Mongolia: Week 8

Hey Guys!

This week went by so slowly.  I thought it would never end...but here I am!  Nothing too big happened this week.  After I wrote my post last week, I went to my friend's house and we cooked for her family.  She made spaghetti and sauce then I made banana fritters.  Her family loved our food (I took some home to my family...they weren't quite so pleased)!  It was so good to get some familiar food though.  

On Sunday I met with my group to do some lesson planning.  Lesson planning then led to stopping at the market, going to the square, then going to one of my group mates' house to make pizza.  I must say it was pretty good!  We made one regular crust and one stuffed crust.  Both had sausage, onion, zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes on them...all of which I took off (being my typical picky self).  I then went home and tamed "the Zelda" by putting her in some bantu knots (you can see them in the pictures in this post).

For the rest of the week, nothing much happened.  I did my first solo teaching in practice teaching.  My lesson was on directions (left, right, up, down, in front of, behind) and the students didn't grasp it very well.  I felt pretty bad because I wasn't sure where it fell through...but as they say: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again".  And that is just what I'll do.  The next series of things all happened on Friday:

1. We had a session where they told us about our living allowance and all that goes with living on our own.  The fact that we are getting that talk highlights the fact that in a few short weeks we will officially be volunteers and be leaving each other to go to site!  It's exciting and scary at the same time!
2. My package from home came!  Just seeing my mom's handwriting was exciting.  Then I opened it and I was even happier!  I got clothes for the summer (because the dress pants and jeans were just not working for the heat), RENT (because one cannot ever watch too much RENT) and a bunch of goodies (non-food stuff, of course).
3. While I was in the square getting internet (and skyping with my family),  a random little girl came up to me and gave me a bunch of little flowers she picked and wrapped in a leaf.  It made me sooo happy.  She was so adorable.

This morning I woke up and my mom took me to my aunt's house for a family day kind of thing.  We played volleyball and swam in the river.  We left after a couple hours and started walking home (along some railroad tracks....felt right out of a movie), but it was too hot and too far so we caught a cab (thank goodness).

That's been my week.  It's been quite the emotional rollercoaster, but  that's to be expected in the beginning, right?

Much love and see you next week!

Me showing the flowers the little girl gave me.  I look pretty upset, but I wasn't.  The webcam kept freezing and it caught me at a bad time...but you get the picture.

My mom, my 2 sisters, and I today by my aunt's house.

Me playing volleyball with some family members.  Where there is a volleyball, I have to play!

And In This Week's News...

Hey guys!

So before I get to the promised pictures, let me give you a quick run down on this week.  Last Sunday, we had a registration day to prepare for practice teaching.  We had to recruit the students that we were to teach (and will be teaching until the beginning of August).  We ended up only getting 10...when we needed at least 20 (it's okay though, because on Tuesday when we actually had to start teaching, we ended up with over 40 students and each of the 2 classes had at least 20 students).  Later on that day, my family came back with 3 buckets full of strawberries (Mongolian strawberries are the size of blueberries...but they were soooo yumdelicious!).  I had so many strawberries that day (the next day they cooked them all to make jam and juice....so I'm glad I got my dose of fresh fruit!)

On Monday, we had our cross culture session where we listened to different genres of Mongolian music, learned the Mongolian waltz, and learned various toasts.  It was so awesome!!  The next events of my week were pretty much lumped into things that happened in the week....I can't actually remember what days there were....So I figure I will just list them.  Here goes:

1. We went to the market as a class one day, and a drunk guy grabbed me by the shoulders and started reaching in for a kiss!  I was so petrified that I didn't know what to do.  Thank goodness my LCF stepped in to save the day!  And as if that wasn't enough, later on in the week, another drunk guy pulled the same stunt and a friend had to save me....I have to figure out why that happened!  And twice in one week!
2. The girls in my group decided to get matching copper bangles to remember our time together in Sukhbaatar.  They are gorgeous (different designs, same width...it's great....and it will come in handy on those sad days when we can't see each other when we get to site...just look down at our wrists and remember the good times)!
3. We started practice teaching....enough said.  So many good and so much nervousness for me to handle!
4. My family got a puppy!  She is gorgeous!  Stay tuned in for a picture in the pic section of this post!

And lastly, and the hardest part of the week

    5.  One of my friend's in her group went through some emotional turmoil (family related things back home)  and was really torn up.  We ended up going to UB because she needed to go back to the states to handle it.  It was hard to see her struggle and know there wasn't much I can do, but I'm glad she got to go home and spend some time with family to deal with it with people who may be able to help her better so that she can come back and do her best!

So now that you've gotten the rundown on my week, here are the promised photos!  Enjoy and much love until next week!

The day we made buuz with our LCFs.  This is one of the guys making the meat buuz.

Me, my grandma, my cousin, and my youngest sister posing at a statue at Naadam.  Isn't my Emee (Mongolian for grandma) adorable!

