I'm Back

I arrived back in Denver tonight. Unfortunately while I was in China I was unable to update my blog due to internet censoring. I always knew it was a little subversive. In the next few days, I will blog about the trip.

It's a Girl!

My host mother's sister just had a baby girl. Both the mother and baby are doing well. Naturally this is cause for celebration.

Check out what they did to celebrate here, here, here and here. Disclaimer: Click at your own risk, not recommendation for the faint of heart or those with week stomachs.

It was awesome.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo were hanging out at the square today.

Photo by Warren Olsen.

Morin Khuur

The Morin Khuur is a 2 stringed instrument that is native to Mongolian. It used to be made entirely out of horse parts. In 1930 it was adapted to be similar to a violin, so now the base is made out of wood instead of a horse skull. I think this is kind of a bummer. Last weekend I took a lesson.

This is what the instrument is supposed to sound like.

We sounded exactly like Elmo.

China

I leave for China on the 30th of September. Naturally, they are all very excited.

Check out what they are doing to prepare for my arrival here.

IT'S SNOWING!

It is snowing for the first time this winter in UB. I think the seasons work like this.

Spring: June
Summer: 6 weeks in July and August
Fall: The rest of August
Winter: Everything else

It's a good thing I like snow.

Interesting Uses of English Around the City

My first lost in translation moment came early in my trip. I was out having drinks with several Mongolian anesthesiologists which was a lot of fun. (One of them gave me a 1 Togrog note which is worth about 1/15th of a cent and kind of difficult to find). I was speaking with one of them who spoke pretty much every language but English. He kept telling me has was pathetic. He told me this over and over until someone else interjected and said, "I think he is trying to tell you he works in pediatrics." Then they explained to him what pathetic means.

There are plenty of great examples of poor choices of words around the city. My favorite part of the signs and t-shirts around the city is they are generally grammatically correct but inappropriate for the situation. Some of my favorite t-shirts have been:

Patronize your local merchant, he's your neighbor. While the message here is a good one, especially due to our current climate problems, I still wonder if the wearer knows exactly what is on their shirt. This shirt is also incredibly popular, I see it all the time.

No Paint, No Gain. Maybe they were trying to make shirts that said: No Pain, No Gain. Maybe they are paint ball enthusiasts. I will never know.

Honk If You Love Skateboarding. One of the doctors at work was wearing this. I laughed.

And as Kate reminded me, Some Call it Stalking, I Call it Love.

Ping Pong

Last weekend we had a ping pong tournament. I had always heard that the Asians took their ping pong seriously. Seriously enough that numerous people corrected me when I called in ping pong rather than table tennis. I expected we would be going to a rec center with a few tables but we went to a real training center. It was so funny to see all of the little kids with their coaches and the old men that get upset when your ball rolls over towards their table or can't have the exact table they reserved. It reminded me of playing tennis growing up. :)

Last night in the Gobi

The last night on our Gobi trip we stayed in a family's ger. They were a really awesome old couple who work way to hard. They are traditional herders and have a fairly large herd of sheep, goats and cows.

We had a fun night playing cards, playing with their dogs and trying to talk to the couple using the 2 phrasebooks we had with us. I got to try out my Mongolian and successfully said, "Мал сурег тарган тавтай юу." Which means, "I hope your animals are fattening up nicely."

My favorite part of my time with this couple was when the man found out I was American. He said, "Barack Obama" and gave a big thumbs up. Then he said, "Bush, Iraq" and did the Mongolian equivalent of giving the finger (an American sign language j). This made me quite happy. :)

My blind date

The most common question Mongolians ask me is, "Are you married?" After I tell them that I am neither married nor have a boyfriend some of them get a little worked up. I think this response is natural because they simply don't want me to become a crazy cat lady and I am almost over the hill at the ripe old age of 22.

My first supervisor at Shastin hospital would consistently introduce me to the young male surgeons. If one was already married she would shake her head, disappointed at the loss of a prospective husband for me. One of the other anesthesiologists also told me I needed to get married because to a Mongolian because I am here for so long. He also told me that I couldn't become a neurosurgeon because that is "men's work" and how would I take care of my family. However, eye surgery is still open as a career to me because he dubbed that "women's work." I still haven't figured out why he makes that distinction. When I asked him why he considered it women's work, he promptly changed the subject to teaching me Mongolian swear words. He also decided that this was best done by writing them down on random medicine boxes in the operating room.

