Back to regular service!
Now it is warming up we are trying to make the most of it before the nasty spring wind and sand storms start up. So last weekend after my debating club class I headed out to the local monastery in Ulaanbaatar - Gandan Monastery. It is just outside the city center and is a spot of tranquility in a noisy busy city. I didn't go inside as there didn't seem to be any members of the public going into the temple, only the lamas. But the temples were beautiful from the outside as were the prayer wheels and the other monument things. There were a lot of people trying to sell you seeds to feed the birds - but there were absolutely tons of people buying them so I didn't feel like I was starving the poor birds. It was a nice walk out there and I can see myself going out there again when I need some peace and quiet.
I decided to be brave and on the way back went to the hairdressers. Although the receptionist spoke decent English and was able to translate for me, I still ended up looking like a 1950's house wife! They started back combing and even thought I tried to stop it they just kept going! Luckily once I washed it myself, blow dried it and straightened it it was ok. I'm still not convince yet though!
I had a quiet Sunday just doing stuff around the apartment and then heading to church, because I went part time last week. I was working from home for CMTU last week because I was doing an 8 hour training this week. It allowed me to get a lot of stuff done and to have 2 quieter days which was much appreciated! It was great in terms of work at MEA as it condensed what I am doing and means people have to concentrate on what they want me to do on the days I am there.
The weekend just gone was extremely busy because of the beautiful weather. I started it off by doing my first debate class on public speaking techniques. It seemed to go well and they seemed to take on board what I was saying. It was also helpful as it seemed to make the kids more comfortable talking to me which is great as I would love to learn more about Mongolia through them. We are struggling to teach them critical thinking as they don't seem to be able to construct effective arguments. We are not sure what we are going to do, but hopefully we will find some divine inspiration!
After debate club I headed to Choijin Lama monastery which is a museum where you can walk through all the temples without worrying about offending anyone. It was very beautiful (although very repetitive!) but there were a couple of rather disturbing temples full of pictures of dismemberment, people being pulled about and rather graphic sex images!! I hadn't labelled buddism as a violent religion, but it must have been in the past in Mongolia! But it is well worth a visit.
I got up early on Sunday and with Melinda who was up visiting from Arvaikheer I went for a walk in the hills around UB. Another volunteer had told me that you could take the number 18 bus out to the end of the line and you arrive at the end of a ger district. So off we headed. After a few false starts we eventually made it to the end of the line and we headed off up a hill! Due to the extreme cold all winter I haven't been getting out much and I am ridiculously unfit! But we stopped half way up at an ovoo and then made it to the top eventually. It was well worth it as once you reach the top of the hill you are looking out over the hills around Mongolia - it is just empty hills and scenery. It was a lovely 1.5 hour walk although it is still a little bleak. It will be absolutely beautiful in the summer. It is great to know that there are good walks close by UB - I will be making the most of it when the weather is good.
So we headed back into UB and out to a late lunch with some other volunteers. This was then followed by a trip to Swan lake the ballet. the ballet and the opera are on every week in UB and Swan lake was absolutely beautiful and the dancers were mostly fantastic. The only thing that was irritating were the unsupervised children who talked all through it. Apparently this is just how things are done here!
So after a busy weekend I headed into a crazy busy week with an 8 hour fundraising training on the Monday and part time hours the rest of the week!
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
A public service announcement
Hopefully you have all see the news reports on the BBC and heard of the appeal the red cross is having right now to try and help the hundreds and thousands of herders in Mongolia cope with the awful winter we have been having. This weather phenomenon is called a dzud and it refers to an extremely cold winter with lots of snow that follows on from a very dry summer meaning there is very little fodder available. This results in animals dying and because the herders rely on their animals for food and to make money there are now people as well as animals starving.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8592408.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8593302.stm
Although it is now warming up its currently around freezing most days. This actually isnt a good thing necessarily because when there is the extreme cold there is no snow, something you don't always realise is it can be too cold for snow to form. Now we are getting a lot more snow and this is leading to more problems for these families.
