Don't drive here

So after an adventurous drive up to Madison, I successfully presented the first section of my dissertation to the academic community. There were lots of good questions and discussions, and I'm very excited to dig deeper into my data knowing that there are people out there interested in reading more.


In keeping with the driving idea and my tendency to post videos/media about Mongolia, enjoy this episode of "Don't Drive Here", a reality show that looks at the roads (or lack thereof). Don't listen to his pronunciations of Mongolian words, but it is interesting (and scary)




Yeah, I would never drive there.

Things keep happening in the big wide world

Hello!

I was graciously reminded this morning that I (and this blog) have more stories to tell...if I ever updated it.
I'm beginning the dissertation writing phase, which so far means largely talking about my chapter ideas to other people in the goal of getting excited enough to start putting down words. I've gotten some good feedback on some of my framing, and I've managed to make a few people excited enough about my Mongolia as indigenous research and paper idea that hopefully they will hold me accountable to actually publish it.

But that's not nearly as fun as showing you another video insight into the weird, wonderful world of Mongolia. For my new graduate assistantship, I'm developing and teaching presentations on topics in Inner Asia. My co-worker and I have decided to combine her time in Kyrgyzstan and my time in Mongolia with the recent, local pushback in both countries against exploitation by international mining companies. So far it's been fascinating and depressing compiling sources and video clips, but I did stumble across this gem of a "safety training" video.

Oyu Tolgoi, the largest mining project in Mongolia and currently a source of great controversy, is owned in large part by the Australian-based mining company Rio Tinto. They've spent a lot of time and money on marketing themselves to the younger generations, which seems to have included making a "safety training" video in a pop music style. Furthermore, when they recite the 8 or so safety guidelines, such as the classic "make sure you have all your permits before going into restricted areas", they have the famous Mongolian rapper Quiza featured.



I especially enjoy the chorus with the loud "Hamtdaa!" (Together!). Enjoy the specialness (and the English subtitles) everybody

bright yet hazy

sitting in the seoul airport by the gate for the plane that will return me to the u.s., i look from side to side out the glass walls at the airplanes and it feels almost like we are all in a cloud...the heat and humidity combine with incheon's low hills to make the airport surrounded in a too-bright haze.

in some ways, my last few days in mongolia have felt like that...mostly pleasant, a little stressful, but somehow detached and obscured from "normal" life. i have sort of maybe meant to write, and there are still topics and experiences i wanted/want to share...but a new chapter begins today.

we'll see where it goes.

this time

This time next week, I will be on Korean Air making my way to the U.S. via the grand ole metropolis of Detroit

This time last week, I was home from set-up for Culture Naadam and not looking forward to waking up in only 4 hours...but hopeful that my visitor survey would go well and it'd get to see at least one horse race (mission accomplished)

This time twelve hours ago, I was conducting my final research interview and having a fascinating conversation about how to preserve and promote cultural diversity when it's ever-evolving and belongs first and foremost to its community.

This time in twelve hours, I will be in the office for my second-to-last day of work with my NGO, probably already thinking ahead to lunch at the French bakery.

This time (around my departure) two years ago, I was looking forward to a farewell dinner at veranda with a close friend

This time (around my departure) seven years ago, I had a farewell dinner at veranda with my field studies groupmates and a few friends, and our eyes and stomachs exceeded our remaining tugruks

This time (around my departure), I am looking forward to a farewell lunch with my friends and co-workers from the Arts Council of Mongolia, and I definitely still have enough tugruks (even if I had to pay for my own meal).

In this time and place, a lemon poppyseed cake is cooling as I relax on my gold-thread couch, illuminated by my laptop screen and an orange and purple chandelier. I have just discovered that I did not entirely escape getting sunburned during Naadam, but I have also decided that having the tips of your ears peel really isn't that painful and is kind of funny (tmi? sorry).

In this time and place, I am grateful for so many of the good times I have had, the memories I have made with the people I have met, and the lessons I have learned. It is time for this chapter to end, but not just yet :)

A story lies behind every picture

So most of this blog's readership also knows me in real-life and are my facebook friends, so I know a lot of pictures appear in both places. It is, however, easier in blog form to give a little more context about the story behind certain pictures.

Three examples,

On the second day of Naadam and of our Cultural Festival, my co-worker pulls me over to the calligraphy tent and asks if I want my name written. Since the only money I had on me was small change to pay the restroom fees, I started to explain that I couldn't afford it. "No, no", she insists "For you there isn't a charge. Let's do it now before it gets busy, we'll get your handprint and I'll have him write whatever you want". I had the option to go big (two handprints!) or more modest, and I chose the one that will frame more nicely. She helped me get a good handprint and then had him write my name and "Culture Naadam 2013" for me. The stroke he is making the picture is the "Sa" of my name.
As she waves it dry, she tells me with a good frame it will look very nice in my house and she hopes that when I see it I will remember her. We haven't always had the best working relationship, so it meant a lot to me that she recognized that this particular sort of gift would mean the most to me and that she hunted me down before things too busy and it was still possible. A very nice memory and a beautiful gift.


Somewhat similarly, this next picture also shows me with a thoughtful present and special person.

I spent a lot of time in the felt art tent during the two days of Culture Naadam since one of my closest co-workers was stationed there and because to me it was the most interesting. During lulls in visitors and while I was taking a break from the heat and from asking for survey responses, Bayanduuran would always smile and show me what she was working on, occasionally let me try for myself. I am not a talented felt-artist at all, but I came to recognize the different steps of the process and really appreciate them. One particular slow time she offered me a seat and we talked in Mongolia about our graduate studies and how her PhD process is still stuck in the writing stages. We commiserated over the pressure to constantly be publishing articles and talked about the importance to doing what you enjoy in life. It was a really nice moment that was only possible because of the time I had invested in studying her language, and it was a real pleasure to get to know her a person and just not as an friendly artist. The second day I was starting to run out of surveys and the sun was even brighter and hotter, so I just rested in the tent and started to strike up conversations with some of the international visitors to help them understand the process they were seeing. It then become almost an expectation, she would gesture to me to give my short explanation or offer me water if a big group had just come through. I didn't mind and was a little pleased about being "adopted" as a helpful part of the felt art tent. At the end of the festival she presented me with this bracelet as gift, for being so hardworking and such a nice student. It was really a pleasure getting to know her and to learn from her, and I have another nice memory to take home.



Besides "working" the festival, I was able to just enjoy the cultural performances. There were a lot of neat elements, but one of the cutest was a group of child singers. I later learned that they are a professional band in their own right, and they are all beautiful singers and were very sweet.

Here's my picture from their performance:

And here is the song they were singing



The refrain "minii Mongol" describes how "my Mongolia" is the most beautiful place in the world. Out in countryside, with the big blue sky (munkh tenger) overheard, full of clouds, on a sunny Naadam day, it certainly feels so.

Culture Naadam

It's that crazy time of summer in Mongolia- Naadam time! Naadam is the national festival that celebrates Mongolia's three manly sports: wrestling, horse racing, and archery.
In 2007 I went to the opening ceremony and got to see the national wrestling competition in person, which was cool but chaotic and long (people compete all over countryside before national Naadam to decide their rankings, and then once the national competition starts they all wrestle...at once.)
In 2011 I was content to watch wrestling on TV and avoid the crowds.

