Nadaam Celebrations

Nadaam is the national celebration of Mongolia. Normally the Mongolians celebrate three days in a row, this year from Wednesday to Friday. On site people had to work during those three days, but there were a lot of activities in the evenings. It started on Tuesday evening with the awards for the sports contests that happend in the last days. Me and my Mongolian football teams were not under the best three teams. We had the two best teams in our group and missed the qualification. Anyway the football turnament was something of the most exciting things I did here. The pit is great, made on artifical turf and we played with two lines men and a refree. The Mongolian took it really serious and there were about 200 spectators on the games. On the same evening they awarded the winner of the "OT got talent" contest. The winner was a guy telling poetry about Mongolia. After that the hangar turned in to a disco, which is pretty funny in the desert on Tuesday night.

Body Builders at OT got talent

We had to work every day as usual, but in the evenings we could take part of the celebrations. On Wednesday they arranged a concert. It was also very nice, they played a lot of famous rock songs and a lot of Mongolian Music from Girl Groups to HipHop.

Saturday

Thursday and Friday were a little bit more quite, because everyone was waiting for Saturday: The Nadaam Celebration in the "big Ger". More or less everyone on site had the day off and went out to the desert, where the traditional Nadaam Celebration took place. The Mongolian celebrate their Nation with their typical sports: Horse riding, Archery, ankle bones shooting and Wrestling. There was no horse riding in the desert, but all other sports took place. Archery is classical game of hiting the target with the Arrow. Ankle bones shooting is also a game where you have to hit a target. The players try to hit other ankle bones in a distance of maybe 5m by just flip the bones with their fingers. Wrestling is same than we know it in Europe with the difference that they have some traditions to fulfill. After each fight they behave like a bird, run to the Mongolian flag, and beating their legs.



Wrestling



Expats at Archery



Native Archers



The Master teaching how to shoot



Ankle Bone shooting



The celebration ended on Saturday night with a big party, concerts and a firework. The whole team was there and we had a lot of fun.

  




Let's get the party started

 






Myriam my Manager, and Garry my Ger-mate

 


First entry on site

The right to blog
After a long break I write my first post on site. I still have no confirmation to blog, but as I am not publishing confidential material it shouldn't be a problem. To be honest, it was not only that I was not allowed to blog. I didn't find time to write, because life here on site is that amazing that you won't miss the time with friends. The usual working hours start at 6am and end at 6pm. We often spend in the evening a little bit more time in the office, but we are also not every day at 6am at our desk. Time goes by very fast. I cannot imagin what you could achieve in an 8 hours working day. Normally, you check the watch and you always realize that it's already late. Anyway I will try to update my blog, as there are a lot of impressions to share and for me one thing is already a fact: It was one of my best decisions ever to come to Minegolia.

Living in a Ger

When I tell people that we are living in tents they are mostly very surprised. Indeed it sounds special, but those gers are better equipped than some of the hotels I was in so far. They all have A/C, a fridge, a big bed, shovers, underground heating (which is very important in winter when it gets -40°), a TV with some of the best international channels and internet access and a striptease pole :-). I really appreciate to live in a ger and so far I was always lucky to be assigned to one. There are also other accomodations, but they are a little bit far from the office and the mess.



Typical Mongolian Gers

 

 gers under the rainbow

Inside a ger

Light Vehicles (LV)

There are strong regulations in terms of vehicles on site to keep the safety standards. Every vehicle has a unique number. Most of the Expats here have their own pickups (picture below), but we are dependent on the transport service here. It's a shared service and you can call the transport agency and they come and pick you up where ever you are.

light vehicles

Heavy Mobile Equipment

The real Mining Vehicles are called Heavy Mobile Equipment (HME). It's amazing to see those huge vehicles work. It's definitely a dimension you never see in Switzerland. I have attached some picture to show the relationship.



 Eegi in front of a WA1200 Wheel Loader



 Me sitting in the Dipper of the Electric Shovel

Gary in front of a Haul Truck