After completing summer training, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!
Site Placement Ceremony: Before swearing in, our directors laid out a large map of Mongolia on the gym floor in Zuunmod and all the PCTs (me) lined the boarder of the map shoeless. One by one, they called out our names and site placement. After they called the name and site of the PCT, the PCT walked onto the map and stood in the location of their new site. I was the second name called… “6th School, Jargalant Soum, Khovd Aimag: Suzanne Cunningham.” I was heading west, far west.
Swearing-In Ceremony: All our school directors and supervisors attended our swearing in ceremony in U.B. At the ceremony, we took an oath and officially became Peace Corps volunteers. After taking the oath, some of the PCTs preformed for the directors and supervisors. For the second half of the summer, Mandy, Mindy, Alyssa, Cassie, and I studied Mongolian Dance. We learned a dance that we preformed at the ceremony- Hilarious! We actually preformed better than we normally do- thank goodness J
Here is a link to checkout traditional Mongolian dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIShdGph8hs
(thanks for the idea J-J-J-J-JACKIE)…Can you believe Shorty even attempted to do this???!!
Khovd Aimag: Although going west initially seemed terrifying, I am happy with my placement. After researching the city, I realized PC did a great job matching my skills and personality to my site placement. All of the community development and school projects I hope to do during my 2 years of service are available in khovd.
If you are interested, wiki highlights khovd aimag…but to really get a feel- COME VISIT!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khovd_(city)
VIVA KHOVD!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Nadaam festivities UB style
Nadaam (the largest summer holiday in Mongolia) - my family and I celebrated Nadaam in U.B. We packed bags full of presents, candies, and dairy products to give to relatives. We managed to cram a live goat with a bag over his head and 7 or 8 family members into a small car headed to UB. After 2 hours of bahhhhhing and an uncomfortable amount of bumps, we arrived at my Emee's oldest son’s ger in the outskirts of U.B. Tables were set with potato salad, egg salad, candies, cookies, and meat and meat galore. It is Mongolian tradition for an appointed man to kill a goat (the poor little goat that ventured to U.B. with me) by slitting a small gash into the throat and reaching his bare hand into the wound to crush the heart. Once the goat is killed, the man blowtorches and scrapes away the fur until all that remains is burnt flesh. After the skin is crisp, the women and men begin preparing the goat to be cooked.
Over 50 family members attended the Nadaam celebration. It was nice to see the whole family together- even my Emee was able to attend for a couple hours. No matter what happens to her this summer, it was so nice to see her celebrating Nadaam with her entire family one last time.
Once the whole family was stuffed and many (although not my host family) drunk, we went to mount zsian, which offers beautiful views of U.B. The next day, my family sat around eating fried eggs, ham, and cucumbers, and watched on TV the traditional Nadaam competitions: archery, horseback riding, and wrestling. The women, including myself, had a photo session wearing tradiational Mongolian dels. We swapped and tried on at least 6 different styles and colors of dels. Although different in obvious ways, Nadaam reminded me of Thanksgiving, but instead of watching the Macy’s parade, I watched men wrestle in rather tiny outfits…LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!
Over 50 family members attended the Nadaam celebration. It was nice to see the whole family together- even my Emee was able to attend for a couple hours. No matter what happens to her this summer, it was so nice to see her celebrating Nadaam with her entire family one last time.
Once the whole family was stuffed and many (although not my host family) drunk, we went to mount zsian, which offers beautiful views of U.B. The next day, my family sat around eating fried eggs, ham, and cucumbers, and watched on TV the traditional Nadaam competitions: archery, horseback riding, and wrestling. The women, including myself, had a photo session wearing tradiational Mongolian dels. We swapped and tried on at least 6 different styles and colors of dels. Although different in obvious ways, Nadaam reminded me of Thanksgiving, but instead of watching the Macy’s parade, I watched men wrestle in rather tiny outfits…LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Shamanism EERIE!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The Shaman- EEEKKK!!
Oh my goodness where to begin? I wish I had more chances to update my blog because everyday Mongolia gets wilder and wilder. I suppose the Shaman sounds like an appropriate place to start…please overlook the grammatical errors: for the purpose of time, I will reread this and I might have to end mid blog!
