Ulaana in Mongolia

Going, going

2008-07-24T13:40:00.004+08:00

View from balcony August 2007
View from balcony July 2008
This Sunday is my last day in Mongolia (for now). This also mean the end of this blog (for now). I don't know what my next undertaking will be, but I am leaving this country having successfully completed my research. I even earned myself a Masters degree.
I'm not really sure what to end with, but I dug up a picture I took when I first moved in my apartment in late August 2007 and I'm putting it next to a picture of my view now. As you can see there is a major building boom here in UB. This place is changing daily. It'll be interesting to see what transpires in Mongolia both politically and socially in the coming months and years.

Mongol:

2008-07-17T09:48:00.004+08:00

I saw the movie Mongol last night. I was lucky enough to be sitting with a physical anthropologist who focuses on the region. This movie was so historically inaccurate, it was nerve wrecking. It should be tagged "The un-true story of Genghis Khan". The actual story of Chinggis Khan's life, as depicted in The Secret History, is far more interesting then Sergei Bodrov's fictional script. Not to mention the fact that the movie seems to lump Central Asian culture (from multiple centuries) in to one pan-Mongolian theme (Uzbek clothes, Tibetan earrings, Turkmen rugs and head scarves, Kazakh gers...) The film also depicts Borte (Chinggis Khan's wife) as slutty, which is sick. Borte is held high in Mongolian culture as a devote wife and mother, and almost a goddess. The actors (Chinngis is played by a Japanese actor) speak Mongolian in the movie...or at least you think they do. Mongolian is not my native language, but I can say with certainty that their Mongolian was awful. Especially the actor who played Jamukah. I guess they made them speak Mongolian to make the movie seem foreign and interesting. To me it just made it seem ridiculous.
I totally understand why my Mongolian friends said the movie was terrible. It's just another movie wrongly depicting Mongolians and Mongolian history. I suppose if you watch it as a work of pure fiction (which it is) you may be able to appreciate the cinematography.

Highlights from Beijing

2008-07-07T12:33:00.002+08:00

My friend and I took a long weekend in Beijing last week and these pics are some of the highlights of that trip. I had major culture shock in Beijing because UB is nothing like that! We had a great time and oddly enough when we landed back in UB we were both happy to be home. The weather in China was pretty rainy and smoggy/foggy. It looked like they are pretty well prepared for the Olympics minus the pollution. However, if you are thinking of going during the Olympics, good luck getting a Visa because the regulations have changed and Visa's are being denied left and right (at least in UB). Warning sign in the hutong (click on it to read the fine print)
Great wall under great clouds
Taking the cable car down from the wall
Jocelyn and I renting bikes-the best thing to do in Beijing
The Forbidden City
Bill Clinton sat in the cable car I sat in
Ulaana storms the Great Wall in honor of the Mongols
Mao!

Bee Venom Therapy

2008-07-06T23:31:00.003+08:00

bee keeper has the bee in hand
bee keeper pushes the stinger into my arm
The stinger in my arm (it hurt the longer I kept it in)
I thought I was just being a tough chic, but apparently bee stings are therapeutic. Taking a chance and letting the beekeeper sting me with a live honey bee in far eastern Mongolia (days from the nearest hospital) wasn't stupid...it may have in fact made me healthier!
http://www.ahealthyme.com/topic/beevenom :

People who use bee venom for medicinal purposes don't wait around for random insect attacks. Using long tweezers, they pick up live honey bees (which they've usually raised themselves), put the insects next to their skin, and let them do what comes naturally. You might have thought that your single encounter with a bee was enough, but people undergoing apitherapy may get stung 80 times a day or more.

Why would anyone subject himself to such pain? Because bee stings are thought to help ease the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia; they're also thought to promote desensitization to bee stings. These claims don't come from beekeepers looking for a profit; they're made by patients whose experience with bee venom has turned them into believers. One woman says that 80 stings every other day helped reverse her rheumatoid arthritis. A woman with multiple sclerosis found that the leg spasms she'd been having calmed down after she started using bees to sting herself a few times each day.

Thanks to Rachel for taking these pictures!

More Dornod pictures

2008-07-04T22:58:00.005+08:00

Taking a break from the tension of the past few days here in UB (things are calm now), Todd gave me a CD with the pictures he took of our Dornod trip. These pictures prove to me that professional photographers really do take better photos then us normal people. I picked these pictures from over 400 on the CD. You can click on them and see bigger versions.
I recently spent a weekend in Beijing too. I'll be sure to post some pictures from that trip soon.
Enjoy!
http://www.toddforsgren.com If you wanna see more of his stuff!

Old woman giving post-rain offering to the gods in Sumber.
The beekeeper and his bees
Bullseye in Choibalsan
Strike, Choibalsan
Happy parents of Yussentumor
The sweetest candid shoot of Saraa's older brother playing with Saraa's cute baby!
Sumber Buddha's, up close and personal
I hope you enjoyed these and remember to check out Todd's site.

Shock: Post election riots

2008-07-02T10:52:00.002+08:00

There really isn't much I can say. There were protests outside the MPRP (Mongolian Peoples Revolutionary Party) headquarters yesterday. It started out being over allegations of election fraud, but turned into something different and ugly.

http://www.mongolia-web.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7483286.stm

I have a feeling that some people here are frustrated. Frustrated with unemployment, lack of services and they felt the need to take it out on the ruling party. Sadly, they burned a large portion of the MPRP building (possibly burning the archives) and the looted a nearby art gallery and the State Symphony. It's a sad day for Mongolia.
Check out these blogs: http://asiangypsy.blogspot.com/
http://www.terrycom.net/blog/

Steppe Adventure

2008-06-24T17:27:00.008+08:00

I think our trip out to Dornod (Choibalsan, Buir Nuur, Sumber and Khalkh Gol) is best expressed in a photo-blog.
We drove 14 hours in the public Furgon (UAZ) to Choibalsan on a relatively overcast and nice day. 14 hours was a pretty short drive and we got there with no problems. We spent 2 days in Choibalsan where I got to show my UB friends around and catch up with all my old Choibalsan friends.

Ochiroo and I outside the Light Center Orphanage

Toroo's baby, Yussentumor (9 metals) PreNadaam archery contest in Choibalsan (Sidenote: They are shooting in the direction of the Mormon church)

1939 commemorative tank in "Friendship Park" in Choibalsan
Lenin looks over the rubble of the old Russian section of Choibalsan
1939 war statue and mosaic, outside the Choibalsan Museum
After being in Choibalsan for 2 days, we jumped into the "Dornod 6000" and headed for Buir Nuur. It was ride filled with very flat landscape, steppe eagles, gazelles, and herds. Because we were going to a border area, we had to stop at a few military outposts and register. We had special permission from the government in UB to go to these areas. The military posts were so random and remote , but all the "roads" led to them. There were always little , scrappy kids playing around outside who were pumped full of candy, a delicacy from the city.
The Dornod 6000

Stretching a military checkpoint
Amazing steppe land
When we were close to Buir Nuur, we weren't sure if we were actually seeing the lake or a mirage. It was just looming on the horizon. Once it was in full view, we were all instantly in awe. Large bodies of water are rare in Mongolia (minus lake Hovsgol) and we could not see across this lake.
Buir Nuur, China 11 miles in the distance

Buir Nuur at sunset, Annie, Rachael and Todd in their skivvies.
After the lake we went to Khalkh gol soum which apparently used to have a large, wonderful orchard. However, after the Russians left, the orchard fell apart. Now animals graze at bushes and trees. I bet it was nice to have fresh fruit back in the day. After that we went on to Sumber to see Ikh Burkhant. Consequently the shrine is located next to a military check point . They found some flaws in our documents and ordered us to take some cute kids, a pregnant woman and an old man in our car to the next town as punishment...cute kids as punishment, ha! On the way to Sumber soum we stopped at several war moments. They were a strange site out on open steppe land.
IKH BURKHANT INFO: a huge image of Janraisig (Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit) carved into the hillside. The carving was commissioned in 1864 by local regent Bat Ochiriin Togtokhtooriin, or To van (van means ‘lord’) and was reconstructed between 1995 and 1997. Source
Ikh Burkhant at a distance

Ikh Burkhant

2 of the cute kids we had to drive to the next town
1939 war monument
1939 Khalkhiin gol war museum, Sumber
What the war may have looked like: panorama inside the Sumber Museum
Memorial to the soldiers inside the Sumber Museum. Sumber is kind of a sad town. You can see remnants of businesses and buildings that used to be. However, after the Russians left, everything was dismantled. We did get to see some really great community horticulture which my friend Todd is photo documenting. We also visited a bee keeper and his bees. He convinced me that getting stung by a bee had medicinal properties and that I should allow him to sting me. The fool that I am, I let him. He picked a bee outta the bunch and jabbed it in my arm. I had to keep the stinger in for 30 seconds (pictures to come). At first it didn't hurt that bad, but then it hurt like hell. Thank GOD I hadn't developed an allergy to bee stings. Consequently, I do feel stronger! Sadly, it is not the season for honey yet. We drove back to Buir Nuur for one more night and a 1/2 day of swimming, and headed to Choibalsan.
We stayed one more night with my friend Naranbayar in Choibalsan and caught the furgon home on Saturday morning at 9. It was raining... a lot. Rain is a huge problem on roads with no pavement. Needless to say, it took us 12 hours just to go 123 km (72 miles) . The entire day was about getting stuck in the mud and pushing the cars out. With public buses like this, 2 buses travel together on long journeys to bail each other out. However, we had to rely on bigger cars like the the one pictures below. All in all it took 20 hours to get back to UB. It was rough for us as we were sitting next to the engine block the whole time (in the UAZ, the motor is actually next to the driver, so the people in the row behind him have a big engine block which is about 10,000 degrees burning their legs). We drove through the night and finally made it home.
Pushing
Big car to the rescue
Some of these pictures are care of Christian Packard. His blog is here: http://altanzam.blogspot.com/
and for another view of the trip check out Todd's website: http://www.toddforsgren.com/MNblog17.html that link will take you directly to his post on Dornod.

Dornod!

2008-06-11T20:37:00.002+08:00

On Friday my friends and I are going to embark on a journey of somewhat epic proportions. Well, it's only "epic" because most of it has no road, just bumpy, dusty paths. We are driving from UB to Choibalsan, Dornod Aimag (650km, 300km paved) which should take about 17hours. This trip 2 years ago (pre-pavement) took 24 hours to several days! Hooray for pavement! Let's hope they paved the road well so that it survives many ice cold winters and super hot summers!
We are going to spend 2 days in Choibalsan hanging out with my friends there and enjoying some time on the shores of the mighty Kherlen river. My friends are particularly interested in seeing the old Russian parts of the "city" (50,000 people). We'll go to the Lenin statue and the Choibalsan museum. It should be fun. During the week we are going to drive out on the open steppe to Buir Nuur, a lake that is 90% in Mongolia and 10% in China. Then we will visit Khalkh Gol which Russian history buffs know is the place where Russian fought Japan in 1939, leading to the start of WWII. We will then go on to a small soum called Sumber which has a giant buddha "Ikh Burhan" (Great God) built in stone into the side of a hill. Sumber is also know for it's honey which I cannot wait to taste!
I promise to take lots of pictures. The weather here has actually been quite hot so hopefully we will get to do some swimming in all of these waterways!

Asian Gypsy - Musings of a Mongolian Wanderer: The Blind Organize a Demonstration on Knees

2008-06-06T14:31:00.001+08:00

Asian Gypsy - Musings of a Mongolian Wanderer: The Blind Organize a Demonstration on Knees

Christian led me to this blog. It's got great social commentary on current issues in Mongolia.

Re-appreciation

2008-06-04T16:36:00.003+08:00

Pitt students assembling a ger
"Khudor" guarding the gers
A horse race
Herds coming home at dusk
Sunset in Bayanchandman
I was helping the ACMS guide a group of University of Pittsburgh students who were in Mongolia as a part of a study abroad program that looks at China and it's periphery. This year they focused on Inner and Outer Mongolia. I just got back form spending 3 days in Tov Aimag, Bayanchandman (Mongolian for: Rich past, present and future) soum. This soum is on the "Darkhan road", about 60 minutes outside UB. There we got to stay with a herder family, build a ger, ride horses, do some sightseeing, slaughter a sheep and a goat, and eat a tasty hurhog (delicious pressure cooked meat). The best thing about a hurhog is that they use hot rocks to help cook the meat. They heat the rocks in the fire and then put all the meat and ingredients into a canister with the hot rocks and let it cook. When its finished they take out the rocks and everyone juggles hot rocks in there hands, covering themselves with oil. It's supposed to be good for your health! The great thing about this trip for me was watching the students discover and realize things for the first time. Not much surprises me anymore having lived here on and off for nearly 3 years. It's nice to be reminded about how unique Mongolian culture is.
Note on the weather. The herders said that the weather is about 3 weeks behind where it shoudl be. If you look at the pics you will see that this area hasn't gotten much rain. Which means the animals aren't fattening up. I was looking forward to the first airag of the season, but that'll have to wait a few weeks.

blocked! access forbidden....

2008-05-29T20:53:00.004+08:00

If this is a free, open, and democratic country, why can't I access my blog? I asked myself this question last week, when my ISP blocked blogger. Today they are blocking www..net
If you can access .net, it's a great site with all kinds of stuff about Central Asia. Now, what does Mongolia have against .net?? Probably nothing. I doubt it's deliberately blocked. My server might run off a Chinese server, and I'm sure the Chinese government has a problem with .net. If this is the case, it's unfortunate that I am being subjected to censorship.

A little weather came our way

2008-05-28T08:36:00.003+08:00

This morning I woke up to snow. It's not uncommon to see snow in Mongolia in May and often well into June. That doesn't mean that I'm still not surprised when it happens. It's strange to see green trees confused, cold, and covered with snow. Sadly, the snow fall does not stop the construction that now plagues my ears day and night. These are pics from my window.

