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Feb. 21, 2006

A Story from Monglia

by Matthew Bigham

Greetings from Mongolia, a country that you probably know as much about as I did before I came here last June to begin a two-year stint with the Peace Corps.  My duties are two-fold: to teach Mongolians English so that they may be able to benefit from the global economy in the same way that their neighbors are, and to promote cross-cultural understanding between Mongolians and Americans.  While Mongolia wasn’t exactly my first choice, I now feel increasingly at home here and am at ease with the country and it generous people. 

Known as “the land of the eternal blue sky,” Mongolia has a dry climate in which precipitation is quite rare.  The upside is that it’s the middle of winter and the sun is shining as brightly as it did all summer.   The downside is that Mongolia is one of the coldest places on Earth, with highs in the winter lucky to reach into the single digits.

The landscape is composed mainly of barren steppe that is broken up only by the occasional herds of sheep, horses and camels that roam free of fencing.  Many Mongolians still live in ger’s, small felt tent like homes that can be packed up and moved easily at any time. 

After almost seventy years of communist rule, Mongolia no longer takes orders from Russia.  The country’s communist past is still evident, however, as you travel throughout the countryside.  In the city of Choibalsan, named after Stalin’s favorite Mongolian stooge, one can still see abandoned Soviet military barracks sitting empty as well as statues of Lenin and soldiers ready to protect Mongolia from the capitalists.  Oops, better luck next time.

This past summer, in my Mongolian language classroom, Lenin urged us to, “study, study, study.”  In addition, the apartment in which I live was built by the Russians for the teachers of my school.  Nowadays it houses the community’s well to do, for it is the nicest apartment building in town.  I wonder what Lenin would think of that? 

Today Mongolia has emerged as a democracy that is struggling to develop its economy to better suit the twenty-first century.  While the country has a high unemployment rate, especially in rural areas, as well as an aging and inadequate infrastructure, Mongolians are not afraid of change and seem open to taking risks.  For example, last year Mongolia’s government passed a law declaring English as the country’s official second language.     

I live in southeastern Mongolia, in a small city, Baruun Urt, that serves as the economic and political center of Sukhbaatar Aimag (think small state).  Baruun Urt has a bit of an “old West” feel to it. It’s dry, dusty and brown and the horse is still a viable means of transportation.  Modernity, however, has shone its head for we now have streetlights on the main streets (they haven’t worked since the Russians left) and a second internet “café” has recently opened. Could a Landfall II be far behind?

I teach English at a secondary school and am lucky to have my own, albeit small, classroom.  While my co-workers all have varying degrees of competency, I am able to carry on a decent conversation with all of them.  More importantly, they all motivated to improve their lives as well as the lives of their students.  

My students are okay when it comes to grammar, but cannot speak very well.  I try to boost their confidence by telling them that my Mongolian isn’t very good (which is true), but I still try and speak whether I know what I’m saying or not.  They seem to be similar to American teenagers – the girls do their homework, the boys don’t and they love hip hop music as well as playing with their cell phones.  Yes, they have cell access here in the bigger towns.  I never had a cell phone back home, but now have one in Mongolia, go figure? 

Foreigners are very rare “around these parts,” so I am a “star” around town.  Whether I am walking the hallways of my school or walking down the street to the markets, I constantly get starred at.  Some locals, especially children, are so in awe at the sight of me that they follow me around and like to mimic what I say.  In addition, shouts of “hello” and “I am hungry” seem to greet me wherever I go. While this can try my nerves from time to time, I am at least grateful that they not yelling, “heathen imperialist, go home!”

Mongolians are tremendously hospitable people. In most homes, I could walk right in and be served milk tea, as well as the traditional dishes Buuz (steamed meat dumplings) and Hooshur (fried meat foldovers), no questions asked.  Unfortunately if you’re not a big fan of mutton, or of meat for that matter, the Mongolian diet may not be for you.  While I can “stomach” mutton, I much prefer the goat and horsemeat that I can buy at the market. 

 Tsgaan Sar, the celebration of the lunar New Year, which is Mongolia’s biggest holiday, has just concluded.  On day one, I visited eight homes and ate more Buuz and drank more vodka than I care to think of.  Mongolians drink a lot of vodka; you can blame the Russians for that one.  On day two, I hid in my apartment nursing a nasty hangover.  Tsgaan Sar reminded me a tad of Halloween, for children, with bag in hand, go door-to-door looking for gifts.  I received a decent booty myself during my visits’ and am now set on chocolate for quite a while.

Although living in a developing country is hardly a “walk in the park,” I feel very safe here and I do have access to the Internet so I can stay in touch with what the Paris Hilton’s of the world are up to.  Yes, she actually makes Yahoo’s news headlines from time to time. More importantly, I awake from my slumber every morning and am not only grateful that I am able to be here sharing my skills with some amazing people, but I am also grateful for what they are teaching me.