MWW 45: Өвөл

Cyrillic	өвөл
Transcription	övöl
IPA	[ˈөwəɬ]
Layman’s Pronunciation	OH-wool (or, like oval with a ‘w’ instead of a ‘v’)
Meaning	winter
In Genghis Khan’s time it was ebül.

Like I mentioned in my first post, I’m running late, because winter is now ending, although I began typing this when it was still beginning. But I can’t use spring again, because I did that last year.

Mongolia is famous for its winter. Mongolia is the coldest country that Peace Corps sends volunteers, and the rumor is that volunteers in tropical countries drink “to the poor guys in Mongolia.” Ulaanbaatar and the Kazakh capital Astana compete with each other for the title of the world’s coldest capital. Parts of Siberia, Greenland, and Antarctica get colder, but they don’t have their own capitals. It’s not just latitude that makes things cold. Northen Europe gets the gulf stream. Also bodies of water moderate temperatures while dry land makes them more extreme. Mongolia is in the middle of the biggest solid landmass in the world. Furthermore, it has a comparatively high elevation. After adapting to the air at 5000m, another volunteer explained his experience of returning to sea level as feeling like he was on speed. (Which makes me ponder, “How much wood could a Mongolian woodchuck chuck if the woodchuck could chuck wood in Hawaii?”)

This means that more than half the months of the year - all of winter, and most of spring and autumn - have an average temperature below freezing. The ambient temperature drops below that point in October and doesn’t rise above it until March. Autumn and spring are the big times for snow. Snow rarely falls during winter, because it’s too cold for water to evaporate to form precipitation. Nevertheless, winter is full of snow, because the snow that falls in the autumn may not melt for 3-5 months. Despite predictions to the contrary, this winter was mild. Snow didn’t fall until October and it didn’t become permanent until November 1, and it already began to melt by the end of February. My first year it snowed on September 12 and became permanent by late October and didn’t melt until mid-March - about 3 weeks more on each side. Even that year was considered a good year though. In previous years I’ve heard of permanent snow on September 1. About 3 years ago, I heard, the thermometer read -60 C late one evening in Kharhorin.

Winter has its advantages. It’s cleaner than summer. Diseases that spread easily in warm temperatures disappear once it starts snowing. Flies, and most other insects, disappear completely for half the year. Nothing smells bad. Regular bathing becomes unnecessary (and uncomfortable) because you don’t sweat a drop for days and days. You can keep huge quantities of food frozen for months and months for free without electricity just by leaving it outside in a shed. You can also refrigerate stuff just by leaving it on your floor. All this winter, I never saw mold on anything. I’ve had milk sit in my ger for 2 weeks without spoiling. Alcohol can be safely and easily distilled by leaving it outside to partially freeze. Baking, which would make you swelter during the summer, can be comfortably accomplished in winter in the normal course of heating your home by putting the food on top of your wood stove. You can always add more coats and blankets, whereas when you’re too hot, there’s a limit to how much you can take off, even if you disregard modesty. For travellers, you can lodge in nearly empty guesthouses for lower prices than summer, because almost everybody visits during the summer. There are also the aesthetic pleasures of snow and wood fires.