The 9 Nines

As you may or may not know, Mongolian winters are cold. In deep winter, days are typically -25 to -30 Celsius, and nights drop to -40. the first snow seems to come by chance, some years its Sept. 1st (which I personally have not experienced, but previous volunteers say it so), other winters start as late as November 10th. But the snow always comes in the Northern Hemosphere's autumn months.

So, the nines.

The nines are nine groups of nine days beginning the day after the Winter Solstice (Dec. 22nd). To my eyes, the nines are a countdown to spring. Mongolians say when the nines end, Spring officially begins (although, if you count nine days after the last nine, it ends on the Spring Solstice).

Anyway, each nine has its own sort of theme, something new happens on each one. Mongolians know the little poem by heart.

First 9- Milk vodka congeals and freezes.

Second 9- Regular vodka congeals and freezes.

Third 9- Tail of a three-year-old ox freezes and falls off.

Fourth 9- Horn of a four-year-old ox freezes and falls off. (In my experience, this is the coldest)

Fifth 9- Boiled rice no longer congeals and freezes.

Sixth 9- Roads become more visible.

Seventh 9- Mountains and hilltops become visible.

Eighth 9- Ground becomes damp.

Ninth 9- Warmer days begin to set in.

So, I thought you would enjoy learning a bit on winters here. I'm halfway through my second one and really can't wait for it to be over, but as my English teachers tell me, "You must have patience Aaron."

Great advice.

Thoughts on the Train

Mountains high enough to touch the God,

to reach the numinous.

Impart your wisdom onto me- make me

the wiser.

Dark cold nights cloud the judgement of men

as the sunlight is shrouded from us.

Now I walk blindly with a dying torch;

Only memory of the layout can help you now.

Moon shining high in the sky,

God of tides and water,

guide me as you do the waves

so I may find my way home

To see the next sunrise.

Some Differences Between Mongolian and American Schools

Just a small list of a few differences

Some differences between Mongolian and American schools (mostly in the countryside):

1. Cheating is prevalent—tests and classwork usually

2. Homework is rarely completed if done at all

3. Teachers typically teach straight from the textbook and leave no room for creative interpretation (although I seem to recall some classes in high school like that). Teachers often don’t prepare lessons ahead of time. However they are required to submit their lesson plans to the Training manager several times throughout the school year (typically they just create them with the help of the textbook). The training Manager is in charge of the teachers, the scheduling, payment, and school events (parties, teaching competition, etc).

4. Depending on the size of the soum or town, some classes can have as many as 40 students at one time.

5. Holidays, celebrations, parties, and projects will take predominance over teaching lessons and school work.

6. Students don’t even try to hide their cell phones

7. Fights break out almost daily

Of Mongolia’s cities

Mongolia is in a time of transition, from old to new. The capital and the larger cities have been drastically influenced by western culture and the 21^st century, whereas the countryside and small villages tend to stick to the traditional ways of living in gers (the traditional Mongolian home) and herding cattle or planting crops. More and more people of the younger generations are drawn to the large cities where possibilities seem endless.

Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar (Red Hero), already hosts half of the country’s population (roughly 1.5 million) and continues to increase almost daily. This is definitely a city lover’s city: taxis and cars always moving slowly through road traffic, tons of supermarkets and department stores selling almost anything you can get in the Western world, foreign or ethnic restaurants and food shops, karaoke bars and night clubs, even new apartment buildings not following the stereotypical Communist Block blueprint are being constructed. Yes, Ulaanbaatar is the metropolis capital in the middle of large mountains, wide open steppes, the Gobi desert, miles of rivers & lakes, and several native wild animals (i.e. the Gobi Bear).

The other two cities, Darkhan and Erdenet are very close behind in the western development, but not as large or populated as Ulaanbaatar. Darkhan, located just due north of UB, is spread out and separated into new and old Darkhan. Erdenet, Southwest from Darkhan, is more compact than Darkhan and UB, but still has the same big city feel. As like UB and Darkhan, Erdenet host several large supermarkets, a large gymnasium with a heated swimming pool, and communist era apartments, but also has an art gallery and a skiing slope. Erdenet is definitely my favorite of the 3, due to the laid back and chill atmosphere, friendly PCVs with a nice apartment, and not to mention I’m closer to it than Darkhan. If you are ever in Mongolia and want to see a more relaxed and less tense city than the capital, check out Erdenet or Darkhan.

Extra facts: Both Erdenet and Darkhan are the capitals of their own aimag (province), and both have a few soums (small towns or villages) in their aimags as well.

Somethings about Mongolian Culture

The 3^rd goal of the Peace Corps: to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans. I thought I should share with you, my few readers who are probably wondering if I’m still alive, some of the culture of the Land under the Blue Sky. These are the things I learned during training and over the past year.

1. Never whistle inside someone’s home. This calls bad spirits.

2. Always accept tea, candy, and food from someone. When visiting, even if it’s a short visit, it’s polite to sit and chat for few minutes while drinking and eating something. Stay as long as it takes you to drink some tea.

3. If you accidently kick someone or your foot touches someone else’s foot, immediately shake hands with the person. Kicking someone’s foot is a sign of aggression and initiating a fight.

4. The common greeting is Sain ban u? ( Сайн байн уу?)— hello, how are you?

5. The ger is the traditional Mongolian home. It’s like a tent and log cabin mixed together with between 4-6 walls, depending on the size of the ger. The ger has both a male and female side. The male side is to the left (West) and the female side to the right (East). The ger door always faces South. When you walk into a ger, you must walk around from left to right. At the north end of the ger is usually a bed, but sometimes a chest with family pictures or a Buddha shrine is placed there.

