Plumbing and Projects

When we first moved to Ulaanbaatar, we had trouble getting used to the process of getting plumbing serviced at home; even more difficult than getting parking for a plumber in central London. However now the man who came the first time (Toomooroo, of Oonoor Xotxon XXC) has adjusted something and it works fine. Getting the electrician to return with her tools is another matter. Meanwhile I have lost count of the number of people who have been into the office to feel how cold our radiator is.

Meanwhile, we had an enjoyably active architecture session yesterday, I had prepared stages of architectural services as keywords in Mongolian, and had two case study buildings. The architectural service project stages were arranged by students on the board, from Komiss (commission) via Toecoebloelt (development) to Khuleentsej (occupancy). We then discussed the design and procurement stages of Australian Parliament House (MGT 1988) from competition to completion and Vauxhall Bus Station (Arup 2005). The latter place name provides amusement, being used as 'Boksal' for 'station' in Russian, having been adopted from the English in the 19C during the development of the Russian Railways.

Lets Speak English

On Thursday, I acted as a judge for a competition at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The competition "Lets Speak English" was to encourage Ministry staff to practise their English skills for internationalising their work. In a series of five events, four different departmental teams of researchers and experts from the ministry demonstrated their English language prowess, from team introductions to detailed translation of texts to Karaoke-singing. I was slightly concerned that the audience seemed to be enjoying Russian-language songs more than English-language ones, but in the end, the team 'Crown' were deserving winners. The breakdown of the results was displayed in a giant powerpoint display beside the Karaoke screen. The ministerial staff, and supportive friends and family in the audience all seemed impressed with the results.

Vapour trail

more planning

We had a VSO conference during the last couple of days of last week. After reviewing the Programme Area Plan for the Secure Livelihoods Programme Area, we discussed specifics of our placements and some of the details of working as VSO volunteers in Mongolia. The Secure Livelihoods area in VSO Mongolia seems to be moving strategically towards rural poverty, which will mean that peri-urban projects like mine will not fit well with the Secure Livelihoods objectives in future. Are rural people who have resettled in peri-urban informal settlements now urban or will they later return to rural areas?

In my work I will see what can be achieved meanwhile in the college between now and August next year, and continue to wonder whether my placement is to create/enhance jobs through professional development, or to provide improved education.

On Thursday, meeting in the conference space at the Open Democracy Forum, I found it useful to re-discover 'SMART' objective setting, in Mongolian. Often used as jargon, it made me think again;

S__pecific - Togorxai
M__easurable - Xaishish Doloxgui
A__chievable - Xyrj Doloxgui
R__ealistic - Bodit
T__ime Bound - Todorxoi Xygaazaand

Objectives, activities and outcomes are never the most exciting topic but a colleague suggested the objectives for my placement as architect teacher trainer might be around students getting good jobs. I thought the teaching programme and the staff would be my main focus, but perhaps the overall sustainability of the school should be the main aim. It will be difficult to facilitate change within a year, although my VSO colleague Rob has made a good start in the past year at CTC. For my part I will start by exploring the present (outline) curriculum and from the four-prong strategy of developing teacher training, graduate development, curriculum development and Mongolian architectural association linkages, I will start preparing programmes and emplace something for succession when I finish.

monster

Labyrinth

Walking in a western Ulaanbaatar ger district at night defies photography and for me epitomises the experience of navigating a labyrinth. I start by walking along the road from the college and walk off the rocky verge onto the petrol station tarmac, where I notice fuel is at 965 tugrik (965 MNT = 0.40GBP) per litre. As I leave the main road, shadowy figures come towards me and follow me, in pairs, threes and singly, sometimes two men or women, sometimes with children. Some are carrying things, or pushing trolleys or barrows laden with firewood, coal or water. It is as I imagine the fogs of previous centuries in London, with coal fires and pollution in the cold air. There are few lights, but those of factories a few hundred metres away provide an ambience. I walk towards 'Kombinat', a factory area, via a familiar pipe bridge across a dry waterway. The spotlights of the factories cast long shadows along the disused rail siding along which I am walking. The ger areas spread before me have no street lighting but the array of gers, each with its window alight appears like a sea of lanterns stretching up the hillside into the fog. There are occasional rubbish fires and fires in drums adding to the dim light and the smog.
The sounds of countless camp dogs barking from each compound blends together and is more discernable than the crunching footsteps and occasional tooting traffic in the distance. The ground is uneven as I avoid the remains of earlier rubbish fires, but fortunately few dogs stray beyond their camps at the moment. I do not dare pause to consider being injured or mugged here. My daytime forays enable me to remember a route through an empty drain culvert, around a hillock and across a gappy bridge, back to the reassuringly gridded surroundings of the soviet apartment blocks. People are alighting from tightly packed minibuses for the evening and walking toward the ger district, one carrying a large roll of linoleum, presumably for his ger.

