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Friday, February 23, 2007

Dickinson, ND: International Melting Pot

We celebrated the very American holiday of Washington's Birthday this past Monday by attending an international food buffet, served as a fundraiser by a student club at the university where I work. To be fair, American fare was included: chili dogs. However, most of the food was prepared and served by students and faculty from some of the many countries represented on our campus. (Although most readers will think I'm being sarcastic here about ND's isolation from the world and its lack of cultural diversity, I am being completely serious. Although American students are the majority of our enrollment, international students outnumber American students in campus housing by a sizable margin and are a significant presence at our university.)

There were dishes from China, Mongolia, Russia, Germany, and France. We also have a number of students from Mexico, Canada, Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Africa (ah, that great country of Africa!) (this time, I'm being sarcastic), among others, but I don't recall any cuisine served from those places. The girls took some of everything and seemed to enjoy most of it. The German sausage and sauerkraut had apples in it, which was a delicious touch. One Mongolian dish was extraordinarily similar to potato salad, just with ham, peas, and a few other colorful ingredients added. There were pork shishkabobs from Russia spiced with pepper corns and cloves and a spicy pepper dish from China served over white rice. We enjoyed the French crepes spread with Nutella. One Chinese faculty member was on hand to write out Chinese characters in calligraphy on rice paper, and the girls each got one. (We don't know what they say, so I have to bring them to class and ask one of my Chinese students to translate them for me.)

As if that weren't culturally enlightening enough (yes, to me food = culture), this afternoon our family attended a Mongolian lunar new year celebration in the Student Center on our campus. The Mongolian student club organized several tables of displays on Mongolian sports, history, fashion, souvenirs, culture, lifestyle, tourism, and food. They had PowerPoint presentations and slideshows and actual physical items: traditional clothing, trinkets and games, a large model of a ger (yurt) that several students had built themselves, currency, flags, stationery on which some students were writing each visitor's name in traditional Uighur script (the girls each got their names written out--it's unintelligible to us, but quite beautiful), etc.

The food was good: the Mongolian potato salad; buuz, a meat-stuffed steamed dumpling reminiscent of a Chinese potsticker; khuushuur, a deep-fried meat-stuffed dough pocket; and a white rice dish with raisins in it. There was also entertainment. Occasionally people would take to the stage, and we heard two men sing a duet, some people sing with a band, a student narrate a slideshow projected overhead, and all the Mongolians there gather to sing the national anthem. (To view/hear a modernized version that emphasizes the diversity and patriotism of Mongolia, watch this.)

Many of my past and current students and other Mongolian friends I've met on campus were on hand to explain a display, to walk around in traditional Mongolian dress, to sing, to serve food, etc. Here are some of the names I've learned to pronounce: Enkchimeg, Tsogt, Amarsanaa, Uugantsetseg, Tuul, Undraa, Suvd-Erdene, Suvdaa, Nomindari, Enkhurnukh, Battushig, Sabit, Amarbayar, and Tulga. In fact, Amarbayar and Tulga work for a Mongolian tourist company and invited us to join them in July when they lead a group from this area on a week-long tour of their country. They provided us with several Web sites that will give you, too, a taste of their country:

I've never had a hankerin' to travel to Asia, but now that I know people from China, Russia, and Mongolia--people who could guide us, translate for us, explain for us, and take the fear out of venturing into the unknown--I'm actually interested in the opportunity to go there. Who would have guessed that we would become so multicultural only after moving to southwestern ND?!

the Mongolian flag

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