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The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the café strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,
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Snowy Tsagaan Sar

So I haven't gotten around to writing up a review of 2010 to finish off the year, mainly because I had little to say. There's the IPO for the coal miner Mongolian Mining Corporation, and a whole bunch of other seemingly significant things that took place while we were all busy battling the climate elements and worrying about the tugrik vs US dollar fluctuations.

We are, suddenly, one of the coolest nationalities in the world, according to CNN Go. We're at no.4, losing out to Jamaica at no.3 (I have no problems with this at all. I mean, they're Jamaicans!) and Singapore at no.2 (?!) . Here's the bit on Mongolia:
Along with a carefully crafted air of quiet mystery, these unflappable souls pretty much perfected the freewheeling, nomadic cowboy existence, throat singing and yurts. Fur-lined everything -- boots, coats, hats, undies -- adds hearty splendor to the historic mystique. And who else keeps eagles as pets?

Icons of cool: Actress Khulan Chuluun, who played Ghengis Khan's wife in the very cool film, “Mongol,” and matched the arch badass arrow for arrow, barb for barb.

Not so cool: Yak-based dairy products … at every meal. [Source]
So the bit about fur-lined undies and yak-based dairy makes the article sound like it was just made up by someone who's never been to Mongolia (and they probably haven't.)

I digress. This year's Tsagaan Sar is on the February 3rd, a Thursday (Bituun being the day before), finally giving us the long weekend the New Year cheated us out of. Braving the bitter cold and the UB smog that seems to get thicker every winter, we wait to usher in the Year of the white iron Rabbit also known as ... Donkey. I love these names. They seem more and more made up each year. The year of the Tiger, now passing, was also known as Traitor, which is less confusing than a Rabbit year also known as Donkey.

Mongolians say that Tsagaan Sar signals the coming of Spring. As we get nearer to Tsagaan Sar, it feels more and more like winter, with temperatures dropping down to -30 degrees, and snow that's been absent since the beginning of winter.

In a farewell bid to 2010, here's JibJab's Year in Review.


Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
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