St. Patrick's Day in Mongolia

Last week we had our first days of weather above freezing. It was madness in the streets: people were walking around without hats or gloves, all the stray animals were out frolicking and basking, kids were running around screaming, people were playing basketball in their t-shirts, and I was sweating away in my long underwear and L.L. Bean down coat. Spring is here! Unfortunately, spring in Mongolia is a time of icy winds, snow, and dust storms, so the warmer weather is a small blessing. Still, it's nice to feel the warmth of the sun again!

This Saturday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day. My roommate Holly is a big St. Patrick's Day fan, and so we went all out. We organized a potluck in our tiny apartment and invited about 15 people over. We spent the whole day arranging our furniture, decorating the place with sparkly foam shamrocks, and cooking up a storm of Irish food. We ended up making soda bread, Irish stew, colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage, milk, onions, and butter), cabbage and bacon, and a sort of desserty baked apple dish (probably not Irish, but still tasty). Luckily the main ingredients in Irish food are potatoes, cabbage, and meat, all of which are readily available in Mongolia!  People brought lots of goodies including shepherd's pie, carrot salad, pizza, pineapple upside-down cake, juice, soda, and Irish coffee! It was all delicious and we had a good time! Then afterwards we headed out to one of the few Irish pubs in UB for an obligatory Guinness and mingling with other reveling foreigners. Overall a fun night!

The funny thing about St. Patrick's Day is that it's really difficult to explain to Mongolians. Part of that is that most Americans don't really have a reason to celebrate it themselves and it's pretty much just an excuse for a party. Some Mongolians were knowledgeable though... "Ahh, the foreigners' drinking holiday" they told me. Some people equated it to Tsagaan Sar, which I suppose with the special food and drinks, it is sort of similar to.

In addition to St. Patrick's Day, I've been preparing for my first research trip! I think it's going to happen next weekend, and I will update everyone on how it goes. I'm still trying to get a translator, finalize transportation, get a workspace at my university, and polish my interviews, but I think it will all just come together by next weekend. That generally tends to be how it works in Mongolia.

Until next time!

Finding a lab, getting business cards

Well the weeks are flying by! I can't believe I've been in Mongolia for 2 whole months already!

These days I am buckling down to work on my research. I met my official advisor for the first time, Dr. Ariunsuren. She seems like a very capable woman who gets things done through a mixture of competence, no-nonsense, and possibly a little intimidation. I'm just glad she's on my side. She also introduced me to her boss, Uuganbayar, the head of the biology department, who is working on introducing me to HIS boss, and eventually the director of the school. I'm working my way up the food chain and hopefully that will help me get things done that I need for my research. My pet project right now is finding a lab/work space to conduct my mad scientist experiments in. All I need is a spare room with outlets, tables, a window, lights, a door that locks, and access to a source of running water, but nothing is that simple in Mongolia. However, it looks like the Ag school might actually have this sort of space available! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well and I will be able to use that space to build a prototype garden.

Before the garden making starts, I will be doing interviews in the countryside with nomadic herders, as I did during SIT for my Independent Study Project and eventual thesis. I just met with Ana, the latest, and last, Fulbrighter to arrive this year in Mongolia. She is going to do water quality testing around mining sites. We are going to be doing some pilot countryside trips together as soon as next week to each get some initial data and build some momentum for later research. We will be going to either Darkhan or Northern Khentii. I am really looking forward to doing my research in Northern Khentii, in summer it's the most beautiful part of Mongolia!

Besides preparing for research, I also finally got myself some snazzy business cards! Wooo my first set of business cards! I spent about 2 hours in a little kiosk filled with printers chatting to the guy in my limited Mongolian and his limited English and designing them. I basically let him design it and commented on things when they needed to be changed. But I think it worked out pretty well and he even managed to translate "Nomadic Gardens" into acceptable Mongolian! One side of the card is English and the other is Mongolian. See the photo!

That's all for now!