Nomiin San - Library

The library in this two-year old college is relatively newly established, but part of the problem is the lack of available literature. Of about thirty books on the shelf dedicated to architecture, only three small A5 titles are in Mongolian. These are basic technical drawing textbooks, published about 1995. Very few of the books seem to be dated after independence in 1992. About twenty of the substantial bound volumes about architecture are in Russian, and there are quite a lot of old professional journals also in Russian. There are several books and magazines in Japanese and Chinese, and none in English or German.

There is a specialist book on English for builders and architects translated in 2006 by Nomuundari, Bolor and Enebish, from the Russian by Bezruchko. There are no books on Mongolian architecture and the one Russian title on Mongolian Architecture I have seen (in a shop at the Choijin Lama Temple) is not in the school collection.

The director talks of a list of new books due in the near future, but the list of titles is not available to see. There is no catalogue of the books and the librarian's computer is not attached to a network or printer. She writes the names and numbers of books loaned on the borrower's card.

One of the most potentially practical titles on the shelf is the two-part handbook "Stroitelbnoe Projektirobanie" which is the Russian 1965 translation of the Neufert's Architects Handbook (like an AJ Metric handbook). No contemporary equivalent is said to be available, but I will be interested to see what practitioners in architects offices are using for architects data.

Cold

As the weather changes, I am wearing lots of layers. I get the impression a hat makes me slightly less conspicuous as a foreigner, although I still attracted the attention of a drunken bystander at the bus stop the other evening. He was standing too close and I am still nervous about pickpockets. He teased me and playfully began to taunt / fight. However I managed such an amicable conversation with a ('taxi') driver called Daksha recently that he undercharged me, below the 300 togrogs per kilometre most drivers charge.

Many people are not wearing discernibly warmer clothing, and there are still people sleeping rough in the main street when the sun comes out. For the first time I noticed a car accident and a dead animal on the road. I was feeling more modest about money, and careful about bringing a large banknote which I will be unable to change.

I enjoyed joining an English lesson at the College for conversation practice; "You are sitting, he is standing, yesterday I ate."

Weekend

Outlook

Last Thursday, we had a useful introductory meeting, setting what I believe to be collective goals for architecture staff in the school.

1. Improve the architecture teaching, developing architect teachers' careers.
2. Improve the education for students, especially for those graduating with the diploma in 2008.
3. Develop the architecture course curriculum.
4. Assist in developing the Mongolian Association of Architects.

Much like in the UK and Australia, architecture staff in this country are torn between architectural practice work and educational work, and the latter is less profitable than the former. Staff are therefore in great demand and have little time for formal professional development as educators. Senior staff are difficult to attract with the small teaching funding available, recent graduates have a lot of work available to them in the construction industry or may wish to go abroad. Many Mongolians have family working in Korea.

We have begun to identify areas for curriculum development, such as professional collaboration, routes to qualification, architects working on the construction site, professional development for qualified architects and architectural design.

Gradually we will investigate these areas further with teaching staff. Meanwhile, a first floor window behind me was recently broken by a rock. As it was double glazed and only the outer layer broke, the computers were not burgled. The window is being replaced with a pre-ordered element made locally. This is being done by the director's driver. Fortunately, it is a warm sunny and still day today in UB, with only a few small clouds over the mountains in the distance.

