Happy Shin Jeel

Though not the exact spelling, phonetically Shin Jeel is the Mongolian term for Happy New Year. Though it is the coming of the new year that is celebrated, Mongolia is covered with Christmas decorations... trees, wreaths, etc, everywhere.

Here from what my students tell me, families usually put up their new year tree on the 25th of December, then New Year is when they really get dressed up, give gifts and celebrate.

So all places have major blow out parties, spending way too much money and wear glitzy clothes. According to my counterpart, Altai, our teacher party will be the 29th and the children will put on a performance on the 24th. I intend to get gussied up wearing my deel (skirt and jacket) I had made for my Peace Corps swearing in.

I bought a few decorations for my apartment: a tiny tree at the market with little lights and am making tiny snowflakes and tinsel to decorate it. That photo will come later along with the dinner and celebration with my site mates. Sadly Caitlin the site mate who loves Christmas the most, went home (early terminated) just recently. However, I did inherit her little toaster oven and massive cookie baking supplies so there will lots of Christmas cookies made by me for others. Hopefully, I can bake some for the dormitory students! Though the holidays will not be the same as being home and with my own children and family, circumstances change and so must I.

Wishing everyone a Happy Shin Jeel!

Mongolia is growing on me...

Most days I find it hard to believe that I have now been in this lovely central Asian country for six months. The whole place is growing on me as I adjust to the differences, in the pace of life here (much slower), the attitudes (very easy going), the lack of amenities that we Westerners are so spoiled by (but nothing very drastic), the people, the music, the pride in their heritage and their nation. Mongolia with it's harsh weather balanced out by the gorgeous blue sky has become home to me in this short time.

I enjoy the slower more relaxed pace, and have realized that though plumbing is awesome and I really appreciate it, I can live without a shower or a bathtub, learning to bathe in a tumpen. I am fortunate to have the stove that I have with one working burner, a second that works on low heat and an oven that mostly works (but you can't use the burners at the same time and the oven temp is hard to regulate). I have not driven a car since leaving the USA, and thought that would be tough, but it's not. In fact, I rarely ride anywhere, except for the bus trips to the city and back and the occasional taxi ride there. These are some of the minor adjustments I've made here and after awhile these adjustments become a normal part of everyday life.

The saying "time flies when you're having fun" is true. So is time flies when you are busy being confused, befuddled, misunderstood, frustrated and sometimes exhausted trying to communicate.

My Mongolian language skills, or should I should lack thereof, are just that. . . Though I have been trying, studying and attending weekly tutoring sessions, my ear for this language (or perhaps any language foreign to me) is just not so good.

Perhaps it is partly my age, the fact that our hearing (as well as sight, etc) starts to slowly deteriorate after age 30..; or, that I've never learned another language besides my native English (which is seriously weird after being here 6 months and talking slowly and in simple language); maybe because folks here are so anxious and interested in learning to speak English....maybe my brain just doesn't have the aptitude for language.

Whatever the causes, issues, the simple fact remains that I still can communicate with others, in spite of language barriers! Smiles, gestures, and dictionaries are oh so helpful here. I am learning slowly, but surely, and just like the other adjustments that I've made here, this too shall come in it's own time.

Mongolia or NE Ohio? Weird weather similarities...

Though I still miss leaves and forests, creeks and grass, there are many similarities here to NE Ohio weather wise....
Now that it's November, my steam heat has been on for 6 weeks and I have winterized my windows , there are days that I'd like to actually open a window or two! Just like back home, one day it's unseasonably warm, then the next day it's freezing cold! My heat is steam, with the old fashioned radiators and it's very, very toasty! There are many buildings heated by the same boiler and you can see the little building with the boiler and the black smoke rising from the stack. There are many of these stacks in our town and consquently a bit of air pollution hanging about in the cold weather.
As they say in Mongolian, "oh yahnna" , which roughly translated means oh my. So even when it's really cold outside I'm sitting in my apartment wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Yes, I shudder to think of all the years of cold interiors when I insisted on turning down the thermostat (with pricey gas heat), telling the kids and myself to just wear more clothes!
Now I can relate to what they wanted and rather enjoy the excessive warmth. However, I feel a little guilty with the excessive warmth. On the other hand, thank goodness I don't have to build fires daily or even many times during the day or night like my unfortunate counterparts living in gers.... (I was very fortnuate to enjoy the ger living experience during the summer and made very few fires...good thing, because fire building is not my forte'.
So I go from the warmth cozy comfort of my apartment, and have to hurridly layer up to go outside. Even wearing a long sleeve T and a light sweater inside make me sweat...Thus far, there have only been a couple days when I actually wore long underwear, though many days I wear the fleece sock/boot liners with my socks and boots.
It's still not cold enough for me to wear wool sweaters, long johns and a scarf over my face, but I'm sure the day will come soon enough.