And now in 2013, thanks to my Arts Council connections, I will be helping out with Culture Naadam




Located out by the horse races, Culture Naadam is a big circle complex with tent stations showcasing Mongolian traditional dress, calligraphy, felt-making, archery, etc. plus cultural performances throughout the day, face-painting, and giant models of traditional Mongolian symbols (like decorated saddles, boots, etc.)

It's going to be a couple of long, exhausting days (on thursday we leave at 5 am to head out to the site!), but it should be an interesting experience. And who knows, I might even get some more good research data.

Saikhan naadaarai!

The floor is lava

It has been a rather rainy summer here in UB. Normally I don't mind the rain and even prefer it to cloudless, blazing days. However, when Ulaanbaatar was built they did not see the need for drainage ditches. So when it rains (especially if it rains on and off all day), huge puddles form with nowhere to go but up (a.k.a evaporate...eventually). Suddenly the uneven quirks of UB's pavement become a godsend...provided there are enough high areas spaced often enough to jump to. Especially in summer no one wants to wear rain boots, so it becomes a bizarre ballet of leaping and last-minute detours, trying to navigate the safest, driest path.

A few times I have wanted to tell my co-workers about the children's game "the floor is lava", but I have no idea what the word for lava or volcano is...i guess i could say fire from the fire mountain? Maybe next time it rains, which will probably be all too soon, I'll try that out.

For now, I'm glad to be inside and have dry feet.

Happy Belated 4th!

While the American expat community in Mongolia is fairly sizeable, it's not very organized. Nevertheless, I participated in two Fourth of July events this summer.

On the 4th itself, I had a group of friends over for burritos (beans, yellow rice, tomatoes with chiles, bell peppers) and apple crisp (easier than apple pie, goes nicely with some russian ice cream). It was a fun time, interesting mix of conversations as always...and again, just like the dinner party I held for my co-workers, I meant to take a picture but forgot.


On the 5th, the Fulbright community had organized a fundraiser for disabled people and a short concert (including a medley of Michael Jackson hits, performed by members of the state philharmonic). I hadn't actually planned on attending so was underdressed a bit in jeans and sneakers, but I got to meet up with a few people, including some I hadn't seen in about 6 years. The person I was most excited to spend time with though was Ganaa, the 2007-2008 FLTA to Pittsburgh who so graciously translated all of my initial museum work.

Here's a group shot of Hongorzul (honorary advisor to the Pitt clan), Allison (my field leader back in the day), Ganaa, me, and another FLTA who came after I had graduated. Wonderful people all.

Tomorrow I have lunch with Hongorzul and Allison and then dinner with my museum friends. Should be quite the busy day!!

I've trial packed a few things and got my exit stamp on passport, the next two weeks will go by in a blur I know. Will try to keep updating til the end.

inner angst machine

this blog hasn't been particularly research-focused for three reasons, 1) research is still on-going and fluid, 2) it's probably not super interesting to be super technical with you all, 3) i'm already thinking and worrying about stuff enough.

but for a brief glimpse into the mind of the researcher/inner sixteen year old girl, two poems:

if i had but known...
20 pages, back and front
black and white
checked and unchecked
it would have been so easy
for so many hours
if i had dared
had pushed
if she had remembered
ah, but for a printer
a copier
a paper
a response
human errors, narrow opportunities




raindrops chase each other across the window
fields unfurl before us- green to gold and brown
for a moment it is tempting
to compare with drives in the midwest
the similar scene of many childhood trips
watching water chase and envelope itself
but then we reach a village and all is strange again
the songs
the petrol stations
red, green, pink roofs
gers, stove pipes, fences, herds
хөтөл
(passage)




3 weeks exactly left! Tomorrow I shall attempt to get my exit stamp, and on Sunday I'm going borrow a friend's vacuum to trial pack most of my clothes and winter coat. I'll try to take some full-on winter gear shots before it goes into the duffel bag.
Until next time, an early Happy 4th of July!

Musings on the Election

Yesterday was the Presidential Election in Mongolia. President is, naturally, a big deal, though not quite as big as in the United States because Mongolia also has a Prime Minister. Mongolia also has eight active political parties, and there were three main candidates in this election: the incumbent (Democratic Party), the main challenger (a former wrestler, forget his party), and the female candidate from the Mongolian People's Party (which was the socialist party and hence the leading party during the socialist period).

The campaign season here lasts only a month, and the posters and rallies were relatively subdued and civil (again compared to the U.S.) Here's a look at Monday's (and the only) presidential debate, where you can see all three candidates. The current President Elbegdorj shows up about 3 minutes.



I thought the timing system was interesting (no rebuttals, not that any of the candidates really directly talked about their opponents), and there was also a sign language interpreter. I still haven't found anyone who knows whether Mongolian sign language is a domestic language or if it's an adaptation of Russian sign language or what, and I haven't managed to ask the only deaf Mongolian person I know (he's an artist that comes into the office infrequently and always asks to borrow my pen).

Anyways, another interesting feature of the Mongolian election system is if no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, they hold a run-off election a week later. Though there aren't really any systematic polls run by the government, anecdotally most people felt that Elbegdorj would be re-elected but that a run-off might be necessary. Bat-Erdene, the former wrestler and current Member of Parliament, was seen as the second strongest contender. Udval, the female MPP candidate, was considered too closely linked to former President Enkhbayar, who is still in prison on charges of corruption. Some people felt Udval's candidacy was attempting to follow South Korea's example of electing a female president, and her campaign used a lot of "mother" imagery which was interesting. In the end though, Elbegdorj was elected for his second (and final) four-year term. The democratic party also has the majority in parliament currently, so hopefully the next years will be very productive. We shall see...

Things that make me smile

I have two favorite security guards in my office building, and I particularly love the way one of them draws out the word goodbye "bayaaaaar-taiiiii". we're pretty tight, me and him, talking about the weather sometimes, how many people are still working in the office, etc.

this totoro picture on seoul street. on days when it rains, the rain run-off pours down the drainage spout directly over him, and it looks like totoro is using his umbrella. it melts my heart, just a bit.

the penguin statues by the weather center building that i pass whenever i walk over by the national museum.

opening my second-to-last jar of four cheese pasta sauce. tonight, i shall feast!

and speaking of feasting, this friday i will host a dinner for my co-workers. i have the menu all planned, the meat purchased and cut (many thanks to my friend), and my coworker will come over a little early with wine glasses and serving spoons to help :)

other things i love...my leather belt, that i have yet to take a picture of (will work on that)

the T. bataar museum, and it's fantastic(ly unfinished) website


and of course, my friends. new and old, near and far, pictured and not pictured, i am thankful for them.

today marks one month exactly until i return to the u.s. i can't believe how much has happened in the past nine, and i know this last month will be a blur of ACM happenings as I finish out my research work, as well as seeing a whirlwind of people and the accompanying eating and laughing and living. I'm not sure what all will happen, but I trust that the day knows :)

Easy Listening

My friend and I recently went to the music store to pick up a mix of folk and contemporary music. I was particularly excited to score the latest album by my favorite Mongolian band, A Sound.
So far, this is my favorite song of the new album: Lullaby



I also scored a copy of "A Tribute to the Beatles", a cover album where different artists translated famous Beatles songs into Mongolian. Here's A Sound's cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"



The Beatles are very popular in Mongolia, there's the famous Beatles statue just south of the State Department Store (that I've somehow neglected to get a picture of? will do soon) and I've even come across a "Beatles Club" NGO in my research.


