Sunday, July 13 - Singing with a Member of Parliament

When Erdene arrived to pick us up this morning, he explained that we would wait until Monday to return to UlanBator, but we would leave very early and make the whole trip in one day. We stopped at the internet café, where all three of us checked our e-mail and caught up a little with things back at home.

We then drove over the apartment of Bolor’s sister, Actaa. Bolor introduced us again to Actaa, who we had seen on the roadside in UlanBator as we were leaving, and to her husband, Enkhbaatar and their 16-year-old son, Misheel. Actaa covered the living room table with food, a custom we had come to expect everywhere we went, and we enjoyed visiting with this family.

Actaa is a secondary school principal, and Enkhbaatar works for a project that is finding jobs for herders, as well as helping fund small businesses. He studied in Russia, and his degree is in Russian literature. Erdene explained that Actaa and Enkhbaatar were both his teachers when he was in secondary school.

Misheel is a student at a private school in UlanBator that emphasizes Japanese. He had earlier studied at a Turkish school. He was very quiet, but we learned that he loves American basketball, and was familiar with the Denver Nuggets players. Daryl promised to take him to a Nuggets came if he ever comes to Colorado.

Misheel, Enkhbaatar, Annette, Daryl, and Actaa

From there, we went to the flour company where we met up with Bolorchulun and his party and headed into the countryside again, this time east. All of our other ventures into the countryside had been to the west.

We traveled to a ger camp by the Kherlan River. When we got there, we were introduced to a member of the Mongolian Parliament representing Choibolson, the Minister of Culture, a woman famous across Mongolia for her dancing, and two musicians, one a nationally reknowned actor/singer, and the other a businessman named Baterdene who was maybe the most talented musician I have ever seen!

We walked across the camp to a ger on a raised platform. We entered, and everyone had a seat and the visiting, eating, and drinking began. This member of Parliament had served four years as governor of the aimag, Dornod, and then four years as Minister of Justice, before being elected to serve his first four-year term in Parliament. In the elections held right before we arrived, he was elected to a second four-year term. The Parliament member, Bolorchulun, Bolor, and Erdene

His English was pretty good, as he had visited the U.S. twice, once to Denver and once staying in Maryland when he visited Washington D.C.

He and Bolorchulun had grown up as neighbors, as had one of the musicians, Baterdene. He had wanted to meet with the Americans, and thanked us several times for the friendship with Bolorchulun and for visiting the eastern part of Mongolia, which very few foreigners, except aid workers, do. He explained that although Bolorchulun is not a politician, he is very respected and powerful and his support helps politicians gain power in Choibolson. Daryl was presented with an autographed watch as a thank you gift. Everyone laughed and said that if we had trouble at the border, we could just show the watch!

We were entertained throughout the afternoon by the musicians and dancer, as well as most everyone else in the ger. Bolorchulun explained that he had originally taught Baterdene how to play, but that he had surpassed the teacher many years ago. This man was amazing! He could play anything, and played and sang extremely well. The best part, though, was that it was so obvious that he so thoroughly enjoyed what he did.

The Minister of Culture takes his turn on the guitar - playing "Wipe Out!"

Bolorchulun shows us his skills as a musician

The actor/singer and Parliament member perform together

The dancer performs for us. She had wanted to change into costume, but no facilities existed for her to do that.

The member of Parliament, the Minister of Culture, Bolorchulun, the dancer, and even Erdene picked up the guitar at one time or another and played. Music is such an important thing to Mongolians, and this was a very entertaining afternoon. Bolorchulun told the group that I also love to sing, and invited me to sing, which I did. After singing "God Bless American, Baterdene asked what he could play that I could sing. He knew everything, and I told them I never could have imagined sitting in a ger in rural Mongolia singing Stevie Wonder to a member of Parliament! We all got a good laugh out of that.

Some of Bolorchulun’s friends were outside preparing a Mongolian barbecue, and it smelled delicious. It didn’t disappoint, and we ate an absolutely delicious meal of barbecue lamb. Shortly thereafter, the dignitaries left, and the rest of us moved outside to the barbecue area and enjoyed some more visiting and singing. The cook, Enkhbayer, was also a boyhood friend of Bolorchulun’s, and an officer in the Border Patrol. He was assisted by a man we had spent much of our time with, Erdenelkham, who also was a boyhood friend, and a staff member of the flour company.

Baterdene enjoying "Stumbling In" at the barbecue

Enkhbayer, Bolorchulun and Baterdene enjoy some more music

It was a beautiful evening, standing right by the river, enjoying good company and good food. Eventually, though we had to leave, and we took some pictures before once again saying goodbye. We are leaving very early tomorrow morning, so we will not see most of these men again.

Baterdene, Bolorchulun, Enkhbayer (the cook), Daryl, Annette Erdenelkham, Enkhbayer (the engineer), and Erdene

We started back into Choibolson, but stopped by a settlement just outside the city to visit Bolor’s parents. As we pulled into their home, a group of boys was playing basketball. Misheel was in this group, and Bolor introduced us to three more of her nephews, all 15 and 16 years old. Her sister came out to meet us, and we entered the house to meet her parents. They are living for the summer in the home of her brother, because they are retired and love to garden.

This family lives in a house, the first people we had met who do. They had a very large garden in the backyard, as well as some fruit trees. As usual, the minute we sat down food and drink began to appear. They were very friendly, and we enjoyed a short visit before we had to leave.

Bolor stands behind her parents and in the middle of four of her nephews. Her sister holds the little girl, and Erdene is at the right.

We returned to the hotel, and prepared to leave eastern Mongolia the next morning. We are going to tour the area where the irrigation systems are before traveling hard the rest of the day.