Enough Buuz to Last a Lifetime

It is officially the New Year according to the Lunar Calendar. In Mongolia, we rang in the new year in the traditional way of eating a lot of buuz, aaruul and various mayonnaise-coated salads and washing it all down with vodka. Tsaagan Sar is a very old, traditional Mongolian holiday that can be described as a mixture of Thanksgiving and Halloween for adults.
Preparations for Tsaagan Sar generally begin at least a week before hand. I was lucky enough to be able to help Uunee and her parents make their buuz. Many Mongolian women say they don't like Tsaagan Sar because they have to pinch a billion buuz, but for someone who hasn't done this every year my entire life, it was pretty exciting. It began with Uunee's mom elbow-deep in a giant bowl full of ground mutton, spices and salt. While she mixed the filling, Uunee and I began rolling out the 3-inch circles of dough. Making buuz assembly-line style for Tsaagan Sar was really fun, and after pinching about 5 buuz I had it down and even made some that could have been mistaken as Mongolian-made. I had planned to count how many buuz I pinched, but had to concentrate so hard on the first few I quickly gave that up. I'm sure it was a couple hundred though, I was at it for over two hours.
Tsaagan Sar eve was February 7th, a day spent cleaning house and spending time with immediate family, eating lots of food. This day is called "Bituun," which means to fill yourself up or become full. I spent the day cleaning my apartment and desperately trying to finish learning a Mongolian song (I have discovered that my problem is I absolutely cannot carry a tune). The first day of Tsaagan Sar I was invited to spend with Uunee's family. So about 10 am I put on my winter del and headed up the mountain to Uunee's house. We began the day in the grandparent's ger, which is inside Uunee's parents' hashaa. Upon entering a house for a Tsaagan Sar visit, you seek out the oldest man and greet him by putting your arms under his while he kisses or sniffs your cheeks. Usually you present him with a small gift or a small amount of money. Then you proceed to the oldest woman etc. People who are younger than you put their arms under yours and you sniff or kiss their cheeks. The Tsaagan Sar greeting immediately made me feel welcomed, people I had never met before sniffed or kissed my cheeks and asked "how are you, are you having a good new year?" Following this greeting the men and older women pull out their snuff bottles and offer them to everyone who has been greeted. After all these greetings and well-wishing the aaruul, milk vodka, aireg and vodka begin to be passed around, followed by buuz. As new people came into the ger everyone would shuffle around, and the new older people would greet Uunee's grandparents, and then sit down and everyone else would line up to greet them. I stayed with Uunee's family for about four hours, drinking, eating and looking at family pictures.
The second day of Tsaagan Sar I visited my friend Amu, who I met last September in the market. She goes to school in Erdenet, but was home visiting for Tsaagan Sar. While I was visiting her a couple of her friends came over, and then another of her friends came and picked us up and was going to take me home. We drove around for awhile picking up other people, and they were trying to decide what to do (everything was closed for Tsaagan Sar), so I invited them to come to my apartment. They all came over and bought a ridiculous amount of beer, vodka and food. We played Mongolian cards and hung out until eventually everyone fell asleep on my floor. The next morning I went to visit Dashka, my supervisor. Tsaagan Sar is like a drinking marathon, and I am continually amazed by the acceptableness of pressuring people into drinking in this country. Not to say I don't participate whole-heartedly in said pressuring.
After a final, relatively calm, day of Tsaagan Sar, my stomach finally gave out and I got violently ill for a day. But now I am recovered, and have survived my first bout of serious gastro-intestinal distress in Mongolia (I'm amazed I was able to put it off as long as I had). Though Tsaagan Sar is officially over, it is still common to see people giving each other the traditional greeting in the street, and people still come into our office to greet everyone they haven't seen yet in the new year.

Back at work after the holiday, there are some big changes. My counterpart, Uunee has been promoted to the UB Mercy Corps office. This is a great move for her, but sad for me. I am also getting a new translator, and will be interviewing people tomorrow. I have high hopes that after I get back from my upcoming trip to Selenge and the Peace Corps training I will be able to do more things and interact with clients.