Robert Slinn - Movie Star

Yes, I am shortly to appear at a cinema near you (or at least university)! A film crew from VSO headquarters are working on a short promotional film about youth volunteering, a decided to come to Mongolia to cover the work that I and two of my fellow young volunteers are doing. How exciting! The film crew followed me round for a day, and did interviews with some of my colleagues. We went to visit Amnesty International Mongolia, and also did a quick shoot of the volunteers' forum that I've recently helped set up. It was a real pleasure to do the filming, not least because the film crew were so nice (and bought me lunch!). The next day was a bit strange though - no longer was I the centre of attention! I'm really looking forward to seeing the film when it's completed, it will be a great souvenir of my time in Mongolia.

Disability Day - on the 11th of June the disabled community hosted a day full of events, designed to celebrate the achievements and abilities of the disabled. The focal point of the day was held in the square by the main cinema/museum to Lenin. Many disabled people ran stalls showcasing their handicrafts. There was also a large stage upon which disabled people sang songs and played music. In addition, local politicians/VIPs used the stage to hand out certificates to those lucky enough to warrant them. My own personal highlight was going to the "wheelchair marathon", an event which was held on the outskirts of the city. I'm currently doing a three-week stint at the Wheelchair Users' Association, and director Chuka asked me to be photographer for the day. Participants undertook the 5km course in extremely hot weather, so I take my hat of to them! Disability is an interesting issue in Mongolia - most people respect the disabled (for instance, drivers will incredibly not honk their horns when wheelchair users are blocking the traffic when getting in and out of taxis). However, little is being done to insure that disabled people can access facilities. Hopefully things will improve in the future, VSO is certainly making this area one of their priorities...

The Election -Mongolia is gearing up for its parliamentary election, which take place on the 29th of June. The streets are fully of adverts and party flags, and microbuses displaying party posters dash around the city. The two main contenders are the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (the ex-communists) and the Democratic Union Party. These two parties will probably take over 90% of the seats available. However, Mongolia has 8 parties competiting - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Mongolia for more details. It seems that you can divide people into two categories - those that passionately support one party (the young generally support the Democratic Party and are against the Revolutionary Party, whilst the poor and the old support the old order) and those that simply don't care about the election ("all politicians are corrupt, the elections won't change anything"). I'll keep you all updated over the coming blog posts...

End of language lessons -yes, the time has come for me to wind down some of my activities. As I'm leaving in 2 months I've decided to stop taking my Mongolian lessons (also my teacher is now on her holidays, and so I think she's keen to wind down all her activities for a month or two). The lessons were great, although perhaps too focused on grammar (a common feature in Mongolian education - many people know all the complex English grammar, but have trouble actually speaking). My teacher Alta was a really nice person, someone who always smiled. She was a pleasure to talk to, and was very patient with me!

Finishing the lessons is a bit like the first nail in the coffin of my Mongolian adventure. It's a bit sad to think about leaving Mongolia, as I've started to settle and have made some good friends. Also my job usually keeps me entertained and throws up surprises, something which may be hard to recreate in a job in the UK. However, I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, so that's a big positive! Bythway, the flight is booked - I'm back on August the 12th. I hope you all have a bit of free time in August/September, it would be great to catch up with anyone who is available! Lots of love to you all,

Robert

P.S. I'm currently writing lots of job applications for my return to the UK. Wish me luck!

Comings and Goings...

Hello Dad! – Yes, last week I was treated to a quick visit from my Dad. It was really great to see him, and even better to be able to show him around some of the places in Ulaanbaatar and the surrounding area. We spent the first day doing some of the touristy spots, visiting the parliament square, Gandan Monestry and the Zaisan Monument. I also showed Dad around my flat and VSO, so he had a little taste of what my daily life in Mongolia is like. The next day we went to the countryside and climped a mountain. This was great, as it gave us the chance to have a proper catch up. However, by far the highlight of his trip was a visit to colleague’s house. My father and I had been invited to visit one of my colleagues, but little did I know that a local shaman would also be in attendance! We both had a real shock, as the shaman proceeded to bless us with various implements (including the paw of a tiger, the foot of a bear and a hot clothes iron!). It was fascinating to experience all of this first-hand – we received so many blessings that we must be set for the rest of the year! Dad returned home safely after two and a half days in Ulaanbaatar, I think both of us will have good memories of his trip.