Reflections

Some interview questions and answers for the Adelaide University Lumen magazine;

Why take up the position as Architecture Teacher Trainer with VSO?
I had reached a point in my career in architectural education where I had become very specialised, and I was looking for an opportunity to share my skills in development. VSO aims through partnerships in developing countries to share skills to fight poverty and global disadvantage. The new architecture school posting seems to be addressing these aims.

As mentioned I have now commenced my work proper, after completing five weeks of in- country orientation training and Mongolian language basics. During the first two weeks at the college, I have been on a team building weekend with staff, visited various lessons and begun to develop a working rapport, setting some staff development and teaching aims with colleagues.

What do you hope to achieve by your time in Mongolia?
This small Mongolian college hopes to improve the livelihoods of staff and students by developing their careers professionally. Designed together with VSO, the placement intends for Mongolians to develop a greater stake in construction design, and in the coming years of development, to do this more sustainably. I will assist Mongolians by sharing my foreign experience.

What interests me most about the field of architecture?
Architecture is a cultural enterprise as well as a business enterprise which at best helps people to feel a sense of belonging in a place. Mongolia has had a nomadic architecture tradition for centuries and is experiencing fundamental changes with globalisation.

What do I consider as my greatest accomplishment to date?
Apart from my dissertation which still attracts an amazing variety of interest over the internet, and the related conference to which I was invited in Banff in 2004, I am most proud of the achievements of my former students and colleagues.

What motivates you to engage in this cultural exchange? What do enjoy most about traveling?
I enjoy the human connection gained with my global neighbours through exploring places, cultures and languages.

Cross cultural education is one of your areas of expertise. Why is this important to you?
I find the ability to compare cultures and ways of working reminds me of some of our shared human values which bridge the wealthy minority and the developing majority world. It reminds me of our the shared responsibility for the world's diverse places and cultures.

Architecture students (feat. Tumen-Od and Uyanga) doing Spanish dancing:

Monday-it-is

The final day of the Mongolian Language course last Friday was celebrated with horse riding, eating delicious xor-hok and drinking sou-tei tsai in gers with local students at a camp in Madriin Tokhoi, and it was with aching legs that I presented myself for work at Bariilgiin Tekhnologiin Kolleg today. I had a meeting with the English teachers, where we discussed the structure of the school and developed a plan to devise a 600 word English glossary for local construction students. I was toured around the various staff and departments, making notes and diagrams of names, roles, and teaching areas; and was promised a curriculum document to study.

I was able to gain an overview of

1. Foundation Studies course - up to two years

2. Bachelor Studies, including specialist course

3. Vocational Studies

Some courses are in segments of two months at a time, and many involve lengthy training periods on building sites for over two years. My first week here will be occupuied with orientations in various areas, getting to know the curriculum, and working with an interpreter in order to begin some sort of needs analysis with the architecture staff in a meeting on Thursday.

Touching Down

As the previously ample-sounding five weeks' Mongolian language classes drew to an end, I was appreciating how slowly things progress. The previous weekend's exercise of making Khuushur from a whole sheep by cutting the meat gradually down into 1mm pieces while sharpening the knife on the base of a bowl (and attepting to converse) reminded me of the importance of ritual.

Waiting for a plumber to arrive on Wednesday, I had to remember this. After the morning passed without an appearance (I missed my lesson as I was ill) I then took the laundry to the city but in the as always densely crowded bus I later discovered with incredulity that my pouch/pockets had been relieved of telephone and camera. The loss of the now phone made the exercise of recontacting the plumber in the evening difficult, but I returned by the appointed time at 7pm and he rang at the apartment door at 8.30; then restoring the hot water magically within twenty minutes. Soberingly I was reminded by our friend, who came to interpret, that most of our neighbours in the suburbs opposite have to walk to the well for water.

To conclude our language course we travelled to Maidriin Tokhoi and joined other students to ride horses and talk Mongolian and English. The brilliant landscape and weather added to the experience of fulfilling a long held ambition for me in Mongolia, and I will be feeling the effects in various ways, muscular and spiritual, for some time yet. I must interrupt my first proper work day on Monday with a visit to the police international relations officer, who previously briefed us on security and pickpocketing, and who will no doubt chastise me...

