BOETZ

After language class, my host parents and couple of my host mom’s friends taught me how to make BOETZ (Mongolian dumplings).

Recipe: 1. Chop partially frozen mutton into very small pieces. 2. Add cubes of sheep fat. 3. Add chopped green and yellow onion. 4. Add salt and powdered bouillon. 5. Add small amounts of water and mash with hands. (this is the stuffing) Next: 1. Make a dough with refined wheat flour and water. 2. Flatten small pieces of dough into small tortillas 3. press stuffing into BOETZ 4. Steam for twenty minutes. 5. Serve with ketchup and enjoy!

We also played “ankle bones”—they’re actually sheep bones. It’s the national game of Mongolia. The bones can lay 4 different ways: “Mur”-horse, “Timee”-camel, “Yama”-goat, or “Hun”-sheep. The bones are rolled like dice. Players must try to flick one bone to touch a matching bone without disturbing any of the other bones. Also, if all of the bones match, then players must try to be the first to grab all of them. I really enjoyed!

This weekend, my host parents have been teaching me to play Mongolian card games. At first I was very confused, but after several hours of playing I think that I've learned to play ‘HOSIN’-cards well. On Sunday evening, Tyler came to visit and we all played HOOTZER together.

In Zuunmod, Tyler convinced Nargui, one of the Mongolian Peace Corps trainers (who is also an Elvis impersonator by night) to teach him a few Mongolian wrestling moves.

We were treated to a traditional music presentation (this traditional stringed instrument has a horse's head).

The landscape is beautiful... open spaces, mountains, flowers.. and animal bones (including horse skulls).

This is a picture of me wearing a modern style del.

After spending five days in Zuunmod with the other M20s (twentieth group of Mongolian Peace Corps volunteers), Tyler and I have moved to Nalaikh in the Ulaanbaatar province along with 10 other Peace Corps volunteers. We will all live with Mongolian host families here throughout the summer. The weather so far has been very cold (the temperature is 14 degrees Celsius during the daytime and the wind is blowing steadily, but it is very sunny). Unfortunately, I left all of my sweaters, wool socks, corduroy pants and coat in my “winter bag” that Peace Corps stored for us in Zuunmod and will not have access to those clothes until August. My host family and several of the locals have assured me that it will get warmer after a few days.

My host parents, Batrentsen and Tsetsegmaa, are very nice people in their early 40s. They have a very good relationship with each other—always joking and laughing, and they are very happy to have me at their home. We live in a modern apartment with electric appliances and a hot water heater in the shower. I am staying in the largest bedroom while my host parents are sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed. I’m fairly certain that they gave up their bedroom for me. They have two daughters: Bolortsetseg, 22, and Battsetseg, 24. Bolortsetseg is living in Korea for the summer (everyone in my host family speaks Korean, but only Batsetseg—Baggui speaks a little English), and Baggui lives here. She stays in the small room at the front of the apartment, which will be my host mother’s father’s room when he gets home from the hospital. He is 90 years old.

Tyler is living with an elderly couple in a house. I have only met his host mother. Since Tyler and are living in the same city, we will be able to see each other every weekday during language class (4 hours) and maybe during training sessions as well. We are both very happy with our host family situations.