Kharkhorin life

Though I skipped over many great funny stories during training, I will follow up with where I am at now. I guess I'll have to leave some stories for when I come back home! I am now in Kharkhorin which is the old capital of Mongolia. It is a population of about 20,000 so when I first got here I was overwhelmed! I came from a small town of 2,000 so I felt like the country girl who has landed herself right in the big city! It is far from big though. I do, however, have luxuries like a paved road from Ulaanbaatar (UB) to here for at least 70% of the way and at least 15 stores. In Orkhon, there were 4 food stores. Also, there are beautiful mountains, a river, and a monastery here. Also here- a site mate! I looked at the Peace Corps as being my independent, solitary time, though it has been a blessing to have a site mate here who I can vent to, clear up confusing happenings, and simply share good ol' American foods, hobbies, and conversation with. I still have quite enough alone time.

As for my living situation, I live in a four-walled ger. I had to look up what a ger was before I came to Mongolia and now I'm living in it! It's a circular tent made of felt and wood poles. Inside the wooden poles are brighltly painted with orange and green. I feel like I'm living in some warped 70's dream at times. A green and orange flower pattern circles my walls. At first, it kind of bothered me that nothing matched...as in my bed didn't match the orange and green, nor did I really want to buy anything in hideous green and orange. It is these simple things like "matching" that I'm learning to just relax about. ha. I have no running water. I have to walk about 5 minutes away with my little cart with jugs and fill it up at the water station. I still haven't figured out the water station's hours completely. I don't really think they have any, but I'm convinced that they like to put their little red flag down (which symbolizes they're closed) when I'm at just about my dirtiest and my thick hair has finally shown to me that it can indeed be oily....or I'm on the last pair of undies and really need to wash my clothes. ha. I do have electricity though! Thank the Lord! I can only plug three things in at once, though I have 6 plugs. So sometimes when I'm dancing and singing away, making myself some pancakes, I realize that soon the dancing must stop because the water boiler must be plugged in for that cup of coffee I must have. My multi-tasking abilities have definitely been hindered. What else? I have a big stove in the middle of my ger, with a big pipe leading out. This stove which I'm thinking must acquire a name soon will keep me warm this winter...hopefully. Recently, this stove and I have been trying to get better acquainted because I'm not exactly sure how to keep its fire burning for very long. I've got to figure out what kind of food it likes....and how it should be placed.

I live in the same yard (hashaa) as another family. They are called my hashaa family and they live in a wooden house about 10 feet away from me. We share the security dog, "Jake" who defends our safety with his ferocious empty bark. Most of the time he is tied up and his bark is enough to scare terrified Mongolians away. Mongolians are terrified by dogs and often think I'm crazy for not crossing to the other side of the street when we encounter them in our walks to school and about town. My hashaa family consists of a mother, father, two sons (Gambat 17 and Biemba 22) and one daughter who is also my counterpart, Handaa (24). The mother, Baegelmaa, is very eager for me to call her "Eej" which means mother in Mongolian. She wants everyone in America to know that she is a good hashaa mom. She asks me almost daily if I told my family that she is a good mom. I have failed in her request thus far, though hopefully this blog will ensure that a small part of Arizona at least knows it. Eej likes to talk to me in Mongolian non-stop without too much concern that I do not understand much of what she is saying. I've learned that "goy" is a very important word to know because it is the polite answer for most questions. "Goy" means good/nice. I encounter my hashaa dad on rare occassions in the yard. He's usually building or fixing something and many times it is for my ger. He usually just asks what the English words for things are and will say "Ok" to me many times in one encounter. He seems to disappear into the countryside for days at a time. I saw him two days ago. He was squatting in the outhouse (jarlong) with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He had swung the door open and peeked out to see who had just walked into the hashaa. It was quite a site. The boys in the family are quiet and have a soft demeanor. They seem to contrast the hyper, talkative women in the family quite well. Biemba is in UB now studying at the university and my interaction with Gambat is mostly due to a homework need. I often find him grinning with quiet amusement at some foolish thing I am doing. Handaa is a big jokester who thinks it's quite funny that I don't wear makeup everyday like she does. She is very inquisitive. I seem to have her voice running through my head during the day, repeating what she asks almost daily, "Is it ok?" or "Whyyyyy?" or "What's the news?" She has been very helpful in getting me settled into Kharkhorin life. Like my Eej tells me everyday, I'm aztai....I'm lucky.