So back to the real story. I made a joke about all of these people who want to find me a Mongolian husband to my tour guide Goto. What I didn't realize is that sarcasm is probably not the best idea with a non-native speaker. He asked what my criteria for a Mongolian husband is and this is what I came up with:

1) Between 22 and 28 years old.
2) Doesn't smoke.
3) Has a large herd of camels. 100+ is preferable.

One morning in the desert Goto walked into the ger and while I was still half asleep told me that I have a date tonight. He was completely serious.

That night I had a date with a 22 year old tour guide named Mugu. We walked to the cliffs and I invited him for tea in my ger.

The positive things about him are: He is 22, doesn't smoke, speaks English and studies computer science.

Best thing about him is his full name means Eternal Hero. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

The negative things about him: No camels (big strike against him) and he believes death is something women should never see. Earlier that day he stopped me from seeing a sheep being slaughtered which was something I was mildly interested in seeing. Do to this belief, I don't think we are going to work out long term. My (hopefully) future career as a doctor and him not thinking women should see death don't really match up.

Perhaps it is best if I don't come home with a husband. Especially because it is a Mongolian tradition that the bride makes the felt for the new couple's ger. I really don't know if my felt making skills are up to par.

The Big Picture

The Boston Globe has a blog called The Big Picture where every few days they post about 30 pictures based on a common theme. The most recent one is Inner and Outer Mongolia.

Two Mongolias.

The Gobi Desert

I just got back from my trip to the Gobi desert. I went for 8 days with 3 other girls, Marijke(from Belgium), Louis(from France) and Maeva(from Switzerland). We had a great time. We were accompanied by Ultse, our driver, and our guide, Goto. He is the only Mongolian I have met who really likes to stick to the schedule. I am pretty sure the thing that came out of his mouth most was "official time." It was fairly amusing.

We got to see the White Cliffs, the Dinosaur Flaming Cliffs and the Singing Sand dunes. If I either a) liked geology or b) knew anything about it, it would have been absolutely fascinating. Since I don't, it was fun to see everything and do some hiking. It is also quite amazing to be able to drive for miles without seeing anything or anyone. It is considerably more desolate than driving along I-40 through Arizona and New Mexico which is really saying something for anyone who has done that drive.

We had a lot of fun together riding camels, climbing the sand dunes, visiting families, learning more Mongolian and playing cards. We also had some interesting times getting the van stuck in the mud and fixing flat tires (both our own and other van's).

Check out the pictures.

Rafting

Some friends and I rented a raft and went rafting on the Tuul river. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. Some of my companions had never been rafting and were a little nervous about the adventure. Marcel decided it was necessary to wear both a lifevest and a helmet (and to paddle frantically for most of the trip) on what turned out to be a very lovely float trip. I think he was afraid of running into the very devious looking yaks.

Genghis Khan

Mongolian's really like Genghis Khan, I when I say like I mean really really really like Genghis Khan. Enough to put a 131 foot statue of him in absolutely the middle of nowhere. Definitely one of the more amusing things I have seen in my life.

Tahki Horses

A couple of weeks ago I went to Hustai National Park to see the Tahki horses. They are a rare breed of horse and there is an ongoing debate about whether they are ancestors to the modern domesticated horse or a subspecies of the wild horse. They disappeared from the wild in 1966 and in 1985 were reintroduced into the wild in Mongolia. There are around 300 horses in Hustai and 1200 elsewhere in the world. All 1500 of these horses descend from 9 that were in captivity in 1945.

They do look different from other horse breeds, the description that Wikipedia gives is, "Przewalski's Horse is stockily built in comparison to domesticated horses, with shorter legs. Typical height is about 13 hands (1.32 m), length is about 2.1 m with a 90 cm tail. They weigh around 300 kilograms (660 lb). The coat is similar to dun coloration in domestic horses. It varies from dark brown around the mane (which stands erect) to pale brown on the flanks and yellowish-white on the belly. The legs of Przewalski's Horse are often faintly striped." They also have two extra chromosomes.

The day we went it poured, which put a bit of a damper on searching for the horses. Despite the rain we found some of the horses and hiked up to see them. Once we got close, each horse looked at us like we were absolutely insane to stand in the rain and look at horses. I must say, I kind of agree.

The Gobi

I am off to the Gobi for 8 days. I promise I will actually do some blogging when I get back.

