On my way to work
More walking...
Still on my walk to work

Fresh morning snow.
The mask I'm required to wear at work...Thanks swine flu.
Dinner. Kim-chi and egg stir-fry.
Dinner..Tofu and potato stir-fry
Our drivers
Village hospital

One of the villages we visited.

The CP's that I traveled with.


View from outskirts of town.
Hadag.
more hadag!

Statue in soum..
Childrens play structure.
View from soum hospital.
I think the sign is a little excessive..don't ya think?

The room where we slept during our stay at the hospital.
Mid morning exercise
Monitoring and evaluation...doesn't look fun!
Van we traveled in on my country side monitoring and evaluation trip.
My winter wood supply..
One of my favorite Mongolian dishes. Its pretty much shepherds pie.
Where I eat lunch almost everyday.

BEARD!!

One of my CP's getting ready to do the deed!!! How mischievous.
Hair cutting ceremony.
Breakfast. Eggs, toast, coffee.

More Winter

Winter is here! As I’m sure you are all well aware. As you know, wood has been chopped, gers warmed, and animals slaughtered. Winter in Mongolia, for me, is a frustrating time. Usually I am a person who enjoys winter, as I’m sure I mentioned this last year around this time. However, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to mention, yet again, how much the Mongolian winter is a waste of cold weather. Of course I only find cold weather useful for one thing… and one thing only to keep snow from melting. Snow is the one aspect that makes winter so enjoyable. Unfortunately for me, during the Mongolian winter, it snows once or maybe (if I’m lucky) twice, totally a mere seven or eight inches. On the rare occasion that the temperamental Mongolian weather does decide to snow I find myself holed up in my ger feeding my fire, boiling tea, and listening to the monotonous sound of melting snow as it drips onto my stove. Following any snow, as long as I have been here, Murun will always have the most peaceful appearance as everything is covered with a fresh layer of snow allowing mountains, fields, roads, and even gers to appear with the most brilliant white you have ever seen. However, this beautiful scene is short lived, as soon as the morning sun peeks over the mountain horizon or clouds break from a storm the snow slowly retreats into its previous physical state…water. In the coldest months of winter fallen snow will stay around for several weeks. Overtime however, the snow is slowly pushed or stomped out of the way, forming paths, here and there as people go about their daily lives. Paths from gers to outhouses and woodpiles, paths to the water house, paths from dogs that lead to and from their favorite store of trash, the path from my puppy as he runs around my ger, and the hundreds of paths that are made as people take the same redundant cold walk to work every morning and night. Slowly, before you even realize, the paths become bigger and bigger, all merging together, turning the ground from white to white/brown, and finally to the retched brown.

November is hardly halfway over, and already I am looking forward to the months when I can again wear shorts and sandals. I’m trying to stay positive by looking at the positives that come with winter such as, having a huge refrigerator (anywhere outside), the manly activities of chopping wood and starting a fire, Tsagaan Sar (Mongolian New Year) and all the goodness that is associated with the holiday, being able to keep meat and milk for more than one day, the shorter days (which make me feel like I get more done because there is less sunlight), and the lazy weekend days because honestly who would want to go outside! I keep myself well entertained by reading, watching movies, doing yoga, and hanging out with my two little sisters. Who definitely provide endless entertainment, some of our favorite activities include; making cookies, playing “go fish”, and watching “Finding Nemo” so many times that by this point I’m pretty sure I know it by heart. During the winter months the frequency of my younger sisters visits increase drastically, as the days grow colder and shorter they are forced to migrate from outside to inside, not always the best for me. However, I was also young once and can fully understand that you can only entertain yourself so much in the confines of your room or in this case ger. So, really I don’t mind when my sisters come over day…after day…after day. I mean, can you really blame them? Imagine being nine or ten years old living right next door to a person who is from a foreign place, looks different, has a little machine that allows you to watch the same image over and over again (DVD player), can make really tasty cookies, and occasionally receives packages from home that can potentially be filled with mysterious food and candy. If I were my little sisters I would also be over at my ger all the time.