Contemporary Mongol Jams!

2008-05-26T23:10:00.003+08:00

Lots of you said you wanted to hear more Mongol Indie Rock. Here are some Youtube Links to some cool bands. If other Mongols know about other bands, leave a comment.
Pilots
A Sound
Mongol Hip-Hop!
Tatar
Mongol R&B
Bold

Enjoy...that Tatar video is hilarious

Rockin UB

2008-05-26T12:29:00.005+08:00

Totally Rocking
Totally sick and still rocking (the face mask isn't a prop. Generally, when people are sick in Asia, they wear a face mask).

Some friends and I were lucky to catch some great Mongolian rock bands the other night at the UB Club. The audience was predominantly Mongolian, the atmosphere was great and the music was really good. Most of the people there were teenagers who were really excited to be seeing cool rock bands playing. These teens have yet to develop hipster indifference when it comes to music. They were jumping around and having a blast...I was too.

Other UB stuff that's going on: It was 85F yesterday and today it turned back to winter with a current temp of 36F at 1:30pm. It's also snowing. Spring in Mongolia is notorious for crazy weather. It's just too bad because it was a really beautiful weekend and it looks like it'll be a blustery week.

Outbreak!

2008-05-23T12:25:00.002+08:00

The Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), or as my Mongol nedz call it "the disease from China" has gotten much worse. They closed all the primary schools and other places that children frequent...like the Tengis Movie Theater. This was particularly upsetting to me because Tengis was supposed to get the new Indiana Jones movie. I really wanna see it. Anyway, I think it's great that the government and Ministry of Health moved quickly to close schools and slow down the spread of the disease. The sad part is, apparently 100 people a day are becoming infected (mostly 2-4 years old). The other crazy thing is the amount of MIS-information going around. People were saying that is was in the food coming from China and others were saying it was in the water. Some people have been keeping their small children indoors for nearly 2 weeks even though the disease is not airborne. It's only transmitted by touch. It's an ugly disease, that's for sure. You get sores on yer tongue, hands and the bottoms of yer feet. The Ub Post covered the outbreak this week.
The other big news around here is the coming election. It's gonna be an interesting election year considering that many Mongolians are dissatisfied with the parliamentarians. Come June it will be election madness with concerts everyday, free stuff being thrown at me, and lots of promises. Just like the USA.

Spring is over

2008-05-15T15:56:00.002+08:00

I think there was a week of spring, and suddenly everyone is saying it's summer. Mongolians always say they have 4 seasons here, but I think it's just 2, summer and winter. A week of fall and spring don't count for much in my book. It's 70F here today, but I remember from my days in Choibalsan, the weather here can change back to winter quite quickly. Snow in June is not uncommon.
Here are some pics from a recent Hash House Harriers run/walk
Smoggy UB in the distance
Trees!

The view from the top

Foot and mouth, and me; Stencil graffiti; Random UB

2008-05-12T17:11:00.007+08:00

All the people depicted in this stencil have names above or below them. This is the "S United Crew"
This one says "I give you my heart"
The "S United Crew" logo and their depictions again.
A man painting the bottoms of the trees. Apparently it keeps the bugs off...
Another great spare tire cover "To choose sports for fashion or you personality. The basic idea is to enjoy yourself. That is important" Around the edge "It's outdoor sport that has recently started to shine. Outdoor sport is the science to raise spirits" WHAT?? Who writes these? I'll try and get more.
I hadn't realized that the country was in the midst of a foot and mouth scare until I went to the gym today only to find out it is closed until Wednesday because of "health issues". Upon further research I discovered that elementary schools and kindergartens are closed too. Here is a brief article from China View. Apparently this strain of foot and mouth is jumping from animals to humans (yikes!).
I've been walking by the "S United Crew" graffiti outside the National University for a few weeks now and today I brought my camera. These stencils are pretty ornate. Whoever made these obviously put a lot of time and work into them, especially the one that has depictions of all the crew members. Now that spring, excuse me, SUMMER is here, it's easy to take pictures without my hands freezing off. The picture of the man painting the tree trunks is interesting to me. I have no idea what they are painting on there. Nor do I understand how that keeps the bugs off. The other part of tree care taking here is to literally cut the tops off the trees. I heard that this is a Russian method. They say it makes the tree produce more branches and more shade. I have no idea if that is true.

Back in the MGL

2008-05-07T13:59:00.002+08:00

I'm back from my short jaunt to the USA. I must say, I really missed Mongolia! It was nice and easy to come back to beautiful weather. It would have been awful to come back to the pollution.
I went to by food today and I was really happy that the Mongolian grown vegetables are back at the market. I was not so happy about the price inflation. 3 weeks ago I bought bread for 850tg and now that same bread is 1000tg! I was shocked. Even though the weather is nice now, I heard there was a blizzard yesterday. You just never know what it's gonna be like here. The dust storms are in full affect. I'm constantly eating bits of Ulaanbataar, or the Gobi or wherever that dust comes from!
I'll get back to picture taking and posting soon.
Cheers!

No vacation from speaking Mongolian

2008-04-24T11:48:00.002+08:00

Today I rode my bike up to Marshalls with my mom to pick up some new clothes. I had tons of stuff to try on and I went into the dressing room. I was trying on a shirt when I realized that the 2 ladies next to me were speaking Mongolian. At first, it didn't register because it seemed normal. Then I remembered that I was on the north side of Chicago. I walked out, looked at one of the ladies and said "Ta mongoloor yirdig uu?" (Do you speak Mongolian). She looked at me blankly and called to her friend saying in Mongolian "I can't understand this persons English, can you come and help me." I looked at her and said "yassen ve?" (what?) and then it hit her, I wasn't speaking English, I was in fact speaking Mongolian. Both women were in shock. To be honest, so was I . We chatted and made some plans. It was so random and bizarre.

Mongolia New Highlights

2008-04-19T04:20:00.003+08:00

My hiatus was interrupted with juicy news updates! Firstly, a person protesting Chinese aggression in Tibet was arrested in Mongolia. Read this
Secondly, The Children's Park is only going to be 1/3 the park it used to be. I think this a REAL lose for everyone...read here
And lastly, rising food prices are affecting Mongolians. I cannot believe that 20,000 people gathered to protest. I'm sure that was something to see. Read this
Thanks to my friends who are one the scene to keep me in touch with what it going on.
If you really are interested in news about Mongolia and don't speak Mongolian, there is a link to the UB Post on the side here, check it out!

Short Hiatus

2008-04-14T13:20:00.002+08:00

Greetings people who read my blog. I'll be taking a short 2 1/2 week break from working and blogging to go home, be in my friends wedding, and defend my thesis. When I get back I promise some great summer posts and pics from Mongolia!
Cheers!

Children's Park/Development

2008-04-03T15:26:00.006+08:00

Stark contrasts between old and new (These 2 pics taken in the 13th district, not far from Children's Park)

The UB Hilton
Children's Park
The wooden statues that once stood are now being removed...
I wrote an email to the editor of the UB Post asking him to do some investigative reporting on what is going on with Children's Park. For those of you who don't know what Children's Park is, it was an amusement park built during the socialist period in the middle of downtown UB. I've heard (and this is just rumor) that some portions are privately owned and some are state controlled. In the last year a wall was erected so that you cannot see inside the park. When I was walking my friends dog, we went nearly every day to play in the park (sadly, we went in illegally. I say sadly because it's a beautiful public space that EVERYONE should be allow to use). It's one of the last tree filled spaces in UB!!! It looks to me like some buildings are going to be built on the corners of the park. Just last week, I noticed workmen taking apart the sidewalks inside the park. I hope they are renovating the park and not dismantling it to sell to private investors.
This is one of the last open spaces in the city and if it's developed Mongolians would be losing green space and a piece of culture. Last week I took a picture of the intricate wood sculptures that are being taking out of the ground. I think the wall around the park has blocked peoples vision so that they can't see what's happening. Hopefully whoever owns that poverty is thinking about the future and the environment. It could be a little "Central Park" in UB. Please feel free to comment if you know anything about the park.

Mongolia and Tibet

2008-04-03T15:10:00.002+08:00

I was reading the UB Post today and there is an opinion piece written by R. Dulmaa. This opinion column echoed some of the same things that I had been talking with my friends here about. For your information, Mongolia officially supports the "One China" policy. It's just a little food for thought...
A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed- R. Dulmaa
Thursday, April 03, 2008.
Being the “spiritual brothers and sisters” of Tibetan people and sharing history of faith in Tibetan Buddhism, one cannot but notice how unusually quiet has Mongolia been in response to the recent overwhelming wave of pro-Tibetan protests around world.Theoretically, it is not hard for Mongolians to resonate with anger and frustrations of Tibetans having ourselves tasted the bitterness of political oppression on religious rights during Communism. Moreover, the “cultural genocide” that Dalai Lama sees taking place in Tibet has in a lesser form once appeared in Mongolia as well, when Russian military, schools, shops were ubiquitous. In this period, Buddhist temples were emptied, monks prisoned or killed and the general message was “Buddhism is bad for you.”The recent years nevertheless saw some form of religious revival from the Mongolian side. The Dalai Lama, on the other side, has expressed much faith in the future of Buddhism in Mongolia. In fact, he said that Buddhist teachings can truly flourish in a democratic country—Mongolia being referred. His faith in Mongolians is supported by his numerous visits to Mongolia in the last few years. Even in his public talks in America, he calls out for Mongolians in the audience.

During his Mongolia visits, thousands flock to receive a blessing from him and equally many rush to monasteries on special occasions such as the Tsagaan Sar celebrations. Mongolia’s political figures are also seen there flaunting their best deels, showing off khadags and offerings.
And yet even when non-Buddhist heads from Europe and America are admonishing China, where have all the devoted Mongolians gone? Where are the outspoken parliament members? Where are temple heads? Where is the media? Ironically, even the Chinese community in Mongolia has issued a statement supporting the Tibet crackdown.
As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend in need.
The Dalai Lama perhaps has put too early and too much hope on Mongolia’s political maturity. R.Dulmaa is a graduate student at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California at Berkeley.

If yer gonna steal from me, do it right!

2008-03-31T15:07:00.001+08:00

Today I had an experience that made me so mad that I’m using my blog as an outlet to vent. I went to a bookstore to see what they had and I ended up buying a Mongolian magazine to send to a friend in the states. I was on my way to buy some food at the market so I had my backpack with me. I put the magazine in my otherwise empty backpack and went outside. Because there was virtually nothing in the backpack, I put it on my back. If there had been something valuable in it, I would have been wearing it on my front. I got stuck in between traffic and this 18 (Maybe 19) year old young man, tried to unzip my bag. Being aware, I felt it, broke through traffic, he followed and I turned around. Then I yelled and berated him in Mongolian (he was shocked). Luckily, he didn’t get anything as the only thing there was to get was a Cosmopolitan-esque Mongolian magazine. It just really pissed me off. This is the first time (this year) someone has tried to steal from me (that I know of). For me, it calls everything into question. I reminded myself not to let one failed mugging attempt effect me so drastically…The rest of my shopping experience went off without a hitch. I just hate to think of myself as a target just because I'm foreign, a woman, or wearing a backpack. Ugh!

North Korean Circus

2008-03-25T22:46:00.007+08:00

The North Korean circus was in town last week. A group of friends and I figured this was probably as close as we would ever get to North Korea, so we went to the Mongol Circus and checked it out.
Apparently Asashoruyu (Dagvadorj, the Mongolian Yokozuna sumo wrestler) bought and remodeled the wrestling palace. In his remodeling plan, he failed to think of people over 5 feet tall. None of us could fit in these seats. You think a sumo wrestler would have considered that.James demonstrating how difficult it was for him to fit.
The North Korean Circus was also a diplomatic venue as the President of Mongolia was sitting a few rows in front of us. Also in attendance was the "Ulaan Lama". He was in the row in front of us and is one of the most famous and respected Lamas in Mongolia. He is the guy who decides what dates Tsagaan Sar will be celebrated on based on astrology and other calculations.
The performance itself was great! It wasn't Cirque de Soleil, but it had it's moments of suspense and grandeur.

Where does your dog play?

2008-03-24T16:08:00.003+08:00

Pepa posing with the animal loving grandpa
A few flowers and a good scrub could really help.
Santi and Pepa playing by the zodiac signs
The dogs drinking fecal in the mote (not so healthy!)
Disgusting Pepa
I'm dog sitting for Pepa again. This time it's been really fun. My friend Brian is trying to socialize his Mongolian street dog, Santi and because Pepa is such a sweet heart, she has accepted Santi as a friend. It's also been great because I found a way into the Children's Park that has recently been fenced off. Apparently the president of Mongolian owns the Children's Park now and there is some discussion as to whether or not he intends to keep the park or develop the property. Considering that it's pretty much the last open "green" space in UB, I would vote for keeping it.
Right now it's kind of sad looking, but a little clean up and landscaping could go a long way! The Children's Park has a big castle with a mote around it in the center. The mote is currently home to what smells like raw sewage. On one of our park adventures, Pepa decided to lead Santi into the mote and get disgustingly dirty.
There is also a pack of dogs that "guards" the park. They usually hassle us on the way in and out. I just motion like I am going to throw a rock at them and they back off. The walk to the park is actually the most dangerous because we walk through a ger district where there are about 15 dogs that see Pepa as fresh meat.
The Santi/Pepa partnership is gonna be great when we start running with Hash House Harriers in a few weeks!