just call me baagst.....

a few of the advanced english class students at the Arvikheer museãm. we practice speaking skills,and pronunciation top 2 and left

ecology club members have many awesome projcets above below and left

ecology club members top and left...

knitting club at the dorm!

english class at the dorm

Just call me baacsht ..which roughly translates to teacher in Mongolian. Though a social worker by education, I have found that I am mostly teaching English here, and I love it! However, I really need to brush up on my language skills. I cannot diagram a sentence to save my life, in fact I don't think I spelled it right either!

I currently teach two English classes to the dorm students (a few of them shown above) and they are wonderful, bright, eager, loving, sweet and sometimes mischevious! Mostly they just need more love and attention, which I am doing my best to give them. I have little teaching experience so am learning and flying by the seat of my pants! Some training this summer has at least helped me attempt to plan class time and what we will cover. There are over 60 students who attend the two classes! Sometimes I have 15, other times 30 with varying skill levels so it is challenging. I resort to playing games (hopefully they are educational), toss a spiderman ball to a student, try to pronounce their name (they made name cards with their names written in English) then ask them a question. The hour passes quickly and at least they are having some fun (me too)! One of their favorite activities is writing on the board so we do that every class, as well as using dice to practice counting and playing games in teams...

I have an amazing counterpart/dorm teacher, Octay, and we have found that we are of one mind when it comes to the dorm students and what they need!
Witness Octay teaching kids to knit! We have our own little stitch and bitch, Mongolian style going on! It was her idea and I happily joined in, even though it's on Saturday afternoon ...We started out with about 7 girls and within 2 hours had 20 kids there! Some already knew how to knit and others (including a few boys) were eager to learn! I brought chopsticks for those without needles and bought the locally available cheap yarn for the kids to practice with. They are so proud of their accomplishments and it makes my heart full!

The advanced English class is one that I mostly just practice speaking skills with and assist them with pronunciation. One of the interesting words we discussed was lion. They always say it like "leon". I told them that is a boys name, and if they want to sound like a native speaker....lion it is. Always a lively discussion in that group!

Trick or Treat, a love letter to Pete

Though Halloween is a little known event here in Mongolia, it's always been very special to me. That's because my first born made his entrance into the world on Halloween morning in 1982 at 7:50 a.m.

Weighing in at 8 lb. 6 oz., and a whopping 21.5 inches long, Peter Alan Hunt appeared via C-section following many hours of labor and pushing to no avail. Back in those days, and in Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, NC no less,(said with a delightful southern drawl) not too many innovative techniques were offered to women in the maternity ward, especially first time moms.

As comedian Stephen Wright says, in his hilarious deadpan delivery... Pete, like all children born by c-section... "came in through the window"......

I am not one for regrets, but I will say that the children I now have the pleasure of working with (who live in the dormitory and attend school here in the aimag center(equivlant of the county seat), have the benefit of my wisdom, maturity, patience and kindness that I did not possess while Pete was growing up.

As a woman old enough to be a grandma (no rush whatsoever!!!) I often fondly recall comedian Bill Cosby saying in a routine about his mother and her relationship with his own children, alluding to her sense of playfullness and joy, "this is not the same woman who raised me"!

Regardless of my parenting shortcomings, there is one major theme that rings true now and all during Pete's childhood... the depth of love, connection and bond that I feel toward my son!

Even though I have moved across the world from you dear Pete, you are always on my mind and in my heart. Happy 28th Birthday from Mongolia!

