Dogs

Note: this post contains graphic content, may not be suitable for all animal lovers

They are an ever-present, though often neglected facet of life in Mongolia. Most hashaas (fenced yards) have at least 1 guard dog. The purpose of this dog is to bark at intruders and potentially scare away (or attack) unwanted guests. These dogs are often large and aggressive and rarely chained-up. One of the first things that we were taught in training is how to “deal” with these dogs. Almost every dog in the country knows “JOVE”, which when yelled at a dog, sends it away. We were also advised to carry a few small rocks when outside the city to use as projectiles if a dog gets too close. (Note: we were advised to throw the rocks near the dogs, not necessarily hit it.) In our city, there are large packs (~12) of roving dogs that are homeless. They remind me of a gang and they often tussle with other roaming packs. If a dog has a collar, it is supposed to signify that it is “owned”. Some of the pack dogs have collars, but most do not. The dogs patrol the trash bins/dumping sites and eat whatever scraps they can find. Due to the harsh winter climates, only the hardy stray dogs survive. Therefore, most of the dogs are large (50lbs+), very thick, short hair, and mutts. I read that initially Tibetan Mastiffs were used in the country, but that lineage as been diluted. Spaying and neutering are very rare in smaller towns. Therefore, every year, there are many packs of puppies found around town. Many of them don't make it through the winter. We were told by the vet that the most humane way to put a dog down here is with a bullet. There is 1 vet in our town and he does not spay/neuter. For population control, semi-annually, the police department conducts a dog round-up and execution. Any stray (or perceived stray) on a particular day is gathered and shot. Unfortunately, dogs with homes are inevitably caught-up in this practice (such happened to a previous PCV here). Vaccinations are also not common, but can be obtained in UB. House dogs are VERY rare in our town; though we do know of 2 Mongolian families that have them (1 in our building and 1 is a co-worker). Also, females dogs are less desirable because they can become pregnant and black dogs are the best (according to superstition).

Ashley and I have had 2 experiences with dogs, here are their stories:

Buddy: In front of the hospital was a sick dog that Ashley saw everyday at work. She occasionally fed it. Over time, it became sicker and unable to walk. We brought Buddy home to build up his strength and get him over his illness (he was an older dog). After researching his symptoms and one of our friends talked to the Vet, we were told that he had heavy metal poisoning (fatal). His cognitive abilities became increasingly impaired (unable to balance, etc). He lived with us for about 1 week before he left (walked back to the hospital). Ashley found him dead in his old spot.

Bear: Last Sunday, I was walking home from a friends’ house when I saw a very tiny dog in the street (not the main street, but a busy enough thoroughfare). I picked him up and moved him over to in front of a neighboring building. Many people were walking past him and there were no other dogs in the area. It was below freezing and he was shivering. When I put him down, he followed me all the way back to our apartment (2 buildings away). I had seen this dog the day before near the post-office. The amazing part is that he crawled up the 3 steps into our apartment building, given his tiny size. I showed Ashley and we decided to take him in for the night, feed/water him, get approval from our landlord, and talk about it the next day. We got landlord approval and decided to keep him. The convenient part is that one of our fellow PCVs’ host family will watch him (in their hashaa) when we go out of town. They have 2 young dogs and 1 old one (all excellent dogs, very nice to people). We named him Bear (he is all black except that his nose, tail, chest, and 4 paws are tipped in white). He weighed about 1.5 lbs when he came (less than 1 kilo of potatoes). Based upon his size and appetite, we estimated that he was 4 weeks when he arrived. He is still drinking milk, but starting to eat solid food. It has been very cold the past few nights (less than 0F) and he shivers when outside for more than a few minutes, so we doubt that he could have made it more than a few more days outside. He is very cuddly and affectionate. He is becoming paper-trained and we are working on chewing. Overall, he is a good puppy and is sleeping on my lap as I type this. We don’t have a plan for the long-term and frankly, he may not be with us that long, so we are enjoying each day as it comes.

Binder + Dadal Business Trip

This week, I spent 4 days traveling north on a business trip, primarily focused on agriculture and bee-keeping.