It is easy for us to forget about this in UB where we still have plenty of food and the snow gets blown away pretty quick and we have lots of central heating. But we are starting to see the signs here too - it started with prices going up for basic foods like potatoes. Now the meat that is on sale is looking pretty scrawny and isn't too tasty. None of this obviously compares to the devastation occuring in the countryside, but it starts to make life for those in the city living on ridiculously low wages more difficult as well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8592408.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8593302.stm
Although it is now warming up its currently around freezing most days. This actually isnt a good thing necessarily because when there is the extreme cold there is no snow, something you don't always realise is it can be too cold for snow to form. Now we are getting a lot more snow and this is leading to more problems for these families.
It is easy for us to forget about this in UB where we still have plenty of food and the snow gets blown away pretty quick and we have lots of central heating. But we are starting to see the signs here too - it started with prices going up for basic foods like potatoes. Now the meat that is on sale is looking pretty scrawny and isn't too tasty. None of this obviously compares to the devastation occuring in the countryside, but it starts to make life for those in the city living on ridiculously low wages more difficult as well.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
A quiet few weeks..........
Well I have been back from Khuvsgul for 3 weeks now and I am only just getting over the post holiday blues!! So whats been going on in Mongolia over the last 3 weeks?
Well most importantly the weather is warming up! This has created even more chaos than the cold. Ulaanbaatar has a population of 1.5 million, is one of the driest cities in the world, but right now there is loads of ice and snow on the streets, but there is no drainage! So as you can imagine when it starts to warm up everything melts but cannot go anywhere as there is no drainage and ridiculously little green space, so it all just lies on the road. At the minute the temperature is fluctuating between low negative temperatures and very cold temperatures - this means the ice melts, it then creates puddles and then re freezes creating an ice rink effect!! But on the plus side we have seriously cut down on the layers and today it actually got above freezing for the first time since I arrived.
Things are still going well in work. I am really enjoying the Engish debating club - there are between 15 and 20 incredibly smart high school students who have great English levels. So last week I had my first class and we discussed child labour which was really interesting as they shared their views, and I took the role of devils advocate and challenged their views. There were only about 5 who actively participated but if I can even help them learn critical thinking that will be a huge achievement!
As of next week I am going part time at MEA and will be working part time at the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions (CMTU) doing fund-raising but they also have a legal advocacy and a legal advice service so I am hoping I can even just observe those activities. So I will be working with them for the next 2 months which will be great - and nice to be learning more about Mongolia than me just staying at MEA. I am very excited.
There have also been some developments in terms of APDC and the possibility of some work in the countryside offices as well as in UB which would be fabulous.
We have had a few more leavers in the last few weeks which is always sad but hopefully they are going on to bigger and better things. We have also had a VSO program review for all the program areas (health, education, secure livelihoods and national volunteers) which has meant all the volunteers from the countryside have been in UB. It has been great to catch up with everyone and hear what they have been working on. It is also a great way to share skills and discuss issues we may be having within the program. So we have also had quite a few dinners out. We had one of the Arvaikheer volunteers staying with us which was also great to catch up with her and she will return the favour when I hopefully go down for a weekend next month.
Well most importantly the weather is warming up! This has created even more chaos than the cold. Ulaanbaatar has a population of 1.5 million, is one of the driest cities in the world, but right now there is loads of ice and snow on the streets, but there is no drainage! So as you can imagine when it starts to warm up everything melts but cannot go anywhere as there is no drainage and ridiculously little green space, so it all just lies on the road. At the minute the temperature is fluctuating between low negative temperatures and very cold temperatures - this means the ice melts, it then creates puddles and then re freezes creating an ice rink effect!! But on the plus side we have seriously cut down on the layers and today it actually got above freezing for the first time since I arrived.
Things are still going well in work. I am really enjoying the Engish debating club - there are between 15 and 20 incredibly smart high school students who have great English levels. So last week I had my first class and we discussed child labour which was really interesting as they shared their views, and I took the role of devils advocate and challenged their views. There were only about 5 who actively participated but if I can even help them learn critical thinking that will be a huge achievement!
