WHS student spends summer in Mongolia

Wakefield High student Emily Sheeran learned what it really means to “get away from it all” when she spent five weeks in Outer Mongolia this summer.

Landlocked between Russia and China, the independent state of Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world, and Sheeran said her time spent living with a family of nomadic herders on the Mongolian Steppes was one of the most challenging but rewarding experiences she’s ever had.

“These people have almost none of the things that we take for granted every day,” said Sheeran. “But they welcomed me into their home and into their family with open arms.”

Sheeran was one of 15 teens from around the U.S. who travelled to Mongolia with the non-profit Experiment in International Living (EIL). Arriving in the capital Ulaanbaatar, they were introduced to the history, culture, customs and language of Mongolia, which was founded by 13th century conqueror Genghis Khan. Their orientation also included horseback riding, which is considered an essential life skill in Mongolia. “I’ve had a lot of experience riding at summer camp, but Mongolian horses are half-wild, so they’re a lot harder to control,” said Sheeran.

Even with the intensive up-front orientation, Sheeran found there was still a lot to get used to once the group split up for their individual homestays in the Delgerkhaan Valley, where EIL has built a relationship with a group of nomads who return to the same area every summer.

Her home-away-from-home in Mongolia was a one-room yurt, or ger as it’s called in Mongolia, which she shared with a family of five who move three to four times a year with their herds of sheep and goats, as well as a few dozen horses.

Made of felt around a lattice frame and less than 20 feet wide, the ger is the family’s living room, kitchen and bedroom all in one. There is no plumbing, no electricity, and no privacy. “I woke up the morning after I arrived and the whole family was sitting on the other bed watching me,” said Sheeran. It turned out they were fascinated by her contact lenses and wanted to see her put them back in.

Sheeran said all that togetherness didn’t really offset the sense of isolation. She could look across the Steppes in any direction from the ger and not see a single sign of other human life.  But even with nothing but open grasslands surrounding her, she couldn’t wander off on her own because the rolling terrain meant she could easily lose sight of the ger and there were no landmarks to help her get her bearings. If she strayed too far from the ger at night to go to the bathroom, the family’s two guard dogs wouldn’t want to let her back in.

“It was weird to feel almost claustrophobic when there was literally nothing all around me,” said Sheeran. “The first two or three days were the hardest, because I really had no one to talk to. My host family didn’t speak any English and I hardly spoke any Mongolian.” On the third day, one of EIL’s group leaders came by to check on her and she learned another teen in the group was living close enough nearby so they could visit each other now and then. “That was my saving grace,” said Sheeran.

And she was also getting to know her host family. Ariunzul, a host sister Sheeran’s age, went on walks with her and like teen girls anywhere, they did each other’s hair and makeup. Eight-year-old sister Tsondmaa and seven-year-old brother Sumya were fascinated by her digital camera. She took their photo, drew sketches for them, and played traditional Mongolian games, including one resembling jacks but played with sheep ankle bones. And some things are universal. When the radio on the family’s motorcycle (its only vehicle) played the song Gangnam Style by South Korean pop star Psy, they danced to it together.

Gender roles are well-defined among the nomads. Men do the herding while women stay close to home. Along with keeping the younger children occupied, Emily helped her host mother prepare meals and gather the animal dung used as fuel for the stove at the center of the ger. She also took turns churning milk from the horses, which must be milked every two hours in the summer. “Yes, they milk the horses,” said Sheeran, explaining that fermented mare’s milk is a favorite national drink.

Not usually much of a meat eater, Sheeran had to adapt to Mongolian food, which she describes as “all mutton, all the time.” Breakfast was usually a single piece of bread. But all other meals revolved around the meat, stewed in a big pot for all to share, or smoked over the stove and baked into dumplings. When she and her hosts helped another family dismantle their ger and move it to a new site, the neighbors arrived the next day by motorcycle with a live sheep as a thank you gift that was soon slaughtered for dinner.

Sheeran slept every night with the pieces of drying meat hanging overhead. “You get used to it when you’re there, and I was fine. But now I’m pretty much all set with mutton,” she said.

She also had to get used to having no running water. “I call it wet-wipe baths,” said Sheeran, who had been warned by EIL to bring wipes from home. After being there a week, she finally asked her host mother for some of the cooking water so she could wash her hair. But for all the lack of comforts, she grew attached to her Mongolian family. “It’s hard to know I’m probably never going to see them again,” she said.

Sheeran also got close to the other teens in the EIL group, who covered a lot of ground together exploring Mongolia at the beginning and end of their trip. In the Gobi Desert in Eastern Mongolia, they went camel trekking and visited Buddhist holy places. In Ulaanbaatar they attended the annual Naadam Festival, which features national competitions in Mongolia’s traditional sports of horsemanship, archery and wrestling.

They travelled north to Lake Khovsgol, on the border with Siberia, where they toured the lake, visited reindeer herders and climbed a volcano. Near Khovsgol, they also spent a week helping at a rural school, making repairs and teaching English.

Sheeran, who will be a sophomore this year, said she’s travelled a lot with her parents, including trips to China, India, Africa, and all over South America. But her time in Mongolia will always stand out as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, because she did it on her own, and she had the chance to get completely immersed in a culture so different from ours.

“Mongolia is a beautiful country, like no place else I’ve ever been, and it’s still unspoiled,” said Sheeran. “And I got to see a side of it not a lot of people get to see. I got to see the Mongolian people up close and personal. They have got to be some of the friendliest people in the world, but they’re some of the toughest too.”