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Here is a website that has instructions on building a Mongolian Yurt……don’t they know it isn’t called a Yurt? It is a Ger!
gaileee
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-yourself-a-portable-home—a-mongolian-yurt/
Wow, it seems like yesterday that two years ago Amber Sue went off to the United States Peace Corps. Mine you, I’ve seen her when I went to visit, and we had her come home for Christmas/New Years this past season. She’ll come home briefly also to do some KIVA training, go to a wedding, and visit relatives (stock up on peanut butter too) and friends, before she heads off for her third year in PC!
She is a PCVL and a KIVA person for the next year. Who knows what that will take her into next……..
Amber wishes everyone a happy Tsaagan Sar, or Lunar New Year.
This past week Amber attended an awards ceremony hosted by the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce titled “Silk Road Awards.” The awards are focused at foreign projects, programs, NGOs, and individuals working in Mongolian business development. There were mostly awards for organizations, like the Asian Development Bank, Mercy Corps, the United Nations Development Program, the German Embassy, the largest mining company in Mongolia – Oyu Tolgoi.
Amber was one of the couple of individuals who received an award. She was awarded the “Partner of the Year for Rural Economic Development.”
The Peace Corps business program nominated Amber about two weeks ago – and Amber found out on Tuesday afternoon that she got the award. Amber quickly traveled into Ulaanbaatar to attend the awards ceremony on Wednesday night. She wore her traditional Mongolian clothing, which the city Mongolians really liked.
Isn’t her Mongolian clothing lovely? She is pictured here with her Business Country Director Bagi (who loves to fish!).
Maybe this is old news to y’all, but this was featured in the Sunday Paper insert the Parade Magazine. Enjoy!
A Bigger, Better Peace Corps
Aaron Williams is the new director of the Peace Corps, a U.S. government agency that places volunteers around the world. President Obama has said the Peace Corps should double in size.
Who can join the Peace Corps?
There’s no age limit to serve—14% of volunteers are older than 30, and 6% are married. We have an increasing number of retirees. There’s an 85-year-old serving in Morocco. Like college, the application process is competitive: About one-third of those who apply are accepted. Applications have been increasing over the last five years, and they’ve spiked dramatically in the last year. I think that Americans are more engaged in the world today, and we’re able to capitalize on that.
Still, with 7500 volunteers now serving, the Peace Corps is roughly half the size it was in 1966. Why?
Funding has gone up and down. But wehave bipartisan support in Congress, plus the administration’s commitment to expand. We plan to add a couple thousand volunteers over the next two years.
What do volunteers do? How would you like to see their roles change?
Volunteers serve 27 months, including three months of training. They might teach English or help a micro-enterprise secure credit to grow. They could work on environmental projects or health programs to combat HIV/AIDS or malaria. Since many volunteers are tech-savvy, I want to use their expertise. For example, in Nicaragua a man with a background in mechanical engineering is developing a stove that people can use to cook with compost instead of wood. I want to put his blueprints and techniques online so that volunteers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America can see what he’s doing.
— Brooke Lea Foster
Because they are nomadic and move three to four times a year, Mongolian herders have developed a remarkable wood and wool house that can be taken apart in just a few hours and can be easily transported on a pack animal.
This called a ger (or “Yurt”), and it is remarkably cool in the summer, warm in winter, windproof and usually beautifully decorated, even though it is made from just a few basic elements.
Those who come from a world of high rise skyscrapers are often amazed that such tradition continues. Yet the Mongolian nomad – and many city dwellers too – would have it no other way. Many herders refuse to take up a permanent location, feeling that it would be scarilegious to be tied to one plot of land.
The ger evolved centuries ago for the nomads who were constantly moving in search of new pastures.
Here are some photos of the gers that Amber and I encountered during my Mongolian Adventure!
First night during our Gobi Trip. Stayed at a nomad's second Ger house.
Rocks and various other items to help hold down the ger during windy times.
Amber to the left of the hearth inside the ger. In the back of the photo is the case covering of a hand crank sewing machine. No electricity. We slept on the floor in our sleeping bags the first night.
So that was my first night in a ger. Had to find my own restroom. There was a holding pen for the baby animals, quite a ways from the gers, so I’d trot on down past the holding pen for my WC needs. Being on America time, I awoke at 2 a.m. and went out and gazed at the clear sky and all the stars. It was amazing. I’d wake up each morning as the morning light would start to come in (seemed like 4 am every day!).
Wow a month ago in Mongolia, I awoke at 5 am in the morning, at the Ger Camp, just outside where the dinosaurs were found, back in the early 1900’s. 
It was very windy, the night before and windy early in the morning. The WC that we had access to, was a low shelter on 3 sides, with two boards on either side of the hole in the ground. If you didn’t watch it, you’d be blown over to the side, it was that windy. So this was a low, low squat, in order to stay put!
We went on top of this mountainous area, the “Flaming Cliffs”. Reminded me of Ship Rock in New Mexico, because of the color, and because of the rock structure that was left, after erosin (see that Geology class in college came in handy). Reminded me of Oklahoma also because of the red soil color.
Amber and I bought some geodes rocks with some lovely crystals inside. I bought Amber a rose rock, and then a larger geode looking rock. Kinda cool looking.
Prior to getting to the Yolin Am Glacier area, we stopped along a high area. Everyone was able to get cell phone reception. I went outside to find a WC spot (had to make my own….getting very used to this), and I made my own oovm rock site. Pictured here is the Russian Jeep with everyone in it talking, and me enjoying the fierce winds. You could lean into them and still be upright.
My little rock pile. Mogi said, she’d add to it with every tourist trip that the brought by, as this was a popular cell phone stop!
We ate at a nomad’s home. She was 60 years old. Knitted gloves, hatwear, sewed dells…basically during the winter in town made all the things that went into her Tourist Ger right outside the Yolyn Am Glacier Park (in the Gobi Desert, no less). We ate homemade noodles – watched her make them, with mutton, carrots, potatoes, and onions. Very yummy. Drank Milk Tea, yoghurt and a sip of homemade vodka. Interesting enough, I didn’t get sick on any of the traditional Mongolia dishes.
We went onto the Yolyn Am Glacier, traveled out through the narrow mountains, through the Golden Eagle pass, stayed in a small soum (city) that night
gaileee
Gail's Traveling Adventure to Mongolia 