First Impressions...
on Alienor in the Land of Blue Skies (Mongolia), 31/Aug/2010 08:41, 34 days ago
So far, Ulaanbaatar and more generally Mongolia, is without a doubt the strangest and most wonderfully weird country I have ever been to...Our group of 13 VSO volunteers embarked on our 3 week In Country Training on the 16th August, which has included various activities such as city orientation, welcome seminars and inductions and a two week Mongolian language 'survival course' at the Bridge International Language School.The Mongolian language is extremely hard, not only have we had to learn the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, but it sounds like an odd mix of Russian and Chinese with a faint touch of German and some throat sounds I have never even heard before...The division between rich and poor is very apparent in UB. On the one hand you have a Louis Vuitton and a Dior, and then you see street children and pop up gers set up on the pavements. The main landmark isSükhbaatar Square below:A few oddities that are 'normal' in UB(all from personal experience)Urban hitch-hiking is the norm, not taxis, even if a woman or alone at nightMen wrestling on the pavementYou can get weighed on the street for 100₮Getting groped on the street by giggling men, in a juvenile but not dangerous wayDrunks tripping overthemselvesAt the market meat is left out for several hours and never refrigeratedAttempted pickpocketing, they tried it on Vincent but he managed to kick them away before they could take his walletConstantly being called "Ors-hun"/RussianLast week we were pretty much based full time at the VSO programme office for an introduction to various issues such as security, health, how to work through an interpreter, child protection policy and monitoring and evaluation.Training has been long and exhausting, but not without its highlights:Visit to the Gandantegchenling MonasteryIt's name translates to "the great place ofcomplete joy".Vincent gets chased around by a tramp who had evidently lost all his fingers to frostbite.We saw a 26m tall golden statue of Buddha made of copper and covered in gold, filled with 27 tonnes of medicinal herbs, 334 sutras, 2 million bundles of mantras and an entire ger with furniture!We saw monks on their mobile phonesWe witnessed an incense ceremonyWe were followed around by a professional coin collector who wanted to know if we knew Mr Bean, or David Beckam personally.A trip to the country side to visit a Mongolian herding familySeeing the magnificent rolling steppeHanging out in the family ger (yurt)Drinking hot salty milky tea - which I now know is composed of milk boiled with dried beef carcass - yummy...Helping the women make booz (dumplings)Successfully avoiding too much muttonDrinking airag (fermented mare's milk)Experiencing fresh yoghurt and creamRiding a semi-wild Mongolian horseSeeing lots of goats and a HawkAdmiring how they powered their plasma screen with solar panels yet did not have any kind of toilet or 'washroom' concept.Winter Palace of Bogd KhanWhere Mongolia's 8th living Buddha and last King (Bogd Khan) reigned for 20 yearsLuckily it was spared destruction by the Russians and was turned into a museumHe had a collection of stuffed birds and animals, as well as a ger lined with the skins of 150 snow leopards - more than enough to give PETA a stroke...We saw various temples within the palace with magnificent art piecesChoijin Lama TempleVSO took us out on a guided visit for a cultural and religious background to Mongolia and Tibetan BuddhismBang in the centre of UB and surrounded by concrete and almost intact, although no longer an active place of worship due to the clampdown on religion during communism.We also got to watch a cultural performance with khöömi throat singing, traditional tsam-mask dancing, a contortionist and a terrifying Shaman danceThe voices and instruments are absolutely spectacular and wouldn't hesitate to go again.Staying with a Mongolian FamilyLovely couple with a little girl of 9 welcomed me with open arms into their home and took great care of meWent to the cinema to watch a Mongolian comedy, which surprisingly was easy to follow and very entertaining. However everyone seems to pick up their mobile phone or chew gum loudly, also my European legs are too long so my knees were completely crushed.Watched Mongolian Sumo wrestling on TV with the father, I don't understand the rules but one put the other's foot between the his legs and won (?)Visited the grandparents in the ger district on the outskirts of UB and was forced to try some dried milk curds (see thin slates on the right). I then (very obviously but unintentionally) gagged in front of everyone, and desperately tried to find a discreet way to dispose of them (thankfully I found a tissue).As I left, they very kindly presented me with a gift - a giant bag of dried milk curds... No comment.So now we are in our final week of training and finishing up our language course, preparing for an employers workshop, Friday we have a networking event to meet other, volunteers, agency workers and expatriates, and finally the big move into our apartments...