summer, part 1

It's summer!  Well, it was...I think it is autumn now...it's all very unclear.  I took a bit of a hiatus from the internet for the summer...mostly because I was traveling, and just such luxuries were not available.  School starts soon, and now with internet access finally, I would like to update you on my summer a bit, but since I have had such an awesome summer, I will update you in parts.

My summer travels started at the very end of May...

A One Year Done Celebration.

note the chicken balloon

The new Mongolia Peace Corps Volunteers came on the very last day of May, and a few of my M24 cohorts gathered in the capitol to go to the airport and greet them when they first walked off of the plane.  It was great to see all of my friends from my group again, and we were all anxiously awaiting the plane to arrive...so with a chicken balloon we had some small adventures (which even included finding a fresh peach!),  and remembered our own plane ride in, just one very year ago.  We laughed about our moments of confusion over the past year, the realities/unclarity that we faced at every turn, and those 'funny' moments you didn't know you were being 'funny' that you might want to forget, but Mongolians will never let you live down.

We all gathered at the airport when the plane finally did arrive, and the new volunteers walked out sleepy eyed with smiles.  We made a human tunnel to their bus, and did our best to make them feel welcomed with some 'welcome to Mongolia' chants, and maybe a little bit of joyous shouting...

a peach!!!

Children's Day.

Children’s day celebrates…children.  But Mongolia does it up right.  There are games and activities spread out all over and fun is to be had.  I celebrated in Ulaanbaatar, and the city square was overrun with happy faces.  Toys and ice cream were being sold everywhere, and of course I bought a kite and joined in the celebration.  From a parade of clowns to horse rides in the traffic jammed streets, I have to say, I am glad I am a 28 year old child!

The Reindeer trip

Transportation

 So for this trip, I and a group of PCVS went to the edge of Siberia to put on a camp with the Tsattan people of Mongolia...aka, the reindeer people.  The reindeer people live very remotely, in teepees, and the transportation to get to them was quite extensive...so just imagine (not counting the roughly 13 hour bus from BX to UB), a roughly 18 hour bus ride to the capitol of the Huvsgul province, followed by a roughly 12 hour pergon  (a Russian style minivan) ride to Tsaagan nuur soum, followed by another 1 hour pergon ride to a smaller soum, and a day horseback trip to the spring camp of the Tsaatan people. 

i hope the bluriness of this picture conveys the roughness of the bus...

Now, you may be thinking, 43 hours in motor transportation and a little pony ride might just be a walk in the park...well, it's not.  Just imagine dirt roads that whole way, and well, a nice June blizzard. The bus ride actually wasn't too terrible, since I pumped myself up for terrible beforehand.  We all had to sit in the very back row of the bus, there were 5 seats, and 5 of us Americans...and then a surprise Mongolian to make it six people for the 5 seats. It was an up and down, overnight (and then some) bus ride that left most all of us quite unrested and sore.

for this bridge we had to walk across the "bridge" before the bus.  Mongolia is all about safety precautions

a pergon

The pergon ride was horrid.  The dirt cloddened road made the drivers turn this way and that, throwing our bodies up into the air, and our tailbones swiftly down back onto nicely unpadded seats. It was enough to turn our stomachs, that were previously lined with Dramamine.  The next one hour pergon was nothing.  When we arrived in the tiny one house village, we packed up some horses and set out for the most significant transportational trip...

tightly packed pergon

beautiful views on the way

thirsty? no problem!

view from horseback

Being my first time truly riding a horse (and not just having someone pull the reins to lead me around), the first 20 minutes I spent atop the horse, I figured out what I was doing.  We went across a grassy field and right into a marshy forest, maneuvering around trees and puddles big enough to be called small ponds, or just really big puddles.  Once we got out of the forest, the outside opened up into beautiful mountains and frozen rivers.  Truly untamed landscaped, to which a similar I had never really seen before.  After a while, we stopped in a bushy field for lunch, and we all delighted in some hot dog sushi, and some trail mix.  After enough time, a distant bear roar that echoed over the field got us back onto our horses, and off on the...more interesting...part of the journey.  

