A Study in Contrasts

Tsagaan Sar was the story that seemed to never end!  Even though it started on Wednesday last week and finished (supposedly!) on Friday, we were called on Saturday morning to "Please come to our home" on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.  These last two visits were just as delightful as the others, yet in different ways.

Saturday, we were invited to Tuul's home.  She is a business woman I have met, and I tutor her in English once or twice a week.  We have been using a children's storybook about The Word.  This has been building her vocabulary and sentence structure capabilities in a meaningful way.  The last time we met, she said about the crucifixion story, "Oh, I saw this on TV."  Seeds being planted.  One by one.

Here, Tuul and her husband perform a little duet:

And, here's Tuul's daughter, posing in front of a plant in their home:

 

Tuul's husband presented his snuff bottle to us.  This is a Tsagaan Sar tradition.  The snuff bottle is also passed during other ceremonies and holidays.  It is filled with a mixture of tobacco and usually a sweet smelling mixture which reminds me of aftershave.  When it's passed to you, you reach your hand out and cover the bottle with your right hand, and bring it to yourself, cradled with both hands.  Then, open the lid and sniff it, comment on it (hopefully good comments!), and then pass it back to the owner with your right hand in a cradled position. 

 

As a centerpiece at the coffee table where we ate were these delicious fruits.  When we were the only ones at the table at one point, I said to Kevin, "Are those REAL grapes?!"  Kevin said, "No! They're plastic."  I just couldn't resist,  I checked.  They were real, and I ate a couple.  If they're on the table, they're to be eaten!  They were wonderful!

 

This was our 4th or 5th course at the meal!  We had already had salads, meat and pickles, buuz (of course!), and now we had this delicious plate of rice, potatoes, and white fish with a lemon wedge.  When we were served THIS plate of food, Tuul clarified, "This is NOT traditional Tsagaan Sar food.  This is special 'Kevin and Pam' meal."  We felt honored.  She was saying, "Thank you for tutoring me," in a special way.

We have plans to meet again soon at a mutually favorite restaurant.  Oh, and a nice bonus is that her husband speaks English very well!

Then, Sunday came.  We met our friend, Eegii, at our Sunday morning meeting place.  After being there together for about an hour and a half, we went by taxi, out to her home in the ger district.  She is a single mom and has been to Rochester, MN, twice, for her son to have two different surgeries.  It was there that she heard the Good News, and has been learning more since then.  

Here is Eegii's "hasha" which means "fence", but also "fenced-in yard".  Within her hasha are two gers.  To enter the hasha, we went through the tin door which is turquoise with Mongolian art motifs stamped on it.  The ger at the bottom of the hill belongs to her parents and also houses a sister.  The ger at the top of the hill is home to her and her son.  There is a wooden structure butted up next to the ger at the entrance.  This allows for storage space and a little more weather protection at the doorway.

Here are Eegii and I in front of her hasha.

 

Eegii's ger is one of the neatest, tidiest, cutest gers we've ever seen!  Lovely!  Note her son's bed behind Kevin with the shelf full of stuffed animals above it.  I'm guessing these came from America during his two surgeries.  To the left is the little white washing machine and the sink.  Although there's not running water, there's a sink with a drain hole to catch water for handwashing (pour the water over one's hands) or hairwashing.  The white/silver pole to the left of this picture is the smoke stack connected to the stove which keeps the ger warm and aids in cooking at times.

 

Here is Eegii's bed, directly across the room from her son's bed.  To the right is a cupboard for dishes.

Here's the "hobbit hole" front door. Not only does Kevin have to "duck", but so do I! Here, you can see the stove a little better. This is from the front of the stove. All gers are set up somewhat the same: kitchen items to the left and right of the door, stove in the middle, beds on the outer perimeters, table across from the stove. Men walk in to the left and sit on the left side of the room (where the son's bed is) and women sit on the right side of the room (where Eegii's bed is).