When I sat down to write this I intended to do so with a little more direction. I hope you enjoy, I know I have been promising pictures…and I haven’t forgotten. I will be adding pictures as soon as I figure out how to fix my computer. I’m not going to go through the torture of uploading my pictures at the ancient ill-tempered computers that they have at the post-office, so please be patient. As they say here “I hope you are wintering well”.

Preparing for winter!

The end of fall has arrived and winter is now only around the corner, approaching closer and closer everyday. The surrounding landscape of Murun to say the least has changed and the face of winter is slowly emerging. The mountains, tress, and grass have turned from green to orange to brown, bare, ugly and depressing reminding me of what lies in the months ahead. The past few mornings I have given me a bitter reminder of winter and all the “joys” that come with it. October is not even half way over and I am already waking to frost on my windows and being able to see my breath when I wake in the morning. The days where I curse to myself while getting out of bed to make a fire as fast as possible are almost here and ones that I am dreading with each decrease of mercury on my thermometer. I remember telling myself last winter that it wasn’t so bad however the summer and fall reminded me how much more enjoyable aspects of life are when your constantly not freezing your ass off!

Fall is a busy time for Mongolia as there are many preparations in order to prepare for winter including sawing, splitting, chopping and stacking wood, winterizing your ger or house, and the drying and freezing of meat which means slaughtering many goats and sheep. To your surprise the entire listed above are things that I have had to do (weather I like to or not) in order to prepare for the winter. With this comes constant noise of sawing, whaling sheep, and of course barking dogs which never seem to stop barking no matter what time of year it is. Sawing chopping wood is by far my favorite activity, primarily because it provides the perfect opportunity to blow off some steam and of course relieve stress. With the amount of wood that I have to chop I have plenty of opportunities to take out my latest aggravations on innocent wood. Buying wood is quite the ordeal. Last year the process was easy because the health department arranged everything for me. However, this year they figured they wouldn’t have to “hold my hand” and that I have been here long enough and would be able to figure how and where to buy my winters wood. First off you have to go to the bank which in itself is an interesting experience and one I won’t get into now. Once I have obtained the necessary funds it’s off to the market. During this time of the year buying wood is really not a hassle at all, as long as you know Mongolian that is. During the months of September, October, and November wood trucks are everywhere. Wood is transported in these huge dump-truck looking things which are constantly driving to different haashaas to deliver wood. It’s crazy I don’t think I have ever seen so much wood concentrated in such a small area before. Once the wood is delivered I have to hire someone to saw it into more manageable pieces. The men who do this are awesome. Usually they hang around the market, standing off to the side in a large group. They are easy to spot, not many other people have chain saws attached to their bikes, or axes hanging from there belts. When not at the market they can be found zipping around town sawing up a storm.

Fall is when the animals are the fattest (not to mention the cheapest) thus why they slaughter so many of them.

Fall is when animals are the fattest and cheapest therefore the primary reasoning behind the mass slaughtering that occurs during the fall. Most families will buy a goat and sheep (sometimes more) and freeze and dry the meat for the winter when meat is leaner and more expensive. The process of slaughtering goats and sheep is one that I have had to grow accustomed to. The whaling of a sheep or goat in despair is very distinct and one that is easily remembered. The whaling for me is the most unbearable part of the process, luckily it only last for a minute. The rest of the slaughtering only takes twenty minutes or so and consists of me being told, “take this” or “hold that”. Once everything is said and done the animal is quartered and then wrapped in newspaper and stored in the freezer, if there is no freezer meat is cut into thin strips and dried.

Currently I am sitting in my freezing office bundled in the warmest jacket I have (heat isn’t turned on till November). Today is the coldest it has been; in fact it is so cold that I am able to see my breath. When temperatures are this cold it becomes difficult to write, my fingers don’t really want to move as fast as usual causing me to make an exuberant amount of mistakes. I would really like to type longer however it is cold and not to mention lunch time.

Now that winter is almost here I’m hoping to be able to have more free time to write, what else will I do during the freezing months to come?