Jazz is also very popular in modern Mongolian music, and I saw two different compilation albums from various artists. Besides Arga Bileg, the ethnojazz band that *fingers crossed* while be playing in Bloomington this September, I also really like the piano duo Kush & Oyuka.




And for your last sampling of Mongolian contemporary pop/rock, I recently discovered the band "Shar Airag" (which translates to "beer"), and their new single "Shine ogloo" ("new morning") reminds me a little of a Mongolian Jason Mraz, an interesting dynamic.

Ballet in Mongolia

Last week was the culminating of several months of discussion and planning- the Stars of American Ballet two night performance in Ulaanbaatar. It was a beautiful, frantic, awkward, awesome experience (beautiful= seeing the final ballet itself performed by top performers of the New York City Ballet, frantic- ever-changing timetables and cutting all the gels for the lights, awkward- my uncomfortable tulle skirt and trying to interact with professional ballet dancers, awesome= getting a behind the scenes look at putting together a ballet performance), but ballet has a very long history in Mongolia.

Here's an excellent summary of ballet's significance in Mongolia, put together by a journalist I know for Eurasianet



This year the State Opera and Ballet Theatre celebrated its 50th anniversary, so it's been a good year in Mongolia for ballet.

And finally, a group shot of the ACM ladies.

Scale and Scope

This past weekend I took the train down to Sainshand to visit Khamriin Hiid, a spiritual landscape centered around the figure of Danzanravjaa (the Lama of the Gobi). My friends and I came prepared with rice, juniper, incense sticks, hadags (prayer cloths), milk, and vodka to make offerings at the various sites and to ask for blessings for ourselves and our loved ones. I had visited the area in 2007 and seen the Danzanravjaa Museum, but it was a real pleasure to experience the train again (very comfortable sleeping, rocked to sleep by the clack of the wheels on the tracks) and to get to know the landscape and the traditions better.

While telling my family about it, I realized it's very difficult to talk about the scope of the landscape in Mongolia and travelling. A lot of sightseeing in Mongolia isn't looking at "sites", it's just experiencing nature- land under the big blue sky. And because it's such a geographically large country, there's a lot to experience.

I made a map of the locations (outside of UB) that I've visited this spring- Terelj National Park (and the nearby Chinggis Khan Statue Complex/Tsonjin Boldog and the 13th Century Camp), Amarbayasgalant Monastery in Selenge Province, and Sainshand and Khamriin Hiid in Dornogovi Province.

(modified from this map: http://www.vidiani.com/maps/maps_of_asia/maps_of_mongolia/large_detailed_administrative_map_of_mongolia.jpg)


Heading south or north from UB is certainly a sizeable trip, but to head east or west is even longer- one reason why I've only been as far as Kharkhorum and that was only once. Overall I'm pleased with the amount (and expense) of travel I've taken here, and who knows- I'm still here for five more weeks and another opportunity might turn up. But for now, I'm glad to be back at my apartment in UB.

trauma goldfish

with the advent of summer, more and more people I know have been arriving to Mongolia and more and more activities are happening at work. this all combines to mean that it can be impossible to plan ahead more than 12 hours, at least with any certainty you'll be able to keep plans as promised.

pre-mongolia teresa would find this incredibly stressful. if i would plan something in the evening back in the u.s. i would want at least a day's notice to shift around my meal plans, clothing selection, and work load. here, it's just part of life. i would like to think i'm becoming more easy-going, more zen...i somehow doubt that that is true though.

there's been a lot of really wonderful events recently and i've done a poor job of writing them up for the blog. here's just a few:


Two weeks ago I connected up again with the University of Culture and Arts, my official sponsor, to discuss how my research has gone and to work on my exit letter. In some ways it feels like 9 months has gone very fast, and it felt great to look at my "final" reports and see how much data I have collected. I also got to go to a concert by famous Inner Mongolian singer Urna



Last week I said goodbye to most of my Fulbright group, said hello to new and old friends from Indiana University, saw Star Trek Into Darkness (fantastic), and did several staff interviews.

Friday and Saturday, however, probably deserve posts all of their own.

Friday in short form: a successful trip to the black market, a delicious lunch of Indian food at Hazara (curried eggplant and garlic naan is my new favorite there), and a lazy afternoon with friends back at my apartment eating cherry crisp and looking at maps. I'm too lazy to take and upload pictures now, but I am greatly pleased with the embossed leather belt and blue and silver jacket I bought.


Saturday was my first and probably only trip to Amarbayasgalant, and it was a crazy, hectic, awesome, successful day. When I got in the delica van that morning, I had no idea that I'd be doing my community survey that day and have only four hours to accomplish it. With only one initial form and no presents, not even the clipboard I brought back specially from the U.S. for this, I still got the data I needed and got to see a part of Mongolia I've never seen before. Selenge aimag is the north of Mongolia and gets a higher amount of precipitation than most areas, so the grass is lush and some of the steppe had been tilled into fields.





This week is the Stars of the American Ballet tour in Mongolia, and then this weekend I'm planning to go to Sainshand with friends to revisit the Danzanravjaa Museum and Khamriin Hiid (the monastery and energy center). I'm sure it will also be a rollercoaster, but it should be good times.

The best laid plans

Daily life in Mongolia, especially on Thursdays and Fridays when I'm not technically working for the Arts Council, are a continuous reworking of hierarchies. Take today, Friday for example.

Early in the week, I had no plans for Friday. I thought perhaps my friend Kip and I might go the the black market, since I want to buy a belt for my deel.

Wednesday my friend Erika called and said the best day for lunch would be Friday. It's been a while since we talked, and I wanted to pick her brain more about the Amarbayasgalant trip, so that jumped up in the hierarchy. Maybe in the afternoon we could go the black market.
Not half an hour later, I discover at the staff meeting that the training my Mongolian advisor is giving for our leadership program will now be on Friday. Since I hadn't managed to meet face-to-face with her since December, this moved waaaay up the hierarchy.

Thursday, I get the schedule from my coworker and decide lunch at noon isn't enough time. Thursday afternoon, I go over to my affiliated university to start exit visa preparations and lo and behold, my advisor stops in the office. We briefly talk about how I will see her tomorrow at the training. I text Erika and reschedule lunch to 2 pm.


Friday morning dawns, and I go over to Red Ger for the training. While I'm heading over there, I receive a call from the office assistant that today is our director's birthday!
I arrive at the training, and it's starting very late. My coworker informs me that we are all going to lunch for the director's birthday after the training. I text Erika very apologetically and reschedule the late lunch to an early dinner.
The training goes well, but we have to leave before the second half to go to the birthday lunch. I manage to give Dolgorsuren a copy of my research progress and tell her I will write a Mongolian paper next semester when I'm back at school, she gives me her updated email address. Good to have for staying in touch! I call Kip to apologize, I now have no free-time this Friday.

We go to lunch, a nice time is had by all. Lunch is winding down, and I now have two extra hours before my rescheduled dinner. I go the supermarket since I'm almost out of food and tomorrow is children's day (pure chaos, don't want to try shopping then). I return home and make bread pudding for weekend breakfasts.
While the bread pudding steam cooks in the rice cooker, I write a few postcards. Bread pudding (mostly) done, I unplug the rice cooker, scoop up the postcards, and race out the door, 20 minutes to 5. I'm at the post office, just about to mail my postcards when Erika calls. Her sister needs to stop by, so she doesn't know how late she'll be. We reschedule our early Friday lunch for the third time to early Sunday dinner. I go ahead and buy more postcards and stamps, figuring I can mail a last batch out on Sunday.
While still at the post office, I receive a call from my coworker that our Monday morning interview won't work since she just got a meeting with the Canadian embassy. However, she's found someone else free then so I won't lose time finishing my staff interviews.

