Mongolia

Mongolia Monday-Three More Jokes

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Chinggis Khan statue, Parliament Building, Ulaanbaatar

This isn’t a joke from Mongolia, but it’s about someone near and dear to the hearts of Mongols…Chinggis Khan:

One day an old Jewish Pole, living in Warsaw, has his last light bulb burn out. To get a new one he’ll have to stand in line for two hours at the store (and they’ll probably be out by the time he gets there), so he goes up to his attic and starts rummaging around for an old oil lamp he vaguely remembers seeing.

He finds the old brass lamp in the bottom of a trunk that has seen better days. He starts to polish it and (poof!) a genie appears in cloud of smoke.

“Ho ho, Mortal!” says the genie, stretching and yawning, “For releasing me I will grant you three wishes.”

The old man thinks for a moment, and says, “I want Genghis Khan resurrected. I want him to re-unite his Mongol hordes, march to the Polish border, and then decide he doesn’t want the place and march back home.”

“No sooner said than done!” thunders the genie. “Your second wish?”

“Ok. I want Genghis Khan resurrected. I want him to re-unite his Mongol hordes, march to the Polish border, and then decide he doesn’t want the place and march back home.”

“Hmmm. Well, all right. Your third wish?”

“I want Genghis Khan resurrected. I want him to re-unite his –“

“Ok ok ok. Right. What’s this business about Genghis Khan marching to Poland and turning around again?”

The old man smiles. “He has to pass through Russia six times.”

———–

Then there is this little gem:

Rich Mongolian guy had a cook, one day he had to fire him. His friend says, “That man was a good cook. Why did you fire him?”

“Every morning I have two eggs, one boiled and one fried. But that stupid cook keeps on frying the wrong egg!”

———

And, finally:

Хyyхнyyдийн зан
Хyyхнyyдийн учрыг олох хэцyy. Oдoхooр бyдyyлэг, oдoхгyй бол тэнэг гэх юм.
Mind of women is difficult to understand. When I flirt, they call me womaniser …when I don’t, they call me moron.

——–

Thank you to the forums on AsiaFinest for the last two.


Mongolia Monday- Contemporary Music, Part 1

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This is the first in an on-going series about one of the many delightful and unexpected discoveries that I’ve made since I’ve started going to Mongolia-

I was channel-surfing one evening when I was staying at the Narantuul Hotel in Ulaanbaatar during my 2006 trip and came across a music video channel. That’s where my introduction to the music scene in Mongolia began. Most of what is available for sale through outlets like Amazon are traditional “folk” music CDs, particularly performances of khoomi (throat-singing) and long song (in which female singers greatly elongate the notes). One could be left with the impression that Mongolian music consists only of these “indigenous” forms. One couldn’t be more wrong.

Great cultural synthesizers that they are, the Mongols seem to have picked up a number of western popular music idioms within five years of the changeover from socialism to parliamentary democracy and capitalism. In rapid succession that evening and on subsequent trips, I watched boy bands, rap groups, rock groups, neo-folk groups and a variety of male and female soloists. I found myself trying to scribble down names in Mongolian cyrillic. The first group that really grabbed me, and it will come as no surprise to anyone who knows the music scene there, was Nomin Talst. This last trip I “discovered” The Lemons, A Sound, A Capella and Pilots. Poking around on YouTube, which has hundreds of Mongol music videos, unearthed superb soloists like Ganaa (who was, and I guess still is, with one of the first successful boy bands, Camerton) and a woman who has an extraordinary voice, Maraljingoo. Here they are in a duet. I’ve  never been able to figure out the plot in this one. (Any Mongols reading this want to help me out?)

Here’s a solo video by Maraljingoo:

And one from Ganaa:

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a way to buy any of this music via downloads. I purchased a few CDs when I was in UB in July and a Mongol friend brought back a stack last month from a list that I gave her. Otherwise, I have a 100 song playlist on YouTube and listen to a Mongol Facebook friend’s internet radio station here. His 32,000 song selection really runs the gamut from old-style vocalists to hard rock and everything in between.