 

Eegii's son smiles as he draws a cross in the book we just gave him as a gift.  This Mongolian book is about the crucifixion.  He heard the Good News in America during his surgeries.  Our language barrier is difficult, but we've heard he is a brother!

 

Playing "Old Maid" together!

 

Even though there's no running water, there's electricity.  Here is an electric steamer, cooking our buuz
 (steamed meat pocket dumplings). 

Kevin tries out his Lego's building abilities which have been in hibernation for a few years!

While Kevin and Toogii built with Lego's, Eegii and I sat on her bed and read Psalm 1.  We talked in our limited English and Mongolian, about how important The Word is to our growth, just as the water for a tree is very important.

 

Kevin and Eegii strike a pose in front of her ger entrance.

 

Note details in this neighborhood: Many hashas with little houses and gers.  The hill to her parents' ger is steep, as you can see here.  We stopped in to say 'hi' to them before leaving.  They are sweet people.  Keep remembering Eegii, that she will grow in the grace and knowledge of her Lord.

I've Been Sniffed!

So, in yesterday's post, I mentioned that we were celebrating Tsagaan Sar.  This is a Mongolian national holiday and it's the first time we've participated in the holiday.  In 2010, we arrived a couple weeks after the holiday.  In 2011, we were in Thailand for our organization's conference.  But this year, we have been a part of the festivities. 

Our cultural experience started on Tuesday this week when we visited the vendor market close by.  Tsagaan Sar was to start on Wednesday, and last three days (Wed-Fri).  So, Tuesday at the market was similar to our Christmas Eve at Walmart.  Just think chaos times 10.  Just think Walmart aisles shrunk by half or maybe less.  Throw in some extra people standing in the aisles trying to sell a few things...people who usually aren't there.  Then, scatter some broken cardboard boxes on the floor which you must step over or trip over, cellophane which has been torn off of packages for one reason or another, and a woman who has just bought a yogurt in a carton and is guzzling her lunch in between shopping. 

I embrace the culture and maneuver my way in between people to ask for "nigk back pulver packet" to purchase a 6-pack of baking powder for a new teammate who has just arrived in UB one week earlier.  He mutters under his breath to me, "This is overwhelming."  I promise him that this is not an ordinary day, in fact, I'm shocked by it, but so glad that I came this day to see a sight I might not see again.  This is truly a cultural experience!  I purchase a few apples, hoping to hand one to a man who was begging outside, sitting in his wheelchair with both legs amputated. 

After we left the indoor market, Kevin took our teammate, Pam, with him, to show her where to buy cheese in another building.  I took our newest teammate with me into the open air to get away from some of the crowd.  As we waited for Kevin, I saw a man exchanging money on the street.  Now, this is also a Tsagaan Sar thing.  When visiting families during this holiday, it is important to present new bills of money to them to signify the new year.  It dawns on me that it's afternoon, and Tsagaan Sar is officially beginning the next morning, and I don't know if we'll get to the bank later this day.  So, I approach the man and ask, "Taven myunk bilth, Yamar onte vey?" (Five 1000 Tugrik bills, how much cost?).  It was going to cost me about 40 cents to get 5 fresh 1000 T bills.  Deal made.  Done.  He didn't have anything bigger (1000 T is a little less than a dollar).  The man in the wheelchair was being pushed toward me by a friend.  I smiled and passed him an apple.  "Oh, Lord, bless this man," I prayed. 

On our way home, I also stopped at a money exchange building to get four more larger bills, and was quite happy that I was able to strike a deal, halving what they asked for up front.  I wasn't even sure if this was okay to suggest (Mongolia is not like China or Thailand...there's not a lot of dealing for a different price at most places), but I tried and it worked.

So, Tsagaan Sar is a holiday which is very important and big.  It's a time for people to get new clothes, visit family, eat buuz (steamed meat pockets), eat carrot and beet salads along with a few other mayo-based salads, and give gifts.  Usually the gifts are simple, small gifts.  We visited three families these past three days and received a set of four jelly spoons and several kinds of candy (in fact, I joked on the way home today that I felt like my stash in my purse was like a trick-or-treat bag!). 

