"Leaves Are Falling All Around"

Leaves are falling all around,
on the house-tops on the ground.
Leaves are falling on my nose,
on my head and hands and toes!

I've been singing children's songs lately that refer to Fall. We don't have any leaves here, but the song captured the autumn memories from my youth. And good memories make me happy!

Mandalgovi had a 'Farmer's Market' day last week. People from other Aimags came to sell their goods (vegetables, homemade treats--i.e. arul, airag, and all other curdled milk products--, and handmade clothes). I really enjoyed the one they had last fall, so I was excited to go again this year. As I strolled through the aisles, I wondered why they don't do these more often. Everything is so unique, it's a gold mine for souvenirs and Mongolian culture. Then, I saw it. Big, Beautiful and orangy-gold. The essence of fall. The king of this season.

A pumpkin:

The women in the stall had a good time seeing our faces (Megan was with me). We asked how much and they weighed it and told us: 1,500 Tugrik (that's about $1). A whole, medium sized pumpkin for $1! The laughs that came out of mine and Megan's mouth were crazed and mental sounding. I hadn't seen, let alone, touched a pumpkin for 2 years now...for Megan it's been 3-- and here it is...only $1. Done and done. Sealed deal. I would have bought that pumpkin for 20,000 tugriks!

For now, it's sitting as a decoration. Soon (maybe in 2 weeks time) it will be carved into a Jack-o-lantern, then the meat will be taken out and pureed to use for pumpkin pies in November. I'm going to get as much use out of this pumpkin as possible. Fall decor in September, Jack-o-lantern & pumpkin seeds in October, Pie in November.

I went to that Farmer's Market during my lunch break-- so I had to carry it back with me to school. Boy, did I get major stared at. Not only am I a foreigner and am constantly being stared out...now I'm holding a large, bright orange, weird thing. I walk into my school and immediately "en yoo way?", "en yoo way?", "en yoo way?" (what is this?). I said 'pumpkin'. And then they all asked what it tasted like. Was it good? Was it a fruit? I tried to answer (they don't know any types of squash, so I could only compare it with a cucumber--because they steam their cucumbers like we do squash), but it was extremely difficult. And also as I tried to answer, I started to feel horrible. Here is a huge piece of western culture that I could use as a lesson and let them explore this new item. They were so curious! So much about the pumpkin could be taught: baking the seeds, a pie, the texture of squash, the smell, the fun you have making a Jack-o-lantern. I felt like I was depriving them of something marvelous and so dear to me, total American culture! But, at the same time I just...can't...do it. I can't.

I have plans for this pumpkin, and they are all for me--well, all of us PCVs here in Mandalgovi. We've stripped ourselves of American culture for them and having this pumpkin will bring some of that back to us. So I can't do it. But, I hear that next weekend they will continue this Farmer's Market and if there are more pumpkins, by golly I'll buy them for my students!

Is that completely selfish of me?

I tried making popcorn balls last night, why wouldn't they stick together to form balls?? Anyway it was delicious homemade caramel popcorn with a touch of cinnamon. I love fall!

1st Day of School for the 2nd time

The opening ceremony. All 1,600 students come to the outside assembly.

The governor of Mandalgovi came to speak.

After the assembly all the students come inside to hear the President of Mongolia give a lesson on the 1st day of School (on the TV).

I feel like the 1st day of School was the beginning of the end. This is it. One. Last. School. Year. So, what are we going to do about it? Work. Play. Make memories. I have to say, going into it (days before the 1st day of school) I was at a low point. Coming back to a ger after the amazing life you can live in an apartment-- in addition to the condition our ger was in when we returned home to it, I was uneasy about doing this again. The uneasiness didn't last for long though-- something clicked and I had a change in gears. We make life as enjoyable or difficult as we want it to be. And I've made a decision that my life will be a good but challenging one!

It's so good to be back in my own kitchen. Or I guess I should say, it's so good to be able to use my own kitchen utensils and appliances again! I brought back an item from UB that will change my life here in Mandalgovi:

Meet Mr. I'm-going-to-make-your-life-so-awesome-this-year Blender.

