Why did you choose to go to Mongolia?

[question from Sophie, Sam, Danielle, Miles, Jake, Louisa, Emily, Theo, Aaron, Phoebe, Lilly and Rebecca]

Hmmm, tough question! Well, I’ll be completely honest and say that the choice was not entirely my own. I wanted to work in a poor country and to help the people there, so I applied to work with the charity Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO). VSO takes people to go and work in some of the poorest countries in the world (you can see the list of countries here: http://www.vso.org.uk/about/cprofiles/index.asp). I could have gone anywhere, but the job VSO offered me was in Mongolia. However, I was very happy when I heard that I had the chance to work in Mongolia. This is because of some things that I had already knew about Mongolia:

Mongolia’s countryside/animals – Mongolia is a huge country, with loads of countryside. I’m very fond of the countryside, and so looked forward to exploring it. I was excited about seeing the mountain and desert areas, and going to places where there are no other people for miles and miles. I also thought it would be great to see the many animals in Mongolia. I knew that if I went I’d get the chance to see wild horses, yaks and camels. I even thought that if I was very lucky I might have the chance to see snow leopards! During my many visits to Marwell Zoo (near Winchester) I always went to see the snow leopards, one of my favourite animals. The chance to see snow leopards in the wild was something I found hard to miss! Now that I’ve arrived in Mongolia I doubt I’ll actually see them (they are very shy creatures, and have good camouflage) but I can always dream…!

Mongolia’s history – Mongolia has a very interesting history. Under Chengis Khaan, one of the world's greatest ever leaders (who can be seen in the picture to the right), Mongolia had the second biggest empire the world has ever seen (1206-1294). Mongolia once controlled over 10% of the world, which is pretty impressive! More recently (1924-1992), Mongolia was part of the ‘communist bloc’ (a group of countries which tried to make sure that all people were equal – no one should have more than another person). As a result, Mongolia developed in a very different way to most other countries in the world.

The Mongolian people – The Mongolian people are famous for being friendly and welcoming. I looked forward to getting to know them, and discovering more about their special culture. Perhaps the most interesting people are those who live in the countryside in big tent-like houses called ‘gers’. They are ‘nomads’ – people who constantly move around the countryside. I wanted to see this type of life as it is very different to our life back in the United Kingdom (a country where most people live in houses and stay in one location for many years).

Mongolia’s climate – I have never lived in a country with a crazy climate like Mongolia’s climate! Whilst I may live to regret my decision during the winter months (the photo shows you what the view is like from my bedroom window), I was quite excited at the prospect of seeing what it is like to live in a country in which temperatures often drop to –30C. You can see what the weather is already like in the photo to the right - it's the view from my bedroom window a week ago.

What language do Mongolians speak?

[question from Sam, Julia and Tonicha]

Mongolians have their very own language - Mongolian! The Mongolian language is quite difficult, as it is very different to most European languages. However, there are a few words that are similar – for example, “komputer” (computer). I’ve found the language quite tough to learn, but am improving every day. Here are a few useful phrases that I’ve learnt so far:

Sain bain uu? – Hello, how are you?
Tim – Yes
Ogui – No
Ootchlarei! – Sorry!
Saihan amrarei – Have a good rest
Gal dzuu! – Crazy! (especially useful when a car almost runs you over)

The Cyrillic Alphabet

Mongolians use a different alphabet to the one we use – the “Cyrillic Alphabet”. Many countries in the world use the Cyrillic Alphabet, perhaps the best known country is Russia. You can see how Cyrillic works in the picture below (the Cyrillic alphabet is in the grey column, and our own Latin alphabet is in the white columns):

Here’s a challenge for all of you - see if you can work out what this sentence means:

ßeЛЛ ДOНe, ЙОУ КАН РeАД СЙРИЛЛИК!

To see the answer, just hold down the mouse button and drag the mouse over the next line:
Well done, you can read Cyrillic!

What games do Mongolians play?

[question from Sophie, Tom and Edward]

Mongolians play many of the same games that we do in the United Kingdom. Playing cards is something that helps people get through the long winter nights. Chess is also very popular - most families will own a chess board. I have also often seen people meet in the streets to play dominos. Groups of people will sit down together in a park and play dominos for a couple of hours.

However, there is one game which is only found in Mongolia, called "shagai". Shagai is a game which uses pieces of sheep's ankle bones. Families will have boxes of these bones - one family I stayed with had a box with over a 100 pieces of bones! The game starts when one player throws all the pieces into the air. The pieces then settle on the floor, landing in different positions.

sda

The positions the bones land in are important to the game. How the bone lands determines which animal the bone represents.

• If the bone lands on its side and it is curving inwardly, then it is a camel.


• If it lands on its side and is curving outwardly, it is a horse.


• If the bone lands completely flat, and is curving inwards it is a sheep.


• A goat is a bone that has landed completely flat, and is curving outwards.

You can see the different positions can be seen in the photo:

The game is a bit like playing marbles - you have to flick the shagai bones so that they hit the same type of bone (so a 'horse' bone would have to hit another 'horse' bone). If you hit the correct bones you get to keep them. However, if you miss or you hit the wrong bone (for example, your camel bone hits a horse, sheep or goat bone), your turn ends and your opponent gets to have a go. The one with the most bones at the end of the game wins. Shagai is a very traditional game, which has been played for hundreds of years. It is still very popular - many children play this game.
asas

Some people also play a slightly different game with the shagai bones - the "shagai horserace". Some bones are lined up to create the racetrack. Next the players chose another bone to be their counter on the 'racing field' (the space next to the racetrack). Then each player takes it in turns to throw four bones. If they throw any 'horses', they can move their counter forward one place. The person who is the first to get to the end of the track is the winner!

P.S. I'll talk about the sports that Mongolians like to play in a future post.