cow eyes
It's berry time here in Northern Mongolia...what kind of berries, you ask? Cow eye berries. They grow on little bushes, and for a Mongolian berry - it's not bad. Mongols are crazy about them. I have declared it an unofficial celebration. I compare it to how excited I get around strawberry time in the US. During the week that my host family harvested our berries, I could not talk to any Mongolian who didn't reference eating cow eye berries...store clerks, taxi drivers, teachers, children. Everyone was into the hype. One day at the store, I brought something up to the counter to purchase, and the clerk stood up with the hugest smile on her face, stretched out her closed hand and opened it to reveal 5 cow eye berries to share with me. I politely ate one, secretly hoping that it had been washed.
Potty talk
The jarlon, as it is called here. is an outhouse, or squatty potty if you will..typically located on the other side of a yard- away from the main living facility. It is a BYOTP type operation, and you better not have anything in your pockets when you enter, or else it might fall in. It goes without saying that there is no running water, and even though I have been using the jarlon for 2 months now, I still walk out thinking I forgot something and it takes me a second to remember...you don't have to flush.
One rainy day, some cows were laying in front of the school jarlong. I tried to shoo the cows away, so I could get into the outhouse, but given the fact that it was rainy, they did not necessarily want to move. After my persistent shooing and running at them in a threatening manner with my arms outstretched, I got 1 to move...which luckily I could open the door just enough to allow me to squeeze in. The door naturally does not close all of the way because it is broken, so at the bottom where it hangs open it gives you a wonderful view of the outside to enjoy while you are peeing. On this day, however, as I was peeing in quite probably the closest proximity to a cow that I have ever peed, the cow that I actually got to move decided to come back and stick its head into the door gap, so that I was face to face with it while squatting. It kind of reminded me of one time in the states, in a public restroom, when a child decided to stick his head under the door while I was in a stall...I thought that was intrusive then, but the cow wins for most intrusive. So with the cow present, I finished my business, and it was when I was fixing my belt that the cow decided he would put his head outside. He didn't move his body of course, just his head, which left me in the predicament of being stuck inside the outhouse.
It's berry time here in Northern Mongolia...what kind of berries, you ask? Cow eye berries. They grow on little bushes, and for a Mongolian berry - it's not bad. Mongols are crazy about them. I have declared it an unofficial celebration. I compare it to how excited I get around strawberry time in the US. During the week that my host family harvested our berries, I could not talk to any Mongolian who didn't reference eating cow eye berries...store clerks, taxi drivers, teachers, children. Everyone was into the hype. One day at the store, I brought something up to the counter to purchase, and the clerk stood up with the hugest smile on her face, stretched out her closed hand and opened it to reveal 5 cow eye berries to share with me. I politely ate one, secretly hoping that it had been washed.
Potty talk
The jarlon, as it is called here. is an outhouse, or squatty potty if you will..typically located on the other side of a yard- away from the main living facility. It is a BYOTP type operation, and you better not have anything in your pockets when you enter, or else it might fall in. It goes without saying that there is no running water, and even though I have been using the jarlon for 2 months now, I still walk out thinking I forgot something and it takes me a second to remember...you don't have to flush.
Location, Location, Location.
One rainy day, some cows were laying in front of the school jarlong. I tried to shoo the cows away, so I could get into the outhouse, but given the fact that it was rainy, they did not necessarily want to move. After my persistent shooing and running at them in a threatening manner with my arms outstretched, I got 1 to move...which luckily I could open the door just enough to allow me to squeeze in. The door naturally does not close all of the way because it is broken, so at the bottom where it hangs open it gives you a wonderful view of the outside to enjoy while you are peeing. On this day, however, as I was peeing in quite probably the closest proximity to a cow that I have ever peed, the cow that I actually got to move decided to come back and stick its head into the door gap, so that I was face to face with it while squatting. It kind of reminded me of one time in the states, in a public restroom, when a child decided to stick his head under the door while I was in a stall...I thought that was intrusive then, but the cow wins for most intrusive. So with the cow present, I finished my business, and it was when I was fixing my belt that the cow decided he would put his head outside. He didn't move his body of course, just his head, which left me in the predicament of being stuck inside the outhouse.
August means Autumn!
It has been rainy/cloudy/dreary here for about a week now. My fellow PCVs joke that winter has started...the not funny part being that it has actually gotten colder each of the days.
Moo!
I milked a cow...which here, is no funny business. Don't get me wrong, I am sure when an American steps up to the plate to milk a cow, the Mongols think that it is the funniest thing ever...but they take the job very seriously. They love milk here. hot milk tea, dried curd, dried curd blocks, flour milk, soured milk whey, fried soured milk weigh - with or without flour, soured milk weigh curd blocks...and even sometimes cheese. Anyway- to milk a cow, you first tie the back two legs together so it doesn't kick you. Then, you let the baby calf suckle for 30 seconds to get the milk going, and to get the udders all nice and naturally lubricated with cow spit, before you sit down, face in cow with a bucket firmly placed between your thighs. You will probably start pulling and tugging slowly to your hearts content, your hands now wet with cow spit as the Mongolian who owns the cows is laughing at your empty bucket and your slow speed. Nonetheless, you keep tugging as the cow spit dries up leaving you to tug on now what feels like dry sausage like udder cow parts while being encouraged to tug, "faster, faster!" You try different hand squeezing pulling combinations, try other hangy cow parts to see if they work, in hopes of a different result, but getting still no milk. As your hands begin to cramp up with what you can only imagine carpel tunnel to feel like, you hear the tiniest squirt of milk to enter the bucket. Elated, you pull again to have your hopes crushed by the fact that squirt was a fluke. When you look at the Mongol to try to find some sense of sympathy for your failure, you are instead met with smirks. The Mongol with then encourage you by reaching around you in an awkward body position that you cant imagine comfortable while squirting lots of milk into the bucket between your legs that, given their position, they cannot even see. Again they let you try, and magically, you get out a couple tiny drops of dairy, that next pull turns into a small stream of cream. At this point, you are empowered pulling tugs of joys steadily with both hands as the bucket now has about an ounce of milk! A bug will then fly into your hard work and drown. Ignoring this, you keep on milking, getting another ounce. You try to sneakily look at the Mongolian to see if they are smiling at your milk success, and as you do, you successfully miss the bucket and get the fresh cream all over your pants. After you are done thoroughly embarrassing yourself, the Mongol takes over and milks out about three liters in roughly 5 minutes. Once finished, the cows legs get freed, and the calf can once again suckle as you carry the milk pale, complete with bug, into the house.