Returning Home….My Mongolian home that is.
I have returned home, well at least to my Mongolian home. My vacation is over and I am trying to slip back into the mundane routine that I had before I left. Why is that when ever you return from vacation things seem as exactly as you left them? I don’t know what I’m expecting to change in the weeks that I was gone (a new restaurant, or bakery perhaps is that really to much to ask for). This has been a reoccurring thought for me when I return to Murun after a long weekend, work trip or even vacation, wondering if anything “eventful” had happened while I was absent. Returning home is always nice feeling having your own space, sleeping in your own bed, and wearing clean close. This is at least what I look forward to whenever I return to my ger.
Returning home from this last trip I was especially ready to be coming home. This is probably because I was coming from Ulan Bataar the capital (usually referred to as UB). In comparisons to other world capitals it’s small with a little more than 1.3 million people. To be honest UB isn’t one of my most favorite places. I guess you could say that it’s comprisable to other capitals in the fact that it is congested with people, cars, and pick-pockets. However, it also has running hot water, hundreds of restaurants (some of them even have western, Indian, and Mediterranean cuisine), a movie theatre (which sometimes plays an American film), cold beer on tap, and even bars with live music. So in the end I guess all that the city has to offer makes up for the congestion and pick-pockets. I like to think as UB as Mongolia’s Las Vegas (without the gambling, all you can eat buffets, and pools. I’m sure there are a million things that I am missing but this is what I can think of now) it may sound ridiculous comparing UB to Vegas but whenever I end up going to UB I always spend more money then I should (mostly on food and beer). It doesn’t help that when I was last in UB all other PCV were also in UB for a PC conference. This in no way helped me save money. Just imagine spending several months in a place without any other foreigners, not speaking English, and eating a diet primarily made up of potatoes, soup, and mutton. You can imagine why PCV go a little crazy when they are all brought together, can you blame us? Returning to Murun from UB allows me to fully appreciate the beauty of the Mongolian countryside it also makes me realize how thankful I am that I don’t live in UB.

Host Family Visit
After leaving UB and before returning home I visited my host family (the family that I lived with last summer). This isn’t the first time that I have visited them since last summer I also had the opportunity to do so last November. It is always a pleasure to stay with me for a few days. I notice that with each visit we can have more and more conversation. Many times I still feel like I am meeting them for the first time. At the same time every time I visit I feel as though I never left, why is that? What I was really looking forward to was some of my host moms cooking. I had been thinking of her tsoyvan (noodle stir-fry) days before I visited them. I can remember the summer I lived with the family I grew tired of eating the same thing for every meal however now it was something I was craving. This craving was short lived and after the first meal it had abruptly subsided. I believe my appetite in fact shrank with every meal this was largely because of breakfast. After spending my first night with my host family I awoke to familiar sounds of my family shuffling about. I entered the kitchen and sat down for breakfast (I was hardly hungry because of the copious amounts of food my mom made me eat the previous night) looking forward to the fresh jam and bread. However this morning would be a little different. Instead of soft delicious bread I enjoyed cold leftovers from the night before….don’t worry my host mom wouldn’t serve me a cold meal she made sure to warm it up by adding scolding hot milk tea…nothing says good morning like leftover noodle stir-fry smothered with milk tea. I left four days later. Exchanging hugs and kisses as I was leaving. My host mother made sure to reiterate the fact that I needed to gain weight for the upcoming winter (something they have been telling me since I first met them which in time grew into a joke). I love returning to my host family and it will most definitely be something that I miss when I am no longer in Mongolia.

