Hair-cutting ceremony

Hair-cutting ceremony
Originally uploaded by jemacole2

One great tradition they have in Mongolia is the hair-cutting ceremony. I may have mentioned it earlier on this blog. I was able to go to a handful of these celebrations, and I loved them. Mongolian children don't cut their hair until the lamas tell the families which day is best. Boy's usually get their hair cut at the age of 3, and girls at 4 or 5. Friends and family are invited to the family's home for the celebration. Some families invite everyone they know and it lasts all day. Others have smaller parties or small groups that come by on different days. They serve the typical celebration foods: candies, milk curds, potato salads, and buuz. Oh yeah, and of course some vodka.

The top picture is from the last hair-cutting event I attended. Monkhoolei, the boy, is the grandson of the woman Iived next to. He was always at their ger playing with his cousin, Nyam-Ochir (the boy I lived next to). This celebration was in the countryside. My neighbors took him out to visit his father's parents who are herders. The other volunteers and I tagged along for the countryside experience. I added some pictures of the trip. It was a really nice, final countryside experience before coming home. It was always so relaxing for me to go out to the middle of nowhere, surrounded by mountains and fields. This trip was especially nice because my Peace Corps buddies came along. It's definitely easier to deal with the awkward moments and the attention to foreigners if you're not the only one.

My second-year sitemate, Dylan, wrote a blog entry about this trip. It's really well written and a lot more complete than I could do months later. You should definitely check it out: Dylan's entry.

Now looking back

Everyone likes stories, and I have lots. Not all are interesting to read, but they'll be fun for me to remember. So while I have lots of time on my hands, I'm going to recount some of the memories I have from Mongolia. I'm also trying to sort through my pictures, so I'll post them for my and your enjoyment.

Most of you have facebook and/or myspace pages, so I'm not going to bother updating you on the past 4 months that I've been home, other than to say I'm in M-town but will be moving to DC in January or February to work at the State Deparment. Whoo hoo!

Student play
Originally uploaded by jemacole2

This photo is from one of the many talent shows the schools hold each year. They love their talent shows. This one was a competition between classes. Each class had to prepare performances in difference categories: Mongolian traditional singing, Mongolian traditional dancing, hip-hop, pop, Mongolian instruments, group song... all kinds of stuff. I think there were 9 categories. And these competitions would start in the morning and last until 11 in the evening. It was crazy.

The first year I was so annoyed by this competition. Like most events, I didn't know about them until they were happening. But I was always expected to attend. It was always incredibly frustrating to finish up classes and get ready to head home and then be pulled into another event. I was excited about it at first. I love watching their performances. But after the first 3 classes performed basically the same 30-minute show, I was ready to go home and have some dinner. The first year was also when I wasn't eating the school's food because it made me so incredibly sick. So I probably had a packet of cookies and that's all. I remember being very unhappy.

The second year, though, I had my own classes. I knew the students and was rooting for them. I could also eat the food, which helped dramatically. This picture is of my favorite class. They were my 10th grade English specialized class. Most of these kids came directly from the countryside. In the countryside, high schools only teach to 8th grade. Then most kids move away from their families to continue studying in the province capitals. This class, because they weren't from my town and hadn't ever been taught or hadn't ever even seen a foreigner, were much more receptive to me than the other classes. That's why I loved them.

The week of this competition, the students kept talking about what they were preparing. Then the day of the competition they weren't sure they were going to participate. Apparently some of the boys were embarassed. So when I went to watch, I was waiting to see if they would perform. Their time came and they didn't show up. But, I guess they asked if they could perform last and the school managers agreed. I wasn't thrilled about staying til the end, but these were my kids. And they did really well. They had this amazing poem reading (Mongolians love to recite poems, and it's pretty fun to watch.) They acted out a lost-love story as they read. I loved it. And no other class had done something like that. I was so proud. I couldn't get pictures, though, because it was night by then and nothing was turning out.

This picture is of their opening. They sang a traditional Mongolian song in their traditional outfits. It was also slightly different than the other classes. It's definitely a good memory.

People's Choice

My poor neglected blog. Anyone reading this has nearly missed all of my second year of service. Unfortunate, because this has definitely been the easier and more rewarding of the two.

Now the fourth quarter of school is beginning. For me, this means a lot more time, as the fourth quarter has no Olympics, no education center evaluations, and therefore really not a lot of work going on besides preparing older students for graduation tests. My school also recently got Internet access, so with my extra time, I may be hanging around the computer lab more often. These two facts, as well as my growing anticipation for finally coming home, may lead to me to clock a few more hours on the Internet. In which case, I'll try to catch you up on some of the more interesting moments in this past year.

But, before I do, here's the news briefs:
- Dude's pregnant. I'll be a grandma in a week or two.
- There's only a month left of school!Whoo hoo
- I was awarded the "People's Talent" medal

And for full-coverage of the medal:
Just a week or , a city-wide obsession is coming to an end. For nearly a month, my school prepared for and then performed a competition show. This competition included every organization in our city (schools, government offices, military, police, etc.) Yes, this is a nice idea. And, yes, it was fun to watch and fun for the first week or so of practice. But what it really gave me was a deep appreciation for SYT. That's right, Summer Youth Theater. It boggles my mind to remember how efficient the practices were and how dedicated everyone was to the show's success.

During this month-long process, there was definitely some dedication. But that dedication wasn't quite channeled into successful practices. For two straight weeks we practiced everyday, from 10ish to 7ish. And still, after all this, there were things still being learned on the performance day..

I was in four performances: Mongolian solo song, Mongolian solo dance, group chair dance, couples Latin American dance. The Mongolian song was a traditional song put to a poppy beat. It was everyone's favorite. The Mongolian dance was fun. I'll bring the music back and show you all. The chair dance was made because I showed the Pussycat Dolls "Buttons" video to the choreographer, so she made a sexy little dance in which we throw our hair back about 100 times. My neck's still sore. And the Latin dance was choreographed by me and Jess.

We preformed our school show 2 times. Then I was invited to the next two rounds. The third show was the competition of the bests. And the fourth show was a gala of the best of the best. I got a medal, about $13 and a DVD of Mongolian folk songs and dances. For the most part, it was worth it. But I'm glad they restarted this Soviet-era tradition during my final year. I'm not eager to be a part of it again.

Christmas family photo