Goodbye Jon! – Yes, on Monday the time had come to say goodbye to my flatmate Jon. He arrived at the same time as me, but his contract was set for a shorter time. It was sad to see him go, as he’d always been a friendly face in the flat and was a good person to chat to during the long winter evenings. However, I’m sure that he’ll slot right back into his life in Canada. He’s got a career to return to, and is a very level-headed person. I wish him all the very best of luck! Now that Jon goes the flat will be a little bit quieter, although a new volunteer should be coming to temporarily use his room shortly. Jon’s departure is a reminder that I’ve only got 2 and a bit months left – I’ve got to use them wisely!

Recent news – Food price rises are currently hitting the population hard, with the price of rice and flour doubling in recent months. This is seen as a real problem for people. At least it is not happening in the winter, when money is stretched further by having to pay for fuel costs. I hope that the prices will drop down again soon, but I don’t think that’s likely…

Cultural observances - There is what some people call a “social crisis” in Mongolia, as the traditional role played by men and women has changed dramatically in recent years. After the fall of communism times were very tough for families, so parents often had to take their sons out of school and put them to work with their livestock. However, it was thought that girls needed an education to survive in the future, so they were pushed into university. The result – women are generally well educated and have good jobs, whilst many men are struggling and are unemployed. Most sectors of employment have high female representation, with the notable exception of politics (only 3 of Mongolia’s 67 MPs are female).

Mongolians tend to get married early, with the average age (from what I can tell) being about 20 for women and 23 for men. When people ask me my age and I say “I’m 25”, they immediately follow this question up by asking whether I am married and have any children. I find this a bit strange, as no one asks me that in the UK! Unfortunately early divorce is common, and there are many single mothers. Some people link this to the divide between men and women (women are increasingly the bread winners, and are often the more educated of the two). Others say that domestic violence and alcoholism are big factors. Seeing a drunken person sleeping/unconscious on the street is a daily occurrence.

On a more light-hearted note, a friend of mine recently mentioned that it is quite common for young children to drink their mother’s urine when they are sick. Not sure about that one myself, but Mongolian children seem healthy enough!

Pondering the future...

This week I have been mostly pondering the future. What should I do when I return to the UK? I'm applying for various things, but the question of what my "end goal" should be is very much in my mind. I know I'm still young, but I still feel like I should be working towards something. It's frustrating to not have a clear idea of what I should do with my life, so I'm trying to take some time out in the evenings just to sit and think. Hopefully I'll get some inspiration soon! Anyway, I've got my Dad visiting me next Thursday, so perhaps he can help. Anyway - yes, my Dad is coming!!! I'll fill you in on his trip in a future blog entry...

Introvirus hits Mongolia! People are wondering around with masks covering their faces, and public buildings have all their door handles covered with cloths. This can only mean one thing - Mongolia is currently under attack from a horrible virus! The virus is quite dangerous for small children, so primary schools are currently shut down (much to the delight of the pupils!). The net affect of this is that both the elderly and small children are nowhere to be seen – grandparents have the task of keeping their grandchildren occupied during this period of “quarantine”. For the past week non-essential public facilities have been closed down, so the cinema and internet cafes have been out-of-action. Things are starting to return to normal now, but it was quite interesting to see how the nation reacted to this outbreak.