Already I've found Cherry Compote and made it into a cherry pie filling. Made probably the best pie crust ever--using my blender (pie crust was my thing back in the states...I can't imagine it getting much better, but it did--oh so flaky with just the right amount of buttery and sweetness to it!).

I've been wanting a smoothie for a while, but ice is a very foreign concept to Mandalgovians. "Why would you want to drink something cold? And if you want it cold why don't you just put it outside?" So ice trays are not available, BUT bananas ARE readily available right now and awesome when frozen. So, next I found some Strawberry Compote and...BAM!



Strawberry & Banana Smoothie



Now if only bananas weren't $2 a pop I'd be doing this daily. Next on my list: Peanut Butter.

Right now it feels like we're living the dream life. We have so many American sitemates here to talk to and hang out with, we've received great packages this summer with amazing food, and it's still warm out so we're not constantly slaving over the stove/bagging coal/cleaning up coal dust, dung dust or dealing with frozen things. Life feels relatively easy. I mean, there are still ger chores that must happen (taking out the dirty water, getting clean water, sweeping up the sand that finds its way through the sides of the ger, etc.) but NOTHING compared to winter ger chores.

The warm weather has been messing with my mind though. It doesn't feel right to be here and not be cold. The other night (about 9:30) I was reading in bed when I had an urge to go to the bathroom. I could hear the wind blowing and my mind went to winter mode and started thinking 'you can hold it in for a while longer--maybe even through the rest of the night'--prolonging the long cold walk to the outhouse. Finally I couldn't hold it anymore and got up and prepped myself to go outdoors. I opened the ger door with my eyes squinting, ready...and....warmth. It was warm. It made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy that I am warm. Sad that it won't last for much longer. (And yes, I hold it in as looooong as possible in the winter-- there is no going to the outhouse if you 'think' you need to go...you only go when you HAVE to go.)

This is a beautiful site to me:



The fact that our ping (the little shed/entryway they put up in front of our ger to protect from wind getting in through the front door and also serve as storage for our fuel) is not up-- they only put it up during the winter season and remove it once it's warm. The fact that you can see the sun shining through the door. The fact that the the door is slightly open (and it's okay, because it's warm!). It's a beautiful site, for sure.

Goodbye Summer. I will miss you.



Flowers Justin picked for me on our 1st day in our apartment this summer.

 Summer has come and gone. Where did it go? I don’t even remember being warm anymore. There is a part of me that is excited for fall to return: apple pies, the taste of cinnamon, waking up for that hot cup of spiced anything, scarves (for style, not as a survival accessory, like during winter), and making fires for fun. But I just don't want to let go of the warmth just yet.

Justin and I made it back safely to Mandalgovi two days ago. We had an 8 hour off road bus ride that only stopped mysteriously a couple of times. One time it was to help another bus out because it had broken down. The drivers couldn’t fix that bus, so about 40 more people joined us on our bus the rest of the way. I felt bad for those who had to stand in the aisle for the next hour.



School starts on Thursday. Once it begins our downhill tread will also begin. We’ve made a lot of plans for this year-- we have a lot of projects up our sleeves-- and a lot of new site-mates to help us out! This will be a great year for Mandalgovi and its PCVs:  



Mandalgovi PCVs 2011

Over the summer (for the last 4 months) I have been living out of one small suitcase with about 5 different changes of clothes. It was really doable. There were times I wore my dirty clothes more than I should have before washing-- or people that had seen me in the same outfit every time we had a chance to meet-- but really it was nice to live free and on the go. We moved around a lot this summer, with our Asian Vacation/backpacking trip, training in Darkhan, staying UB, then finally our Mid Service Training (because, yes! We are half-way through our service!). When we got back to our ger though (a little more about that instant in a minute) I realized just how much I can live with out. Wait a sec, I remember saying this EXACT same thing one year ago when I was first moving into my ger. We came to Mongolia with 5 HUGE over-stuffed suitcases and I was feeling the satisfaction of living simply then….now fast forward to today and I’ve downsized to 1 medium sized suitcase and I feel content.

  

Now that I’ve reunited with all the rest of my stuff in my ger-- I feel overwhelmed. We have SO MUCH STUFF. Will I ever be able to live in housing bigger than 300 sq ft and not be overwhelmed by owning too much stuff??