Our first day of Tsagaan Sar was spent with a few teammates.  The guy on the far right had been in Mongolia for 10 days. 

The first day of Tsagaan Sar is reserved primarily to visit the oldest person in your family. Most families that we have asked, say that they make 600-3,000 buuz for all the visitors who will come to their home over the 3-day period! The second and third days are for visiting other family members and friends.

So, our first day, we had our teammates over. We ate a very non-traditional meal of naan (Indian bread made by our new teammate, Todd), chili soup, refried beans, rice, pumpkin scones, and a pudding dessert. The city was a ghost town with every business closed, the streets quiet except for a few cars travelling to their relatives' homes, and a few people walking to homes. We took a walk in the afternoon, down to Sukhbattar Square. It is the main square by parliament and is a busy "happening" kind of place usually. Wednesday, we counted 5 people walking across the square. It was a strange, eerie feeling!

The second and third day, we visited three homes of friends.  Upon arrival, you speak a greeting and lay your hands on the oldest person's arms.  You lean over to receive what seems like a kiss, but in actuality, the greeting person sniffs deeply from each of your cheeks.  I hope mine smelled sweet!  It's at this time I presented our crisp, new bill to them.  In my previous post, you can see the heaving boov. Here are a few other photos which tell our Tsagaan Sar story:

This lady is 73.  In the past, life has been very hard for the Mongolians, therefore, she looks older than her age.  This is Sunjid's grandmother, one of the homes we visited.  Sunjid is our friend who comes over almost every week. 

Here's the front side of the "hunny oats".  "Hun" is sheep.  This is the sheep back meat with a layer of fat on top.  It is very traditional for Mongolians to eat the fat of the meat.  In the past, when food was scarce, and work was always hard, (only 15 years ago and later), they ate the fat for extra calories.  We've heard, "You must eat fat to keep warm."  Hence, the extra calories are explained!  On top of this fat layer are some bones and a knife.  This is a very traditional item at the Mongolian Tsagaan Sar table...much like our turkey at Thanksgiving.

And, here's the back side of the same slab of meat.  The curled-down piece of fat is the tail of the sheep.  You can also see the meat on the left of this hunk better in this photo.

Here we are with Jargal (in blue) and her mother.

After visiting Grandma's house, Sunjid walked us to the bus stop.  We were in an unfamiliar area, so she escorted us.  Across from the bus stop were several small stores.  I just had to take this picture so you could see the small stores (every one of these stores probably carries about the same items: potatoes, onions, wet wipes, soda, crackers...you get the idea).  This was in the ger district where nobody has running water.  In fact, the only running water you get is when you run to the water house and fill your jug and run back home.  Notice the man in the blue deel (traditional clothing which about 40% of people on the buses and streets were wearing) with the red scarf/belt.  The small store buildings felt like an old western town on the movies.

One of These Things Doesn't Belong

Remember the old Sesame Street song, "One of these things is not like the other..." And the viewer was supposed to identify what the difference was in the items presented?  Well, here's the same idea.

Below are three different Tsagaan Sar heaving boovs.  I will write more about Tsagaan Sar in another post.  The layers of bread are the heaving boov.  There are also Mongolian and Russian candies as well as dried curdled milk products nestled within the tower of bread.

Our teammates, Pam and Susan, present the heaving boov which Kevin created on the eve of Tsagaan Sar this week
(Tuesday evening).

Today, we visited the home of one of our teachers who takes our teachers' workshop (Jargal in the blue shirt).  Her college-aged daughter (far left) comes to our home almost weekly to practice English and study the Word with us.  Their heaving boov tower is 5 layers high with many goodies interspersed within.

Next, we visited Jargal's mother's home (less than a U.S. city block away).  She had the "Queen" of towers with 7 layers and a bakery cake displayed on top.  The foil-wrapped chocolate candies were pretty tasty with our Soo Te Tsay (Milk Tea which is milk, tea, a little bit of salt, and sometimes some fat from the mutton or some butter). 