Hash House Harriers – Last Tuesday I went on my first “hash”, which was quite an experience. For the uninitiated, the Hash House Harriers are group of people who go for walks and drinks in the countryside (the HHH have groups all over the world). As they themselves claim, it’s “a drinking club for people with a walking problem”! The “H3” is very much for ex-pats, but still quite fun! We went for a “hash”/walk around the mountains outside of the city, and then finished off with a few beers by our minibus. I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience – I thought that the people would be snobby and not very welcoming towards Mongolians. I was proved wrong much to my delight. It was great to relax in the countryside and get out of the metropolis; I plan to take part in future “hashes” in the coming weeks.

Random observations about Mongolia – I thought I’d write some of these down over the weeks ahead, just in case I forget them. Number 1: Mongolians hate the Chinese! Hate is a strong word, and generalizing Mongolians is often not wise, but in this case the previous statement is true. 99% of people would openly say that they dislike the Chinese, and would be sad if their family members married a Chinese person. Mongolians blame most things on the Chinese (for example last January’s vodka poisoning scare – see http://rob-in-mongolia.blogspot.com/2008/01/its-very-cold.html), and are very negative about Chinese products. This negativity is due to historical factors (years of being occupied and badly treated) and recent developments (Chinese people are taking Mongolian jobs). It never ceases to surprise me how open the Mongolians are about this – people will openly say that they would never marry a Chinese person and that they hate the Chinese (this includes very liberal people working in NGOs!). During my previous visit to Sukhbaatar City a six year old girl said that she hated Chinese people – I was particularly shocked, as she was so young and had never met a Chinese person before. A group called “Hoch Mongol” has been known to attack Chinese people and shave the hair off of any Mongolian women who are seen mixing with Chinese men. I guess I’m lucky not to be Chinese…

Lots of love to you all,

Robert

Birthday in Mongolia!

Yes, on Wednesday the 14^th of May it was my birthday! I’ve got to say that it was a bit sad to be away from all my friends and family, but the volunteer community still gave me a good time. We met up at Ulaanbaatar’s one-and-only Kyrgyzstan restaurant (I’ve been wanting to go there for some time – when else will I have the chance to eat food from Kyrgyzstan?!), and had lots of nice food and beer. It was great to have lots of the volunteers around, everyone was in good spirits. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was the waiter at our table, he was such a friendly guy. After serving us food he turned to DJing, playing a variety of tunes at our request! We stayed in the restaurant for 3 hours, just sitting and chatting – a mark of a good evening.

Working at the Mongolian Blood Donors Association – My three weeks at Tolgoit NGO have passed, so I’m now working at the Blood Donors Association. It’s a different experience as the Association is staffed by two elderly volunteers. They are a real inspiration – people using a large amount of their free time for the good of society, expecting no financial reward in return. The two people are very nice, but it is a challenge to communicate with them – one of them speaks incredibly fast, whilst the other is partially deaf. My Mongolian’s ok, but this is a real test! One of my tasks is to teach them a little bit of English, but I have had to start from scratch, starting with the Latin alphabet. Most young people can use the Latin alphabet already (it’s the way they communicate by email and SMS), but the older population is not so familiar with it. I’ve got another week and a half with this organization, wish me luck!

English language lessons for volunteers/parishioners – last Saturday I started giving English language lessons out at my local parish (the Sain Honichin / Good Shepard Parish). Participants include members of the parish and volunteers from the organisations I work with. Turnout for the first set of lessons was good – over 30 people turned up. I’m enjoying my foray into the world of English language teaching, although I’m not sure I’d want to do it as my main job. Anyway, it’s good fun, and a really easy way for me to “give something back” to the local people.

