FYI: Always bring your toilet paper with you.

In this episode, I've talked about three ...isms in Mongolia that you can spot in daily life. These are Ageism, Nepotism, and Materialism. Getting real about Mongolia.

Note to the change of episode format: Yes, I've decided to remove the music session due to a highly possible copyright allegation even though I consider it to be fair use. But, don't worry, at the end of the year, there will be a whole episode only about Mongolian music and artists.

Thank you for tuning in!

Do Mongolians also share Asian values? The answer is yes.

Mongolian culture values connectivity and collective living. Family ties are strong and filial sentiment is firm. But, there are certain personal struggles to be an individual in Mongolian society. I shared my personal feelings and thoughts.

I discussed the article on the social connectedness of Mongolians and the double sides of this connectedness.

Mongolia is a free, equal country when it comes to gender concerns. I feel like I have all the opportunities as a Mongolian woman, but there are complexities in the difference of women's experiences in urban and rural life. In addition, Namka and Tugsuu contributed to this episode, sharing their thoughts on being women in Mongolia.

Our first guest of this season is Yumzhana Sui from Ulan-Ude, Buryatia. She's a talented artist who creates art about decolonization, Buddhism, and environmental activism. We talked about her life in Ulaanbaatar, the current time of uncertainty, and giggled a little bit.

Instagram:

Yumzhana Sui @su.realism

Modern Mongolia Podcast @modernmongolia

As I mentioned before in another episode, the government announced that the next 3 years are the years to visit Mongolia and there are a lot of promotions going online. I see many articles about why you should visit Mongolia and a bunch of aerial footage of the landscape and so on. But here, on this podcast, I only talk about the candid reality of Mongolia. For this episode, I’m diving into the perks of living in Mongolia. I covered 6 things that I myself and expats find as perks of living in this country. There is a bonus point at the end and it's such an unexpected thing you'd think you'll like in Mongolia.

Peace!

How do you imagine Mongolian life? Let's see if your imagined Mongolia is different in real life. 

Do you know any stereotype about Mongolians? Let's see if they're real or no. 

Contemporary Mongolian herder families living in a ger (yurt) in the countryside,  herding animals for living look like this: They have a satellite tv, cellphone, at least 1 motorcycle and a mini truck, solar panel and some have a freezer. This is normal standard these days.

For the Mongolian music time, I introduced legend of legends, singer Norovbanzad and her long song "The sun over placid the placid world". 

Please leave a review on the podcast, that will help me to understand how I can improve the podcast for better. 

Happy Spring everyone! Did you know that in Mongolia we count winter days with 9 of 9 day cycles and we consider that spring starts after the end of 9th 9 day cycle. We just celebrated Lunar New Year aka Tsagaan sar. Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holiday in Mongolia and serves as a big part of Mongolian cultural identity. There's a lot to uncover about symbolic meanings related to the celebration. However, on this episode I shared about practical reality of celebrating Lunar New Year. Also, I covered about must know and interesting rituals we perform as a tradition. 

2023-2025 announced to be "Years to visit Mongolia" and 34 new countries are temporarily exempt from visa up to 30 days. Here you can get the list of countries. https://montsame.mn/en/read/310896

With music break I introduced legendary folk singer G. Tumendemberel and her most famous song "Usnii Tungalag Tamiriin Gol". Hope you'll find it enchanting as I do. 

Happy New Year! 

Modern Mongolia is back in 2023. The podcast is restructured with shorter format and will be publishing biweekly. With the new format, there's fun facts, must knows about Mongolia and musical exposure of Mongolian artists, which I'm very excited about. On this episode we covered New Years celebration related must knows. 

Sebastian has been teaching English in Mongolia for last three years. Besides Mongolia, he taught English in several Asian countries including Myanmar, which we discussed a bit about. Unlike the others, Sebastian has adapted to Mongolian weather much easily because he likes winter. Also I confessed about my procrastination of not uploading the episode on time in the beginning of the podcast. 

Reach out to Sebastian: [email protected]

Reach out to the podcast: [email protected]

Tim decided to accept the job offer in Uvs after visiting and seeing the beautiful Khyargas (Хяргас) lake. It was not only the Mediterranean view of the lakes in the region that convinced him to stay. He's also befriended the local businessmen who are committed to giving back to their hometown and working together for the local community. Because of the environmental issues (desertification, deforestation) in Mongolia, Tim is enthusiastic about teaching horticultural skills to the kids. Tim shared that he likes living in Mongolia because he always seeks a place where he can grow. We also had some mouthwatering moments when Tim recommended his favorite Korean restaurants and the best desserts in Ulaanbaatar. 

Tim on Facebook: Tim Luea

Tim's email: [email protected] 

Contact with the Podcast: [email protected]