Wednesday, February 16, 2011

White Month Part 2

When I think back on what was the Mongolian holiday Tsagan Sar, I see a blur of milk tea, buuz (meat dumplings), and different types of vodka. It was much like how I thought it would be; visiting houses, eating and drinking, yet I didn't realize how it would feel. Pretend you are walking into someone's house or ger. You feel a rush of warmth from the fire crackling on the stove and see the beautiful Turkish carpets hanging on the walls. You Mongolian host smiles at you and hold out their arms. You embrace them by putting your arms underneath theirs, as if you are supporting them. They press their soft cheek against yours and they breath in. You find yourself doing the same thing while you say the traditional greeting “Amar bain yy?” (I think it means “are you resting well?”) You sit down next to the table which is filled with different types of candy, salads, and sweet rice. There is also an entire steamed goat stacked on top of each other in the middle of the table and a bread tower with different types of white candy on it. Your host sets a bowl of salty milk tea in front of you and says “tse oo” (drink tea). You sip the hot salty tea, knowing you will have to finish it if you want to respect your host. They are busy pulling the steaming dumplings from the stove top. As you nibble on the candies and salads, your host sets the hot dumplings on the table to cool off. While you wait, tiny glasses are passed around and your host pours a clear liquid into the tiny glass cup and boast that this is homemade Mongolian vodka, made in the countryside. You glance nervously at the cup, worrying how much it will burn as it goes down your throat. Your host has their own cup ready and they reach it into the air and say “tuuluo!” You raise the glass and take it back leaving only a little in the cup. Your surprised; the liquid didn't burn at all! In fact, if it wasn't for the slight aftertaste, you would have thought they gave you water. You smile, feeling relieved. Your host passes the dumplings to you and you take 3 on your plate, any less would be insulting. You host then gives you a dark red juice and they tell you its Mongolia beer, homemade of course! You see tiny floating berries, which came from the countryside, and you cautiously take a sip and smile; its delicious! The beer-juice is sweet and bubbly and you eagerly chug it down as you eat the greasy meat dumplings. Your host then takes out the store bought vodka bottle and pours it into those tiny cups and raises them into the air. You raise yours, knowing this one WILL burn and have your beer-juice ready. “Tuuluo!”. Chug, burn, beer-juice. Your host slices your a piece of meat from the table and re-fills your beer-juice. Then its time to go,you stand up and feel a bit sluggish from all the beer and vodka. Your host hold out both their hands and gives you gift (usually T 1,000, or minutes for your phone) as if it wasn't enough that they fed and entertained you! Then you put on your layers, say your goodbyes, and head to the next house to do it all over again.

It's the 5th house. You walk in; its too hot. You eagerly peel off the layers till you can take off no more. You greet your host with a quick touch on each of their soft cheeks. “Amar bain uu?” you ask. You plop onto the chair and stare dismally at the table full of food in front of you. Your friendly host smiles and passes out plates and those dreaded tiny cups. “Eattara!” (eat please!) they say as they pull the tray of the greasy meat dumplings onto the table. You have already eaten 20 meat dumplings since your previous hosts were just not satisfied with you eating only 3 at their house. You regretfully place yet another 3 dumplings onto your plate and you swear you hear your stomach say “Are you kidding me?”. It groans in protest. Your host places in front of you hot milk tea, a tiny cup of vodka, and beer-juice. They raise their tiny cups and say “Tuuluo!”. “Tuugoulth” you sputter out. Hey, at least you tired to say it correctly. This is the eighth (hm, maybe ninth? ) shot of vodka your taking down. Chug, dull burn (hell your used to it by now) and you take a bite of your fatty dumpling as greasy slips down the corners of your mouth. You feel sloppy and a bit drunk at this point. Your thirsty but the salty milk tea, which you must finish, only makes you more thirsty. The beer-juice, although its refreshing and sweet, makes you feel even more groggy. You gotta get out of this house before they feed you anymore. You get up quickly, put on the layers, receive the gift but still feel unworthy for it and rush home; for once the cold air feels good. You roll onto your bed, your stomach is upset with you and isn't afraid to show it. The scary part is that you know that you will have to do it all over again, for the........ next …...three …..days.


And that is how White Month felt like for me.


Friday, February 11, 2011

White Month Part 1

1/29/11

Hey friends! Soon it will be the highly talked about Mongolian new year, Tsagan Sar which literally translates into “White Month”. I get the feeling that the color white symbolizes purity since they also eat a lot of dairy (white) food during the summer as a way to cleanse their bodies from the meat-eating winter days. This holiday is such a big deal that Peace Corps has given not one, but two classes on what to expect and how to behave during Tsagan Sar. Its times like this I wish I invested in a Mongolian deel which is their traditional clothing, mostly worn by the older generation although there are few younger ones who sport it. During important holidays or ceremonies I always get nervous about saying, doing, and wearing the wrong thing. One of the things that I find the most interesting about Mongolia is that there is many, many social rules. For example, you shouldn't whistle or hum in doors, you shouldn't shake someone's hand with your glove still on, you shouldn't step on the threshold of a ger,if you accidentally tap someone's foot you have to immediately shake their hand and say your sorry, and the list goes on. When a holiday comes around, the stakes go hirer thus my nervousness. I know what your thinking, “hey Ellie, your a foreigner and everyone who sees you will know that! No one expects you to know all these hidden rules.” FALSE. I actually truly don't mind the rules, I find them extremely fascinating and I want to impress/respect the Mongolians who are kind enough to take me in during a holiday.

I remember reading an M20's blog about celebrating Tsagan Sar before leaving for Mongolia, and its strange that now I will be celebrating (and later blogging about) it.

How is Tsagan Sar Celebrated you ask?

Well, from what I understand, its 3 days long and the younger generation visits the older generation. Each house has a table that is set-up with these huge bread/cook things that are stacked up very nicely, and tons of candy, vodka, juice, fruits and a full goat. When you visit a house/ger, you must greet you host by putting your arms underneath theirs and give them a sniffing kiss on each side. A sniffing kiss? Hm, sound strange, you say. But its not! They believe that when they do this, they take in a bit of your essence (beautiful, isn't it?). So after the greeting, I am not sure what happens but I know that you must take at least one shot of vodka and at least 3 bootz. This may not sound too bad, but after visiting 5 houses or so, those all start to add up.

So I have had the excellent idea of leaving my soum, a place of 10,000 people, and head over to my host family's house in Erdene; a soum of 2,000 people. Why, you ask? Simply because I wanted to experience Tsagan Sar in a more traditional setting and it will be awesome to see my host family again as well as some of my fellow PST training group who have also decided to venture over to our small summer training site. It should be interesting since my old ger, which I stayed in during the summer, was taken down so chances are I will sleep with my host family in their one room house and their family of 6. However, if there is no room , I will stay in my friend's ger who happens to live in Erdene. I am extremely excited to see what this holiday will bring and how the adventures will unfold.

Until next time!

Ellie the Great