Here is the summary:
We took a Toyota Landcruiser, with an elevated suspension and snorkel (air intake on the roof). I actually thought, "wow, this seems unnecessary...especially the snorkel". I was proven wrong.

The drive to Binder was on a dirt-trail, not a road. It was slow-going and bumpy, but the scenery was great. We passed many herds and gers set-up in the countryside. In Binder, we met with the local bee-farming group on multiple occasions. We also participated in the opening celebration for the local radio station (1st station in the area), and there I met the governor. Over the next few days, we went to the bee farms and observed the progress of winterization of the beehives. We stayed in a hostel-like building with 4 single beds, a small table, and a wooden stove. All of the buildings/houses have wooden stoves for heat and cooking. Interestingly, the "hotel" did not have indoor bathroom facilities (no central water system) and no outhouses, so I had to use the facilities at the neighboring school.

We drove up and back to Dadal on 1 day. The purpose of the trip was to meet with their bee-farming community, assess the winterization progress, and to check on the seabuckthorn shrubs. Seabuckthorn is a shrub that grows in this area. It produces small, orange berries which are incredibly healthy. According to Wikipedia, seabuckthorn has 15x as much Vitamin C as orange juice. Seabuckthorn is used in certain drinks/supplements, and is considered a cash-crop in this area.

The geography of northern Khentii (Binder/Dadal) is substantially different from the south/middle of the aimag. This area has many rivers and is forested, particularly the farther north you go. The forest and rivers provide better climate for certain animals, including wolves, fox, boar, bear, elk, etc. I did see 2 foxes when we were leaving Dadal. Anyways, this area reminds me of Colorado (but with smaller mountains). At one point, we were only 40 km from the Russian border (Siberia). The ethnic group of people in this area are called Buryiads, and they came from Siberia. I have mentioned them in previous posts. At one home, we had to take 3 shots of Buryiad vodka (made with fruit and 80 proof) with the grandfather. He has killed a huge boar and the head was hung on the wall.




This area is known for it's historical significance, primarily that of Chinggis Khan. (Referred to as Genghis Khan outside of Mongolia.) He was born outside of Dadal and lived there for many years before moving to other areas of Mongolia, and then conquering most of Asia/Middle East. I was able to visit some of the most important sites with the help of Baacancyrel, the driver. The picture beside is the monument marking the birthplace of Chinggis. It is on a large hill overlooking the Balj river valley.







This is the water-spring that supplied Chinggis and his family. It is located just outside of Dadal and has been supplying water for 800+ years. The blue scarves are used to mark a sacred location in Mongolia, or a spot of significance.










This is a set of stones that form a larger "monolith" in the countryside outside of Dadal. Supposedly, the stones mark the tomb/gravesite of Chinggis' sage/hero. This site is very remote and not well-known. Note that there is only 1 scarf. Also, this site was next to one of the bee-farmers' houses.






This is the convergence of the Onon and Tsenker rivers outside of Binder. This is one of the proposed burial sites of Chinggis Khan (under the rivers). The river already had ice on Oct. 25th. The Onon is known for its taimen (giant salmon) and this is a "popular" tourist spot in the summers. The river is only 3-6 feet deep, and we forded it close to this spot. There were no bridges in this area, so we crossed many streams, stream-beds, and 2 rivers.

This is the monument marking the spot where Chinggis formed the Mongolian country/government in the summer of 1206. It is located a few kilometers south of Binder, near the Onon river. This event is well-documented in most texts of Chinggis and Mongolia. It was the first unification of the warring tribes/clans and is called the khuriltai. Thousands of people attended this event and were hosted here for the entire summer. Tribes from across Mongolia, Siberia, and Northern China (Gobi) came to gathering and joined the Mongol nation.




This is an example of the type of house structure that some of the northern tribes used prior to the ger or wooden house. This particular monument marks the spot of the house of Chinggis' best friend (not sure of the name). It is also located outside of Dadal.

Trip Highlights:

Craziest foods consumed:
honeycomb (with honey still in it)
horse intestine (boiled, for breakfast)

Scariest Moment:
fording 2 large rivers, with water/ice washing up to the windows



Update for Ashley:
She finished and submitted a Millenium Challenge Grant application for non-communicable disease assessment in the aimag. She also bought new black leather high boots (with a small heel) because she "needed" them, according to her co-workers. However, they look nice and will help with her commute in the cold.

