A first day in Mongolia

As the train stops in UB (Ulaan-Bataar, the city of the red hero) I finish to pack my heavy backpack as I glance through the window at that grey and dusty capital surrounded by a strange Ger suburb.

I really have no time to realize that I have finally reached my destination. People are greeting each other and a man with a "NewChoice" sign greets me. 

Sete has a very good English. As he walks me to his car he explains that i am to be sent to an orphanage camp this very day. He needs to drive me to the N.G.O. center in order to get more details and information from the manager, Jagaa.

I hardly have enough time to look at the city, Sete is asking me many questions and telling me many things about the camp and Mongolia.

Once in the office, Jagaa tells me that I will be teaching English in that orphanage camp, and that i'll probably be the only one there to speak english... so if i need anything i'll just have to give them a call. They give me a phone and a sim card with about 10 $ worth of credit. Just before leaving he advices me to get some drinkable water and some sweets as there will be just a small shop where i am heading.

To be honest I was still bewildered from my arrival and the whole Trans-Siberian trip, to realise all the things Jagaa told me.

Sete drives me then to the camp.

I now have a little bit more time to ask him about the camp :

• How many kids are there ? Between 150 and 200, I don't know really.
• So will I be in charge of some classes , or ..? Hum... I don't know you'll find out when you are there. Don't worry everything is going to be fine.

Right, so I don't know where i'm going and what its going to be like... All i know is that we are heading north-east and that its about an hour drive.

We are leaving the city center and its buildings, some are modern, and others an heritage from the communist influence. As we drive through the subburbs the buildings are getting smaller, Gers and wooden house are more and more numerous and the roads are slowly turning into tracks.

The swallow camp is in a hill side, the road separating the place from a stream. So Sete is leading me up to the head master, Ganaa.

I am the new attraction of the camp the kids are looking at me with curious eyes while Sete and Ganaa are talking about me in Mongol. When the conversation is over Sete explains me that I won't be teaching just now, and if there is no problem i could help some of the workers to fix some things around the camp.

"Well, hum... sure. That's not a problem. Whatever, I'm here to help."

He turns back to Ganaa to translate what I just said (I'm guessing here), then turns to me and says : "well Goodbye Tom, that was nice meeting you, call me if you need anything. Bye."

So before I can really think about more to say or ask he leaves me with the headmaster who winks at me smiling and says " You ok keep cool."

It doesn't take long before I realise that I am the only one in this camp able to speak some English.

I am showed my room so I can put my bag there and start a small walk around the camp to get familiar with the place.

I am staying in the staff building where the headmaster, the handyman, and I are sleeping. Just behind our rooms stands a huge kitchen. In which i am barely allowed to go. On the right hand side of that building are the showers for boys and girls. A tap and a small pipe no hot water of course.

On the left hand side are four buildings behind one another,  the infirmary with a common room, the boys' dormitory, the girls' and the building for babies aged between 12 months and 3 years old. Further up stands another building far from everything because of the smell, the latrines.

During my exploration some kids follow me around curious, they are asking all sorts of ready made questions : 

hello, what's your name, how old are you, where you from ?...

I try at first to answer and ask back at them but they would just run away, laughing.

It took me about 30 minutes to go around the camp and I am starving.

At some point a woman comes to me. She stands with a grin on her face so I smile back at her. She starts speaking to me in Mongol pointing at me then at her wide open mouth then the road. So I understand that it must be lunch time but there is nothing but some bushes and the river down the road.

She sure understood that I missed something in her explanation so she takes my hand and leads me down to the river.

Along with us come some adults I haven't met yet and Ganaa smiling at me repeating “keep cool ! keep cool ! ” one of his hand making circles on his belly and the other pointing to his mouth. So it's definitely lunch time and I must look very worried.

Every one is smiling at me and I must say that really helps as I feel a bit lost now. So I understand that we are going to have lunch by the river. A woman who calls herself “doctor” shows me a huge pot and another open her hand bag full of veggies.

The men have spotted a nice place on the river bank. I want to be helpful so I try to understand what's going on as everyone seem to be doing something.

I am given the honor to start the fire, and I notice that an old man (Baksh) is studying my moves. I am quite happy to start it pretty fast. Some dry goat-shit is brought as well. I look surprised and they explain we are going to put some in my fire and to lit some others around us to get rid of the mosquitoes. It doesn't smell bad and it really does the trick as I have realized that once you move away from the goat-shit smoke you are instantly bitten.

The meat for the lunch is taken out of a plastic bag and you can tell that the meat is not coming from a proper butcher as the organs are still there (and thrown away). The meat is still attached to the bones. I think that was a sheep that we ate that day. We will be having for veggies some carrots, potatoes and onions.

I am asked to take some stones from the river, they must be the size of a fist.

We are using the water from the river and the stones to fill the pot. Once some steam is coming out we ad the meat and the veggies inside.

A teenager with a Mongol/English dictionary explains me that we are having a traditional mongol meal.

To fit with the tradition two bottles of Vodka are emptied while we wait...

All the water has evaporated from the pot that was covered by a cloth. 

So everybody can help himself in the pot, but first we have to take in our hands the hot stones that were inside. One each. They are obviously very hot and in order to keep it you have to pass it from one hand to another. I am told than its good for your body that it helps your energy circulate.

All that we have to eat is our hands and a knife. I feel more and more comfortable as I can see some nods of satisfactions from the men and some jokes are made about my beard.

For desert we finish another bottle of Vodka as we lay on the grass communicating with signs and funny faces.

I had a hard time going back up to my room and i haven't emptied my bag yet. I am way to drunk to start doing anything this afternoon.

I went to bed early that night.