Hovsgol Nuur Hiking Adventure-
The majority of my vacation (as you may or may not know) was spent hiking around Lake Hovsgol. The lake as I am sure I mentioned before the largest in Mongolia which also happens to be conveniently placed in the same province that I live in. I went with my good friend Ryan. Ryan and I had been talking and planning the trip since last year when we first arrived to Mongolia. To say the least we were both very excited to finally do something that we have been talking about for almost an entire year. The plan was to hike from Hatgal (the village at the south of the lake) to Hank (the village at the north of the lake) for a total of 190 Km and then take a car on the way back (we’re crazy but not that crazy to walk the whole length of the lake). We had planned and bought enough food for 9 days and hoping to do it in less.
Over all the hike was amazing except for the long hours, rain, blisters, marshes and lack of a trail. We left on a day without a cloud in the sky, in high spirits, with adrenaline pumping through our veins and anxious for the days a head of us. Ryan and I were both skeptical about the weather because of the amount of rain we have received during the summer. The last thing we wanted was to be hiking in the rain. Through out the day we would constantly be looking over our shoulders keeping an eye out for storm clouds on the horizon. However, on the second day we weren’t so lucky. On the second day I woke to the pitter-patter of rain drops on our tent. As I left the tent I was relieved to discover that is was barely raining. Unfortunately as the day progressed so did the rain and by mid-afternoon we were stuck in a down poor! It was horrible we were both soaking wet to the bone (I don’t think I have ever been so miserable). Even though it was raining we continued hiking. The day seemed to last forever. I would look at my watch thinking that at least one hour had gone by but realizing that it had only been like 15 or 20 minutes. Because we were still relatively close to Hatgal we would occasionally pass a ger or ger camp. Every time we passed one I would look over at the gers and think to myself about how dry and warm it would be in them. It wasn’t until the afternoon when we stopped under some trees for a break (the trees were conveniently located next to a ger camp). We had noticed after stopping that the ger closest to us had an open door and people were inside laughing, eating, drinking warm tea, and DRY! We must have looked miserable (which we were) because after about ten minutes of standing under those trees someone from inside the ger called us over and invited us inside for tea and soup. The tea and soup was just what we needed. We were invited in by a Mongolian family who were on vacation from UB. They couldn’t have been friendlier. We ended up staying for about two hours (really longer than we should have). When we left our jackets and pants were dry. However it was still raining, and we had at least two or three hours of hiking left in the day. Although neither of us really wanted to be hiking we pushed through for a few hours and finally came upon a spot that was decent for camping. We unpacked the tent (which we discovered was also wet) set it up and tried our best to get comfortable. This wasn’t easy because most of what was in my bag was also wet! Luckily our sleeping bags were damp. That night we didn’t even cook a hot meal but lied in our sleeping bags ate dried fruit and nuts, played cards, drank scotch and hoped that the following day would be without rain.
At this point in the trip things weren’t looking so good and my moral wasn’t at its best. I was hoping for the best but mentally preparing for the worst. That night, as I laid in my sleeping bag listening to the rain, I couldn’t help but wonder how the rest of the trip was going to turn out. That next morning we awoke yet again to the sound of rain falling on our tent. The sound of rain was something that I used to enjoy, something that I found relaxing. However now it was quite the opposite. I hated it and dreaded the sound only hoping for it to stop. Because of the rain we weren’t really in high spirits as we were waking up. We decided that even though it was raining that we would try and light our stove and have a hot breakfast, and luckily it worked and we enjoyed a hot meal. As we were breaking down our tent something amazing happened, the clouds broke and the rain had stopped! It would be the last rain we would see for the rest of our trip. I don’t think I had ever been happier. From then on the trip was much more enjoyable.
On the third day (the day it stopped raining) gers and ger camps slowly started to disappear and with each step we became more and more alone. This is what I enjoyed most about hiking being completely alone. With the rain gone and the sun out we could really see the brilliant colors of the lake, a complete spectrum of blues and greens. I don’t think I have even seen a lake so clear. It was beautiful. The water looked so warm and inviting unfortunately it was quite the opposite, the water was freezing. I tried entering the water one afternoon but was only able to make it up to my ankles before I retreated. When we finally decided to stop on day three we had been hiking for about eleven hours! I was exhausted and looking forward to the nights rest. The camp site we found on the third night was my favorite. We camped on an escarpment that overlooked the lake (photos below). The sunset that night was amazing. Ryan and I sat with our feet hanging over the cliff enjoying all that the lake had to offer. It was during times like those that I would completely forget about everything (being in Mongolia, the anxiety of returning to America, graduate school, everything).