As of next week I am going part time at MEA and will be working part time at the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions (CMTU) doing fund-raising but they also have a legal advocacy and a legal advice service so I am hoping I can even just observe those activities. So I will be working with them for the next 2 months which will be great - and nice to be learning more about Mongolia than me just staying at MEA. I am very excited.
There have also been some developments in terms of APDC and the possibility of some work in the countryside offices as well as in UB which would be fabulous.
We have had a few more leavers in the last few weeks which is always sad but hopefully they are going on to bigger and better things. We have also had a VSO program review for all the program areas (health, education, secure livelihoods and national volunteers) which has meant all the volunteers from the countryside have been in UB. It has been great to catch up with everyone and hear what they have been working on. It is also a great way to share skills and discuss issues we may be having within the program. So we have also had quite a few dinners out. We had one of the Arvaikheer volunteers staying with us which was also great to catch up with her and she will return the favour when I hopefully go down for a weekend next month.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Ice Festival
On Friday 20th March we headed 26 hours north of Ulaanbaatar to Khuvsgul lake in a small Russian minivan which had heating that didnt work! Half way there we ended up in a snow drift in a ditch, and we had to push the van out of the ditch hoping at all points in time it wouldn't tip over! Eventually we got it out with all of us in one piece and we headed on. One of the 3 vans we were travelling with had some serious mechanical issues so we kept having to stop, and at one point we stopped to pick up bits that were falling off the van! Suffice to say it was a long and tiring journey but we made it in one piece.
The ice festival is a traditional Mongolian festival on the second largest lake in Mongolia, aimed at local Mongolians, so the number of tourists here were much fewer. We stayed in a local tourist ger camp which had a sauna and lovely people who came in during the night to keep out gers warm. Thank goodness because it hit -46 one night when we were there. Our "bathroom" (hole in the ground) was about 1/2 a km a way up a hill which was not fun in the middle of the night, with yows (yak/cow cross breeds) running around! We had a kitchen and a dining hall where I proceeded to melt my coat at every opportunity. My coat is now more duct tape than material but it made it through the trip thank goodness!
The day after we arrived we had a day off and went walking in the hills around the camp and went horse sledding in one horse open sleighs! We also had a short visit to the local tourist center where we saw taditional Mongolian skis and shaman paraphenalia as well as visiting the local shaman at his ger.
The next two days were the actual ice festival which involved a multitude of activities including sliding on an ice sculpture of a slide, ice crashing - throwing 2 bits of ice at each other, stone throwing - throwing a stone at small targets 200 feet away, rope pulling - tug of war on ice, horse sled races and ice skating marathon. We also managed to get to see the baby reindeers which had come down from even further North! There were also some great little stalls selling local products which we of course felt obliged to spend money at!
In the evenings they had an ice bar and a bonfire with a shaman ceremony. It was possibly the least safe bonfire I have ever been to with us all crowding round the pile of rocks which had been thoroughly doused with many liters, possibly gallons of lighter fluid. It was then lit with much ceremony before proceeding to fall over! No health and Safety there! There was then dancing and competitions held by fire light which was a lovely way to spend an evening.
The ice festival was just crazy and it was absolutely freezing. We must have worn about 10 layers on each half of our body every day. There was no running water and we just wore the same clothes for the whole week. And of course we were also staying in felt tents which got pretty cold at night if the fire went out. Luckily our fire stokers were pretty good at keeping it warm enough.
On the last day we went horse riding round the hills about the camp. It was great fun and we saw some lovely views out across the lake and just riding through the trees.
And then we were back into the van for the long drive back. On the way back we were much less tired and so we had time to appreciate the fantastic scenery which was just amazing! We stopped at some reindeer stones which are: Deer stones are Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deer. Their purpose and creators are unknown. Archaeologists have found around 500 deer stones around Mongolia. They were created during the bronze age (courtesy of wikipedia!). When we stopped at the reindeer stones we were immediately distracted by the massive herd of yak that were grazing nearby with their herder. It was a true Mongolian picture post card view.
