Under Mongolian Blue Sky

This Is the End

My grant period as a Fulbright Fellow has come to an end. Now I'm a Fulbright alumna. Despite that, I know I've only just taken a few strides down this new road of literary translation. Nothing feels finished–that's a good thing, for me–and I have a vision for the future.

I've been spending some time with another literary translator who is in Mongolia on holiday for a week from Korea. Stephen Epstein was raised in Boston but has spent fourteen years living in New Zealand as a professor at Victoria University of Wellington. The last seven of these years he has lived between New Zealand and Korea. It has been great to pick his brain on some practical issues of literary translation, particularly because the Korean language bears some important similarities to Mongolian in sentence structure and because he has a lot more experience with literary translation that I do.

Stephen primarily translates short stories and novels. In Korea, he's involved with the Korea Literature Translation Institute, which, among many other activities, offers fellowships to translators of Korean literature who work in a variety of languages. His translation of Yang Gui-ja's Mosun (Contradictions) was recently published as part of the Cornell University's Cornell East Asia Series.

I leave Mongolia in one week's time. Consequently, I am in the process of preparing to re-enter American society. Stephen and I had a good talk about this as he was in the US after a four-year absence to visit his parents this past summer. We considered the aspects of contemporary American culture that are so disheartening: the media, the emptiness of our culture of consumption, the blatant hypocrisy, our unfortunate blackened image across the globe, etc. Though I have more pride than ever in my homeland, that land's liabilities are ever more clear to me now.

Mongolian Poetry in Translation: Theory and Revolutions

September 13, 2007, 5:00 PM
Room 305, Building No.5 NUM

Mongolian Poetry in Translation: Theory and Revolutions

Lisa Fink is a poet, translator and American Fulbright scholar in Mongolia translating contemporary Mongolian poetry into English. At the same time, she is studying the Mongolian language at the National University of Mongolia and conducting a survey across the country of
changes in Mongolian poetry since the democratic transition. She will discuss the craft and theory of literary translation as it relates to contemporary Mongolian poetry, with examples from major Mongolian modern poets, and the shifts that have occurred in Mongolian poetry since 1991.

This lecture is part of the American Center of Mongolian Studies' Fall 2007 Speaker Series.

When the lights go down in the city

I'm back in Ulaanbaatar and ambivalent. My time here is coming to an end, yet I have many things left to do.

Translator Simon Wickham-Smith was recently named editor of the Kegan Paul Library of Mongolian Literature. Soon you will be able to find on their website several volumes of poetry and prose that he has translated from Mongolian. We are to do a book of translations together to include the "modernists" as opposed to the "traditionalists," which predominate in most of the work  that Wickham-Smith, at the behest of the Mongolian Academy of Culture and Poetry, has produced thus far.

Don't forget to check out the recently posted photos in the "Countryside" gallery of the car wreck and Tavan Bogd!

True Power, True Action

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.

The Last of the Communists

This is how my Mongolian teacher referred to himself today, a la The Last of the Mohicans. He told me that whenever I write anything about him on my blog I should notify him, so he can print a copy for himself.

When he found out I wasn't saving the entire newspapers in which my articles appeared he was shocked. He said he was going to save them himself for the future archive dedicated to me.

Yu. Munkh-Amgalan is not actually a communist, but he was around during part of the communist rule here in Mongolia and he likes to joke that he is. He is a worry wart though. He wanted to give me a taser to bring with me to the countryside for which I depart on Sunday. I said I don't need a taser and that I don't worry that about bad things happening because I know it's out of my control. He thinks I'm brave, but I know that's not it. I just have faith. I know where I stand.

Happy International Women's Day

Mongolia whole-heartedly celebrates this day to honor and inspire women. In fact, it's a public holiday. Banks are closed. Everyone has the day off work. I've been told by Nomi at the Arts Council of Mongolia that this is common in post-Soviet countries, and it makes sense since the official date of the holiday originates from the time when Russian women began a strike for bread and peace in 1917. (The general idea for a Women's Day began about ten years before this, but the strike set the date that people all over the world now observe.)