Three months to go and I come back home. I had better start planning what to do with my remaining 10 days of holiday. I hope you are all well, lots of love to you all,

Robert

Chilling out in the Gobi

Trip to Sainshand – Way back in October of last year I made the trip to the Gobi (please see http://rob-in-mongolia.blogspot.com/2007/10/adventures-in-gobi.html). I didn’t think I’d have the opportunity to go back, but as a group of VSO volunteers were planning a quick weekend break I thought I should take the opportunity to revisit the region. With economy seats on the train being $5 each way (for what is a huge 10-hour journey), it’s still pretty affordable to travel about on volunteer wages. As this second trip was a lot more relaxed, I managed to see a lot of the local places of interest. Stop #1 was to the Energy Centre, a Buddhist shrine in the middle of the desert. It’s here that Mongolians believe you can collect energy from the sun’s rays. You can see a photo of the centre below:

Next up was a trip to the local Buddhist monastery. It was interesting to see the lives of Buddhists monks living in a quite isolated spot. The monastery was once full of monks, but it suffered badly during the Stalinist purges (during which many Buddhists were killed). After our first day of travelling we made our way back to the local town and our place of residence. We were all sleeping on a living room floor belonging to a very enterprising Mongolian family. This was a novel experience, as there were 18 people packed into what was quite a small room! Most of us managed to get some sleep, despite the various snorers in the room… The second day was a lot less frantic – we went at a leisurely pace around Sainshand town centre, and visited a couple of local cafes. It was great to be able to relax in the hot sun, and get away from all the noise of Ulaanbaatar. I really like my trips outside of the capital, I guess I’m more of a small town boy than a city boy!

Talk at the Mongolian National University (MUIS) – the university invited Amnesty International to run a lecture about the work that it does, and the staff of AI Mongolia kindly asked me to take part. I introduced the international element of the organisation, and also talked a bit about what it is like to be a student member of Amnesty in the UK. It was funny to be in a lecture hall again, but this time having the vantage point of a lecturer. The session went well, and was most notable for the contributions of one student member of Amnesty. She gave a quick talk on her own family’s experience of child trafficking – her own cousin was kidnapped and is still yet to be found (the last sighting of the girl was in Beijing). It is one thing reading about child trafficking, but to meet someone who is personally affected by it makes it seem more real. I hope that her cousin is found soon.

Language school puts on a show – Erdenes is a friend of mine who is a teacher at a local language school. She invited me to see some of her students perform in their end of year concert. It was great to see children perform short plays and sing songs in different languages. The school specialises in teaching English, Japanese and Chinese, and we were treated to different showcases from each language. It was really sweet to see little children play different parts in plays – my personal favourite was the rendition of Goldilocks and the three bears (“this bowl is just right”).

I send you all lots of energy from the Gobi Desert’s Energy Centre. Look after yourselves and have a good rest of the week,

Robert

Goodbye Tolgoit NGO!

My three-week stint at Tolgoit NGO is nearly at an end, but what have I been up to? Well, part of my time has been spent doing training sessions for the organisation’s volunteers. We’ve also done some work on creating a volunteer operational manual – a list of procedures that the organisation should follow when recruiting and using volunteers. In addition, I’ve done regular English classes for the staff. This has been an enjoyable new adventure for me. I don’t know if I’d want to do it full-time, but the interaction in the classroom, and the progress that the participants have made is great.

Tolgoit itself is an interesting district, a lot more basic than the centre of Ulaanbaatar. 90% of the people live in ger tent houses, and many people have to survive on low incomes. The result – some people are still using horse and cart to transport things around the place. The staff that I work with are really kind, and always have smiles on their faces. None of them speak good English, so I’ve been having to put my Mongolian to the test! I must admit it’ll be sad to leave… However, I won’t miss the 50 minute bus ride every morning!

Sandstorms! – The weather is crazy at the moment! Whilst things are a lot warmer, the day can fluctuate between snow and intense sun in a few hours! Mongolians say that in Springtime it’s possible to see all 4 seasons in one day, and I have to say that I agree with this analysis. Perhaps the strangest (and uncomfortable) thing to deal with are the Springtime sandstorms. Very strong winds strike without warning, spreading dust at high speeds down the city’s streets. The problem is compounded by the fact that Ulaanbaatar doesn’t have much vegetation – dust collects and is not trapped by grass. The result is quite dramatic. I’ve seen cartoon style mini-whirlwinds of dust pass me by on the street, blowing peoples hats of if their unlucky to be caught up in them! Rob’s top tip: keep sunglasses handy, as they provide eyes with a useful protection from the gusts of dust.