So I am now back in UB, defrosted and back at work. We have 13 new volunteer arrivals from all over the world and they have kept us busy between showing them around town, going out for dinner, trip to Terelj and generally enjoying having some new blood in our UB group!
Aside from new volunteers I am back at work and things are looking up. I am going to be going part time with MEA and part time with another VSO organisation, posibly a trade union or an association for parents of disabled children. I am still doing some really interesting stuff with MEA, one of which is organising a teacher exchange between Mongolia and the UK, and also with Methody setting up some form of English debating program in the UK and Mongolia! On top of that I have more proposals being done, I held a full day workshop on fundraising strategy and still doing English lessons!
The ice festival is a traditional Mongolian festival on the second largest lake in Mongolia, aimed at local Mongolians, so the number of tourists here were much fewer. We stayed in a local tourist ger camp which had a sauna and lovely people who came in during the night to keep out gers warm. Thank goodness because it hit -46 one night when we were there. Our "bathroom" (hole in the ground) was about 1/2 a km a way up a hill which was not fun in the middle of the night, with yows (yak/cow cross breeds) running around! We had a kitchen and a dining hall where I proceeded to melt my coat at every opportunity. My coat is now more duct tape than material but it made it through the trip thank goodness!
The day after we arrived we had a day off and went walking in the hills around the camp and went horse sledding in one horse open sleighs! We also had a short visit to the local tourist center where we saw taditional Mongolian skis and shaman paraphenalia as well as visiting the local shaman at his ger.
The next two days were the actual ice festival which involved a multitude of activities including sliding on an ice sculpture of a slide, ice crashing - throwing 2 bits of ice at each other, stone throwing - throwing a stone at small targets 200 feet away, rope pulling - tug of war on ice, horse sled races and ice skating marathon. We also managed to get to see the baby reindeers which had come down from even further North! There were also some great little stalls selling local products which we of course felt obliged to spend money at!
In the evenings they had an ice bar and a bonfire with a shaman ceremony. It was possibly the least safe bonfire I have ever been to with us all crowding round the pile of rocks which had been thoroughly doused with many liters, possibly gallons of lighter fluid. It was then lit with much ceremony before proceeding to fall over! No health and Safety there! There was then dancing and competitions held by fire light which was a lovely way to spend an evening.
The ice festival was just crazy and it was absolutely freezing. We must have worn about 10 layers on each half of our body every day. There was no running water and we just wore the same clothes for the whole week. And of course we were also staying in felt tents which got pretty cold at night if the fire went out. Luckily our fire stokers were pretty good at keeping it warm enough.
On the last day we went horse riding round the hills about the camp. It was great fun and we saw some lovely views out across the lake and just riding through the trees.
And then we were back into the van for the long drive back. On the way back we were much less tired and so we had time to appreciate the fantastic scenery which was just amazing! We stopped at some reindeer stones which are: Deer stones are Mongolian ancient megaliths carved with symbols. The name comes from their carved depictions of flying deer. Their purpose and creators are unknown. Archaeologists have found around 500 deer stones around Mongolia. They were created during the bronze age (courtesy of wikipedia!). When we stopped at the reindeer stones we were immediately distracted by the massive herd of yak that were grazing nearby with their herder. It was a true Mongolian picture post card view.
So I am now back in UB, defrosted and back at work. We have 13 new volunteer arrivals from all over the world and they have kept us busy between showing them around town, going out for dinner, trip to Terelj and generally enjoying having some new blood in our UB group!
Aside from new volunteers I am back at work and things are looking up. I am going to be going part time with MEA and part time with another VSO organisation, posibly a trade union or an association for parents of disabled children. I am still doing some really interesting stuff with MEA, one of which is organising a teacher exchange between Mongolia and the UK, and also with Methody setting up some form of English debating program in the UK and Mongolia! On top of that I have more proposals being done, I held a full day workshop on fundraising strategy and still doing English lessons!
