Wouldn't you be a Vegetarian?

This is why we don't eat much meat here.

Exciting News - Clayton is now a published author!!! Here is a link to an article he wrote for Mercy Corp's Website! His supervisors were pleased with what he wrote, and changed almost nothing in his content! Check it out and send a congrats his way! Tsagaan Sar Market article

So, here are some various photos that we wanted to show you all. By the way, a big thanks to Kenny and family for the package of goodies that arrived today. For those of you keeping track - it was sent by air mail and they were told it would arrive in 4 to 6 days, and it arrived in 13. It was also under 8 lbs. and we're told that the heavier it is, the longer it will take.

Last week was english week at school. As 2 of the three English teachers, we were involved in the planning and performing for all of the activities. Below you can see a giant word search I created (took me 3 hours), and 2 photos from the "Knowlege Bowl Competition" which Clayt wrote all of the questions for and was also the MC for the event. It was a big success, and just today the school director called us into his office to give us "achievement certificates" in appreciation of our hard work in making English Week something fun for the kids. We are so awesome. We rock Mongolia.



Here is a closeup of the wood we were given to heat our Ger. We loved how there were still door hinges attached and nails sticking out all over the place.

Here is a giant statue of Chinngis Khan being built out in the middle of nowhere. The only ones around besides us when we took this picture were three scrappy dogs, one which excitedly jumped up on all of us one at a time.

And, here is an exciting find from terelj - a jaw bone (?) with some teeth. We didn't take a photo because it is so rare to see this, we took the photo becuase we see this sort of thing a lot.

A Trip to Terelj

Over the weekend, Jessica and I went to the town of Terelj in Gorki-Terelj National Park. The park is convenient, as it is only about 80 km from Ulaanbaatar. We hiked (got sore), rode horses (got sore), stayed in a ger, visited a family in there Ger while they received guests for the Tsagaan Sar holiday, and rode a crowded bus back to the city (I mean mosh pit-crowded). But rather than bore you with the tedious details, I want to take you on a journey through tedious pictures…


When we arrived in Terelj, we looked for a ger camp. Although the season is rather cold, we decided we would like to stay in the traditional Mongolian accommodations. Ours, short of really roughing it, sat behind a hotel. In the picture above, Jessica is taking a nap on the surprisingly comfortable ger beds. They sit up a bit high so as to keep you layer of heat that sits toward the top of the ger. We put our perishable goods on the floor near the wall and some of them froze…


Here is where the smoke exits the ger and the light enters. It is also the center of the radial network of poles that hold up the angled roof, covered with felt and canvass.


And here is why it is so important that the smoke exits the ger. Your options for warmth are wood, obviously salvaged from old furniture (thus the paint and the hinge) and lumps of coal. We found that the wood creates a hot, yet short-lived fire, while the coal provided a cooler, yet much longer sustained heat, good for the nights.


Here, Jessica is enjoying the comforts of the modern world while standing in a palpable coal-induced fog. The door can really kill your head if you don’t bend low enough, ask Jessica – she knows from first-hand experience.


When we awoke the next day, we decided to go for a hike. We walked through the small town and up some hills/mountains (I guess it depends on how you define it). From above, we could see groups of traditional local homes.


The mountains and hills around the town were not only beautiful, but incredibly quite and devoid human presence. You easily lose sight of any sign of civilization, and when you stand still, you can only hear your own tiny movements. When I tried to go to sleep the first night, my ears seemed to be ringing with the sound of nothingness.


We sometimes came upon animals grazing. No one was around. I suppose people just go collect their animals later. We happened upon this horse grazing just outside of town.




The views from the hilltops were wonderful, as evidenced above. Unfortunately, our forms didn’t always accentuate the pictures we took. Above, you can see two of our best pictures. I made Jessica include the picture of her with her eyes closed, as the scenery behind her is spectacular. This is not the busy tourist season, so we didn’t see another human for about five hours of walking.


We saw an unnerving amount of bones and bone fragments on our hike. Here is one of my favorites. See how happy I am?


Jessica, on the other hand, was obsessed with the bark fragments we saw. The trees from which the bark fell must have been filled with termites or something, because the bark fragments had very interesting patterns carved into them.


from hill to hill (these are really big hills. maybe mountains), the landscape changed, sometimes subtly, sometimes drastically, as evidenced by Jessica’s perch above.


