06/06/15
As I write this, I am seated on my couch in my ger that my
host family has set aside for me. I can hear the water dripping in my PC issue
water filter, birds chirping, and the dogs of Enerel that never go completely
quite. #hearinglossisawesome! It is
9PM Mongolian time, and the sun is still two hours from total dark. The
temperature is a nice dry 65 degrees that I am enjoying in comfort.
Yesterday was a whirlwind of emotions, Sally and I attended
PST training together during the day at the college in Darkhan, and then
immediately afterwards we were sent to the hotel to collect our belongings and
board buses to host family sites. It was very sad to say goodbye to Sally
knowing that this will be the first of several goodbyes we must say to each
other throughout the summer, but we will persevere.
The drive to Enerel was all too short (10 minutes) and still
reeling emotionally, I was shepherded up the school walkway to where the host
families were gathered. Almost
immediately we are introduced to the people who will be taking care of us for
the summer. I was placed into a family of five, a mother, father, sister 17,
brother 18, and older brother who is in America learning English.
As I left my group of fellow CYD volunteers placed in
Enerel, I immediately fumbled the basic Mongolian greetings I had been taught,
but was hugged anyway by my very sweet host father and mother. They spoke to me
in Mongolian and chuckled when I have no idea what they are saying. We walked
from the school to the gers carrying my entire luggage, a distance of about a
third of a mile. My host family has given me a ger to live in while I am with
them, and they are staying in the other. I think I can spend an entire blog talking
about gers, so let me just focus on last night.
My host family has been incredibly sweet. They laugh at my
miscommunication and lack of understanding, not in a harsh way, but as one
laughs at a three-year-old who is not using the language right. They fed me a
hearty stew of mutton, cabbage, and various other vegetables for dinner. Prior
to the dinner, I was also served tea, and a variety of snacks, cookies, sweet
spread, and Mongolian style donuts which are only slightly sweet and shaped
more like fat dominoes. The daughter in the family understands some limited
English and conversed with me throughout the meal using a Mongolian/English
phrase book. Topics with my host family started out with how old I was, what is
my profession, what does my wife do, and a pantomime expression of how tall my
fellow male CYD volunteers are. (I stand
almost a foot taller than everyone in my host family. Two of my fellow
volunteers stand a foot taller than me.)
Towards the end of the meal, in a gesture of sincere generosity
and kindness, my host father takes the Mongolian/English phrase book and points
to “Do not worry/be afraid,” and “Let us open our hearts.” It was a really nice
touch to the wonderful hospitality they had given me. Later I was shown into my
ger, and while I did not request more food the table in the ger was laid out in
all of the uneaten goodies from earlier. These I placed in the fridge as soon
as they left, but not before I was shown how to lock the sliding lock on the
door, and instructed on how to say “Help” in Mongolian. (Promptly forgotten, I think there is a limit on how many new words you
can learn in a day.)
I slept really well, the best I have slept yet in Mongolia.
The Peace Corps issues us an enormous winter sleeping bag that will probably keep
us perfectly warm in -40 degrees. It has three layers. I slept with the
innermost one, and part of the middle layer. The outer layer is too hot to
touch in this warm weather of about 50 degrees.
In the morning, I am shown how to fetch water with my host
brother. We walk up the hill behind the gers to a water station, where my
little brother must pay to get water. It becomes evident to me that we went to
the uphill station so that we could more easily take the jugs downhill. My host
brother did not let me help him, because I am still considered the guest.
Hopefully they will let me take part in more chores soon.
After fetching water, my host mother and I descended the
hill to the school where the other CYD volunteers gathered. We then followed
our language/cultural facilitators on a walk around of Enerel so we might know
where everything was. My host mother pointed out words and showed me various
sights along the way. The Enerel market is an enormous maze of shops and
vendors. It may be possible to find almost anything in this market. My host
mother instructed me carefully to beware of thieves in the market and to hold
on tight to my bag.
There are some of you that may be wondering about squat
toilets. This has been something that I have been naively worried about. It
turns out that it is incredibly easy, so easy that I am re-evaluating
American’s system. My host family has a
three walled out-house facing the property fence. The toilet consists of two
boards separated by about 8 inches that one squats over using the boards as
foot rest. Very natural, very easy, it feels like you are setting your system
up for the easiest possible release. Why don’t we do this?
I would also like to finish this blog, by saying that my
host mother is a fantastic cook! I naively
thought that I would lose weight over the summer, but until she and I can
communicate my food intake this will not happen. I think she might be trying to fatten me up
for the winter, more likely this is just a sign of hospitality to give the
guest so much food. I have had mutton
three times with my host family. Each time was a different experience and very
savory. For dinner tonight we had a sort of mutton pasta with handmade noodles
and potatoes. Very good! I had intended to control the portion size, but I
stepped out to my ger for a second. When I returned my plate was 5 inches high!
I ate as much as a could and then in an effort to not be rude or waste any took
the rest to my ger for later.
In the evening, Sally and I are able to share our adventures
via telephone. Overall this has been a really neat experience so far. My host
family is wonderful and very kind. I will continue to integrate in the hopes of
learning the language quickly.
~Caleb
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