Lots of love to you all, take care,

Robert

A tough week at work...

The last week has been a tough one. I didn’t really achieve much at work, and as my primary reason for being here in Mongolia is to help out, I felt a bit useless! However, I’m starting a three-week work assignment at Tolgoit NGO, a volunteering organization out in the Western ger tent district of the city. Not only do they seem very organized, bit they’re a friendly bunch too! It’s also good to be a bit more down-to-earth, working with volunteers on the ground in one of the poorest districts of the city (you can see the street by Tolgoit's office in the photo above). I’ll tell you more about my work experience as the weeks go by... But what else have I been up to?

Graffiti Madness – the Alliance Francaise had organised for a French graffiti artist to come to Ulaanbaatar. As such things are pretty rare here, this was something that I couldn’t miss out on. My friends and I made our way to Metropolis Nightclub on Wednesday night, and saw some pretty impressive things. The artist started off doing graffiti style photos. He took shots of people and then set the camera to a lower shutter speed and used different colour torches to make graffiti style imprints onto the final photo. The results were impressive! The artist also did graffiti on the walls of the club, and on people’s bodies – check out my new tattoo (don’t worry Mama, it’s temporary!):
Trip to Wrestling Palace – quite why I’ve waited until now to make the trip to the wrestling palace is a mystery, but I’m glad that I finally made the trip to see some Mongolian wrestling. It was quite a spectacle – the wrestling itself was not so exciting, and dragged on for hours, but the traditions on display were fascinating. The day’s event was launched by a stirring rendition of the national anthem, played by an army band. Then came some Buddhist chanting, led by three Buddhist monks. After that, great masses of wrestlers came onto the floor, and started parading their hats and doing a dance around the referees. Once this was completed the wrestling began, although to the untrained eye it seemed like a free-for-all! Wrestlers would fight each other until one had managed to force the other to the round – your opponent’s knees or elbows must hit the floor in order for you to win. The victor would do a quick eagle dance (flapping their arms like eagles) and then collect some chocolates from the Buddhist monks on hand. They would then throw the chocolates into the crowd (who would frantically try to catch them, as eating a winning wrestler’s chocolate is considered good luck). Unfortunately I was seated on the other side of the stadium to the Buddhist monks, so did not manage to increase my luck levels at this sitting. After the throwing of the chocolates, the wrestler would almost immediately take another wrestler on. This onslaught lasts for over 5 hours, until only one wrestler is left, although I must admit I left after 2 and a half hours!

Church building – I’ve been going to a church in the 3rd district for some time now, as I feel the community is much closer-knit than that at the cathedral (where there are more foreigners, and the church is so big that it often dwarfs the relatively small congregation that turns up on Sundays). Another drawing point is that the 3rd district church is held in a ger tent, which certainly makes the whole Sunday Mass experience that little bit more unique. Despite this unique selling point, the locals have the crazy idea of wanting to build a new permanent structure (understandable I suppose, as if you’re Mongolian the novelty of ger tents is comparatively smaller!). After months of wrangling with the local authorities, the Good Shepard Parish have finally got approval to build a church on their site. There’s now a flurry of activity, as everyone is excited to build “their new church”. This Sunday we cleared the site of the old ger tents, and the coming weeks ahead will see further work take place. It was really nice to lend a hand, as not only did I feel like I was doing something exciting and worthwhile, but it was also great to do some physical exercise (working in an office environment has some limitations). I look forward to lending a further hand in the months ahead.

As always, I’m thinking of you all and hope that you’re well. Take care of yourselves, best wishes,

Robert