Much has passed since my last blog post during Mid-Center
Days (MCD). I have left my host family’s house up in Sukhbaatar and have moved
south to Даланзадгад /Dalanzadgad/
(that’s how Mongolians use parenthesis) in Өмнөговь /Umnugovi/ aimag. But let’s talk about Sukhbaatar for a
bit.
Since MCD, I have experienced one of Mongolia’s biggest
holidays: Naadam. Naadam is the celebration of the 3 manly sports: wrestling,
archery and horseback riding. A note about horseback riding, the event is run
for several kilometers as opposed to the 1 ¼ mile we are so used to seeing at
the Kentucky Derby. As opposed to a sprint race this is a race of endurance.
Since it is for several kilometers, you will only see a small section of the
race if you watch it. So likewise, I only saw a small part and didn’t even
realize it was the race. A tradition at Naadam is to eat as many huushuur /Хуушуур/ as humanly possible.
Huushuur originates from Russia. I’ll include a huushuur recipe at the bottom
and maybe a video on how to pinch the dough. Traditional Mongolian dress (a
deel) is worn for this holiday.
Me and my Mongolian Host Family at Naadam. I am wearing a deel shirt..
More after the break.
Colin, Greg, Jimmy and Me teaching at the Family and Children Development Center
Towards the end of PST, the former PCTs organized a thank
you party for our host family/ies. We decided to make a taco dinner for all of
them. It was a hit except they didn’t take any “condiments” such as vegetables.
So the veggie tacos, the PCTs ate afterwards, were delicious. Anyway we gave
our host families a certificate from the Peace Corps thanking them for taking
care of us and for teaching us about their culture.
The certificate I gave my host family.
Around the 10th of August, we had what is
called Final Center Days (FCD). The very first day we got there, we found out
where we were going to be for the next two years. As luck would have it, I got
the warmest aimag in Mongolia: Umnugovi aimag. In fact, I was going to be
located in the aimag center (provincial capital). The name of the center is
called Dalanzadgad. There was only one other PCV currently serving there. Her
name is Rose. She is an English teacher (TEFL). She gave us (me and the other
Umnugovi bunch) some really good advice about what we should buy in UB and what
we could buy in DZ (hint: we could buy everything we needed except for a good
pillow in DZ). For us, then trainees, the rest of the week was a bore. We were
all looking forward to swearing in and traveling to site.
We swore in at the ambassador’s residence on Saturday. It
was a nice event. The only people who were allowed to attend (besides us),
however, was our new supervisors. Neither our host family who took care of us
for 2-3 months nor our LCFs (Language and Cultural Facilitators: host country
nationals) who taught us Mongolian for the same amount of time was allowed to
attend. We heard speeches from our country director, the ambassador and from
the Ministry (the Minister) of Health. All of the speeches gave us good words
of encouragement but made us long for site even more (Here are the speeches from the ceremony and a press release). Later that night, most of
us went out to a night club which was being rented out specifically for us,
courtesy of the old volunteers. It was a great venue, not too far from where we
were staying and not too close either. And the bourbon was decently cheap also
(8000 tugs or ₮). Early the
next day people started leaving. It became a heart felt goodbye to everyone who
became our quasi family for the past 2-3 months. Some people left by car, some
by meekr (Russian for micro van), some by train and the rest by plane.
Thankfully I was a ‘fly site’ so I got a chance to fly over Mongolia one more
time.
The Country Director and I after the ceremony.
I flew into DZ on a Monday morning. Meeting me at the
aiport was my hashaa mom and my school’s social worker, Lkhamasuren /Лхамасүрэн/, and an English teacher
now turned foreign relations and social cooperation specialist, Saikhanaa /Сайханаа/. I am in Saikhanaa’s
department at school. They first took me to where I will be staying for the
next two years, my ger. It’s huge! I have a 5 walled ger. That means that at a
minimum 5 standard pieces of felt wrap around my ger with little overlap. The
PC standard is a 4 walled ger. On top of that, I have a four burner stove with
an oven (PC Standard is a hot plate), a freezer (not required), a washing
machine (not required) and a flat screen TV (definitely not required). I have
more than I could’ve ever imagined; and like that my ger became the place to
hang out in DZ. The following two weeks was just me trying to make my ger even
better by adding pots, pans and other cooking utensils. It also gave me a
chance to explore the city some.
September 1st was the nationwide first day of
school. Every school from primary schools to universities opened their doors
for school that day. The first day is full of speeches, music and dance.
Unfortunately/Fortunately for my school, it was different. This year my school
became a college. Long gone are the days of MCYT school of Umnugovi aimag, now
we have started the days of Umnugovi Polytechnic College. So while September
was the first day of school, we will have our college introduction ceremony in
early October.
Our New Sign!
Sorry for the long post this time but I missed the August
post due to too much going on (PS this has been written for the past 2 weeks).
The only thing my ger is missing is internet so when I can, I will add pictures
to this post like before (though I haven’t added pictures to that post either
haha). Hope everyone is enjoying themselves wherever they reading this.
Mahalo.
Sam Sosa
Huushuur Dough
The dough recipe came from our PCV Cookbook though I
added some directions.
2 ½ c flour
1 c water
Mix water and dough. On a flat surface lightly dusted
with flour, knead dough until smooth and elastic.
Roll the dough in the shape of a tube about 1” high.
Using a knife, cut the dough into ½”-1” pieces. Grab one piece with one of the
circular sides facing up. With your index finger and thumb, grab each side of
the dough, pull the dough in opposite directions, twist the dough and fold it
onto itself. Now roll the dough into a ball. This will help flatten the dough
smoother. Continue until you have done this to every piece of dough. Put a
light dusting of flour onto the dough. With a rolling pin, flatten the dough
into discs about 1/8”-1/4” high. You are ready to add filling.
Huushuur Filling
1lb of ground meat (any type)
½ cup of water
Seasonings
Vegetables (optional)
Rice (optional)
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
Take one piece of dough and a spoonful of the mixed meat
and put the mixture in the dough. Fold the dough onto itself.
Pinching the dough – the easy way.
The easy way to pinch huushuur is to start at the very
end, pinch a small area of dough while pulling slightly, folding the pinch onto
itself and pinch again. Continue going around the huushuur. Note: overlapping
the pinches is a good thing. Congratulations you’ve made huushuur.
Pinching the dough – the hard and seemingly impossible
way.
If I don’t confuse you first here is the hard method. At
the very end of the fold, pinch a small area of dough. With your non-dominant,
hold the dough like a taco. You will use your dominant hand to pinch. With your
dominant hand, grab one of the edges of dough near the “pinch” and pull the edge
towards the “pinch”. When you have overlapped the pinch anywhere from slightly
to halfway, go ahead and pinch. Now do the other side the same way, this time
towards your new pinch. Continue until you have one more pinch left. At this
point, you can pinch the dough like in the beginning. Congratulations you’ve
made huushuur.
In order to cook your huushuur, just pan fry in oil ½”-1”
deep. Mongolians eat huushuur once fried. It will be slightly flexible. I enjoy
my huushuur double fried. You can eat huushuur with several types of
condiments. My personal favorite is with sriracha sauce and ketchup. You can
also use sweet chili sauce, soy sauce and your imagination. Сайхан хоолоорой!
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