Climbing Ondorkhaan Mountain (Өндөрхаан Уул Авираж Байна)

            Monday marked the 15^th day after Цагаан Сар and is considered to be a lucky/special day. For this reason, a number of my male teachers and I left school in the early afternoon to climb to the top of Ondorkhaan Mountain to seek a blessing for the coming school year. Like most things in Mongolia, I was not aware of this until about 5 minutes after they left, but luckily I was still able to catch a ride in one of the two cars going out to the mountain.

            The mountain is situated about 20 miles to the north east of Chinggis Town, and it takes about 30-40 minutes to get there over dirt roads through empty valleys. (If you look on Google maps it is the green area north of town.) Mongolians are masters of trailblazing with their small cars, and one can reach the “parking area” through a number of rutted roads. From the parking area, it is a short 1.5 miles to the top with about 500 ft of elevation change. Unfortunately, women are not allowed to summit this mountain because it is considered sacred.

            This tradition of men climbing mountains to be closer to God goes back thousands of years in Mongolian history to nomadic times. In the time of Chinggis Khan, men would remove their belts and hats as they summited the mountains in respect of the god of eternal blue sky. Nowadays it is still common for Mongolian men to make pilgrimages to various sacred mountains throughout the year. While I do not support the gender inequality of this tradition, it still is a powerful experience. I have always found mountain tops to be one of the few places where I feel any spiritual connection with the world, so it is neat to celebrate this with people in a completely different country.

            We made the climb, rather quickly in the usual testosterone filled way, and summited near the sacred Овоо. ( Овоо—Awaah—refers to a pile of sacred stones usually placed on mountain tops) This particular овоо was larger than most I have seen and domed with sacred scripts and stones. It is hard to date овооs. The Russians made a mess of destroying most of the scared sites in Mongolia during the cold war, but they may not have bothered with piles of rocks on tops of mountains being more focused on annihilating traditional monasteries and monks. It is possible that the older Овоо on sacred mountains date back hundreds of years.

            Once we reached the Овоо, an offering was made to ancestors and the earth. We presented food on an altar, and sprinkled vodka and milk around the овоо. Rice and bread were also shared and distributed around the sacred site. (This sharing of food is a tradition in a number of religions and simply celebrates thankfulness with god/ancestors/the earth.) Each one of us journeyed around the Овоо three times in a clockwise manner saying prayers or meditating on the beauty of the world.

            The wind blew fiercely from the northeast and the back side of the Овоо. On this side, one’s hands seemed to freeze in a matter of seconds, and the camera really didn’t work. Other than the wind, the day was a pleasant 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

            Once all of the offerings were made, the teachers felt that they had represented our school well on the sacred mountain. We retired behind a clump of boulders and finished off the rest of the vodka and snacks we had.  Snuff bottles were passed and toasts were made to a successful school year. I had a couple of Hot Hands in my pockets which I distributed to some of the colder teachers. PCVs in Mongolia have learned never to go into the country with a group of Mongolians without a firm return date and time established. I knew we could not stay on the mountain for long since everyone was eager to return to town to receive blessings from their local monk on this lucky day, so after a hasty decent we returned to the cars. (Most Mongolians practice a combination of Tibetan Buddhism and Shamanism. This practice of lucky days seems to be an example of this. Think of holy days of obligation with Catholics or Easter with most other Christians.)

            It took me a few days to recover from this hike. I have been walking on flat ground with the occasional climb of three stories to Kyra’s office for four months, so while my mind was ecstatic about climbing Ondorkhaan Mountain, my body was/is hurting.

~Caleb 

Pizza

            Sally and I have had a lot of success making pizza in Mongolia. It is always satisfying to dine on something that taste like home, and all the ingredients can be bought in most aimag centers in Mongolia. My only warning to PCVs is that I use a small oven, which I know not everyone has, but it is possible to create a baking apparatus using a ger stove. I don’t know how, but other PCVs have done this with success.

