Change

There are some things that I quite enjoy about Mongolia. Practices involving money are some of them.  There are no tills at shops per say...it is always just a wad of money in a pocket that is worked with.

The veggie lady

In BX there is a lady who I always go to, to buy vegetables and other food items.  We are pals, and she is easily one of my favorite people in Mongolia.  She never fails to tell me when she will get new vegetables in, or make chit chat when I come in.

One day I went in to buy a bunch of carrots, but I only had a larger bill that I could pay with.  She inevitably did not have the 200 tugriks in change that she owed me.  I told her that it was really no big deal, but she would not have it.  She then asked to borrow the 200 tugs from another woman who was visiting her, but her friend only had 100.  Again, I insisted that it was no big deal, and as I was walking out she handed me the biggest carrot in the bin insisting that I leave with my change (and then some) in produce.

Gum

Something that I always extremely enjoy, is that in stores, you can literally go in, and just buy one stick of gum, or like 5 m&ms... you simply say how much you want, and they open the package, and give you just that.  It's great.

Now, in stores, it is extremely common that when they don't have change, that instead they give you a piece of gum or candy or something. One evening some friends and I were dining at a restaurant, and when we went to pay our tab, the restaurant didn't have enough change to give us.  The server, without a second thought, dug through her purse until she found a pack of gum, and gave a piece to the person paying in exchange for the change missing.  but then she saw all the rest of us, who were now without gum, and due to Mongolian's view on candy sharing, she offered gum to all of us in politeness.  

A mixing of summer and fall photos

shish kabobs roasted over a dung fire

fermented horse milk stirring

making vodka!

working in the gobi

where the cows at?

thats a skeleton

my paper bird

tiny gate door

a gobi frog

Preparing for the New Years Party

So I was told that this year, the social science teachers (which includes all the english teachers) are in charge of preparing the performances for the evening...So all the english teacheres are doing a dance/ song including 'snow girls' and the 12 zodiac animals.  Yes, all the english teachers also means I am included...and I was cast for the tenth zodiac animal...the chicken.

So when my teachers alert me of my role, they so proudly exclaimed to me, "You're a cock!"

Kid tales

Kissing and telling

The 5th graders are currently learning a few body parts in class, and to help them practice we played a fun game...The game includes the teacher saying two body parts, and then 2 students combining those two things together...such as 'head, shoulder' would include me putting my head on someones shoulder.

So as we were playing this game, my counterpart yelled out 'mouth, mouth' and the students were absolutely mortified, and did not want to kiss each other...perfectly understandable.  I told my teacher she was being so mean.

The next week, I was playing the same game with the same students by with a different teacher.  When this teacher announced the game we were going to play, all the students yelled, "nooo, we dont want to play that game because the other teacher made us do 'mouth, mouth.'.  They said this as others pretended to spit and wipe their mouths.  I guess cooties are also prevalent throughout Mongolia.

Multiplication

One of the newest Peace Corps Volunteers in Bayankhongor, Raaj, was in the aimag center visiting one day, and she came to my school to help out.  She looks similar to me in that she also has blonde hair.

As we were exiting the school, there were two small second graders walking together.   While looking at us, the one kid very quietly said to his friend, 'There's two of them now!'

How to make pepper jack cheese

I am just approximating here, but about a third of the Mongolian diet is meat, another third is flour, with the last third being dairy products.  During my 20 months here, it has crossed my mind a time or two that with all the dairy, how is it possible for the mongolians to not produce amazing cheeses.  They have invented so many other dairy products, but when it comes to cheese...NOPE.

So here is a 'how to' on how to make pepper jack cheese in Mongolia.

Step 1.  Buy a packet of processed cheese slices, probably imported from China.

Step 2.  Open a cheese slice.

Step 3. Put pepper on to said cheese slice.

Step 4. Put it in your mouth.

Step 5. Debate whether the moment of euphoria you are experiencing is ultimately one of winning, or losing...

Weekend tales

The shower house

There is a shower house in Bayankhongor that I sometimes go to.  You gather up your shower things and your clean clothes and take a hike across the dusty plains to the building.  It is about a 15 minute walk for me. This past sunday, I went and had a splendid shower.  After I was finished, I dried off, and was pulling my clothes out of my bag to get dressed, when I realized...I forgot to bring underwear.  I was not planning to go straight home afterwards, but instead did some grocery shopping...which I did, commando.  No big deal really.  