I return home. It is 6 p.m. This is why I have trouble remembering what happened on Monday.

Life. Hierarchies of priority and necessity. The futility of planning. Mongolia.

Guantanamera

Some days Mongolia, some days

Monday I get into the office, end up fussing with my USB for waaaay too long before discovering that it is unusable

Nomi drops by my desk, "So you know about lunch?"

:Blank stare:

"Yeah, to celebrate how well the membership event went all the staff are going to lunch at this Cuban restaurant. And then we'll probably just go home"

Oh, ok then?!

So we work for a bit...and it's almost 2 but no one's left yet...and then, boom, we all head out to pile into taxis

We end up in a location just down the road from where I lived in 2007 and 2011...right off the bridge where that drunk guy got hit by a car trying to follow me across. Memories!

But yes, right there is a little Cuban restaurant called Guantanamera that boasts quite a robust menu and makes mojitos.
To cut the story short, there were two rounds of mojitos. Most got a third (I abstained). I had a delicious, delicious meal of beef in a creole sauce, with brown rice and carrots and pumpkin...sooo good.



Four hours later... it's almost 7, and we're trying to decide our next step. I'm just trying to catch a taxi heading back to Peace Avenue. Oyunaa suggests going to Zaisan memorial, but it's too windy. Instead, we go to my co-workers house, where we eat leftover homemade pizza, split two bottles of wine, and have a dance party (including the song "guantanamera", some JLo, some backstreet boys, and some camerton)



Camerton, the Mongolian boy band of the 90s

Rumor has it that the Backstreet Boys might still be doing a concert in June....we'll see

In any case, after a not-working work day, my coworkers put me in a taxi and I headed home. I really, really hate taking taxis by myself, but this was one of the more pleasant experiences- we chatted about his home aimag and the changes in the city, and he complemented my Mongolian and didn't overcharge me.

A few days later, we're all humming "Guantanamera" around the office...
Crazy days, fun times.

A week in the life

Monday:
-Oversleep my alarm because I stayed up until 3 reading
-Discover how to get administrator access on my computer and download a few programs that make research so much easier
-Start attempting to make a flow map
-3 hours later (and another solemn vow to learn some basic coding skills): success!



Question is, which color scheme and whether or not to have straight lines or bundled...

-Staff Meeting, which turns into...
-Birthday celebration, which turns into...
-Teresa can get tipsy from a paper cup half full of wine if it's 9 oclock and she hasn't eaten dinner yet

Tuesday:
-Still get up later than I meant to
-Work on an animated flow map that shows changes over time...which means doublechecking the easiest datasets for the past three years, then trying to understand file paths and how they differ from my template vs. what java will understand and run
(no visual of it working, since it's an animation and still incomplete, but huzzah)
-head home for a skype interview about the Tsaatan/Dukhaa reindeer herders
-decide that after waiting an hour and a half, something has been miscommunicated and start making dinner
-begin eating dinner, then interrupted by skype call
-get interesting interview
-one and a half hours later, finish eating dinner
-skype with parents
-write blog post
-eat nutella (future plan)

(future schedule)
Wednesday:
-work
-1 pm lunch with a friend at French Bakery (and possibly purchasing some chocolate croissants)
-attempt to set up an interview for thursday morning
-write more emails about the fall mongolian music tour to the u.s.
-go home
-9 pm skype interview about a transnational NGO

Thursday
-grocery shopping for restock the usuals
-interview at National University of Mongolia?
-stop by ATM
-buy minutes for phone
-return home to shower and change into party dress
-go over to office
-6:30 pm membership night "Secrets of Zanabazar" starts
-? go home

Friday
-go to Good Price for frosting for friend's birthday cake
-bake birthday cake
-2 pm phone interview with AusAID, assuming nothing goes wrong and my minutes last....see if speakerphone actually exists on my old nokia
-evening Karaoke/birthday celebration?

Saturday
-Khustai national park day trip?

Sunday
-brunch at Nayra with a friend
-buy two more months of internet service

Still five more days of the week to go and much to do...

An ideal weekend

Friday evening birthday party- over early to help out and feel useful, lots of tasty food and interesting new people, an ending dance party with a few close friends and lots of 90s songs, and a short, safe walk home

Saturday trip to a new and interesting place with two good friends, taking lots of cool photos, enjoying the spring sunshine, long walks and good exercise, baking

Sunday lazy day, breakfast of bread pudding, ends with watching the original Star Wars trilogy and drinking hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows

Monday, no power at work so we all go home early, I receive a care package full of treats, and take a cat nap watching the ewoks bash some imperial stormtroopers

I am grateful for this strange, unexpected life of mine...the next few months will go so quickly

Heritage as a social process

On Saturday I did something rather different from my usual weekend plans- I took a bus out to the northeast of the city, to the edge of the ger district, and visited a Buddhist monastery built in the late 1700s. A friend/colleague of mine has been tasked by the Minister of Culture, Sport, and Tourism to develop a proposal for the restoration of the monastery and to start women's crafting collectives that can sell their work to tourists, and she had asked me for advice. As part of the process, Zula, my friend Kip, and I headed out to see the site and to do some photodocumentation.



After asking directions from a guy at the corner gas station, we twisted our way to the door and just walked through- no visiting fee, no guard, nothing. It was a big disconcerting after months of experiencing monasteries as museums, but Danbadarjialin is very much a community heritage site.



Artists, schoolchildren, and old men enjoying their alcohol (and leaving broken glass everywhere) all use the monastery grounds as public space. But it is also a practicing monastery and has been active since the transition in 1990. There are maybe ten-fifteen practicing lamas there now, compared to the 100 that lived there before it was closed in 1937 by the Communist government. They only use the main temple in the summer because there is no heating system, the rest of the year they use a specially made ger.



Temple ger with the ger district in the background


We were able to meet with an administrator of the monastery and discuss the proposal process, so it will be interesting to see how the next steps proceed. Since I am leaving in a few months, I of course will not able to help with any implementation if any grant is successful, but I'm pleased to be part of the process and found Saturday's visit fascinating, as I saw several more types of structures at the monastery than I've seen before.









It was a sunny, hot day and a long trip back home again, but it was a great experience.

Bits o' tid

Reasons I can tell it's spring in Ulaanbaatar:

- torn up sidewalks for some sort of repair/construction/shenanigans
- the grocery store entrance no longer forces you to go through two doors on opposite sides to break up the wind (ex. door1A to door2B to get in), now you can go through 1A and then 1B
Door 2A Door2B
(small antechamber)
Door1A Door1B
- no longer need to wear my facemask outside, even on long walks
- sun sets around 8
- i got to do a little travelling and then saw...
- baby animals (little lambs, not as little baby yaks)
- didn't need to wear a jacket at all last thursday afternoon
- people selling strawberries and bananas on the street off their cardboard boxes

Glad winter is finally over (though we still might get some snow)

Never the weekend that I expect, but probably the weekend I deserve

I woke up Saturday with three goals: walk the 1.3 miles to BlackBox Theatre without being hit by a car or overly smothering my lungs in dust and car exhaust, support my friend/colleague Nomi at her TedMed talk, and get to my interview at 6 pm on time and relatively prepared.