Photos

I think most of the people who read the blog are friends with me on Facebook, but for those who are not here is the link to my Mongolia photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2180171&id=1410779&l=2aca351795

Nadaam

I went to Nadaam, which is Mongolia's largest festival. The full name is эрийн гурван наадам, which translates to "The Three Games of Men." There is horse racing, archery and wrestling. I went to the opening ceremonies in UB and also to the horse racing out in the countryside. Watching the wrestling is very amusing, enormous men put on funny little outfits and hug each other for a while (this sentence would seriously offend any Mongolian man but it is really what it looks like). The horse racing was also fun to watch but the course is so long you can only see the end. Overall it was a good experience and I tried airag, which is fermented horse milk. Taste wise it ranks lower than blowtorched marmot. It is pretty foul.

4th of July in Mongolia

We went to the 4th of July BBQ hosted by the US embassy (although it felt more like it was hosted by the Church of Latter Day Saints, it was almost completely populated by Mormon missionaries). The BBQ was complete with Oscar Mayer hot dogs and two full roast pigs. The best part of the experience was making the Europeans participate in the egg and spoon race, the three-legged race and the potato sack race.

Yak Festival

This was one of the highlights of the trip. We went horse trekking in order to reach a yak festival. This was the first time it was held so I got to attend the inaugural game of yak polo. It was very exciting and very amusing. Yaks are more agile than I would have expected but I think polo is probably best left to horses. At the festival there was also yak racing, yak showing and several singing and dancing performances.

Also, the most important thing is that I got to ride a yak.

The Rest of the Trip to Khovsgol

My trip to Lake Khovsgol was fantastic and it allowed me to do a few things that I have never done before. I am also happy to report that most of these activities were much better than eating blowtorched marmot. They included camel riding, attending a yak festival (this will get its own post), playing with reindeer (this one too) and hiking a volcano.

Blogging

I have been very bad about keeping up with my blogging responsibilities. In order to remedy this I will try to post an overview of what I have been up to the last month.

Marmots

So on the trip, Cormac acquired a blowtorched marmot's paw. He had been giving me a hard time about being a fussy eater and I make an effort to try everything once so I had a piece. Needless to say it was not tasty. I didn't think much of this experience until I got back to UB and was reading my Lonely Planet guide.

"Got a hankerin' for blowtorched rodent? Pop into a ger and ask around for some boodog, the authentic Mongolian barbeque. The summer delight first involves pulling the innards out of the neck of a goat or marmot. The carcass is then stuffed full of scalding rocks and the neck cinced up with wire. The bloated animal is then thrown upon a fire (or blowtorched) to burn the fur off the outside while the meat is cooked from within. The finished product vaguely resembles a balloon with paws.
Like most things involving a blowtorch, preparing boodog is true men's work. Furthering the adventure it is worth noting that the Bubonic plague, or Black Death as it was known to medieval Europe, can be passed by handling marmot skins."

After reading this I decided I would expand my knowledge of the Bubonic plague. So I read this,
"The untreated disease has a 60% death rate, but if you can get to a doctor you can be quickly treated. The best drug is the antibiotic streptomycin, which must be injected intramuscularly, but it is not available in Mongolia."

I haven't gotten sick, I am pretty sure the marmot was fine but I think it will be my first and last piece.

The Trip to Khovsgol

I had a great time on the trip to Khovsgol. The Mongolian countryside is amazing and I had a lot of fun with the group I went with. I went with another American, two Germans, a Swiss and a Brit. We traveled quite a way over 10 days in the Russian minibus, we visited Kharakhorum (the ancient capital), the Great White Lake, Khovsgol Lake and Amarbayasgalant Khiid (a monastery).

Since When Are There Reindeer in Mongolia?

So I mentioned to Mary that there may be reindeer involved in my trip up north to Khovsgol province. She was a little surprised by this fact so I have decided to answer her question here in the blog so everyone can learn about the Reindeer Tribes of northern Mongolia. There used to be a large number of reindeer in Mongolia but due to deforestation, their numbers are being threatened. The Mongolian reindeer herders are also being forced to eat some of their own herd as their food supplies dwindle. The number of reindeer has dropped to about 700 and I think I saw about 20. I will have to go back to look for the other 680.

Lake Khovsgol

For the next ten days I will be going up north to Lake Khovsgol. I won't have internet during this time so I will blog all about the trip when I get back. I am very excited for the trip, I think there will be more camels involved.

Hot Pot

Last night I went out for Hot Pot with some friends. Turns out Hot Pot is the Chinese version of Fondue.

Mongolian Karaoke

More Hiking

No camels this time. Just goats.