Pictures from our new home/community

Thanks to a fellow PCV, I was able to get a faster internet connection at her work. Therefore, here all of the most recent pictures.

This is my best Mongolian picture so far....the original needs to be submitted to National Geographic because it exemplifies life so well here (and I am proud of it).

A few weeks ago, we took a hike (over flat ground) to a stone monument from the Turkic era (~700 AD). On the way, we came across a group of horses playing in a lagoon near the river.

Here is the stoneman that we found, also called a babbel (sp?). The blue scarves are good symbols in Mongolia, so they are draped around it. Also, people offered money and food, which are placed in front of it, or the money is tucked into the scarves.

These are the slippers (handmade from wool, camel hair, and leather) that Ashley and I wear around the house. Very warm and comfortable.

Here are the new curtains. There is actually a traditional pattern in the lower section, but it is very hard to see in this photo. The top is lined with gold fabric.

Here is the new kitchen prep table. Lacquered wood. The metal bowl is for the rice cooker and the pink bucket is for "bleaching" vegetables prior to cooking. The sunflower pattern is actually a plastic film that we found in a local store. The wood on the shelves absorbed water, so we put the film over top, to make it spill friendly and easy to wipe-up. We are VERY happy with it.

This is the new futon/couch. The fabric covers are new and though the seats are firm, it is very nice to have somewhere to sit.

Funny story for the week: we are approaching the end of fresh produce season and we wanted more tomatoes. Red tomatoes are expensive, so we went to a local store and asked for 1/2 kilo (1lb) of green tomatoes. She would only sell us this massive bag of green tomatoes, which is approximately 5 kilos (12 lbs). The entire bag cost 1,900 T, or ~$1.50. We put the tomatoes on the bottom of the kitchen prep table and about 1/2 have turned red. We have frozen a few pounds and have been trying new ways to eat them as they turn. I have been making omelettes with tomatoes almost every morning and Ashley has been putting them into whatever we have for dinner. I am quickly becoming tired of tomatoes, though I will miss them in the depths of winter.

Winterization in Progress

First off, Ashley has been very busy at work this week, so once again, I am providing the blogpost (read into that statement as you will).

Weather/Clothes

The warm weather has left and we are into Autumn. Briefly, snow has fallen twice here. The daily highs are 40s, nightly lows are 20s (this does not take into account the wind). The central heat was turned on last week and our radiators started filling last night. 3 fins filled in about 12 hours...only 20 more fins to go! The water drips into the radiators from a main line and works its way through the system. Most of the other buildings were full on Thursday or Friday, so we must be at the end of the system. I have started wearing a wool hat (lack of hair). I found an awesome soviet style leather/wool hat with a bill and flip-down ear flaps in a local store. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to buy it when I was there (~$6), but I plan to go back this week. Ashley has ordered her winter boots (buryad boots). They are leather outers, fur-lined, and rubber bottoms. Supposedly, they are very warm. In a local 3ax (market), there is an old woman that makes them by hand. They cost ~$60 for the fur-lined ones and take about 2 weeks to make. Ashley has a much longer walk to work and her coworkers are worried about her in the cold, so we needed to order them ASAP. I still haven't made up my mind about winter boots, or which style to get. There are a few types (cowboy, basic, etc)....I just want to make sure that whatever I buy is made locally (not imported). We are going to buy winter jackets when we go to UB in November.

Language

I had my first private Mongolian language lesson this past Saturday. It was awesome. The teacher is a staff member at a local NGO who is fluent in English. It is helpful at this point to have someone who speaks English to explain the grammar structures. For 2 hours, we primarily worked on pronunciation. There are a few letter combinations that are very tricky and the emphasis is also on the first syllable, which is very different from English. I am planning for 2-3 hours per week of tutoring. PC provides some funds for tutoring, but I expect to personally foot some of the bill. We also spent time working on common phrases (What will we eat for dinner?, When will you come back to the office?, etc).