I arrived more quickly than anticipated at TedMed, which turned out to be fortunate as I had been told the afternoon session would start later than it actually was. So I got there in time to give Nomi a quick boost, find a seat, and to learn about Mongolian contortionism.


(from TedxUlaanbaatar's facebook page)

This was accompanied by a demonstration from a very talented young lady that made me tired just watching. At one point she supported her entire body by holding a bar between her teeth. Mongolian contortionists apparently develop very strong chin muscles, among others.

It was a really neat to learn more about Mongolian contortionism and to experience the TED talks Ulaanbaatar style. Very well-run, enthusiastic event, lots of great people.

Unfortunately I had to leave just after the closing remarks and before the end celebration to make sure I got to my interview on time. She had suggested the coffee place in Central Tower, so I headed over and was, once again, too early. Since Central Tower houses the infamous Louis Vuitton store in UB, I wandered around a bit, peeking in the luxury stores, before succumbing to my tired feet and the lure of a tomato, basil, cheese panini.

Setting up interviews are always a bit intimidating- are my questions tailored enough but still consistent with my other data sets, am I prepared, am I on time but not too early, is my voice recorder good to go, is this a big waste of their time? I have however been very fortunate that everyone who has responded to my interview requests have been incredibly intelligent and engaging people, and I always, always learn something new. It's also interesting because through my work with the Arts Council and through my previous experiences in Mongolia, it's not just a formal interviewer-informant relationship, a little more colleague-to-colleague. They may be more directly sharing information, but we're talking through a set of problems facing Mongolian arts and culture management and exchanging perspectives, backgrounds, ideas. Transcribing interviews then is a challenge occasionally, deciding what is "data" and what is "conversation". In any case, every interview I've had as been a very pleasant experience, and I am very grateful for that.


Sunday I had a much more planned schedule with a lot less work on my part- go to lunch at Veranda (my favorite restaurant in UB) to meet with a visiting professor and then show him around two museums. I had been told two different times, but decided to show up to the earlier time and what I had been told most recently. Of course, we were meeting at the later time- but I finally took care of a few things I'd meant to do for months.
* Took some pictures of random, interesting things on the streets of UB
* Bought more stamps and postcards
* Climbed the staircase of the Chinggis monument and got my picture taken

That all accomplished, the ACM ladies, myself, and the professor had a wonderful lunch...so much so that we were running a little late for the museums. It also then turned out that the Choijin Lama temple museum is closed on Sundays, so instead Gerlee and I told him stories of UB's tumultuous construction, bizarre buildings, and restaurant hot spots. After depositing him at the theatre for a showing of Don Quixote, we walked west and I returned home, stomach and camera much more pleasantly full than before.

Light fixtures, a series

Mongolian home lighting is very strange...it tends between a hanging lightbulb (wires mostly exposed) and overly extravagant fixtures. We took a "field trip" in my 2011 language course to the home goods shopping area (zuun ail), and one of the stores that specialized in lights had some truly bizarre pieces (especially the chandelier of glass soccer balls).

Here are the lights in my apartment (minus the bathroom's hanging lightbulb, because it's too dark to take a picture unless it's on and blinding you).



Bedroom...kind of look like hearts



Office. One of the three bulbs has burnt out, not sure how I'm going to try to replace that one.


Living room, in all its opulent purple and rust majesty



Kitchen, with unnecessary lacing. This is the lightbulb I really, really don't want to burn out.

Why, may you ask, am I so paranoid about lightbulbs? Because they are all different wattages and sizes (and not consistently or clearly marked), which means a frustrating shopping expedition.

Furthermore, my hall light burnt out (when I forgot to turn it off behind me when I went on vacation in January, oops), it was so difficult to get it out I'm honestly not sure how I'll screw the new one in whenever I finally get around to buying a new one.

Sort of good news on that front...






As you might be able to tell, there is a large watermark on the wall with the hall lightswitch (and the apartment's fuse box). That wall separates the front hall and the bathroom, and apparently somewhere above my apartment there is a leak. So there is water dripping down through that wall, warping the paint, possibly messing up the electric wiring...and making it a good idea to hold off on replacing that lightbulb and turning on that light fixture.

My landlady has been informed and the building has sent two servicemen to look into the problem, but we'll have to see...it's possible they might need to tear down and rebuild that wall entirely. I'm also not sure how many floors are affected, as it starts above me and apparently spreads down another two floors.

At least for now I still have water (and hot water), and I did a big load of laundry Sunday just in case.
Now if only I could walk around outside without my throat getting sore...

Mongolia in the spring :)


(In case you found this post depressing as opposed to bemused- I had a fantastic research day today and a possible turning point in getting a better idea of how many cultures, arts organizations are active in Mongolia)

Long live the weekend (a recounting of March 23-25)

One of the most challenging but rewarding parts of living of Mongolia (and of living abroad in general), is saying "yes" to things you ordinarily wouldn't. Last Saturday and Monday were good examples of this.

Saturday my friend Christa and I had decided to go to a local salon so I could use my Women's Day giftcard and experience my first massage. Christa's gone several times to a few different places in UB, so I had some idea of how things worked but was also apprehensive. To be honest, I've never gotten a professional massage before since in general I don't find the concept very relaxing or worthwhile, but since it would be free (courtesy of my lovely co-workers) and I had a support/buddy system...I went for it. I knew I didn't want a full body massage, but just a head/shoulder massage seemed a little silly. So instead we choose a hot stone head/shoulder massage. Of course, this salon experience starts over an hour later than planned, since there were no work hours posted and finally we just went to get brunch at French Bakery (scored the last two chocolate croissants that day).
So, at the salon, the woman asks when we want to schedule them. Uh, now? We put our belongings in the storage lockers and put on the house slippers. After a little wait, the first masseur came and took me back to the massage room. To be honest, it was a little hard to relax sometimes since I wasn't sure what to expect and then there were a few parts where I wasn't sure if it was a good hurt or bad hurt. On the plus side, I got to experience having my neck cracked and several vertebrae pops (weird but cool feelings) and the hot stone part was actually really nice and relaxing. I have a feeling that will be my one and only professional massage experience, but it was neat to try it out.


That evening I then went back to the State Philharmonic for the Arga Bileg ethnojazz concert. I'd heard some of their music before since I'm working on their U.S. tour in the fall, but I'd never seem them perform live. It was an interesting mix of musical styles, and a cool variety of guest artists (long-song singers, traditional and modern dancers, etc.) Though it was a bit weird when the fashion show (no, I'm not joking) started. All in all, a great performance, and I'm really hoping the tour works well (maybe even a stop in Cincinnati). After the performance, I got to meet my co-worker's mom and the three of us took a taxi home, and it was really nice to be able to chat in Mongolian with them both (and to again remember that even if my Mongolian isn't as good as I'd like/sometimes need, that it still means a lot to talk with people in their native language and show I appreciate their culture).


