H1N1 craze comes to Mongolia

Hello faithful readers… I’d like to fill you in on the current H1N1 happenings in Mongolia. According to the Mongolian government, 8 people have died from swine flu and over 1,000 cases have been reported so far. The first cases were reported just over 3 weeks ago. Currently in Arvaikheer, we have around 200 cases, with 120 on the university campus. Please see the status of H1N1 in Mongolia here.

The original national school break was scheduled to be November 9-14. However, with the outbreak of a few swine flu cases, the government decided to move up the school break to the week of October 26. The school break naturally causes the large concentration of students in Ulaanbaatar to travel to the countryside to see their families, in turn, spreading the flu to the countryside. Because the flu situation worsened during the newly scheduled school break, the government decided to prolong the school break by an additional week, until November 7.

At that time, the national council, created to analyze H1N1, decided to create a 14 day “high state of alert.” See a brief article about it here and here. In summary, all public places, such as cultural centers, theaters, entertainment venues, big markets, etc., should be closed from November 3. From November 7, all public and most private transportation in and out of Ulaanbaatar to the countryside is canceled for one week! No trains, no public buses, no meekers. Basically the only cars that can get in and out of UB are small family cars with a couple of people in them.

All seminars,  trainings, and unneeded gatherings are canceled. Hospital facilities have been expanded, adding extra beds and increased hours for nurses and doctors. The government will contribute about 70 thousand USD in nutritious food for vulnerable groups, such as street people, poor families, and pregnant women. Also, during this 14 day emergency status, colleges and universities will not be closed – in order to discourage students from traveling to the countryside (even though many students were already at home for the moved school break).

Peace Corps Mongolia has called a “standfast,” which is the second step on the four step emergency plan. During standfast, PCVs are not allowed to leave their site, and according to the PCV handbook, should have an emergency bag packed in case the third stage is called. Also during standfast, the PCV should prepare their belongings in case they must evacuate the country. However, we must also go about our daily routines as normal. Interesting…

The next stage is consolidation, then the fourth stage is evacuation. I’ve searched on the internet and found that a few other PC countries have been put on standfast for the swine flu: Mexico, Honduras, and Ecuador. From what I could find, all of those countries were on standfast during the summer, and are no longer in that status – now back to work as normal.

The 14 day “high state of alert” and the expected 4 weeks of school break have greatly impacted many PCVs work in Mongolia. 70% of PC Mongolia volunteers are TEFL, teaching English in schools. With the school break, the English teachers can’t teach English. Also, many CYD (Community Youth Development) volunteers work at schools as social workers = no work. The Health and CED sectors are also greatly impacted by the swine flu. All seminars and trainings must be canceled! What’s a volunteer to do?!

During this time, all of my seminars and trainings have been canceled, including my highly anticipated hotel and restaurant management seminar.  Also, my youth business club has been canceled, and will probably be canceled at least until April. I’m expecting that even after the school break is lifted, no extracurricular clubs will be allowed to meet. However, luckily, I have many tourism web projects going on right now, and an advocacy program for disabled people within the workplace.

Going forward, I’m very interested to see how the government and Mongolia will react to the swine flu. As another volunteer said, “I’m 100% positive that Mongolia will cancel school for another additional 4 weeks, but I’m also 100% positive that they won’t.” If this high state of alert and the school break continues, eventually PC might have to assess how effective the PC Mongolia program can be during this swine flu craze.

My coworkers and Mongolian friends are taking the swine flu very seriously, yet not seriously.  Mostly all people are wearing a cloth face mask, at some places wearing one is mandatory. Mongolians are taking to shamanistic practices to protect themselves from swine flu – like eating horse meat, etc. “Doctors recommend general public to eat more vitamin-rich foods, drink seabuckthorn juices and to consume more horsemeat, garlic, and cruds to keep the winter flu at bay.” (UB Post) See a Reuters video on eating horse meat to prevent H1N1.

In all of my months working and living in Mongolia, I’ve never seen a national wash their hands with soap or cover their mouths with a tissue when they sneeze or cough. Obviously, just because I’ve never seen it, doesn’t mean that people don’t do it… I’ve just never seen it. I’ve seen soap present in the bathrooms in one building – the Arvaikheer government building. I’m sure more buildings are providing soap because of the swine flu craze – but still.. I think the lack of provided soap shows that washing hands are not part of the culture.

