Running with the Camels

While driving hours through the desert I wondered what these HUGE marks were, up close they are camel tracks. Not a place wasn't touched.

What an adventure of a weekend this past weekend was! Justin and I had been planning to run in the Gobi Marathon (half & 10k races) for several months now and last weekend was the much anticipated date. It wasn't just play though-- we worked our way down there and rewarded ourselves with the Gobi run (rewarded?).

It all started early Thursday morning. We made our last meal in the ger, packed all of our things and were out the door by 12:30pm on our way to the gas station. Why are we going to the gas station? Well, there isn't direct transportation to Dalanzagad (Southern Gobi Province Capital) so we basically had to hitch-hike a ride. We knew that the bus coming from UB to Dalanzagad was due at that gas station at around 2pm (but you're never sure of a time in Mongolia, so it's best to give  a few hours of leeway). So we sat and waited. And waited. And 4:30 comes around and no bus. Several other buses and cars had passed by, but none were going to Dalanzagad. We finally asked someone when the UB bus was coming and they told us it wasn't going to come. We were pretty upset we were sitting in 40 degree weather for hours. We were also a little nervous because we HAD to get down to Dalazagad. We were teaching at a Teacher's Seminar and needed a day of preparation. We called our teachers and other friends to ask them how we could get to Dalanzagad since the UB bus never came. No one knew. There isn't a lot of transportation between provinces here in Mongolia. Finally, someone let us know that another bus from UB should be arriving in Mandalgovi to get gas at around 10pm.

At 10pm we went back to the gas station and waited. And waited. This time the temperature is below freezing.

And the bus came! It came around 11:30pm. We ran up to the bus driver and asked if we could hitch a ride. He said, 'no'.

There is no way we were about to take a 'no'. He said he didn't have any seats available. We told him we needed to get to Dalazagad and that we'd sit in the aisle. He looked at us crazy, but said it was alright. So Justin asked how much it was and they guy said we didn't have to pay-- we're that crazy. So we got in and sat on our bags in the aisle of a bus for 6 hours. It was a really bumpy ride. That driver seemed to be hitting the hardest bumps and dips on purpose causing people to fly in the air (but I know that's just how the path is). We finally got to Dalazagad at 6am on Friday morning.

We arrived at a friend's apartment and slept for a few hours before getting to work on the seminar that we'd be presenting the next morning. Dalanzagad is notorious for power outages. They are unpredictable and only give the residents a few hours of electricity everyday. So we worked during the day and ate dinner by candlelight.

The seminar was a hit! I am so amazed at how well it went. There were about 20 participants who came from the Dalanzagad and other small villages (soums) around the province. We did work hard for it and I felt so satisfied. We did good work, the teachers learned a lot and wanted more. I'm in the processes of getting pictures of the seminar. I'll post those pictures soon.

Now, we worked hard for this-- but the time had finally come. The next day (Sunday) was the big race. We drove about 3 hours northeast of DZ and saw some spectacular views. The Gobi Marathon was taking place at the Flaming Cliffs. It was beautiful to drive! It was absolutely tough to run though. Think: SAND and hills.

There are more pictures to come. This was definitely a weekend I'll always remember. We hung out with our friends (Clifton, Joe, Rob & Ben), we prepared and presented an awesome seminar, we ran a race in the GOBI! and we traveled far too long. We work hard and play hard here in Mongolia.

"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!

Where am I?

Typed: 6/7/2011

Beijing is AMAZING! Oh man, I LOVE it! It’s beautiful, it’s green, it’s sunny and warm! Our hostel isn’t even a hostel, it’s more like a hotel. I’m lovin’ it. Speaking of “I’m lovin’ it”, guess what our 2nd meal in China was. McDonald’s! I know some people are getting annoyed with us right now for not getting on the Chinese grub, but how on Earth could I pass up a MCDONALDS? In fact, I ate there today, too…and plan on eating there once a day while here in Beijing. Oh how I’ve missed fast food chains. Not only that, but the Coke was the single best Coke I’ve had in over a year now. Something about fountain drinks just make them so much better. Maybe it’s the paper cup that it’s served in? I dunno, but Mongolia better shape up and get some fountain drinks!

Before I get too excited and type about all the novelties the 21st century brings (that we’ve been missing out on in Mongolia), let me create some order to this post and start from the train station when we first arrived yesterday at 2pm.

The warmth made me smile and Justin and I made our way to the front of the train station to find a loooooong line for the Taxi.

