Info From Our Perspective

Recently my sister asked to interview me for a paper she is writing for a college course. She had to interview someone that has lived in a foreign country. After Clayt and I answered her questions, we thought maybe all of you might also be interested in the information we gave her. I didn't include her questions, as I think they are self explanatory from the answers below.

1. I am spending time in MG to teach English. Also to work a volunteer job (teaching english also). Basically I wanted to improve my teaching skills in various settings and get overseas experience (good for the resume!), along with helping people who might otherwise not get help.

2. There are so many differences between home and MG, where do i begin???
a. greetings: people here greet each other with a "how are you", "how are your cattle doing", or "how is your summer" (etc.)
b. courtesies: there is a mentality of serve yourself here, people will cut you in line, or push you to get on the bus. However, if anyone bumps or steps on your foot, they will immediately shake you hand, even if its during a basketball game!
c. Religion and morals are mostly from Buddhism and Shamanism, also the Soviet period has influenced their opinions about many issues.
d. Family is very important here. One of the interesting things we see is family members often smell each other instead of kiss (I mean, it looks like a kiss by the cheek or ear, but they don't give a kiss, they just inhale deeply). Scent is something special to them. Also, its the most important social unit here. Most of their relationships are based on family or who someone in the family knows. Outsiders are not easily trusted.
e. Entertainment: This varies alot depending on if you are in the country or in the city. For city folks, there are bars (drinking Vodka is a real problem here), nightclubs, a movie theatre, and Karaoke. People here really love Karaoke. In the country where there is seldom even electricity, the traditional Mongolian sports are the most popular form of entertainment - Wrestling, Archery and Horseracing (but drinking is a big problem there too).
f. Dress: you see a good mix of western clothing and traditional MG clothing in both the city and country. Traditional clothing is called a Deel (but pronounced like Dell) and its a robe type garment worn with a very long sash around the middle. In the winter they are lined with sheep wool for warmth. The sash is worn to prevent motion sickness and bruising from horseback riding. The clothing they wear today is in the same style that it has been worn for the past 800 years.
g. Attitudes toward work: this one can be frustrating for westerners. Mongolia was under Soviet control for most of the 20th century, and therefore some (or lots) of people in the city do not yet have an entrepreneurial attitude. There isn't really a concept of "the customer is always right" which we enjoy at home. However in the country I would say that life and work are not separate - you work to live, to survive. People in the countryside live off of what they can produce from their livestock.

3. The climate here is first of all really arid. In the winter it can get down to minus 40, and in this past summer we had some days up in the 90s. The summers are great, low humidity which keeps it cool in the shade and hot in the sun. Winter is by far the longest season, from October to about March. Spring, Summer and Fall are crammed into the other few months. Also, Mongolia is really sunny, with well over 300 days of sunshine a year.

4. Topography: Lots and lots of mountains! Biggest mountains in the west, flat grasslands called Steppe in the east, and the Gobi in the south. Mountains in the northern part (Khenti Mountains) are some of the oldest on the planet. Only .76% of the land is arable. There are also less than 2 people per square mile (its has the lowest population density in the world).

5. Political Ideology: (i copied this from the cia factbook since i can't say much) blend of Soviet, German, and US systems that combine "continental" or "civil" code and case-precedent; constitution ambiguous on judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. Basically I know its a kind of democracy, but has a lot of corruption on many levels.

6. Live Here?: I have enjoyed my time here so far, but I would not like to move here long term. There are a few reasons for this, but mainly because it is a third world country. The health care is bad, the pollution is bad, the public services are bad. Life expectancy is low, infant mortality is high. The food is NOT good! :)

7. Other Countries Visited: I have visited Guatemala, Canada, Turkey, Thailand and China. I would say MG is the least developed country I have been to. Turkey had the best food. :) China is similar in several ways to MG, but they are definitely more developed - western chains of food and products, sky scrapers, comforts of modern life. Thailand is also really developed thanks to their tourism industry. You know about canada. :) Guatemala also had some severe poverty, but it just didn't seem as bad as in MG. At least they had the sea nearby and a tropical climate suitable for farming.

8. How Many Foreigners: I'm not sure how many other foreign visitors are here. In the summertime we see a good amount of foreigners, all tourists. Mongolia is a popular destination for folks who love nature, hiking, fly fishing and other outdoorsy activities, as long as they don't mind roughing it. The rest of the year however, there are hardly any foreigners. Those we see are other teachers or businessmen, investors (there are mining companies here), etc.

9. The mongolian home: The typical mongolian home is called a Ger (rhymes with hair), which is like a sturdy and cozy tent. It is circular with a wooden floor (only dirt in the summer), lattice wall, and 2 posts in the center for support. The outside covering is made of layers of felt, animal skins, and canvas. Beds line the inside wall along with traditional furniture (chests and shelves for holding everything), and the stove is in the middle with a pipe going up and out a hole in the top of the ger. The stove is heated with either dried animal dung, coal, or wood of any kind (bark, shrub branches, etc.). There is no indoor plumbing, and water for drinking, cooking and bathing has to be fetched either from a river or (if no river is nearby) the closest well (which is sometimes miles away). There is usually a small buddhist shrine on one of the pieces of furniture. They like to decorate the walls with many photos of family members, along with pictures of horses, famous mongolian singers, sumo wrestlers, Korean actors, etc. Their Ger is their living room, bedroom kitchen and washroom all in one. There is not the luxury of privacy, and many times people live with their extended family, grouping their Gers close to one another, like neighbors. ( think like our week up at the islands, where we all run in and out of all the cabins) Many of the Mongolian customs come from living in this type of home.

10. Wealthy or Poor?: On the UN Human Development Index, MG rates 116 out of 177 countries (thats not so good, as 1 is best). Mongolia is a very poor country. I'm probably not the best person to answer why. From what I can see (and getting clayt's opinion): the biggest reason is the harsh climate. So much of life here depends on herding and the nomadic lifestyle, yet the climate really hurts their efforts. They have a word here "ZUD" which basically means a dry summer followed by a harsh winter, resulting in the death of most of their livestock. If you experience a ZUD, then your food and income vanishes literally overnight. With no food, no money and no livestock, people are forced to move into the city to look for work. Also because of the long soviet rule, MG was a late entry to the market economy system. There is no market for or investments in industry, with China so close where everything is cheaper. There is poor infrastructure and few natural resources. The few natural resources they have are extracted by foreign companies with little money staying in MG due to greed of foreign investors and corruption in the MG government.