Reflections

Looking back on our summer journey, it doesn't quite seem real. Many of the experiences that I had in Mongolia were so unique and different, that they do not really have a place in my normal memory. They are disjointed and strange, and never the less incredible. And I wonder how I will think on them a year, five years, fifty years (provided I am still alive) from now. I can describe aspects of our trip to friends, but no description can do justice to the actual experience.

Why did I decide to go to Mongolia? This question has been a major theme of the past six months of my life. I am asked by my friends, my family, strangers (who have no business knowing), and frequently by Mongolians and other people during our travels. I think my response is a little different every time. Though this question has been so important to everyone I've talked to, at no point have I thought it necessary to justify this decision in my own mind. Why does anyone do anything? Because they are trying to make the best of their time, aiming at what each considers to be good, and working toward it.

One thing that the trip has reinforced in my mind, is the idea that human life is so variable, so contingent upon the situation and circumstance into which one is born, ant yet humans, as far as I have witnessed, share similar experiences through their emotions. The beggar and the king spend their time quite differently, and yet at the end of the day, each has his own regrets, longings, and fears, neither one's more or less real than the other's. As a new school-year beggins, I have my own apprehensions. I wonder what are those of the people I shared time with in Mongolia.

Bulgan, Naadam, and Aerig

After Naadam in UB, we, nix Tim and Yelena, as mentioned below, traveled across the countryside to Bulgan City (Bulgan Hot). We stayed with a lovely woman named Ganaa, a former Fullbright who taught us Mongolian language last spring. She obviously loved Bulgan, from all the things she told us about it. We were ridiculously excited to be able to go and see the place she called home.

One of the most important things about Bulgan, she had told us, was the aerig. Aerig is fermented mare's milk. And Bulgan, it turns out, makes some of the best in the world. Bulgan is so proud of their aerig that part of the opening ceremonies to their Naadam celebration was a dance tribute to the drink, the making of it, the consuming of it, and games played while consuming it. During the summers, many people give up solid foods, according to Ganaa, and just consume aerig.

This hadn't been the first time aerig had been present during this trip. While in Inner Mongolia--or was it Saen-Shed?--we'd had the opportunity to try camel aerig. This is an experience I don't intend to replicate. Along the research trip to the countryside I went on, we would stop and get aerig from everywhere we could. Well, once the other girls learned I hadn't really had it before.

The drink itself tastes a bit like watered down milk and yeast. But it's better than if you took watered down milk and mixed it with yeast. The milk here just has flavor, moreso than American milk anyway. The drink also reminds me a bit of yoghurt. When I first had it, I wasn't a fan, but it grew on me.

We brought some back to our apartment from Bulgan. It was supposed to be for Allison, Tim, and Yelena, but it was really for everyone. It lived in the fridge for a while. I kind of like it cold, but I think that's not really how you're supposed to drink it.

Where will we be next? (Russia Plans)

Hi,
Here are our plans for Russia. Please remember that we may or may not have internet or phone access between July 21st and July 31st. As always, if you have an emergency and need to contact your student you may call Karen Billingsly at the Honors College (412 624 6880). Otherwise I will try to force all of the students to write or call home before we leave Mongolia.

We will be traveling with Hongorzul Sodnom from the National University of Mongolia. She attended University in Moscow in the 1970's and has taken this train route back and forth between Moscow and Ulaan Baatar several times (and she is fluent in Russian, which is a great help). Currently, Hongorzul directs the Mongolian Center for American Studies at the National University of Mongolia.

So here are our plans:
July 21st depart Ulaan Baatar at 9.10pm on train 363
July 22nd arrive Ulaan Ude
Ulaan Ude accommodation at Baikal Ethnic Hostel
www.baikalhostel.com -
We will be visiting with students from the University of Buryiata and see Lake Baikhal

July 26 depart Ulaan Ude at 10.22 am local time on train 7
July 26 arrive Irkutsk at 17.17 local time
accommodation at Irkutsk Downtown Hostel
www.hostel.irkutsk.ru

July 27 depart Irkutsk at 16.10 local time on train 9
July 30 arrive Moscow at 16.42 local time
accommodation at Mini-Hotel Sukarevka
www.suharevkahotel.ru

July 31 depart Moscow for the US!

We'll be home soon! - Allison

Naadam Hits the NY Times!

Hey check this out. This is a slide show from UB's Naadam horse races.
Don't worry, the Pitt crew was in the crowd catching it all first hand!

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/07/10/world/0711-MONGOLIA_index.html

And this is just a related article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/world/asia/11mongolia.html

More on Archaeology!