What else I'm doing besides going to New Year's parties

Since most of my posts have been about what a great time I've been having in Mongolia you may be wondering if I've actually started doing any research... the answer is yes! Networking is one of the most important parts of research in Mongolia. You never know who you may meet who will know someone who can help you out, who is an expert in your subject, or who knows a good driver, guide, or translator. By hanging out with Mongolians, Fulbrighters, Peace Corps volunteers, English teachers, AYADs (Australian Fulbright/Peace Corps sort of thing) and lots of other people I've found out about some good garden projects and initiatives to follow up on. Now that Tsagaan Sar is over and the craziness has subsided I will be turning on my friendliest self and trying to find out more about these projects and get going with my own. Among other things I need to find a good lab/workshop space.

Also, I found some amazing how-to videos on YouTube on how to make hanging gardens out of old plastic bottles and bags. The idea is marketed for urbanites trying to garden indoors without using a lot of space, but I think this might be an awesome thing to apply to nomads and try on the steppe! Check out this video here of what they look like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugc71yhAfV0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf2jW05TEwU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdjUZnGkm60&feature=related

Tsagaan Sar Festivities

Hello again readers! It has been (another) crazy and busy week! Let me tell you all about my experience of the Mongolian lunar new year known as Tsagaan Sar (White Moon).

Tsagaan Sar officially began Wednesday, Feb 22 and ran until Feb 25th, but preparations began far in advance. I noticed a busy shopping season a week earlier, and lots of frantic last minute shopping in the days right before the holiday. Everyone was stocking up on gifts and food. Me and Holly also stocked up on food after being tipped off that all the stores and markets would be closed during the holiday. Holly braved the mean streets of UB and went to get us eggs and bread. During the hour she was out someone tried to steal her wallet, and then a drunk guy tried to steal her groceries! With things getting a little crazy outside we planned to hole up in our apartment until the holiday was over, but invitations to Mongolian family's homes ultimately drew us out.

Tuesday I went to my host family's home for Tsagaan Sar eve, known as Bituun, which means "to be full". On this day you spend time with your family and feast on side dishes such as potato salad, khuushuur (deep fried mutton pancakes), and creamy or fermented milk products in preparation for the ungodly amount of mutton dumplings you'll be eating over the next few days. I think the point of this day is to expand your stomach. At Bituun I tried a Mongolian food I had never had before, called aarts. It is a slightly fermented soft cheese curd. It is more well known in its dried form, aaraal. In this case it was served steaming hot in milk tea that was sweetened with sugar and raisins. It was a bit strange at first but I actually really liked it! It was definitely Mongolian comfort food.

The next day we got up early. For Tsagaan Sar you go around to all your relatives' houses in order of age, first visiting grandparents or even great grandparents, great aunts and uncles, then aunts and uncles, then cousins, and even some more distant relatives if you are close or if you have time. We waited at home for the first guests to arrive and then did some visiting of our own. Look at these pictures!

Danzka and Muugii's family's Tsagaan Sar spread. Notice lots of side dishes and the centerpiece, a tower of boov, fried dough, and decorated with aaraal, sugar, tos, and candy.

The family's little centerpiece. Here you can see the black and yellow tos. Tos was also a new food I tried. Essentially, it's a paste of butter, flour, sugar, and raisins. I was a big fan, it was like sweetened pie dough with more butter! The black tos used some sort of rye flour I think. It was also tasty, with a nuttier flavour.

Host dad posing in front of the centerpiece and uuts, the back and sides of a whole sheep that is traditionally served on Tsagaan Sar. The oldest man or woman sits at the head of the table and receives the guests first.

A third, tiny centerpiece was erected at the altar where pictures of ancestors and buddhist iconography are displayed. Oil candles and incense are burned, and milk is offered.

A huge piece of mutton, some orom, or fatty boiled milk skin (yum!) and candy.

A guest greeting the dad in the traditional way. I also took part in this ritual greeting. As I was younger than 90% of the people I was greeting, I held their elbows, and they held my shoulders, we sniffed each other on each cheek (instead of kissing) and said "amar baina uu", which sort of means "happiness be with you".