I really enjoy listening to Mongol pop music while I work on paintings and drawings with Mongol subject matter!

Three Drawings of Mongol Horses and Riders

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Drawing and painting animals has always come more easily to me than humans. No idea why, that’s just been how it is. But now, I’ve gotten really interested in the Mongol horses and the lives of the herders who breed, train, ride and race them. And I want to paint all of that, so now I really do have to get up to speed with people. These drawings are part of that process. They each took a few hours and I enjoyed doing them a lot.

Erdene-naadam-rider
Horse and Rider at Erdene Naadam, 2009; compressed charcoal on vellum bristol
BGC-boy-on-horse
Horse and jockey, mountain blessing day horse race at Baga Gazriin Chuluu, 2009; charcoal pencil on vellum bristol
Choi's-father
Herder and horse, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, 2005; charcoal pencil on vellum bristol

Mongolia Monday: Two Poems

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I haven’t posted any poetry for awhile, so here are two that I rather like. They are from “Modern Mongolian Poetry”, which was published by The State Publishing House in 1986. This was before the “changeover” from socialism, which started in 1990. So there will be 20th anniversary celebrations in Mongolia next year. Both photos were taken by me on my July trip to Mongolia.

Steppe

AUTUMN ON THE STEPPE

The boundless and spacious wasteland

Spreads yellow; and full-grown grasses sway

Grasshoppers, the world is completely silent,

Only the cranes soar the sky.

From the brown-yellow surface of the golden world

A scent rises, pleasant but strange,

And on the stone-mans’ forehead

Hoar-frost melts like beads of sweat.

B. Rinchen

Three

IT’S AN HONOUR TO BE HUMAN

“I am a human being.” These simple words

Have a ring of dignity and pride.

That’s why

I think that it is the highest honour

To be a human being

In body and soul.

I do not like it, I hate

To be flame in the heat,

Ice in the cold.

But to warm the one freezing to death,

To cool the one gasping in the heat-wave,

Not to flatter the powerful,

Not to insult the weak,

To lend a helping hand to those who stumble,

To encourage those who suffer-

That is how to be a human being.

If you’ve carried dignity and worth

As a banner of struggle,

If you’ve never compromised with cunning and baseness,

If you haven’t feared death.

In the cause of truth and freedom,

Be proud of yourself and say:

“I’ve been a human being!”

L. Khuushaan

Three Paintings Available on eBay, 11-2-09; Thompson’s Gazelle, Peruvian Pelicans, Ground Hornbill

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I’ve decided to do something new besides offering only small works at auction. In addition to those, I will be offering more substantive works for a set price, also on eBay. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you want more information or have any questions.

Thompson's-Gazelle-500
Thompson's Gazelle 16x12" oil on canvasboard;

This painting was juried into the Bennington Center for the Arts  “Art and the Animal Kingdom” exhibition in 2008. Click for listing here

Ground-Hornbill-500
Ground Hornbill 15x24" oil on canvasboard

I photographed this impressive ground hornbill when I was in Kenya in 2004 as a participant in Simon Combes’ art workshop safari.Click for listing here

Pretty In Pink 18x24" oil on canvasboard
Pretty In Pink 16x20" oil on canvasboard

I was also in Berlin in 2004 and was able to spend three days at the zoo sketching and taking pictures. I knew when I saw them that these Peruvian pink-backed pelicans would make great subjects. Click for listing here

Mongolia Monday- My Other Mongol Joke

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Buuz is one of the most popular foods in Mongolia. They are a small, round steamed “dumpling” with a mutton or beef filling. Mongols make (and eat) zillions of them for their holidays. Just for fun we had a “buuz party” a couple of weeks ago. One of the guests, and the chief buuz maker, was a young Mongol woman, Ganaa, who I met when I advertised for a Mongolian language tutor before my 2006 trip. Her husband is an American who she met when he was teaching English over there in the Peace Corps a few years ago.

I told everyone at the party the Mongol joke that I posted here last week as we scarfed down many buuz and some delicious salads. Ganaa then told us a story about how a family is all sitting around a table eating buuz. There is only one left on the platter when, suddenly, the lights go out. After a short time, the lights come back on and the solitary buuz is gone. Everyone looks at everyone else. Who took the last buuz?

