Back to the countryside

I have been carrying out initial literature review on alcoholism in Mongolia for the past couple weeks, meeting with all who will consent, while I develop my Mongolian skills further. However, though I have been doing much to assist the Health Sciences University develop their International Relations here they have done little to assist me with my research. Last I talked to them they said they will be unable to get me the Research Assistant they promised until October. Therefore, when the opportunity to travel out to the Gobi Desert in the state of Bayanhongor to do some research I jumped on it. So, off I will go tomorrow once again and will probably get behind on my blogging again. Oh well, the research will consist of interviews with the hospital staff regarding the capacity they have to deal with chronic and/or mental diseases. I will work with communities as well on health needs, alcoholism, and nutrition. It will be a wonderful opportunity and be expected to see several pictures when I return. However, I have been told it may snow on Monday and will continue to be cold till the end of the week, just my luck. I will return before October. Till then, all my best to you all! Don't forget to make comments.

Back in UB for the rest of the Summer

What follows is a brief summary of the month following our return to UB from the countryside on July 15th:

We set out from Murun by a Russian van (the UAZ 452 or Furgon) which you can take a look at here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:UAZ-Bus.jpg

(by the way have I mentioned how much I have grown to love Wikipedia since I arrived in Mongolia?) It is a touch and completely uncomfortable machine, I recommend staying away from it if you can.

As I mentioned, we were quite tired after we arrived and yet we had alot to do. We had had only 2 days in UB before we left and had to make up for lost time. We began by doing errands like buying a cell phone. However, what followed was no more interesting than that. After returning I had to set up multiple meetings with my host organization in Mongolia, the Health Sciences University (http://www.hsum.edu.mn/index.php) and of course Tugsu had a ton of work to do to begin making the actual preparations for her conference which would be back in Tsagaan Nuur on the 3rd of August. So we initially relied alot on Tugsu's family and Bilguun (her niece) to watch her. In addition to all this work he also had to locate an apartment. We were warned the search would be difficult but were not prepared for what followed. You can take a look at this website to get an idea what is available and what people are charging now: http://www.mongolia-properties.com/properties-mongolia/property/apartments-for-rent/
We were in no shape to pay these types of prices and so had to look in Mongolian newspapers for ideas.

We found that even the cheapest (acceptable) places were starting at around $250/month and going up from there, quite steeply. When we started to look we also found that a great many of them had been empty for often close to a year or so. (Apparently, Mongolia lacks property taxes, so once you buy a place the only motivation to rent is the building association fee, usually around $15/month. They, therefore, hold out for "rich" foreigners like myself whom they can charge a fortune to). They were, consequently, quite dusty and bare of everyday essentials like: shower curtains, silverware, lamps, chairs, cleaning supplies, etc... After looking at around 5 places a friend of mine, the director of the Natl. Social Health Insurance recommended I check out her brother-in-laws, which they hadn't even put up for rental yet. The owner is quite a handyman and it was lived in so needless to say it set itself apart. We negotiated a very reasonable price but it was still more than I was hoping for. We then contacted another friend who had a place available and said they would get it to us cheap. We decided to take this place and move in!

However, after living there for a few days we realized this was going to be alot of work. First, there were few working electrical outlets, we needed quite a few supplies for the kitchen, their was only one very small bed, The cable TV didn't work, we were told the building was not equipped to set up DSL (high speed internet), etc... We decided to try once more to renegotiate and attempt to get the nicer apartment. One other important consideration was the building we were currently in was difficult to describe on how to go there. There are no street names and few landmarks everyone knows in Ulaanbaatar, so this caused quite a few problems. The nicer apartment was located directly next to one of the most recognized landmarks in UB, the Wrestling Palace, so this was not a problem with the new place. We were able to lower the price by 15% and so took the other place.

This is the wrestling palace, you can see my building located behind it

Once we had moved in we felt a great burden lifted off us and for the first time in 2 months were able to begin unpacking our bags. This would be my home for the next year and the process of settling in began. I now had to worry about my work again and began a whirlwind of meetings, with the Health Sciences University, the Ministry of Health, the BioRegions Team, the Embassy, family and friends, my bank, the Red Cross, the Natl. center for Health Development, Peace Corps., the American Center for Mongolian Studies, to name a few. In a week I was spent and also realized that while I was out meeting one group after another Amina was being stuck at home with nothing to do.

We decided to take our first field trip out to a farm organized by the Catholic Church. It was a gorgeous place about an hour and twenty minutes out of town in an area still called by the name that was given to it after the Russians developed chicken farms there, the bird fabrication are. This was all closed and never reopened (like many of the production centers in Mongolia) and the place is now dreadfully poor. This farm has been established to deal with that, and the bulk of the farm is managed and farmed by local community members who are granted plots of land for free if they agree to work it. They also have a bakery on site to make cookies and buiscits for resale, another industry that is managed by the local community. It was wonderful to have fresh vegetables for the first time in over a month and a half! They let us pick what we wanted but we insisted on letting us pay for it.