Apartment

The futon/couch has been successfully reupholstered. Actually, removeable covers were made for the cushions, which is even better. The seats were also fixed by covering the springs and adding more padding. Overall, very successful endeavor. The work was done by a local seamstress that works in my building. She spent about 2 days working on it and she went fabric shopping with us. The total bill was ~18,000 Tugrugs for material and ~25,000 Tugrugs for labor, which is about ~$35. That is substantially more economical than the $400+ for a brand new imported couch. Also, we had curtains made for the kitchen windows. When we moved in, the "curtains" were lace, which provided no benefit or privacy at night (we are on the ground floor). Once again, we picked out fabric and had a local seamstress put them together for us. They are gold/tan with a traditional Mongolian pattern and lined in gold, which matches the kitchen trim. It cost about $30 for everything, which once again, is much better than the $90 for new, imported curtains. I'll try to post pictures of the futon and curtains in a future post.

So, the apartment is pretty well complete. We reorganized and gave it a thorough cleaning. The natural light is great (southeast facing windows) and the potted plants are doing well, including the lettuce and basil. The geranium is going crazy and has almost outgrown its pot. We also got a small cactus from Ashley's work. I'm interested in trying to grow hops for next year....though more research is required.

Community Events

Last week, we were invited to the birthday dinner for a coworker. It was very relaxed, and she cooked up a great meal of potato huushur and cake. (Note: most huushur or buuz are made with meat, so non-meat is a special request.) Also, we had dinner with neighbors last week. They know Ashley from work and live in a close apartment. They speak no english, so it was an interesting conversation since we are slow and painful in Mongolian. They served traditional tsoivan, which was excellent. On Friday, World Vision gave 10 families new gers and I went to the ceremony, which was very nice. The families were homeless or had inadequate shelter. The gers were 5 wall (medium/large) and ornately painted. On Saturday, we had dinner with a Korean volunteer living here. Korea has a volunteer program similar to PC and there are ~80 people in Mongolia. The funny part is that he spoke very little English and we speak no Korean, so we spoke "Mong-lish" over dinner, which was entertaining. He is a very interesting guy and we plan to meet with him regularly. Hopefully, he can teach us how to cook good Korean food!

Note: If you plan on mailing us a letter/package and want to write the address on the label, please make sure to copy it exactly as we have it. Mongolian does not use the Latin alphabet, so some of the letters are very different (ex. л <> A or n [it is an L sound]). A few items sent had "English" versions of cyrillic, which required intervention by the post office. Let me know if you have any questions about this. And please, keep the mail flowing, we love it.

For next week, please post questions in the comments section and we will make sure to answer them.

жастин (Justin, or more closely Jaasteen)

"Regular" Adjustments

It has been 2 weeks since the last post. Here are the most important topics:

Weather: Autumn is here and the weather has turned cold. By cold, I mean that it snowed briefly on Saturday morning. Today it is in the 40's, will be 70's by end of week, but then cold again next week. The nighttime lows are often below freezing and there is usually a very brisk wind, which makes it feel much colder.

Utilities: In Mongolia, the heating is provided from a central heating location via hot water lines to major buildings, including apartments. In our town, there are 3 coal-fired hot-water plants that heat and pump the water out. One of the plants is about 300 yards from our apartment. Buildings all have radiator heat and most individual houses/gers are not attached to the lines. Since the water is centrally controlled, there is no thermostat, so we have no ability to change the temperature in our apartment. Some buildings are hot, some are cold. It probably depends on the distance from the pumping station. Since it is centrally controlled, the local government determines when to turn on/off the heat. I was told that October 15th is a popular "on" date and it stays on until March 15th. Unfortunately, it is already fairly cold in many of the buildings, so another 3 weeks may be difficult. I am wearing a coat while I type this. I have observed that most buildings have 1 waterline for the radiators and 1 for the potable water. The potable water over the summer was very cold, but I was told that sometime in October that water also becomes warm. Our apartment is equipped with a ~10 gallon water tank that can be heated to a certain temperature (the heating process takes about an hour). However, most apartments/buildings do not have a hot water tank, so people shower/bathe using whatever water comes out of the tap. Bathing in the winter in cold water does not sound like fun. On a positive note, we heard that our place is warm. Gers and houses typically burn wood, coal, or dung, depending on the location in the country. In our area, coal is the most popular. Ger/house dwellers typically shower by either heating water on their stove and taking a "tumpun/sponge" bath or go to the local bathhouse. They typically cost ~$1.50 for 30 minutes. I have not been to one yet, but I hear that they are very nice.

