Hello, or should I say Сайн байна уу? My name is Emily (lovingly referred to as "Emma bagsh" or "Emma teacher" by my students) & I am currently serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. I live in a small village called Hanhongor, which boasts a whopping six hundred people. While we don't have luxuries like running water, flush toilets, or even a shower house, the people here are absolutely wonderful. My assignment is to teach English to students at the local high school, which has students ranging from first to eleventh grades. Mongolia is currently switching over to a twelve year school system.
Yes, yes, there are camels here. We have bactrian camels, in fact, which are easily recognizable because they have two humps instead of one. I'm sure many of you imagine the desert landscape to be quite flat & uninteresting, but I am lucky here to have a beautiful mountain range, the Gurvan Saikhan (Mongolian for "The Three Beauties") bordering us to the west. I am also lucky in the sense that I am only about fifteen miles from the province center, Dalanzadgad, which has about 17,000 people. My province is called the Omnogobi, which literally translates to "South Gobi."
Another fun fact you should know is that Genghis Khan is actually pronounced Chenngis Haan. The reason why the "G" spelling is used today is due to a mistransliteration of the old Mongolian script by the Phonecians, I believe, who lack a "Ch" sound in their alphabet. The "Khan" is a result of the hard pronunciation sound of the "H" in Mongolian, which comes from the back of the throat. Though old Temujin (his birth name) may be known now as a ruthless tyrant, he is a tremendous source of Mongolian national pride.
I encourage you to ask questions by commenting to this blog post! I will respond to the questions as soon as I am able. Don't be shy, ask me anything!
Students: If you are having trouble posting a comment on this blog, please send them to me via e-mail.
ReplyDeleteFROM STUDENT TOM DETERS:
ReplyDeleteEmma, you are doing really good work. Your videos were magical where they let us have a look into another part of the world. My first question is a "hows the weather" question: It looks pretty cold there, what kind of sports do the kids play in the winter? Also, I noticed the basketball courts, what kind of other activities do they do in the warmer months?
Thanks so much,
Tom Deters
FROM STUDENT TOM DETERS:
ReplyDeleteEmma, you have gotten very creative with your cooking. Are there any resturaunts in your town? If there are, would you describe them as formal or more of a tavern setting? Also, when you go to different places, are the people very receptive to you as an American or do they more or less keep to themselves?
Thanks so much,
Tom Deters
Tom,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your first question, yes, it's fairly cold in the winter! I don't own a thermometer, but some of my Peace Corps friends in the Omnogobi aimag have claimed that it got to -40F last winter. (After about -10F, it just feels really cold.) In the winter, children can play sports in our school's gymnasium. The most popular team sport in Mongolia is arguably volleyball, & the teachers even have competitions sometimes! Basketball can also be played indoors. In the town community center, there is a pool table, & people have access to table tennis as well.
In the warmer months, not much changes except that volleyball & basketball are now moved out-of-doors. I live right near the dormitories, & the telltale sign that the weather is warm is an incessant "thump, thump, thump!" sound of kids playing outside with a ball.
To answer your second question, nope, there are no restaurants in town. (As the Mongolians would say, "Baikhgui!" for "Don't have.") During the Soviet occupation of Mongolia, there was a restaurant ---however, it existed about forty years ago. Some years back, there was also a small tavern-like restaurant for a short time in the community center. Tavern-like restaurants are known colloquially as a "guanz," a word which comes from Chinese.
Our aimag center (province center) Dalanzadgad has many, many restaurants. There are guanz as well, but I personally do not eat at them because I have heard horror stories of volunteers having gotten food poisoning from such places. A new guanz-like restaurant just opened in the past few months with all vegetarian food, which is perfect, since I'm a vegetarian! Otherwise, there are fancier restaurants around town which have more of a western feel to cater to the booming summer tourism industry. Some restaurants even offer menus in English, & the Bayanburd (which means "oasis") restaurant attached to the Dalanzadgad Hotel even has a vegetarian menu.
NOTE: Dalanzadgad has about 16,000 people and is maybe 15 miles from Hanhongor. Em can get a ride in a private car for pay, but it takes time to make arrangements etc. As I understand it a trip to the aimag center is a full day event for her.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that there were no restaurants, teas shops, or bars in Hanhongor too. When I was in very rural Kenya 30 years ago there were little cafes (called "hotels" - no rooms, just food) in the middle of nowhere. But once I think about it, the population density is a lot lower in the Gobi desert in Mongolia
FROM STUDENT TOM DETERS:
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your response, I think it is a wise thing to make most of your food because of the food poisoning threat.
I read your blog and I noticed your cat, I hope you are able to take him home. I understand if you cant but I am pulling for you and him. There are a couple things you can do to get the cat dander out of your house so it doesnt bother people who are allergic (lint rollers and Arm and Hammer for pets pre vacumm powder). But one thing you might want to do also is get him used to a leash. Because he spends so much time outside now, he will probably want to be outside when he comes with you. My cat got used to being on a leash, that way he doesnt go off and get lost. Since he isnt used to the chicago area, I would be careful with him running around in a neighborhood.
You found a really cool cat and I hope it works with him coming home. Keep us posted.
Thanks so much,
Tom Deters
Tom,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words! I hope that I am able to take Chicago home with me, too, but I certainly can't keep him at my parents' house. I suppose a lot of my decision will be based on whether or not I am accepted to graduate school & whether or not I decide to go, but of course, a lot can change between now & then. My fifth grader, Haliunaa, offered that her family could take Chicago when I leave. I trust them, since they're one of the rare cat-friendly families in Mongolia. (Many Mongolians are afraid of cats, or treat cats like we would treat, say, raccoons.) Anyway, what it might boil down to is what's best for my cat, rather than what's best for me. I really hope I can take him with me, though.