The Dough (makes two 8 by 12 pizzas or one large calzone/Stromboli)

A dab of sugar

4 cups of flour

7 grams of instant yeast (Half of a small Mongolian bought packet. Packet is white and has Instant Yeast in English)

1 tsp of salt and desired seasoning

1 ½ cup of water (You can always add more later if need be)

¼ cup of oil, plus 1/8 cup of oil

1.      Warm up the water to slightly hotter than lukewarm. Add the yeast and sugar, and let sit for five minutes or until the yeast looks bubbly. While the yeast is sitting, mix the flour with salt and seasoning in large bowl. (I have taken to seasoning my dough with Cajun season from the US or locally bought oregano. I usually add seasoning until the flour takes on the desired smell; just be careful not to over salt anything.) You should also prepare another bowl with about 1/8 cup of oil on the bottom to place dough in to rise.

2.      Mix the water/yeast and ¼ cup of oil with the flour and salt. Stir until it is mixed somewhat, then dump the whole mixture on a smooth surface and knead for 10 minutes. When it is one solid cohesive mixture, I will throw it in the air to mix more air into the dough. (if you know Italian songs, now’s the time to sing them.)

3.      Place the kneaded dough in the oiled bowl and roll it around until it is covered in oil. Place it in a warm, moist environment for 30 minutes. If you have a microwave, heat a mug half full of water for 5 minutes while you are kneading the dough. Leave the mug in the microwave and put the bowl of dough in front of it. Shut the door, and let sit for 30 minutes. (Don’t microwave the dough)

If you do not have this luxury, it is a little harder to create this environment. Use a water boiler to boil some water while kneading the dough. Pour some water into a cup of bowl and place bowl of dough next to it. Then try placing tupin over both. If you are in a ger in the winter perhaps place everything at a warm distance from the stove.

Sauce and Toppings

1 can of tomato paste

Salt, pepper, sugar, hopefully oregano

Garlic Chopped

Onion Chopped

Cheese, ideally grated, but chopped is fine too

Whatever else you want to put on top of your Pizza

While the dough rising, prepare everything else. 

For the sauce, open the paste and pour into a small bowl. Season with sugar, salt, pepper, and oregano until it reaches desired taste. Beware of over salting! But if you do, you can recover to an extent with sugar. (Some people add garlic and onion to the sauce. I prefer to sprinkle raw chopped garlic and onion on top of the sauce after it is spread on the dough.)

Prepare the rest of the toppings on a plate for easy reach when creating the pizza. Finally, oil a baking pan to place the dough in. If you do not have a baking pan create one with aluminum foil. This is usually done by taking a sheet of foil and folding the edges in until desired size is created.

Create the Pizza!

The dough should now be about twice its original size. Half it and spread it out on the oiled pan. Add sauce followed by garlic, onion, cheese, and other desired toppings. Place in oven and bake for appropriate amount of time. Our oven in Mongolia does not really adjust temperature, so I usually put it to its highest setting and leave the pizza for about 20-30 minutes. The cheese should appear melted, not burnt. The dough should appear cooked and a knife should be able to easily slide into it without sticking. Remove from oven, let sit a few minutes and enjoy!

The dough is the hardest part to making a pizza, once you have mastered this feel free to experiment and do whatever you desire. I have made calzones, strombolis, broccoli cheese stuffed rolls etc…

~Caleb 

Milestones

Caleb and I have been in Mongolia for 9 months. We have been at our site for 6 months. That means a quarter of our Peace Corps service is complete. Only 18 more months to go. Time goes by quickly when you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer, or at least it does for me.

 

Valentine's Day Menu

We celebrated our 1^st of 2 Valentine’s days in Mongolia. It was a nice day. We realized after some discussion that our apartment is the best place to eat in our city. So, I decided we should prepare ourselves a 5-course meal.

Course 1: Beer Cheese Soup

Course 2: Tzatziki Bites

Course 3: Spicy Carrot Salad

Course 4: Honey Dijon Chicken with Herb Rice

Course 5: Warm Chocolate Chip Cookies, al la mode
(Sorry it's a little dark, the sun had set by this point)

And the only ingredient that we didn't buy here was the chocolate chips! It is possible to cook great food here! Caleb and I are both becoming better cooks at time passes. 