Because that was a whole bunch of words, here's a video of one of Arga Bileg's songs:







Monday after work was a strange, but fun experience. It was the start of the Mongolian Francophone film festival, and a small group of us piled into a taxi for the opening reception and first film. Because rush hour traffic in UB starts at like 3:30 and lasts until 8:30, we were a bit behind schedule. Did a little bit of mingling, chatted with a few people, and then realized that the theater was full- no movie for us. We talk over our options and finally it is decided to go bowling at the Children's Park. I am tempted to just walk home, since it's now almost 8 and I'm hungry..but since I'm already out, I agree to go. We pile six girls in another taxi (five in the backseat, one in front with the driver) and get out at the children's park. Walk in through the open front gate only to realize it's closed for no apparent reason. We hail yet another taxi, squeeze in, and try to find this sushi restaurant some mutual friends are at. Two of the girls get out at one point to go do something else, finally the rest of us disembark once we realize Gerlee isn't 100% sure where the sushi place is so it's easier to walk. When we finally find it, the door is almost literally a hole in the wall. I am again dubious about this plan, given that Mongolia is not known for its seafood, but hey...I have food poisoning before and lived (this is not how the story ends). Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious (and affordable) my "mexicana" rolls were (grilled tilapia, spicy cucumber, chili paste sauce) and the hot sake was a nice note to end the evening. Lots of silly Mongolian and English conversation was had, and we all got home at a reasonable enough hour so to be fresh for work the next day. Not at all what I expected when I woke up Monday morning, but a great day :)

My day today: March 23rd 2013

Wake up at 9, skype briefly with the folks (camping in the everglades) while munching some raisin cakes, don my "spring" coat (Eddie Bauer's microtherm down parka, recommended for 20 to 40 F as opposed to my LL Bean ultra warm jacket, recommended for -50 to 0 F), and walk over to the red ger art gallery (located on the first floor of a bank). i pass the "Totoro" graffiti on my way and remind myself, yet again, to take a picture of it sometime...it is really cute, and it has an umbrella painted right below a downspout.

arrive at red ger, make myself a paper cup of tea, say hey to my co-workers, nod to the young leaders program folk, and settle into my folding chair. the morning's presentation is on emotional intelligence...i write a few notes about mongolian words that seem like useful vocab, amuse myself by the cyrillic phonetic spellings of "linguistc" "analytic" "motivation" etc, take participant observation notes about the other people. talk ends, short q & a, and now it's lunch time! from somewhere, ganaa has produced sturdy paper plates with two teftell (meatballs stuffed with rice), rice in a light tomato-esque sauce, and potatoes with carrot shavings. we all chow down and then are notified that the afternoon's speaker won't arrive until 2. my co-worker takes me next door (still in the bank) to an auditorium (dating back to the communist days when the building was a theatre, not a bank). the cleaning lady tells us to wait a few minutes so she can finish mopping the floor, and then we can use one of the two ping pong tables (somewhere oyunaa has procured two paddles and an orange ping pong ball). she finally agrees to let us on the floor, and warns us that it still slippery. ping-pong playing ensues, and i realize i'm not that bad at ping pong but i'm pretty lousy at keeping score. we decide to play til 12 (though in practice that seems to be 13, and on 12 you are notified of your imminent loss with a russian-sounding word i forget already and get to serve), and i lose to oyunaa and to one of the young leaders.

at 2, we head back to red ger for the second training of the day, on achieving emotional balance. we hear about Paul Ekman's theory of emotions, which brings me back to undergraduate and the class I took on "The Nature of the Emotions" in the History and Philosophy of Science department. The speaker is re-using slides from an earlier presentation, and lucky for me they're in english so i have a much better chance of understanding his mongolian explanations. we all do an exercise where we relive an moment where we were angry and write down our feelings...supposedly staring into a hand mirror facilitates this process. we were all instructed to bring a hand mirror, so one guy took the rearview mirror of his car. i discovered fortuitously that my card holder's interior lid is reflective, not that the mirror was really helpful for anything besides making me feel silly. we then all share our feelings...mine is very brief, as my mongolian vocabulary really isn't deep enough for such a topic. the presentation winds down, and sheets are laid out on the floor. we all learn to meditate, in traditional Buddhist fashion. first we lay on the floor and focus on our breathing. then we sit in semi-lotus style, backs straight and heads slightly bowed. i learned that the left hand represents knowledge and the right hand represents compassion, and the left hand then goes under the right hand (knowledge supporting compassion? if i interpreted that correctly, that's really beautiful). meditation style three, we do walking meditation, all of us in a big awkward and improperly timed circle. very brief q & a, and the training is over. we break down the tables and chairs, gather up the trash, and head out.

it is now snowing outside, nice fat flakes that are mostly melting once they hit the ground. we walk back to the office, where apparently we are having a party to celebrate that women's and men's days were this month. lots of fruit and wine again, but this time the men have ordered pizza and picked up some overly decorated (yet still delicious cakes). lots of laughing, but finally it's getting late. i leave with three of my co-workers around 10:30, linking arms so no one trips in the snow and the slush. they walk me all the way to my apartment staircase and we hug good-bye until the ethnojazz concert tomorrow. then i head up to my apartment while they turn south to catch a taxi in front of the state department store and head to their respective homes.

i grab a quick shower, confirm plans with a friend to go get massages (using my women's day gift certificate, fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and is actually relaxing) and then brunch at french bakery (finally open after their two-ish months off for winter holiday), and unwind on the internet a bit.

hope your friday is good too, however you're spending it.

snacks and urbanization

it's 11:20 at night, just finished a skype interview with a U.S. organization. i'm going to a training tomorrow (supposed to bring a hand mirror, which i do not have), so i should go to bed soon. but i really, really want a bowl of cheerios. a nice, evening snack with some delicious 1% non-irradiated milk....alas, it is not to be. raisin cake and water it is.


so this post isn't totally without value, random cultural note from facebooking. a few of my mongolian friends have been sharing around the following two images, emphasizing an idealized Ulaanbaatar with a lot more greenery.

The first one I'm not super sure of the context of, and it's possible it's an earlier photo, back when the Zaisan area wasn't so built up.



This next one though is definitely an idealized UB. I love all palm trees and water features.



There are some things I really like about Ulaanbaatar, but I definitely would not describe it as a "green" city. This separation from nature and from the steppe is really a shame, and it makes me wonder if there is enough popular support to actually undertake building a new capital city (as opposed to trying to rehaul the already over-stressed utilities infrastructure and better incorporate the ger districts).

It makes me wonder what UB (and urban Mongolia more broadly) might look like in ten, twenty years...and when I'll be back.

Mongolian Pianists and Warrior Queens: a tale of my Wednesday

Wednesday:

I head out a little earlier than usual to go to the bank and pay my utility bills. Alas, what is a 15 minute errand if I get there earlier enough to miss the long lines becomes an hour + errand because the servers are down and the tellers can't make any transactions.

At work I write a few more emails about the ethnojazz tour (good interest from Bloomington, no response as yet from Cincinnati, LA, or SF). Work on developing a stakeholder needs walk-through for upcoming meetings with the program directors. Work through my INGO sampling frame to get updated websites and GPS locations so I can construct a flow map.

4:15, we rush out the door and grab a taxi to the Music and Dance College. Two leading Mongolian musicians have written special pieces to be used in early music training- pieces for piano and pieces for cello. The school's auditorium is really nice and professional, and the students are all very talented. Neat to hear some traditional horsehead fiddle and throat-singing motifs come across through piano and cello. Start to doze off a bit, because classical music is very relaxing. Wake up to loud applause, performance is over and now it is time for more speeches and thanks-giving. Look around and notice my co-worker Nomi is signally frantically, time to go the next location.