Over the past 14 days, we have not had electricity during the day on 9 of them (it is restored at night). We were told that the first 3 days were planned outages, then 3 telephone poles fell in front of our place and we lost power for 2 days. Then, we have just had sporadic outages, which negatively impact homelife and work. Also, when the electricity is out, we have no running water from the mainline. I assume that the water pump for our building is electric. Last night, the electric went out around 7:30pm and came back on around 9pm, but the water stayed off until 1pm today. Our headlamps have been invaluable over the past few months.

Hospital Anniversary Party:

This past weekend was the 85th anniversary of the hospital/health department in our city. The hospital/health department put on a large 3 day event which included training, concerts, and dinner events. Ashley participated in most of the gala. She also sang at the dinner on Saturday night. I was not feeling well on Saturday, so I did not go (I wish I would have). The participants stayed in a make-shift ger camp setup on the outside of town and it was referred to as a "mini-Nadaam". That means wrestling, archery, horses and copious amounts of food/drink.

Food:

Our town has multiple bakeries, which means amazing bread. The loaves are big and doughy and without preservatives, last about 4 days. We typically eat a loaf every 3 days. We have found soy meat and tofu in town. Also, this past week was prime harvest-time, so there are a lot of people selling produce on the side of the road (onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, cabbage, garlic, turnips, a few tomatoes, peppers, etc). We also bought a kilogram of grapes, which ending up being a lot more expensive than expected. Needless to say, we have consumed a lot of vegetables this week. Also, some friends gave us fresh greenbeans. We have also started growing lettuce, sprouts, and some herbs on our window sill. They seem to be growing well. We still have not cooked meat at our place, we only get meat when we eat out. Eggs are also available at reputable stores, so we make omelets 3-4 days per week and incorporate the veggies mentioned above.

Furniture:

We received a futon from my office, but it needs to be reupholstered. Therefore, we have disassembled it and are looking for new material and a staple gun. We were very fortunate to have a futon given to us because new couches are very expensive $400+. Also, a local carpenter made us (to specification) a new kitchen prep table. We were using the window sill, which was not ideal. The carpenter lives in a ger in town and has a very impressive woodshop in a house behind his ger. The table is very nice and very functional. Overall, I am pleased with the table and if we need any more furniture, I plan to go back to him.

Leisure Time Activities:

I have been playing volleyball ~3 times a week with the local World Vision staff. I'm also trying to get into yoga and potentially judo. Supposedly, this is a big judo area and one of the world vision staff members found me a teacher. On a side note, Mongolia won a gold medal in Judo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With the weather turning, I want to find activities that I can do indoors and still stay fit. I try to read most days (working on another novel) and we have been watching shows/movies on the computer. Ashley takes brisk morning walks every day with a fellow PCV. She has been spending most evenings reading, cooking, or writing.

Guest Editor: Since all of the readers are used to my droning, next week Ashley will be contributing to the blog. Let's be honest, she is much more poetic and descriptive than I, which will be a pleasant change to this blog. Have a good week.

Belated Pictures

Above are pictures from the swearing-in ceremony. The health group is the left picture, the business group is the right picture. The middle picture is Ashley and Leon (singing group).

Weekly Update: The past week has been fairly uneventful. Ashley has set about planting herbs in pots on our window sill. She has also made multiple batches of this quick-bake bread that includes local berries. Justin made window screens to keep the flies out of the apartment.

At work, Justin is working on a website and helping with translations for World Vision projects. Also, the new fiscal year begins 10/1, so we are working on next years' projects (agriculture development, business training, etc). Ashley's department is having a training this weekend, so she is spending part of her weekend there. They are preparing for the 85th anniversary of the hospital later this month. We are both actively involved in teaching English to coworkers.