Well, I should be putting last minute touches on my paper right now, but I think I've earned a break. I left off talking about my trip by saying that we had to leave our site and search for a new one. We were camping in a national park and our professor found a area near by that looked promising. The new site was still in the national park, but our professor works in the office that issues permits to archaeologists. Essentially this meant we could work where ever we wanted and he would issue his own permit. Suddenly the the fact that it was a national park didn't matter! the next day we were digging away at these large piles of rocks. The Professor didn't know what group of people made these and he didn't know roughly when they were made. Our goal was to find any artifact that we could so that it could be taken to a lab for dating.
At first the digging only turned up more rocks. Yes, they were most definitely positioned by humans so they weren't just some random rocks. Still rocks got boring after a few days. We thought that these formations were burial sites, but even after we moved the rocks and kept digging we didn't find any skeletons. The sites could very well be grave markers to honor the war dead that died far from home, but that still only left us with rocks to uncover...tedious! When our professor decided to stop working on these units, we started working on a new unit that formed a small mound in the landscape. A pedestrian survey (very technical...involves people walking around) turned up a few pottery sherds. We started getting excited!!! Working on the new sites came just in time to keep everyone enthusiastic about the dig. We found lots of potsherds, some that were bigger than your hand. And we even found a whole pot!! Well, it was broken but all the pieces were still there and in its original shape. Another interesting aspect of this unit was that we found some kind of foundation. Yes, it was still made out of rocks, but suddenly these were much more interesting! Mongolia is historically a culture of nomads, so a piece of a building is a pretty big deal.
All in all, this trip was a lot of fun. Even with its ups and downs we found quite a few artifacts and I know I learned a lot. I had had the opportunity to try to work with an American dig, if I didn't go on this one. I'm so glad that I decided to go with the Mongolian dig. The language barrier gave me a whole lot of time to think. Going off by myself, allowed me to learn not only about archaeology, but I learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of doing. I'm proud of myself!

The Rain Is Gone!

The rainy season finally seems to have ended. Happily, the weather has been dry and sunny for at least three days. Of course, this also means that the mud has dried up and turned into dust again. I suppose you can't have everything.

The group packed up and went to Bulgan over the weekend, visiting Ganaa, who taught us Mongolian in Pittsburgh. Tim and I, alas, were laid low with an unfortunate stomach bug, so we spent a lot of time sleeping and eating plain bread. Therefore, I can't divulge any details of what went on in Bulgan; that's classified information, and it's out of my hands.

My advisor and I met last week for the last time before he took off for the countryside. I administered a few more surveys. So far I have about 50. The questions I ask are related to foreign language experience and loanwords in Mongolian. "Do you think that foreign words are fashionable?" I inquire. "When foreigners come to Mongolia, should they learn the language?" "Are there too many loanwords in Mongolian?" "Do you ever use the word ___? Is it a real word?" (Bodybuilding, apparently, has entered the lexicon here, and I've seen it written in Cyrillic on many signs for gyms.)

That, of course, is an oversimplification, and in fact I ask more detailed questions about a few specific words. I am finding that a large proportion of people under 30 have studied English, along with a sharp dropoff in the number of schoolchildren studying Russian. This fits my expectations.

The black market was closed during Naadam but reopened again today. I plan to make a final trip to buy souvenirs and a needle and thread to mend my skirt (which ripped spectacularly when it caught on a metal fencepole).

As far as illness is concerned, I am feeling almost entirely better. The summer has gone by without major sickness in the group until now, and probably we should be grateful. We seem to have avoided food poisoning for the most part, yay! Good health is priceless. And that's enough empty philosophizing out of me -- it's off to work on my paper again.

Naadam Plans

Tomorrow officially starts the Mongolian national holiday of Naadam, or the festival of the "three manly sports" (wrestling, archery, and horse racing). There are Naadam celebrations all throughout the country beginning and ending at different times. The black market has been especially busy and the street traffic has gotten worse as everyone leaves for the holiday. Most Mongolians get their vacation during this time and venture out of UB to visit friends and family in the countryside.

Our plans are as follows:

Fri - we are going to see the opening ceremony of the Naadam in UB followed by some archery and wrestling competitions
Sat - we are going to take part in "Culture Naadam" a sort of fair put on by the Arts Council of Mongolia... this is also where some of the horse races take place so we will watch some of that and then head out to the Bulgan City in the countryside to visit Gaana, our language teacher from Pitt last semester
Sun-Tue - we will be visiting with Gaana and then see the opening ceremony of Bulgans Naadam before returning to UB

Love, Emily