The past seven days and the next three are considered the orientation part of the program. During this time the 8 students are living together in a hotel ("Anoo-Jiin") and attending intensive language class every day. We have running watter, however a main hot-water pipe is being replaced in UB, leaving half of the city (including us) without hot water.
Now, I was not expecting a shower to be apart of my daily routine in Mongolia, however it brings up an important misconception with which I entered this country. I planned to be a back-packer for the entirety of this study abroad. I figured the less I brought, the better, and certainly did not waste precious space on luxury items concerned with appearance. I planned to shower little, live out of hiking boots, and trust that those I meet along the way would be living (or at least respecting) the same lifestyle.
Wrong.
So far.
Ulaanbaatar residence are nothing short of obsessed with appearance. While it is definitely a different tone than that of USA (less consumerism, more respect), it is just as unforgiving. At this point, I am so thankful that my mom snuck a suit into my suitcase as I was walking out the door.
On the same note, I am surprised by the weather here. Again, the two sleeveless shirts I almost talked myself out of wearing have been my only appropriate clothing for the warm weather. Obviously, that will change soon enough!
Language class has been the most intense experience so far, however I feel it is the most important thing I can be doing in these first few days. I am also lucky to be with a group of people who are completely dedicated to learning the language. Apparently Mongolian has been labeled the most difficult language to learn...
Our classroom is really a two-story apartment type building. It is a good 30 minute walk from our hotel. Class usually starts at 9. We have a tea break around 10:40am, lunch at noon (cooked by an SIT employee in our building's kitchen...this is definitely the best meal of the day) and then more class. We have had several lecturers come who give a presentation on various topics.
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6 Days ago, we went to the SOS International clinic in UB. I have not decided exactly what I think about this international, for-profit health clinic group, but it the medical facility that we will use while in UB. We had a briefing from the director about the services available to us and general advice on staying well in Mongolia.
While there, I really realized the prevalence of rabies and the serious risk of contracting it in the country side, and not being able to receive medical attention fast enough to do something about it.
Three of us, including me, had not received the vaccination for rabies in the US. I remember deciding not to when I realized the cost would be over 900USD. After hearing this talk, we all decided to get the three dose vaccination from this clinic. The good thing about it all is that it will cost less than 300USD here, since the vaccine is regularly stocked in this part of the world.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Mongolian Arrival
I am at the American Center for Montolian Studies in UB. Since I don't have much time, I am just checking in to say that I am here! The first week we are staying at a hotel. Tomorrow I start intensive Mongolian language classes. All of the people in the group are great. Only one of the "teachers" speaks fluent English, so I am already dedicated to learning the language as best I can (apparently it is ranked one of the hardest to learn).
I registered to be a member of this center. It seems to give you access to other scholars working in Mongolia - not to mention internet access and the most comprehensive English library on Mongolian Studies.
The weather is warm! All is well!
More soon!
I registered to be a member of this center. It seems to give you access to other scholars working in Mongolia - not to mention internet access and the most comprehensive English library on Mongolian Studies.
The weather is warm! All is well!
More soon!
Monday, August 9, 2010
A Schedule
This is the most thorough schedule at this time! Sent to me by SIT:
The schedule described below may be changed depending on local conditions, at the time, particularly weather conditions. It is presented here as the working plan as of today.
From the airport we will travel to Ulaanbaatar (UB) for our Orientation Seminar. This will last a week and will include discussions about the various program components, the academic requirements, and logistics. During this time, we will begin our Fieldwork Studies Seminar (FSS) and you will also be introduced to your language instructors and begin formal study of the Mongolian language. You will also meet your UB host families and begin your urban homestay.
Following our orientation in UB we will drive to Delgerkhaan soum of Hentii, considered one of the most beautiful provinces in Mongolia due to its pristine rivers, taiga forests and wide steppes. Delgerkhaan, the place of Chinggis Khan’s Aurag palace, is where you will live with homestay families of herders and help them during the busy winter preparation season. During this period you will continue to receive language classes from your language instructors and also be required to master nomadic skills and herding songs. You will also be required to collect some oral history from informants in the field and write your first paper.
Following our excursion, we will return to UB for a week and begin the first part of our Thematic Seminars conducted by resident scholars and field specialists. At this time, you will meet and move to your UB host families, and come to school five-six times a week to resume a schedule of daily language classes, excursions and lectures.
The first part of our Thematic Seminar will culminate in an educational excursion through the Hovsgol lake region, the home of several ethnic groups including the nomadic Darkhads and reindeer herders, the Tsaatan/Dukha people. These people are also renowned for their active practices of shamanism. If time permits, we will also try to visit the lake of Hovsgol.