Bringing Central Asia Together with Plov

2008-03-13T21:07:00.011+08:00

Uccblk Kylb- Ulaanbataar, Mongolia
I convinced Christan to try the Uccblk restaurant tonight. To be honest, it didn't take much convincing as we were both eager to try some mutton with spices, which is pretty much what Uzbek and Kyrgyz food is as opposed to Mongolian food which is mutton without spices.
First we were both a little surprised by the strange spelling of Uzbek (Uccblk). We went inside and were greeted by a friendly Mongolian staff.
I was really excited to finally try some of the Central Asian food my family and friends have raved about for so long. I pretty much told Christian what we had to order. Once we got the menu we were treated to another surprise. Apparently the Uccblk Club is a Kyrgyz-centric restaurant (see pictures). When the waiter came he told us "we have kyrgyz lagman, kyrgyz plov, and kyrgyz beshbormak." I foolishly said "well, beshbormak is Kazakh food too, right?" To which he replied, "No, our chef is Kyrgyz." Long story short, we had a kyrgyz chef at the Uccblk restaurant make us lagman and plov in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. I guess it's not THAT strange, but you generally don't find other Central Asians in Mongolia.
Having never had lagman before, and only hearing Jake go on and on about how amazing the stuff was while searching the Buhkaran Jewish section of NYC during Passover only to find the lagman restaurant closed, really built up my expectations. Maybe the lagman tastes better in Bishkek, Kashgar, Tashkent, or New York. We deemed this lagman "Central Asian Spaghetti". It was muttony noodles. The Mongols have a similar dish called tsuivan. The plov, however, was very tasty. Christian remarked that it tasted like the plov his host mother in Buryatia. In my mind, that gave it extra bonus points.
Next time I'm going to try the upscale "Tashkent" restaurant. That's the other "Uzbek" restaurant in town. Then I can compare the plov! On the way out of Uccblk Club I peeked in the kitchen to try and steal a glimpse of the Kyrgyz chef, but to be honest, everyone in the kitchen looked Mongolian and was speaking Mongolian. Perhaps she is from the elusive Mongolian speaking minority supposedly living around Lake Issyk Kul....
Enjoy the photos!

"Jewish Salad"- Absolutely nothing about this salad looked Jewish to me.
Plov- MMmmmMMmmm
A bit about Kyrgyzstan, in Russian , at the Uccblk Club, in Mongolia
Pictures of Issyk Kul and the beautiful city of Bishkek
"Kyrgyz" food
Central Asian Spaghetti-AKA Lagman

You know it's spring when...

2008-03-10T22:02:00.002+08:00

Technically, spring has arrived. When Tsaagan Sar ends, this marks the beginning of spring. I must admit, the first hints of spring are around:
I can go outside wearing just a pair of jeans (no long underwear).
I finally retired my fur hat for the season.
I went for a jog OUTSIDE around Sukhbataar Square in the morning (it was still a windy 10F).
All the ice skating rinks in UB are more like icy pools.
I don't smell quite so much like a chimney when I come in from outside.
I can see more than a mile in the morning.
I've been reassured that the ger districts actually DO exist (couldn't see them through the smoke since October).
The smell of urine thawing (especially around building corners) has begun to permeate through the air.
I've seen people riding bicycles.
There is talk of people checking in the hospital to "rest" (common spring practice).
People seem to have forgotten how awful and cold winter is.
I was even able to take a hike with some pals on Saturday just outside UB. The mountains were a little snowy and I was a little breathless, but it was a beautiful day and it reminded me of how pretty this place can be.
The long, ugly UB winter definitely has an effect on the psyche. I might be jinxing myself, but I hope it stays nice, calm, and with highs in the upper 40s, for a few weeks. It will give me strength before the dust storms!

Geocaching

2008-03-01T23:38:00.002+08:00

Somewhere in the middle of the taiga in Hovsgol province, my sister jokingly said "Wow, this would be a good place to hide some stuff for geocaching." Naturally, I had no idea what geocaching was. My sister explained that people with GPS hide stuff, put the coordinates on the web and people hunt for the cache. I did some research and found out that people have actually hidden stuff around Lake Hovsgol (November 2006/February 2007) that has not been found. If only we would have had a GPS!!! Who knows what treasures we may have uncovered?
http://www.geocaching.com/
Honestly, I think it's fascinating that people spend time doing this. Is there anyone who reads my blog who has actually done this? I would love for you to comment.

more!

2008-02-24T14:03:00.005+08:00

A few more pics and videos.

Thirsty!
The mighty Mongolian Naval vessel-Sukhbaatar
Bumpy road/ Sleigh Ride on Lake Hovsgol

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

2008-02-23T20:21:00.011+08:00

Meg, checks out the ice on Lake Hovsgol. Verdict-STRONG
Frozen lakes are scarier when you can see the bottom.
Annie and Andrew hanging in the ger-Hovsgol
I got too tired to put the pics in the right order. Hopefully the captions help.

Map of Hovsgol
I'm going to attempt to tell you all about what might have been the coolest trip of my life. Sadly, the pictures do it no justice and no descriptive words can quite describe what it was like.
Megan, Andrew and I decided that February was a great time to go to the Eastern Taiga, in Northern Hovsgol Province, Mongolia. We flew to Moron (te he he) and spent a night there. What is a "cheese restaurant"?-Moron, Hovsgol Aimag
The next morning we set out with our driver, Renchin, and our cook, Baagi. We used Hovsgol Travel to assist in planning this trip and here is a big plug for them: everything was well organized and we highly recommend them should you choose to visit Mongolia. That aside, we started out on a journey that took us from Moron to 30km northwest of Tsaagan Nuur (see map). "Where the hell is that?" you might ask, "back and beyond the furthest point EVER" i would say. It took about 11 hours to drive the 290km (you should be gasping now). That's because the "road" (generous term) does not really exist. While we were driving we tried to think of ways to describe it. The best thing we can up with was "bucking bronco-roller coaster". I'm gonna put a video up.
Annie Rocked Ulan-Uul...have you??
Yak. Not to be confused with a "cak" or a "yattle"
Ovoo and Mountains
Andrew and the reindeerUlaana and Meg in the taiga
I must say, even though there were points were I was sure my internal organs were bleeding, the journey was beautiful and exciting and the destination was heaven-like. We drove on frozen rivers and lakes (nice roads!) and stopped in sleepy, frozen soums (2000 people or less). It truly was an adventure. We spent a few days with the Tsaatan, Mongolia's reindeer herders. We enjoyed nature, slept in teepee's, played with the kids and gawked at semi-domesticated reindeer. One of the funnier bits about being with the reindeer is that every time you tried to pee, you'd get a reindeer friend poking you in the crotch or butt, ready to eat the lichen that your urine would uncover. Consequently, this made going #2 challenging....enough about that. At night, I slept on a reindeer skin, covered in a sheepskin deel. Cool people wear sheep to bed.
Mind you, it was bitterly cold at night. We all managed to stay warm (Baagi kept the fire going all night).
Freeze drying clothes
The lesser known "Annimal"
Playin in theTiaga
Tsaatan dwellings
Entertaining myselfThe inner workings.
Somehow we managed to get back into the car and take a different route back to Lake Hovsgol. We went through Renchinlumbe soum (see map) Soum life in Renchinlumbe
where we stopped at our drivers friends house. While inside the house I was checking out the pictures on the wall only to find at picture of my old Peace Corps friend. Oddly, he had never been to Renchinlumbe and was apparently a friend of the sister of the owner of the house, yet he made the photo wall!
We made it to Lake Hovsgol a few hours shy of sunset. It was gorgeous. The craziest thing about the lake is that the water is SOOOO clear, that even in it's frozen state, you can see straight to the bottom. The ice must have been frozen 4 or 5 feet solid. As soon as we started driving on the ice, Rechin stopped the car so we could check out the ice. I was initially scared of driving several hours on the ice, but once I saw how thick and mighty it was, I had no fear. We made it to our ger camp and spent the next nights in a traditional Mongolian ger. During the day there we walked on the lake and through the woods. We caught a full moon, and listened to amazing "lake thunder" (when lakes freeze they make noise that sounds like thunder). We took a sleigh-ride on the lake too, definitely one of the highlights.
A ger with a viewClearly frozen Lake hovsgol
To be honest, as I write this I'm getting kind of sad. This in no way details the awesome things we saw and did. Maybe Andrew said it better. Check his blog: regalviszla for more description, pictures, videos and a different view!
Videos to come....

Specialized Milk for China Cosmonaut

2008-02-04T22:33:00.000+08:00

Click on this picture to read the fine print
My roommate and I decided to try some "MonMilk". It markets itself as "specialized milk for China cosmonaut", so I figured it was worth a shot. The company also makes "walnut" and "breakfast" flavored milk. I've seen the ads for those, but have yet to try them.
Check out the MonMilk (made in Inner Mongolia) website: http://www.mengniu.com.cn/en/
Apparently they are a "well known brand in the world." They also use "explosive boiling technology". I have no idea what that is, but it sounds intergalactic!

Sometimes other people take better pictures

2008-02-04T15:27:00.000+08:00

Kazakh man answering questions while eagle takes a break
Eagles are REALLY big
Beautiful Terelj National Park
The Eagle catches the hare
I've swiped these pictures form my friend Christian. His blog is linked on the side there. Thanks Christian!

Eagles in the capital

2008-02-03T10:00:00.000+08:00

Terelj National Park, just outside UB
Me, nervous about holding an eagle (THEY ARE HEAVY!)
Eagle hunter heading back up the hill
look at those wings
Eagle hunter posing majestically
Christian being taught a thing or two
Ryan and Natasha-Kazakh royalty
Yesterday I attended the first Kazakh eagle hunting event in UB. The story, as told to me by a credible source, is that the Kazakh MP was sick of people in UB saying that it was too far to travel to Bayan-Olgii (Western Mongolia) for the Eagle Fest, so he asked some of the hunters to come to UB. I must say, I was pretty negative about going. First off, I've been to Olgii and seen an eagle up close and personal. I felt like this would just be too touristy...and I was right! It was pretty touristy, but getting out of the city pollution, and experiencing a fascinating piece of Kazakh culture was worth it. It was nice to be standing in a group of people, in a familiar place, but not being able to understand a word that was being said (they were speaking Russian and Kazakh).
In case you didn't know, Mongolia has a small Kazakh minority that lives in Western Mongolia, specifically Bayan-Olgii province, although not exclusively. When I visited Kazkhstan in 2005, the joke was that if you really want to see Kazakh culture, don't go to Kazakhstan, go to Bayan-Olgii or Urumqi, China.
Pictures say it best, so here are a few
Where am I in Central Asia?
Eagle hunters all lined up
Playing "who can hold on to the goat carcass"
Eagle, on the right just below the mountain peak, soaring through the air.

Preparing for Tsaagan Sar

2008-01-30T15:14:00.001+08:00

Ice covered sidewalk, just outside Parliament. I doubt the Parliamentarians walk to work

Fishy ice sculpture in Sukhbaatar Square.Tsaagan Sar market-FAT tailed sheep, outside the Lenin Museum aka Freedom Square
Tsaagan Sar Market- Milk vendors

As promised, here are some nice pictures of life in Ulaanbaatar.
Well, Actually the first one is not so nice. I fall nearly every day here. Everyone does, or they just slip and slide their way down the sidewalk. In the middle of all the sidewalks here, the ice is smooth and black from people literally sliding wherever they are going. It makes it really treacherous for those of us who just want to walk normally.
I was showing a friend around town today and I suggested we check out the Tsaagan Sar market. I don't think he had every seen so many animal carcasses just hanging out of the backs of cars! Some of the dead sheep had come from far Western Mongolia. As every good Mongol knows, meat tastes different from different parts of the country. I, however, can't tell the difference between mutton from Uvs or mutton from Khenti. The Tsaagan Sar market also had all kinds of white food: arrul, uruum, and other dairy product delicacies.
I also showed my friend the giant bust of Lenin that is inside the old museum. They are currently doing renovations in there, but I think the bust is gonna stay. Maybe it'll be a dance club or something!
V.I. Lenin and I inside the Lenin Museum

Waiting to inhale

2008-01-29T15:53:00.000+08:00

My courtyard with the garbage collection in the a.m., pollution looming.

Rounding the corner, trying not to inhaleVisibility, less than a mile

If the pollution wasn't there you would see a ger district in the hills.
I promise I'll write something that shows this city in a positive light soon! I think the winter blues are getting me. The mornings are the worst here. No one wants to leave the house because the air is so bad. I go to the gym everyday to get rid of my excess energy and to clear my head for thesis writing. Perhaps I'll take some pictures at the gym! I took these pics this morning around 10am. The taxi driver actually encouraged me to take pictures. I told him that my friends didn't understand how bad the pollution problem is here.
Usually by the middle of the day it clears up a bit, only to get awful again at night.
I can't wait to get outta the city!

Why I'm called Ulaana

2008-01-23T13:52:00.000+08:00

Some people call me Ulaana because of my red hair. Other people call me Ulaana because of my red cheeks!

I took some cold weather pics. After walking home today, I ran inside, grabbed my camera and headed for my balcony. It's a start! I think I'll take the camera outside of my home today! I know I lived here for 2 years before, but I guess I forgot how cold -40F actually is. To be honest, after -10F it all feels the same to me...unless there is wind. The worst thing about living in UB in this weather is the pollution. As you can see in the picture, that haze is pure smoke. The smoke comes from gers, cars, and coal burning power plants. This picture was taken at 11:30 am. Just for reference, in the summer, you can see the mountains in the distance. In the winter, I'm lucky if I can see the building across from mine!
I still love it here for some odd reason. I was at the disco on Saturday night and a Mongolian man turned to me and in English said, "it's Mongolia, you never know what's gonna happen." He said it!