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Erdenet with my coworkers for a trade fair. As most people were meeting up with friends they haven’t seen in months or years, I knew drinking vodka and beer would be a central part of the trip. I encouraged my counterparts not to share cups when they were drinking in their groups of friends. (The common practice is to sit in a circle and pass one shot glass around the circle, refilling the same glass each time with vodka for the next person This means all of the people in the circle drink from the same glass….. Hello swine flu.) My counterparts said that they couldn’t not share glasses with others because it is the Mongolian culture.

All in all, my friends ask me daily what they can do to protect themselves from getting the swine flu, but the things I suggest (don’t share cups, wash hands, cover mouth when sneezing, etc.) they say they can’t or don’t want to implement. This is quite frustrating when swine flu is all the talk right now.

Hopefully the high state of alert doesn’t continue, and schools are allowed to go back in session. I’ll keep you updated on the swine flu happenings through my twitter updates.

Local trade fair + English olympics extravaganza

The weekend of September 26, Arvaikheer hosted two big events: the Chamber of Commerce and Mercy Corps trade fair and the World Vision English Olympics. The city had a lot of visitors from nearby soums and aimags.

The trade fair was organized between my office, Mercy Corps, and the government. Over 100 vendors from around Mongolia gathered to sell and promote their goods in Arvaikheer. Big businesses from UB and smaller businesses from 6 aimags came to the fair. The trade fair was held in the theater and square this year, as compared to last year when it was held about a mile outside of the city center.

This year, the trade fair had many events, like an airag drinking contest, a driving competition, a car parade, etc… We put together a baby-sitting service during the selling hours. And the CCI organized a trade fair marketing training before the trade show for participants.

Bread vendor

A variety of vendors came to the fair selling: bread, dairy products, alcohol, beauty products, electronics, washing machines, traditional Mongolian goods, coats, deels, etc…

Youth Development Center booth

My friend Uugana just opened her Youth Development Center. Here’s a photo of her group winning a creative award for their booth. They showed videos of the youth club, handed out free English books, and were very active interacting with the fair’s attendees.

In total the fair brought in over 150 million Tugrugs, or about 100 thousand USD! That’s a lot of money compared to previous years. I think the reorganization and added features of the trade fair attracted more customers. Plus, I’m sure it helped that the English Olympics were the same weekend.

Wooden cabinets

The official English Olympics is sponsored by the Mongolian Ministry of Education in the springtime. However, World Vision sometimes sponsors their own version of the English Olympics. This year, the Ovorkhangai World Vision English Olympics started off with over 700 participants. The participants range from grade 6 to 11 and also includes a category for secondary school English teachers.

Patrick and Esayas wrote the tests about two weeks before the Olympics. As a foreigner living in Uvurkhangai, it’s kind of expected that you’ll help out with the Olympics. Most of the PCVs in Arvaikheer, plus our PCVs living in nearby soums came in for the competition. We all collaborated as judges for the event, along with World Vision and the Uvurkhangai Education Department.

The first round was a written test which included vocabulary and grammar appropriate for the grade level. The vocab portion of the exam was matching. And the grammar was taken from a short essay. From 700 participants, about 300 advanced onto the second round.

Grading first round tests

The second round of competition required the participants to write an essay. Each grade level was given a topic to write about. The essay portion is the funnest part of the competition to grade. Some of the students have no idea what the topic says and just wrote from things they have memorized in the past. While others write grammatically correct essays, that just don’t translate correctly into English – like saying things that aren’t culturally appropriate, etc. The essays that do make the cut are quite high quality. Those students and teachers advance onto the third and final round.

The third round is a verbal speech, given about a picture. The participant is judged by two people. The participant is given a picture and asked to talk about it for a length of time. Also, they are asked a couple of questions.

Awards ceremony

At the end of the competition, three winners are announced per grade level and a set of secondary school teachers. Oyunchimg, my Mongolian language tutor won first place for the teachers. Euso and Buba, Uugana’s children, both received second place in their grade level. Overall, Merged School, the gifted and talented school, went home with the most winners and also won the over all prize. The winner received a certificate, free English books from Uugana’s Youth Development Center, and an MP3 player! What lucky students!