After the Hovsgol excursion, you will return to UB and attend the second part of Thematic Seminar, resuming the schedule of language classes and lectures. During this time you will also be required to finalize your Independent Study Project (ISP) proposals.
The ISP is a month-long segment in which you conduct original fieldwork on a specific topic. As your Academic Director, I will help you to individually design your ISP topics as well as to find resources and contacts. This ISP period is a culmination of the initial three courses - Intensive Language, Culture & Development Seminar, and the Field Study Seminar. Projects might include topics about traditional games, falconry, the folklore of Mongolia’s ethnic groups, sacred landscapes, ‘houmi’ throat-singing, religious dance, Mongolia’s international relations, human trafficking, poverty alleviation programs or revival of traditional medicine. In the past, students have also investigated subjects from shamanism to the role of a specific NGO in Mongolia’s nascent democracy. The possibilities are only limited by your own imagination.
The final week of the program is an important period for assessment of both academic growth and personal change over the course of the semester. During this final evaluation week, each of you will orally present your Independent Study Projects, conduct an overall program evaluation and start to think about and prepare for your re- entry to the U.S.
The program is designed to expose you to as many diverse elements of Mongolian culture as possible. Education is the responsibility of the individual, not the mandate of the teacher. Therefore, you will be expected to motivate yourself to make the most of what can be a truly stimulating experience.
The schedule described below may be changed depending on local conditions, at the time, particularly weather conditions. It is presented here as the working plan as of today.
From the airport we will travel to Ulaanbaatar (UB) for our Orientation Seminar. This will last a week and will include discussions about the various program components, the academic requirements, and logistics. During this time, we will begin our Fieldwork Studies Seminar (FSS) and you will also be introduced to your language instructors and begin formal study of the Mongolian language. You will also meet your UB host families and begin your urban homestay.
Following our orientation in UB we will drive to Delgerkhaan soum of Hentii, considered one of the most beautiful provinces in Mongolia due to its pristine rivers, taiga forests and wide steppes. Delgerkhaan, the place of Chinggis Khan’s Aurag palace, is where you will live with homestay families of herders and help them during the busy winter preparation season. During this period you will continue to receive language classes from your language instructors and also be required to master nomadic skills and herding songs. You will also be required to collect some oral history from informants in the field and write your first paper.
Following our excursion, we will return to UB for a week and begin the first part of our Thematic Seminars conducted by resident scholars and field specialists. At this time, you will meet and move to your UB host families, and come to school five-six times a week to resume a schedule of daily language classes, excursions and lectures.
The first part of our Thematic Seminar will culminate in an educational excursion through the Hovsgol lake region, the home of several ethnic groups including the nomadic Darkhads and reindeer herders, the Tsaatan/Dukha people. These people are also renowned for their active practices of shamanism. If time permits, we will also try to visit the lake of Hovsgol.
After the Hovsgol excursion, you will return to UB and attend the second part of Thematic Seminar, resuming the schedule of language classes and lectures. During this time you will also be required to finalize your Independent Study Project (ISP) proposals.
The ISP is a month-long segment in which you conduct original fieldwork on a specific topic. As your Academic Director, I will help you to individually design your ISP topics as well as to find resources and contacts. This ISP period is a culmination of the initial three courses - Intensive Language, Culture & Development Seminar, and the Field Study Seminar. Projects might include topics about traditional games, falconry, the folklore of Mongolia’s ethnic groups, sacred landscapes, ‘houmi’ throat-singing, religious dance, Mongolia’s international relations, human trafficking, poverty alleviation programs or revival of traditional medicine. In the past, students have also investigated subjects from shamanism to the role of a specific NGO in Mongolia’s nascent democracy. The possibilities are only limited by your own imagination.
The final week of the program is an important period for assessment of both academic growth and personal change over the course of the semester. During this final evaluation week, each of you will orally present your Independent Study Projects, conduct an overall program evaluation and start to think about and prepare for your re- entry to the U.S.
The program is designed to expose you to as many diverse elements of Mongolian culture as possible. Education is the responsibility of the individual, not the mandate of the teacher. Therefore, you will be expected to motivate yourself to make the most of what can be a truly stimulating experience.
Program Overview
This is what the School for International Training (SIT) has to say about the program:
The SIT Study Abroad Mongolia School building occupies a semi-detached house located in Bayanzurkh District, in the eastern part of Ulaanbaatar (UB). The program base has been established to give students a common area for both formal and informal meetings, regular classes and as a central office and resource space for program participants and staff. It is comprised of several rooms for small group classes and whole group lectures. The second floor of the building is occupied with program offices.
It will take you approximately half an hour to walk from the hotel you will be staying at to class. UB has regularly running public buses and trolleybuses. Bus routes run almost everywhere in the UB area. There are also private passenger vans running along the public bus routes.