Thick Blood

2008-01-22T09:40:00.001+08:00

It's been a while since I wrote anything. I haven't succumb to vodka poisoning , although there are still 750 bottles of poison vodka somewhere in this country. The speculation is that herders bought those bottles and because herders live in very remote places, they may not know that they have been recalled. YIKES.
Winter weather has really hit Mongolia with a vengeance in the past week or so. Records were broken all over the country last week for lows. Usually at this time of year it starts to warm up at the end of the "9 sets of 9". During the first set of 9, cows horns freeze. There are different indicators throughout the 9's. Somewhere in the middle vodka freezes, and then it gets warmer with different warm weather indicators. The city folks I live around laugh when I bring up the 9's, but in the countryside, following the 9's is serious business. All I know is that it's 9:45am and it's -31F. Yuck.
I promise to take some winter pics of UB for you all to see. It's just that it's so cold and to take off my gloves and expose my hands is frightening. I'll have to get a little fur coat for my camera too.

Vodka free Tsagaan Sar?

2008-01-10T22:39:00.000+08:00

Tsagaan Sar (White Month) is coming up, and police and politicians are appealing to the people to think twice about drinking vodka. My Tsagaan Sar experiences have been so vodka soaked, it's hard to imagine a celebration here without it. However, the general consensus is that it might actually be MORE enjoyable if you are not being forced to drink.
Below is an article from the UB Post
Illegal Vodka Production Uncovered in Police Raid

Written by Ch.Sumiyabazar
Thursday, January 10, 2008.
An illegal vodka distilling factory in the Songinokhairkhan District of Ulaanbaatar was discovered in a police raid last Sunday. The Uurag Altai company, whose operation license was halted two years ago, was found distilling vodka with the fake label “Morit Khangai”, whose vodka has killed 14 people and hospitalized dozens of others. Also found were 200 liters of chemicals used in producing vodka, fake covers and print labels. “The small room where this business was conducted was horrible, small, and had a terrible stench. A container used for mixing chemicals was unclean. There were no safety or hygienic standards at all,” said a police officer. Last week, two additional deaths were reported due to tainted vodka produced by the Asian Wolf company in Baganuur District that killed eleven people on New Year’s Eve. The deaths followed an emergency situation banning sales, distribution and bottling of alcoholic products in the metropolitan area. More than 60 people are receiving medical treatment in local hospitals in Baganuur, around 30 are in UB hospital due to poisoning. Relatives and families of those who died, received compensation of Tg900,000 each by the Government. Chief officers of the professional inspection agency and local police department of the Baganuur District were released from their posts and held responsible for the situation. The Government of Mongolia last Friday invalidated production licenses of 11 alcohol producers including: Akhmadiin Khuch Cooperative, Mon Service, Gazriin Sudas, Tasiin OD, En Trade, Nomin, Lenda, Mongolyn Alt, Durvun Khangai, Setgeshgui Tergel, and Gun Galuut companies. In addition, production of 44 alcohol-bottling companies has been suspended for an indefinite period. The Government has said that a number of laws on vodka production will be tightened in an effort to reduce illegal alcohol production and marketing. Several laws will be amended including those on commercial advertising, telecommunications, public radio and television, the application process for a special license of operation, and laws against drunkenness. The Deputy Premier M.Enkhbold, appealed to the public not to celebrate the upcoming holiday, Tsagaan Sar lunar new year, with vodka. The city Mayor’s office, together with the metropolitan police department, raided all vodka businesses in the city and closed down 3,949 shops temporarily, where 39,400 liters of vodka were seized, sealed down 1.2 million bottles of vodka, and shut down the operation of 11 distillers. “The local authority is buying specifically labeled vodkas from local individuals and destroying them,” said G.Gerelmaa, an officer of the district government. She denied recent media reports that said the drinking water and sanitation system of the district was polluted due to people disposing of toxic vodka. Inhalation, ingestion or skin absorption of methanol is extremely dangerous to humans and ingestion is fatal. It is hazardous to the kidney, liver and heart. Exposure may cause serious eye damage including blindness. A number of workers from the Asian Wolf vodka distilling company were hospitalized, as they were bottling the tainted alcohol. “The Director General of the company, S.Monkhbat, is also in the hospital from drinking the poisoned vodka he produced,” said Gerelmaa. Also, two police officers came back to Ulaanbaatar hospitalized after they worked in Baganuur, loading trucks with poisonous vodkas. “Seven men are under investigation in connection with the importation of 600 liters of methanol, industrial strength alcohol,” said M.Ganbold, Chief of the General Police Department. After the strict ban was enforced, the police said crime rate dropped dramatically. The Metropolitan Police Department said it has lifted bans in small number of shops in Ulaanbaatar, but the full ban in Baganuur District continues.

Poison Vodka

2008-01-07T11:09:00.000+08:00

Currently there is a prohibition on alcohol in Ulaanbaatar. I heard that 20 people died from poison vodka. The government decided that since they didn't know where it was coming from, they would suspend the sale of ALL alcohol (the article below says just vodka) until it gets cleared up. It's been a major topic of conversation. I had 2 taxi drivers tell me how nice this city is without drunks around. I must say, this is definitely a different city booze-free. It works out ok for me as I am sick and taking antibiotics,so I can't drink anyway...not that I would want to on Monday morning!
from the Australia News Agency:
ELEVEN new year revellers in Mongolia died and dozens more fell seriously ill after drinking vodka that contained industrial alcohol.
The incident has led to a temporary ban on selling vodka - the nation's favourite alcoholic drink - in the capital Ulan Bator, where the tainted liquor was purchased, Mayor Tudev Bilegt said.
The 11 people died shortly after drinking the vodka on New Year's Eve, while at least 35 others were taken to hospital suffering from poisoning, the National Emergency Management Agency said.
Two of the patients were in a critical condition, according to officials at the Central Military Hospital, where the most seriously poisoned were taken.
Authorities did not give details as to who the victims were, but television reports said many of them were at the same New Year's Eve party.
The killer vodka is believed to have come from one company, which produces eight different brands, according to the government's inspection agency. The agency warned all Mongolians to avoid buying those labels.
The inspection agency said the company mixed an industrial alcohol into the vodka, and that as many as 3000 litres of the killer product could have been made.
Mr Bilegt said the ban on all vodka would remain in place until an investigation was concluded into how and why the poisoned alcohol was made and got onto the streets.
Local press reports said one man had already been arrested for selling the industrial alcohol to the vodka company, although authorities had not confirmed this.

I had a very Russian New Year...in Mongolistan!

2008-01-03T21:56:00.000+08:00

At the stroke of midnight-celebrating!
Filipino cover band, at Strings, in Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA!
My friends and I decided to go to Strings, a club in UB for New Years Eve. We had contortionists, clowns, and a Filipino cover band for entertainment. I should say, it was a mostly Filipino cover band, as the bass player was from Colombia. The most interesting part for me (aside from the dancing and drinking I did) was the amount of Russians and/or Russian speakers at the club. Every person who talked to me started in Russian, and then stared at me blankly when I responded in Mongolian telling them I didn't speak Russian. I guess we were all making assumptions. As it turns out, most of the people I was befriending were in fact Russian Buryats. Buryats are a Mongolian tribe that are mainly concentrated in, or around Ulan Ude in Russia. A few of the encounters were awkward as Buryats are ethnically Mongolian, so I was speaking to them and get really weird looks back. There were some Mongolian Buryats there to bridge the gap, but it was funny to be talking to someone, assuming you have some shared language, only to find out that you don't. All in all it was a fun New Years party. My new Moldovan-American friend actually won a bottle of champagne in the raffle (see video below).
So I have 2 videos for you. The first is the Filipino band appeasing the majority Russian crowd by playing this Russian pop song that I hear everyday. They even invited a Russian lady on stage to sing with them. Sorry I don't know who sings this song, maybe my Russian friends can fill in the blank here...

The next video is "Edgardo Elegante" accepting his award!

Happy 2008 Everyone!

Nothing says "Christmas" like end of the season airag

2007-12-26T13:13:00.000+08:00

Peace
Brian pouring the airag
Christmas is a hard time of year to be away from family, but somehow we managed to celebrate in style. I made some Christmas cookies which my family calls "snowballs" but apparently are also called, "sandies" and "russian tea cakes". We had tons of food, egg nog (homemade), and loads of libations. The best cultural fusion came when Brian brought out the old oil canister that was full of end of the season airag. End of the season airag is a bit tangier than airag you get at other times of year. Nearly all of us partook in a bowl of the delicious, fermented mare's milk. This airag was given to Brian as a gift from a friend...lucky him! This was definitly not your average Christmas party. We also sang Christmas carols, accompanied by Mike on the Morin khuur. It was a hybrid, cosmopolitan, party for sure with people of several ethnicities and nationalities represented. All in all it was a good time, and a lovely way to spend Christmas. The perfect Mongolian gingerbread house

Central Asian Jam Session

2007-12-23T13:19:00.000+08:00

Rocking, cross-culturally
A former Fulbright Fellow, Mike, came back to Mongolia for work and a visit...we were all lucky he did! Mike is a musician and ethnomusicologist. When he was here before he studied the Mongolian Moriin Khuur, or horse head fiddle. He called up some of his old teachers, friends, and some students that he knows from Hohot (the capital of Inner Mongolia where he is currently residing) and had a jam session. Some of the students are from Xinjiang, Western China. They are Chahar Mongols, a different tribe from the Khalkha Mongols that live here in Outer Mongolia. Because two of the young men grew up in Xinjiang, they speak Uighur, Kazakh, Mongolian and Chinese. They also play the dombra, a famous Kazakh instrument. One of the guys is great at Khoomi , Mongolian throat singing. All of these young men are students at the Dance and Music University here in Ulaanbataar, and the older men are teachers of Mongolian traditional instruments.
The jam session was such a wonderful fusion of Central Asian culture, with a little bit of twangy American rock and blues thrown in. I took some clips, hopefully they will load up for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Come on Dalai light my fire (bad joke)

2007-12-18T22:45:00.000+08:00

The 14th Dalai Lama (Dalai meaning: Ocean or infinite in Mongolian) is on my matchbox. When I saw these matches in the store, I wondered if they were officially sanctioned by the Dalai Lama, or if he even knew that his picture graces the cover of matchboxes in Mongolia. I heard the Dalai Lama speak last year, and something tells me he would find this really amusing. He seemed to laugh about everything!

It's a small world afterall

2007-12-13T12:31:00.000+08:00

Making "big bird" prints in HovdYou know it's cold when the cat, who is covered in fur, sleeps on the radiator.

This is a P.S. to other other part of the Hovd story. I forgot to mention that in Hovd I met a guy who lives in UB and works for a prominent NGO that happens to have grown up in a neighborhood about 10 minutes from mine in Chicago. It was a strange discovery especially when we realized that we actually know some of the same people. There we were, meeting for the first time in a town of 35,000 people in Western Mongolia. CRAZY!

The other strange thing that happened was on the plane back to UB. I was sitting next to Kazakh woman who was with an Iranian bussinessman. We exchanged pleasantries (In several languages), talked about Sharon Stone and Denzel Washington and went our separate ways. Yesterday I was at the "Ikh Delguur", directly translated: BIG Store, but people call it The State Department Store, and I ran into the Iranian guy, and the Kazakh woman. The man walked right up to me and said "You are from America? We are friends." I agreed that we were in fact friends. He continued by saying "the politics are between Bush and Ahmadinejad" I agreed again and wished him well. Upon reflection I guess that really was the elephant in the room. As an American, you never know how yer gonna be received by people aboard, luck for me this guy separated policy and people!

And now, some more pictures of Hovd:

Winter Meat- the people in the distance are slaughtering a cow for winter meat

The Hovd Theater
Cow in the gutter and (upper left corner) "Bakery King" sign based on the Burger King logo

"X-Men" Mini-market and store

HOVD!

2007-12-11T20:41:00.000+08:00

Rocking the Trader Joe's bag outside the Hovd Theater
I just got back from Hovd, Western Mongolia, one of my research sites. The one thing that really differentiates Hovd from the rest of Mongolia is that fact that most of the restaurants serve "haluun chinjew" paste. Mongolian food is generally salty and bland, but this stuff can spice up anything! As my father would say, "it makes a rabbit spit in a bulldogs face."

Red Pepper Paste-Thank you China!

This was my first trip to Hovd and I was lucky enough to have some Peace Corps connections. As an RPCV, I was able to contact the volunteers who were staying in Hovd and stay with them in exchange for green vegetables which I purchased in UB and brought out to Hovd. In the winter Hovd has a very limited fruit and vegetable selection, so the volunteers were so excited to eat fresh veggies. They were also very helpful in setting up connections and interviews with locals.

Hovd is "considered remote even by Mongolian standards" according to Wikipedia! That's really amusing. I would say that it's a pretty standard Mongolian aimag (provinical) center. In the summer it's know for it's watermelons and cantaloupe, unfortunately I saw none of that. One notable thing is that there are some Kazakh people who live in Hovd, and I must say that hearing Kazakh was refreshing as I am usually surrounded by Mongolian speakers. Plus, I got to buy some beautiful Kazakh wallhangings, purses and pillowcases! The fun fact I learned about Hovd is that the rich families (all 2 of them) spend their weekends in Urumqi (Western China). I heard that with 2 drivers you can make it there in 24 hours! I bet that's where the red pepper paste comes from.

It snowed 3 of the days that I was in Hovd which is really unusual for such a dry place. It was really cold (to be expected) and the remarkable thing is that even though the power plant seems to be chugging coal, none of the buildings were warm inside...bad insulation. I was just happy that the hot water was working.

My research went really well and I got to check out the "city". The most insane (aside from the usual insanity) part came at 7:45 this morning when I airline called and said that check-in was over and the plane was leaving at 8am. It was supposed to leave at 10:20, but they pushed it up, and some how the foreigners never got the message. Some of the Peace Corps volunteers were also going to UB and we all hurried to make the flight. One guy lives in a Mongolian ger, so he had a variety of chores he had to complete to "close up" the ger. We got a local car on the street and with the airport in sight, the car started to fail, it was almost out of gas. So we sat in this car, going at a snails pace hoping the airplane didn't take off. Once we got to the airport, it became apparent that we weren't the only ones who hadn't gotten the message. Needless to say, we made the flight and made it safely to UB.