After the competition, all of the winners, World Vision, and PCVs gathered at Haraa Hotel for a dinner. We played games like charades with the winners. The dinner was very delicious with paprika chips, a meat dish, and white cake. Yum!

Yak Festival in Bat Ulzii Soum

In July, just after the Nadaam festival, I attended a Yak Festival in a neighboring city. Bat Ulzii Soum is a three hour drive northwest of Arvaikheer in Ovorkhangai Aimag. The Yak Festival was paired with the opening ceremony of Sun Dalai, a milk product production company.

Sun Dalai's milk products

Sun Dalai produces traditional Mongolian dairy products like ariul, artz, orom, yogurt, and milk. Sun Dalai is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, therefore, my counterpart, Aagii, and I attended the opening ceremony for this company. Sun Dalai just received a new line of equipment and wanted to show it to the attendees, too. If I’ve learned anything in Mongolia, it’s that opening ceremonies matter! They are so important, it’s almost like the new building or company will be considered cursed if an opening ceremony doesn’t occur.

After the opening ceremony, the group drove about an hour outside of Bat Ulzii to the Orhon Waterfall. This waterfall is one of the biggest attractions of Ovorkhangai Aimag. However, it’s very elusive. The water only flows around August, after the summer rains. But the summer rain also makes the dirt roads very difficult to drive on. It’s difficult to reach the flowing waterfall. Luckily, I was able to see it during its prime flowing time.

Orkhon Waterfall in Ovorkhangai Aimag

After the stop at the waterfall, the group traveled another 40 minutes to an open pasture between many mountains. In this pasture, was the Yak Festival. Many herds of yaks gathered around a few tents that supplied food and wool products.

Yak Festival Vendor and Announcer Tents

The first event of the afternoon was racing. To begin, the yaks and their riders rode away from the tents. About 15 minutes later, the racers returned to the finishing line. Compared to the Naadam horse racing, the yaks were moving so slowly! By the time the yaks arrived at the finish line, most of them were walking or barely trotting. Obviously, these yaks were not trained to race each other. I’m sure they were just put up to the race at the last minute.

Yaks Racing

The next competition was the lassoing of the yaks. The Mongolian man lassoing  stood on the ground, while the other men on horses scared a group of yaks into running around the field. The lassoing man had to throw his lasso into the group of running yaks. Hopefully, he lassoed a yak, or else the man was eliminated from the competition. In the end, it was a small boy and a tall grown man in the finals. Each time, the young boy had to have help to hold the yak down once it was lassoed.

Lassoing the yaks

The last yak-centered event was a game of polo. It didn’t last too long because the yaks weren’t trained to run around. Usually, the yaks didn’t listen to their riders’ commands. It was quite a funny game to watch.

Playing polo on yaks

A group of foreigners gathered to compete in an ankle bones competition. It was organized a bit like jacks. I took a consolation prize and the winner won about one hundred ankle bones to keep.

Foreigners in an ankle bone competition

Overall, it was a great day. I’ll probably never see a Yak Festival ever again in my life. If you want to see it, too, you should come to Mongolia next July to Bat-Ulzii Soum.

Mongolia in the news: NPR special series

Mongolia has been in the news recently, thanks to NPR. Listen or read the articles: NPR Special Series: Mongolia in Transition.

Mongolians Seek Fortune in Gold, But at a Cost This article talks about “ninja” gold miners, based in Ugunga Soum, Ovorkhangai Aimag. Ugunga is just a two hour drive northwest of my city, Arvaikheer.

Global Financial Crisis Hits Mongolia’s Grasslands Financial situation for herders is quite poor, as the price of cashmere falls.

Widespread Alcohol Abuse Cloud’s Mongolia’s Future Definitely agree with this article, especially living in the countryside. If you read any of these articles, please read this one.

A New Beat Gives Young Mongolia A Voice, Identity Mongolian hip-hop and rap music talks about national pride and the country’s growth, giving strength and hope to young people.

Ancient Mongolian Competition Ties Past to Present This article talks about Naadam and the three manly sports. It has photos from Khujirt, a town 3 hours northwest of Arvaikheer.

Wow, NPR sure did a lot of researching and photo-taking inside my aimag. I guess they didn’t want to travel too far outside of Ulaanbaatar. Both Ugunga and Khujirt are pinpointed in these articles. Make sure to browse through the beautiful pictures attached to the articles.