Our daily schedule is busy, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing to 3-4 p.m. Days usually start with a pair of language classes that are followed by lectures or site visits.
Our program focuses on “nomadic culture and globalization” in Mongolia. Through this guiding theme, we will investigate the process by which traditional and historical culture adjusts and manages the problems and trends of contemporary fast-track development. Mongolia is a relatively small developing country, which has been thrust onto the world stage politically, economically and socially. This is crucial during a time when the U.S., World Bank, ADB, UN, etc. are becoming ever more effective in domestic workings of countries and when cultural and bio-diversity is threatened by commercial investment.
Mongolia’s belated entrance on the modern global scene means both that its development process is fairly young and that the country as a whole is unusually self- conscious about which trends it sets into action. Mongolia aims to develop balanced policies open to Western involvement with strong nationalism spreading over a vast countryside and rooted in a culture that is still pastoral.
Among the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, few nations compare to Mongolia in the size, diversity, and health of its natural ecosystems. Covering 1.564 million square kilometers, Mongolia encompasses an area larger than Britain, France, Germany and Italy combined. It is the seventh largest country in Asia and one of the largest land-locked countries in the world. With only 2.7 million inhabitants, its population density, 1.7 persons per sq. kilometer, is the lowest in Asia.
Although threatened by commercial exploitation, Mongolia still contains relatively intact examples of Asia’s deserts, steppe forests, mountains, and rare species of wild creatures and plants that inhabit them. The traditional culture of the semi-nomadic herder still thrives, as one-third of the country’s people still move by horse and camel, herding their sheep, cattle, and goats through an annual cycle of pastures, governed by the limits of natural systems. To consider culture within Mongolia, one must consider the natural surrounding environment. The two are interdependent, continually needing to adapt to the needs and demands of each other.
Our program will explore the degree to which local cultures have been shaped by the geographic and environmental features of their surrounding landscapes, as well as how the ever-increasing demands of a developing country and growing population have put pressure on the abundance and availability of natural resources. The country now faces the challenge of developing the nation’s infrastructure and economy while at the same time protecting the natural environment.
The SIT Study Abroad Mongolia School building occupies a semi-detached house located in Bayanzurkh District, in the eastern part of Ulaanbaatar (UB). The program base has been established to give students a common area for both formal and informal meetings, regular classes and as a central office and resource space for program participants and staff. It is comprised of several rooms for small group classes and whole group lectures. The second floor of the building is occupied with program offices.
It will take you approximately half an hour to walk from the hotel you will be staying at to class. UB has regularly running public buses and trolleybuses. Bus routes run almost everywhere in the UB area. There are also private passenger vans running along the public bus routes.
Our daily schedule is busy, beginning at 9 a.m. and continuing to 3-4 p.m. Days usually start with a pair of language classes that are followed by lectures or site visits.
Our program focuses on “nomadic culture and globalization” in Mongolia. Through this guiding theme, we will investigate the process by which traditional and historical culture adjusts and manages the problems and trends of contemporary fast-track development. Mongolia is a relatively small developing country, which has been thrust onto the world stage politically, economically and socially. This is crucial during a time when the U.S., World Bank, ADB, UN, etc. are becoming ever more effective in domestic workings of countries and when cultural and bio-diversity is threatened by commercial investment.
Mongolia’s belated entrance on the modern global scene means both that its development process is fairly young and that the country as a whole is unusually self- conscious about which trends it sets into action. Mongolia aims to develop balanced policies open to Western involvement with strong nationalism spreading over a vast countryside and rooted in a culture that is still pastoral.
Among the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, few nations compare to Mongolia in the size, diversity, and health of its natural ecosystems. Covering 1.564 million square kilometers, Mongolia encompasses an area larger than Britain, France, Germany and Italy combined. It is the seventh largest country in Asia and one of the largest land-locked countries in the world. With only 2.7 million inhabitants, its population density, 1.7 persons per sq. kilometer, is the lowest in Asia.
Although threatened by commercial exploitation, Mongolia still contains relatively intact examples of Asia’s deserts, steppe forests, mountains, and rare species of wild creatures and plants that inhabit them. The traditional culture of the semi-nomadic herder still thrives, as one-third of the country’s people still move by horse and camel, herding their sheep, cattle, and goats through an annual cycle of pastures, governed by the limits of natural systems. To consider culture within Mongolia, one must consider the natural surrounding environment. The two are interdependent, continually needing to adapt to the needs and demands of each other.
Our program will explore the degree to which local cultures have been shaped by the geographic and environmental features of their surrounding landscapes, as well as how the ever-increasing demands of a developing country and growing population have put pressure on the abundance and availability of natural resources. The country now faces the challenge of developing the nation’s infrastructure and economy while at the same time protecting the natural environment.