I took some photos in Hovd and here are the ones you might enjoy.

Downtown Hovd

An ass outside the Freedom Disco. Photo credit: S. WedlakeOne of the Secondary Schools in Hovd

Play time in the courtyard

The "Vibrator" Bar

I'll post some more pictures later when the internet speeds up!

Rock!

2007-11-27T13:31:00.000+08:00

The Lemons. Photo credit J. Sandhu

The Lemons play every Monday night here in UB at the Grand Khan Irish Pub. It's a real Irish pub (they even serve Guinness), but a hell of a lot cleaner than the pubs are in Ireland. The Lemons are my favorite Mongolian band. They are very hip, Indie rock guys. If you read my blog, you've read about them before. Judging by the looks on the faces of many in the crowd, I'm not sure Mongolians are really into this style of music. They seem to prefer slow songs about their homeland and mothers, like Javhlan sings. The Lemons managed to play a bunch of my favs and they covered Queen and Radiohead. It was cool to see them rocking out. It reminded me of home...except everyone at the pub was sitting down.

Gobbled

2007-11-23T12:09:00.000+08:00

Delicious, home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner (Photo credits: S. Munson)

Being in UB has it's perks. For example, I got to eat green vegetables, go to combat class, and celebrate Thanksgiving with my friends! I hadn't planned on being in UB this week, but the flights were all booked up so I have to wait until December to finsh my research in the countryside. Currently there is only one airline flying domestically and the planes seat about 40 people. I'm not a glutton for punishment so I mentally said "no" to the possibility of taking a 3 days car ride (that might turn into 6 days if you factor in breakdowns and flat tires) to Hovd.

Yesterday my friends and I threw together a pretty good thanksgiving. My friend S and I went grocery shopping and found sweet potatoes, which are called "chikerte tomc" or potatoes with sugar in Mongolian. We even managed to find one can of cream of mushroom soup! This was a huge find because it was surrounded by 40 cans of chicken noodle soup and we didn't think we'd be able to find it anywhere. S and I cooked all day. We ended up with: mashed potatoes, biscuits, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, biscotti, and apple crisp, all made from scratch. The boys brought fried chicken (closest you can get to turkey) from BBQ chicken (A Korean fast food chicken joint). One person brought Chinese chicken in a bag. Which has to be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. It's literally a whole chicken, cooked and vacuum packed into a bag. When you take it out it's all slimy and you can seen the head. Minus turkey and pumpkin pie, it was still a great time, celebrated with good friends.

SICK-Chicken in a bag

SICKER-Chicken outta the bag

Leaving Choibalsan

2007-11-20T14:27:00.000+08:00

Choibalsan City!

I love the countryside. It never ceases to amaze me. It keeps you on yer toes. During my time in the Peace Corps here, I found a full porcupine back (the skin and quills) stuck into a window in my apartment. I was walking out of my friends apartment where I’m currently staying and I noticed a patch of porcupine quills above the door. My friends say that it protects them from evil. I asked around and many of my Mongolian friends have porcupine quills. It’s actually quite normal to have a few quills wrapped in red string in a safe place in your house. This is also a protectorate. I have no idea when this started, or who decided that the porcupine was special, so if you can fill in the gaps, please do. I run into these religious (Buddhist, Shamanistic) or traditional trinkets all over the place. While staying at my friend’s house I was asked to circle burning incense around my body 3 times. This incense was blessed by the Lamas and is supposed to keep my body healthy. Let’s hope it works!
I’m pretty excited to go back to the city for a few days so that I can eat something other than salt, mutton, and flour. I'm gonna miss everyone here. I promised to come back in the spring or summer to visit again. Soon I'm off to the western part of the country, Hovd Aimag.
Some Choibalsan pics for you to enjoy!

The sun coming up over the steppe in ChoibalsanThe main drag

Breakfast: Mutton bones, boov, and milk teaThe view from Bayaraa's window

Holy Days

2007-11-19T11:52:00.000+08:00

Entrance to the Monastery in Choibalsan
The picture that was above me
Prayer flags and Buddha

After a Saturday night at the Disco spent dancing to Modern Talking, I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to go to the Monastery to celebrate Shiini Nam (New 8). It was explained to me that this is the most auspicious day in the Tibetan winter calendar. Basically, the monks have the worshippers light 108 candles and they chant from the scriptures until the candles go out. The mother-in-law of the people I’m staying with was in charge of making the candles and preparing the offerings for Buddha. The candles were made with “Shar toc” (yellow oil) which is basically this fatty, cheesy smelling product that looks like butter, but tastes and smells like rotting dairy products. She also bought cookies and candy bars (Buddha’s favorite). Because my family was part of the preparation, we went to the Monastery at 8am to set up. My friends set everything up while the grandma’s told them where to put everything.
Preparing everything for the ceremony
I had a chance to sit back and watch the Lama’s get everything in working order. The Lama’s varied in age. The youngest was around 10 and the oldest in his 70s. Around 9:30 everything was set and all the Lama’s had arrived, so we went outside to start the procession in.
The Procession into the Monastery

At this point the youngest Lama’s went and started the call to prayer. They blow into these big seashells to let everyone know it’s starting. We went inside, the Lama’s, started chanting, the faithful lit 108 candles and we prayed. As we sat there, lots of people were filing in and out of the ger monastery. One Lama sat on either side of the ger and people would come in, offer money, and hand over a list of prayers to the Lama who would then say a special prayer for them and bless them. Note: all of the scriptures are written in Sanskrit and read in Tibetan. So, no one has any idea what is being said. I imagine it’s how Catholics feel when the Latin mass is read. Nonetheless, the chanting is absolutely enchanting and I found myself getting lost and wrapped up in it.
The Lama's chanting

I stayed for 3 hours, at which point my friend and I left. His wife and mother-law-stayed for 3 more hours until the candles had burned out. I was actually surprised at how many young people I saw attending services at the Monastery. Generally people here aren't actively religious, but elements of Buddhism survived the Stalinst purges of the 1930s. During Socialist times people practiced in secert. Most of the Mongolians I know say they aren't religious, but they still have their homes blessed and purified by Lamas, and they keep other sacred things in their homes. Most of them confess to only going to the Monastery on the big holy days.

My stay in Choibalsan is coming to an end. It's been really great on the research front and being in the countryside again has been refreshing. It is funny though, my friends who live in Choibalsan don't actually consider this the countryside. They maintain that the countryside is 20km outside of Choibalsan. An interesting part of my research has been this idea of "the countryside" and where and how people define the "countryside" and the people who live in it. But that's a whole other lofty academic issue that I won't bore you with.

Here is a clip of the Lama's chanting

Don't hit your students!

2007-11-16T15:56:00.000+08:00

I found this picture that tells teachers not to hit their pupils. I echo this sentiment and favor other types of punishment, and/or positive reinforcements.
There are a few cultural points to this picture that I'm certain anyone who has ever taught or attended school in Mongolia, Russia, or Central Asia can immediately identify. First is the "pot holder" looking thing hanging on the left side of the chalk board. This is used to erase the board, and/or to put water on the board. Sometimes the chalk has to be wet in order for it to write on the board. The second notable thing is the students uniforms. The girl has on the "french maid" uniform with large bows in her hair and the boy a suit. This is how students dress for school on special occasions, or if the class director tells them to do so.

Bottom line, don't hit kids!

The Wild West of the East

2007-11-12T15:05:00.000+08:00

Kid getting water from the river with a little help from his friends

Me, friends, and cute 1/2 naked children
Freak snowstorm in Choibalsan: A place that's a little bit "country" and a little bit "rock n' roll"Camel carts share the road with cars
Mostly frozen Kherlen River in Choibalsan

The beautiful city of Choibalsan, as seen from the river in the morning.
Some things have changed in Choibalsan over the last 2 years. For example, there is now reliable, relatively high speed Internet. I can't watch Youtube videos, but it's just as good as my connection in UB.

Being here again is kind of strange. It's almost as if I never left. I surprised a bunch of friends who told me that they thought they would never see me again.It's been really nice to reconnect with people.
I've been pretty busy with interviews and research. I've really been employing some "high level" thinking skills out here. In addition to all of my academic endeavors, I was asked to judge the English competition at the Dornod Aimag Courthouse. consequently, I am staying with one of the judges. He organized the competition and as a favor to him I agreed to be the "foreign expert". There were 4 teams: North star, Five Fingers of a Hand, BINGO, and Venus. They chose the team names. They had to do an introduction, sing a song, Q and A, and name that word. Overall, it was pretty entertaining for me. I had adults trying to impress me with their English skills. Honestly, judging this competition of adults wasn't that far from the students competitions I used to judge when I was a teacher here. Competitions are very much a part of life here and that doesn't stop at grade 11. Additionally none of the competitors actually spoke English. They all studied Russian. That added another element of humor as I tried to decipher English words pronounced Russian style with Mongolian accents.
Annie and team "Bingo" the winners of the Courthouse English Competition

Me, laying down the law I've also been walking around the town and checking things out. Last week and this weekend have been pretty warm (in the 40sF), so I was able to go out running in the morning by the river and chat with the old folks as they do their morning exercises. There must have been an influx of missionaries here in the past 2 years, because nearly every person I met asks if I am a "Jesus person". I tell em I'm just a "zugeer" or "OK" person. that seems to settle it. A herder approached me here the other day. He was so curious about who I was and since he was staring at me I said "what?" Once he heard me speak Mongolian, I got 1000 questions concerning my availability, marriage status, and whether or not I had children. He made sure I knew what soum he lives in in case I wanted to come and see, and as we went our separate ways he shouted "I love you."

The cutest white bull in the whole aimag-"Tsaagana"

An Update from "the field"

2007-11-09T16:12:00.000+08:00

Since Jaspal commented that I actually do have pretty good Internet out here, I'm gonna briefly update you all now and add the pics once I'm back in UB.
So this is my first time back to Choibalsan, the city I lived in for 2 years from 2003-2005. I must say, not a lot has changed. There are a few new buildings and stores, but the heart and soul of Choibalsan is the same. I think I forgot how "countryside" this place actually is. I think living in UB...Oh, i have to finish that thought later because a Mormon Elder interrupted to ask if I had "seen the light of Jesus Christ, our savior...." I told him that I can barely see any light through the smog in UB, but perhaps "the light" shines in Choibalsan. We then got into a discussion about "secret underwear", cultural reciprocity and paternalism. He invited me to spend 4 hours in church on Sunday, but I think I'll be worshipping at the church of mutton and vodka out by the river with my friends...."where one or 2 are gathered in my name, I am present."

I'm going to the countryside

2007-11-05T16:40:00.000+08:00

In true researcher style, I'm taking off for 6 weeks to go into "the field". It's kinda funny because I'm really already in "the field", but it seems like when people talk about field research, they literally mean going into "the bush" (or field). A couple of people have recently said to me, "well, when are you goin into the field"? It's a hard question because technically, I'm already in "the field" doing interviews, observations, and other things that researchers do :) My "field" just happens to be an urban center at the moment. So, I like to say that I'm now entering the countryside portion of my fieldwork. Now that I'm done explaining that, I'd like you all to turn your attention to my friend Jaspal's blog (www.jaspal.typepad.com). Jaspal has documented his time in "the field" in Mongolia and offers really interesting and insightful comments about his research here. Plus, he takes great pictures! So I might be MIA for a few weeks. Check my blog now and again because I may have some access to decent Internet connections in "the field".

Strange affirmations and wolves

2007-10-30T20:46:00.000+08:00

"I love to have fun. I love my family and friends. I love this beautiful planet earth. The reason why I chose this car is because it will totally satisfy my requirements for outdoor living. Well...tomorrow where shall we go?" I took a picture of this car outside my apartment the other day. I've seen it a couple times and was hoping to catch a picture of it. It's just too funny and ironic.
I was lucky enough to still have my camera on me to catch the next 2 shots. Look closely...what is that ball of fur curled up under the balcony? Look! Just to the right of the "hot pot" sign.... It's a wolf carcass. That's right, a wolf. It's not the first dead wolf I've seen in Mongolia, it's just the first on I've seen in UB (on the building next to 2 ministry offices). In Choibalsan I used to see wolf carcasses for sale at the market, and once or twice a carcass from a recent hunt tied to a car hood or roof. Mongolians have an interesting relationship with the wolf. They see the wolf as this cunning, trickster character that they respect, but as a herding society, they also view the wolf as an enemy. Additionally, parts of the wolf's body are used in traditional medicine. I've heard of wolf's tongue being wrapped around the throat of a person with chronic sore throats, and wolf's lung being eaten to treat TB. I wonder what this one was used for? Maybe the hot pot.
In other news, it was really cold here today. I think the temperature only got to about 12F, but with the wind it felt colder. I was out in the ger districts today doing research and the variety of living conditions that I can be observed in such a small space here never ceases to amaze me. I took the bus for the first time since I've been back. The bus prices recently went up 100 to 200 tugrics. That's a huge amount for some people. I guess there will be a lot more people walking around this winter.

Settling into winter life has been hard for me this time around. I guess I know what's to come and I'm not looking forward to it! I am looking forward to going to Choibalsan next week to see my old friends and get out of the pollution!

2007-10-26T15:45:00.000+08:00

I thought it would be nice to share some pictures of things I see everyday. They are kind of random, but I hate walking around the city with my camera out. As you can tell from these shots, I was very stealthy when I took them, not paying much attention to angle or shade. I took em' quick! They do offer a small glimpse into my life here:

These are the kids in my courtyard that hoop it up everyday after their classes. They are generally a friendly bunch, but every once in awhile they like to try out a swear word to see what I do. I either ignore them, or throw some Mongolian back at em.

