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Twice last week and more since I've seen old men and women sitting one short benches on the sidewalk with a scale in front of them. One can weigh oneself for a hundred togrog (approximately $0.09), and people do pay to use the scale. Mongolians must always find a way to make money off their assets if they want to survive.
On Mother's Day night we had a goodbye jam session at our flat to wish Johanni (on the floor to the left with the guitar) off well. Johanni is French and was here studying khoomei. He's most likely now in Cameroon to spend time with his girlfriend and spend the next eight months doing writing for his PhD. My two roommates are on the right: Dave, on the floor with the guitar, is from Oz and produces the very popular Voicebox television program as an AYAD (Australian Youth Ambassador for Development) and Andrew, with the upright bass, who sings khoomei and teaches English, among many other things, calls America is his home base.
Instruments present were the banjo, morin khuur, upright bass, chinese tourist flute, tovshuur, dombra, guitar, yidaki, hands and voices. The session made me miss Astronaut Cooper's Parade so much, especially due to the sounds of the banjo! There's a little hole in my heart where ACP used to be.
I couldn't resist sharing "What Happened to ‘Fill the Jails’?" by Sean Gonsalves (19 May 2007, Common Dreams) from my new favorite news source. (Thanks again, gina mae!) Be sure to check out the comments posted after the article.
There's this way that Mongolian people look at me when I walk down the street. It's hard to define. I suppose because there are so many foreigners living here now and many travellers passing through, I expect something different. I forget that Mongolia as a country was closed to outsiders for decades--due to ideology and geography––and the people are still getting used to having foreigners around.
Of course, because of America's conspicuous cultural terrorism, they like so many people across the globe carry an inaccurate and refractory image of the American people in their minds. (Note: The United States is commonly known here as America, or Америк. However, I still feel strange writing this because America is so much more that simply the U.S.)
It's not that Mongols don't like foreigners for the most part: whenever I have a conversation with anyone on the street, their face quickly becomes a warm smile. However, I still find it difficult because I live here, however temporarily, and I'm not just a tourist. I want acceptance but I'll always be a foreigner, an "other".
The word that expresses "foreigner" in Mongolian is "гадаадынхан" [gadaadiinhan], which literally means "outsider". I'm always struck by how language can so often be a litmus test of a culture or people's thought.
Just wanted to add this link to a news site that was passed on to me from a friend (see comments) regarding my previous post. For "good reporting by responsible, dedicated and independent reporters", check out www.commondreams.org. I really love the title "common dreams". It reminds me there are like-minded people out there somewhere.
I am once again house and pet-sitting for my lama friend and his two sweet cats. Yes, his puppy was relocated to a great spot in the countryside at a monastery and another kitter cat has found a happy home. I was telling my roommate Andrew's hoomei (i.e. throat-singing) teacher about this and his face took on a look of introspection.
I am continually perplexed by Mongolian opinion of cats. Enkhee, the hoomei teacher, concurred with these opinions with the statement that he didn't like cats. He raised his shoulders and scrunched his face which to me means he finds them creepy. But he told me something I hadn't heard from Mongolians before: 1) cats are clever and 2) cats are like women.
"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Thank you, FDR. Fear is immobilizing, as proven by my lack of posting for over a month, and more importantly, as proven by the vast majority of the American people who do nothing in response to the Bush administration's lies and misdeeds.
Everyone should read Reza Aslan, or at least a somewhat recent interview The SUN in which he speaks of the misinformation served up by the corporate media and the Bush administration about their war on terror that American citizens eat up like the good consumers they are.
There is almost constant dialogue in mainstream Mongolian media about the corruption in the Mongolian government; less is found there about the corruption in the education system, which is also rampant. We hear so little of this dialogue in American media, independent or corporate. (I check a variety of media on a regular basis and you just don’t find the word "corruption".) Though Mongolian journalism has a slight yellow hue––okay, okay, it's tone is quite conflamatory and condemning and it is not terribly objective. At least it’s not ignoring the elephant in the room. Although the work being done to fight corruption is not terribly effective, at least there is awareness and dialogue. Isn't that better that self-imposed ignorance?
In Aslan’s interview with The SUN he talks about how there currently is no leisure class in Iran to even think about fomenting a revolution against the ruling clerics. This reminds me so much of Mongolia where the average person has to scrape together a living however they can and so many people are scavenging from trash heaps. The ruling capitalism-worshipers care only for their own bank accounts and can’t be bothered to do what’s right; they do nothing to make the much-needed reforms.
You can download the complete interview from The SUN's web site. Better yet, buy a back issue, or hell, get an annual subscription.