Birthday cards from family

Last Friday was my birthday! I am 25 years old, a quarter century. So this also means I have celebrated one of the two birthdays I will have in Mongolia. It was also a nice day. I only had to teach one class at school that day, followed by a class for adults at the Education Department. Teaching adults is great! I really like it. Caleb got me some nice presents. 

A giant box of dark chocolate.

A four set of "shagai" or anklebones. With these, you can tell your fortune. We hope to get more eventually, so as to play some of the other traditional Mongolian shagai games. 

And a Mongolian cashmere cardigan! 

Caleb and I have almost made it through an entire year of Mongolian holidays, as well. Naadam (the summer festival of the three manly sports), Shin Jil (New Year's) and Tsaagan Sar (the Lunar New Year) are the three major holidays here, and we've experienced them all. There are a few more minor holidays left before we start the cycle over again.

With our work, Caleb is making headway with our city's Family and Child Development Center where he is working with children with disabilities. And all of the schools are preparing for the academic English Olympiad which will happen in March (I think), which is keeping both of us busy. 

It is slowly warming up outside, and I am looking forward to seeing what Mongolian spring is like. Some say it's the worst season in our city because of the extreme changing temperatures, dust storms, and thunderstorms. But I haven't seen or heard rain since October, so I say bring it on! 

~Sally

Цагаан Сар—Tsagaan Sar—White Moon/Month

            Last week was a major Mongolian holiday in which the schools were off; really the whole country was shut down. Shipments to stores stopped and all the bread and milk disappeared. It was the festival of Цагаан Сар which marks the beginning of the lunar New Year. There are a number of customs and traditions that make this holiday really unique, so before I tell you what Sally and I were up to let me explain how the holiday works.

What is Цагаан Сар, Anyways?!?

            Basically everybody visits everybody. It is traditional to wear Mongolian winter deels. Since Sally and I have not bought these yet, we wore our summer deels that our host families gave us for Надаам (Nadaam).  The food for the holiday is Бууз (buuz—steamed dumplings), and the drink is Архи (vodka). The holiday is broken up into three specific days. The first two days are spent visiting family, and the last is for friends and coworkers. Usually a married couple will visit the husband’s family on the first day, and the wife’s family on the second, or for convenience, whichever is closer followed by the out of town family.

            Guests arrive at a host house and greet the host with a Хадаг (hadag—a traditional cloth made of silk). This ceremony involves touching forearms. The person who is older places their forearms on top of the younger person.  If there is an elder (Grandmother or Grandfather) in the house sometimes the guest will present the elder with money. Guest are then seated at a table with an elaborate spread that includes a massive amount of food in the form of potato salad, candy, fruit, and other various side dishes. Every household has a circular centerpiece made out of a traditional type of bread and filled with sweets and dried cheese curds. The layers of bread signify the age, prestige, and wealth of a family. Young families only have three layers. Older families sometimes have five or seven layers. The Prime Minister might have 9 layers. Odd numbers are important during Цагаан Сар. Also on every family’s table will be a large slab of meat. Younger families usually use the chest/breastplate of a cow. Older families often have the back of a sheep. This meat is sliced off throughout the meal and presented to the guest. The process of cooking these enormous slabs of meat is a mystery to me, but I believe it is often blow torched and then steamed in a large barrel (maybe oil drum) over a coal or wood stove.

            Guests enjoy the feast of the table while the female host steams premade бууз. It is good luck for a family to prepare a lot of бууз for Цагаан сар. The typical Mongolian family will make between 700-1500 бууз in the weeks preceding this celebration. The dumplings are then frozen in large freezers or on an apartment balcony. Guests are usually presented with a plate of between 10 and 20 бууз. It is polite to eat a minimal of 3 бууз in each household. Men are often expected to eat more. While the бууз are being eaten, the male host will prepare vodka shots and distribute them to guests. Most hosts expect their guests to take at least 3 shots during a meal. The minimum you can take is one. Again odd numbers are important so if you drink a fourth shot, you are expected to drink a fifth.   It is very difficult to refuse alcohol on this holiday. Mongolians can sometimes take this as an insult. Often the male host will also remove a traditional snuff bottle and pass it to the guest to sniff or take a pinch of snuff as they desire.

