Hey blog readers, a quick update here!
Earlier this week I gave a talk at the Natsagdorj public library about my Fulbright research project. Many of my good friends showed up in support which was lovely, plus a few curious students and aid workers as well. It was an abnormally long talk for me (a full 50 minute lecture plus time for questions... I'm used to 10-15 minute conference presentations) but it was a great experience. Practice makes perfect so I will consider this talk excellent practice for future lectures I may give.
This was also my chance to present the results of my research for the first time. Since I did my entire project solo, I am very proud of the work I have done in Mongolia. I think Nomadic Gardens has the potential to be developed into an entire NGO, but right now I've got other plans :)
Final results of my project, in numbers:
Conducted over 100 interviews with nomadic herders
Manufactured over 70 planters out of recyclable materials
Average cost per garden: $5
Implemented a gardening project with 26 nomadic households
Spent 30 days in the field
Grew 14 different types of vegetable, spice, and flower
22 families completed the study
100% of families responded that growing plants was "easier than they thought it would be"
6 families responded that they were going to try gardening next year on their own
That's all for now, more updates on packing and leaving Mongolia next week!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Mongolian bucket list
Well, we're getting to the end of things here. Just 3 more weeks in Mongolia, yikes! I've made a list of things to do before leaving Mongolia, including:
-getting a haircut
-going horseback riding at Stepperiders for a weekend
-giving a talk about Nomadic Gardens
-having a drink in the Blue Sky Lounge, one of the fanciest bars in Mongolia
-eating a gelato sandwich at Ti-amo (too ridiculous sounding not to try before I leave!)
-sampling a few last restaurants
-selling my extra stuff and packing
So far I've done the first two, and have a plan to give a lecture on Tuesday, October 16th at the American Corner of the Natsagdorj library. I'm excited about it!
So yes, 2 things off the list have been completed. I felt that an Asian hairdressing experience was necessary before I left. First of all, getting your hair cut here is super cheap. I went to a very pricy place and it cost me about $20. That includes hair washing, conditioning, scalp massage, cut, and some sort of wonderful organic hair mayonnaise treatment. The scalp massage was a bit overly vigorous, but otherwise the experience was quite nice, and my hair is as soft as silk after all those treatments.
We also managed to get out to Stepperiders for a weekend. Since the first time I went I've been itching to go back, but I've been way too busy with my research project. This time we got another big group of Fulbrighters and friends together and headed out Saturday morning. When we arrived we had some tea and got our riding gear on and hit the steppe in the early afternoon. The weather was spectacular, the last beautiful days before the winter sets in. It was warm and sunny, about 65 degrees with a warm breeze.
I had an ace up my sleeve for riding this time, an excellent pair of leather boots that I bought at the black market. Usually, "the black market" is just a nickname for Narantuul market and doesn't refer to a sketchy place where stolen goods are traded and sold. In the case of my boots though I'm not so sure. Outside the market proper is a small area that looks like a neighborhood garage sale. Random used clothes, shoes, tools, and phones are offered for sale. I occasionally peruse the items, and this time spotted a fabulous pair of handmade leather boots. And only 10,000 tugrug, wow! That's like $7! So I bought them and happily headed out, and only when I got back home did I have a moment thinking "I might have just bought someone's stolen boots". Hmmm.... I hope not though.
So, equipped with my possibly stolen riding boots, I hopped on a big shaggy beast of a pony whose description was "he likes to run" and we set off. For the first 30 minutes my pony mostly just ambled along and avoided going downhill as much as he could get away with. When we reached the flatter part of the steppe though, he decided that, as advertised, he likes to run. He took flight across the steppe, racing a few of the other fast horses and running for home at breakneck speed. It was a thrilling experience.
The next morning we went for another ride. I opted for a quieter pony who turned out to have a soft mouth and a willing attitude. After another great riding experience we gathered up our things and went back to the city. It was a great weekend dose of countryside therapy.
-getting a haircut
-going horseback riding at Stepperiders for a weekend
-giving a talk about Nomadic Gardens
-having a drink in the Blue Sky Lounge, one of the fanciest bars in Mongolia
-eating a gelato sandwich at Ti-amo (too ridiculous sounding not to try before I leave!)
-sampling a few last restaurants
-selling my extra stuff and packing
So far I've done the first two, and have a plan to give a lecture on Tuesday, October 16th at the American Corner of the Natsagdorj library. I'm excited about it!
