Design Research for Health: Mongolia

Top Dog Mongolia

Any night at 2am, Mongol Huushuur is the only food spot open in the 11th.  Guaranteed to be at least two taxis parked out front at that hour, even on a Sunday.  I just got my late night eat on after finishing a narrative for one of my research sites.  3 huushuur and 1 suutei tsai.  I'm going often enough at odd hours of the night, that I'm declaring this my Mongolian Top Dog.  Still on the lookout for Kingpin, but I think there can only be one.  If Dave Attell ca. 2002 were to do an Ulaanbaatar show, this would be his starting point.

"Printeriin tsaas duusan"

Much too long spent looking for a ream of decent A4 paper today.

This afternoon I went to the large Xerox center off of Suhbaatar Square to run a test print of cards for the upcoming card sorting exercise I'm planning with the leadership of the aimag health departments where I've worked.

In parallel, I've been writing narratives which involves re-reading transcripts from recorded interviews with bagiin emch.  Lots of interviews, so I'm working with paper and printing at home.  Even though I'm printing 2-up and I bought a new ream of paper in June, I am almost out of paper.  It was on my list of to-dos today, but I managed to walk out of the Xerox center without buying the paper.

I remembered about the paper on my way to a cafe and stopped into a stationery store.  They only had very low-grade paper, so I decided I would go elsewhere.  After having my Korean powdered coffee at Cherry Bakery, I went on the printer paper search, stopping into a dozen different stores.  A dozen isn't an approximation, it's an exact count.  Usually I heard "printeriin tsaas duusan" (we ran out of printer paper), sometimes simply "baihgui" (don't have it).  Ih Delguur, Tedy Center, and loads of small stores - all the same message.

After 7pm I stopped into a small store located inside my neighborhood post office.  The woman there said the same "duusan", but she said she could sell me by paper by the sheet for 15 MNT.  I was ready to do this when she said I could probably buy a ream up the street.  That was when I explained my all-over-town search for printer paper.  At first she said she'd show me where the other store was located.  Then she decided that she would make sure they had it for me first.  "I'll ask her on the computer."  She had messenger (Yahoo! - almost always in Mongolia) running on her computer and asked her friend if she had any paper.  "There are 3 different kinds.  The best one is 6000." "I'll take that one," I answered.  A few moments later I asked, "Is she coming here?"  "Yes, she's coming now."  I felt a bit guilty when a pregnant woman walked in with my ream of 80g Финпак A4 paper, but at least these two got to see each other face-to-face.  They had been talking on IM, but they still asked each other the requisite post-Naadam "Saihan bayarlasan uu?"  ("Did you have a good holiday?")  The women showed me the mark on the front of the ream denoting the quality: "Финландын дээд зэргийн чанартай цаас" ("High-quality Finnish paper").

[Aside: The things you learn working for Nokia - they used to be in the paper business.]

Mongolia is a small country, so any labeling done for Mongolia or in Mongolian is managed by local enterprises.  It's common to see labeling of imported products in English, Russian, Korean (like the glue I bought with my paper), Chinese, and even Kazakh.  So I can only assume the multilingual descriptions on the back of the package was a marketing scheme - French, German, English, Russian, and Mongolian.  The Ethnologue world rankings for these languages (number of speakers) are: 12, 10, 4, 8, and 101.

Word on the street

My reason for being quiet on the blog front has actually had little to do with the election aftermath and more with my preoccupation with ethnographic narratives.  Naadam began on Friday, but I've been working through it in an effort to prepare for team-based data analysis later this month.

Tonight, I took a break and went to late-night karaoke with current housemates Tina and Ariell (plenty of Javhlan, don't worry).  On the way back, we got a taxi from the Circus back to the 11th via Sansar.  The taxi driver, a 34 year old Ulaanbaatar native (tsever hotiin hun) talked with us about Naadam before giving us his opinions on the election aftermath.

While many people I've spoken to have been cautious in their statements, indicating that the worst was behind us, and things were as they appeared, this man said that Batzandan and Magnai were innocent, that the primary reason for this disruption had nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with business, and that he expects more protests in the near future, except that he thinks they will be peaceful.

Most interesting was when Ariell asked him where he gets his information.  Rough Cass-induced translation follows: "Mongolia is a small place, right?  We get our information from the people we know.  They tell us everything."   Ariell followed up, "What about TV?"  "TV is good.  They usually tell the truth on TV news."

Ariell gave this man a 100% tip.  Probably just as well since he charged us the right amount.

Then Tina and I played pickup hoop with the local hoodrats from Zuun Ail at 130am.  We got punked 5-0.

There you have it.

Mongolia election update: map of official results (Ulaanbaatar)

Following the previous post, I've created a map showing the results of the Mongolian parliamentary election in Ulaanbaatar by party.  One key difference between Ulaanbaatar and the countryside is the presence of MPs who are not from the two main parties, three in total:  one independent (Z. Altai), one from the Civil Coalition Party (D. Enkhbat), and one from the Civil Will Party (S. Oyun).  Khan-Uul, Baganuur, and Bagakhangai (the 3 purple ones) together form a single toirog (electoral district), as do Bayanzurkh and Nalaikh (the two on right that look a bit like interlocking puzzle pieces). 

This is a modification of the map of Ulaanbaatar's duuregs created by Bogomolov.PL.

