June 3rd! DUNKHAR!
The third we travelled to Dunkhar. It was a four hour drive. We kept ourselves busy with trivia, and just checking out the countryside. I now understand why they call it land of blue skys and rolling hills. For as far as the eye can see you see landscape, hills, and the occasional sheep herder with his flock. Of course there is also the small villages…(I use the words village loosly because you may see 2 Gers or 20 huts with a fence around them). I can completely see why so much of Mongolia is practically untouched.
June 4 Welcome Ceremony!
Today we had our first day of language class and orientation! The welcome ceremony was AMAZING. The had a dancer, two singers, a flexible little girl and a little girl who played a interesting looking instrument.
Language class went by extrememly fast. I learned basics…hello, proper and inproper, my name is, excuse me. Etc. THe language is hard but doable with practice. They have sounds that are not in the American vocabulary. OOOO’s and aaaahs, and throat growling, tongue flipping etc. It’s great!
We also broke into our groups so I was with all of the Community and Youth development volunteers.I learned that past volunteers in CYD had created a plethora of programs for their community. From creating and opening a development center to creating fitness and health clubs, to peer education programs. Needs are communitybased so, I am excited to get to my final site and work with my counterpart (which is a Mongolian local) and determine how I can help.
WE received our health kits today! I have medication for every ailment I could possibly get! In the next week or so we are supposed to receive our medication for the BUBONIC PLAGUE!!! While no one has gotten the plague, apparently we could if Marmot is not prepared properly!
On a side note, I will NEVER AGAIN take the availability of toilet paper and FREE WATER for grantide. In the united states we go through paper like no ones business (pun intended). Water is easily accessible to drink and FREE ANYWHERE. TOILET PAPER is available in every store, bathroom, restaurant, rest stop etc. Here, it is impossible to find! You have to carry your own toilet paper when you travel because the outhouses do not have it…most business do not have it, even the hotel where we stayed out did not want to give us more toilet paper! It is advisable in Mongolia to buy water bottles and fill it up at the start of everyday out of your own personal water filter. It is so easy to remember how spoiled we are, until we go to another country!
June 5,
Today we had Cultural Fair. We learned about the many customs that Mongolians have. For instance, when you are offered food or drink you roll down your sleeves (going through the motion, symbolicly if you don't have them), rest your left hand under your right elbow and take the food palm up. Rolling down up your sleeves symbolizes that you want to fight, so rolling down your sleeves represents that you are here as a friend. You are also supposed to TAP, not hit the bottom of a plate before you take something from the plate itself. When serving people you are supposed to serve from the oldest to the youngest. It is respectful. Mongolians will also try to insist you drink a shot of vodka. It is suggested that the first time you are offered a drink, that you should not take it. If you take a full shot, you will be expected to keep drinking. While the head of the household may be persistent in giving you the drink, it is best to keep denying it so that it is not assumed you are there to get drunk and partaaaay. When a bottle is opened, Mongolians make an offering by dipping their finger in the vodka and flicking up and to the side.
As American's we are obsessed with time! How long is it going to take to get there? How long do I have to complete this task etc...In Mongolia if you ask someone these time related questions, especially when it comes to the length of trips, it is considered bad luck because you could jinx the trip!
Breast milk in this country is considered lucky and will bring god health. In the United States it is taboo to breast feed past one and a half or two....here, it is normal to breast feed till the ages of seven. It is also believed in Mongolian culture that if an individual is sick, they believe drinking a healthy relatives urine will make them healthy.
Below I have uploaded some pictures of what we were able to try yesterday. It is a sheep head and instestines. I Enjoyed, the head, liver, heart, and kidney's but the intestine was foul. I will try to stay away from that if I am served! Children usually will eat the ears and tongue and the rest is left for the adults.
I also uploaded this picture of horses in the truck. I saw it on the way to dinner and can only assume they are going to be slaughtered since they do eat horse here!
I saw these little guys yesterday coming home from training. While it is now taboo for our generation to allow children to run around with toy guns, I can only imagine this looks very similiar to the United States when our parents were growing up, as cowboy and indian play was normal!
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