The Black Market

The Black Market in UB is quite the place. I went for the first time on Saturday. Anything you could possibly think about buying and somethings you couldn't are for sale. I was tempted to buy a real bear rug. It was a little dusty and I don't have a good dry cleaners here in Mongolia so I abstained.

This Week at the Hospital

I had my first week at the hospital. It was quite an experience. The hospital is a little creepy and doesn't inspire much confidence in the Mongolian health care system. The hospital is housed in a run down Soviet era building. Please enjoy the photo of one of the operating rooms. It looks more like an experimental facility run by one of the evil X-Men than a real hospital.

Some of the weird, not so sanitary and not so safe things that go on in the hospital.

1) No one wears closed toes shoes (except for me) and most of the women wear heals while performing surgery.
2) Either smoking is allowed inside or the ban is just not enforced. During a surgery, another surgeon strolls in and stands over the patient with a cigarette between his lips.
3) Gloves are simply not popular.
4) Sometimes the doctors lose patients. By this I don't mean that the patients die on the table. I mean that the doctors don't know where they are.

There is a large upside to the ridiculous sketchy-ness of UB's Hospital #3. I watched and assisted 11 surgeries this week. The surgeries included a heart bypass, varicose vein removal, sympathetic nerve repair, a bladderectomy and a hernia removal. The doctors let me do quite a lot in the operating room including ventilating patients during surgery, IVs and preparing medicines. It's awesome.

Hiking

I went hiking outside of UB with some friends on Sunday.
It rained.
Then it was nice.
Then it rained some more.
Then it hailed.
Then we found a camel wandering in the woods.
It spat on Alex(the guy in the photo) twice.
It was a great day.

Also, I would specifically like Greg to notice the distinct difference between me and the camel.

National Museum and Folk Concert

On Saturday I went to the National Museum of Mongolia to kill some time. Luckily, the museum was definitely worth visiting. An entire floor is dedicated to the different clothing of the 20 or so different ethnic groups. The museum also included a large section of prehistoric tools, a wing dedicated to the rule of Genghis Khan and quite a bit of information on the years of Soviet control. After the museum, I met the rest of the volunteers in my program and went to a folk music concert. The concert was definitely designed with Western tourists in mind but was still fun.

First Day in UB

I arrived in UB in the morning and shortly there after I met my host family. I met the father, the daughter who is 9, and the son who is 18. They are very nice although don't speak very much English. The apartment is very nice and the best part is I have Belle sheets. Trying to tell them where I am going is always an interesting activity.

Later in the day I got quite a tour of UB. We visited several of the main attractions including the main monastery and the Parliament. The city is a very strange place, the Mongolians really like to start building very large buildings but very rarely like to finish them. There is quite a nice layer of dust covering the entire city. The only problem with the first day was that I learned I don't like Mongolian food, should make for an interesting 4 months. Also, the woman standing next to me is Stephanie, a volunteer from Berlin.

Getting to Mongolia

So I left from Denver on Wednesday to go to Ulaanbaatar. I flew from Denver to San Francisco to Beijing to Ulaanbaatar. The trip was relatively easy with the exception of the 13 hour layover in Beijing. I spent most of the time hanging out in one of the two Starbucks in the airport. My favorite part of the layover was dinner. I went to a Thai restaurant where the current special was "Fungus is Hot Pot". Needless to say, I didn't order that. After the 13 hours, I got onto the flight to Ulaanbaatar and I don't think there were more than 4 or 5 Mongolians on the flight. The guy sitting next to me was from Birmingham, Alabama. After all that I made it to UB with no problems.

Shots

So in my preparations to journey off to the land of Ghengis Khan, I became a human pin cushion. Wonderful diseases abound in Mongolia and now thanks to the nice people at Farragut Travel and Medical Center in DC, I no longer have to worry. For anyone who is curious I received:

Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (Yay, No Lockjaw!)

Hep A

Hep B

Typhoid

Polio

Japanese Encephalitis (This was the most fun as it was a series of three shots)

I also get to take Malaria medicine the entire time I am abroad. Luckily, I am told my medicine is the nightmare free version. I certainly don't want to terrify my host family with shrieks in the middle of the night.

Leaving for Mongolia

I leave for Mongolia on June 3rd. I decided to start a blog for the three or so people that are interested in what I am doing. I will be living in Ulaanbaatar and working in a hospital and other than that I don't know to much about what I am getting myself into. I will update everyone when I figure it out.