So about 3 minutes after we set off on the camp again, it started to rain, and the terrain became quite swampy, and the horses could only go at a slow grueling pace.  Being on the edge of Siberia with frozen rivers around us, it was a pretty chilling rain...but on we rode with our not really water proof clothes.   It rained long enough to thoroughly soak us and make us so entirely cold...and that's when the blizzard started.  snow.  and lots of it.  It was SO cold.  So cold that feeling your hands and feet was entirely overrated.  My hands were so cold that the horse reigns kept falling out of my hands, and when I went to go pick them up, I just pawed at the horse’s mane until I was lucky enough to loop my unworking fingers through the leather strap.  It kept happening multiple times, because I just couldn't feel them in my hands.  No one really knew how much further it was to the camp, and we constantly were checking on each other to make sure we were ok...we kept our complaints to ourselves, because we all knew how miserable everyone else was too.

During my time, on horseback, in the blizzard, I contemplated those silly shows like survivor man and the like...and how it is totally possible to die out in middle of nowhere...how even if we were to stop our horses, there was no way to make a fire, or really even to get warm, we would be standing in swamp like land, and couldn’t even make any sort of shelter.  So we could only press onward, and hope the camp would come soon, and that the people would take care of us when we got there.  I also thought that I might seriously lose a finger, or at least a couple toes. 

Eventually we saw a small spec on the horizon that was a teepee, and the beginning of the camp.  We tried as hard as we could to get the horses to go faster with this little bit of hope, but the camp was still at least a couple miles away, and the horses trudged as fast as they could through the mud.  the mud lessened the closer we got, and the horses could eventually run, but when they ran, I knew my body was also bouncing up and down, but I couldn't feel that.  There were people waiting for us when we arrived to help us, and when we got off of the horses, we could feel our hands to help us, or our feet to land on, so we just fell off really. Ha. 

We were rushed into a teepee, with a nice warm fire, and of course handed some milk tea right away.  Due to my mouth's in ability to hand hot things, I am usually a sipper of milk tea, but on this day, I don't think I ever guzzled it faster.  I still couldn't feel my hands, so someone else had to help me take of my soaking wet clothes.  So there we were, after our trek, standing in our underwear around the fire of some random persons home.  When the owner walked in to see us all in our pathetic state, she immediately burst out in laughter at the site.

I have to admit, looking back, it must have been a funny site.  They built the fire up so much for us, that the Mongolians had to leave because it was too hot for them inside.  We eventually warmed up, and no fingers or toes were lost. 

the view later in the day.

this is in JUNE

The reindeers:

Being able to work with reindeer was so cool.  It was my first time seeing reindeer, or hearing the sound they make...I would best describe their noise as a cross between the sharpness of a barking dog and the intensity of a snorting pig.

Every day the reindeer went out into the forest to eat, and in the evenings, they would be herded in.  I got to help herd some.  Usually one person would go out, and herd them in to a certain point, and the each of the families would go out and get their own reindeer and take them back to their places.  It was neat to listen at this time with all of the reindeer were walking, because with each step, the reindeer's hooves made a unique clicking noise. 

There was a baby reindeer born when we were visiting.  It was born in the middle of the evening, and when we woke up, we found out about it.  It was a cute, all brown little guy.  The baby was having trouble nursing, and the family said that had it been a normal warmer summer, the baby would have died overnight since it was not nursing...but luckily, that didn't happen! On my walk home to my teepee, I would visit the baby every night.  It was precious.

the baby reindeer

a bag and make shift coat bag full of baby reindeer food

I also got to help milk a reindeer...it was pretty straight forward and fast process.  They don't produce that much milk, and so to save milk for the baby reindeers, you only milked out a small amount.  I learned in the summer, when the babies are a bit larger the families will drink more milk. 

Baby reindeer, in addition to nursing, eat a special type of moss.  This moss is found atop the mountains.  I took an expedition one day to go pick some baby reindeer food for the family that I was staying with.  I picked two bags full, and hiked back down with it.  Since it dries out pretty fast, the moss bags have small holes poked in the bottom, so that you can moisten it again in the river before feeding it to them.  So you just dunk the bag in the river, and then pull it up, letting the water drain out.  Then, after the babies nurse, they have a little moss snack. Yum!

The people.

