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Published: September 5th 2010
Well, week 3 in UB is over and I expected to leave for Darkhan tomorrow but, unfortunately, I have been delayed by last Thursday's weather forecast which predicted a big storm and snow! Well, the amended forecast is for overcast weather and maximums of 21-23. Regardless, I am now due to move on Wednesday.
So what has happened in the past week?
UB homestay
Last weekend, seven of us volunteers spent the weekend with local UB families. It was lovely to get away from the guesthouse for a night and experience a 'normal' weekend in the life of a local family.
For me, it all got off to a shaky start when my host family failed to arrive at the expected time of 10am on Saturday morning. The other volunteers were all gone and I was left waiting out the front of the guesthouse until 10:45. By that time, I decided they were not coming. Around 11 am, a knock on the door and my very apologetic host Mum, Duya, took me downstairs to meet her husband and head home. Over the course of the weekend, the full story of their hour of frustration in trying to find
My room
A step up from the guesthouse!the guesthouse was revealed. You see, street names and numbers are not always present in UB. They knew the 'district' the building was in and the building number but not exactly which of the windy streets of Chingeltei that our building '45' was on. They did show me the building 45 they first tried - and I was very pleased that is not where we volunteers were staying!
So onto the good bits - we went meat and grocery shopping - and the amount of cash handed over was significantly less than what our volunteer group had paid the previous week - fancy that!?! Like in many countries, they are local and foreign prices for most goods. Just more incentive to improve my Mongolian language ability.
We also went fabric and clothing shopping which was great fun. Duya was looking for material to make a dress for work whilst I was completely fascinated by the shiny, sparkly materials used for making 'deels', the local traditional dress of Mongolians. These days, the 'deel' is generally limited to formal occasions, like weddings, although some of the older inhabitants of the city wear them at all times.
My family had
View out the back from my host family's apartment
They are effectively in the south east and back onto the railway and have a good view of the surrounding hills. a lovely 2 bedroom apartment in the east of the city but even the better areas of the city can have issues. Hot water has not been available for over a month! Whilst an obvious inconvenience, more worrying is the approaching winter. Cold showers in winter? Let's hope not!
In addition to serving me up some nutritious meals like beef, vegetables and noodles/rice and a traditional Mongolian soup of homemade noodles, beef (usually mutton), potato and onions, my family took me to a UB lookout for a view over the city at night and for a wander in the local hills on Sunday morning.
I was also able to ascertain from my hosts heaps of information about the price of real estate in the city and outskirts, that mortgages are a new thing in Mongolia (introduced over the past 5-10 years only), that companies often give their staff pieces of land in the country etc, etc. It is a fascinating place, post-socialist Mongolia and I have so much more to learn about it.
1st September 2010
Speaking of which, I did consider creating a separate blog entry just for this day. It was a cracker!
We
should have guessed how important the first day of the school year is by the amount of preening of the guesthouse receptionist's younger sister the night before. Hair was dyed (and then straightened in the morning), shoes and shoe laces were cleaned etc etc. On our way to language school, we saw proud parents with kids in suits and pretty white (almost wedding) dresses carrying fresh flowers for the teacher and then the school year opening ceremony featuring balloons and speeches. Just amazing!
The other strange thing about 1 September was about the non-sale of alcohol. Every 1st of the month in Mongolia, you cannot purchase alcohol! This upset the daily routine of a few of the volunteers but a few shops did defy the ban by simply asking customers to discreetly 'hide' their purchases under their jackets or in their handbags! Why the ban? Still working on finding that out!
Partner's workshop
On Thursday, I met my big boss, my line manager and my interpreter at an all day workshop for volunteers and employment partners. It was our first experience being in an environment where all presentations and small group sessions were held in two languages.
It is interesting and obviously very slow. Each session took longer than the allotted time mostly due to this factor. On the plus side, my interpreter seemingly did a great job translating my feedback about one of the small group sessions. I need to remember to slow down, speak in simple language, and keep each segment of information to a sentence or two at a time. It is harder than it sounds, believe me!
Language school
On Friday, our official 2 week fast course in learning Mongolian at Bridge School came to an end. In keeping with Mongolian need for pomp and ceremony, we had a special morning attended by the school director where we each received a certificate of completion.
Thankfully, because of my delay in leaving UB, I get two extra classes on Monday and Tuesday, with just a handful of the remaining countryside volunteers!
The language is particularly difficult which is supported by Mongolia being one of the few countries VSO is in where interpreters are provided to volunteers.
Our teacher was fantastic, patient, and very thorough. We learnt basic greetings, all about family and professions, shopping and transport phrases as well as
sentence construction in present (continuous), past (simple), future (simple) and present (repeated actions) tenses! A big head spin but a fantastic foundation for learning more. VSO will reimburse me for additional lessons in Darkhan so I will take full advantage of that opportunity.
Wrestling
This is a special chapter, just for Cathy.
Cathy - you asked for photos of Mongolian men in wrestling gear - I have delivered in just 3 weeks. So what's my next challenge?
For everyone else, Saturday afternoon, post a work meeting (yes, on a Saturday!), a few of us headed to the wrestling palace. We had little idea what to expect, how long the contest would last etc but we had a great time, spending around 2.5 hours watching pairs of men face off after doing a merry eagle dance around a pole. And this just minutes after discussing with an Englishman my feelings about the nancy-boy line outs in rugby union!!!
There had to be a crowd favorite and for me and the group it was 'Jumbo'. He was the tallest and heaviest of the wrestlers and was so sure of his masculinity, he had a pink gown which he wore
between bouts (and folded neatly when he wasn't wearing it!!!) As we left before the end, we can only assume he won on the day. The most trouble he had was with a guy half his size. The issue for Jumbo was, he could not get a good hold on the pesky little guy!
Enough on wrestling.....as the August 2010 VSO Mongolia volunteers scatter around the countryside, I will finish with a word on the roads and traffic in UB!
Road rules? What road rules?
* Firstly, there
are traffic lights in UB but I consider most of the time they are simply a suggestion!
* The Mayor of NY City needs to come to UB to talk about the effectiveness of fining drivers for excessive 'beeping'. Even the traffic police get beeped by the frustrated motorists impatiently waiting their turn at an intersection!
* Seatbelts and child seats? Who needs them?
* With only a couple of months of good weather available per year, construction and road repairs all take place over summer - and seemingly 24 hours a day. The road out my window was tarred after midnight, for example. In the meantime, beware all road
users and pedestrians, potholes, manholes and construction debris abound so walk and drive at your own risk!
* Bus fare is 350 T and trams (which are otherwise known by me as buses with overhead wires, or 'trolleys') 200 T per ride regardless of distance.
* In UB, every car is a potential taxi! Just put out your hand and hitch a lift for 500 T (less than 50c) per kilometre. There are 'real' cabs but they charge the same fare and there is not an abundance of them.
* As a result of the lack of true road rules, Mongolians are actually effective drivers - able to weave in and out of traffic and parked cars easily! We have only seen one accident in the past 3 weeks!
So readers, that's it from UB for now. Next entry will come from my new home in Darkhan.
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Tyrone
non-member comment
Nice to see you are surviving well.
Hi Merryn, I have been enjoying your blog entries. I was only taking to Rita the other day about you - wondering how you were coping. It appears that all is OK with you and that you are surviving nicely. Same ol - same ol here so you are not missing anything. Continue to have a great experience and be careful. Fond regards tyrone.