Here is the first picture of our bedroom. Justin is re-assembling the beds and putting them together (2 twins).

Here is the view from our bedroom window. We've been stringing up rope between the trees to dry our clothes. It works very well. The windows are south-facing, which enables us to grow plants on the window sleeve.

This is the bathroom. The water tank in the upper left corner supplies hot water to the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and shower. However, the tank leaks if the main water line is on, so we just fill up the tank and use it, then refill it, and repeat. Justin had to fix the internals of the toilet to get it to flush, which it does now.

This is the kitchen. Small table in the lower left, electric stove, sink, and refrigerator. We have to do food-prep on the table or window sill.

This is a picture from the swearing-in ceremony in Ulaanbaatar. We are both wearing our Mongolian traditional attire.

Adjusting to our new place

We have been in our new locale for 12 days now....time for an update. Ashley is working at the health department and it is approximately a 20 minute walk from our apartment. I work in the building adjacent to our apartment, at a small (3 people), local NGO. The first few weeks are difficult because you have to "feel" out the organization and see where you and your skills can fit in. It's like transitioning to a new job in America, but the language barrier makes it much more complicated. The constant request that we both get is to teach English. I am teaching daily 1 hour English classes to my co-workers and Ashley is doing the same. My co-workers are at approximately the same level, so classes are pretty straightforward and applicable to everyone. Ashley's co-workers have varying degrees of English skill, so her classes are more difficult to plan and execute.

My NGO is sponsored by World Vision (the aimag has 3 branches and supports ~3,800 kids). This area has also been designated an "area development program", so they are able to try new ideas and see what has a positive impact on the community. I've been spending considerable time at their office over the past few days and I am planning to spend 10-12 hours per week there. They are planning a series of business and household finance classes this fall, which I anticipate getting involved with. World Vision also has cross-sector projects between education, health, and business, so there is a chance that I will get to collaborate with other PCVs on them.

Dietary Update:
We now are vegetarians, unless we go to a reputable restaurant or a friends' house. Frankly, it's easier to use vegetables and after my summer culinary experience, I am willing to remove meat from my diet. However, we did find a local restaurant that as really good pizza and burritos, so I get pepperoni or chicken there. We have attempted 1 Mongolian dish using vegetables instead of meat. A common dish is hooshur, which is meat in a bread dumpling, then fried. Well, we made mashed potatoes with carrot, onions, and garlic, then stuffed bread dumplings and sauteed them. In reality, they are closer to pierogies than hooshurs, but still very good. Unfortunately, we are unable to find peanut butter or mozzarella cheese in our new town. I am contemplating trying to make cheese in our apartment...to be determined later.
Also, I have stopped drinking Coke (Pepsi is not available here), after many years of drinking at least 1 daily. Occasionally, I will have a black coffee for breakfast, but tea seems to be sufficient for now.

Apartment Update:
Our new place is shaping up nicely. I fixed the wiring in the bathroom, the toiler innards, and the trashcan. Ashley has done a fantastic job of cleaning it from top to bottom (are you surprised?). We have purchased a few things, primarily for the kitchen, including bowls, knifes, skillet, hot water pot, etc. Our main water line has been leaking, so it was only on for about 5 minutes a day until last night. Last night, the plumbers came and fixed the valve. They didn't replace it, just pulled out the screw/bearing assembly and fixed that. Plumbers tape (pipe tape) can not be found here (electrical tape is also missing), so the plumber used horse hair (yes, I said horse hair) to wrap the threads before reinserting it. That is ingenuity! Ironically, we woke up and found water all over the bathroom floor. It turns out that the water heater also has a leak, but it only surfaced when the mainline was on long enough to fill the entire tank. We'll address that one this weekend. Lastly, we are still missing 2 critical pieces of furniture and 1 nice-to-have (dresser, couch, table in kitchen to prep on [we have no counter, just a window sill]). We are working with our host agencies to get those resolved. On a positive note, we found out that our apartment is the warmest apartment in the entire city in the winter!

I'm still not able to post pictures, sorry. Thanks for the emails, keep them coming!