According to Mongolian tradition, Tsaagan Sar – “White Month” is the celebration of the Lunar new years and is the mark of the arrival of spring. Spring, as in, it’s finally warm enough to snow again, and it can be in the negatives and the high 40’s, where snow blizzards or dust storms can pick up at any time, all in one day.
Excerpt: I just survived my first Mongolian winter…and it wasn’t too bad. I got the Mongol shuffle down.
I missed the main celebratory days of Tsaagan Sar, which was February 22-27 while back in the states, but caught the tail end of it, literally, I ate some sheep’s tail, when I got back. So here’s a short synopsis of the holiday and my celebrations, and what I’ve been up to in my 4 month hiatus from blogging.
Buuz, buuz, buuz.
During Tsaagan Sar only white foods (meat included, fat especially) are prepared and eaten and gifts are given to your family and friends, it’s almost like a mix of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Leading up to the holiday, families, mainly women, will make hundreds, sometimes thousands of Buuz (Steamed beef or mutton dumplings) and then beginning with the elders and family members, visit each others homes to talk about spring, play games, and consume buuz, Aruul (dried yoghurt chips), Airrak (fermented horse milk), sutee tsai (milk tea), and vodka in mass amounts. It’s mandatory to eat at least 3 buuz per home. The gifts are presented along with some cash, and a mandatory shot of vodka.
Since I was at the end of the strain of visitors, my gifts included candy, lots of frozen foods; several pounds of buuz and beef, two whole fish – head, tail and scales included, a grocery bag full of Aruul, some “support” tights; purple, and some hand soap.
Who can’t resist those gifts?
I only went to three homes, so my expectations are high for next year’s toll of goodies.
My coworkers and I before I left for a visit to the states.
Shortly thereafter, we celebrated women and men’s (soldiers) days.
On women’s day, my department (Administration) women (besides the director and vice director) were coaxed into our training room by the lures of delicious cakes, cheap wine, vodka and candies and our vice director read us poems, thanked us for our hard work, and poured our vodka shots, 3 mandatory. I also was given a ticket to a play, which was about a girl tormented by love. I could only understand snippets, there was some awkward striptease dancing, and then it ended where the girl was released from the torment (?). On men’s day, and I just observed the accumulation of empty vodka bottles in the street.
My projects at work are ever increasing and our neonatal head doctor, Uyanga (Photo below) and I have taken on a huge grant proposal to equip our new neonatal unit with the necessary modern materials and to get more training for the nurses and doctors in that unit. (Apparently, they opened the ward before fully equipping it…Mongol style – at least we have the space and some equipment now).
Me and Uyanga (Neonatal Doctor)
I’m still teaching English and rotating doing health classes at the hospital and schools. I’ve continued to expand my relationship with the health department and am working with them on a reproductive health curriculum for teens in the next two months. We also have been tossing some ideas around for nurses and family day in May and I’m hoping we can pull off a 5K run!
I also had some fellow Peace Corps volunteers, Cliff and Joe come and do some Music Therapy sessions in January at my hospital, which was one of my most enriching, memorable moments - it's amazing what music can do. Here's a little snippet of a song they did:
For those not on FaceBook, here is a photo of my sweet puppy Moogi (“everlasting” I named her after my host mom). She’s a jenkin (real) Mongolian trash mutt - I picked her up off the street about 3 months ago. She’s certainly been a project and getting all her shots and spaying has been eventful, but well worth it. I took her first to a vet in town but due to the communication barrier and needing to have documentation of her shots in English (since I plan on bringing her back to the states) I had to take her to the capital UB, where there’s an American vet.
Moogi
Moogi's spaying adventure:
I learned the day I planned to go to UB that pets aren’t allowed on public transportation, so after getting my train ticket reimbursed, and unsuccessfully convincing the bus driver that Moogi was a good dog, Moogi and I weaseled a spot in the front passenger seat on private microbus packed to the roof of rowdy drunk Mongolian men…. yippee.
They all adored her, and me, thankfully, but it did make for a nerve-racking 7 hr trip, in which we arrived to UB at 2am. Luckily, I convinced the driver to take me to my friend’s apartment and didn’t have to find a taxi. On arrival to my friends apartment the few men left in the van all got out of the car and requested a picture with me:
The microbus crew - Otgoo, the driver is in the middle, wearing the blue jacket.
The driver then walked me to the apartment door and even waited for me before leaving back to Erdenet the next day. I had Moogi spayed the next am, picked her up at 3pm drugged, groggy and freshly stitched, wrapped her in a blanket and was back on the microbus by 4pm, my fingers crossed that the microbus back wouldn’t break down on our way home. It was in the -10’s outside. We made it back safe and sound and at a more reasonable hour of 11pm.
So, if anyone’s wondering, it only takes 14 hours of travel plus 2 1-hour taxi rides in UB and 200,000 Tugs (about $150) to get a pup shots and spayed in Mongolia.
Well hope all is well on your side of the world – What a wonderful time to be in Kentucky right now with both UK and UofL in the final four! I’ll be cheering on my cards this weekend!
Best,
Gracie
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