We hope in a television station's van, as the camera guy and reporter covering the compositions premiere concert are also going to the special film screening of Queen Anu so we can get a free ride. Head out to Black Box theatre, which is very hip and modern and shaped exactly like a black box. Get there after the film has already started and it's pitch black. Finally someone directs us up an uneven set of stairs to a balcony where we can set. The next two + hours are this film, ending in a climatic battle:



(I don't know much about Mongolia during this period (late 1600s) as it's usually just glossed over with those horrible Manchus. The Khaan (king) during that time was one of the High Saints of Buddhism, so it was interesting to see those elements. Also, since the movie focuses on Queen Anu there were a lot of really interesting costumes, and since Queen Anu died in battle defending her husband it was neat to see female armor and the emphasis on Mongolian archery. I found some of the battle scenes a bit much, especially the bit where the hardy Mongolian warriors are hiding underwater in a river (no one could hold their breath that long), but it's more impressive when you think about how the Mongolian film industry really doesn't have the budget for CGI so those were all extras pretty much. The movie filmed in August of 2012, so it's a very contemporary film. Of course subtitles would have been nice, but overall I really enjoyed it.)

Afterwards we head downstairs and realize the special alumni email hasn't gone out yet, so no one is interested in tickets to this weekend's Percussion Ensemble Concert (the reason we technically were going was to sell tickets to that). Oh well, we grab another seat and listen to a Q&A session from the two leads and the director (who I saw give an interview a few weeks ago on a Mongolian talk show, Nandia). Half listen and quarter understand all the Mongolian going back and forth as I longingly eye the refreshment table- that catered spice cake is good stuff. Q&A ends around ten o'clock. Nomi chats with some friends while I scarf down some spice cake. Put on our coats (and me, my face mask) and head outside...Black Box is in the northern part of UB, closer to the ger districts and the air pollution smog is thick, ouch. Hail a taxi (much less stressful with a Mongolian friend) and head back home. Nomi and I live right across the street from each other, so a nice easy ride and a good chat about tomorrow and working on the English program for the Percussions Concert.

Head home, make some tomato soup and cheese toast for a late snack, snuggle into bed with the computer and my rewatch of 30 rock. Really interesting day.

Women's Day Celebrating

International Women's Day is a big holiday in Mongolia- there's no work on March 8th and even the days before there are office parties and the stores stock lots of fresh fruit, flowers, and chocolate. We don't have any men in our office right now (traditionally they would procure the food, etc.), but it was nice to have a real women's day celebration. I wish it was more of a holiday in the U.S. although it reminded me a bit of Valentine's Day, except Women's Day doesn't have any of the weird romantic pressures/stereotypes.

Wednesday we left work a little early and went to a special art exhibition, supported by Minister Oyungerel, of Mongolian female artists. There was a lot of diversity, and since I had an official invite I got a free booklet about all the artists and their featured works (interestingly enough it was printed in english). Here's a picture from the event.



The 976 Art Gallery is located on the 5th floor of a mall, which I still find weird, but it was a nice time.

Thursday evening then (the day before Women's Day) we had a really nice office party- lots of fruit and a delicious cheesecake, everyone received presents (a gift certificate to a salon, a gift card to a bath & body store, and a rose), and there was of course some drinking and girl talk (someone brought baileys, which was awesome and unexpected). A few of the girls went out for karaoke/dancing afterwards, but I headed home at midnight.

Friday I had a nice lunch and then toured the National Museum of Mongolia with Nomi and a visiting professor from the U.S., which was a lot of fun. I really love traditional Mongolian clothes, so I especially like the costume hall and descriptions of the different ethnic minorities in Mongolia.

Overall, a very nice holiday :)

UB City Center

A video about the part of UB where I live :)

Most of the beginning is an expat walking you through his apartment, but still kind of interesting

UB Neighbourhoods: City Center from Pearly Jacob on Vimeo.

One thing I really love about UB is how you can walk most everywhere (well, when it's not freezing). I love watching Mongolian movies too because they're usually filmed in UB and you quickly recognize places. It is a strange and difficult city, but it definitely has its charms.

Mongol Bling

Here's a really neat (hour-long) documentary on modern Mongolian hip-hop. I was fortunate enough to catch it on TV, but someone recently posted the whole thing up on youtube.



It gets into a lot of cultural, social, gender and globalization issues and shows a lot of UB in the winter, in all its glorious, hazy grey freezing-ness




In other news, hosted a dinner party tonight for Mongolian friends I met in the U.S. when they participated in the Fulbright program. Highlight of the evening was definitely playing bananagrams though...fun way to practice new vocabulary, too bad they don't have a mongolian alphabet version.

Flotsam

The first day of every month is a dry day, when no alcohol can be sold. This March 1st also happens to be the day that you are no longer allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants and other public areas, according to the new law. My Mongolian co-worker told me there would likely be many people out partying tonight, buying up booze and smoking up a storm (though of course she didn't phrase it that way)

(On a possibly unrelated note) My neighbor has decided that 10:30 at night is an appropriate time to drill into our connecting wall...he better not disrupt the structural integrity of my bathroom.

Of course, that's not what occupied me most of the day.

I went to the "museum in a box" training at the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts, one of the Arts Council's main cultural heritage education projects. The refreshment table had "tacos" (beef, chicken, and vegetarian/bean) and oreos...along with more traditional fare. The program in and of itself was pretty interesting, though the audience quickly lost interest in the powerpoint. The children that were actually participating in the class seemed to find it interesting though, and there was a craft section at the end that was pretty neat (paint your own tsam mask, for example).



My old advisor from the National Museum of Mongolia was there, so we finally got a picture together.





I also took a picture with my co-worker/desk buddy Oyunaa.




After that I went back to the office for a bit and got to take part in the annual blessing of the office. A Buddhist monk came with his stack of sutras and chanted for us. Lots of incense was burned, the executive director and development director took blessed cups of vodka and milk outside to anoint the building (I think?), and we all got some special grain for the "blessings bag" and a special cake that we all rotated clockwise a bunch of times to build karma. It was really neat to experience, and I am very grateful to the Arts Council for letting me experience so many such moments.

After that I had another really lovely interview...two good ones last week and another one lined up for next week. Still a lot of data to collect, but I have 5 more months :)

Why you learn the local language

Scene- a North Korean restaurant.

Co-worker hands me a bowl of soup

Another co-worker says (in Mongolian): "Waitress! What kind of intestines are these? Cow?"

Waitress: "No, these are pig intestines."

Co-Worker: "Oh, ok. What a delicious soup."

Me: (good thing I speak Mongolian...definitely just going to stick to my bowl of rice)

Exeunt

Free time

So my meeting today was moved to tomorrow, so instead I started and finished a book for fun and tried out a recipe for egg tarts.



They came out pretty good, though of course all the steps took longer than anticipated and it was a bit nerve-wrecking separating four eggs to get the yolks. Though my apartment certainly has its quirks, I'm really glad to have an oven...can't imagine being without one for ten months.

For Valentine's I made myself a batch of snickerdoodles, extra colorful thanks to the decorating sugar Claire sent me :)



They were delicious, though not especially photogenic.

It's supposed to be getting warmer, but I was glad to have a day in to just relax and get caught up on things (baking and otherwise). Hope you all are beating the winter blues.