Something like five rivers run through Terelj, but they all freeze and/or dry up in the winter. This river appears to have done both. The river froze, then dried up underneath the ice, which eventually caved in. Our friend told us that the water in Terelj is clean enough to drink. We were skeptical until we looked at the ice. You could pick up a chunk and see right through it.


The next day, we took a horseback ride with a guide. Unfortunately, not being great riders, we weren’t able to take any pictures. In Terelj, horses are still the main means of local transportation. As we rode down a dry riverbed and out of town, people on horseback kept popping up everywhere. They were visible in the distance, then would disappear into the trees at a full gallop. Small children, old men, young people dressed in western fashions, everyone rides horses. And on this day, a holiday, everyone was very social, riding up beside our guide and shaking hands, talking for a minute, or helping us to get our lethargic horses moving, then they would ride off.

Our guide took us to visit a family in their ger. As it was a holiday, there were about 16 people inside. The ger had a diameter of maybe 16’. We were offered snuff (from a traditional snuff bottle – apparently kinda a big deal here) and tea, then vodka, candy, and buuz – the traditional steamed mutton dumpling that everyone eats on this holiday. In all, we were received warmly, and everyone appeared jovial and deferent to the elder of the household. We gave gifts to the oldest man there, and we were given gifts as well (I got socks, while Jessica got some sort of beauty product). Although I am sure that the family often receives foreigners during the tourist season, it was nice to visit on this holiday and see the family interact, including their many traditional habits (sitting around the ger according to age, accepting things from the elder with the right hand supported by the left hand, a greeting where arm position denotes elder relationships, etc). There was also a whole sheep skinned and cooked and then piled up in the middle of the small table. On top of the sheep carcass lay the tongue, apparently the most tasty part.


Finally, it was time to go. We waited by the side of the road, at the “bus stop.” Jessica is at the “bus stop” above. We were doubtful a bus would appear at 4pm as was promised. When the bus came from who knows where, it was already packed. We pushed in and proceeded to be packed tighter and tighter at each subsequent stop. We would occasionally stop on the side of the road in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to us (no buildings or gers to be seen) and there would be some more people wanting to pack onto the bus with us. We made it back to the city in just about 2 hours. The trip was over, but the ease with which we undertook it has inspired us to try and make more frequent weekend trips to the countryside. Why not? The long distance bus only costs about $1.50!

"Skiing" Field Trip

Here are some photos from the "ski" trip we went on with our students in grades 4 through 7. It was actually sledding on tobaggin like sleds made of metal. Here is a photo of clayt standing next to one of the Gers we rented. This is actual size, for clayt and the ger door.


A nice photo of clayt after we climbed up the mountain that was behind our sledding hill. It had a great view, fresh air, and a shaman rock pile.


Here we are, on top of the world, together.


Below is a photo of me in front of the shaman rock pile. To the left you see a couple of kids who climbed up and said hello. We said Hello back, but one of the Mongolian teachers with us said quite sternly "Don't talk to them!!! They just want to ask for money or some other things." Well, whats wrong with that? It sure was quite a hike to get up there, if they came all the way up for a little money, seems like they might need it more than us. Anyways, they never even said anything other than hello, and smiled and waved to us. Why do people have such disdain for those less fortunate?


Here is part of the view worth the climb.


And another part of the view.


This is a photo of Sheridan wearing the traditional Mongolian outfit, called a Del. We saw a guy snowboarding wearing one of these today, it looked pretty cool. Also, you can see that inside the Ger, its actually pretty spacious.



In all it was a fun trip and we're still nursing the bruises from sled collisions and whatnot. This coming weekend is the great big Mongolian New year holiday, and we're taking our first trip out to the countryside on our own. We'll put stories and photos of our 3 day adventure asap, if we survive. :)

Tsagaan Sar Market Days

Tsagaan Sar is the Mongolian Lunar New Year (more info about Tsagaan Sar) - it's kind of a big deal. Tsagaan Sar translates to "white moon." The mongolian culture lesson is over now.

So, I volunteer for MercyCorps Mongolia, and they organized a Tsagaan Sar Market in a famous marketplace in Ulaanbaatar (formerly called "The Black Market"). They produced radio and print advertisements, as well as banners hung around the city. The market was set up for their clients in various Aimags (kind of like districts) in Mongolia. These are herders, farmers, and others creating products in the countryside. MercyCorps helps link these people with training, business planning, and with obtaining credit to grow their businesses. MercyCorps also has a collateral fund to help the clients get larger loans. All and all it is quite interesting, and I'll talk more about this in a later post...