Mongolia election update: map of official results (countryside)

Around 4pm Bilguun linked to the official results posted on songuuli.mn, noting that "it's very poorly formatted".  To help get a better understanding of how the votes break down, I created the below red-blue map.  Aimags where МАХН (MPRP) won all seats are shown in red, aimags where АН (Democratic Party) won all seats are shown in blue, and - as shown in the legend - the other colors show aimags with mixed results.  These are only the countryside results, which account for 56 of the 76 seats in Parliament (Ih Hural).  The white sections are Ulaanbaatar (including Nalaih and Baganuur), which is where the other 20 seats come from.  The grey are lakes.  Click for larger image.

This is a modification of the map of Mongolia's aimags created by Bogomolov.PL.

Mongolia election update: Fri-4-Jul-2008 morning headlines from news.mn

These are the 5 new morning headlines from news.mn, posted as of 930am:

• “Сарны нулимс” –ын хоёрдугаар хэсэг гарна— [9:17AM]
• 1280-д мэдээлээрэй [9:17AM]
• Э.Бат-Үүл: Одоо Монголын ард түмэн амар тайван байж болно оо  [8:58 AM]
• Бороо үргэлжлэн орохыг анхааруулж байна  [8:48AM]
• “Монгол башё”-гийн хөтөлбөр батлагдлаа [8:41AM]

Headlines in same order translated into English, with brief notes:

• There will be a second season of "Moon's Tear" [this is a TV drama - I may have mistranslated heseg as season]  
• Please call 1280 with information [re:riot]
• Warning of continuing rain [in about half the aimags as well as Ulaanbaatar]  
• E. Bat-Uul: Now the Mongolian people can be at ease [Bat-Uul is a MP from the Democratic Party who was rumored yesterday to replace Elbegdorj as head of party - this seems to be the only key news this morning]
• "Mongol Basho" program confirmed [as in sumo basho]  

These are the headlines, but we are still under a state of emergency.

Mongolia election update: the two days after

The best sources of photos I've seen are from Will Swanson (riots, state of emergency).  Altan Zam has been writing about what it's like here in Ulaanbaatar these last two days, and also links to other relevant blogs - see posts from Wed-2-Jul through Thurs-3-Jul.  As always, the best updates on the political situation are coming from Asian Gypsy.

Today there was less police and military presence on the streets and people were allowed much closer to the damaged areas (e.g. photo right) as cleanup efforts began in earnest.  After the last two days without rain, which followed ten consecutive days with rain, it rained again.  There are claims of police brutality with the 700-odd people that have been imprisoned as a result of the riots.  The fact that there are 700 people in jail is something I cannot fathom.  The highest estimate I've seen of Ulaanbaatar's population is only 1.3 million.  There is a rumor that Elbegdorj may be out as head of the Democratic Party, but I don't think it has been confirmed yet.  There are also many rumors of who and what was behind the protest/riot.  Such rumors cover all possible scenarios and some claim foreign involvement.  The state of emergency may be lifted early, which would mean people would be out at night and drinking just in time for the weekend.  I will stay close to home if that is the case.

Today I heard that some protesters went to Grand Khaan Irish Pub (Tom Irish) on the night of the protests and were harassing foreigners, as it is a place where those working for international mining companies are known to go.  One, possibly two, foreign journalists were beaten during the melee, possibly by police.  Several other foreigners ended up at the Trauma Hospital (Gemtliin Emneleg), including a Japanese man who suffered severe head injuries and was evacuated to Japan yesterday.

Mongolia election update: state musicians cope with loss

State musicians from the Morin Huuriin Chuulga (Horsehead Fiddle
Ensemble) and the Philharmonic Orchestra assess the damage the day after
the riots in Ulaanbaatar. Attacks on the Central Cultural Palace
resulted in considerable damage and loss to instruments, costumes, and
repertoire, including original manuscripts. Original footage shot by
Tugsuu today.

Woman shown at beginning is holding a fragment of her cello that was smashed.

From Asian Gypsy: The National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has set up a donation fund for the public to contribute in the rebuilding process of these cultural centres. Further details are available on news.mn.

Mongolia election update: protest videos from Eagle TV (MN), Al Jazeera, AP, and BBC

The best footage of the protest (see previous posts if you don't know the context) is from Eagle TV. Even though they have been forbidden from broadcasting in Mongolia, they have posted new content online today.  Their footage from yesterday is excellent.  Look for #1-8 of "МАХН-ын байрны өмнө болсон үйл явдал".  Ta nar "MAXH-iin bairiin umnu bolson uil yavdal" 1-naas 8-nd uzeerei.

Here are links to YouTube videos of the protests from Al Jazeera, AP, and BBC, respectively.  Posting these here since search on YouTube isn't so great.

Protests over Mongolian election (BBC - embedding disabled)

Mongolia election update: riot video from 1-Jul-2008

After 6pm on 1-Jul-2008 the protest in front of the MAXH (Монгол Ардын Хувьсгалт Нам, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party) building in Ulaanbaatar turned violent. Over the next hours the crowd and police battled for possession of the territory to the south and west of the MAXH building, each advancing and retreating in turn. In this video, the crowd is throwing stones at the front of the building and the police advance on them with riot gear.  I shot this footage from the restaurant on the 6th floor of the Ulaanbaatar Hotel.