So coming back to Mandalgovi was a little difficult-- as I knew it would be. After living in an apartment with plumbing and a hot shower for 4 months reverting back to a glorified tent and an outhouse isn’t easy. We got home to our ger in the evening and spent the entire night cleaning. A thick layer of sand (because the ger isn’t closed off, the sides are completely open to the world to let in wind, but also let in bugs, mice and layers of sand after layers of sand. So not only was I overwhelmed by how much STUFF we have, I was completely broken down by the mess that we returned to. I bit back the tears and got to work. A mouse had ruined the whole bottom shelf of food we had and left droppings and smelly pee everywhere. That was task #1 (get rid of mouse smell and mess), then I got some soapy water and tackled the dust/sand on every piece of furniture we own and worked my way down--finally shaking out/sweeping the rugs and hand scrubbing the floor with bleach. Clean ger: accomplished.



Open sides of the ger



Surprise! In our fridge-- yes, that's an animal ear you see.

 

You can't have a complete Mongolian Summer without a flat tire.



So I feel hip and savvy these days because my sister gave me a kindle for my birthday. What a life changing gadget that is! I’ve read over 15 books in the last month or so that I’ve had it. And it will definitely help me out with my goal for this winter (to not run out of reading material!). A couple of books I’d recommend on living a life simply are:

• Living the Savvy Life: The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Smart Spending and Rich Living by Melissa Tosetti
•  Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

Now that I'm home in my ger I will be blogging more regularly. This summer I was always on the go, and Mongolia isn't a place covered in Wi-Fi (not yet anyway), so it was rather difficult to plump down at internet cafes or find some random place with an internet connection that they'd let me use.

Cheers to a new school year, new ideas, new projects, new recipes and new experiences! 

The Mongolian Fortune Teller

What happened to March? I was reading a news article on CNN that was dated March 17, 2011 and I thought, "they have a typo, because it hasn't gotten to March 17, 2011 yet". Then I looked at the date on my watch and it said April 4th. I just can't believe it.

This past school break was the best school break by far. I was so good at keeping busy. Even though it was a school break I went to school everyday the 1st week (it was a 2 week break) and worked about 7 hours a day on a school project. It felt good to keep busy. The 2nd week of the break we had our PCV friends come visit us in our ger. I don't know why they spent the time and money and awful van rides to come to our small Gobi town (I guess they like us or something.)-- but I made sure they had good food and good times (I hope they think so, too).

One of the nights we invited a Mongolian fortune teller into our ger. She used beads to tell us our fortunes. After our fortunes had been read we were able to ask her questions--Here it is, a once in a lifetime opportunity to ask a Mongolian fortune teller any question I want and my mind goes completely blank. I asked the stupid unoriginal questions like, "when am I going to die?", "how am I going to die?", "who will die first, me or Justin?", then I asked, "will my daughters be as cute as yours?". She had brought her little 3 year old daughter with her. She was adorable! So, here's my fortune:

She told me I was a very emotional person, that I have many moods. Also said that I am stubborn when it comes to decision making. She said I will live a good and happy life. I will be healthy all of my life. In three years she said I will have my first child, a girl. Then after that I will have boy, then another girl. She said I'll live to be 85 and Justin will live to be 83, and that I'll die peacefully and naturally. When I asked her if my daughters will be as cute as hers she answered, "cuter". :) Justin wasn't interested in getting his fortune read, but the fortune teller did say to me that she knows he is an exceptionally good husband, he works hard and has a strong mind.

On a different day, we took a walk outside of town to an old Mongolian cemetery. I don't know how many graves there were, maybe 50? Maybe more. Not all of the graves were marked. But there were some graves with impressive headstones. One grave had even been dug up and had been opened. The bones still remained. Kinda spooky.

On a lighter note, the day was a beautiful day and there was a flock of sheep and goats roaming around. It was neat to see a herder close by tending to their flock.

I'm not the herder. Here's the herder:

Here are some pictures of my town, Mandalgovi:
This is of a woman cleaning out her stove pipe. She is putting rocks and sand in the pipe and will roll it on the ground to clean out all the soot. Justin has done this to our stove just recently.