Mongolian Food: Not for the faint of stomach

Here's a video (part 1 of 5) from an episode of "Bizarre Foods". It's a good introduction to Mongolian meat markets, though I've never eaten boiled head.

I wouldn't recommend watching this if you can't handle graphic depictions of animal parts, but it is interesting stuff








.....And if it makes you feel any better, tonight's dinner will be pasta ;)

February 6, 2013

A day in the life, from roughly 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

My day today:
Wake up, get a shower
Head out to the grocery...it opens around 9:30, and I like to go as early as possible to beat lines at the check-out. I put my wallet into my security purse and fold up my recycable squirrel bag to carry my groceries home. Examine the Tsaagan Sar display at the grocery store entrance, buy some fancy boxes of chocolate to use as gifts. Head over to the meat/cheese counter, where workers are frantically stacking huge piles of hiam/meats. Finally catch the attention of the cheese girl, ask for 300 grams and receive 450 g, but I like cheese so no worries. Discover that the grocery actually has nutella in stock, but still no pasta sauce that isn't Russian. Check the Goyo brand juice shelf but there's no carrot today, buy apricot/orange instead.
Return home, put groceries away, eat breakfast and my daily vitamin
Walk the seven minutes to the office...not many cars this early. The Korean clothing store guy continues to not hand me a flier...not sure it's because he recognizes me and so realizes it would be annoying if he did it everytime, or if it's because i am a foreigner.
In the office! Hang up my coat, eye the plate full of aaruul on the conference table, turn on my computer
Check email account, mostly junk mail from Mongolian businesses
Start editing the annual report, English version
Get an email about the Long Song nomination, still no luck! From someone who finished her PhD on long song two years ago, no less. Am newly boggled that no one has a copy.
Explore the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage page, learn some interesting things about the Masterpiece project that became the ICH lists
Discover an interestingly worded background paper on how China "convinced" Mongolia to make Long Song a multi-nation nomination
Discover that China and surprisingly enough Mongolia actually filed their periodic report in December, download, skim, save as "definitely relevant"
Go back to editing annual report
Discuss event consulting
Remember iTunes copyright infringement problem for Altan Urag, research how to file a take-down notice
Go back to editing annual report
1 o'clock! Lunch time!
Head home, get sucked into recommending books, remember I need to eat
Turn on broiler for open-faced grilled cheese sandwiches, turn on water boiler for soup, slice cheese small enough to fit inside a tuperware so it'll keep...even I can't eat almost half a kilo of cheese in a week
Stir the water and soup powder, eye the cheese properly melting and being delicious...huzzah, the lady actually gave me "gouda" this time
Eat deliciousness while watching half an episode of 30 rock (first season...not ready to watch the series finale yet)
Walk back to work
it is now 2:15 and due to Tsaagan Sar preparations there is an epic traffic jam at my T-intersection...be newly relieved I don't drive here and don't need to
Back at work...editing the annual report (21 pages...sooo slow)
Edit the section on Indigenous Dance Residency program at Banff, google it
Start new google doc about evidence for whether or not Mongolia can be considered/considers itself indigenous...in the realm of modern dance at least, Australia and Canada seem to accept Mongolians on equal terms
Email about funding for next year for teaching on indigenous issues
Go back to editing the annual report
Finally finish editing the annual report
Realize we might need to write a DMCA notice, not just notify iTunes...google that...realize internationally I have no idea how this works...if a Mongolian band's music is being illegally sold by a Russian? company on an American platform like iTunes...do we really need to file a lawsuit (and where?) to have the takedown request remain in effect...
Start writing this post, because I haven't updated in forever and this makes my head hurt less
5:15...less than two hours to go before the office closes and we possibly have a staff dinner
Go grab a cookie and refresh my water bottle at the office water jug
Look into residency programs to update the directory...get overly misty-eyed at the thought of camping in the woods, remind self that not an artist so not eligible to go be moody and brilliant in nature for a fee
find neat program for an art curator/museum specialist in korea, email arts director and cultural heritage director
look out the window, notice it's 6 but still fairly light! google UB sunrise and sunset times and rejoice in the lengthening of days...spring is coming!
get told i need a photo for my staff ID card...run over with Ogie to the Kodak express, where the guy spends forever digitally fussing with my hair
return to office
work on things until Daria informs me a taxi is on the way! we are going to staff dinner to celebrate the new employee
cram 4 people into the backseat of a taxi
arrive at fancy building, wander around looking at the art exhibition paintings...a few incredibly beautiful ones, including a "day in the life" style painting set during a Mongol empire era battle with Europeans?
ride the elevator up to the 5th floor, escorted to a private room
surprise! we are eating super swanky hot pot.
order the vegetable broth, because it's cheap and i'm not sure who is paying for dinner (really need to carry more cash for situations like this) and because it tastes just fine to me
half and sometimes fully listen to Mongolian conversation, which at point includes an impression of a friend of the organization...too funny
lots of food arrives! the lazy susan is kept turning as everyone picks up thin slices of raw meat and veggies and dunks them into their boiling pots...am amused by the induction heating system and the air currents beneath the table
much feasting is done
time for drinks/dessert! i copy suuren and order ice cream (chocolate)
ice cream arrives, with some whipped cream, a fancy cookie, some fruit (apple slices and possible grape? cherry?) and some rice crisp flakes...the actual ice cream itself is very delicious
conversation winds down...
we head downstairs, i discuss walking the half hour home with my coworker/neighbor/friend, and then we are both offered a ride to State Department Store (nearest big landmark to our apartments) by our coworker's husband, huzzah!
husband tries to practice his "street english" with me, all laugh
wave goodbye to everyone, head up the steps to my apartment, and take the elevator because the central lighting doesn't work on floors 3 and 4 so it's easiest to just take the elevator at night to 5
unlock door, enter but i still haven't replaced the entry hall lightbulb, stumble into the living room and hit the light switch there, remove face mask, take off coat, remove boots
relax
skype with parents
watch a little 30 rock
sleep

Whoops...time passes

So, I had an absolutely wonderful time in Korea and visit in the U.S. And then I came back and work and research started up and then Tsagaan Sar (Mongolian Lunar New Year) happened...and I am a horrible updater. Goal this weekend is to add some content!

So...get excited for that?




And yes, there are penguins involved.

Small World

I'm back home in the U.S. for my research leave, and though traveling to and from Asia can be a long and jet-lagged journey I had an awesome time!

From my Mongolian driver with a good sense of humor at 6 in the morning

to the Mongolian language professor I met in line who was traveling to Japan to see her daughter *

to my seatmate en route to Korea who is taking a leave from his job in UB as a water systems engineer (and from his wife and two lovely daughters) to get his masters and who wanted to discuss the value of cultural diversity in a global economy *(two conversations I was able to have because of my Mongolian language courses, thanks to Tserenchunt bagsh!)

to finally arriving in Seoul and getting to spend a wonderful time sightseeing with Natalia and Alex (amazed again how much we packed into a few short hours! and how eagle-eyed I become for spotting dunkin donuts lol)

to my adorably quirky Korean earrings

to movies and bunkbeds and heated floors

to peaceful metro rides

to 13 hour flights that let you watch Ratatouille and get hooked on the first season of BBC's "Sherlock" and feed you three solid meals (and as much orange juice as you want)

to the friendliness of the workers at O'Hare international airport and delicious chicken parmesan paninis

to the first hug from my parents....



It's already been a great visit.