Team building in Bayanchandmani

All the Baringiin Technologiin Kolleg staff participating in the excursion, about thirty in total, were presented on departure from the college with branded Northface jackets, and we travelled by bus about 70km north to a summer mountain camp, in time to slaughter a sheep for dinner. When one of the teams had taken their turn to prepare the first dinner we sat at tables in a mess building and there was more drinking of airag (kumiss), vodka and beer in readiness for the meal and many courses, all mutton based, followed by speeches, dancing and song singing.

When requested after dinner I was able to convey via the College Director (a German speaker) that I had found the shared meal and games an excellent way to get to know everyone teaching at the College. I continued during Saturday and Sunday to participate in eating, drinking, wrestling, football, walking and singing, which despite bruising, was really a good way to learn something about each staff member, from young Mongolian language teachers to elderly professors.

On Sunday my own team started at breakfast time preparing xyshuur (the local pasty-like specialty) from first principles, cutting meat into tiny pieces from every bone and using every organ of the sheep (and practicing my rudimentary Mongolian).

Towards leaving, after an altercation with the camp owner about the rubbish pile created, combustible waste was removed and the bottles were left in a pile for a recycler to collect. The departing bus waited as someone ran back to fetch the fleeces to sell for a few pounds each.

I felt I had been properly introduced to Mongolian colleagues' lives and interests and that despite many language and cultural differences, I had found some rapport with each one. I begin officially on the 24th after my fifth week of Mongolian language education.

CTC opens

I excused myself from the eleventh day of my Mongolian language course to attend the opening day ceremony at Baringin Technologin Kolleg (Construction Technology College), the college where I will be working, in the western 'peri-urban' Songino Khairkhain district of Ulaanbaatar. The austere rooms of this socialist-era school building were brimming with new students, the morning groups comprising recruits in various vocational courses in construction, ranging from plumbing (no females), welding and bricklaying to decorating (one male) and architecture. The more balanced gender distribution in construction career choices has apparently turned full circle since the socialist times.

The opening day proceedings in the dusty square in front of the school door, draped overhead with a welcome banner, included speeches by immaculately dressed staff and college director, interspersed with songs by famous Opera tenorist 'Bold' and a pop singer. With two other foreign staff, I was then given a tour of each of the classrooms and introduced in Mongolian with German translation by the director, for the Dutchman and myself. The students responded to the director's greeting 'Sain Bain-uu' in enthusiastic unison with SAIN!

A newly prepared computer room was presented, and arrangements were made to see the living accommodation, where I later met two German speaking Mongolian staff colleagues, one a building materials expert educated in Dresden.

Being the first day of school in all of Ulaanbaatar and Mongolia, the return journey was marked by particularly insane traffic, but I returned intact to VSO courses on Heath, management processes in Mongolia, and an excellent presentation introducing a Mongolian Gender Equality NGO.

Mongol Khel

We have been in UB two weeks this morning and have had ten intense days of language lessons at Bridge College. It has been difficult but satisfying, and this morning I had a short conversation in Mongolian with a Canadian reforestation volunteer (www.treetour.org) at a branch of our Guest House, with our host Saxhna, which was very encouraging.

The VSO training has been intense but useful and we are beginning to find out more detail about our programmes and placement details. Some accommodation has been arranged near where I will be working in Songinohairhan, and we may be sharing a flat with a Mongolian language specialist, which would be good for the language skills.

We have a few more weeks of language lessons and I hope this week to meet some of the people at Construction Technnology College where I will be working. At the end of the week we are to spend a few days separately living with local families, which will also be a good challenge for the language skills.

Restricted Access

Ulaanbaatar has rather chaotic traffic and infrastructure. It is known for open manhole covers, which fortunately, are visible in the strong sunlight in summer, but turn nasty when covered with a sheet of cardboard and a thin layer of snow in winter. Apparently in the past a VSO stepped right into one from a parked car and broke her leg. It is understandable then that injury, espacially among the poor, is a common cause of disability.