So, you decide: Which one DOESN'T belong!?!

Christmas Day 2011 in Mongolia

So, Christmas Day started out pretty "traditionally" for us with opening gifts with our family.  The non-traditional part was that it was done over skype!  Here, we're skyping w/Heather (I have just opened a scarf she had wrapped and sent along with us back in August).  Thanks, Heather!

A few hours later we had our teammates and four Mongolian and Chinese friends in for breakfast before church.  Here we are with Handa (left) and Bayarkhuu (right).  We met Handa only two days earlier on the bus and visited with her for an hour in heavy traffic!  You can become good friends with someone on an hour bus ride!  Before this day, Handa equated Christmas and New Year's as the same holiday. 

This Mongolian man sang a beautiful rendition of a song about Jesus being "my Savior, my friend" (I could catch those Mongolian words!).  He had an awesome voice.  This was part of our Sunday morning Christmas Day service we attended.  It was well done.  Our friends who ate breakfast with us came along to see what Christmas is all about.

This mom and her son have been to Rochester, MN, for her son's heart surgery.  They have met some of our friends in Rochester.  They accompanied us at the Christmas concert/drama mentioned in the previous picture.  Here, we're at an Indian restaurant.  This was the most non-traditional Christmas meal we have ever had!

Dalai went to the Russian border with us this past fall.  He has become a really good friend.  His girlfriend from Inner Mongolia, China, has come to UB to live for awhile.  She has also become a good friend!  These Chinese friends were part of our Indian Christmas Dinner in Mongolia...talk about truly international!

And here's the rest of the gang who hung out at the Indian restaurant...our two teammates on the right, and the new Mongolian friends on the left.

After lunch, some of us visited the ice sculptures about two blocks from the Indian restaurant.  Here is the Statue of Liberty.  There were many sculptures representing places of importance for several countries with a high influence on Mongolia.

And then another block away, we just had to get our picture taken with Santa and the Giant Christmas Tree!

This tree is in Sukhbaatar Square.  Stay tuned for New Year's Eve pictures which will have this tree lit up in its full glory!

We went home for an hour and then ventured out again to attend The Nutcracker Suite, Mongolian ballet.  Kevin was given two tickets as a gift from the school where he teaches high schoolers.  It was so well done, with live music and ballet dancers who had stamina beyond my imagination!

This is the theatre where the ballet took place.  It definitely had a royal, rustic ambiance to it.  I'm sure it was built during the Russian occupance era.

So, even though we were far from family, we were kept busy with some great relationship-building times.  We were so happy to introduce Handa and Bayarkhuu to the historical reality of how Christmas began.  We are looking forward to our continued relationship with all of these dear friends!

Shining the Light during the Season of Light

Now that Christmas and New Year's is officially over, I can breathe a sigh of relief.  Not because I had a harried time shopping.  Not because I had dozens of relatives to cook for.  Not because the traffic was just awful at the mall.  And not because I've gained five pounds from eating too many Christmas goodies (not a problem here!).  No, none of those things are the reasons for holiday stress in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  For me, I was dreading the possibility of the stress of being away from family for the holidays.  This was the second year we were in Ulaanbaatar instead of with our families in the U.S.  It's what I have dubbed as "One of the Top Five Difficulties of Living in Mongolia."

Last year, I remember going into the kitchen to have a little 5-minute cry session by myself in the kitchen.  I felt the pain of being away from our kids and parents, and I really didn't want to be a downer to Kevin.  This year, I had tugs of difficult feelings, but I also was rejoicing at the many opportunities to share the real reason for Christmas with many of our friends.  So, that's my sigh of relief...that the emotional pain was less than last year, even though it was there.

One of our first gatherings was a couple weeks before Christmas.  We showed "The Nativity", a professional movie depicting the historical story of the first Christmas.  Seven friends came, and here's a picture of the ones remaining at picture time (which was also game time)....