This is big pink school #5 right in my neighborhood. A testament to the beauty of Russian architecture.

Here is a good shot of "The Burger House". It's on my way to the National University. I've never eaten there, but apparently babies and Paris Hilton like it, so it must be good. A testament to the globalization of the hamburger.

This is building #4 of the National University of Mongolia. This building and the college kids who live/attend classes in it, greet me every day on my way to the office.

This is a picture of the plaque outside the Cuban Embassy. I walk past this building everyday. I think I saw a Cuban guy once. I'm assuming this is the least desirable country for an ambassador from Cuba to be sent to. I'm sure that guy keeps a low profile. I felt really guilty taking this picture, like I was committing a crime. I mean, you can't get this close the US embassy! I literally could have gone and knocked on the door. Instead, I left our Cuban friends alone.

I must confess, I decided to take these pictures today after seeing my friend J's pictures of his research site in Kyrgyzstan. My pictures aren't nearly as beautiful, but they are probably just as interesting to people who have never been to this part of the world. In a few weeks I'll be off to the Mongolian coutryside for my own research and I'll be sure to take some breathtaking photos (In addition to the very serious, very important data collection)!

Pollution, Sickness, Remedies and Ulaana

2007-10-22T17:07:00.000+08:00

"Winter" is setting in here in Mongolia. I say "winter" because the temperature has been fluctuating so much that is un-winter like. The day will start at 20F and it'll heat up to 55F. How do you dress for that? Whatever you leave your house wearing will eventually get peeled off over the course of the day as you begin to heat up and sweat. This is probably one of the factors contributing to my current sore throat. The other main problem contributing to my sore throat (and persistent headache) is the pollution. I know I keep talking about it, and this sure as hell ain't Beijing, but my poor, unarmed, Midwestern body was not prepared for the pollution. My Mongolian friend best described the headache that the pollution can give you as "a hangover that won't go away."

I did some searching online and I found this report given by Ch. Bat-Director of the Economy and Strategy Policy Department. It outlined these as the most important environmental issues in UB:
The three most visible environmental issues in UB are:
- air pollution from domestic burning of coal, wood and dung for heating and
cooking, particularly in the informal Ger Areas. A recent study in the Dari-Ekh Khoroo of UB estimated air pollution levels to be 16 times accepted international levels.
- lack of adequate solid waste management;
- land degradation through an absence of urban planning, land management and infrastructure development:
-unplanned Ger Area sprawl has encroached on land subject to erosion;
- lack of protection of critical urban drainage courses increases erosion, pollutes downstream water courses, and helps spread disease from poor sanitation facilities and improperly handled solid waste;
-urban sprawl is reducing immediately available grazing land;
-rural deforestation contributes to the increasing severity of seasonal dust storms.
Perhaps less visible, but equally critical is the poor condition of residential sanitation facilities, again primarily in the Ger Areas.
I'm sorry, does that say 16 times accepted international levels of air pollution???
I suppose I should quit complaining about my headaches and just be happy to be alive! The dust storm thing is crazy too. Apparently dust storms in Mongolia carry pollution and dust all the way to Seattle, and have on occasion caused pollution levels to rise in South Korea. I was once caught in a dust storm in Choibalsan where I could not see my hand in front of my face. Here is a picture of me after a walk in the countryside that ended in a dust storm that you could see coming like a tornado (circa 2005) and a picture of a dust storm in Choibalsan (circa 2004).

Enough about dust, because I have no real beef with that at the moment, just pollution. Everyone around me is getting sick, and I have fallen victim too. I had a meeting last week with some Western doctors who work here in UB, who noted an acceptionally high amount of respiratory issues. So, what, you may ask is being done about the pollution? As far as I can see, not much. Unlucky for me, it'll only get worse as it gets colder and people burn all kinds of things to keep warm, and the government keeps burns unwashed coal in the power plants that surround me.

Since everyone I know is sick, or just was sick, or is on their way to being sick, I've received plenty of advice on herbal remedies. One such remedy is to drink the juice of the Sea Buckthorn berry. Apparently it has loads of vitamin C. I'm gonna head to the pharmacy and bypass all the crazy drugs I can buy over the counter here and get some Sea Buckthorn hopefully from Russia or Mongolia (I have this crazy fear of medicine from China!) I'll let you know how it pans out. Perhaps I should also purchase an air filtering mask!

Missing Gobi Pictures

2007-10-16T19:15:00.000+08:00

I finally procured some pics of the ice cold night I spent under the stars somewhere in the Gobi (Thanks Kathleen, for the pics!) I was way too grumpy and cold to take pictures.

A. Conti on the left, me in the middle, and J the silver medal winner of the Gobi Marathon
Rise and Shine! J exclaiming the wonderful experience of sleeping in the freezing cold. That's me laying down
This is me, cold, and shocked at where I woke up. Since we found the middle of nowhere in the dead of night, I was surprised at the beauty my surroundings.
Sun just about to rise as the "Asia Pleasure Bus" still snoozes

A Couple Crazy Things...

2007-10-15T20:48:00.000+08:00

Here are a couple crazy things I bet you didn’t know about Ulaanbataar. I should preface this by saying this is not a social commentary, just things I’ve heard or observed.
Apparently there are 300 cars registered in UB EVERYDAY!!! Mongolia has about 2.5 million people in it, and just over half of them live in UB. 300 cars a day! Isn't that mind blowing? No wonder I can’t cross the street! Soon, I won’t be able to breathe either!
Second thing, with cold weather comes a variety of cold weather surprises like frozen vomit. I’m not kidding. I’m not trying to be mean, but the amount of frozen vomit that can be found on the street here is alarming to me. This was noted by another foreigner just last week, so I know it’s not just me. What’s the deal? I asked my Mongolian teacher and she noted that Mongolians have very weak stomachs. She also said that vodka may have something to do with it. Using my vomit-o-meter, I can tell that people have been eating tsuivan, a “quick” Mongolian dish made with noodles, meat, fat, oil, carrots and cabbage. Seeing this regurgitated and frozen on the ground all over town makes me never want to eat tsuivan again. I guess I just have a different cultural construction about appropriate places to puke. For that matter, urinating or pooping are also differently constructed and handled here. UB has this weird convergence of city and countryside, and consequently very few public toilets (the ones that do exist you have to pay for) so I see kids (4 years old or younger) pooping in street at least once a week. It’s customary to pretend like you don’t see it and just keep walking. I even saw a kid, with his mothers assurance, poop about 30 feet from the Sukhbataar statue on the square. Oddly, I was the only one who was even acknowledging this scene. All of this gets me thinking about how we determine what is or is not acceptable, and for whom at what age. I'm obviously the odd man out in this context. I would love for a Mongolian in the States to tell me about all the strange observations that they have about Americans. There is one thing that Mongolians always tell me they think is weird: blowing your nose into a tissue and putting it in your pocket. The whole idea of blowing your nose indoors is strange to Mongolians. Ergo, notions of acceptability vary based on time and place. (ZING!)

Extreme Weather

2007-10-14T12:09:00.000+08:00

The UB Post had a lead article this week about a snow storm taking 7 lives (UB Post article). It's always shocking to me when things like this happen. Even though The herders know the weather patterns so well, the trend in global warming has thrown things off. Sukhbataar Aimag in southeastern Mongolia usually doesn't get that much snow or extreme weather. It's just flat, dusty, and cold. I've mentioned this before, but the weather is really strange this year. It's not nearly as cold in UB as it should be. I'm not complaining because once it gets cold, the pollution from the ger districts burning unwashed coal and plastics, will be unbearable. When it starts to get cold here I'm heading out to carcinogen free air, for my fieldwork in the countryside. For now, I'm off to enjoy the sunshine and balmy 41F!

Chest picture

2007-10-10T23:14:00.000+08:00

Eminem got his passport photo (chest picture in Mongolian) done at this shop, so you should too. I pass this sign everyday, and today I brought my camera. There were only a few people around so I felt ok taking the picture! God forbid anyone think I'm a tourist! I'd rather have them think I'm a Russian or a German! I'm pretty sure everyone was wondering why I was taking a picture of the advertisement for having your picture taken. Foreigners are really weird.

Snowy pictures

2007-10-07T12:11:00.000+08:00

The snow settling over UB (just northwest of Sukhbataar Square)
Ovoo (Buddhist offertory site) just South of UB
The Tuul river and the first snow

Power Plant #3, working hard

2007-10-06T10:41:00.000+08:00

I went to the Mongolian Video Music Awards last night. In true Mongolian fashion, the tickets said 7pm, but nothing really happened until 8pm (people in "the know" call this "mongol tsag"). At 8pm all the people who were in the auditorium got to watch the "red carpet" on huge video screens. We got to see what most of our favorite stars were wearing. However, most of them were wearing coats because it was so cold in the UB Palace. My friends joked that the fashion scene here is a little bit different that in the States. If you asked a Mongolian star what they were wearing the correct response might be "fake Versace and Chinese Jimmy Choo shoes". Nonetheless, the stars dressed to impress, and impress they did. The award portion of the show was pretty slow and arduous. They had people from the companies that sponsored the show give the awards (boring!), but the performances were great. They also had 2 young DJs mixing on stage. I got to see my new favorite band, The Lemons, the cool rocker chic Otgoo, and the sexy girl group my neighbor is in, Kiwi. There were other good performers too, including the guy who opened. He had dancers from Chingis Khan's horde. We had no idea that the horde could dance so well! On the intellectual side, I went to a lecture a few weeks ago that concerned the issue of the misrepresentation of Chingis Khan in modern depictions and modern art. I think the lecturer would have agreed that the performance was completely historically inaccurate. These are all the clips I could upload. The internet is too slow. They are short, but they give you a taste of what it was like. Enjoy!
Chingis (Mis)represented

Ogtoo-Alternatively rockin'!

I (Heart) The Lemons!

One more thing. When I woke up this morning, it was snowing. I took a picture to prove it. It's a month later than last year. The snow is nice because it covers the dirt, but that also means that the marble slabs that designers have chosen to pave parts of UB which are going to be very slippery!

Amusing Musings

2007-10-05T12:25:00.000+08:00

People silently judge me everyday. For the last month I thought everyone was looking at my crotch when they talked by. It dawned on am a week or two ago that they are looking at my shoes. Shoes are very important here. It’s the first thing everyone sees. If your shoes are the slightest big scuffed or dirty, everyone looks down on you. Now, anyone who has ever lived in Mongolia knows that the entire country is dusty, dirty and generally hard to navigate. So, I take a laid back approach…why clean em if you know they are just gonna get dirty, right? WRONG! I saw a man walking down the street actually stop every 10 feet to dust off his shoes. I couldn’t believe it. This leads me to another point. People here had a tendency to walk very slowly, as if they have no place to go. Now, maybe that’s true, maybe they have no where to be, but the sidewalks are so small and crowded, it forces the people who do have somewhere to be to walk slower. I suppose concepts of time are very different here than they are in the states. It some ways this is refreshing, in other ways it’s completely frustrating. When you add the fact that this is a culture that likes to link arms while walking, you could be stuck walking at a turtle-like pace for blocks with no way to get around someone! Unless you give em the old nudge in the back, or hit their legs with a cane like the old ladies do.
On a completely different note, I’m going to the Mongolian Music Awards tonight. A friend of mine is friends with Deegi, the famous, hip, Mongolian violinist, and she got a group of us tickets. It should be a hoot. I’ll take lots of pics!

The Gobi Marathon Trip

2007-10-02T14:55:00.000+08:00

The Asia "Pleasure Bus"-Photo credit (A.Conti)

Preface: things you need to know before reading this: 5km=3.1 miles (you do the math) and distances that you might consider short, like 400km, can take 12hours to several days to complete in Fungolia!
So a few old folks and some twenty-something’s boarded the Asia “Pleasure” bus for what was billed as 12 hour trip to the Gobi. Being the experienced Mongolia traveler that I am, I know that you should go on a trip with no expectations, especially about time. Additionally, most of my companions were ill prepared for the ruggedness of the adventure. Some of you have seen Ewan McGregor’s “Long Way Round” documentary, so you can at least visualize what I mean when I say “no roads”. It’s not like “off roading” in a field in the suburbs, this is the real deal. Mongolia has very few paved roads, just paths in the dirt...extremely rutted, bumpy, paths in the dirt. As you can imagine, this is difficult for the driver and passengers alike. When one path wears out, the cars just make new paths. Soon enough, this track in the middle of nowhere has the look of a 6 lane highway.

Photo: "All roads lead somewhere"- a pit stop on the way. That's me on the left. Photo credit: A.Conti
Photo: "Downward facing dogs"-Bella, the cockerspaniel and I stretching at a rest stop. Photo credit: A.Conti
The first leg of the trip was from UB to Mandalgovi (For a map, see Omnogovi Province). As I was the lone Mongolian speaker, I had the privilege and challenge of negotiating hotel rooms and talking to our driver. I defiantly sugar coated some of the things I was supposed to say to the driver, and gently comforted him along the way when certain miscommunications arose (and arise they did!). We got to Madalgovi at night and stayed in a pretty nice hotel (less than $10 per person). No complications aside from a few vodka drinking men who were very impressed with my Mongolian skills and offered to buy me a few drinks. I politely declined, sighting early morning travel as my reason.
The next morning we started out for Dalanzadgad. The roads were so over used, that driving on them was like driving a tricycle on a washboard. I mean literally, if you can imagine driving a car on a washboard that was that it was like. Of course our driver, Tugso, was driving super fast just to get on to some better roads. However, he failed to see these two, back to back, 3 foot drops. Yeah, we almost died…but the worst times make the best stories.