Shamanism in Mongolia is nearly as popular as Buddhism. Alyssa’s dyy, Nora (her little sister), is a Shaman and 15 years old. For much of her youth she was sickly. By the age of 14, she was too sick to go to school. Moogii, my LCF (Mongolian teacher), had Nora in class and attested to the fact that for years she had been struggling with her health. Nora’s family took her to UB and to numerous doctors to try to cure her illness. However, doctor after doctor said they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. As a last resort, the family took her to a Shaman. According to the Shaman, a spirit was trying to contact her. In order to improve her health, the Shaman taught Nora how to open herself up to the spirit.
After two days with the Shaman, Nora was trained on how to properly awaken the spirit within her. Since the first time Nora welcomed OBOO, she has felt completely healthy and back to normal. Now she invites the spirit into her body a couple times a day.
Alyssa’s mom told OBOO (the spirit that enters Nora’s body) about the foreigner living in her home and about the other foreigners visiting Mongolia. OBOO was curious to meet us and told Alyssa’s mother to invite the foreigners to meet him the next day at 3 pm. And that is how I got an invitation to witness a Shamanistic practice.
Nora is a 15 year old BABE! She is so cute, goofy, and girly. As Papa Willy would say, all of the Mongolian boys are chasing after her. Her family built a ger in order for her to perform the Shaman ceremonies. In the ger, candles are lit and vodka, cigarettes, yogurt, milk tea, and other offerings are on a table. First, Nora puts on an oversized robe laced with fringe. In the armpit of the robe there is a hole for the spirit to enter her body. The main leader of the ceremony tightly ties a blue scarf around Nora’s eyes. Then the helper places a brown mask over her head with long fringe hanging and two large eyes painted on. Nora holds onto a large drum and begins her transformation by beating on the drum and slowly spinning in a circle. She starts shaking her head and spinning and beating faster and faster and on the third spin BAM she can no longer hold herself up and is transformed into an 80 year old ancestor from hundreds of years ago—OBOO.
OBOO has an extremely raspy voice and uses an ancient Mongolian dialect. He smokes like a fiend and drinks shots of vodka. His hands and body move awkwardly with a sort of twitch. While in Nora’s body, he can communicate with the modern world, read spirits, and heal the sick. According to OBOO, all the PCTs have good spirits. I hope this is true. For now, this is all I can blog. Many apologies and more to come soon!
Much love, Suzanne
Friday, June 25, 2010
Mongolia BROUGHT IT!
MY FIRST BLOG EVVAAAAA how global of me :) :) sooo i believe i have been in mongolia for about 3 weeks. since this is my first blog, i have much to catch up on but i brought my journal for assistance. i am using a computer at PC game, a place for kids to play video games. yes, they live in gers and, yes, this looks like an abandoned apartment building, but they still manage to play video games. With a million new experiences every day, it is hard to find time to write them all down and to capture settings properly. i wish i could upload pictures to help, but I will have to wait until i go to UB Aug. 20.
I live in a ger in a soum 145 km outside of UB. It is pretty small, but I absolutely adore it. All i have is a bed, dresser, table, stove, and makeshift sink. Every night, I make a fire (confession- i do have to use dung AHHH) to keep me warm throughout the night. there is a light in my ger, but i don't always have electricity. just like the internet, access to electricity varies day to day. some nights, i use a candlelight to do my homework and write in my journal. i feel like a character on an old PBS movie but without the feather and ink. My ger doesn't have running water so once a week i go to the waterhole and fetch enough water for the week. PC gave me a large water sanitizer and I also boil my water to make sure it is clean enough to drink.
My hasha family is an absolute hoot. they live in the ger right next to mine. we are getting along so well despite my inability to speak the language. everyday, they laugh and laugh at my terrible mongolian pronunciation.
My dyy (younger brother) recently left to spend the summer in UB, but, before he left, we spent every afternoon hanging out. He is ten years old and ran me all over this village playing jump rope, basketball, volleyball, herding cattle, herding goats, chasing horses by the water, throwing rocks at cans, and wrestling. I am really going to miss him, but my hasha family constantly houses new family members so i have plenty of young ones to distract me.
