Country Pictures

Just a little taste of the country life, Mongolian style!

Where the Streets Have No Names

We found the location that must have inspired U2 to write that song. We ventured out into the country beyond UB for the first time Saturday. Since we have arrived, the vast majority of our time in Mongolia has been in the city or just outside of it. However, to get a full taste of what Mongolia is like, we were told we needed to get out into the countryside and experience the vast openness of the Steppe.

Our journey Saturday was to take us to a religious site known as Mother Rock that is roughly 2 hours or 100 Kilometers from UB. Roughly is the best way to describe the trip. The first 45 minutes of the trip were on a paved road that was only slightly pocked with holes of various sizes. Once we reached a particular small country town, the road transformed! What had only been moderately bumpy quickly changed into a chiropractor's nightmare. For the next hour and a half, our poor Land Cruiser shook so hard we thought it was going to start loosing pieces. The road also went from a moderate two lane highway to a maze of 12 to 30 different lanes all criss-crossing back and forth across each other. The purpose for this is to provide drivers the option of choosing the lane that looks less bumpy.

Aside from the bumpy ride, we had an incredible time! It did not take us long after leaving the city to discover that Mongolia is truly one of the last frontiers on the planet. There were times when we could see miles of rolling hills and grassland without any sign of human presence. Other times we would be admiring the vastness only to discover a lone Ger complete with a heard of sheep or horses.

The trip, including a visit to Mother Rock and a Ger, took up the majority of our day, and we were exhausted by the time we arrived home. However, it was truly exciting to see and experience more of this wonderful country!

Snow in September

Yesterday we were told that the weather forecast for today was snow and cold temperatures. However, yesterday's high temperature was somewhere around 80 degrees. We were a bit sceptical to say the least. Our doubts were proven inaccurate this morning when we woke up to a below freezing temperature and snow. We were flabbergasted! Never in our lives had we seen snow in the month of September, but living in Mongolia changes a lot of things. Some of you reading this may think that snow now is horrible, but we are rather relieved that it is colder. Four days ago the heat for our building was turned on; however, it was still 70 degrees during the day. We were about to roast in our apartment. So, we are thankful that we now have a reason for our heat to be running.
Around noon we walked to the open air market to do some shopping. We bundled up and set out into the snow. I am not talking about a snow sprinkle. I am talking almost blizzard like conditions. Our shopping was productive even though we got a little cold at times.
Now we are bundled up at home enjoying some hot chocolate and the rest of our Saturday!

Field Trip

After a week and a half of Mongolian language classes, one of our teachers took us for a field trip today. It was an opportunity to visit a couple places in town that we had not been to yet and put some of our new words to use. First, we visited the post office. It is a very large building on one of the main thoroughfares of the city. Here we were to buy stamps and postcards. I was thrilled at the idea of getting stamps! However, the ones we bought today are for more useful purposes than a Philatelic pursuit. We also purchased some beautiful post cards displaying different aspects of Mongolian life and culture. After the post office, we ventured to a local book store selling items written by like-minded people. It was fun trying to read the covers! We purchased a few items and then headed home. On the way, my roving eye caught sight of a store called the Brick House tucked away in a row of buildings. The next thing I saw caused me to change direction immediately. It was a Lego sign! Up until now I had not seen any Legos in all of the city, but upon entering the store I saw enough Legos to make my heart giddy! Unfortunately for me, they are all way out of my price range, but if any of you consider a donation for Josh's Lego craze it would be greatly appreciated! :) (Part of me is just kidding; part of me is serious!)

Testing

After a busy week of language class, we were ready to crash for the weekend. However, there was still work to be done, and we were asked to participate in the activities. On Friday, one of our co-workers called and asked if we would help her and two other teachers give a test to prospective English students on Saturday. Seeing this as a great opportunity to get into the classroom scene, we offered our time. On Saturday, we were met and escorted to the west side of town by one of the teachers we were helping. The reason she came all the way into town to get us was we had not yet ridden a bus. Now, we are all about buses, but when you still don't speak the language making sure you get on the right bus can be a challenge. The bus ride itself was fun with plenty of bumps, jars, and jerks. We made it to the west side in record time due in part to the fact that most everything gets out of the way of a bus. We helped with the test which took about three hours. There were not a lot of possible students, but a large majority of the test takers passed. Afterwards, our co-teachers provided dinner, tacos and cornbread. It may sound like a weird combo, but it was a great taste of home. Following dinner, we rode home in a taxi. This was our first solo taxi ride. Taxis here are almost all privately owned vehicles of people looking to earn a little extra cash. We were able to converse with the driver enough to get home. Plus, we put a smile on our driver's face when Jennifer and Jess, one of our teammates, sang along with the radio. In Mongolian, I reminded the driver that they are foreigners and then had to confess that I am too. That made him smile even more!
We will not actively teach until next semester, but being in the classroom was a nice reminder of what we are here to do. We also enjoyed the opportunity to visit more with three of our co-teachers and see them in action. I guess it gives us something to look forward to as long as we can survive language study.