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Eagle Festival
On the day after Tsaagan Tsar there is a day of rest to recover from the over indulgence of the two previous days and to digest the humungous amounts of food and to prevent everyone turning up to work with a hangover! I took the chance to go skiing in the morning to work off my calories and to refuel in the evening with a pancake party to celebrate pancake Tuesday!
On the following day I took the day off to attend an Eagle festival near Ulaanbaatar. The traditional Eagle festival is held in Bayan Ulgii, in the Altai Mountains where the Kazakh people who hunt with eagles for their livelihood live. This eagle festival is a tourist festival put on purely to attract tourists for UB. However the eagles, hunters and horses are all brought down from the Bayan Ulgii region, which is 3 days drive away, and so it was an opportunity not to be missed. We took the free bus from the city center to the national park which is about 20 minutes from UB.
When we arrived we were immediately drawn to the first Eagle we saw and we all paid to hold it. It was extremely heavy and very scary to get that close to its huge claws! Eventually the festival began with the parade of the hunters on their horses carrying their eagles. Then we had the judging of the hunters, eagles and dress. THis is apparently an integral part of any traditional Mongolian festival.
THen we got on to the good stuff! The activities began with the eagles at the top of the hill and their hunter at the bottom of the hill with an animal tail on a string. The hunter has to call their animal and get it to "catch" the animal tail. Then we progressed to the eagles landing on their hunters arm. THis was hilarious as the Eagles really didnt see the point of this activity and most refused to participate so the hunters rode up and down the field making funny noises while the Eagle watched disdainfully!!
Then the eagles got a rest and the animal rights people had to leave. It was time for goat pulling. THis event involved 2 men on horses taking one end of a goat carcass each and pulling until the other person lets go. It was absolutely hilarious, and really dangerous because they would just plow through the crowd in their attempts to unseat the other rider.
Then the piece de resistance - the live bait! Apparently the weather wasnt right to use foxes so rabbits were set free and two eagles had to race to get to the rabbit first. The poor rabbits didn't have a chance as the lazy eagles just had to swoop on them and they were done for. It was a little macabre but it is their way of life and how they live and hunt in the wild. Of course this would never be allowed in the UK or the US.
On the following day I took the day off to attend an Eagle festival near Ulaanbaatar. The traditional Eagle festival is held in Bayan Ulgii, in the Altai Mountains where the Kazakh people who hunt with eagles for their livelihood live. This eagle festival is a tourist festival put on purely to attract tourists for UB. However the eagles, hunters and horses are all brought down from the Bayan Ulgii region, which is 3 days drive away, and so it was an opportunity not to be missed. We took the free bus from the city center to the national park which is about 20 minutes from UB.
When we arrived we were immediately drawn to the first Eagle we saw and we all paid to hold it. It was extremely heavy and very scary to get that close to its huge claws! Eventually the festival began with the parade of the hunters on their horses carrying their eagles. Then we had the judging of the hunters, eagles and dress. THis is apparently an integral part of any traditional Mongolian festival.
THen we got on to the good stuff! The activities began with the eagles at the top of the hill and their hunter at the bottom of the hill with an animal tail on a string. The hunter has to call their animal and get it to "catch" the animal tail. Then we progressed to the eagles landing on their hunters arm. THis was hilarious as the Eagles really didnt see the point of this activity and most refused to participate so the hunters rode up and down the field making funny noises while the Eagle watched disdainfully!!
Then the eagles got a rest and the animal rights people had to leave. It was time for goat pulling. THis event involved 2 men on horses taking one end of a goat carcass each and pulling until the other person lets go. It was absolutely hilarious, and really dangerous because they would just plow through the crowd in their attempts to unseat the other rider.
Then the piece de resistance - the live bait! Apparently the weather wasnt right to use foxes so rabbits were set free and two eagles had to race to get to the rabbit first. The poor rabbits didn't have a chance as the lazy eagles just had to swoop on them and they were done for. It was a little macabre but it is their way of life and how they live and hunt in the wild. Of course this would never be allowed in the UK or the US.
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