...But back to the market. I went on Friday to interview the organizers of the event, the vendors/clients (mostly selling meat, dairy, and textile products), and customers. The goal is to write a feature article for our website and, possibly, for other organizations that would like to use it.


This process of interviewing was new and interesting. I am not a journalist, as many of you know. But, as others of you know, NGO's don't have the biggest staffs or budgets to pay writers. So I am as good as it gets. I'll link the article later, if you are interested in specifics, but some highlights: one vendor was selling sheep "carcasses." His word, not mine. He had sold a lot of them. I guess they are a commodity. An old man customer complained about the prices, but still went to the vendors from the Aimag he was born in (Gobi Altai) and bought their products. Others sold Camel milk Airag, which is an alcoholic drink - basically fermented camel's milk. Not only did I drink some, but I was given a big jug to take home. Again, more on this later.

In the final analysis, the event was quite a success. The vendors appeared well on their way to selling all of their products, and had acheived some of the market linkages they had hoped would materialize. I have questioned the premise of helping these people become more "business-minded," but one of the directors put it to me in a very clear way. He said that if these people cannot make the lives they want in the countryside, they will just move to Ulaanbaatar, further crowding and polluting and dilluting the traditional ways of life. If they can make a good living in the country, they will stay there. In this era of the mega-city, this seems like progress.

The Cold Does things to your Brain here.

Yesterday we hung out with Sheridan and Amrah. Sheridan and I got haircuts (I was a little nervous) but with Amrah as our translator things went well and I got a wash and cut for less than 5 dollars! We ate an early dinner at a chinese restaurant and then headed to our house for beers and whatnot. We finally got a receiver yesterday at the black market and now can play music at an audible level and even play DVDs on the computer and still hear what they're saying if we're chewing popcorn. So Sheridan and I decided our little party should have a theme. We wanted to do 80's night. then thought maybe Gangster night. Looking through our tiny wardrobe selections, we thought maybe it would best to go with colorblind homeless person from the 80s night. So, we made ourselves up in goofy outfits, put on intolerable amounts of blue eyeshadow and super thick lipstick and then confounded our husbands with never before seen dance moves to great hits like "Baby got back" "Safety Dance" and etc. Here's a photo of Sheridan and I, kicking it old school style in our not so 80's outfits.

Here I am impressing clayt with my robot dance.

We introduced Amrah to a great example of american cinematography "Jackass 2." He was disgusted, laughed alot and then asked us to make him a copy. We also taught him how to play P and A. In this photo, Sheridan perhaps has just been assigned the role of "A."

As usual, I got to be president and then we quit. :) When the beer ran out around midnight, we went to a bar "Fashion Bar," and met up with one of Amrah's friends, Saina. At quarter after 2 (after long discussion and debates about the history of Mongolia and Chenngis Khan) we decided to go dancing, but everywhere was closing up. Go home? Not when its still so early! We ended up going to a Kareoke place, singing and tamborine banging for 2 hours. You can ask Clayt how it feels to drink 2 shots of Vodka at 4 a.m. You might also want to ask him about the joy he feels when adlibbing expletives into the lyrics of "Wanted: Dead or Alive." :)

Quiz Night!

So, there is a bar here called "Dave's Pub" or "Dave's Bar" or "Daves." Something with "Dave" anyway. Apparently Dave is English. The pub hosts a quiz night every Thursday. We went with a couple of our friends from the school we work at (an American and an Australian). We dubbed our team "The Elite Geniuses." Turns out that was a mistake. We finished fifth or sixth out of seven teams. Not so elite, nevermind the genius part. In our defense, many of the teams had more than four members, and many of those members were much older than we were. They could remember the first submarine for chrissake!

I can't remember many of the questions, but I do remember a few things about the evening (surprising, given the one liter beers). So, there were a lot of roudy Aussies there. There was some Aussie chanting, and much arguing with the quizmaster guy about the correct answers ("That is not the most poisonous snake in Australia! No it's not! No... No it's not!" [to his friend: "its not, I know..."). This bar held by far the most westerners that we had seen in one place.

We met a rather drunk, exceedingly obnoxious girl from Australia who exhibited an unnatural fixation on Jessica (don't ask). I spent a good amount of the evenging between confounding this girl and heckling the Aussie quizmaster hecklers. Somehow no one beat me up. I had to find something to do! It's not like I was answering any questions.