Mongols. Everywhere.
About a week back, I was walking from BART in downtown Oakland to our apartment and listening to my voicemail. As I passed the Kaiser Building, I listened Sunmin's message about an article we're putting together with Andrei on fieldwork in Mongolia. And then as I reached the Lake, while Sunmin was still talking, I heard somebody calling my name, and then yelling at me in Mongolian. When I turned around and located the voice, I saw it was my friend Altgui, who was also walking home from work. "What's wrong? Couldn't you hear me?" he asked. That was a Mongolian language pop quiz if I ever had one. I didn't do so well. Though he lives within a couple miles at Little Mongolia, I've never run into him on the street ...
Yesterday, I was getting lunch to go at one of the sandwich shops on Euclid on Berkeley's northside. The two women working behind the counter looked Mongolian, so I asked. Yes on both counts, and one is originally from Zavhan, one of my research sites. As the crow flies, this spot was only 150m from my lab in Etch...
Today Mahad and I grabbed food at one of the cafes on Lakeshore, across the street from Colonial Donuts. Our waitress was a Mongolian new on the job...
A couple months back, when Roger was in town from the other City with a capital "C", we went to get late afternoon pizza and beer in Rockridge. Two of the women working behind the counter were Mongolians. After I explained what I did, the older of the two told me that she used to work as a laborant, a medical technician, in Ulaanbaatar. The story of brain drain, from the health sector to "slinging pizzas" in Roger's words...
After Seoul, Denver, DC, and Praha, the Bay is probably the best place outside Mongolia for people doing research in Mongolia. Which brings up a question similar to ones I've asked before - how can being near Mongolians who have (e)migrated support research in rural Mongolia?
HA!
Posted by:R Kahlon | 10 May 2008 at 02:35 AM
actually, the bay area is just after Chicago, i guess :)
Posted by:mgloo | 01 June 2008 at 04:10 AM
Oh yes, Chicago. Sorry I forgot that. :)
Posted by:Jaspal | 02 June 2008 at 07:21 AM