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.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
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.
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.
Friday, March 15, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
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 :)
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 :)
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
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
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.
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.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
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.
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.
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