Apparently you can’t just hitch-hike rides like you can in Mongolia. So, we made our way to the line and waited…because that’s what we do when we see lines. We stand in the back and wait our turn. That’s not how it goes in Mongolia. Mongolians don’t have much of a concept of ‘queuing up’ or waiting ‘their’ turn. I’m not sure what they think, but they don’t acknowledge whose turn it is by how long the person has been waiting. It’s more whosever elbow is strongest gets served first. Well, while Justin and I were in line we watched as some Mongolians that were on our train with us (not Davaadash’s family) walked right up to the next taxi (in the front of the line) and tried to get in. I couldn’t believe it! What did they think this long line of people queued up by the words "TAXI” (which is the same in Mongolian) were doing? Just hanging out? It just blows my mind how lining up isn’t a part of their culture. I think they are in for a culture shock in Beijing.


Anyway, we were also in for a culture shock. What were we thinking coming to China and not knowing a lick of Mandarin?! We jumped in that Taxi and tried our hardest to explain that we’d like to go to our hostel (9 Dragon House). English didn’t work, and Mongolian didn’t work (though we kept trying to speak Mongolian to him?? I’m not sure why, it’s just what would come out of our mouths). I could tell he was very frustrated. We had a map of where the hostel was, but he wasn’t understanding it until he saw the Chinese script and after that we didn’t have anymore problems. We were dropped off in a small alley & kind of confused, but safe. Chickens were walking about pecking at a pile of marvelous cilantro(!), men swinging in hammocks and red paper lanterns lit the way.

We had a great evening just walking around the neighborhood (finding the McDonald’s and eating there for dinner) and coming back to our hostel for a great night’s sleep.

Onto today: The Great Wall. It is just that. A Great Wall. Beautiful scenery, great hike. Now we’re pooped, sunburned and needing of a shower.

Look what I found!

I was so excited when I stepped foot into Nadra's apartment in Sukhbaatar, Mongolia-- even though I was severely sleep deprived from an overnight train ride.
Yes, while I'm here visiting her I don't mind being the weird cat-lady! I love them! It is so weird to be able to show my crazy excitement for them because Mongolians hate cats. I'm not talking about oh-I'm-just-not-a-cat-person type hate. I'm talking about screaming-scared-for-your-life type hate. They can transfer evil spirits, or bad luck. I have yet to meet a Mongolian who likes cats.
Nadra's kitties:

Oh, but it's been sooo long since I've been with a cat! It's been a year now when I had to leave Annie behind. I can't believe it's been that long!
My Annie:

Flat Stanley

I had another visitor come to my ger yesterday. Flat Stanley! For those of you who aren't familiar with the book or the project check it out here. It's pretty cool. I wish I would have done something like this with my students back in the states.

Basically, Stanley is a character from a book. The 'project' is to find all the benefits of being completely flat (he was flattened by a board in the book). So one of the major and most popular benefits is that it is a lot cheaper for him to travel. And now the project turns into something similar as the traveling gnome. So, a friend of my sister's sent Flat Stanley to Mongolia to visit me.

Here are some pictures of his visit:
This was Stanley when he got to my ger last night.

Here's Stanley standing next to Chingis Khan and other Traditional Mongolian art. He had to change his clothing, because it's a bit colder here in Mongolia-- also the clothing is to show the students back in America a little bit more about the Mongolian culture. He is wearing a dell (Mongolian traditional clothing).

Stanley got a little bored and wanted to take advantage of this ridiculously warm spring weather we're having right now and made some friends at the play ground by my school.
.

Finally, we made it to school. I think these girls had a crush on him.

This was a really cute project. I hope Stanley makes it back to his class in America soon.

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. :)

Tsagaan Sar Day 5

Last night after coming home from my Tsagaan Sar visits to mine and Justin's school teachers' homes I went to our hashaa family's house. It was about 9pm and hashaa mom was piling pound after pound of meat into a large box. She explained to me that her children are going back to UB tomorrow (this morning) and they are starving college students. The meat wasn't wrapped up in anything--just large slices of randam parts of a sheep piled up high. At the top she put a bag of about 100 frozen buuz leftover from Tsagaan Sar. I really watched in awe. I was watching her put her love into that box as well as frozen raw meat. I let her know that my mom would do the same, that our worlds are similar but different at the same time. It was nice to be there for that family moment.