A New Beat Gives Young Mongolia A Voice, Identity

Mid-Service Training (MST) at Terelj National Park

The last week of August, the M19 Peace Corps Volunteers had a mid-service training (MST). The training was scheduled around the beginning of our second year at our work site. The purpose of this MST training was to review the first year and to prepare for our second year in service. Also, it was a great opportunity for the experienced M19 volunteers to share stories and tips with each other. MST was more of a discussion than a top-down training approach, like previous pre-service training (PST) and in-service training (IST).

In one session, the group talked about goals for our Peace Corps service. There was a lot of talk about personal and professional goals. Have we integrated within our communities? Do you we have Mongolian friends? What do we do in our free time? It’s important to talk about personal goals because Peace Corps is a “24/7 job.” Being the face of America all day, even outside of the workplace, Peace Corps puts emphasis on the activities we do outside of work.

In another session, the volunteers broke up into sectors: TEFL, Health, CYD, and CED. The community economic development (CED) volunteers talked for about an hour and a half about the projects we’re working on and how we can collaborate together. By now, we’ve all seemed to figure out our place within our communities and strategies to be a successful volunteer. Only four of the original eight M19 CED volunteers were in attendance at MST. Unfortunately, two CED PCVs have already returned to America. Another two were engaged in important work at site, so didn’t come to the optional MST training.

In the project funding session, the PCVs shared strategies for acquiring money for various projects. PCVs get money for community projects in various ways: friends and family, international donors, Peace Corps grant funding, in-country NGOs and donors, etc… It was interesting to see what projects other PCVs are doing in their aimags. For example, in Sukbaatar aimag, two PCVs are building a sports complex and also a meditation center at the hospital – unrelated, but both in the same aimag. In Bayankhongor, PCVs are organizing guitar classes at the theater for children. In Hentii, several PCVs worked together to organize a summer English camp for youth.

Also, PCVs talked about working together across sectors. Usually, many PCVs live in an aimag center and can work together on projects. In Uvurkhangai, for example, we do a lot of cross sector collaboration, already. I have a youth business club in which all four secondary school students attend. The three PCVs working at the secondary schools work with me to organize the youth business club. Another example, the youth development center needs trainings on finance and accounting, so I step in to train them on those aspects. There are too many cross sector projects going on in Arvaikheer to even list them here, but in the end, I guess it helps to get along with your site mates in order to work successfully together.

Cooking class

In the nutrition and cooking class, Paul, our Peace Corps Medical Officer, talked a bit about nutrition and a little more on how to cook. I’ve noticed how my life revolves around food, cooking, and how I will make or acquire certain foods. When your options are drastically limited, it takes a lot of brainstorming and planning to create interesting and tasty meal plans. For example, I’ve already planned to make pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving with the canned vegetables I received months ago. I made homemade bagels the other night… just for fun! Cooking has become a full night’s activity for me because of the lack of other entertainment options and the long preparation time quality cooking requires in Mongolia.

On one afternoon of MST, Peace Corps invited representatives from various Mongolian and international NGOs to meet us. The session was set up like a resource fair. Organizations, like Mercy Corps, Friends of Mongolia, Khan Bank Foundation, Red Cross, etc. were there. I walked around and chatted with all of the representatives, finding out how we could collaborate together. I think I found a funding option for one of my projects, so that’s exciting.

By far, the most fun part of MST was the Settlers of Catan tournament! Have you heard of the game? It’s a mix between Risk and Monopoly. It takes about one to two hours to complete a game, which is a great time killer. The Settlers of Catan has sort of become a cult favorite within the Mongolia Peace Corps Volunteers group. For the tournament, sixteen people signed up. The tournament went for three rounds: from sixteen people to eight, to four in the final game. We were awake until 2:00 AM battling for the Lord of Catan position.

Settlers of Catan, Finals

In the end, it was Bayankhongor versus Uvurkhangai volunteers…. some of the most competitive of the bunch. Leslie, Fahd, Brandon, and I ended up in the final game. Brandon won the Lord of Catan title.

Overall, I’m very pleased with MST. It was important for the PCVs to get together, as we hadn’t since December 2008 during our IST training. Even in December, the TEFL and other sectors were split between IST trainings. So, really, the M19 PCVs haven’t been together since summer 2008. In Mongolia, transportation is very expensive and time-consuming, therefore, PCVs don’t get together too often in large groups. Well… unless you’re a TEFL volunteer and you have the whole summer off from work to travel around the country, visiting other volunteers.

