Integration is real.

           

            So I don’t know if it is because the weather is now above 0 degrees C or because school is almost over, or maybe even because I told my teachers I have been missing home lately, but I have been integrating the shit out of this week. It all started when I decided not to go to our teachers meeting because I felt like having a pity party for one about how I miss my family and the American lifestyle of a twenty-something year old. Don’t worry it isn’t that important for me to be there anyway. They speak in Mongolian and talk about all subjects and problems the school is having, also the success stories too. But I usually go once a month just to see if I can follow what they are saying. The problem is that it usually lasts three hours. And that is a long time to not understand what someone is talking about. Anyway, I came to school the next day and some of my teachers asked if I was ok (aka why I didn’t show up). I told them the truth this time too. Usually I just brush it off and say I had a stomach bug, or was tired from the “vigorous” workday, but for some reason I felt inclined to be honest. I said I was feeling a little blue about not being with my family and not having any friends my own age. Surprisingly they became really concerned about it. It might have to do with the fact that their first volunteer left after only one year of service and they are afraid I will do the same (I would like to clear that I have no intention of cutting my service short. Rojo’s finish what they start. And yes there is only one Rojo I know of and that is me, but seeing as I can’t generalize my families name because I am trying to be more honest about shit I’m just going with it). Or maybe they are genuinely concerned about me, which would be a pleasant surprise.

             So it all started on that gloomy Thursday. Well actually now that I think about it, it was a beautiful day, but don’t stories always seem to start with bad weather? My teachers and I went to a fellow teachers house for her daughters hair cutting ceremony.

            *Side note: There is a tradition in Mongolia where children (girls 2, 4, or 6, and boys 3 or 5) shave their heads to be born again. I am still a little unclear why they choose to do this, but it’s adorable so nobody is complaining. They usually cut their hair in the morning with immediate family and spend the rest of the day preparing food and drinks for friends and family to come visit this new little bundle that now looks like a cancer patient, but with more energy. I have heard they keep some of the hair until the child is 18 and then give it to them, but I have seen no evidence of this happening. Also I don’t know what the kid would do with his hair, and I’m hoping I will never find out. Oh also guests bring a present for the little rascal, usually money and candy that they take and deliver straight to their parents. It’s kind of a nice process because this money tends to cover the cost for holding this shindig in the first place.

            Anyway, back to the story. So we are at my teacher’s house eating soup and drinking sour milk. Also this sour milk isn’t gross it is delicious I just can’t think of any other way to describe it, so just trust me. The vodka shots start going around and her husband knows I can drink so I end up taking four. It is considered rude to refuse something in another person’s house so I tend to just go with it. Also four shots in like thirty minutes just getting tipsy is kind of awesome. Thank you college for making me a heavy weight. All those years of vodka shots are finally paying off. So being a little tipsy and enjoying myself I invited my teachers over to my house on Friday to drink beer and have dinner. Kind of like to celebrate the end of the school year. Now I have done this before and nobody showed up so I wasn’t expecting anyone to come, but to my surprise it actually happened.

            It’s funny because when you plan things, it always seems to go differently than what you thought in your head. So on Friday after we cleaned around the school a couple of teachers came over and drank and chilled. It was kind of amazing. These are not English teachers I might add, so all the conversation was in Mongolian and I understood probably ninety percent of it. I made kimbob, or sushi with ham and pickles, and they gobbled it up. It was my first time really spending time with other teachers alone without another English teacher translating the whole conversation for me. Afterwards I went to the river with my haasha sister and we played in the mud. We literally splashed around in the mud and it was the most fun I have had in months.

           

The next day my haasha mom and I worked out together with Jillian Michaels (shout out to Becca for sending the best doable workout video ever). After I got ready to go to Salt Lake with my other English teacher and a few of her friends. Now I should probably give you the back story to this story. Sorry this is a long one, but I mean my life is pretty entertaining right?