So yes, 2 things off the list have been completed. I felt that an Asian hairdressing experience was necessary before I left. First of all, getting your hair cut here is super cheap. I went to a very pricy place and it cost me about $20. That includes hair washing, conditioning, scalp massage, cut, and some sort of wonderful organic hair mayonnaise treatment. The scalp massage was a bit overly vigorous, but otherwise the experience was quite nice, and my hair is as soft as silk after all those treatments.
We also managed to get out to Stepperiders for a weekend. Since the first time I went I've been itching to go back, but I've been way too busy with my research project. This time we got another big group of Fulbrighters and friends together and headed out Saturday morning. When we arrived we had some tea and got our riding gear on and hit the steppe in the early afternoon. The weather was spectacular, the last beautiful days before the winter sets in. It was warm and sunny, about 65 degrees with a warm breeze.
I had an ace up my sleeve for riding this time, an excellent pair of leather boots that I bought at the black market. Usually, "the black market" is just a nickname for Narantuul market and doesn't refer to a sketchy place where stolen goods are traded and sold. In the case of my boots though I'm not so sure. Outside the market proper is a small area that looks like a neighborhood garage sale. Random used clothes, shoes, tools, and phones are offered for sale. I occasionally peruse the items, and this time spotted a fabulous pair of handmade leather boots. And only 10,000 tugrug, wow! That's like $7! So I bought them and happily headed out, and only when I got back home did I have a moment thinking "I might have just bought someone's stolen boots". Hmmm.... I hope not though.
So, equipped with my possibly stolen riding boots, I hopped on a big shaggy beast of a pony whose description was "he likes to run" and we set off. For the first 30 minutes my pony mostly just ambled along and avoided going downhill as much as he could get away with. When we reached the flatter part of the steppe though, he decided that, as advertised, he likes to run. He took flight across the steppe, racing a few of the other fast horses and running for home at breakneck speed. It was a thrilling experience.
The next morning we went for another ride. I opted for a quieter pony who turned out to have a soft mouth and a willing attitude. After another great riding experience we gathered up our things and went back to the city. It was a great weekend dose of countryside therapy.
"Likes-to-run"
My second day pony
Heading out!
Matt and our friend Alban
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Future plans- puppy cameo!
So my research project is all done and finished! Later I'll write a post about the conclusions I've come to. For now, I'm taking a break and letting the data digest. While I do that I've begun working on personal statements and resumes for grad school applications. I've finally found a program that calls to me; the master's in Development Practice program. It's very new and sounds like just my sort of thing :)
In a nutshell, this is from the program website:
"Integrating the core areas of the health, natural, social and management sciences, the Master's in Development Practice program provides students with the substantive knowledge and practical skills required to analyze and diagnose the multi-dimensional challenges of sustainable development such as extreme poverty, climate change and infectious disease."
I like the sound of it because it's interdisciplinary and focuses on practical skills. Also, the programs all include a summer international internship in development practice. So fingers crossed, if I work hard on my applications this fall I'll get into one of the programs and be enrolled next year!
That is my longterm plan for the future. For the nearer future, I will be flying home at the end of October, taking the GREs at the end of November, and then in December I'll be going to England to spend Christmas and New Year's with Matt's lovely family. After that we are going back to China to teach English for about 6 months while I wait to hear back from grad schools. We know how to avoid the many pitfalls that accompany teaching English in China, and we are also able to make a good salary and save most of it because the cost of living is quite low. Hopefully I'll be able to save up a little money for grad school and eat delicious food every day too!
Finally, to keep this blog interesting now that my research is finished I feel it's necessary to include some cute photos of puppies. Here is Mongo, the street puppy, hiding in our shoe rack.
Our friend Johannah took her in off the street and has been taking care of her for the past few weeks. We dog sat while Johannah's apartment was being inspected and got to play with her all day. She's a very nice dog, cuddly and well behaved for a street dog. She has tons of personality too. Even Matt was totally smitten by the end of the day!
Well that's all for now!
In a nutshell, this is from the program website:
"Integrating the core areas of the health, natural, social and management sciences, the Master's in Development Practice program provides students with the substantive knowledge and practical skills required to analyze and diagnose the multi-dimensional challenges of sustainable development such as extreme poverty, climate change and infectious disease."