The rain wasn’t the only obstacle we faced during our hiking trip. Around the third or fourth day we started coming across fields that from afar looked like they would be really nice to walk through. However, when we came closer to them we discovered that they weren’t fields at all but marshes…marsh, marsh, and more marsh (I think because of all the recent rain). The marsh destroyed the trail so we had no other option but to take off our shoes, roll up our pants and walk knee deep in muddy, smelly marsh. The worst marsh we came across lasted for about 5 km it just kept going on. These didn’t really help our moral either. In fact at one point Ryan and I weren’t even talking to each other, but walking with our heads down watching our feet making sure we made the best possible decisions with out steps. At one point we were walking through a marsh and I stepped down and ended up falling down into a hole that went up to my waist. This almost made me made but when Ryan looked at me we couldn’t help but laugh. We would run across portions of marsh until we reached our destination and eventually we just accepted them and after a while they didn’t really even bother me that much. The one aspect of the marsh that was unbearable was the amount of mosquitoes there were. It was so bad that I decided to put on my rain parka. I made the sacrifice of being hot just to avoid the copious amounts of mosquitoes and other insects that were around.
The rest of the trip went the same. We would wake up, eat breakfast, drink coffee, break down our camp site, hike for about 4 hours and eat lunch, cross a marsh, river, or bushwhack (choose one), hike for 4 more hours and eat a snack, hike for a few more hours and find a camp site. After the second day we didn’t see a single person until we reached Hank (wait that’s a lie we did run across a Mongolian family living in a teepee and they gave us some cheese). As we came closer and closer to our destination the mountains (that we had been looking at for days) were finally in front of us, and the final two days we walked along were the mountain met the lake. The mountains were also amazing and reminded me of mountain you would find in Colorado (again I didn’t feel like I was in Mongolia). These mountains were what separated Mongolia from Russia.
We reached Hank on the seventh day. Days before we had reached Hank we had many expectations; we wanted to stay in a guest house and take a hot shower, eat a decent meal, and drink a few beers (all of which we were told was available in Hank). We arrived surprisingly in one piece although I’m sure we looked rather worn and ragged. The first thing we did when we got to Hank was buy a beer and a snickers. After enjoying both we continued on to look for a place to sleep. We only found three places to stay. The first one was a good price but had no water, the second guest house was also unsuccessful, it was run by a Russian, neither Ryan or I know any Russian. The clerk continued to speak to us in Russian, menus and other information was also in Russian, no Mongolian anywhere! The final guest house we came across looked the most promising (the owner knew a little English, Mongolian, and Russian). We thought we had finally found the one decent spot, there was hot water and even a bar and restaurant (it was too good to be true). The price for one night turned out to be 22$ per person. When the owner told us this price I laughed (I think offending the owner). At this point we were both frustrated and tired. We decided to find a car back to Hatgal. To our surprise we were successful in finding a car that was leaving that evening. We didn’t even care about the price we just wanted to go home. The cost ended up being 40,000 tugrics (about double the normal price) but we had the entire car to ourselves. We wouldn’t have had to pay this price if we could find other people wanting to go to Hatgal unfortunately there was no one so we had to pay for the whole car. Being in Hank was an interesting experience. Because it is so close to Russia a majority of the tourists who come to Hank are from Russia. It also doesn’t help that we’re white (many people in Hank thought we were Russian resulting in them speaking Russian to us), not to mention we don’t know any Russian. It was frustrating being in Mongolia but in a part of Mongolia that knows more Russian than Mongolian.
The drive back to Hatgal was an adventure all in its own. Our driver was crazy! It was first time that I was actually scared while being in a car in Mongolia. I had never been with a driver that drove so fast and not to mention recklessly. The road from Hank to Hatgal is said to be one of the worst roads in Mongolia. This is mostly because there is no road. You spend a majority of the drive crossing rivers or driving in dry river beds. From Hank to Hatgal is only 200 km but the drive end up taking 11 hours. The drive wasn’t really bad until the last few hours. It was early morning maybe 3 or 4 and our driver kept falling asleep at the wheel causing us to run into ditches, bushes, and even a tree! I would always know when the driver was staring to fall asleep because he would be driving incredibly slow (5 km/h) after yelling at him he would speed up and then twenty or so minutes later he would slow back down again. This ended up being a three hour cycle, fast, slow, yelling, fast, slow, more yelling. When we reached Hatgal it was almost six in the morning and I have never been happier to be out of a car.
Overall the entire trip was a good experience. Ryan and I are already talking about doing it again next summer.

