Beware Mongolian Shortcuts

Well, Franklin may think it’s hot stuff to be a featured blog in The Advocate, exposing him to, potentially, millions of readers. But I’ll have you all know that DODR has just been named “Blog of the Semi-Month” (swear that’s the title – see for yourself) on the Buddhist Village site. I’ve had at least a couple dozen look-sees as a result. But I like the general vibe of BV (including their exquisite taste in blogs, of course), so I’m a-linkin’ ‘em.

Apologies about the radio silence, but I’m recovering from a mild nasty. On Friday, I ventured out with Meredith from F.I.R.E. and a group from FPMT to visit an elderly home out in the boonies somewhere (what this means in Mongolia is “somewhere beyond the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar” where there are several thousand kilometers of boonies). We set out early and zigged and zagged to the north of town, the roads becoming progressively more primitive. Then, beyond most of the weekend house settlements, an abrupt left, onto about the gnarliest 40km of road I’ve ever careened along. Just as something I ate was beginning to disagree with me. For two hours my organs and muscles were hurled hither and yon and I emerged at the facility a shade of light puce. I learned later that we took this road because it was a “shortcut.” Ani Chantal said, “I asked them repeatedly, ‘Is this a good road?’ and they said, ‘Yes.’ Repeatedly.” Then she gave one of those French philosophical shrugs, “Well, anyway, everything is relative. Maybe for them this is a good road.”

The home sheltered about 150 old folks, and some not so old but handicapped either mentally or physically. It was quite anomalous in Mongolia; when it’s necessary, parents are ordinarily folded without question into one of their children’s households.

Maybe 75 came to greet us in their dining hall. Everyone was introduced and then we commenced distributing some warm clothes to them. I have to say in all honesty that this was not my favorite thing I’ve done in Mongolia. The Mongolians as a people, I’ve observed, possess a certain natural dignity that deepens beautifully as they mature. Handing them American cast-off clothing sounded a sour note to me. This rose to the level of near-absurdity as we gave out new pairs of wildly colored “toe socks.” Here, the only other Western ordained person in Mongolia, FPMT’s Ani Chantal, lays a pair on an elder:

In general, I wasn’t very helpful. Twice I had to leave the building to let the chilly air settle waves of nausea, and when I was feeling physically OK, I was still gnawed by embarrassment. We took the long way home – 40 km more distant, a half-hour shorter. Once back in UB, I staggered about in a freezing rain doing some unavoidable errands (display on my cell phone had conked out, eg, set me back 25 bucks), stumbled in the door, fed Moojie, and crashed for 4-5 hours of dead sleep. Feeling much better now – think it was just some sketchy chicken the night before.

For those in the Dulaan Brigade reading this, none of your knitted items were included in this small distribution, though I wish it had just consisted of a gift of, say, hand-knitted afghans. In F.I.R.E.’s defense, this was pretty far outside their mandate. They usually focus on children and younger families. Also, they provided some medicine and bedding and other things which will be very useful at that home. Meredith and I left very quickly, but I wish I could have stayed. Many of the old folks were devout Buddhists, and the one good thing was seeing their delight at ordained people paying them a visit. I talked to them with all the Mongolian I know, patted their hands, said some mantra. Best I could do. Ani Chantal and the FPMT group stayed to do prayers and such with them, so I’m grateful for that.

Also, F.I.R.E. has really brought an amazing bunch of stuff, almost all of it very useful. One whole shipping container was full of medical supplies and English textbooks. These pictures from the UB storage warehouse give you some idea:

In other news, I have been invited to give a short talk at Gandan Monastery for a conference on October 30 about “Buddhism and Chingghis Khan.” Don’t laugh. There’s more to it there than you might imagine. It’ll also give me a good chance to balance out my gaffe when I wrote out of school about the Dalai Lama’s address to the monks.

Finally, this amazing photo has provided me with some inspiration as to how to train The Mooj and wring some income out of him. The circus down the street is always looking for novel animal acts:

I cadged the pic from this wonderful site. I found it because in my stats someone had gotten to DODR by searching for “monks and cats” and it came up when I looked at the Google page. I don’t think we’re going to be ready for prime time any too soon, though:

Comments

[marylee]

It's with embarrassing frequency that I have to remind myself that even when thing go wonky, it almost always makes for a better story. You have to think that those older folks will laugh and smile over and over again when they show someone their toe socks and tell the story of the day of your visit. I want to believe that well-intentioned goofiness translates across cultures. And as for *best I could do*. Would that all our bests were as good and spirited as yours.

[Palzang]

I can see the list of Mooj's tricks now: feigned indifference, real indifference, boredom, sleeping in the sun, and drinking coffee! Wish I could have been there to help with FIRE's distributions. Despite your miserable day it sounds really nice.

[Vedran]

Hm, "trained cat" really sounds like oxymoron. Must be the proof of that monk's supreme wisdom and ability!
This is much similar to that story of some painter (I think Italian) who was asked by king or count or something to prove his artistic genius. Then the painter just took chalk or something and he made perfect circle with his bare hand. That sounds familiar? Wish I could recall the name of that artist... Anyway ability to train the cat to do anything proove that person has (at least) special quality within.

Wow, Chingis Khan and buddhism conference- that's good stuff! Wish I could get whole transcript... Hopefully you will give us your talk, will you Konchog?

[Ryan]

Cuzzin, I completely understand your mixed emotions about what was given to the elderly Mongolians but, if it makes you feel any better, I, a 46-year-old broad, own a pair of brightly colored toe socks, and, while they look very silly on my feet, since they insulate each individual toe, they are the warmest things ever.

P.S. It just occurred to me that I own TWO pairs of toe socks. Thank God you weren't handing out ones like my second pair in which each toe is an individual three-dimensional Santa head, complete with tiny beard and red hat. I have TMK to blame for this.

[Rabbitch]

*sputter*

Sorry. Just the thought of hundreds of ancient Mongolians with Santa, the elves, some reindeer, etc. on their toes gave me the first big grin of the day.

[Canadian eh?]

Hello :)

I just wanted to ease your heart a bit by telling you that here in Canada, we have MANY stores that specialize in used clothing. Many people who have sufficient money to buy new clothing enjoy shopping for used clothing because they are recycling rather than wasting. So, sending used clothing is done with the best intentions by many people. Also, if you can send ten used shirts for every new one that youc could afford to buy, you are going to try to help ten people rather than one.

I wonder whether maybe the bright socks brought smiles and cheer to some of their recipients. Did they wonder about the people who had knit them? Do they enjoy seeing these socks peek out from under "quieter" clothes?

May you continue to receive all that you need to help others. I cannot join the D.Projec this year, but I plan to try to knit a few items next year. I shall toss in a couple of grey or brown hats for older people.

Warmest wishes from Canada.