One of the things about Mongolia that can make life a bit cheaper and easier is work housing. In the countryside it is not uncommon for government, hospital, and school employees to have the option to live in government housing for free or a nominal fee. The downside is that it is often in rundown buildings that used to be something else (the defunct veterinary hospital, anyone?) and with few amenities. For example, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer I lived in this building for one year with a bank teller and 4 teachers and their families.

Life was pretty hard given that when the power was out, which was most of the time, we had no lighting, no heating, and no way to cook. It is no wonder that I insisted on living in a ger my second year.

After I left town, the teachers were moved around every year or 2 to other defunct buildings including one of the old school buildings famous for its roof full of pigeon poop and the afore mentioned veterinary hospital. A few lucky souls got to live in the renovated community center but most of them were stuck in the old hospital with its camel sized doors which let in all the winter breezes. Hardly worth the cheap $3 a month rent.

Well, this summer, after two years of planning and raising government and private funds (from mining companies) one of the old student dorms was renovated. Here is one of the the old dorms (which was lived in by students up until 2 years ago)

And here, is the new teacher apartment building after it got bricks, wallpaper, new windows, and a roof.

It has 8, two room, and 1, one room apartments and is already festooned with all important satellite dishes. The inside changed from one giant wind sieve to something that looks more like it belongs in Ulaanbaatar.

Today was the official new housing party where the school director, governor, and representatives from the provincial counsel and the two donor companies spoke and cut the ribbon.

Lastly, the three teachers who had already moved in received their keys.

The teachers who are living in the new building have been teaching at my school since I first moved here 10 years ago and they have lived in horrible run down buildings, suffered from house fires, and in general had to live in places no one should live in. I wish them lots of luck and hope they don’t have to move for a very long time!

During the last week here in Hanhongor we have seen some amazing weather-both good and bad.  Two days ago I got up and went out to go to the toilet around six in the morning and was greeted by a double rainbow going across the horizon in front of the Gurvan Saikhan mountains. It was a gorgeous sight that I got to share with the only other things awake at that time-the goats and camels.

Today, though, we were reminded of the harsher side of Mongolian weather. We had been expecting rain, and it had rained on and off for the last day or so but nothing big. At around 3 this afternoon we were sitting in our ger reading newspapers when all of a sudden we heard what we thought was thunder-except that it didn’t stop and grew increasingly louder. Santiago is generally not spooked by thunder, but this noise caused her to jump up and bolt for the door which was open at the time. Brian and I both yelled at her to stay put. Somehow we must have sense it wasn’t a good idea for scared dogs to be outside at that moment.

At about that time the booming and thundering sounds had stopped, and Brian and I stepped outside to see if a thunderstorm was approaching. To our surprise we saw a tornado heading away from our ger on the far side of our neighbor’s yard. It appeared to be about 20ft wide winding its way up into some very ominous grey clouds. Brian said that it was time we all went inside Darhuu’s house. We hustled Santiago into her front entrance way, and I went inside while he “battened down the hatches” on the ger. A few moments later he came in and told Darhuu and I that a neighbor’s house, no more than 75 yards from our ger, had had its roof completely ripped off. We all hustled out to make sure no one was hurt in the house, and other neighbors began appearing to help. It was settled fairly quickly that no one was hurt, and just in time because then came the hail. We all made our way back to our homes and waited out the hail and then a torrent of rain.

 (Some super ominous rain clouds)

The rain subsided and the sky began to clear about 10 minutes later, and we stepped out again to survey the damage. We finally got a clear sense of what happened. The tornado ripped through the roof of the house picking up roof tiles and beams (the thundering) and then travelled down the lane next to our ger throwing the gnarled pieces at fences and buildings (the booming), and somehow got to the open area just past our neighbor’s yard only taking out a section of his fence and not damaging anything else seriously.

We could deduce this from the trail of roof tiles and puncture holes in walls and fences in a line across the neighborhood.

Things happened so fast there wasn’t anytime to be scared, but then afterward there was time to think and, wow, that was close.

Thankfully no one was injured, and almost within the hour of the tornado people from around town began to gather in front of the house and help with clean up. Amazingly only the roof was torn off, and the ceiling remained intact and no windows were broken.