MST was important in order to share stories and knowledge between volunteers. I’m happy that PC Washington decided to give PC Mongolia extra funding for this training.

Traveling through the Gobi Desert

At the very beginning of July, my mother came to visit me from America. For the first couple of days, we were in Ulaanbaatar. She was able to meet some of my friends and the Peace Corps staff. We also went to some Mongolian museums and restaurants.

Then, we traveled through the Gobi Desert for five days. We organized a driver and English-speaking tour guide through Khongor Guest House. The vehicle we traveled in was a Russian 69, or “Jaren-Eus.” A 69 looks a bit like a Jeep.

Mother, Driver, Tour Guide, and I in front of the Russian 69

On the first day, we drove into Dundgovi Aimag. We drove for most of the day, and arrived at Baga gazariin chuluu around 7:00 PM. The place was, surprisingly, covered with white trees. We climbed up the small mountain, and looked over the entire valley. The valley was surrounded on all three sides with mountains! So beautiful! The red rock formations were beautiful, too.

During the time when the Chinese destroyed a lot of Buddhist monasteries, this place housed a few monks in hiding. There are many caves within the rock formations. Because of the monks that survived the Chinese raids, this place has a lot of superstitions attached to it. If you come here and do certain things, then good luck will come to you… it’s a lucky place.

Baga gazariin chuluu

The next day we visited the famous Flaming Cliffs! The Flaming Cliffs are famous for being the place that Roy Chapman Andrews found dinosaur eggs in Mongolia. He gave it the nickname “Flaming Cliffs” because of the way the cliffs change color according to the weather conditions. When my mother and I visited, the cliffs were a brownish color, with a hint of red. The wind was very strong that day… it made my hat fly off of my head! A nice Mongolian caught it for me.

Of course, there were vendors in front of the Flaming Cliffs selling goods… trying to overprice the items… Luckily for me, I know a bit about Mongolian pricing towards foreigners. I was able to bargain the price down to a “Mongolian’s” price because I know the language and I live here. My mother and I bought a few nice rock crystals that were found in the surrounding sand areas.

The Flaming Cliffs

One of the neatest things I saw in the Gobi Desert was the wells… in the middle of nowhere! You’d wonder how camel herds survive in the Gobi Desert, right? The Mongolian government and some private companies built wells in the desert. The herder must physically scoop the water from the well into the trough for the animals to drink from it. This was really neat to see.

Camels drinking from the desert well

On the third day, my mother and I visited the Yolin Am glacier… in the Gobi Desert! It was deep within the a valley, so it took about 45 minutes to walk to the glacier. As we were entering the valley, four shamans were exiting the valley. They were dressed in colorful robes and headdresses. They had traveled from Hovsgul Aimag to the Gobi in order to pray for rain for the entire country. And whataa-you-know? The next day it rained! How’s that for superstitions?

Yolin Am Glacier

The fourth day, my mother and I traveled to the Khongor sand dune. We rode camels for about one hour, and got to sit in the sand for a while. We ate a meal of buuz before traveling to Ovorkhangai Aimag to spend the night.

Riding camels at the Khongor Sand Dune

After the Gobi tour, my mother and I traveled to Kharkhorin, the ancient capital of Mongolia, then back to Arvaikheer for Naadam. In Kharkhorin, we stayed at my director’s ger camp by the river. My director and her husband drove us around the city to show us all of the touristy things, like the Turtle Rock, Erdene Zuu Monastery, and the Empire Monument.

Naadam was very fun in Arvaikheer! It’s so funny because for the entire year, the Naadam stadium is closed. It’s an outside stadium with a nice park around it. But the park and stadium are closed all year, except for Naadam. The grass was very green and beautiful. I could tell it had been watered in the days leading up to the opening ceremony. My mom was able to see traditional Mongolian dancing and music during the opening ceremony. Also, we saw the three traditional sports… horse racing, archery, and wrestling.

Sadly, my mother had to leave Mongolia… but I really enjoyed her visit! Hopefully other people are interested in visiting me over the next year… or two years. I’m thinking about applying to extend a third year, but we’ll see when the time comes.