So earlier in the week I went to our new gas station and helped change the decimal placement on the machines because all the instruction were in English. This alone was cool because I felt like I was finally contributing to my community, which had already been amazing to me all year. So my English teachers brother-in-law thanked us and invited us to go to Salt Lake that weekend. So here Saturday is and we hop in the car and go. Now I was expecting it to be nice and sunny and everyone would be playing outside and having a ball. But remember when I said everything is different inside your head? Yea, same thing here. It was sunny, but it was also ridiculously windy at the same time. Like so incredibly windy children had to be escorted when they were outside for fear of them blowing away. So the majority of the day was spent in the car. On the bright side I got to see and pet a two day old horse, and it was a stallion too! We also drove around the countryside a little bit and explored. Once we got to the lake people were taking some water because it was red. Apparently when it is windy the sand blows into the lake, mixes with the salt and makes a reddish tint to it. They use this for paint in the summer. Super clever right? So not a total waist that it was so windy. We watched some competitions of darts, wrestling, volleyball, and of course who could drink the a fifth of vodka the fastest without puking. To everyone’s surprise, no one could. We had horhok in the car and drank beer and chatted too. (horhok is goat that is cooked with hot rocks and is delicious. Will definitely make it back in the states.) Oh I should probably mention that it was four of us the majority of the day. Me, my English teacher Ichka, her brother-in-law, and his coworker. His coworker is actually my age, which was nice to hang out and chill with someone who didn’t have little children to go back to. And I made my first male-unmarried friend without it being weird. It only took me a year, but I am very satisfied with my success rate. By next year I will have two unmarried male friends. Hopefully…

Anyway, Sunday rolls around and it is a whole different ball game. We go to another teacher’s daughter’s hair cutting ceremony and it is actually a nice mildly windy day so I wear a dress. After we hop into another teacher’s car and drive three houses down to her house. We end up going in and drinking beer with a few of the teachers. This was also great because it was the first whimsical get together I have been to in a while. We talk about her recent remodel of her house and then somehow her photo albums get pulled out. It was adorable. We all crowded around this one book and they all explained when and where each picture was taken. I think it had been a while since they had done this because they got really into it. After a while we wandered over to the next teacher’s house had wine and did the same process, rinse and repeat. Then we went over to another teacher’s house, Myadagma, who is a little older. She had made gedec, or all the insides of an animal cooked in one boiling pot. Thankfully I have never had the pleasure of experiencing this delicacy because I tell everyone I meet almost immediately after we exchange names that I don’t eat gedec. So when we arrived all my teacher’s said, almost in unison, that Rojo doesn’t eat gedec. It was adorable and kind of awesome how protective they were of me. Myadagma being the sweetheart that she is, knew this already and gave me the one meat bone of the stew. It was scrumptious like always.

All in all I have had a pretty successful integration week. It only took me precisely one year to accomplish, but timing doesn’t matter, just the success story.

Also this is probably the last post for a while due to the fact that school is ending and that is my internet source. Also I plan to enjoy one of my last summer holidays before I have to get a real job…

Sincerely,

            Your true Mongolian friend, relative, or random person’s blog you decided to read.

PS. No pictures this time because I decided to live in the moment for once and not be a tourist. It really paid off.

Best Week I’ve Ever Had

So they say that Peace Corps is like a roller coaster, but I think it’s more like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The ups are great but then without warning you are turned into a fiery hell that scares the shit out of you when you are 7. Thankfully this week was when Mr. Toad went out with some friends, pleasant and enchanting.

            It all started on Sunday. I was bored so I decided to go for a walk down by the river, one to start my daily walk to burn off some of my blubber, and two because it was finally spring with a nice warm breeze instead of the chilly I hope my nips aren’t showing like it usually is. I started listening to an audio book and walked for about an hour. Funny thing is I was paying so much attention to not falling on my ass I still can’t really understand what the book was about. Something about famous people getting drunk, but that’s beside the point. When I finally come back after turning around because a dog was staring at me, and yes I am afraid of dogs now, you would be too if you saw some of the countryside dogs that look like they can tear your spleen out in one snatch, my music teacher’s husband was waiting outside my haasha in his car. I said the courtesy hello and thought I might take a nap, but somehow I ended up in the car on the way to his house. Don’t worry the story doesn’t get creepy or anything. But it ended up that he had been waiting for like 10 minutes to invite me over for dinner. I’m pretty sure it was to thank me for having her over for American Tsagaan Sar, but who knows something could have been lost in translation seeing as neither of them speak any English. We had delicious baked vegetables and meat, which is kind of amazing because not many people have ovens, let alone use them. I once caught my cp keeping her notebooks in hers. Anyway, we talked and she showed me pictures and she even gave me pomegranate! I know! Crazy right? She had just come back from UB and said a friend gave her one and she chose to share it with me! After dinner we all hopped in the car, my music teacher, her husband, her daughter (6), and her granddaughter (3), I know weird family timeline but it works out really well surprisingly. We drove to the culture center, which is approximately a 2 minute walk from my ger where her husband went in to see the wrestling tournament. The girls stayed in the car because she was in her robe and slippers. I didn’t just want to leave her so I stuck around, that and because I didn’t know if it would be considered rude. We hung out for a while or so chatting about our families and her children, you know good bonding topics. She sent her daughter out to get ice cream, which we also ate in the car, and after what seemed like an hour I started to keep track of the time. We laughed sang English, Mongolian, and Russian songs, I bonded with both the kids so that when I see them now they actually talk to me instead of staring blankly in my direction. But after 2 hours I decided to go ahead and walk home. I got a shitty nights sleep because I got home so late, but she also told the teachers the story of how we sat in a car for probably 3 hours right outside my house in the teacher’s room. It was well worth it.