            After the guest have eaten a number of бууз and drank a number of shots, they are presented with a gift by the host. These gifts are usually small (unless you are visiting family). Examples of typical gifts include chocolate bars, socks, money, soap, keychains, etc. Once the guest receives the gift it is polite to leave the house and continue to the next destination. Mongolians will sometimes visit between 5-15 houses in one day! This adds up to a lot of gifts, бууз, and vodka.

         This sums up what the adults and teenagers are doing, but what about the children ages 5-13? As far as I could tell they run free in the warmer weather of the thawing winter. Usually the children go through the neighborhood knocking on everyone’s doors. The host opens the door, exclaims at the pretty deels the children are wearing, and gives each child a gift. This gift is usually chocolate of some sort or crisp new money of a small denomination. So while the adults are feasting, the children are experiencing essentially three days of trick-or-treat. People living in apartment buildings will hear knocks on their door almost non-stop for these three days. When a host runs out of money or treats, they just stop answering the door for the children, who wander the streets in packs communicating quickly where the best houses are.   

Quick facts:

            During the Цагаан Сар holiday, Mongolians often spend almost a quarter of their yearly income. This is sometimes achieved through loans from the bank for holiday purposes. It is also estimated that the average Mongolian will kiss a hundred people during the 3 days. The holiday is a celebration of family and giving with tradition embedded throughout. For women this can be a very busy holiday. Imagine preparing a thanksgiving feast for three straight days. For men it can be a very foggy holiday, since they are expected to drink so much more.

What were Sally and I up to during this cultural explosion?!?

            Over the course of the holiday, Sally and I visited five houses which was a nice number for us. Usually PCVs end up visiting more houses, but because Sally and I are married the Mongolians often give us more privacy and don’t worry about us as much since we are a family. The holiday also focuses on family, so unless you are living with a Mongolian family (many PCVs live in gers in compounds with Mongolian families) it is sometimes difficult to hitch a ride to these festivities. In our case, we were happy to be invited to five houses and it was more than enough for us to celebrate the holiday with.

            We started the holiday out by visiting one of my English teacher’s houses on the evening before the first day. (Цагаан Сар eve) This was very nice of her, because this evening is usually reserved for nuclear family. She prepared a traditional feast with some nice American dishes as well. (Fried Chicken!) It was a very pleasant meal and they were very helpful in explaining how Цагаан Сар works. Her husband being a very nice guy, invited us to join him the next morning to see the first sunrise of the new year which is a Mongolian tradition.

Day 1

            The next morning after an evening of feasting and a half of a bottle of vodka, I rolled out of bed and jumped into his car at 7:20AM to see the New Year’s sun. Sally opted to sleep, which was more traditional of her since usually only the men and children go to a high place to see the sun rise. We drove to the gate outside of town where a massive Овоо (awaah—traditional marker that is placed in sacred places usually on mountains, consult earlier blog post) marked a shamanistic site. There, a couple of hundred cars parked in the hillside and Mongolians got out watching the sun rise over the eastern ridge. I busied myself with taking pictures of the city at dawn, and almost leaped out of my skin when the sun crested the ridge and several hundred Mongolians raised their arms to the sky and shouted at the tops of their lungs. It was later explained to me that this is the same word that Mongolians have shouted for centuries, and in the time of Chinggis Khan it meant “Charge!!” Many people brought rice and milk to throw as the sun rose. This seems to symbolize sharing your food with nature/god. The sun risen, we walked around the овоо in a clockwise manner periodically throwing rice and returned to the city; me to bed.

            That day Sally and I were invited to a teacher’s house from Sally’s school. It was a pleasant experience where the limitations of our Mongolian were painfully obvious. We participated in all of the traditional aspects of the meal. This teacher had a milky substance in a 2 liter bottle that she offered to us. I suspected Айраг (airag—fermented mare’s milk), but she called in unfamiliar word “Koumiss.” It turns out that this is the Kazak word for Айраг and we found ourselves having to finish a healthy portion of the sour liquid which is more typically drunk at Naadam.  My experience with this drink has taught me that it is an acquired taste that I may never acquire.