In Mongolia, it's celebrated a little bite more like Valentine's Day or Mother's Day than what I'd expect from International Women's Day or what I've come to know it as. The shops were full of men buying flowers and chocolates for their wives, sisters, daughters, mothers etc. Men took the women in their lives out to dinner or prepared dinner for them at home. On the eve of International Women's Day I went to an opening at the Union of Mongolian Artists gallery of contemporary work by women artists. There were some really great textile pieces and monotypes, in addition to the usual painting.

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In other news, the President of the United States was greeted with the beating of drums and the flying of banners bearing the words "Bush Go Home" when he arrived in Brasil this week. About 10,000 people spilled out onto the streets of Sao Paolo to express their collective disapproval of the Iraq war and a pending ethanol energy alliance. Sadly, most Mongolians are naive to the farce that is the Bush administration. They are often surprised when they hear me talk of the corruption, racism, lack of education, ignorance etc. that runs rampant like millions of hard-backed cockroaches in what they call my homeland.

Tsagaan Sar

We are quickly approaching Mongolia's Lunar New Year celebration. Tsagaan Sar, or White Month/Moon, is a Mongolian holiday of food, drink, gift-giving and relative visiting that spans roughly three days. This year it takes place on February 16, 17 and 18. It's not so different from American holidays, except that the food of choice is buuz, the steamed dumpling filled with mutton and fat, and the drinks of choice are milk tea and vodka.

I will be spending Tsagaan Sar most likely house-sitting Konchog's sweet Floki and vibrant Mooj. Of course, this makes me very, very happy. I'll have plenty of animal therapy before the weekend is over. However, I also hope to visit the homes of some Mongolian friend's and colleagues to partake of the holiday and eat my fair share of buuz.

My conversation partner Chana told me that the women make on average 1500-2000 buuz for Tsagaan Sar. As far as I can discern Tsagaan Sar seems to be a holiday as much dreaded as it is loved among Mongolians. They are force fed buuz and vodka and have to buy presents for everyone. At the end they are bloated, nauseous and broke. What fun! Sounds like Christmas!

Checking In

Well, I don't necessarily have anything in particular to write. Last night I learned how to make buuz. These are a kind of steamed dumpling. Usually they're made with mutton, but since we couldn't get any on short notice we used chicken. They were really good, especially with chili sauce on the side. I learned three different rolling styles from my friend Zula, so I now feel quite accomplished in the area of buuz-making.

The Mongolian holiday of Tsagaan Sar is quickly approaching. This actually means "white month," but it's usually celebrated for only three days. However, preparations probably do take a month. The average family makes 1500-2000 buuz for the celebration. When it's my family's turn I'll be sure to whip out my newly acquired skills.

Other than that this morning I attended a public hearing at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science on the new draft law for culture. I'm going to write a story on it for the UB Post but I'm also generally interested, being the arts advocate that I am. It's really exciting being in a place where they're exploring in depth what kind of civil, democratic society they'd like to build. Many people are genuinely engaged on a variety of levels.

On my walk home yesterday evening, I realized that I hadn't given a complete picture of the theft of my hat. The boy who took the hat couldn't have been more than 10 years old. I think for a split second I considered running after him and trying to get it back, as I would have if one of my nephews of the same age had snatched a hat from my head. As the boy ran away with the hat, he looked back over his shoulder as if it was just a game. His face had a playful look. However, the cost of this game is no less than his very life.

Last night a street kid stole my hat right off my head. I loved that hat. Yet all I could do was watch him run away with it. My hyperindividual-conditioned self thought, "Hey, that's mine." Allison reminded me that now he'll have a warm head for the night. It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but of course she was right.

When I told Munkh-Amgalan this morning he said the kid would probably sell the hat. Street kids are all over the place right now and the chance of losing something to them increases in the winter since it's colder and they have no place to sleep or food to eat. Often they end up sleeping in open manholes or apartment stairwells. There's been plenty written on homeless kids in Mongolia; it's not a new story. However, other than the work of a few NGOs I'm not sure anything's being done about it.

For more information:
Homeless Children in Mongolia
Prevalence, Abuse and Exploitation of Street Children
"Out in the Cold: The Street Children of Mongolia"
"The Kids in Mongolia"
"The Children Under the Streets"