Then the men would exchange snuff bottles, as Danzka is demonstrating. You don't actually take any snuff, you just sniff the top of the bottle, nod your approval, and hand it back. I also got to receive snuff bottles and hand them back, and I went to a family where the woman of the house also had a petite snuff bottle of her own.

Host bro and sis Danzka and Muugii! aka Danzaa and Munkho... aka Danzanravjaa and Munkhjargal... Mongolian nicknames are confusing! But almost no one goes by their given name. Everyone personalizes their name a little in their nickname.

Of course a blog post involving my host family wouldn't be complete without an update on Bambi. She's getting biiiiig and filling out a lot! She's very happy with the host family which is all for the best, since she seems to not have gotten over the bath I gave her, and tries to give me a good nip everytime I walk by.... Perhaps she doesn't remember all the food I fed her either! Ah well, I've completed my puppy community service in any case.

It's warmer now! Like 10 degrees during the day!

Oh no! It has begun. I am lagging behind in my blogging. I will be posting again soon about all the exciting New Year’s festivities, but for now here’s an update about life in Mongolia.

A few days after the buuz-making extravaganza my new roommate Holly moved in! Holly is one of the Fulbright English teaching assistants (ETAs) and has been in Mongolia since last August. She had been living with a Mongolian host family but things were getting stressful and so she was looking for a new place to live. Right about this time I was looking for someone to move in and split the rent. Perfect! The next day we braved the cold and visited the giant outdoor Narantuul market for some additional home goods including some interesting mugs, more plates, an outlet, hangers, and a trashcan. We hadn’t thought about the approaching New Year, and the market was mobbed with people shopping for gifts. It was like Christmas Eve shopping or something. We have to go again tomorrow to get a desk and a table because the market will be closed for a few weeks after Tsagaan Sar. Apparently this is because everyone spends all their money preparing for Tsagaan Sar and there is no point in opening the market until at least a few weeks afterwards.

As we are approaching the 7th nine of winter, the temperature is definitely warming up. It's still cold at night, but during the height of day it gets up to about 10F. The snot in my nose doesn't even freeze! It's so warm you hardly need a hat! Lulled into a false sense of warmth, it's easy to wander around outside for half an hour until you realize that 10F is actually still really cold and you have lost feeling in your toes.

But for keeping warm I'm in luck, since my friend Hannah taught me how to knit! We then spent a day traipsing around UB trying to find yarn, which turns out to be extremely uncommon. For a country full of wool-bearing livestock, this seems odd. We think there must be a place that has it, and hopefully we’ll find it soon!

So that's just a little of what I've been getting up to, I'm also still keeping up with the language learning and networking. I will add more pictures soon and the next post will be about Tsagaan Sar, which is coming up next week!

Bayartai!

Making buuz for Tsagaan Sar

This saturday I got the chance to make buuz, or mutton dumplings, with my former host family in preparation for Tsagaan Sar. Tsagaan Sar, which means "white moon", is the Mongolian new year. Last time I was in Mongolia as a student I arrived after Tsagaan Sar was over, so I'm glad to be able to experience it this time. There are many fascinating customs and rituals associated with Tsagaan Sar. The first day (Feb 21) is called bituun, which means "full". On this day, dressed in your fancy deels (traditional Mongolian coat) you visit your relatives, beginning with the eldest relatives and working your way through your entire extended family. At each home you greet your family members in a certain way based on which of you is older. Then you stuff yourself with buuz and your family members give you a small gift, and you carry on to the next house. I can't help but think... Thanksgiving meets halloween??

For this occasion the women make thousands of dumplings. See the photos!

First the mutton and goat meat was chopped into tiny cubes. Then a salty broth with onions, garlic, pepper, steak sauce, and ginger powder was made. I tasted it at one point and thought it was offensively salty, but everyone else seemed to agree that more salt was needed!