I like the sound of it because it's interdisciplinary and focuses on practical skills. Also, the programs all include a summer international internship in development practice. So fingers crossed, if I work hard on my applications this fall I'll get into one of the programs and be enrolled next year!
That is my longterm plan for the future. For the nearer future, I will be flying home at the end of October, taking the GREs at the end of November, and then in December I'll be going to England to spend Christmas and New Year's with Matt's lovely family. After that we are going back to China to teach English for about 6 months while I wait to hear back from grad schools. We know how to avoid the many pitfalls that accompany teaching English in China, and we are also able to make a good salary and save most of it because the cost of living is quite low. Hopefully I'll be able to save up a little money for grad school and eat delicious food every day too!
Finally, to keep this blog interesting now that my research is finished I feel it's necessary to include some cute photos of puppies. Here is Mongo, the street puppy, hiding in our shoe rack.
Our friend Johannah took her in off the street and has been taking care of her for the past few weeks. We dog sat while Johannah's apartment was being inspected and got to play with her all day. She's a very nice dog, cuddly and well behaved for a street dog. She has tons of personality too. Even Matt was totally smitten by the end of the day!
Well that's all for now!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Finished!
Here we are about 8 months after my first blog posts. I am excited to say that I have finished my project! Wooo! It's been one heck of a rollercoaster but I'm happy with what I accomplished in my research. Here's a brief recap of my final 3 trips to the countryside :)
My first last trip was to my Darkhan/Selenge site. My brother Bryan was visiting me in Mongolia before going to Japan for a year of study and he decided to come along. We had an... interesting trip... We got lots of good information about the gardens, and saw some excellent onions, turnips and carrots growing in the bottles. However, when I got back to Ulaanbaatar I realized my driver had robbed me while I went into a ger to do an interview. I foolishly left my pouch of money in my bag in the car and the guy had helped himself to $50-70 by my estimate. I expect people to pickpocket me on the street and watch out for it but I wasn't prepared for someone I'd hired to steal from me when I was paying him a good wage for easy work. Alas.
My second last trip was to Ondorkhaan. I hired a different translator because Chingerel found a permanent job. My new translator Yumjirka was quite good, but there turned out to be very little work for her in Ondorkhaan. Many of the families were away from home preparing hay for the winter or hadn't taken care of the gardens. Additionally, the driver I hired to go to both clusters of families demanded more money on our way to the second site. He was my driver for the first trip and one of the families I had given a garden. What had started off as a friendly trip soon turned ugly as he demanded more money than we agreed on. In the end he dropped us off in the city and I paid him half for the half job he had done and I forfeited the data of his family's garden. I ended up doing phone interviews, via Yumjirka, with the 2 families at the second site. One great success from this trip was hearing about a daughter of one of the families who had taken her garden to school in Choibalsan, over 200 miles away! There's a truly nomadic garden that will hopefully inspire teachers and students alike to plant their own gardens :)
For my truly final research trip to Arvaikheer, Chingerel generously offered to give up her weekend to be my translator. Having the same translator for the whole project definitely made a difference, and I had an excellent and productive trip to Arvaikheer. In addition, the driver we hired was friendly and delightful, a pleasant, sort of grandfatherly soul who told me he loved going to the countryside on my research trips to visit the families because he got to taste every family's fermented horse milk! We visited all the families and completed 9 interviews in one afternoon, a record, stayed in a clean and comfortable motel, and were able to take the bus back the very next day. A delightful and successful trip in every way, and a great way to end my project.
My first last trip was to my Darkhan/Selenge site. My brother Bryan was visiting me in Mongolia before going to Japan for a year of study and he decided to come along. We had an... interesting trip... We got lots of good information about the gardens, and saw some excellent onions, turnips and carrots growing in the bottles. However, when I got back to Ulaanbaatar I realized my driver had robbed me while I went into a ger to do an interview. I foolishly left my pouch of money in my bag in the car and the guy had helped himself to $50-70 by my estimate. I expect people to pickpocket me on the street and watch out for it but I wasn't prepared for someone I'd hired to steal from me when I was paying him a good wage for easy work. Alas.