My other cousin and I with the horse he was riding for Naadam.

Mongolian wrestling for Naadam.  Check them out!  And the winner of the country was from our aimag (Mongolian word which is similar to the concept of a province).

The lovely airag I talked about (yumm fermented mare's milk...although I wasn't a fan).

Sister 1 and sister 2 on our camping trip in Darkhan.  The older one is the one jumping into the water.

Me helping to make the fire and put on the pot for the night's food.

Me by the water with my huge bottle of OJ...and no shoes.

Me helping to stir the Suuteitsai (Mongolian milk tea).

My dad and my uncle wrestling....my dad won.

My dad on the guitar indulging in some musical entertainment that's safe for the whole family!

The horhog begins! (Click link for details...the recipe doesn't do the process justice, but look at the my picture and the definition and you can get a pretty solid idea of what it is).

My aunt and I doing a slow waltz...before I knew it was the waltz.

And last, but certainly not least,  here goes my puppy!!  Isn't she cute!!

Naadam and Some

Naadam (as defined by Wikipedia...check it out for more info) is "A traditional festival in Mongolia.  The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam" "the three games of men".  The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during midsummer"

So now that I've defined Naadam for you guys, I can now tell you guys about my past week and my Naadam experiences.  But first, let me give you a rundown on my days before Naadam (which began on Wednesday).

I had a short week of school (only Monday and Tuesday) and of those days, only one comprised of a lot of work.  On Monday we had our regular language class followed in the afternoon by our last technical session of this half (which basically means we get new trainers for the next half).  On Tuesday, we has a brief language session (mainly to learn Naadam terminology) then our families came in with food for an appreciation "brunch" for us.  That was pretty cool.  After that, we (our whole class and our Language and Culture Facilitators...or LCFs) went to the market to buy components for a cooking class.  Instead of a technical sector in the afternoon, we made buuz (a typical mongolian dish which is almost like a Chinese dumpling) together.  It was great!  We didn't make the best buuz (some fell apart) but they were yummy (well....I can only speak for the veggie ones since i couldn't have the meat).

Now Wednesday...the big day.  I can't quite say it was all I thought it would be.  My family went super late (We didn't get there til 2..and it started at about 9 am) and the bulk of my experience was spent at a family khuushur (another big mongolian dish...very similar to empanadas) stand.  I had some khuushur without the meat and walked for a little while.  I took some pictures of horses, modeled a Mongolian deel (not really modeled...just wore it there.  Oh, and a deel is the Mongolian traditional dress), got some pictures of wrestling, tried some airag (fermented mare's milk) and then went home.  Later on that night, we went to the square for a concert.  It was cool.  This 1 singer sang Listen by Beyonce and it was AMAZING!  After that, I went home.

The next day,  I went to Darkhan with my family.   We met up with other family members and had a day by the stream.  It was awesome!  Outdoor cooking, drinking (and later very drunk) uncles, splashing in water, dancing, and music.  I can say with confidence that it is the most fun I've had here thus far.  We left there at night time while the residents of Darkhan were still enjoying their Naadam.  I give major props to the random guy wearing the Nicki Minaj shirt and the DJ playing What's Love by Ja'Rule and Ashanti.  We then drove to an aunt's house and slept there until we left at around 2 the next day.  I even got to stop and take a picture with a camel on the way home.

Well guys, that's been my Naadam so far.  I will put up pictures of the adventures later on.  Til then, you gotta take my word for it!

Much Love!

Picture Post!

Hey Guys!

So I'm sorry I'm late with the post this week!  This week has been pretty slow.  I went to Darkhan for mid-center days (soooo many sessions) and now I'm back home.  It was great to see the whole group again, but it did get old pretty quickly.  I now see what the older volunteers mean when they say it's cool to visit the city but even better when you get back to your small city.  

In random news:  

1.  I got a big ol bottle of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) for Zelda and 2 big bottles of conditioner....Zelda WILL submit.

2.  My youngest sister had a breakdown last night (woke up crying in the middle of the night) because she missed our mom.  It was sad for me because it reminded me of something my brother (actual brother back home) would do.  I spent about an hour calming her down and rubbing her back...all while thinking about my bro.

Since this week has been so slow, I decided to share some pics of you guys from my first month.

Love Ya'll and Enjoy!!

The Airport on the night we arrived.

Our ger camp from the mountain behind it

Ulaanbaatar....Right in the square.  Check me out!

My host family and some of the other volunteers with their families (my mom is the one to the right of me...guess which one I am!)

Me cutting the girl next door's hair during a hair cutting ceremony....i was kind of nervous cutting a random person's hair.  That's my youngest sister next to me.

Me with my older (but still younger than me) sister.  There goes Sukhbaatar in the back.

The mountain right behind my host community.  I hiked up it...in Toms.  Boss life!