             While eating, Sally discovered a Japanese Yen embedded in one of her бууз. It turns out that sometimes families will hide a coin in one dumpling out of the hundreds they make. It is said to be real good luck if you find the coin. Naturally, Sally, who has perfected these random acts of luck, would find the coin in the first house we went to on the first day of Цагаан Сар.

Second Day

            The next day, one of my English teachers who lives with his parents invited us to shadow him. We started the day off at his parents’ house, and then traveled to my social workers house. We ended the day at our third house which was the English teacher’s brother’s house. Upon exiting this last house, I judged my sobriety to not be quite what I would like, so we called it a day and returned home.

Third Day

            Having long ago run out of candy for the children we shut our door, and stayed home on this last day attempting to feel hungry again. I estimate that I may have eaten 50 бууз over the course of two days (five houses), and drank a minimum of 5 shots of vodka at every house. Sally’s final count was closer to twenty бууз. 

            Overall it was a fun holiday, Sally and I were able to practice our Mongolian, and hang out with new friends. Mongolians can be incredibly hospitable, and Цагаан Сар brings out the best of this trait.

~Caleb

 

Write On, Turkey

The Write On! 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners

Action shot! Writing the winners names on the certificate

A week ago on January 30^th, my aimag held its first ever English creative writing competition. Write On! is an international creative writing competition established by Peace Corps. Last year in Mongolia, I believe only three aimags participated. This year, the idea was that all 21 aimags participate. I’m not sure if this goal was realized, but I know there were many more who participated than there were last year.

I am a TEFL volunteer, and I’m currently the only TEFL volunteer in my aimag center. Thus, I was elected by other Write On people to be Khentii’s Aimag Coordinator. I was a little nervous about this when I found out. I thought a PCV in their second year would be a better candidate. But I soon realized I was glad to be taking on the responsibility.

Addressing the contestants with the Foreign Language Methodologist

I worked with Khentii’s Foreign Language Methodologist at the Education Department to spread the word to the 25 schools in our aimag. We hosted the event at Caleb’s school, and I had a lot of help from Caleb’s CPs during the planning process. All my wonderful sitemates were super helpful, too!

All the judges from the event (minus Ian who took the picture)

The event took up most of the Saturday, getting kicked off at 10 and wrapping up around 3. There were 6 PCVs (the four of us in the aimag center and two soumers) who helped and judged, and 9 Mongolian English teachers also helped and judged. Students from grades 6-12 competed, and one Mongolian and one American judged each grade. There were some really creative essays in the mix. It’s amazing what the students can come up with, especially when writing in a non-native language! I couldn’t imagine writing a story in Mongolian, but these students did great! The first places from each grade will be sent to the national competition, and then the national winners will be sent to the international competition. I hope some of our students are chosen as national winners!

Overall, it was a good event. We all learned a lot of things to improve for next year, but for a first time event, it went well.

Turkey!

After the long competition was over, the six Americans went back to our apartment to finally cook the turkey that Peace Corps gave us for the holidays back in December. Khentii’s one Korean volunteer also joined us in the evening. It was Caleb’s first time cooking a turkey, but it turned out so great! He used the Cajun seasoning his parents sent, and it was a beautiful, tasty turkey. Caleb also had made deviled eggs the day before, and he made stuffing the day of. Kyra brought mashed potatoes, and Feebee made a lovely golden macaroni and cheese. Ian, Stephen, and Yeowon all brought various drinks, desserts, and other snacks. It was truly a feast. Later in the evening, I also baked brownies. Mmmmm!

Deviled eggs and mac-n-cheese

Rice cooker stuffing

It was a great time to talk with everyone and bask in the afterglow of the tryptophan. A little late for the American calendar, I know, but still great nonetheless.

It was a very busy weekend, but the Mongolian holiday of Tsagaan Sar is near. Caleb and I both have an entire week off from work starting yesterday, Monday February 8^th. This week we will have plenty of time to relax, eat buuz, and finish our required Peace Corps triannual report…

Happy Lunar New Year, all!