This is a picture of someone's hashaa door (the door to enter their proptery/their yard) and it has "nohoi toi" which literally translates as "dog with" or what we read it as "beware of dog".

Finally, this is a picture of Justin and our friend Rob, who lives even further into the Gobi. You can read more about his Mongolian adventures here. This is what a regular neighborhood looks like (motorcycle and all).

Now, to update from my last post. The biscotti was amazing! Everyone who ever craves biscotti because there isn't such a thing available for them to buy-- or you want to save money-- or you just want to think you're the best baker in the world has GOT to use this recipe. You can change all the fillings with what you desire, but it's just fine as it is. I used walnuts, chocolate chunks, orange zest and pomegranate craisins as my filler this time. Next time I hope to find pistachios. Mmm!
First we had to get crackin' walnuts:

And last, but definitely not least. I made Sticky Toffee Pudding. Yep. I nailed it. Here is the recipe that I used: Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake. I was really scared that it was going to turn out as a 'cake' like the name suggests, but nope, it was a bread pudding type 'cake'. Loved it! And so did Rob. :)

I saw a CAT!!!...but no, not that kind :(

I just put a batch of vegan brownies (not because I'm vegan... I just don't have eggs or milk on me at the moment...but these brownies turn out just as marvelous as non-vegan ones) in the oven and thought I'd take some time to myself and breathe for a minute...which reminded me that I haven't blogged in a long time. So I'll blog while the brownies bake. I have 23 1/2 mins.

We're on school break right now. We've been off all week and we will either go back on Monday, April 4th or Wednesday, April 6th (I've heard different dates, so I'll play it by hear). I have a tendency to mope around and pull my hair out when I get dreadfully bored so I made a plan to stay busy this entire school break-- and I am doing well accomplishing this goal. I've gone to school everyday to tutor teachers and students. Besides that I've given myself some large projects to work on at home. One is boring (school related), but the other is planning our vacation time for this summer. This is no easy thing. We're planning a money budget and time budget and China is very anal about who comes in their country, how they come in and when they leave. So getting a Visa is on the agenda, but mostly I've been researching just how to do this while I'm in Mongolia. I've heard of a lot of people doing this so I know it's possible, but where'd they leave the instructions!? By searching on the internet, I've found a lot of my answers, but time will tell if I've gotten all this right. I'll keep you updated on this vacation process.

I looked on Weather.com 10 days ago and today (according to the 10 day forecast 10 days ago) was supposed to be in the 50's...this would have been the 1st time we'd hit 50 degrees. Now it is still freezing outside and no, not in the 50's. But the 10 day forecast forecasts that we will get in the 50's 10 days from now! I feel like Weather.com is playing games with me...shaking that carrot too far for me to reach. *sigh.

I went to the shower house for the 1st time since November (that tells you how much warmer it's gotten...all through winter I practically hibernated). I took some pictures on our 10 minute walk to the shower house.

Here is our hashaa. Our hashaa parent's house is with the green roof. You can barely see our ger roof to the left of their house.

We walk through a gas station on our way to the shower house. What we saw at the gas station surprised us. First of all, I've never seen a machine so big. Second, I NEVER expected that to be here in Mongolia. Justin says it's for the coal mining going on. They were HUGE!(PS. this was the 'cat' I was talking about...I still have yet to see a real kitty in our town. Makes me sad.)

This is inside our shower house.

Justin waiting impatiently for a shower. (We got there at 11:05-- it opens at 11-- but all the showers were already taken.)

This was inside my shower.

There. Now you know the intimates of my life.

Oh! The brownies are done.

I'm taking my clothes off!

This is what I'm missing from back home. Soon most of Texas will be covered by her legendary bluebonnets.