I stopped by a friend's house on the way (who has a blow dryer so my hair wouldn't freeze) and before leaving for the market, I visited the outhouse.  Now usually when I am wearing 3 pairs of pants in the winter and go to the outhouse, I prefer to take the time and pull all my layers up separately, to ensure maximum comfort, with no layer bunching...well on this particular outhouse experience, I had forgotten that I wasn't wearing any underwear, and had a little freak out moment when I couldn't find my underwear to pull up.  It may not sound like that big of a deal, but when it is freezing outside, and you want to pull your pants up as quickly as possible, you don''t want to waste time looking for underwear that isn't even there.

The well 

I also took a water trip to the well on Sunday, to fetch a pail of water...and that's when I saw the pupsicle that is next to the well.  What's a pupsicle you ask?  It is a puppy that froze to death...yes, the name is a little harsh, but it is a way to deal when you have to see these types of things everywhere you go.

Also outside of the well, there were little seven year olds running about and playing, and of course, when the foreigner walks up, they are all my instant best friends.  They stood around me as I filled up my containers asking me all sorts of questions, and when I was done, they really wanted to push my water cart home for me.  They were really small children and the task was hard for them, but they really insisted, so I let them.  So two of them set off pushing the cart, but they couldn't steer it too well, and then the cart got stuck when they accidentally ran over the dead puppy.

Another puppy tale.

While at the market to buy food, there was a big pile of trash that had built up, and a small puppy dead beside it.   It's body was half on some trash, and its head was hanging upside down on the ground.

Now, from what I have learned here in Mongolia, is that it is Mongolian tradition that when you see a dead animal, you can spit at it in condolence, as if to say, 'I am sorry you are dead, but I am not the one that did that to you.'

I will let you assume the next part of the story and fast forward to the end.  Let's just say that puppy was NOT, in fact, dead.

A ger is pretty much a glorified tent.  It's a wooden lattice base, covered by a few layers of felt.  And while it is significantly warmer than the outside, it still gets pretty chilly. My old site mates left me a digital thermometer to update me exactly how cold that cold is.  Unfortunately the outside remote has stopped working...but when I think about it, I really don't care to know...

**Side note: Usually when I step outside I have an immediate grump face, and an overwhelming irrational fear that the cold outside will actually permanently freeze that expression on my face.

Usually when I go to bed, my ger is in the 90s, and when I awake in the morning, the temperature can range anywhere from 18-25 usually.  Yes, I can see my breath... inside.

 Here is a photo of an hour after I make my morning fire.

Fire:  I bought a new stove this year, a more environmentally friendly stove that uses less coal and keeps the heat in longer...it's ceramic!  I am still getting used to making fires with this stove...the process is completely backwards...you put the coal on bottom and the wood on top...how silly!

With this stove, you have to put all the coal in at once, so unfortunately, when the coal catches, it is extremely hot for a while...  The thermometer above records the record high and low temps, and as you can see 114 degrees is no joke.  However, this is not the record high of my ger...The inside of my ger has reached well above 130 degrees, which, if you are wondering, is hot enough to melt dried cheese curd and also hot enough to make this thermometer completely not work for 3 days.

It is tricky, because even though it might be so hot when you go to sleep, you have to not take off too many of your clothes layers, because when you wake up, there is...

Ice.

You know how you might invite someone to get a cup of coffee to 'break the ice'? Well in Mongolia, it takes a more literal meaning...Remember that story of how I have buckets of water sitting around my ger?  Yeah, you have to literally break the ice in order to prepare your coffee.

To leave you with the words of Robert Frost:

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Daily Life Quip

I will preference with saying that 'Summer part 2, 3, and 4' are still coming...but on a colder note, I will leave you all with a small story of my everyday life.

Gers do not have running water, but they do have containers, that hold water, and that you can go to the well and fill up.  I usually get water from the well about twice a week,  and I am lucky enough to have a small metal cart that helps me carry my water containers. It is about a 5 minute walk there, and about the same back.  And yes, it is actually uphill, both ways. Needlessly to say, it's also usually freezing outside when I preform this activity.

So on this one fine Wednesday afternoon, I set out to fetch some water.  I bundled myself up, but I grabbed my thinner gloves, since taking the lid off my water container takes some dexterity.  I went to the well, filled up my container, and put it back on my cart and took off, in route to my home...but on this particular outing (as it usually does) my hands got a bit wet.  By the time I got home, and tried to open my gate, I realized that one of my hands was inevitably frozen to the metal cart...

Now, I bet you are thinking, if i just took my glove off, my hand would be free... but unfortunately, since I took my thin gloves, the moisture froze my skin to the gloves...to the cart...making it, in fact, temporarily impossible to take my hand off that cold metal cart.