My host sisters are 16, 23, and 27. Every night, we hangout in my ger and they ask me questions about celebrities such as paris hilton, michael jackson, jennifer lopez, and shakira. They seem extremely interested in american culture and want me to take them home with me. Through miming and laughter we are able to understand each other. last night, my sister nayar boiled water and after it cooled offered to help me wash my hair. my other sisters sat on my bed laughing as they watched me try to scrub my head without spilling water all over my ger. The PC gave me a bucket which is pretty large, HOT PINK!, and plastic. In my bucket, I shower and wash my clothes. It took awhile to get the hang of showering and scrubbing clothes in a bucket, but by now I get my clothes just as clean if not cleaner than a washer machine in the states.
My EMEE (grandmother) and I share a special bond. She is 87 years old and at first she was weary about hosting a foreigner in her home, but we have become unbelievably close. For the first 2 weeks, I thought she was my grandfather and not grandmother. She has a shaved head and is always walking around with a cigarette she rolled up hanging out of her mouth. Most days, she wears pajama pants with HAPPIE written all over them and fake wannabe ugg boots covered with rhinestones. Throughout the day, she rubs on her Buddha beads and meditates. Recently, she became deathly ill. She hasn't eaten in days. Watching her struggle is taking a toll on me, because she needs to be hospitalized, but the family doesn't have enough money to take her to UB to seek treatment. Essentially, I am watching her die knowing that someone could help. Everyday, I give her my clean water and to pay me back (even though she does NOT have to) she gives me candies and rubs my back. I truly hope she hangs on for the whole summer or miraculously gets better soon...
On a lighter note, My older sister is teaching me how to cook. I know how to make bread, byytz, hosher, and many other mongolian meals. Soon, they are going to ask me to cook an American meal. I hope i don't let them down! I am thinking pizza, tacos, or spaghetti mmmmm...
During the week, I go to mongolian language classes from 9 AM- 1 PM. At 1, I have lunch with my host family and after lunch I teach or go to PC seminars. The class I am teaching is 6-10 years old. Currently, we are working on the alphabet and numbers. They are so excited to learn and every week students recruit their friends to come. Every week, my class gets bigger and bigger! I was nervous about teaching, but it is coming easier than a thought and I am really enjoying myself. At around 5:30 PM after lessons and class, I head to my hasha family to go herd the goats and help prepare dinner. After we prepare dinner and eat, I normally do my homework, read, write in my journal, or visit my American friends. there are 12 americans in my soum and they are all chill. last night, we all went to my friend mindy's to play cards and talk about how intense some of our experiences have been. It is so nice to be able to kick it and speak english for once!!!! Tonight we are throwing a full moon party out on the tallest hill by the OBOO (a shrine to a shaman god) for my birthday YAYY!!!!!
Most weekend mornings, I wake up and head to the plains to find our baby cows to bring home. We have four baby cows and they are adorable. Sometimes, my sister and I search for hours and can't find the cows. animals get lost behind the rolling hills and we can't see them. when this happens, we go to the highest point of the soum and look through binoculars. By the end of the day, we always find our animals, but I can't help but get nervous! So far, I have milked plenty of goats and watched plenty of wild animals get killed and skinned for meat. EWWWW. even though they use every part of the body and treat animals respectfully, i am tempted to become a vegetarian because the process is so foul. Okay- obviously i could go on and on and on but I have to go!! Thank you so much for taking time to read about my experiences :) i love you and miss you all. COME TO MONGOLIA PLEASE!!!! MUAHHHH!
I live in a ger in a soum 145 km outside of UB. It is pretty small, but I absolutely adore it. All i have is a bed, dresser, table, stove, and makeshift sink. Every night, I make a fire (confession- i do have to use dung AHHH) to keep me warm throughout the night. there is a light in my ger, but i don't always have electricity. just like the internet, access to electricity varies day to day. some nights, i use a candlelight to do my homework and write in my journal. i feel like a character on an old PBS movie but without the feather and ink. My ger doesn't have running water so once a week i go to the waterhole and fetch enough water for the week. PC gave me a large water sanitizer and I also boil my water to make sure it is clean enough to drink.
My hasha family is an absolute hoot. they live in the ger right next to mine. we are getting along so well despite my inability to speak the language. everyday, they laugh and laugh at my terrible mongolian pronunciation.