Photo: the drop that almost killed us

Miraculously, we only had car trouble a hand full of times and it never ceases to amaze me how some chewing gum, a rusty pipe, scotch tape, and a plastic cup can fix just about any car in Mongolia. Photo: "What's in yer grill" Photo credit: A. Conti!
We made it to Dalanzadgad, but then we had the added challenge of finding the ger camp that we were going to stay in. Oddly, Dalanzadgad, a town of 12,000 people has 2 airports. Why that is, is still a mystery. We knew that the ger camp we were to stay in, with all the Gobi marathon participants, was located down, outside of the new airport. I believe the directions we had read something like this: “down past the new airport, there will be a fork in the road. At the fork, go right and follow the telephone poles 20 km.” Somehow, we missed that fork, perhaps took another one, and we were off course. At this point everyone was getting hungry and antsy. Our poor driver stopped a couple times at some random gers to ask directions. Before we knew it we were taking off across the open Gobi steppe when we found a car that was out looking for us. We eventually made it to the ger camp just as the sun went to bed.
There were about 30 race participants staying at the ger camp. We all had dinner and the race “route” was explained to us. We drank some vodka, ate, and slept. Photo: Annie and Attila.
Bright and early the next day, we all got up, packed up the cars, and took off. That morning was when I met the Spanish Ultra-marathoner. He had just popped down to the Gobi to do the marathon while on a 5 day trip to Mongolia. He was also going to climb “The 5 peaks” out in Bayan-Ulgii (Kaz-golia) the next day.
The race route was marked by red ribbons that seemed to strewn across the Gobi haphazardly. However, Joachim, the organizer of the race, claims the ribbons were marking every kilometer. I have failed to mention, that we went as a team of sorts. We even had heinously ugly matching shirts! My friend dubbed us” Win er’ Wear Orange”. Only one guy on our team ran the entire marathon (AND he got lost doing it), one girl ran the ½ (with no training, which I’m sure she is regretting today), another guy ran 10km and walked 11km, my fellow “researcher” and I, ran 5 km and walked 16km. The rest of the team (The Aging Amblers) walked most of the ½ marathon, but they got a little of track. (See preface for metric conversion). Photo: The start of the race. Photo credit: A. Conti
The race started in a flat open place and was marked by a banner help up by 2 Feurgons (see UAZ). The 4 marathoners (A Spaniard, a German (My “teammate”), and 2 Mongolians) took off.

Photo: J in orange (my teammate, the ultra-marathoner in the yellow cap, and the 2 Mongolians at the side)

The rest of us hopped in the cars to race ahead of them and set up water stations every 5 km. When we reached the sand dunes (at about 10km) everyone got out and took pictures and looked around. To our surprise, the Ultra Marathoner caught up to us, and ran over the dunes like it was a walk in the park. Then, our car got stuck in the sand and we all got out to dig and push it out, and chase the Ultra-marathoner.

Photo: Ultra-Marathoner leaves us in the dust. (A.Conti cheers him on!)

Photo: Pushing the Pleasure bus
Photo: Annie and the dunes. Photo credit: A.Conti

Photo: 1/2 Marathoners
After another 10km, all the people who were running/walking the ½ got out to start. My friend and I ran together and finished the 5km with no problems. Then we walked the rest of the 16 km together. The terrain was amazing and diverse. We couldn’t believe that there are so many beautiful plants in the desert. Mind you, the area we were in is the place where people have found completely in-tack dinosaur bones, and dinosaur eggs. We went through steppe land, sand dunes, stark desert, and finished at the “Flaming Cliffs”. We finished in less than 4 hours, just in time to see 2 out of 4 marathoners finish. The Ultra-marathon guy did it in 3 hours. I felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Photo: The beginning of the 1/2 marathon (strong start)

Photo: Me and A.Conti breaking records with our 5km

Photo: At the finish line Photo: The Flaming Cliffs-at the finish line
All of us jumped back in the car around 3pm to start back to UB. We were on a pretty tight schedule, due to everyone having to be back at work in the city. We drove and drove until we came to a soum (village) and stopped to get directions and gas. They offered us a place to stay, but it was sill light out and our driver said he wasn’t tired and could make it to the next town. I wasn’t too keen on staying in that soum because within 30 seconds of our arrival, the drunks we all around. One guy kept calling me “Madonna”.

Photo: Crank start, Mandal-Ovoo SoumSo, after filling the gas for 30 minutes (crank powered), we pushed on. Sure enough, night fell, and finding the correct roads in this vast, open landscape became more difficult. We kept stopping and flagging down other cars to make sure we were going the right way, but who knows which way we were really going? At about 1:30am we pulled into a town and asked the gas station lady if there were any hotels. She sent us around to a bunch of places. One place even had its light on, but when or bus stopped, they quickly turned out the light. NO ROOM IN THE INNE! Our driver was concerned about us, and he didn’t want to get in trouble. He was ready to drive the other 250km to UB in the middle of the night! I conferred with my teammates and then told the driver to drive about 5 km outside of town and some of us would sleep in the car and some of us outside. We had to get away from town if we were gonna sleep outside because of the dogs. I wasn’t about to get mauled by a ravenous dog in the middle of the night!
Four of us youngsters slept outside in our sleeping bags. I had borrowed a sleeping bag from a friend of mine who is much larger than me. I failed to think about how the cold air would get in through the head hole no matter how tight I secured it. I was freezing all night. I think it was 32F/0C, but this is debatable. It was however, a beautiful night, with a big shiny moon, and stars you could reach. We could hear dogs barking in the distance and a horse snoring nearby, but it was so dark, we couldn’t see any of our surroundings We watched the sun rise somewhere around 6am. That’s when we were really able to soak in the beauty of the place we had slept in. There was a ger nearby (the barking dogs) and we were surrounded by rolling hills and vast landscapes. I wish I had been more awake to appreciate it. We got everyone up and did our morning routine and headed out around 8am.

Photo: A mountain on the way back to UB

The ride back was gruelingly slow at times, but I think that was mostly because everyone was tired and stinky (no showers, post marathon, lots of dust!). It took 7 hours to get back to UB. I think at least one of those hours was spent trying to buy oil for the car (side note: motor oil is translated as “car butter” in Mongolian). We went to a small soum that had 2 gas stations. I have no idea why they had 2 gas stations considering the town maybe had about 400 people in it. We went back and forth between the 2 gas stations, each station claiming the other station had the oil we wanted. I think this is a good example of a cultural difference. There is no knowledge of the saying “the customer is King” here in Mongolia. When you are purchasing something here (goods or a service) it’s almost like the shopkeeper is doing you a favor. I’m pretty used to this, but for the other foreigners who haven’t been in Mongolia long, they have trouble understanding this mentality after coming from the West. Nonetheless, we got the oil, but not from a gas station, from some guys ger. We carried on and got to see some more vast, uninhabited, expansive landscapes. When we were about 1 hour outside UB the air started to change and there was more and more garbage and homes. We actually drove through the garbage dump here. It’s an open land fill system. So the garbage just gets dumped outside of town and then blows around all over the place. The traffic in UB was the first thing that bothered me, but I couldn't’t wait to take a hot shower and get some Indian food. Those were the first things I did!

There are a few more pics that I might add later. Hopefully you all enjoyed this post, because it took me nearly 2 days to assemble!

The BBC prompted me to write this

2007-09-27T20:33:00.000+08:00

The BBC prompted me to write about 2 things:
1. Asashoruyu (aka Dagvagdorj)/Sumo
2. The HUGE baby born in the Altai region in Russia.

About sumo...it's huge here. I was over at the Japanese-Mongolian center (funded by the Japanese government) and people were sitting around watching sumo, talking about sumo and eating cymo (Sumo cookies)! Mongolians love wrestling, and when one of their own, Dagvadorj, is on top, they love it even more. Beating the Japanese at their own game! But Dagvadorj has proven to be quite a handful for Japanese Sumo. They've dubbed him the "bad boy" of Sumo. It's all over the Mongolian and Japanese news. Everyone watches his every move. Check out the BBC article

What are they feeding the women in the Altai region? This lady had a 17.5lb (7.75kg) baby. Those are some kind of potatoes, noodles, and tomatoes! Here is the link

Mongolian Hip Hop

2007-09-25T18:29:00.000+08:00

Preface: I've spent 2 days trying to get the videos from the hip hop show to load. I have finally conceded. Mongolian Internet: 1/Annie: 0

The exportation of culture or pieces of culture is something that is particularly fascinating to me. I think that one of the most interesting recent exports of western culture is Hip Hop. It’s all over the TV here in Mongolia, and it seems to be a big part of youth culture. When it comes style, Mongolian teens seem to like the same things American teens like: flashy cars, cool clothes, and bling. Even more fascinating is the way these things get adopted or adapted (As Gita Steiner-Khamsi puts it “Mongolized”) and then they become a part of Mongolian culture. Sometimes signs, emblems, or words lose there original meaning and become something completely different.
Last night I went to a Hip Hop concert with some friends. This concert was in honor of the 2 year anniversary of the Mongolian Hip Hop label, 2016 Studio. We got to see a bunch of different acts that are on this label. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the groups were really good. One thing that was funny for me was the constant use of words like: “Yo!” and expletives, such as “Motherf&#$%#!” or just plain old “F&%#”. The funniest thing about hearing these words was not that they were out of place with the music, it was just that they seemed to be haphazardly thrown in. Perhaps the goal was to add street creed to the performers. It was obvious that Puff Daddy (aka P. Diddy, Sean “Puffy” Combs) is having his dream of a global empire come true right here in Mongolia. All the performers were wearing Sean Jean, Phat Farm, and Starter Jackets…Whether or not these were legit or Chinese rip-offs is another question.
The performers all were lip syncing, except for the beat-boxers! They were my favorite, because they just got up on stage and did there thing, impromptu. There was also a young boy and girl who rapped together. They were about 10 years old I would say. The little boy had the best stage presence of any of the performers last night. You could tell that he has been watching Jay-Z and Nelly videos. Of course, no Hip Hop show would be complete without scantily clad dancing girls. These particular dancing girls happened to be wearing diaper-like shorts!
I tried to upload the videos I took, but my internet is too slow (shocking). So I checked Youtube...

Here is

Tatar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWGR09UE_Fw

Flash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV8lOc_SHBI

Quiza (the only mongolian rapper who doesn't take money from alcohol or cigarette companies): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmMJYXCpk_M

Now YOU can enjoy Mongolian hip hop too!

Fall in Mongolia

2007-09-23T15:28:00.000+08:00

I know I've been a slacker about posting things this week. I guess I've been busy (imagine that!). I do have some great ideas for things I want to blog on. Those are gonna be really good (I promise) once I get the pictures to go with the posts. The story I have for you today, is rare. It's about fall. Mongolians always claim that there are 4 seasons here, just like in the US (I should say, the Midwest). In my two years living here, I never saw 4 seasons, I only saw winter and summer, and those were pretty extreme! Upon reflection, I think there was a week of fall and spring, but those were so quick, they can hardly be called seasons. However, the weather has been so warm here recently (70F today), that I can actually see fall! The oddest thing about the weather is that no one knows what to do. The government turned the heat on in all the buildings on the 15th (last year it snowed in early September). So my apartment is sweltering because it gets lots of sun and the radiators are cranking out heat! I shouldn't complain, it'll be cold soon enough!

On another topic that has to do with global warming, it was a "no car" day in Ulaanbaatar yesterday. Of course, the government forgot to inform the general public so there were these insane traffic jams. They blocked off all the traffic in the heart of the city, forcing all the cars to the outer roads. I don't think there were actually any less cars on the road, but the "no car" day did give kids a chance to ride their bikes on paved roads, and it allowed pedestrians to walk freely without the fear of being run over by a speeding car.
Here are some nice photos from this weeks Hash that show fall in Mongolia. The pictures were taken just outside Terelj, a national park near UB.

Look closely at this one. You can see me walking Pepa and Tsagaana and his owner.

At the risk of having this blog turn into one like my brother-in-laws (http://regalvizsla.blogspot.com/), I also had the pleasure of taking Pepa, the fearless, yellow lab for the weekend. She accompanied me on the Hash. There was another dog that did the Hash too. His name is Tsaagana (White one or Whitey). Tsaagana was a street dog and his owner took him in a more or less domesticated him. There is some discussion over whether or not Tsagaana is part wolf. Here is a picture, judge for yourselves.

Pepa was pretty scared of Tsaagana, because Tsaagana is pretty aggressive and protective of his owner. Pepa stayed close and basically dragged me up and down steep hills for 3 hours.

I've got a fun week coming up! I'm going to a huge Mongol Hip Hop show tomorrow. I promise to put up some pics and clips from that. Next weekend is the Gobi Marathon and that should also yield some good pictures and stories. Additionally, I should note that everything is going well on the research front.

Fresh air!

2007-09-16T11:58:00.001+08:00

Here I am, enjoying what might be the last nice weekend. It's supposed to snow next week. I still think it's too warm, but this place never ceases to amaze me.

Yesterday's Hash run was so beautiful, I decided to post some pics. We went to the hills just north of UB and it was immediately striking how much cleaner the air is outside the valley I now call home. You can even see the haze of UB in the distance in the picture directly above. The crazy thing is, winter isn't quite here yet. In the winter time, the pollution is even worse because of the ger districts (ger=yurt) that are now popping up on the edges of the city. People who live in gers in this part of the country generally burn coal, and because UB sits in a valley (like LA) the pollution just hangs over you. I'm really looking forward to that!

On our hill climb yesterday we saw the biggest ant hills I've ever seen in my life. I had no idea that ants could make hills this large. Don't ask me what type of ants they are, because I have not idea! The other Hashers in the picture haven't given me permission to use their names, but some of you might recognize at least 2 of them. All in all, it was a great day for hiking, and I got to suck up some clean air.