My second last trip was to Ondorkhaan. I hired a different translator because Chingerel found a permanent job. My new translator Yumjirka was quite good, but there turned out to be very little work for her in Ondorkhaan. Many of the families were away from home preparing hay for the winter or hadn't taken care of the gardens. Additionally, the driver I hired to go to both clusters of families demanded more money on our way to the second site. He was my driver for the first trip and one of the families I had given a garden. What had started off as a friendly trip soon turned ugly as he demanded more money than we agreed on. In the end he dropped us off in the city and I paid him half for the half job he had done and I forfeited the data of his family's garden. I ended up doing phone interviews, via Yumjirka, with the 2 families at the second site. One great success from this trip was hearing about a daughter of one of the families who had taken her garden to school in Choibalsan, over 200 miles away! There's a truly nomadic garden that will hopefully inspire teachers and students alike to plant their own gardens :)
For my truly final research trip to Arvaikheer, Chingerel generously offered to give up her weekend to be my translator. Having the same translator for the whole project definitely made a difference, and I had an excellent and productive trip to Arvaikheer. In addition, the driver we hired was friendly and delightful, a pleasant, sort of grandfatherly soul who told me he loved going to the countryside on my research trips to visit the families because he got to taste every family's fermented horse milk! We visited all the families and completed 9 interviews in one afternoon, a record, stayed in a clean and comfortable motel, and were able to take the bus back the very next day. A delightful and successful trip in every way, and a great way to end my project.
Bryan in Selenge aimag
Turnip! wow!
A nice healthy beet plant
This spring onion was harvested and used by the family in soup and dumplings
A really nice picture of me, Jonathan, and my grandmother with Nyamsuren's family
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Exciting news!
Me and Matt are engaged!
The day me and my family got back to UB from the countryside, he told me he wanted to take me out for a nice dinner after work. We went out for a fantastic meal at the Ivy, pretty much the fanciest restaurant in Mongolia. Matt had pre-ordered our entire meal and we enjoyed a thoroughly mutton-free, gourmet dinner. I thought he might propose at dinner (I had guesses about the intent of the night hehe) but we headed back to our apartment after the meal. He opened the door, and I think my jaw literally dropped because our shabby old apartment had been transformed into a pavilion of roses and candles. Our good friends Nina and Hannah had snuck into our apartment while we were at dinner and decorated the place! Matt proposed, we drank champagne to celebrate, and told everyone the next morning. We really couldn't be happier! But before you ask, no we haven't set a date. It will probably be awhile in the future yet, and we need to decide where!
The day me and my family got back to UB from the countryside, he told me he wanted to take me out for a nice dinner after work. We went out for a fantastic meal at the Ivy, pretty much the fanciest restaurant in Mongolia. Matt had pre-ordered our entire meal and we enjoyed a thoroughly mutton-free, gourmet dinner. I thought he might propose at dinner (I had guesses about the intent of the night hehe) but we headed back to our apartment after the meal. He opened the door, and I think my jaw literally dropped because our shabby old apartment had been transformed into a pavilion of roses and candles. Our good friends Nina and Hannah had snuck into our apartment while we were at dinner and decorated the place! Matt proposed, we drank champagne to celebrate, and told everyone the next morning. We really couldn't be happier! But before you ask, no we haven't set a date. It will probably be awhile in the future yet, and we need to decide where!
When we met in Peru, 2008
Now, engaged in Mongolia!
Family trip to Mongolia
It has been a long time since I last posted, sorry! Lots of stories to tell though, so enjoy!
Last time I posted we had just had Matt's birthday party at the end of July. I enjoyed about a week's break afterwards during which I was able to prepare for the arrival of my family in Ulaanbaatar on August 7th. I scraped together a pile of maps and tourist info, a local cellphone, and some Mongolian money to meet them with at the airport.
The day arrived and I took the bus to the airport to meet them. It was awesome and weird to see my family actually in Mongolia! My mom and dad, Grandma Isenberg, and Jonathan all managed to make it over. Bryan had to stay back and do visa stuff for his upcoming trip, but he will be arriving in a few days for a two week stopover before beginning his year studying in Japan.
Overall I think they had a great trip! We stayed in Ulaanbaatar for about a week while they got over the jetlag. They got to check out lots of museums, cafes, and restaurants, as well as monuments like the Zaisan memorial which overlooks the city and the Chinggis Khaan statue in front of the government house. For our first meal we went to Khaan Buuz, a Mongolian fast-food joint. My intention was to introduce them to a variety of Mongolian foods including salty milk tea, fried mutton noodles, steamed dumplings, fried meat pancakes, Mongolian goulash, etc. I unintentionally introduced them to the realities of Mongolian restaurants, which is that half the time they only have half the menu they claim to have, and Mongolian food isn't that great. Khaan Buuz was particularly bad, so I unintentionally set the bar for future Mongolian meals very low that morning. The good thing about this is that every Mongolian meal we had afterwards was "not bad".