Speaking of soon...I think soon I shall be taking off some excess layers of clothing. (For the past 3 months I have been wearing two pairs of pants, at least three pairs of socks, at least two shirts, a sweater, two jackets, gloves, a hat, a hood and a scarf wrapped around it all covering everything but my eyes-- then to top it, I usually have my sunglass on so no part of my skin is visible) I can't believe that the temperature here got so warm yesterday! After school (around 4pm) I took a walk 'downtown' to pick up some grocery items and I felt naked. My head wasn't covered, my face wasn't covered, my neck wasn't covered. It was just me in my one jacket. While I walked it was very pleasant and I realized it right away because that walk is usually a painful one (the bitter cold burning your skin, the blasting wind holding back your steps, the sand/ snow blowing around). Nope. It was blue skies and sunshine and I broke a sweat in my little jacket. I was sure it was in the upper 20's F. And I was happy! I felt free! I felt rejuvenated, awakened, alive! When I came back to our ger I told Justin all about it and checked the temperature on weather.com. 44 degrees! Forty-freakin'-four degrees! For a while I just stood there saying 'Forty-freakin'-four! Forty-freakin'-four!'. I didn't know what to do with myself. I was just outside thinking it was 20 something, I don't know why knowing it was now forty-freakin'-four degrees changed things so much. But it did. Hope. It gave me hope. The temperature can rise above freezing. I know this to be true.

This past Thursday I accompanied the Cooking Club's teacher again to make cinnamon rolls. I don't know why I get so nervous around her...Well, actually I think I do...One time when I made pizza with my English Club students she suggested I add more oil to my pizza crust-- which personally I didn't think I needed to and I don't think she has ever made a pizza crust in her life or eaten one for that matter...So I guess I'm scared of being criticized by her because I'm a self taught baker (well, she is as well, but she is a lot older than me so has a lot more experience). Anyway, I screwed up on the recipe. I totally left out the water needed to help the yeast activate. However, I did use the milk, butter and egg...so that was moisture enough but the yeast just didn't look right. It wasn't frothing. Anyway, I continued on with the recipe. It ended up being a hit! None of them had ever had cinnamon before. I tried to explain what it was but my Mongolian cooking vocabulary is horrible! So I didn't accomplish anything. They all tasted the cinnamon powder and said that it was 'hot'...like spicy hot. It made me laugh a little. Everything is spicy hot to them. But the Cooking Club teacher said I was a very good baker to the students and also other teachers (they passed around the cinnamon rolls to the faculty). It makes me happy that I can finally be recognized for something. So far they know I can't play volleyball, can't play basketball (which is HUGE here!), don't drink, don't eat meat (which is almost an insult here), my Mongolian isn't the best by far, and I don't like going to parties (which is also an insult to them, but I hate being pressured). I am a good teacher though, and I know that. But I'm not so sure how important that is to them. Baking, though...Baking may have saved my volunteer service.

Ready in 5 Hours- A Mexican Food Recipe

A peak inside Dinner with the Newberrys:

We had Mexican night on Thursday night. It was scrumptious! If you follow our "Ready in 5 hours" recipe your tummy will be a happy tummy, too! We're not boasting it will be ready in 45 mins, and I laugh (actually, I cry) when I remember those nights in the States making those "20 Min Meals" successfully. Nope, this was 5 hours...Wanna know our secret??? We have one burner. Dinner preparation began at 4pm and we sat down to eat at about 9:30. It was all worth it though. We had black beans (they were dried beans we had to soak and boil), rice (not minute rice...20 min rice), chicken fajitas (frozen chicken drumsticks we had to boil/thaw then cut the meat off), pico de gallo, and tortillas....all of this homemade.

The funny thing is that Justin and I labored over this meal not really thinking a thing about how lengthy the process was. But when we sat down at 9:30pm I thought about if we were in the states how the whole dinner making process would go: beans in a crock pot before you leave for work, 4 large burners for boiling rice, chicken, sautéing, and making tortillas...All of that could be going on at the same time! We would have had that same laborious dinner in about 45 mins. Which somewhat depressed me, but..

Eh, what else are we going to do with our evenings?