Binge boiling

2007-09-13T20:22:00.000+08:00

My whole family emailed me this article that was in the NY Times about drinking at the University of Wisconsin. Lucky for me I was too busy "studying" at the UW to get obnoxiously drunk and picked up by the police, then to have the Dean of students call my parents.
So today, in true Wisconsin Badger form, I found the one German butcher shop in Mongolia and bought some brats. Since I don't have a grill, I did something that would make any Midwesterner proud (especially my dad) I beer boiled my brats. My local "xync" didn't have any Chingis beer, so I settled for a few cans of Tiger (It's like the Mongolian Miller). You can take the girl outta Wisconsin, but you can't take the Wisconsin outta the girl, eh?

Research blunders

2007-09-11T17:27:00.000+08:00

I am supposed to be journaling as part of my research plan and so far I’ve been pretty good about it. Here is a little piece from my personal research journal: I had my first real, official interview today. I was really prepared. After all, I have been preparing for this for nearly a year now. Needless to say, I still managed to forget to check the batteries in my digital recorder and alas, it didn’t work. I did have a pen and paper, so I took notes the old fashioned way. Over all the interview went really well, and I learned a lot. I also planned another meeting with this person. I laughed it off. I think that’s the first thing they teach you in Research 101, “1. Check the batteries.” I’ll just keep telling myself that it happens to everyone once ! The funniest part of the interview was when the secretary brought us glasses of Mongolian wine (at 2 in the afternoon). I was obliged to partake. When in Mongolia, eh? So, yeah, the research is off to a roaring start and I’m sure it’ll only get better.

Come party with Stalin!

2007-09-08T17:03:00.000+08:00

Stalin used to stand in front of the State Central Library in Ulaanbaatar, but that just wasn't hip enough for him. Now he is in the middle of the dance floor at the Issmus nightclub. He literally towers over the people who dance below him. My friend said he heard that they actually built the club around the statue. It's about 15 feet high and made of iron. What an interesting place for Stalin to end up.

Vicious Beast or Docile Lab?

2007-09-07T12:34:00.000+08:00

Pictures: This is Pepita. What's not to love? The other pictures are of our morning walk.

In a country where “hold the dogs!” is a common countryside greeting, you can only imagine the relationships that Mongolians have with dogs. I was watching my new friends’ dog, Pepita, so I was given the opportunity to walk Pepita through the mean streets of Ulaanbaatar. Pepita is a 2 year old lab. She’s super sweet and playful. Look at the picture…who could be afraid of her? Answer: Mongolians. My friend had remarked that he often feels like he’s walking a Bengali tiger down the street as people literally jump away or panic when they see the dog. For your edification, Mongolians don’t usually keep dogs as house pets. There are many, mean, mangy looking mutts that roam the street here that are quite scary lookin, so people generally have reason to be afraid. Additionally, in the countryside, dogs are often kept outside to guard the ger, the animals, and the family. Hence, before getting out of a car to approach a ger in the countryside, you yell “hold the dogs!”
Walking around with Pepita was a funny experience for me. Walking a dog in this city is anything but typical.

First off, there are no parks, so you have to dodge cars and open manholes, and you really have to pay attention to what the dog is chewing on. In Mongolia, if a mutt dies on the street, the carcass is left there to rot and other animals come and scavenge off that. Also, most people slaughter animals on their balconies and when they are done with the bones, they just launch em out the window. There were a few times where I had to pull a rib or some other animal part out of Pepita’s mouth. I was not about to be responsible for her choking on it. The Mongolians were really surprised when I was playing with her and letting her lick me. This concept was really foreign. I like to think I was a bit of a dog ambassador. Because I can communicate I was telling people about the dog and informing them that she was nice. I'm sure they thought I was insane.
My roommate informed me that Mongolia has a national dog. I couldn’t find any direct link to that, but I did find an article that takes a historical look at dogs in Mongolia

Mongolian Nationalists

2007-09-02T21:11:00.000+08:00

My friends and I have been talking about the Mongolian Nationalist groups that have come to our attention in recent days. They advocate for "traditional Mongolian morals and values." Here is a link to a UB Post article outlining the latest threats from the Nationalist parties. The bottom line here is that most of the jobs and construction projects are funded by Chinese or Korean companies. Therefore, many of the workers are Korean and Chinese. Unemployment is high in Mongolia, so people really resent this.

I wonder where the Nationalist parties draw the line? I saw them on TV the other day and they were all outfitted in Western army fatigues. Perhaps they didn't realize that the very clothes they were wearing were most likely made in China. I would recommend that they wear a "traditional" Mongolian deel, but most of the silk and fabric here is also made in China.

I'll keep you posted on what these guys do next.

My blog is blocked in China!

2007-09-02T20:35:00.000+08:00

Picture: UB in the distance, near the Zaisan Memorial

This just in: My friend Alec (of Alec and Tosca's wedding) just notified me that my blog is blocked in China! Subversive material, no doubt.

Aside from the very important research I am laying the groundwork for, I’ve been partaking in many activities. First off, I joined a gym. It’s called “The Energy Fitness ANT” gym. I have no idea what “ANT” stands for. It’s relatively inexpensive and they have a few treadmills, bikes, weight machines, etc. Additionally they offer great classes. My favorite so far has been “Combat Class”. It brings me back to my kickboxing days. Just to attest to the difficulty of the class, 10 of us started and 4 of us finished the class. Mind you, I’m usually the only foreigner and I’m generally twice the size of my female, Asian counterparts. They marvel over that fact that I’m fatter than them, yet somehow I can work out longer and stronger! ARGH! The gym is also a great place to practice my Mongolian because the classes are in Mongolian. Hopefully phrases like, “jump higher” will come up often in my research.
I also joined the Hash House Harriers. Many of you are familiar with the group, if not members yourselves. Apparently the UB group is pretty chilled out. We actually only have about a month left until we pack up shop for the winter. For those of you who don’t know, Hash is an international running/walking group with a whole lotta party!
Thus far, UB is a pretty great place to live. Sometimes the cars and pollution are too much to take. I realize, however, that I will be in the countryside before I know it, so I should soak up the perks of city life while I can. I found a great vegetarian restaurant across from my office. It’s owned by a Mongolian who studied Yoga in India and believes in a meat free, fat free, sugar free diet. For those of you who know anything about Mongolian cuisine, this goes against everything in this culture. Oddly enough, at lunch time, this place is packed. Maybe they all go home and eat huge, fatty chunks of meat.

2007-08-30T15:32:00.000+08:00

I know I said I wouldn't talk much about my research, but this isn't exactly related, just in the general topic area. Perhaps I've become more perceptive, or there are more people in wheelchairs here than before. Granted, it is summer and I suppose this might be the only time of year when you can be outside comfortably in a wheelchair in Mongolia. However, there are still significant road blocks (literally) to your mobility here, wheelchair or not. For example, the curbs on the sidewalks are nearly one foot high, all of the sidewalks are crumbling (if there is a sidewalk at all), and there are no codes for buildings so they are virtually all inaccessible. Yet, I saw at least 4 people in a couple block radius, in wheelchairs. Two of those people were begging and the other two were selling nuts and candy. When I passed by them, no one seemed to be making any money. The anthropologist inside me would love to interview these people, and begin to break the surface of what it means to be physically disabled in the Mongolian context. I guess I should start with my research and see how that goes before I start planning other projects! The picture above was taken in the 11th district of UB outside a small health care facility. It's the only wheelchair sign I've seen here. It's ironic because it doesn't mean that the building is accessible, I think it's meant to alert cars that people in wheelchairs might be in the street, as that is the only place they can be.

Sukhbaatar Square

2007-08-28T13:23:00.000+08:00

In case you have no idea what Sukhbaatar Square is, at least you know what it looks like now. The square commemorates the general, Sukhbaatar, who helped fight for Mongolian independence in 1921.

my view

2007-08-27T11:57:00.000+08:00

This picture is a view from my balcony. In the distance you can see at least 4 cranes( building boom!). All in all, not a bad view. The pollution was minimal the day I took this, so you can actually see the hills :)

I was out and about early this morning. I looked up at the balconies in the buildings around mine and I was happy to see older Mongolians doing their morning prayers. Part of morning prayers in throwing milk from a bowl to the sky, earth , wind. One older woman was quite shocked to see me looking up at her (usually people are looking down here, trying not to fall in a manhole). I greeted her with a sunny “Ta saina baina uu?” (literally “is good there?” but it means “how are you”) We chatted about the beautiful weather and I moved on. Hopefully she liked me enough to include me in her prayers.

Another photo of the UB building boom. Taken next to Sukhbaatar Square.

Mongol/Amerk Wedding

2007-08-26T21:39:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I went to Alec and Tosca’s wedding. For me it started at the Wedding Palace in UB. For them, it started over a week ago. Alec's family and friends came from the States and there was tons of preparation. Tosca’s mom made their wedding apparel. It was a perfect mix between American and Mongolian fashion. Since Tosca is from the countryside, Alec and his family made a trip out there to formally ask for Tosca’s hand and to assure her family that Tosca would be accepted into their family and vice versa.

I had never been to a Mongolian wedding. Folk tradition in Mongolia says that single women should not attend weddings because they are “energy sucking” events and may curse un-married women. Consequently, funerals are seen as “energy giving” events. Usually when Mongolians see a wedding car passing by, they turn their heads and don’t acknowledge it.

Anyway, the wedding palace in UB is quite the place! It has a long, beautiful stairway that leads to the room where they signed the marriage documents. The bride and groom led the way up the stairs and everyone followed them into the room. The judge then announced the wedding, documents were signed, children give the bride and groom flowers, and we proceeded to a different room. This room had a long table. With bowls of vodka and candy. An old women led us in the traditional ceremony in which the bride lights a pyramid of sticks on fire to purify the marriage. Everyone in the room took a shot of vodka and some candy (to make it official). This was all follwed by an hours of picture taking with the bride and groom because everyone wanted their picture with them!
Then, we all piled into a bus to go to the swanky Hotel Mongolia for the reception. Of course we were stuck in UB traffic for a while before we could finally get out of the city and into the countryside. Out in the “countryside” (20 km outside the city) we saw a bunch of gorgeous, huge, new houses. My friends and I guessed that these were vacation homes for the rich. I heard that UB is one of the fasting growing real estate markets in the world (source unknown), so buy your property now!

When we got to the Hotel Mongolia I was immediately surprised by the structure itself.

It is designed to look like the ancient Mongolian capital, Khar Khoriin. It was amazing. All the guests assembled and Alec and Tosca then rode in on horseback (lots of pomp and circumstance!). Then we all filed into the reception hall. Several vodka toasts were made, bowls of airag (see also "Kymyz")were also passed around. Someone in Tosca’s family had gotten the airag from Dundgovi the day before. Dundgovi is known for having some of the finest airag in the land! Alec hired some performers which included singers, dancers, and contortionists. The rest of the evening was a series of toasts and songs. It is customary for each table at the wedding to congratulate the bride and groom, sing a song, and present them with gifts. Once the people at the table realized that I could speak Mongolian AND that I knew an acceptable song, they told me I would lead our tables song. The 2 other RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) I was sitting with didn’t seem to mind me stealing the spotlight. In addition to the song I led, I helped a table of Americans overcome their inhibitions and sing the first verse of “Amazing Grace.” Needless to say, both songs were a great success. After all the singing, we did a few waltzes and “circle dances” (those of you familiar with Central Asian discos know the circle dance well). I got down to my favorite group “Boney M”. All in all, the wedding was absolutely gorgeous and a great time!

Mongolian music

2007-08-26T18:32:00.000+08:00

Since expats and Mongols alike are excited that one of the girls from the ultra-popular Mongolian girl group, Kiwi, lives in my building, I decided to include this in the blog. The blond is my neighbor and we've exchanged "hello's" in the hallway. Hence, I have yet to learn her name. My father has already requested an autograph. The big thing about this group is that they are all half Mongolian. They are groundbreaking in that way, and they are one of the first groups to sing a song about HIV/AIDS prevention, a topic that is often seen as a non-issue in Mongolia (even though it's sandwiched between China and Russia, 2 countries with rapidly increasing HIV/AIDS rates). Additionally, they sing in English and Mongolian. I'll be sure to post an update when and if I meet this woman.
On a side note, the music industry has really expanded in Mongolia. There seems to be a resurgence of traditional music and some new groups hitting the scene. The Lemons- Mongolian Indy rock and Deegii-extreme violin playing, just to name a few. The music video (clip) culture here has become huge. All the national TV stations have a program where people can request videos and write messages to their friends using SMS. All the messages and requests then appear on TV. As you can see, after not having a TV for nearly 4 years, I have one now. I was amazed as to what things you can find on cable TV in UB! The most interesting for me is XJTV in which the programming is in Uighur or Kazakh. Because I'm generally fascinated with Central Asian culture, I find myself watching Uighur dombra players. I actually found a place in UB (with the help of my friend David-www.taimen.org) that makes traditionally Mongolian instruments like the Moriin Khuur. It was really cool to see the craftsmen making the instruments. Perhaps I'll invest in one and some lessons!

Saina baina uu?

2007-08-26T17:45:00.000+08:00

I decided to start this blog to document my time living and conducting research in Mongolia. I'm a graduate student looking at Mongolian teachers perceptions of disability in the classroom. My love of Mongolia started when I was in Peace Corps in eastern Mongolia (Choibalsan xot) from 2003-2005. So I'm back here, re-learning the language and culture, and marveling over how much has changed; BMW's now share the road with the odd horse n' cart, buildings are popping up everywhere (Hilton), and you can now find spinach in the market (this is a VERY recent addition). Things in the countryside seem to stay about the same. Officially the government acknowledges about 700,000 people living in UB, however, other estimates range from 1 to 1.5 million. As more people move here from the countryside this puts tremendous pressure on social services. As part of my research I will be out in different provincial centers. I will be sure to post pictures, and comment on what I see.