After hanging out in UB for about a week we headed out for an epic 8 day road trip. We managed to cram all of us, our stuff, Chingerel (who we hired to translate), and our driver Miga (you may remember from my first trip to the countryside back in March) into the van.
The highlights of our trip:
Day 1: Khustai national park, I finally got to see the famous, reintroduced Przwalski's horses! It was super cool and the national park was beautiful. In the morning I saw owls!
Day 2: We rode camels (I hopped on a horse) in the picturesque sand dunes on the way to Arvaikheer.
Day 3:We visited my garden families and they showed my family everything from the gardens they'd been keeping to how they milk their horses, and we exchanged gifts of candy and aaraal and chatted over lunch. It was a really special experience. We tried to make it to the waterfall but the weather caused us to fall short and we ended up staying at a very "local" ger camp. The beds were hard and my family got a kick out of the outhouse, but the people who ran the place were so friendly and kind that we didn't mind!
Day 4: We drove up to Kharkhorin, also known as Karakorum. We looked around the town and my family went for a guided trip of Erdene Zuu monastery. We stayed at a ger camp on the banks Lake Ugii.
Day 5: We had an exciting day trying our hand at fishing and riding horses. We drove to Bulgan city and stayed the night in an old Soviet hotel with grumpy staff that still gives us a laugh.
Day 6:We drove to Amarbayasgalant Monastery and stayed in a lovely ger camp. The weather was starting to get cold.
Day 7: We drove up to the Russian border town of Sukhbaatar. We had fun shopping in a Russian grocery store and stocking up on Russian treats. Before dinner we drove right up to the Russian border at the town of Altanbulag to have a look.
Day 8: We drove back to UB looking forward to a hot shower and a meal without mutton in it.
Favorite quote: Dad: "Is this dirt road the shortcut?" Me: "this is the road"
Last time I posted we had just had Matt's birthday party at the end of July. I enjoyed about a week's break afterwards during which I was able to prepare for the arrival of my family in Ulaanbaatar on August 7th. I scraped together a pile of maps and tourist info, a local cellphone, and some Mongolian money to meet them with at the airport.
The day arrived and I took the bus to the airport to meet them. It was awesome and weird to see my family actually in Mongolia! My mom and dad, Grandma Isenberg, and Jonathan all managed to make it over. Bryan had to stay back and do visa stuff for his upcoming trip, but he will be arriving in a few days for a two week stopover before beginning his year studying in Japan.
Overall I think they had a great trip! We stayed in Ulaanbaatar for about a week while they got over the jetlag. They got to check out lots of museums, cafes, and restaurants, as well as monuments like the Zaisan memorial which overlooks the city and the Chinggis Khaan statue in front of the government house. For our first meal we went to Khaan Buuz, a Mongolian fast-food joint. My intention was to introduce them to a variety of Mongolian foods including salty milk tea, fried mutton noodles, steamed dumplings, fried meat pancakes, Mongolian goulash, etc. I unintentionally introduced them to the realities of Mongolian restaurants, which is that half the time they only have half the menu they claim to have, and Mongolian food isn't that great. Khaan Buuz was particularly bad, so I unintentionally set the bar for future Mongolian meals very low that morning. The good thing about this is that every Mongolian meal we had afterwards was "not bad".
After hanging out in UB for about a week we headed out for an epic 8 day road trip. We managed to cram all of us, our stuff, Chingerel (who we hired to translate), and our driver Miga (you may remember from my first trip to the countryside back in March) into the van.
The highlights of our trip:
Day 1: Khustai national park, I finally got to see the famous, reintroduced Przwalski's horses! It was super cool and the national park was beautiful. In the morning I saw owls!
Day 2: We rode camels (I hopped on a horse) in the picturesque sand dunes on the way to Arvaikheer.
Day 3:We visited my garden families and they showed my family everything from the gardens they'd been keeping to how they milk their horses, and we exchanged gifts of candy and aaraal and chatted over lunch. It was a really special experience. We tried to make it to the waterfall but the weather caused us to fall short and we ended up staying at a very "local" ger camp. The beds were hard and my family got a kick out of the outhouse, but the people who ran the place were so friendly and kind that we didn't mind!