6. Orange and Blue are common colors, especially in gers. They represent the earth and the sky.

7. The main dishes of Mongolia

Buuz (Бууз)- steamed meat wrapped in dough.

Hosher (Хуушур)- fried meat wrapped in dough

Tsuvan (Цуван)- a stir fry like dish that typically includes pasta, meat, potatoes, carrots, & onions

Meat (Мах)- the 5 main meats are cow, horse, sheep, goat, and camel (in some places you can also find fish and chicken)

Milk tea (Сүүтай цай)- exactly as it sounds: boiled water, milk, and tea leaves. Excellent to drink on a cold day.

Yoghurt is also common, especially in the summer. Mongolians make their own.

Shin Jil (New Years)

After a lovely Christmas weekend in Erdenet with friends where we slept, ate, played games, watched movies, and gave gifts, the next holiday on the Mongolian list is Shin Jil (which is the traditional new years areound the world Dec. 31-Jan 1). Mongolians do not celebrate Christmas, but instead combine it with New Years. During the month of December all throughout the big cities (as well as my tiny soum) there were pictures of Santa Clause, Christmas trees, and tinsel everywhere. It made me feel at home.
Anway, the night of Dec. 30th was Orkhontuul's traditional dance party. In the gym of the school we had several guests singing songs and playing music to dance to. Mongolians almost always dance a waltz, which I can somewhat do now. Lovely singing voices the singers had. Also, some of the students and guests did some short skits of fairy tails. Little Red Riding Hood is kinda famous here. We also had a visit of Father Winter, the Mongolian equivolent to Santa Clause. He comes in with his animals (students in costumes) following him and gave gifts to the teachers and a few students. I got a bag of candy and juice.
Anyway, after some awkward waltzing steps with my Counterpart, all the teachers went upstairs for a fabulous meal of rice, meat, and a hell of a lot of fruit, including kiwi (I haven't seen kiwi anywhere in this country so I was quite excited). And of cource, you can't have a Mongolian holiday without drinking vodka, but stuck to the beer. It was a very long night of eating, drinking, singing, and being merry (and yes, I sang the one Mongolian song I know-Traveling Bird).
Teh next day, the last one of 2010, I spent cleaning my ger and resting. I ate some Mongolian salad with my Hashaa family and split a beer with the parents. After that I was invited to the school's social worker's house where we ate buuz (meat wraped in steamed dough), drank vino and beer, and watched some Mongolian Shin Jil programs. a lovely evening.
The next day was spent mostly with the Hashaa family. Their family members came over and we ate buuz, salad, cake, and I drank a bit of vodka to appease the Mongolian customs. The evening was spent mostl at one of my counterparts' apartment. Where I once again ate buuz, salad and cake. They also had some homemade juice which was really good. We also played hudzer (cards) and I attempted to have conversations in Mongolian with her family (my Mongolian comes and goes btw). Again, another pleasent evening.
And on the following day I just rested in my ger and went to my other Counterpart's home for a lunch of more buuz and broken conversations.

Overall, a great experience and am looking foreward for the next few holidays (Teacher's day and Tsagaan Sar).

Where have I been?

Hey, I know it's been a long time since my last blog, but I gotta real quick break where I hope to spill some things in a nutshell.

My site: Orkhontuul Soum, Selenge Aimag (or provence), in the Central Region of Mongoia (the aimag right about UB)
Orkhontuul is a small but growing town. Currently there are 1500 people living in gers, houses, and apartments. I live in a ger, a traditional Mongolian home (it's like a mix of tent and a log cabin). I cook most of my meals, but on occasion I will eat with my Hashaa family (Hashaa = yard. The hashaa family is the family who owns the yard that I live in. They've taught me how to chop wood, pump water from the well, and use coal).

The secondary school I work at has about 400-500 students from K-10th grade currently. This year they became a full 12 year secondary school. (However, Mongolian education system is different than the US. There is no 6th grade, but 8th grade is split into to years, 8a & 8b). I work with the two English teachers at the school, Monktuul and Anhkbayar. We teach from 4th grade to 10th. I also teach a speaking class to the 10th graders, and Monktuul and I teach an English games club in the afternoons.
There are approx. 14 teachers, a social worker, a librarian, 3 school workers (janitors), a jijor (like a night watchman), a Training Manager, and the School Director. All of them are very good friends and some married couples are both teachers. They are all very friendly and always concered if I am warm and able to make fires.
School Subjects: 1st-5th grade, English, Russian, Mongolian script & language, Biology & Chemestry, Geography, History, Math & Physics, Music, Dance, Technology (wood shop, sowing, etc), and P.E./Gym class.

Orkhontuul is a River Valley between the Orkhon and the Tuul Rivers (hence the name). It is also split up into two parts that are approx. 18 kms apart--New and Old Orkhontuul. I live in Old Orkhontuul. The train is the only mode of transportation in or out of the soum. Not many people have cars or trucks, but those who do use them to transport livestock and hay to their home. A majority of the population are farmers and the rest work for the railroad. (the railway workers live in the apartments). There are 3 stores in the whole town and they all typically have the same things.

My typical meals: meat (horse, goat, sheep, or cow--all taste good to me), rice or pasta, and some veggies- potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and surprisingly pepers can be found here. I typically get my carrots and potatoes from my hashaa family since they grow their own.

Misc. I love receiving Care Packages and the other teachers enjoy looking at what I got. I always share my surprises with them.