            The next awesome turn was when my department (English, Russian, Mongolian, and Social Science *basically foreign language and a rando) decided to do some team teaching exercises. So we were all put into teams of 3-4 teachers and went at it. I was paired with one Mongolian and one English teacher. We decided to focus our lesson on animals and adjectives because we were going to teach 6^th grade. Our Mongolian teacher, Paga, talked about the differences between 4 animals (elephant, lion, rabbit, and giraffe), habitats, eating habbits, and so on. Ichka, our other English teacher reviewed past adjectives to get the class warmed up to English. And finally I introduced six new adjectives and did an exercise with them too. We used a projector to make it that much more spectacular. Needless to say our presentation was almost flawless. Can’t toot my own horn too much. I was actually really proud of putting together such a great lesson in just one day. The feedback we got back from the other teachers who watched was amazing. They said that it was a true lesson focused on the student’s abilities and not just making the teacher look good. They complimented us on our organization and time management too. It seriously made my week. The other teacher’s lessons were very good as well and had plenty of materials to work with. It was great to see them put that much effort into lesson planning, but now I know that they can do it and just choose not to do it with me….

           

            But not to worry because my week picked up for the last and final curveball with a field trip to the aimag with my 5^th grade students. I tutor one of the 5^th grade teachers, Tegshe, two to three times a week and asked if I could tag along. And man am I so glad I did. We went to celebrate the end of elementary school, which is kind of a big deal, especially where 30% of students don’t graduate. (and yes I just made that statistic up…) We took both 5^th grade classes (50 students in total) in one meeker (large van which held 24 students and 2 adults, excluding the driver) and a bus (holding 26 student, 2 teachers, and 2 teachers kids, excluding the driver). Needless to say it was packed. I sat by the door to keep the kiddies safe. We left around 8 and were off for the four-hour drive! (The drive time has shortened thank goodness because spring is finally here!) My teachers had the trip planned down to the minute. They even made an itinerary. It was adorable. We stopped at a few religious statues along the way, with our teacher trainer explaining the meaning of them to the students. Only 4 out of 24 students got sick, which I call a success too! Once we got to the big city we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants (aka a guanz, or a local food palace). The teachers were spoiled with breaded chicken while the kids got an assortment of eggs and mystery meat. We then drove to the first museum, the history museum. Basically the history of Mongolia’s clothing, artifacts found in the dessert and paintings. It was kind of an assortment of Mongolian traditions and traditional items. Even though most of the kids knew what most of the stuff was, they were still really interested. It was fun to see them intrigued in their own culture. We wandered over to the next museum across the street after about an hour or so. My friend, April, joined us too. The second museum is more about the nature and animals of Mongolia. It had taxidermy animals and even a dinosaur skeleton that was discovered in Bayankhongor. Needless to say the kids were ecstatic to see everything, and went a bit cray-cray.