We attended a briefing at the Umbrella organisation for disabled people's groups which was enlightening. The medical model of disability popularly understood here, implying proscribed 'treatment'- is in contrast with the social model of disability I have begun to understand - as a form of exclusion or denial of access from public and private space. The Umbrella organisation of disability groups had several wheelchair users and crutch users (the latter visibly more prevalent here in Mongolia) from the twently-odd advocacy groups working in the building, and after years, had had a ramp installed in the last week, allowing users to enter the premises without being manhandled through the door.

I spoke to the chair of the disabled businesspersons association while there. In future, I hope it might be possible to arrange a meeting between their representative and some construction teachers, to discuss the background to livelihoods and building accessibility in Mongolia for physically disabled users.

Ulaanbaatar dawn

From beautiful lake Baikal we returned to Irkutsk and I wandered along the banks of the Angara before boarding the evening train for the Trans-Mongolian, the final section of train journey. Ulan Ude and the southern shore of Lake Baikal passed in the night and I awoke to see another lake in Buryatia.

The Russian border officials turned the train inside out, and we waited interminably in Sukhbaatar also. The latter was distinctly friendlier, however, and I began to warm to the steppe landscape and sounds outside. It was another night before we arrived in Ulaanbaatar, a dusky light covered the city and the ger suburbs stretching out for miles. Pulling into the station, I savoured the arrival. Our friend Sarah was waiting on the platform and we went to a car and traversed a surreal other-worldly city to arrive at the VSO building and vols room before 7am.

As colleagues gradually appeared, we washed and hungrily ate lunch in welcoming surroundings, before venturing on a bus to a ger district where the Womens farming Coop hosted a party for departing volunteer Maija. The snarling ger-camp dog contrasted with the idyllic grassy picnic spot next to crops and chickens and gers. But the mountains all around are a powerful backdrop there as well as here in the city centre.

Siberia

We are in Irkutsk, having just returned from the tiny village of Huzir on the Island of Olkhon on Lake Baikal. My friend here tells me the Island was previously Buryati land, increasingly inhabited by Russian settlers. It now seems to be a popular (eco)tourism destination. We stayed in the guest house, made an excursion to the northern tip of the island, ate local food and took a banya (sauna).

Although I thought we had left the 'West', the border condition is very topical here, with Irkutsk district to the west of Lake Baikal and the Buryati republic to the east. This friend Irina is studying languages at the specialist institute of the University here in Irkutsk, where there is apparently a strong interest in reviving Buryati language and culture, and better resources than in the Buryati capital city of Ulan Ude.

When we pass through the city of Ulan Ude tomorrow (Friday) on the train, we will be still closer to the Buryati country which is the land of the descendants of Genghis Khan. We expect to tarry at the Mongolian border for several hours before continuing to our final destination on Saturday.

Yekaterinburg

After dropping our bags we ventured into the night, still daylight. Podval, a music club recomended to us in the south of the city, was difficult to locate, even with the full address, but after a partial journey by no. 5 tram, then walking along highways and talking to strangers chatting on railway tracks, we got to the door, were bounced, and then admitted after appealing to reception at the hotel next door. We had some limited conversations and exchanges of Vodka with other guests before finding our way back to the hotel by Taxi.

The promised tour of city attractions (aka Достопримеуатепьности) incorporated visits to the Church of the Blood, Town Square and the opportunity to tie a ribbon to a tree at Ekaterina's tomb, to increase the likelihood of returning. At a public square next to the dammed river is a statue of the city founders, known to our guides as 'Beavis + Butthead' and the square was being put to good use by skateboarders. Nearby was the monument (apparently unique in the world) of the computer keyboard. In light of our impending departure from Europe, I thought I would try stepping on the 'undo' command.

Wednesday evening, in holiday mode, we visited a Latin club 'Gavana' with Dasha, Katja and friends. After some Russian beer and latin dancing, people in the club began to be noticeably more exotic and oriental looking. The next day, wet, was passed looking at the Mineralogical Museum before killing time in the internet cafe to await the 2345 Trans-Sib connection.