I really like your leash idea, & actually, I have a leash & harness for Chicago for when we travel. He is also fairly used to the concept of me carrying him in a sling (wrapped around one shoulder & tied under the opposite arm), especially when I walk him across the village to his mom's house to be pet-sit when I go out of town. I do worry about him not being able to handle the great outdoors in America. Chicago barely even knows what a car is ---let alone that he should avoid them!
FROM STUDENT ALEX PADILLA:
ReplyDeleteHi Emma, it's been really interesting reading your blog and learning about Mongolia! There are a few things that have intrigued me and am curious about. I think you mentioned that these students live at school? Wondering if most of them come from nomadic families or do they come from ger like communities? Do most of the people in town work at the coal plant? Also noticed in some of the pictures that the students seem to be fairly up to date on trends and was wondering what kind of access they have to media. How much influence do they receive from the United States as opposed to China? Would love to hear your thoughts and would appreciate your feedback!
Hey, Alex. Thank you so much for your questions. The children who live at the school dormitories mostly come from the "hudoo" or countryside meaning, yes indeed, they are from nomadic families! As you probably know, Mongolia is one of the last places in the world where this type of nomadic herding lifestyle is still in practice. Many of these families live in a ger (the Mongolian word for yurt, pronounced "gair") as opposed to communities. The community would technically be the soum (village) center, akin to where I live now.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, no, most people in town do not work for the mining companies around the Omnogobi aimag (province). These jobs are highly, highly coveted because you can make 1,000,000T or more per month. Compare that to a typical teacher's salary of 250,000T per month (about $200)! The mining company jobs are hard to come by & require a lot of experience, knowing the right people, as well as the skills to write a resume or CV (which many people have never had to do before & thus they may not know how). Peace Corps informed me when I first moved to Hanhongor that unemployment was a major issue. A lot of people have jobs at tiny little shops ("delgoor" in Mongolian), herding in-town (mostly camels, some goats, & we just got a herd of Mongolian horses in the past month or so which are beautiful), as well as working as drivers to & from the aimag.
The students are extremely up-to-date thanks mainly to television access! Everyone here seems to have a cell phone as well, & I often hear kids playing the latest hit singles on their miniature stereos. I have a sneaking suspicion that my kids could sing the songs that are popular right now in America better than I could. Mongolian teenagers really try to emulate the western world, so they soak up any media they can get their hands on. Believe it or not, Mongolia just started printing its own version of Cosmopolitan magazine this year!
To briefly address your last question, unfortunately there exists a prejudice against China here. I have a difficult time clarifying this, but before the Soviet Union occupied Mongolia (& constructed buildings, added piping for water & sewage, etcetera), China occupied Mongolia. Even though my province is so close to China, we get minimal Chinese culture. You are much more likely to run into someone who knows Russian than someone who knows Chinese. (Since I can be mistaken for Russian, sometimes I get asked in Russian whether or not I speak it. I really should look up how to say "No" in Russian just to amuse myself!)
Feel free to ask me more questions if you have any!
nyet
ReplyDeleteFROM STUDENT ALEX PADILLA:
ReplyDeleteHi, Emma. Sorry for the late reply. I was surprised to read the responses you gave me, for many of my assumptions were wrong. With the holidays around this time of year in the United States I was wondering what kind of holidays are celebrated in Mongolia? Is there any sort of religious temple in town? Also wondering what kind of things does the community center provide?
You mentioned unemployment being an issue. What kind of opportunities do the young adults have that have completed school? Do they return home and help herd with their families or are they the ones that land the more high paying jobs such as in the coal mines? Thanks for your replies, its been really interesting learning more about mongolia!
This time of year, Mongolians prepare to celebrate Shin Jil, which literally means "New Year." The concept of Christmas doesn't exist here, but some of the practices carry over in odd ways. There are Christmas trees, but Mongolians decorate them for Shin Jil instead. Santa also exists, but he is known as Winter Grandfather. Some of the kids are so confused by the Shin Jil/Christmas mix up, that they have been asking me "When do Americans celebrate New Year's?" ---mistakenly thinking that the 25th of December is Shin Jil rather than Christmas because so many of the practices are the same.
ReplyDeleteThere are sadly no religious temples in town. During Soviet occupation of Mongolia, most of the Buddhist temples were destroyed, & thousands of monks were murdered. There is a small temple in the aimag (province) center, & we do currently have monks there. Mongolia has surprisingly held on tightly to its religious heritage despite being occupied by various nations, but the religious aspect of life here is more intertwined with daily living rather than something identifiable on the surface. A more noticeable example of this is that mothers will cast milk (or airag, fermented mare's milk) with a special spoon into the air to the four cardinal directions every morning (or at least in the summertime) as an offering to the Tinkir, or sky. This is a remnant of a much older religious practice, shamanism.
The community center provides the type of fun characteristic of a small town. The school children often put on various performances, especially the students studying music or dance. For holidays, there are sometimes performances as well. This usually involves something akin to karaoke competitions or talent shows (rather than plays). During Soldier's Day last year, the local police force put on their own performances.
Unemployment is an issue, & it is my understanding that many students make do with what they can after graduation. Many of them do re-join their herding families. Some get jobs in the aimag (province) center, Dalanzadgad. While you would imagine that mining jobs would be plentiful, these are reserved for highly-skilled, highly-trained individuals. It is my understanding that the applications themselves are actually in English, excluding many people from even accessing them. Many people have not been adequately prepared for this type of job competition, & don't have resumes or interviewing skills. Those who can obtain these highly coveted jobs are those who already have an advantage ---particularly individuals from families of privilege, & more often than not, students from aimag center schools (in cities) who have access to more resources.