            After the museums we walked to the park where there was a huge type of cat with a slide coming out of its mouth. The kids went wild. I mean I would have too if I were a kid and just came out of two museums. We then walked all around Bayankhongor to a bunch of different statues where our training manager explained the meaning, symbolism, and when it was built. It was really interesting to see that she knew all those things even though she lives so far away. We finally made it to the hill in the middle of the city with an oboo, or religious statue, on top. We all walked up slowly and took countless pictures. Finally the day was done and we were all exhausted. The drive back was pretty nice. We all sang and relaxed our feet. It was pleasant because the sun goes down around 9:30 or so, so the whole drive was lit and we didn’t get lost once! We even made it back in record time. This was definitely the best trip I have had so far. The kids just made it so much more memorable and entertaining.

            Oh and last but not least I put on an alcohol awareness month. I was a little skeptical of whether it would work or not because a month is a long time. The goal was to have one competition per week all in Mongolian of course. And so far it has been a great success. The first week was the drawing competition where students grades 5-9 drew pictures of what our soum and families would look like without alcohol. We had 34 students participate and the pictures were incredible. We gave out medals so they got really into it. The second week we did an essay or poem competition for 10-12 graders where they wrote about their families and the affect alcohol has on them. We had an astonishing 68 students participate and the essays got very real. It was really nice to see the students portray their real lives, even though they might not be idyllic. We winning essays were incredible and very personal. We decided to type them up and post them without names to keep their identities from judgmental eyes. This past week we did skits, or role-play. We only had 3 groups participate, but they were phenomenal. They used stories that have actually happened in our soum to make it that much more meaningful. They were so good they are going to present them at our parent’s day next month.

            So basically I had the best week I’ve ever had in Mongolia so far. What have you been up to this week?

            Hope your week was as baller as mine.

                      

                              Rojo

PS This next photo is a special treat for all of you who actually read this far down. Just look at all their faces. They love me. 

For almost every volunteer here in Mongolia, unless you are the naturally blessed curve-less petite whose doctor asks to gain weight, there comes a time when one of your friends calls you fat. Now it is not that they are being mean, but most people here are just naturally skinny, just like the ones most hate back in America. Granted America is known for being a fat country, and I have nothing against fat people, but man it doesn’t sting any less.

            I love this country and all the experiences and people I have met, but they are blunt and don’t really grasp the concept of offensiveness. I guess I should start from the beginning…

            In high school I was pretty average, except for large boobs, which to this day I am very proud of. They have taken me far. In college I gained the freshman 15-20 but not freshman year. It kind of all began when I could drink legally. I mean the liquor adds on the pounds and then I found out I was going into the Peace Corps so I started eating my favorite foods, healthy and not. And it added up. I left for Mongolia not at my ideal weight, but my clothes still fit and I didn’t consider myself obese. Being here has been a completely different story.

            Over the summer I hiked almost everyday for hours and my clothes actually started to feel loose. I can only hope and guess I probably lost about 10 pounds, which for me was awesome! I was in a new country, eating new foods, and losing weight. What more could I ask for!

            By August I moved to my soum where I originally lived with a host family, in their house, no privacy, no kitchen. Needless to say it was awkward because my mom was antisocial, even for Mongolian standards. (For those of you not here Mongolians don’t like to ask personal questions, just polite greetings). So it went for almost 2 months with me eating bread and soup over and over and over again. On the bright side one of my teachers and I ran in the mornings everyday for about a month until it was too dark and there were too many stray dogs to ward off.

            In October I moved into my ger and things got a little better. I had my own space, could cook my own food, ect. But going from using the elliptical 3-4 times a week to nothing doesn’t help. Time continued to pass with holiday feasts and birthday fiascos but nothing changed in my new lifestyle. I used to consider myself a fairly healthy person, but now I just don’t know.

            Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t view myself as obese, but overweight yes indeed. I would say I am in the chubby yet seductively curvy phase. The one benefit is that my ass has finally come into its own.  The approaching gut and muffin top I could do without.

            That about brings us to present day. I was having kind of an awesome day because one of my teachers who never lesson plans with me came over to plan two days in a row! With great ideas too I might add. I had just added some new old pictures from high school up in my ger and we were just chatting and talking about them. This is when she commented, and I quote, “Rojo was thin in high school, but now in Mongolia Rojo is fat.” Remember Mongolians think of fat as just a descriptive word and nothing more, so I laughed along and continued to be polite, but later that evening I couldn’t watch any of my tv shows with skinny stick people in then for fear of jealousy. So of course I watched my idol on “The Mindy Project.” Needless to say she is an inspiration for all normal sized people who aren’t ridiculously naturally twigs. I’m not bitter or anything. This was the point where I knew I could go no further.

