Because I didn't write during Dad's visit, I am writing up about Dad's time in Mongolia (August 5-19th) at a different pace. I will post it later
August 20th
I woke up at around 3:45 and brushed my teeth and threw on
some clothing. I met dad in the lobby
and we headed to the airport. I hugged
him, said goodbye, and headed back to the hotel to get a few more hours of
sleep ideally. I slept very fitfully
and, as a result, spent the rest of the day in a sort of stupor.
I met Gundee for lunch and coffee then headed over to
Enkhule’s house to get a bit of sleep, but at 9 I had more work, so I went over
to Damba’s place. Enkhule and M were
very concerned, as were their families, about me going to a male friend’s house
at night. I tried to assure them that I
was close to his mother and so I wouldn’t really be going alone.
Enkhule and M insisted to drive with me there and meet Damba
in person. Damba greeted the with his usual big smile and his mother instantly
came out to give me a big hug. Damba,
being a new shaman, had forgotten a few things and had to run out and grab
butter for the lamps and milk and things like that. I sat around chatting with his very sweet
mother until he was ready to start.
Since Damba is a new shaman, only around 2 weeks now, he is
shamanizing near every night for no purpose other than practice. People are not
coming for help or advice, since he is new and inexperienced, so he is
shamanizing for his own practice only.
As a result, the only people there were his mother, aunts, his teacher’s
assistant and HS, one of his teacher’s fellow students.
It was clear that Damba was very new. There were lots of
tiny things, like forgetting to line up the shagai on the altar. I met grandfather first, but didn’t ask
anything. Next I met grandmother, who
again had trouble with my name. She decided I needed a Mongolian name, and
asked if I would accept it. I said that I would be pleased. She named me
“Tsetsegdulam” (Flower Tara), a nice name that is also the Mongolian version of
the name of my friends’ daughter. It’s a
very old fashioned name (not surprising coming from a spirit who is supposed to
be hundreds of years old). But I really
like it. She asked if I accepted and liked the name, I said that yes, I did,
and that it matched my friends’ child’s name and I was happy. She said that she would only address me by
this name and that the people present should also refer to me by that
name. She asked about my work and about
my eyesight and we just talked and laughed a bit.
When grandmother left, a darker spirit came. I was told not
to present myself to him and we even turned out the lights. I was exhausted at
this point, so with the lights out I basically fell asleep sitting up.
When shamanizing finished I was too tired to do much. I
called Enkhule, but he was asleep, so we called M and Damba’s mom explained
that I would sleep there and not to worry.
Damba asked me about his voice when the spirits came, I told
him that it was different, but hard for me to describe in my poor
Mongolian. His mom asked me about my
recent trip to khuvsgul.
I had a migraine from sheer exhaustion and so Damba gave me
a great head massage to help relieve it. It really helped. We chatted a bit more until everyone went to
sleep.
August 21st
In the morning, Damba helped me get a taxi to the office. I had a lot of writing to catch up on after
travelling with dad. Enkhule called me
when I was at the office to invite me over to his house, where his father would
be preparing Marmot Bodog. Bodog is a special meat preparation, usually used
for marmot, whereby the animal is filled with extremely hot stones and cooked
from the inside out.
I sat in Enkhule’s tent and played with his little baby as
we ate marmot, a very gamey meat, and one of Enkhule’s favorites. At around 10
o’clock, his three year old nephew marched in and asked for me to come into the
main house so that he could sleep next to me. How could I possible refuse? I went in and realized that mostly the
nephew wanted to play games on my iphone, but that was OK too, and I curled up
and went to sleep.
August 22nd
In the morning I went to the office to do some more writing.
I got a call from C, the shamaness who had come with me to Khuvsgul, saying
that she had changed plans and would actually be shamanizing that night. Was I
available to come? I contacted Gundee and we quickly arranged to meet at 5 o
clock and head up to C’s house.
At 3 o clock I had a meeting with NS, a young woman of Tuvan
ethnicity who had shamanic potential but wasn’t sure whether or not she would
take her spirits on. It was an
interesting discussion. She is a very modern, UB woman, and being a shaman in
the Tuvan tradition of her family is another world entirely. She wasn’t sure she could reconcile those two
ways of living.
I recommended she watch the Korean film “Man on the Edge”
for a good laugh, since it’s about a very modern Korean gangster who has to
become a shaman. So it was something she
could relate to, and then we enjoyed a coffee.
I wanted to buy a birthday present for Gunjee, who would be
turning 7 in two days, but didn’t have any idea where to go. NS walked me over
to a local toy store where she assured me I would find something right. I
walked in and found a wall of Asian Barbie knock offs. PERFECT. Gunjee loves “barbies” none of which
are actual barbies. I bought her a “Nancie” veterinary doll, where the pretty,
Barbie-like doll is wearing a scrubs/dress and has a little kitten doll as well
as a medical box, stethoscope, clip board and more. S, my host sister and Gunjee’s mother, would
also be having a birthday soon, so I went to the state department store and
bought her some nailpolish (which she adores) and some nice quality pearlescent
makeup.
Gundee met me outside the state dept store and we made our
way up to C’s home for shamanizing. Upon
walking into C’s ger I was struck by one thing—OH MY GOSH KITTEN!!!!!!!! I was destracted for the rest of the
time. BECAUSE KITTEN. I introduced C to Gundee and C introduced me
to her mother and father. Then she began
shamanizing.
I first spoke to grandfather about studies and research. He
was very annoyed by the double translation (Archaic Mongolian to Mongolian to
English) and tried to have me speak to him directly, so I tried my best.
When it was Grandmother’s time to come, C was decked out in
traditional Mongolian headband and earrings and some costume jewelry
rings. She also wore a braided hair
extension with traditional hair clips. When grandmother came, she showed off
about being fancy with all her jewelry.
She teased me for my costume jewelry earrings. She gave me the costume jewelry pearl ring
off her hand and told me not to lose it and not to submerge it in water. I agreed
Grandmother left and C removed the jewelry and hair
extensions and put on a large, sheepskin vest with a mirror on it. The next spirit was an especially fierce one
who demanded to shamanize outside the ger.
Then the shamanizing was complete and C came out of her
trance. She asked how it was and said “taking the spirits is very hard.” Then she looked at my hand.
“Wait, isn’t that my ring?” She asked. This was followed by lots of laughing, me
sheepishly giggling, and everyone explain that no, not anymore it wasn’t! I still have the ring.
August 22, Saturday
I mistakenly thought it was Gunjee’s birthday, but it turned
out to be the next day, so I spent a very relaxed day at home reading and
working on a cross stitching project. In
the evening, I went out with some friends to a local park where we rented two
person side by side bike carraiges and rode around the park chasing each
other. It was a lot of fun.
August 23 Sunday
Today would be Gunjee’s birthday. I helped Gunjee and Soyloo chop potatoes for
potato salad and we snacked on fresh pine nuts straight from the pine
cone. Some family members came over and
we had buuz and salads and an enormous chocolate cake. Of course Duulag wanted to steal the
chocolate decorations off of Gunjee’s piece, but we wouldn’t let him. Since he
is a two year old, this made him break down in sobs. He
also kept trying to play with his big sister’s presents. I really understand
the concept of “terrible twos” now.
I gave Gunjee the Barbie doll and a bag of salt water
taffies. She adored the doll most of all and kept playing with all the little
veterinary accessories.
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