Language Lisps

The head guy for our organization here in Mongolia has a great saying about life. He says that there are things that you don't even know you didn't know. That may sound confusing, but it makes a lot of sense when you step into a completely different culture. There are a lot of things about life that we didn't even know we didn't know until we got here, including the sounds a human mouth can make. It is very unfortunate for us that there are letters and sounds in the Mongolian alphabet that have no counterpart in the English alphabet. In fact, some of them sound right down impossible to make. Even worse is when multiple of said letters come in the same word. For example, the Mongolian word for lion has a rolling R followed by an IS sound followed by an L made by putting the tip of the tongue on the roof of the mouth and blowing air out the sides, and that is only part of the word. Now if that doesn't sound painful enough for you, try putting all of those sounds together and making them understandable. Also, there are seven basic vowels and six auxiliary vowels. This means there are 13 vowels in Mongolian, and many of them sound so similar that our ears cannot identify the difference. While we may struggle with such sounds, we are amazed by the sounds that can be made. Learning a new language is a very humbling experience.

A Few Pics

This is the view from the new house of our Cultural Relations Director.

We got to visit the ger pictured below which is owned by the man pictured above and his wife. They were very hospitable giving us traditional milk tea and some cookies and candies. All was very delicious!

Learning the Language

This morning we began our Mongolian language class. We are being taught by two Mongolian ladies who work for our organization here in UB. The classes are being held at the office which is just fine for us because we live less than a block from the office. We began our day with anticipation and butterflies (in our stomach of course). It has been said that Mongolian is one of the top most difficult languages for an English speaker to learn. There are sounds that are unnatural to us. There are combinations of letters that sound impossible to make. However, we have a couple of wonderful teachers. It is their first time teaching Mongolian, but we did remind them that this is our first time learning Mongolian. We will just help each other through this process. We started out this morning by learning a portion of letters in the Mongolian alphabet. Mongolian uses the Cyrillic alphabet which has a few letters similar to the Latin alphabet; however, few of them have the same sound. The H actually has an N sound while the P has an R sound. There are also some letters that just look weird.
We also worked on introductions, how to ask someones name, some verbs, and how to count from 1 to 10. Our heads hurt after the class, but we learned several new words and phrases that we did not know going into class. We have a long road ahead of us. Our class will continue every week day from 9 am to noon until January. However, we are hopeful of the possibilities! Understanding the language will allow us to interact with the people around us. We will be able to build meaningful relationships with the people of the community. We will be able to feel like a useful member of our new home. We will be able to share our story of hope and joy!
This afternoon we were able to put some of our language into use at the local market. This morning we learned the Mongolian names for several animals and how to order meat. Up until now we had not been brave enough to purchase meat, but today we marched into the meat section and bought lamb using only Mongolian. It may not have been a lot, but it was a small victory. It proved that we can learn Mongolian and that we can communicate effectively!

Walking Hazards

Mongolia is really a great country. The more we learn about its culture and history the more we are interested in it. One unique aspect of living in Mongolia is walking. I have shared in previous posts that we have been walking a lot. That in and of itself does not seem like a big deal, but you have probably never walked in Mongolia if you are thinking that way. It takes a lot of skill and focus to move from place to place. First, due to the unusual amount of rain this summer, there are often large puddles. Some, I thought, rivaled Loch Ness in size. Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but they are often very large nonetheless. Second, many man holes around the city are left uncovered. It is very important to watch out for these unless one would like to explore the underground passages of UB. Third, no sidewalk is completely even. Many have been the times that I have already tripped. I find myself walking with my eyes on my feet. These things only make life a little more interesting. It may be challenging sometimes, but we have learned to take one step at a time, both while walking and while adjusting to the culture. We know that we are not going to adjust overnight or that we are going to learn Mongolian in a week. We may be adults, but in many ways we are becoming like children again. It will take us time to learn, but with work and perseverance we will complete our journey.