Day 4: We drove up to Kharkhorin, also known as Karakorum. We looked around the town and my family went for a guided trip of Erdene Zuu monastery. We stayed at a ger camp on the banks Lake Ugii.
Day 5: We had an exciting day trying our hand at fishing and riding horses. We drove to Bulgan city and stayed the night in an old Soviet hotel with grumpy staff that still gives us a laugh.
Day 6:We drove to Amarbayasgalant Monastery and stayed in a lovely ger camp. The weather was starting to get cold.
Day 7: We drove up to the Russian border town of Sukhbaatar. We had fun shopping in a Russian grocery store and stocking up on Russian treats. Before dinner we drove right up to the Russian border at the town of Altanbulag to have a look.
Day 8: We drove back to UB looking forward to a hot shower and a meal without mutton in it.
Favorite quote: Dad: "Is this dirt road the shortcut?" Me: "this is the road"
Jonathan with a hunting eagle
Grandma with a hunting eagle
At Khustai National Park
Wild horses!
Riding horses and camels at the sand dunes
Sunset after a storm at Lake Ugii
A random deerstone.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Party time!
Hello again!
Since I last posted I've been out to the countryside for my last mid-term assessment trip, and we've also celebrated Matt's 24th birthday. Coincidentally this was his 2nd birthday in Mongolia; last year we were traveling through Mongolia from China around the same time.
First the birthday coverage: Hannah, Nina, and Taylor, good friends of ours, offered their apartment up for the festivities, which was very much appreciated as our apartment is tiny and shabby. We decorated the place with balloons and a happy birthday banner while Hannah decorated the cake. I managed to bake the beastly chocolate cake in our small rickety oven, and Hannah, the artist, decorated it in a multitude of colors and Mongolian patterns!
A few days before the birthday celebrations, I completed my 3rd midterm assessment countryside trip. It was back out to Selenge/Darkhan aimags in the north. Now my research project is officially 75% of the way done, yikes! Since the last trip to Selenge was so hairy, I was hoping this one would go smoother. In the end it did go a lot smoother (just because that last trip was so horrible), though I wouldn't call it an easy trip. It started off well, (as these trips usually do). We found a driver in Darkhan city who agreed to take us to the families on our way up north, stay over in a city near Russia, and then come back the next morning. Sorted! So off we went, but as we made our way to the first family we drove beside a lake with lots of baby toads leaping across the sandy dirt roads towards the water. Our driver stopped the car, clearly terrified, and told us he didn't want to keep going because frogs in the road were a bad omen. With a little persuasion we convinced him to drive on the grass next to the dirt road so he wouldn't squish any toads.
When we arrived at the first family's ger, I was disappointed to see that hardly any of their plants had grown. Even the onions hadn't grown! I asked them how often they watered their plants, as I asked at every ger, and like at every ger I received the same answer: "every day!". Since even their onions hadn't grown at all, I was very skeptical. But that is the nature of this research project, determining whether not it will work and why.
As we said goodbye til next time, our driver, who was looking very worried, told us that he was taking us back to Darkhan city because he was getting a bad vibe from us, and the frogs were a bad omen and he couldn't deal with it....
So back to Darkhan we went, and found another driver to take us north to Sukhbaatar city. When we arrived, we hired yet another driver to take us to the families up there. Luckily, a woman from one of the families was in the city at the time. She offered to show us the way to two of the families who had moved. I didn't realize quite how far she meant, but after over an hour and a half of driving through a pretty forest we emerged in a lush valley dotted with gers. To get to one of the gers we had to park the car, carefully walk over log bridges to cross a marsh, and hike a little further uphill. It was worth it, as we were greeted extremely warmly, fed milk tea and fresh fried biscuits and sweet aaraal, and served a delectable nomads' meal. A pile of meat was chopped into bite size pieces and boiled with some onion and salt. A few meaty ribs, the breastbone, and some vertebrae were thrown in and then served in a pan with a few sharp knives with which to serve yourself. Luckily the Mongolians perceived my lack of skill at cutting piping hot meat off the bone, and obliged to slice me up some meat and fat. After that the main course of mutton soup with noodles was served. The fresh meat was so tasty and tender, truly a delightful meal in the countryside.