The Tsaatan people are an amazing group of people.  They have a strong sense of community, and are very friendly.  They speak Mongolian, and they also speak Tuuviin.  They herd reindeer, and live in some of the harshest Mongolian weather.  They live in teepees year round, and the teepees are open at the top, so whatever weather there is, it is inevitably always inside with them.  They move locations with each season, in the summer being by the tallest mountain, so the reindeers can climb up and still have chilly weather.

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with a family for the days we were there.  I stayed with a grandmother, who's 3 grandchildren were always frequenting.  She seemed thrilled to have me there, and even tucked me in at night, and then put wood pieces around me so I wouldn’t roll over into the fire. 

There is much work to do every day, and living is not easy up in the Taiga, so there is a schedule that they follow every day.  While visiting, we taught some English and health classes, and played some fantastic games..like ultimate volleyball (it’s exactly like ultimate frisbee, only with a volleyball…given the fact throwing a frisbee is difficult for Mongolians, we adapted). 

foot warming

playing games

the end of the relay race

I got to help set up a teepee, which they built for us to have someplace to cook and host our lessons.  The first three teepee poles are tied together, in our case with some fabric ripped from someone’s shirt, and then supporting poles are placed around to give the structure more of a body.  Canvas is then strung around, using strings to pull it up around the top. 

At the kid’s request, we also hosted a reindeer race.  All the small kids got their best reindeer and saddled it up for the race.  An older kid led them out to a starting point very far in the distance, and the race began.  We would sporadically see the kids racing towards us, as they popped up between the rolling hills and disappear again.  When they reached the flat field, we saw who was in the lead.  We also then saw the lead kid lose control and fall off his reindeer at quite the high speed.  Eventually all the kids crossed the finish line, leaving the reindeers panting in exhaustion…which led me to realize just how big a reindeer’s mouth is!

the mouth is huge!

gathering before the race

Our last night in the taiga, we had a talent show.  The kids really got into it, and spent so much time practicing.  After waiting out a thunderstorm, all members of the community gathered, as we all performed. During the show the sun was setting behind us, and just the location of it all was truly amazing.  I juggled rocks and recited a Mongolian poem (not simultaneously), and the other Americans sang some songs and did a rap, but we were all outperformed by the children. From the little 4 year olds to the older kids, wonderful songs were sung that echoed across the landscape and the finale was a wonderful dance to Gangnam style. (watch it here)  We were surrounded by mountains, in the literal middle of nowhere, having this astounding show.  I can’t really describe how amazing awesome it was, but in that moment, witnessing this show unbeknownst to the entire world outside the taiga, I felt so incredible apart of everything…the nature, the music, and the community.   The show was however rivaled in awesomeness by the dance party that followed afterward.

Club taiga: how to make the most amazing dance party every.

So you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and you want to party.  Here is a little how to, to make an amazing evening.

Step 1. Location.  Pick a place, in a field, close enough to hear the rushing waters of the river, but still dry enough to get your dance moves on.  Since the setting sun has painted your club the most beautiful of backgrounds, no need to decorate.

drop that beat

Step 2. Music. Hook phone up to speakers that are powered by a car battery. Turn volume up until it echoes across the land.  Later, when someone on a motorcycle rolls up, hook phone up to motorcycle, because not only is it louder, the motorcycle has party lights.

Step 3. Dance. Shake your tail feathers or what your momma gave ya, or shake it like a polaroid picture.  Doesn’t really matter how, just have fun.

Step 4.  Fun lighting effects.  When the sun has fully set, leaving you in complete Taiga darkness, keep dancing and wave your flashlights around for fun lighting effects.  Also, turn your flashlight quickly on and off repeatedly for a fun strobe light sensation.

Step 5. Dance some more, until you are too tired to continue. 

Our final hoorah dance party was one of the coolest things ever-just to be dancing outside, surrounded by wilderness as the sun disappeared behind the mountains.  After my time in the taiga, I felt connected to everything around me, especially the people who just welcomed me and my fellow PCVs into their home.  I realized that I would miss them terribly when we left the next day, and so as I danced, I unwillingly shed a few tears.  As we danced on into the night, I felt completely at peace.  Altogether, I would say this experience ranks among the top not only in Mongolia, but in my life.

family

Coming soon, summer part two…which includes tales from inside crowded meekers for 8-12 hours a day for 2.5 weeks.