As a consequence, there was no serious water damage during the heaviest down pour. This being the land of portable, temporary homes, people set up a ger across town (incidentally really close to the path of the tornado on that side of town) and started moving furniture, clothing, and other household items to it.

The tornado happened around 3pm, and by 8pm the family was set up in a temporary place to live.

That was the first tornado Brian and I have seen, and we hope it is the last. Just another exciting, if unwelcome, part of living in the Gobi.

Today when we returned from the afternoon dog walk we found this graffiti on our fence. Interpreted into English it means “Sadie teacher, did you have a nice weekend?” I don’t know what out of control kid dared to write such a nice message in erasable chalk on my fence but I will find them if it is the last thing I do so I can thank them for brightening my day.

We had a snow storm last week and the wind whipped the snow up into fantastic rivers across town.

Our town has installed flood lights in the various neighborhoods and the social worker who lives near us is in charge of turning the light on and off each night. I love the fact there is a light switch on the pole.

On Easter we got out our kites for the first time and had a lot of fun. Many days are actually too windy for kites but on the days when we have mild wind you could not ask for a better, and safer, place to fly your kite.

When I first moved to Hanhongor in 2002, one of the things that I was told my town had was a bath house. Since no one has running water in their homes, bath houses are very important for public health and cleanliness. My excitement over the bath house lasted for all of 5 minutes until I learned it was broken. Commence bucket bathing.

Fast forward to 2007 when this picture was taken

The bath house, the building with the pointed green roof on the left, was still broken and in even more disrepair. At this point I think everyone in town had given up on the prospect of ever showering in town again.

Finally fast forward to now. The rumors that the bath house was being repaired thanks to money from a mining company started to fly around last fall.  Once in a while there seemed to be some change over there, but I didn’t believe anything until one day in January when I was at school my director gathered up all the free teachers and took us over to the bath house for its grand reopening ceremony. A local television station filmed the ribbon cutting and then we all trooped in, joking that the first person in would get free showers for a year. While the bath house was no Japanese onsen, it was certainly a step up from a bucket bath (see Peace Corps Volunteer Emma’s blog for inside pictures). There are rooms for individuals and a larger room for a family, and while the water pressure is not great, the water is hot, you don’t need to lug your water from the well, and there is no mess when you are done. We have taken to showering on Sunday afternoons and I must say one of the best dollars we spend all week.

Every year the town of Khankhongor puts on a concert for and by its citizens.  This is how it works.

Everyone who works for the government in some capacity is strongly “requested” to participate in the concerts in groups.  This includes anyone who works in the town government offices, at the school, and at the hospital.  Where you work dictates which group you are in, which means I am in the school group.

Next, each group is given a list of the different numbers they must perform at the concert, and the best team wins some fabulous prize (I am hoping it is a new dung collecting basket).  There are about 8 different numbers that each group is required to perform which range from a skit, a traditional Mongolian song, a dance, a poetry reading, and an orchestra number.

Nine years ago when I was a volunteer I somehow got roped into doing the dance number which was absolutely horrifying since 1. I can’t dance and 2. I was partnered with my boss, the school director.  Fortunately for everyone I was not asked to dance this year, and the school director is out of town for the weekend.

So what exciting thing do I get to do in this year’s concert?  I get to play the shantz in the school orchestra! Wow-you are thinking to yourself-I didn’t know Sadie could play the shantz.  Well, neither did I!  (You are also probably thinking to yourself-I actually don’t know what a shantz is.  Well, here is a picture of two.)

I have been practicing the shantz for all of a week now, and can play an itty bitty song. As much as I would love to say that I am a shantz savant, I can’t.  Let’s just hope the rest of the orchestra is better than me.

After concert update

There are a few things to report about the concert.

1. For some reason only the school and kindergarten competed. I don’t know what happened to everyone else.
2. The concert started an hour and a half late.
3. We lost.
4. But we had a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of me getting ready to play…

And me “playing”

Watching the morin khuur player who was keeping the beat

Hopefully after we return from America I can continue my lessons.  I had forgotten how much fun it can be to learn a new instrument.