Our friends include a young man I met while leading an English club at a university as well as a high school guy who has been coming to our home for over a year and a half now.  A young man we met through another American summer teacher also came.  Two friends were new additions this evening, coming along with their friends.

Christine, our director's daughter, decorates cookies with Kevin, at our organization's Christmas party.  It was good to fellowship with friends within our organization.

What better way to celebrate Christmas Eve than to have all our teachers who take our English workshop over to view The Nativity together.  We teach 40 teachers.  Twenty three attended the party at our apartment.  EVERYBODY wears boots, and here's the pile before a few latecomers arrived!

Here, Joseph and Mary are discussing the news they've been told via our movie projector.  We enjoyed sharing the true, historical beginning of Christmas with our teachers.  Many of them celebrate "Christmas" and "New Year's" as one holiday.  Perhaps this has clarified the meaning of Christmas for some of them.

Here's some of our "spread" for the teachers.  Some of these items would rarely be part of a Christmas snack table in America...such as boiled eggs and mandarin oranges.  Then, other items like fudge, peanuts and crackers just might make an American table!

I will post more pictures soon of Christmas and New Year's celebrations.  We are thankful we were here this season!

My Weight Training Program

I bought groceries yesterday (ignore the totally incorrect date stamp on this photo!  I'm not sure how it got that way!).  Back in my U.S. life, I went to an athletic club to lift weights and run.  Now I carry groceries for a 10 minute walk and balance myself on slippery sidewalks.  Sand and salt aren't used here.  I often talk to the Father about keeping my footsteps firm as I walk to and from the grocery store or market. 

So, these were my many purchases on Saturday morning at the market.  Most items were purchased at individual vendors, much like a farmer's market (but inside). 

My fulfilled grocery list all fit into my large back pack.  The bags in the midle are: 1 kilo of potatoes, 1/2 kilo of chocolate caramels for our Thanksgiving party on Sunday evening, and 200 grams of prunes and dates (she mixed them...to save a bag!).  The square packages in the pack are napkins.  And the far right, back cans are corn...another Thanksgiving party staple!

I stopped at a little store on the way home since I hadn't found baking powder at the market.  I was hoping it would be at the little store (there's a thousand...no a million..."ma and pa" stores in UB, some of which are smaller than a normal bedroom)!  I squatted down to look at a bottom shelf and fell over backwards because I wasn't ready to be thrown off balance by my heavy load.  I burst out with a guffaw.  I was hoping nobody noticed.  I'm sure they did!  Sometimes I just can't help but crack myself up, thinking how I must look like a crazy American!

Chinggis Khaan Monument

We enjoyed our second visit out to the Chinggis Khaan Monument (in America, he's known as Genghis Khan, but the cyrillic alphabet is spelled Чингис Хаан, which is pronounced, Chinggis Khaan--the Kh, being a back-of-the-throat "hay" sound with a bit of "clearing of the throat" sound).

Here's some photos from our January 1 trip out to the monument. It was a very cold day, so the ice sculptures weren't having any problems keeping their shape!  However, our relationship with Saraa and her family was warm!



Here's (l to r): Saraa, me, and Munktuya (Saraa's mom) in front of beautiful ice sculptures.  Notice the monument in the background and see the face of Chinggis Khaan up close in a later photo.




Saraa and her family, minus her older brother who studies in China.




An up-close shot of one of the ice sculptures.




A traditionally dressed Mongolian couple with a rather icey relationship.




Notice the people at the bottom of the photo and this puts the monument in size perspective!





Inside the monument, we took a photo of Saraa, her mom, and sister, in front of the huge leather Mongolian boot. 

 


Once inside the monument, you can walk up many steps (similar to going to the top of the Statue of Liberty) and go outside to stand in front of the chest and head of Chinggis.  Khaan means king.




Kevin captured this photo of the Great Khaan as the sun was setting on the first day of 2011.
 (Our photo date was incorrect for a couple of the photos because of a battery mis-hap!)




My unedited feelings after coming in from a 15 minute walk in -27 degree weather.