Well, today is day 5 of Tsagaan Sar. Wait, what? Did I tell you that Tsagaan Sar was only 3 days? HAHAHAHA....silly readers and silly me for thinking that. Today I went to school and was welcomed to different teachers' rooms/offices as if they were their homes for Tsagaan Sar. I got to greet them all! I sat with them, ate and drank cup after cup of airag (fermented camel or horse milk) in each room. This holiday has many beautiful traditions. I love how welcoming and hospitable they all are--but the food and drinks alone have scarred me. I have taken and eaten out of respect for 6 days (Don't forget Tsagaan Sar Eve, so really this is day 6) of eating sour dried milk curds, camel, goat, horse and cow milk fat, boiled sour yogurt, fermented milk from all 4 animals in sour, clumpy, stringy, thick, chewy forms with floaties, hair, chunks and froth. I can see why Mongolia is one of the more difficult countries for PCVs to live. Not because of safety because it is VERY safe and friendly here--but for their food and drink. I don't think they know that fresh milk is okay to drink. It has to be set out to sour, then boiled, aired out for days and days before it is noteworthy to them. Wait....did I mention that I am an American who didn't like fresh store bought pasteurized milk in the states? The day of the milk's expiration date was one day too spoiled for me. I have only gagged twice in the passed 6 days and I don't think anyone saw me. But Mongolian food really takes some decades of getting used to. I'm still not convinced that all Mongolians like their own food--just that they feel obligated to like it because it is their culture to and tradition. I don't know, that's just my thought.

So a much needed vacation is in order! In less than 2 weeks Justin and I will be meeting some friends up in UB for a weekend of R&R&F (food). I can't wait to sink into that comfy heavenly bed in the Khongor Guesthouse and just lounge around with friends.

So, for the 5th/6th/or whatever day Happy Tsagaan Sar!

сайхан шинэлээрэй! (sahan shinleray!)

This is Tsagaan Sar as I (Ashlie) know it.

Tsagaan Sar Day 1:

Today (it is now 5pm) we finished our 1st day of Tsagaan Sar. It all began last night. We were invited to our hashaa family's home to help them decorated their 'boow'. It is made with layers of fried bread, then topped with white food, or dairy products such as airal (dried milk curds), oodum (top cream of the milk), and sugar.



Okay, nevermind-- it all REALLY started weeks ago when they made 1,000 buuz, pronounced like 'boadz'(meat filled dumplings)--we blogged about that last month. Then this weekend they boiled the 'fattest' sheep in our ger (our stove is bigger than theirs). There is a lot of preparation that goes on for this 1st day of Tsagaan Sar....



But, now onto today...It should have started at about 6am for us because it is a tradition to watch the sun rise-- to watch the new year begin. However, Justin and I couldn't get ourselves up until 9am. We ironed our dells (Mongolian traditional clothing) and cleaned our home. Then we went to our hashaa family's ger to celebrate the morning with them. The first thing you do when you go to someone else's home for this holiday is to greet the eldest person(s). I was very nervous for this part. There are certain greetings you say and places where you put your hands, etc. Here is a video of Justin greeting our hashaa father and mother, and pics of me doing the same:



Then a snuff bottle is passed around...


After the greetings we had many buuz, salads, and meat. Also many drinks were passed around the room: airag (fermented mare's milk), milk tea, wine, wiskey and vodka. Remember how I told you that each family puts one coin in a random buuz and the person who eats that buuz is lucky? Well, I had the pleasure of biting down into that coin this morning! I thought it was a bone and couldn't decide if I wanted to say something or not...then I realized what it was, that it wasn't a bone at all, but the very coin that would bring me wealth this year. Picture me, a volunteer worker, being wealthy this year. It's hard to believe, but I can't wait!

Then after much eating and talking we all got on the floor and played with shagai (sheep's ankle bones). We played a horse racing game with the ankle bones. It was really fun. I love this family!




Now, because Justin and I were guests in their home (when you visit other people's homes for Tsagaan Sar it is tradition to give them small gifts for visiting), we were given gifts. I received a beautiful jewelry set: ring, earrings and necklace, and Justin received a traditional Mongolian framed golden engraving. These were very nice gifts.

That was house one. Now we were off to another family member's home (Day one of Tsagaan Sar is reserved for family). There were so many people in this little ger that it was a little awkward at first, but after a while we felt the love. We were served drink after drink and food after food... We stayed for about an hour and a half before we were onto the 3rd and last ger.


Much of the same repeated itself. We were served many, many drinks and buuz. We sat and talked for a while...mostly smiled. I liked being able to see all these different people and take a peak of their rich culture. At one point I really felt like a fly on the wall, just watching in amazment at these nice people taking these weird foreigners into their homes and treating them like family...then I realized someone was talking to me and felt lost and confused.


This day has made me realize (again) what a beautiful culture this is. It is so different from the one I know, but this holiday is a great holiday and a great chance for me to realize what a different place I am in right now. Sometimes I get caught up in school and not exposing myself too much to Mongolian traditional life that I forget I'm half way around the world from what I know. This holiday (re) opened my eyes.

Now, two more days to go...