However, those weeks were not all work, we did have quite a bit of fun as well. We went out with the crew from BioRegions for a night on the town and also met up with some of our friends from U of M (both Mongolians) who were in the country for the summer. We bought movies and went to the cinema a couple times (usually that was just Bilguun and Amina). We even went to an indoor playground and the natural history museum with Khurelee and his daughter. However, we were quite challenged by the lack of any programs for children in the city. We tried sending Amina to a Mongolia kindergarten but the kids there were too rough for Amina, she is not used to other girls hitting her. We tried finding private lessons for Amina, but aside from a little bead jewelry maker nearby our house who was rarely open we didn't have any luck. Even the Children's Park was closed for renovations, though I didn't ever see any construction going on there, just looked deserted. We did hear rumors the government was trying to sell it. It was quite frustrating and because of that I took the next couple weeks mostly off from work to stay at home and try and provide my daughter with some fun and educational activities.

Then, as August was just beginning Tugsu headed back out to Tsagaan Nuur for her conference. She will have to tell you what that was like but I can tell you for 8 days we missed her alot. The weather was very hot and there we were in UB with very little to do for fun. Everyone in the summer with any means heads out of the capitol city and those with means who cannot are working extra hard at their job so they can leave soon. We were therefore left with very few people we could go to. Yet, the three of us managed and it was nice to be able to spend the time with Amina. However, I have now met many expats with children in Mongolia and am confident next summer Amina will have much more fun and be far more productive!

The time that followed after Tugsu returned was far too busy and we had very little chance to talk. The build-up to their departure was one of the hardest things I have had to deal with in my priviliged life and the departure on August 19th was pure torture. However, there, that is all! I am going to skip filling in all the gory details of what has happened since and the next post will (finally!) be a current one. I wish you all the best and keep reading!

Hatgal Naadam

Well, for those of you who don't know what Naadam is, click here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naadam_Holiday

However, the countryside Naadam's are something special. First, we went out to see our hosts son, he must have been about 14 and was preparing his first horse for the race. He had been living with a small stable of young men all doing the same thing for the past couple weeks, though he had been working with his horse to prepare it since February. It is a complex regimen of exercise and diet meant to slim it down to all muscle. Young men have been doing this for over a thousand years in Mongolia, and it serves as a type of introduction to manhood. On the first day of Naadam we headed out to see the horse race, which marks the beginning. His horse was running in this first race, though there are several different age classes for each gender, his age class was the youngest so it goes first. We were arriving in a jeep with his parents when we saw the race heading towards us, we timed it perfectly, riding next to his horse in the jeep and cheering it on. In Mongolia, horse races last almost 5 miles, so the speed they had going into the finish was even more remarkable. Unfortunately, his horse didn't win but since he was competing against people who had been training horses for years. After that, we headed into the main festival area to pick up some food and see the official opening ceremonies.

Horses are ridden by children between the ages of 8 and 14.

Heres our guy! Coming to check his horse out after the race.

After a nice lunch of fried meat pancakes, huushuur, we headed to the central stadium and watched some of the opening ceremonies. I must tell you that it was a tad bit boring, but we didn't want to walk all the way back to where our car was and talk because we thought the wrestling might start and the walk to the car is quite hazardous. Everyone riding their horses around at full speed, regardless of pedestrian traffic. Quite a challenge to negotiate the less crowded areas, but around the stadium there were so many people they had to walk their horses. When the wrestling finally began it was great fun, in the opening rounds it is a small Naadam and they didn't have the full compliment of wrestlers required by tradition (512) so they take volunteers from the audience, in particular foreigners. It was hilarious watching the herders toss them around like rag dolls. I was too smart (and chicken) to get in there.

These are big guys! And they are strong and skilled as well, not for the faint of heart.

It was alot of fun, and we decided to return the next day, though we were due back in UB, we wanted to go one more day. Amina had a great time too, there was a constant stream of horse races arriving on a bi-hourly basis, to divert our attention from the wrestling. Fun foods to be tried and little side events going on, at one point the tourist children were wrestling the local children, it was great fun to see. However, mid-way through the second day it was time to head back, back to Murun. A two hour trip on one of the nicest roads in the whole country. Our trip to Renchinlhumbe was down a different road but only around 100 kilometers farther away from Murun than Hatgal, yet it took around 8 hours longer. However, the trip to Renchinlhumbe still couldn't prepare us for what waited for us in Murun. We decided to save $200 and drive back to Ulaanbaatar, a 19 hour trip over nothing more than a dirt path in a completely overcrowded truck. No fun at all! However, it felt nice to be back in civilization, with indoor toilets, hot water, reliable electricity (or just any at all!), and a selection of non-mutton dishes. It was now July 14th. We will pick up with our time in UB next time.

It is still hard to look at Amina's beautiful photos without missing her tons!

Here we are with the stadium in the background, it was beautiful weather!