Hovsgol Nuur Hiking Adventure

Tent with final campsite
Sunset at final campsite
Our final campsite..
and and closer...
And closer....
Getting closer...
Me posing in front of the mountains we have been walking towards for days...
Mountains are finally within reach
The people we stayed with
One night we camped with a Mongolian family who lived in the middle of no where. Ryan is cooking in the background
getting closer to those mountains..we discovered that distances were very deceiveing
and more cooking..almost done
still cooking
more dusk
me cooking...dried meat and pesto soup..yummy!!
same camp site....more dusk
Our campsite at suck.
my shoes....to say the least they took a beating

Drying our socks mid-day on some drift wood
The mountains in the background were our destination
more flowers...they were really everywhere!
Overlooking the lake...after a treck through marsh marsh and more marsh (lowlands of the picture)
Third campsite. Above an escarpment over looking the lake


Foreground out of focus
There were a bunch of wildflowers during the hiking trip (background out of focus)

Ryan retreiving some water
At the end of the second day the rain finally stopped.
Refelection of a dead tree on an inlet from the lake.

The pictures from the second day aren't to good because of the rain. Here is an abandoned cabin.
REINDEER!!!! Look at the horns on this one.
We saw this sign for a tourist camp. We thought it was both creepy and funny. Look at the smile!! Also notice how at the bottom of the sign it says "cleanly bland service". Who wants to stay at a place with just "bland service", well at least they're honest.
View of lake from lake. Taken at the beginning of trip

Rainbow. From the street outside my ger
Finish line
Horses at the finish line
Gers (where you can buy khushuur) at the horse races.
This guy doesn't mess around
Archery
Wrestlers stretching
Wrestlers!!!
Wrestlers!!!
Wrestlers!!!!
My haashaa family (the people i share a yard with)
Some of the Nadaam parade...and yes that guy in the left is really talking on his cell phone
More Nadaam parade
The only picture taken of me at Nadaam...
More coworkers...not one of them is looking at the camera
My work at the Nadaam parade
Border guards
I don't know this man
Batdorj..super excited for the parade!
My coworkers getting ready for the Nadaam parade
Sunset (from on top of my ger)
Rainbow (from outside my ger)

Nadaam Madaam

July is nearly over…well half-way over. What…really? Where is the summer going? It seems as it has just begun. The air finally warm, the hillsides green, the days long, and the river cool to the touch but comfortable upon entering. I have grown to love the summer. Finding myself lounging at the river, whenever possible, for hours on end reading, drinking beer, and of course swimming so relaxing that for the briefest moment I forget I’m still in Mongolia. However I am quickly reminded of my current location by families bathing and washing clothes on the river banks. Unfortunately lately the weather has been anything but summer, I don’t think I have ever seen so much rain in Mongolia! For the past month I don’t think there has been a day without at least some rain. Of course Mongolians love rain because it helps keep animals fat. Its not that I don’t like the rain (there is really nothing more relaxing than listening to the pitter patter of the rain landing upon the felt of my Ger) it just makes life in a Ger a little more interesting. Heavy prolonged rain will cause pools of water to slowly accumulate on my ger floor and my door becomes water logged and will refuse to shut. A few weeks ago it rained like I have never seen it before. In fact there was even thunder and lightning! During the storm I was relaxing in my Ger when all of a sudden my haashaa mother comes bursting in (which in Mongolia is not really all that uncommon)! But this time she had this frazzled/concerned look on her face. After expressing the obvious to me she insisted that I not use my cell phone under any circumstances during the storm. Informing me that if I use my phone during the storm lightning could strike down on me (I’m completely serious). I of course humored her and reassured her that I would not use my phone until the storm was over which was easy…who would I have to called anyways.

The other day when I was lounging by the river I began to think about how weather/climate affects the mental state of an individual. This was on my mind primarily because I have noticed that people in my community are friendlier, laughing more and generally appear to be happy. My director now smiles and occasionally even laughs, the women at the meat market will joke with me when I’m picking out meat laughing at me because of my dislike of animal fat “half a kilo of horse…with no fat!” “are you sure you don’t want the fat? You’re so skinny the angry winds could blow you away!” (as the clerk smiles and laughs) and there is less nudging and pushing at the water well because it isn’t -30 and standing at the well can actually be enjoyable (and also quite the social scene as I have recently discovered). People are outside not because they have to be but because they want to be playing basketball with a makeshift hoop, couples holding hands stroll through the maze of streets, laughing children run shoeless after a volleyball, and laundry is done outside. This differs from the winter when people are only outside because they have to be going to and from work, to and from the well, and well to and from the outhouse. Leisurely activities almost come to a complete standstill during the winter months. I find it interesting to see how different lives can be here in the summer and winter months. I am a person who usually looks forward to the winter months. To me winter means skiing, hot toddies, and chili. I recently realized that I am not so excited for the coming winter months because here winter only means plummeting temperatures, short days, and hot milk tea.