The next day we finished up the interviews. I was surprised to find that this site, which I thought would do the best because of the climate (wetter and milder) was more or less on par with Ondorkhaan for successfulness. I'm beginning to think that successfulness has more to do with how motivated the individual participants are. This also relates to how I selected my participants to begin with. For the Arvaikheer group I drove around to gers, introduced the garden project, then asked for an interview. Those who weren't interested didn't bother giving an interview. For Ondorkhaan and Selenge it was the opposite, I asked if they would be willing to do an interview and then introduced the garden project at the end of the interview. A lot of those people sort of shrugged and said "sure". This is one of the many lessons I've taken away from my research project so far!
Since I last posted I've been out to the countryside for my last mid-term assessment trip, and we've also celebrated Matt's 24th birthday. Coincidentally this was his 2nd birthday in Mongolia; last year we were traveling through Mongolia from China around the same time.
First the birthday coverage: Hannah, Nina, and Taylor, good friends of ours, offered their apartment up for the festivities, which was very much appreciated as our apartment is tiny and shabby. We decorated the place with balloons and a happy birthday banner while Hannah decorated the cake. I managed to bake the beastly chocolate cake in our small rickety oven, and Hannah, the artist, decorated it in a multitude of colors and Mongolian patterns!
Decorating the cake
The birthday boy with the finished work of art
A few days before the birthday celebrations, I completed my 3rd midterm assessment countryside trip. It was back out to Selenge/Darkhan aimags in the north. Now my research project is officially 75% of the way done, yikes! Since the last trip to Selenge was so hairy, I was hoping this one would go smoother. In the end it did go a lot smoother (just because that last trip was so horrible), though I wouldn't call it an easy trip. It started off well, (as these trips usually do). We found a driver in Darkhan city who agreed to take us to the families on our way up north, stay over in a city near Russia, and then come back the next morning. Sorted! So off we went, but as we made our way to the first family we drove beside a lake with lots of baby toads leaping across the sandy dirt roads towards the water. Our driver stopped the car, clearly terrified, and told us he didn't want to keep going because frogs in the road were a bad omen. With a little persuasion we convinced him to drive on the grass next to the dirt road so he wouldn't squish any toads.
When we arrived at the first family's ger, I was disappointed to see that hardly any of their plants had grown. Even the onions hadn't grown! I asked them how often they watered their plants, as I asked at every ger, and like at every ger I received the same answer: "every day!". Since even their onions hadn't grown at all, I was very skeptical. But that is the nature of this research project, determining whether not it will work and why.
As we said goodbye til next time, our driver, who was looking very worried, told us that he was taking us back to Darkhan city because he was getting a bad vibe from us, and the frogs were a bad omen and he couldn't deal with it....
So back to Darkhan we went, and found another driver to take us north to Sukhbaatar city. When we arrived, we hired yet another driver to take us to the families up there. Luckily, a woman from one of the families was in the city at the time. She offered to show us the way to two of the families who had moved. I didn't realize quite how far she meant, but after over an hour and a half of driving through a pretty forest we emerged in a lush valley dotted with gers. To get to one of the gers we had to park the car, carefully walk over log bridges to cross a marsh, and hike a little further uphill. It was worth it, as we were greeted extremely warmly, fed milk tea and fresh fried biscuits and sweet aaraal, and served a delectable nomads' meal. A pile of meat was chopped into bite size pieces and boiled with some onion and salt. A few meaty ribs, the breastbone, and some vertebrae were thrown in and then served in a pan with a few sharp knives with which to serve yourself. Luckily the Mongolians perceived my lack of skill at cutting piping hot meat off the bone, and obliged to slice me up some meat and fat. After that the main course of mutton soup with noodles was served. The fresh meat was so tasty and tender, truly a delightful meal in the countryside.
2 skies
Crossing the marsh
The next day we finished up the interviews. I was surprised to find that this site, which I thought would do the best because of the climate (wetter and milder) was more or less on par with Ondorkhaan for successfulness. I'm beginning to think that successfulness has more to do with how motivated the individual participants are. This also relates to how I selected my participants to begin with. For the Arvaikheer group I drove around to gers, introduced the garden project, then asked for an interview. Those who weren't interested didn't bother giving an interview. For Ondorkhaan and Selenge it was the opposite, I asked if they would be willing to do an interview and then introduced the garden project at the end of the interview. A lot of those people sort of shrugged and said "sure". This is one of the many lessons I've taken away from my research project so far!
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