This has apparently been a running joke in Mongolia for many years.

Here’s a photo of the first buuz I ever saw.

buuz1

I was in western Mongolia, on my way back from the Khomiin Tal tahki reintroduction site. We stopped in a soum center (county seat equivalent) for lunch at this little buuz stand. The ladies made them to order and they were delicious! They were also somewhat bemused by my desire to take a picture of something so utterly ordinary (to them, of course). This was the first real Mongolian food I had ever had.

Mongolia Monday- A Mongol Joke

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near Choidog's ger

One of the many things I enjoy about traveling to other countries is learning what is considered humorous and to what extent it overlaps with what Americans find funny. This last July in Mongolia, I finally got a chance to explore this with my guide, who spoke very good English. I asked him about Mongol humor and he told me this joke (paraphrased to read smoothly):

An old man was sitting in his ger on a cold evening. The door opened (Mongols don’t knock. They just go in.) and a young man entered. The elder offered the young man milk tea and aruul. They sat and chatted. It grew late. The old man pointed to a mattress on the floor and asked the young man if he wanted a blanket. No, no, the young man said, he would be fine. “Are you sure?” said the old man, “It’s going to be cold tonight.” “No”, replied the young man, very firmly, “I will be fine.” “I can give you a blanket.” “No, I don’t need a blanket.” “Very well then.”

Morning came, the old man woke up, looked over and saw that the young man was lying under the mattress.

——-

Further contributions to what I hope will become a collection of Mongol jokes and humor would be greatly appreciated. Please send them to sfox at foxstudio dot biz.

Mongolia Monday: Wildflowers, Part 3

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This is the final installment of images that I took of wildflowers during my AFC Flag Expedition to Mongolia this past July. As before corrections and identifications of flowers I couldn’t find in the guidebook I used, “Flowers of Hustai National Park”woulo be greatly appreciated.

Sawwort, Saussurea amara
Sawwort, Saussurea amara
Snow-in-Summer, Cerasttium arvense
Snow-in-Summer, Cerasttium arvense
Thistle species
Thistle species
Thyme, Thymus globicus
Thyme, Thymus globicus
Unknown; guide said it was not a pasque flower since bloom season for that is earlier
Unknown; guide said it was not a pasque flower since bloom season for that is earlier
Valerian, Valeriana officinalis
Goniolimon, Goniolimon speciosum
Wallflower, Erysimum flavum
Wallflower, Erysimum flavum
Unknown aquatic flower
Unknown aquatic flower
Unknown white flower
Unknown white flower
Unknown white flower
Unknown white flower
Unknown yellow flower
Unknown yellow flower
Unknown yellow flower
Unknown yellow flower

New Painting Debut; and the Big Argali Painting, Part 4

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Writers of fiction say that they will have a story all plotted out, but sometimes the characters take control and things go off in unexpected directions. That’s more or less what I feel happened with the painting below. I wanted to do a big argali, because, well, I just needed to do it. About halfway through, though, I could see it starting to diverge from where I thought it was going. By the time I had the background mostly done and had started on the rocks and ground, it had become clear that the painting was going to be what it wanted to be and I was along for the ride. Interesting sensation. Without further ado, “Gun-Galuut Argali”:

Baga Gazriin Chuluu Argali 36x24" oil on canvasboard (price on request)
Gun-Galuut Argali 36x24" oil on canvasboard (price on request)

I’ve gotten in a couple more good sessions on the big argali painting.  The right side background still needed something, so I went back to my reference and found some rocky slope images that I liked. So far this one is behaving itself, but you never know.

3-argali

This one shows how I start to block in the light side and some of the dark areas. The drawing is still kind of lost, but I’m not worried about that at the moment. I’m working on shapes and value/temperature relationships.

head detail
head detail

Here’s the studio set-up with my iMac on the left. And, yes, I love my Hughes easel, especially when I’m working on a larger painting since I work my way over most of it during a session.

Studio