Lady Gaga in Mongolia

Our kids are in love with Lady Gaga. The parents....not so much. But Lady Gaga gets plenty of attention here. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

This week we have focused on debating in my classes. The students absolutely love it! I was surprised. I kind of felt like this lesson was just a blow-away lesson. One that would be interesting to learn about, but then abandoned in next year's curriculum. Nuh huh. That's not what happened. The first topic of debate was whether or not a road should be built from our town to the capital city (270 km away). We drew sticks to see who was affirming and negating. Both sides took it very seriously (even though at the end of class we all agreed a road is so important to our town's development). I was so impressed with the points that they made and the X-examination made my eyes tear up. They were really learning and working hard.

After class all the students had left and I was locking up the classroom when I hear someone running back down the hall to my classroom. It was an 11th grade student. She was out of breath but told me how much she liked the debate and that she had an idea. She wanted to improve her English pronunciation and asked if I'd debate her tomorrow evening to practice debate, English, and pronunciation. The topic: That Lady Gaga's influence to society is detrimental. We both took a day to prepare and met back up in the classroom last night. I had a great time. Her points were good: inappropriate for children (which I then said that the fault for that should be on the parents for allowing their children to watch her/ listen to her and there are other things more harmful than her that parents should be concerned about), inappropriate for adults (which I then said that she is the epitome of freedom and independence), etc. etc. But at the end of the debate we shook hands and agreed that we both liked her music and her personality, but she can be a bit over the top.

So, yesterday I took some homemade brownies to school with me. It was quite entertaining. I wanted to share my baking with the teachers. I set the bowl of brownies on the table in the teachers' room, then sat down in the corner watching all of their reactions as they came in and examined the brownies. It was insane!! Each one of them did the exact same thing: poked it, picked up a crumb, smelt it, made a face, touched their tongue to it, asked 'what is this?', then put it in their mouth and smacked it around trying to taste the flavor (while still making a face), then exclaimed 'amar goi!' ('very good!'). Some teachers didn't believe I made them-- where else would they have come from??? Every time they asked what it was I would say 'brownies' in English (there isn't a Mongolian word). But they would shake their head and say 'shokolad belo' (chocolate cake), or 'shokolad bortsik' (chololate fried dough) and I would shake my head and say slowly: 'brownies'.

Mutton tacos...you oughta try it!

This is the last full week in February! Where has the time gone? Next month is supposedly a very busy one for Mongolian English Teachers and their PCVs. At the end of March is the nationwide English test for students and teachers called "English Olympics". The students and teachers study for this test all year long and have a chance to win money and credentials. It's a big deal. And PVCs play a BIG role in not only preparing them, but sometimes creating the test, grading the test, giving the test, proctoring the test... I have been teaching an English Olympic prep course on Friday nights for those interested in coming. For this week's English Olympic prep course, however, I will not be here. I'll be resting it up in UB!

But before I get into that, this is a little peak of what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks (post Tsagaan Sar):

Made Mutton tacos! It doesn't sound very good, and I'm not a mutton eater-- but these were darn good. Closest thing to Mexican in Mandalgovi. Our hashaa family's daughter came over and helped us mince the meet, made pico de gallo, and tortillas. We even found some cheese to shred and put on top. They seemed to really like it! Especially because it was mutton.

I went to a children's modeling show. It was really interesting and fun for the girls! I even got a picture with the models :)

I taught Justin how to sew. It was a big thing in our ger because he has the HOLIEST clothes...but he got them sewed up pretty good!

Justin and I both applied for training jobs this summer for the new PCVs that will get here in early June. This is a big thing to me. I'd love to help these new volunteers transition into Mongolian life and help them succeed once they are released to their own sites. I loved my training last summer and my trainers were awesome. I hope I can do the same for some of them! It's a big deal because if we get this 'job' (still volunteering) we'd be moving into a big city (in an APARTMENT) for half of the summer. Big stuff...having a toilet is a BIG deal! So, cross your fingers for us!

Now about UB this weekend. I am so excited because this is my first break from school (taking personal days off) and I am just so excited to escape the ger life for 5 days.

No more hard plywood bed made for 1 1/2 people with blankets as a mattress! And no more sleeping in a sleeping bag-- heavenly Khongor Guesthouse bed here I come!

No more handling camel poo to make fires and sweeping up its messes!

No more fighting coal and having coal stained hands!

No more fake sinks or water bucket!

No more handwashing or tumpin bathing!

For 5 days anyway :)