My dyy (younger brother) recently left to spend the summer in UB, but, before he left, we spent every afternoon hanging out. He is ten years old and ran me all over this village playing jump rope, basketball, volleyball, herding cattle, herding goats, chasing horses by the water, throwing rocks at cans, and wrestling. I am really going to miss him, but my hasha family constantly houses new family members so i have plenty of young ones to distract me.
My host sisters are 16, 23, and 27. Every night, we hangout in my ger and they ask me questions about celebrities such as paris hilton, michael jackson, jennifer lopez, and shakira. They seem extremely interested in american culture and want me to take them home with me. Through miming and laughter we are able to understand each other. last night, my sister nayar boiled water and after it cooled offered to help me wash my hair. my other sisters sat on my bed laughing as they watched me try to scrub my head without spilling water all over my ger. The PC gave me a bucket which is pretty large, HOT PINK!, and plastic. In my bucket, I shower and wash my clothes. It took awhile to get the hang of showering and scrubbing clothes in a bucket, but by now I get my clothes just as clean if not cleaner than a washer machine in the states.
My EMEE (grandmother) and I share a special bond. She is 87 years old and at first she was weary about hosting a foreigner in her home, but we have become unbelievably close. For the first 2 weeks, I thought she was my grandfather and not grandmother. She has a shaved head and is always walking around with a cigarette she rolled up hanging out of her mouth. Most days, she wears pajama pants with HAPPIE written all over them and fake wannabe ugg boots covered with rhinestones. Throughout the day, she rubs on her Buddha beads and meditates. Recently, she became deathly ill. She hasn't eaten in days. Watching her struggle is taking a toll on me, because she needs to be hospitalized, but the family doesn't have enough money to take her to UB to seek treatment. Essentially, I am watching her die knowing that someone could help. Everyday, I give her my clean water and to pay me back (even though she does NOT have to) she gives me candies and rubs my back. I truly hope she hangs on for the whole summer or miraculously gets better soon...
On a lighter note, My older sister is teaching me how to cook. I know how to make bread, byytz, hosher, and many other mongolian meals. Soon, they are going to ask me to cook an American meal. I hope i don't let them down! I am thinking pizza, tacos, or spaghetti mmmmm...
During the week, I go to mongolian language classes from 9 AM- 1 PM. At 1, I have lunch with my host family and after lunch I teach or go to PC seminars. The class I am teaching is 6-10 years old. Currently, we are working on the alphabet and numbers. They are so excited to learn and every week students recruit their friends to come. Every week, my class gets bigger and bigger! I was nervous about teaching, but it is coming easier than a thought and I am really enjoying myself. At around 5:30 PM after lessons and class, I head to my hasha family to go herd the goats and help prepare dinner. After we prepare dinner and eat, I normally do my homework, read, write in my journal, or visit my American friends. there are 12 americans in my soum and they are all chill. last night, we all went to my friend mindy's to play cards and talk about how intense some of our experiences have been. It is so nice to be able to kick it and speak english for once!!!! Tonight we are throwing a full moon party out on the tallest hill by the OBOO (a shrine to a shaman god) for my birthday YAYY!!!!!
Most weekend mornings, I wake up and head to the plains to find our baby cows to bring home. We have four baby cows and they are adorable. Sometimes, my sister and I search for hours and can't find the cows. animals get lost behind the rolling hills and we can't see them. when this happens, we go to the highest point of the soum and look through binoculars. By the end of the day, we always find our animals, but I can't help but get nervous! So far, I have milked plenty of goats and watched plenty of wild animals get killed and skinned for meat. EWWWW. even though they use every part of the body and treat animals respectfully, i am tempted to become a vegetarian because the process is so foul. Okay- obviously i could go on and on and on but I have to go!! Thank you so much for taking time to read about my experiences :) i love you and miss you all. COME TO MONGOLIA PLEASE!!!! MUAHHHH!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Goodbye Suz!
Hey guys- this will be my first and last post, but I wanted to set this up for Suz so she could update us as soon as she arrives in Mongolia.
Suz left for San Francisco on Thursday, June 3, 2010. She flies out of SanFran today at 11am. Her bags are already checked... & no extra weight fee! Go Suzy!
We love you and miss you already! This year will FLY by and in no time you will be back in the dunes :). Stay strong, you're a stud, & love you sista.
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