Anthony, of course, is already brainstorming ideas on his dish-to-pass. Typical!

Garbage Man and Gang

So garbage handling in Mongolia is vastly different than that in the US. Littering is extremely common here, and is very painful for this eco-friendly gal to witness.  Gobi-Altai, however, has proved to be the exception and I’ve been very impressed with their garbage “system” here. They have metal bins set up all around town for people to throw their garbage in to. Lucky for us, there is one across the street from our apartment…. YAY! When these bins get full, they either light them on fire, OR the garbage man, who rides around our town on 3 donkeys pulling a flatbed, empties these containers. It is a mystery to me what is done with them after this, but I he is absolutely adorable.

Garbage Man in action (pictured with said donkey)

When we visited Mother Mountain a few weeks back, my co-workers were very good about cleaning up after themselves and not littering. I was even eating an orange and wanted to throw the peel on the ground, and they made me put it in the garbage. Instead of opening up another can of worms with how natural foods decompose quite easily, I gave in and threw it in the trash. I’m trying to be supportive of their habits!

Me and Anthony with Mother Mountain in the background

Cooking Update: Anthony and I have been getting a lot of use out of our Peace Corps Cookbook and have been experimenting with a bunch of tasty dishes. We made BBQ chicken sandwiches (w/ homemade buns… nbd) cookies, sushi, banana pancakes, cal-zones and homemade stuffing. YUMMY!

BBQ Chicken Sandies w/ Coleslaw

Veg Sushi.... YUM!

Fun Fact: Did you know winter is measured in Mongolia with 9 series of 9 days? According to ancient knowledge, winter in Mongolia actually lasts 81 days or “Nine Nines,” and it is a way for them to gauge their progress through the coldest of winter. The signs of the Nine Nines are familiar to everyone, beginning with the first moon of mid-November, 81 days before the Lunar New Year which brings in the first day of spring.

First nine - shimijn arkhi (mild alcoholic beverage made of milk) freezes
Second nine - arkhi (vodka) freezes
Third nine - tail of three-year-old ox freezes
Fourth - horns of four-year-old ox freeze
Fifth nine - boiled rice doesn’t freeze any more
Sixth nine - roads blacken
Seventh nine - hilltops blacken
Eighth nine - ground becomes damp
Ninth nine - warm days set in