Mongolian open house aka drink three times

drinking airig in the big bowl, my counterpart, Happy

So this was my first Mongolian house warming party, and as usual my invitation was at the last minute. (those who like to play it loose and not worry about making plans, etc. would love the easy going way things are done here). The man here is not the host, but a friend/coworker of the host. This is the chemistry teacher who speaks some English. He was serving up the airig, fermented mares milk, which is one of the popular drinks you must drink three times here ceremoniously. You get the big bowl full of airig, take three drinks, pass it back, it's refilled, then passed to the next person.

Airig looks, smells and tastes something like watery, sour yogurt. You can see in the background some of the juice, water, milk tea, fruit and many types of salads which were served to us upon arrival.

Me drinking the Mongolian national vodka, which is made from cow's milk (I kid you not), and looks and takes like airig, only this is clear. I'm drinking it from a cow's horn cup..... will wonders never cease....

On left, my fave chemistry teacher, and in striped shirt, our host (can't remember his name or what he teaches). After the airig and Mongolian vodka were passed around, we then moved on to the bottled Vodka. It is customary on both types of vodka to drink three shots. Whoa..... this is a big drinking country.... I did it, they were impressed, then thank goodness we left so I could go home and rest!

our hostess in orange sweater was busy serving, washing up and serving some more that she never enjoyed anything with us.

After all the drinking, we were then served dinner...each plate individually prepared with rice, beet salad, carrot salad and boats (little steamed dumplings with mutton)... What a lot of work for the hostess...

I was expecting to have to sing a Mongolian song, which I would have done when forced to, but perhaps that all happened later. As we were leaving, more teachers were coming in, so maybe the singing was led later by the men who were there when we arrived and still there when we left and by my count, had way more than 3 shots each during the time we were there!

You know what they say, when in Mongolia...

Turn, Turn, Turn...there is a season..I miss leaves!

Though it is autumn here in Arvikheer, with a nip in the air, and the shortening hours of sunlight, there is something conspicuously absent. The autumn leaves that I have become so accustomed to seeing every fall are not present here so close to the Gobi.

This area is considered Central Mongolia, but we are on the edge of the large and imposing desert. The soil is mostly sand, and when the wind whips up, there are mini sand storms; little cyclones of sand. An awe inspiring site to be certain, but also a time to close your mouth and cover your nose and eyes if possible.
I have have this experience even when I lived further north in the summer. I was visiting my training site friend, Little B, at her ger. We were standing outside in the hasha (barren, dirt covered yard) chatting (ok lamely attempting to chat) with her hasha mom, when off in the distance we watched a small wind blow into a very large ominous looking dust cloud.

We all stood there mesmerized, watching intently, when her mom squealed and ran for the cover of the house....we quickly followed as she ran in and closed the windows against the blowing sand and dirt. These little mini cyclones disperse as quickly as they appear.

The soil here, whether sand or dirt, blows easily without vegetation to secure it..... I have observed there are areas of weeds and desert like plants, grasses and flowers, then nothing but sand and rocks.

The main town area in Arvikheer has fenced in plots with a few trees and shrubs; all struggling to survive in the windy foreign soil. My view from my apartment windows is a quaint little courtyard, fenced and locked (even from me) with some fairly healthy looking fir trees. There are planters in many locations around town (outside stores, gas stations and homes) bursting with flowers. Many of these flowers are familiar looking annuals, such as sun flowers, cosmos and marigolds.

Aside from these planned and fenced in little garden areas, the land is pretty barren. Public landscaping is not the same in this country. Even in the big city, there is no such thing as a lawn,remarkably to me, not even in the big city parks. Thus, no mowing of lawns.

So back to the absence of leaves. As Joni Mitchell says "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".... leaves are something I have long associated with the changing seasons, the onset of fall, the end of summer, the precursor to winter.

Leaves to me symbolize autumn; along with representing the smell of fall. Fallen leaves with their beautiful colors, their crunchiness, the memories of playing in them as a child, playing in them with my children, and seeing other little kids loving the fall because of the fallen leaves!

Some of my best memories of this season inculde the fallen leaves, raking them, cursing them as I'm raking them, then praising them as they compost into beautiful rich soil. I could definetly use some rich soil here for my immense garden project/beautification plan for my school! Suffice it to say I am composting in my kitchen for now, and have been put in touch with a lady in UB who has red worms for composting. My plan is to obtain some of these worms when I got to UB for Thanksgiving!

It is still autumn even without the falling leaves, as the season turn, turn, turns toward winter.