To most Mongolians the month of July only means one thing…Nadaam! If you don’t remember what Nadaam is I will quickly refresh your memory. Nadaam the festival with the “three manly sports” wrestling, horse racing, and archery how much more manly can you possibly get…those sports are just screaming manliness! I have come to the conclusion that Mongolians use Nadaam as an excuse to do nothing but drink airag (fermented mares milk), drink vodka, eat khuushuur, and rest for many days. I can remember Nadaam last year and how excited I was to see what it was all about. So anxious to finally see what every Mongolian was talking about weeks in advance. It was so exciting because I was experiencing everything for the first time. My senses were being overloaded with the sights of the elaborate costumes, to the sounds of throat singing, to the smell of khuushuur, and the taste of airag (I couldn’t think of one for touch). I will never forget that. This year my Nadaam experience was much different. I wasn’t full of excitement of curiosity. I was only anticipating how much singing I would have to do, how much vodka I would be pressured to drink, or how many khuushuur I would have to fit into my stomach.

The Nadaam stadium is quite the interesting place, abandoned for all but three days a year, and during those three days it’s the center of the community. I have always observed a particular atmosphere that I have associated with the stadium. This “atmosphere” I speak of is one I can’t explain in words but one you most definitely can experience when you’re apart of the action. For the three days of the festival most shops will close down and temporarily relocate at the stadium setting up makeshift booths and stands that create outdoor “shopping”. It’s funny these outdoor shops. Selling nothing special but all the goods that are usually sold I found it particularly funny to see shops selling jarred pickles, bottles or ketchup, and mayonnaise?? Why anyone watching Nadaam would ever want to buy any of those items…I will never know. Restaurants will also relocate to the Nadaam stadium setting up gers that act as temporary eateries which by coincidence all have the same one item on their menu’s…khuushuur (not to mention it’s the same price at every ger). The temporary shops and gers create a labyrinth or walkways and paths crowded with people enjoying all that Nadaam has to offer, eating and drinking superfluous amounts of khuushuur and airag. I know I did.

My favorite part of Nadaam wasn’t watching the hours upon hours of wrestling, archery, or even horse racing (believe me I experienced all of that my first Nadaam) but the food and people. On the final day of Nadaam I was invited to my director’s house for goat khorhog. Khorhog is a traditional Mongolian way of preparing meat and vegetables with hot rocks. Meat, potatoes, carrots, and onions are chopped up and put into a container with hot rocks, salt, and water. The container is then placed over a fire and slowly cooked. It is by far my favorite Mongolian food….hands down. The meat comes out tender and delicious. I have to be honest. I real reason I enjoy khorhog so much is because of how you eat it, the manors that Mongolians do have a completely forgotten (especially when you come from a culture that is full of table manors and proper etiquette). No silverware, no plates, one communal napkin, and only a small bowl and a knife! It may sound completely ridiculous but it’s awesome and I love the process of eating khorhog. There is just something about eating meat right off the bone. I think its great everybody going to town trying to get their bone as clean as possible (I always loose), leaving your hands and face covered in juices and grease. When you’re done with the meat you move on to potatoes, carrots and broth….umm delicious. I think I could eat it everyday.

I’m enjoying the summer keeping busy with work and looking forward to August. I get the whole month off! Work during the summer is fairly slow and every employee of the health department takes one month off during the summer season so I get August. I am planning a hiking trip with another PCV it should be a great time. Lets see what else is new…Oh ya for some reason for the next few months I will only have eight hours of electricity a day, from 6 or 7 a.m. to 10 or 11 a.m. and then from 8 or 9 p.m. to 12 or 1 a.m. I heard it and laughed and was curious about the reasoning behind the new hours of electricity. I think that’s all for now. Hope you enjoy!

Pictures to follow….soon