            I know what you are thinking… Rojo why don’t you just get off your fully voluptuous ass and do something about it? Three problems arise with this quest. One: most Mongolians in my soum think it is weird and odd if you run or work out in public if you are not playing a sport. Most of them don’t need to so they don’t understand. Two: I hate working out alone. It is one of my many weaknesses and I have yet to find a way to accomplish it. I have P90X and Insanity but what fun is it if you do it alone in your ger, which has no windows and is somewhat depressing when working out. Three: I have no motivation. I look in my tiny mirror where you can see one body part at a time and think why don’t I work out all the time! But then that tiny voice pops into my head saying, why bother? It’s not like you are going out clubbing tonight or like anyone is going to see you naked for another year. The evil voice of laziness also keeps chiming in that I could always just get a personal trainer when I get back to the states, but I also want to have a rockin’ bod when I get back too.

            
           So here I am reaching out to all my friends, family, and random people my family has passed my blog to, who I don’t know or don’t remember but I’m sure you are all nice people (sorry for the profanity and racy language grandma), for advice, help, or encouragement of any kind. So I need help. And real help too. I don’t mean that bullshit of “oh, you’re perfect the way you are” “you are beautiful at any size” blah blah blah. I want to be in the prime of my physical fitness when I get back to America, but I can’t seem to get past my mind to reach serenity, or something like that that sounds like an inspirational quote. 

Sincerely the blonde, blue eyed, white, Peace Corps volunteer out in pursuing her dream of going from chubby to chunky to normal, and maybe even back to backup girl at the bar in case the hot girl turns you down status for when I get back.

Rojo

So I know I have been mia lately and I am terribly sorry if you have been idly waiting by your computer to read my posts from halfway around the world. Here is what you missed in the last four months:

December:
       I went to the capital, UB, for an official Peace Corps conference. It was pretty great to see all the other volunteers, but it was also very overwhelming. I hadn't been around that many Americans in months and to say it was stressful is an understatement. Now it is hard to explain to Mongolians that just because people are from America they are not the best of friends. Don't get me wrong, I have a handful of volunteers here who I love to spend time with and call on occasion when I am in my soum, but I am not biffles with every volunteer here. So with 88 American volunteers plus 88 Mongolian English teachers in one hotel with sessions from 9-6 everyday it was a little excessive. I did have wonderful meals, pizza included, and plenty of venting on how we all miss American things and whatnot, but by the time it was all over I was ready to go home. It was a little surprising to me because I hadn't really considered Bogd my home until that moment when I was relieved to be on my way home, despite the 12 hour bus ride in the snow...
      When I got back it was just in time for New Years! We had a fantastic celebration with all of my teachers at the only karaoke joint in my soum. It was a blast! We ate, drank, and sang our hearts out the whole night long. This was definitely a bonding moment for me and my teachers. And my dancing skills are still talked about to this day. Also was asked multiple times if I could milk camels and if I wanted to live in the countryside with some drunken Mongolian herders. Needless to say I was flattered.

January:
       The new year rolled around and it was time for the traditional winter camel races of Bogd. I was ecstatic when my director asked me if I wanted to go with my training manager and her family. It was during school so it was quite a treat to skip class. Some of my teachers still haven't seen it and they have been living here for years. So i packed up my famous deviled eggs to go and hopped in the car with my training manage, Bontorma, her father, husband, and two sons. It was incredible. We drove about 30 minutes into the countryside, aka the middle of nowhere, and stopped at a ger to have some tea. One of her sons took a motorcycle the rest of the way because he was in the race. Traditionally in races children ride the camels so it is kind of a big deal. It is also terrifying because they don't wear helmets so if they fall it could become serious fairly quickly. Anyway, there were two races, one for one year old camels, and the second for the rest of them. The race was 20 kilometers and we drove behind them. At first they were walking and I was a little disappointed because it was so anticlimactic, but it turned out they were just walking to the starting line. Once the race began they were fast. It is beautiful to see camels run. They are so majestic and fast. We drove along side them most of the way and then sped up to see the finish line outside the car. It was an experience I will never forget. I also got to ride a camel for the second time with some of my bank workers. It was so exhilarating. They are so tall and gentle, but they can kill you with one kick. Mine was a little stubborn so I stayed on it for a bit because it refused to sit down so I could dismount. So I enjoyed the view, posed for some pics, and relaxed on a camel in the middle of the desert in Mongolia. It was also really exciting to see some of my student participating in the race. It was really cool to see how excited and proud they were to be apart of it all.