Once the broth is the perfect balance of salty and flavorful they ladle it over the meat and mix it up with their hands.

Next a simple flour and water dough was rolled and cut out to make the dumpling wrappers. We had to find the perfect sized object to make the wrappers. Muugii (my host sister) and Eej (host mother) dashed around the house finding cups, pulling lids off cosmetics jars, and cutting apart soda bottles until the perfect size was found. We had two people rolling and stamping, and 3-5 people at any one time filling and pinching the dumplings.

At least 10 of us crammed into the kitchen! Here you can see the whole operation. The women are Danzka's sister, cousins, aunt, and girlfriend, plus me.

Eventually I got the hang of it. The Mongolians were even impressed! I managed to score an invite to Danzka's aunt's place for Tsagaan Sar due to my "cute" buuz-making abilities.

Overall it took about 4 hours. We made over 1000 buuz. I probably made about 150. Every hour or so we would replenish our strength with sugary drinks, or in this case, freshly steamed buuz!

Bambi is happy as a clam in her new home! She is filling out and eats constantly I'm told. She may turn out to be a big dog after all! Danzka is taking her to the vet next week to get her her shots. She was on a leash to prevent her getting into the kitchen while the buuz were being made.

So that's all I've got for now! Saikhan amraarai! (peace! lit- have a good rest!)

Keeping busy, having a good time in Mongolia!

Saturday I went to meet Hannah, the newest Fulbright who just arrived. I met her and her friend Jon, who she met at the guesthouse, and we went off to a Mongolian cafe for their first taste of suutei tsai. I told them about basic things to look out for in UB, namely pickpockets, drunk men, and muggings. Literally seconds after enlightening them about the crime and safety issues in UB, I got attacked by a drunk man! This on the main street, in the middle of day, walking with friends, surrounded by locals.... it was totally bizarre... the man ran at me like he was going to tackle me.  I pushed him away, set my feet squarely, raised my fists defensively, shoved him in the chest and then pushed past him to rejoin Hannah and Jon. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to analyze the situation at all.

I was a little shaken, but tried to remain calm for Hannah and Jon, since this was literally their first experience in UB! Yikes! Of all days!

We had our suutei tsai, got phones and sim cards, and I showed them my apartment. We planned to go to the Zaisan memorial the next morning.

Sunday, joined by Philip, one of the English teaching Fulbrights, we got up early and headed out into the brisk morning (-20F is just brisk at this point!). We took the bus to the base of the mountain and climbed up the steps and had a wonderful view all to ourselves. After about 15 minutes we were too chilly and went back to the center of town and got hot drinks at a cafe. Then I got a text from a fellow Fulbrighter. Could I watch a puppy for a few days while we tried to find it a home? Since it was going to be a few days until my roommate moved in, I said sure! So we all went to my apartment to await the arrival of the puppy.

They brought the pup over and she was sooooo cuuuute! Right away we put her in the bathtub and gave her her first bath ever, which she was NOT impressed with. Then we dried her off and fed her some puppy food and warm milk, which she liked a lot. Everyone liked playing with her and petting her but no one could keep her. I kept her overnight and played with her and fed her lots of food and she quickly transformed into a happy, vigorous puppy. After asking around I called my Mongolian brother Danzka to see if he knew anyone who wanted a puppy. (It's harder to find homes for female dogs in Mongolia because spaying and neutering is not widespread, and the female will be the one with all the puppies). Surprisingly, but very fortunately, Danzka was planning to get a puppy very soon! He came over with his uncle and friend and they looked her over, patted her, cuddled her, chose to name her Bambi, and then took her back to their place! Yay!

With a roommate moving in soon though, I won't be taking in any more puppies. I found out that one of the English teaching Fulbrights, Holly, who was looking for a cheap place in a central location. She will be moving in in the next week or so.

Next, I will be writing about making buuz at my Mongolian family's house on Saturday. Tsagaan sar, the Mongolian new year festival, is approaching and each family makes hundreds if not thousands of mutton dumplings.