February:
       It finally came to one of the most famous holidays in Mongolian history. Tsagaan Sar, or Lunar New Year. Now this holiday is similar to Christmas and also very different in so many ways. People come together from all over the country to visit their relatives. In most places the tradition on Tsagaan Sar Eve is to make buuz, or meat dumplings, and put one coin in one of the buuz. The one lucky soul who gets the coin will have good fortune for the rest of the year. In my soum it is a little different. We make huushur, which is basically fried meat dumplings, and exchange it with family members. I helped one of my elementary school teachers, Tegshe, roll dough, as well as my haasha family and the next day my shoulder was sore. Hopefully that puts into perspective how many we made, here is a hint: a little over 100. Tsagaan Sar officially lasts three days, but truthfully it continues for about two weeks because realistically how are you supposed to visit all of your relatives in three days if they don't live in the same place. So on the first day of Tsagaan Sar I went with my haasha family to the countryside to visit a few of their relatives. When we entered each ger we were served milk tea, arol, and candy. Then we were served buuz. And then finally the host gave a present to each guest. This happened in each house or ger. So needless to say it is quite an extravagant holiday. Many Mongolians even take out loans to help pay for it all. The second day there was a huge wind storm so I spent time with my haasha family and relaxed. The third day I slept mostly. Although technically the holiday was over, we continued to visit teachers houses for the next two weeks. It was intense.
       I decided to throw and American Tsagaan Sar because I knew my teachers would be busy and wouldn't have time to visit my ger on the actual days. I invited 13 of my teachers to come, my English teachers, and others that I have become close with throughout my time here so far. So they came over a week after and I served them deviled eggs, goat stir fry, and pancakes for desert. I gave each of them a spring scarf, a red correcting pen, and three sea shells from my hometown. They loved it and when I visit some of my teachers I see the shells on display in their homes and it lets me know they are proud to be apart of my life.

March:
     Finally March arrived and it started to warm up. I rarely make fires now and it is wonderful. I have more free time and I love it. I recently went on vacation to a neighboring state with some other volunteers and visited another volunteer in a far off soum called Batultzii. There we were able to visit a frozen waterfall and a hidden monastery. It was unbelievable. First it was crazy how much colder it was just a little more north than I live and second there were trees! She basically lives in the forest it was beautiful. We went to the waterfall first and were able to walk on the bottom and look up. It was an extraordinary perspective that I will never forget. Then we went to the monastery. Because of the snow we drove as far up the mountain as we could and then hiked the rest of the way. It took us around 2 hours to make it all the way there, but it was worth it. It also told me I am in the worst shape of my life because it was exhausting. We legitimately climbed part of the mountain to make it up to the meditating caves. There we met a monk and a Mongolian who had meditated for three days in the cave without leaving. I wanted to ask technical questions like, did they make a fire in the cave, where did they pee, and so on, but I thought it might be a bit rude considering we were on their turf. We spent about an hour wondering around, taking pictures, and basking in the glory of the frozen mountains. After our 2 hour walk back we were exhausted. It is definitely a trip I will never forget.

       Now for the stuff I am truly proud of. Last week was the Mongolian English Olympics, which is the national and state English tests. Each some gets one student per grade to participate and through tests my teachers and I chose each student. I had been working with my students for weeks on preparing them for the exam. We did speaking and listening practice almost everyday. It was intense to say the least. But it paid off! For the state olympics my 6th grader Gantigmaa took 4th place, my teacher Ichka took 2nd place, and my 5th grader Munk-Erdene took 1st place! It was amazing to see such results because student in the aimag or state capitol have so many more opportunities to learn and practice English. But finally my 9th grader Uyunga took 3rd on the National test for my state! Needless to say we were all pretty excited about it.

In conclusion, sorry for the untimely post, but as you can see I was trying to live my life to the fullest here in my soum I finally call home.


Rojo