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"Shonhoodoi Circus School" · circus arts · Darkhan · mongolia · News ·

Big hearts under a Mongolian Big Top

Earlier this month I had the privilege of visiting Darkhan, Mongolia’s Shonhoodoi Circus School. This fall, the International Women’s Association of Mongolia (IWAM) was preparing for its winter jacket drive and asked if I could help find some children who might best benefit from the donated winter jackets they’d be collecting. The director of Darkhan Elite 22, the school where I teach English part-time, suggested the Shonhoodoi Circus School and provided a list of names and the ages of the students there. When the jackets were gathered, washed and ready for distribution, the women of IWAM drove up to Darkhan from Ulaanbaatar to deliver them. Before the hand-over happened, we got a sneak preview of the circus performances that the children were preparing for; a competition in Ulaanbaatar, and a hometown debut at Darkhan’s Zaluuchuud Theatre. The performers of Shonhoodoi are kids who have very little, or have lost what most of us take for granted. There are orphans, abandoned and otherwise disadvantaged children in this bunch, but if you didn’t know their stories, all you would see is a group of determined, talented, young athletes. The school was created by the husband and wife team of Tumuroo and Battsetseg. They started the school to offer these kids an escape, an enviable set of athletic skills, an opportunity to travel, and a chance to be celebrated. After school, for those who are able to attend one, the kids of Shonhoodoi hurry to practice as often as Tumuroo and Battsetseg can offer them their time. Shonhoodoi has recently been given use of a large facility in the center of Darkhan’s Children’s Park. It was previously occupied by a Korean Baptist church, but city residents said it should be made available to a secular organization that benefitted the city as whole. (The church built a well-funded, gigantic facility right across the street on private land, so happy endings all around.) The Shonhoodoi Circus School has moved in with the bare bones performance fixtures it owns, but with a recent grant promised by the city, it will be renovating the space to make it more practice-friendly. The kids train without padding on the floor save for thin carpets, and have depended on donations for costumes and accessories used in performances. Some local businesses have also pledged to provide hot meals to the kids during their practice sessions. For some, that meal might be the only hot meal that they’d eat that day. The women of IWAM brought the kids winter jackets and a huge bag of clothes for everyday wear. After the preview performance, as the women loaded back into their vehicle to head home, the kids dug into the clothes and shared what they’d been given. We all fell in love with the kids that day. As routine as their performances may be in the realm of Mongolian circus arts (think Cirque du Soleil style acrobatics) they put tremendous amounts of heart and dedication into what they do. I invited two Swiss...
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"Shonhoodoi Circus School" · circus arts · Darkhan · mongolia · News ·

Big hearts under a Mongolian Big Top

Earlier this month I had the privilege of visiting Darkhan, Mongolia’s Shonhoodoi Circus School. This fall, the International Women’s Association of Mongolia (IWAM) was preparing for its winter jacket drive and asked if I could help find some children who might best benefit from the donated winter jackets they’d be collecting. The director of Darkhan Elite 22, the school where I teach English part-time, suggested the Shonhoodoi Circus School and provided a list of names and the ages of the students there. When the jackets were gathered, washed and ready for distribution, the women of IWAM drove up to Darkhan from Ulaanbaatar to deliver them. Before the hand-over happened, we got a sneak preview of the circus performances that the children were preparing for; a competition in Ulaanbaatar, and a hometown debut at Darkhan’s Zaluuchuud Theatre. The performers of Shonhoodoi are kids who have very little, or have lost what most of us take for granted. There are orphans, abandoned and otherwise disadvantaged children in this bunch, but if you didn’t know their stories, all you would see is a group of determined, talented, young athletes. The school was created by the husband and wife team of Tumuroo and Battsetseg. They started the school to offer these kids an escape, an enviable set of athletic skills, an opportunity to travel, and a chance to be celebrated. After school, for those who are able to attend one, the kids of Shonhoodoi hurry to practice as often as Tumuroo and Battsetseg can offer them their time. Shonhoodoi has recently been given use of a large facility in the center of Darkhan’s Children’s Park. It was previously occupied by a Korean Baptist church, but city residents said it should be made available to a secular organization that benefitted the city as whole. (The church built a well-funded, gigantic facility right across the street on private land, so happy endings all around.) The Shonhoodoi Circus School has moved in with the bare bones performance fixtures it owns, but with a recent grant promised by the city, it will be renovating the space to make it more practice-friendly. The kids train without padding on the floor save for thin carpets, and have depended on donations for costumes and accessories used in performances. Some local businesses have also pledged to provide hot meals to the kids during their practice sessions. For some, that meal might be the only hot meal that they’d eat that day. The women of IWAM brought the kids winter jackets and a huge bag of clothes for everyday wear. After the preview performance, as the women loaded back into their vehicle to head home, the kids dug into the clothes and shared what they’d been given. We all fell in love with the kids that day. As routine as their performances may be in the realm of Mongolian circus arts (think Cirque du Soleil style acrobatics) they put tremendous amounts of heart and dedication into what they do. I invited two Swiss...
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Children's Day · Darkhan · mongolia · News ·

Doin’ it for the kids.

June 1st, was Children’s Day in Mongolia. Children’s Day emerged in 1925, right around the time that  child labor was formally frowned upon in the Western world, after children decades earlier suffered as cogs in the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. In the 50s the United Nations jumped on it, and made it an international day to cherish rugrats. Many Asian cultures celebrate their own Children’s Day as well – almost always in the spring. Each nation has its own take on how to celebrate, but across the globe, it’s a pretty good day for smiles.

                 Raffle round-up at the theatre. Just one of many gatherings in Darkhan.

Many of Mongolia’s national holidays still have ties to its Soviet Era. Children’s Day is one of my favorite “quintessentially Mongolian” holidays:  it fits in with the country’s socialist past, it jives with the way Mongolians revere children, and it has adapted quite quickly into a lucrative holiday for retail. A little bit of history, a little bit of tradition, and a little bit of what lies ahead – a compelling jumble commonly found here.

You should prepare by getting stocked up on gifts for the little ones in your life. Gifts can be modest or exorbitant: a bar of chocolate, a goodie bag with assorted junk food, or a bicycle. We prefer the generic goodie bag . With 7 close in-laws with kids (some with several), we have to be fair, but also economical. Plus we’ve got our own now. Granted, she’s happy chewing on a couch cushion, but still…

After lunch with an American journalist (in town to research a water diversion project that will have a huge impact on the region), we went to check out the action at the big theatre in Darkhan, our local cultural center with a massive plaza. We had seen a modestly sized circus tent going up the day before, and the whole city was abuzz for Children’s Day. Little girls were wearing their pouf-iest princess dresses, kids were running more amok than usual, drivers had their headlights on in the daytime (a celebratory thing), and the Children’s Park was swarming with people. Milling about with the girls in tons of tulle, were emees (grandmothers) in jewel colored deels (traditional clothing).

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Darkhan · mongolia · mongols · Naadam · News ·

Naadam in Darkhan

Today is the first day of Comic Con (stop by booth 1729 and give the GR crew big hugs for me!!) and it was also the first day of Naadam in Mongolia. Naadam dates back to 3000 BC. It’s a celebration of the “three manly sports” – wrestling, archery and horse racing. The horse racing and archery now include women, but wrestling is still all boys. Naadam is celebrated all over Mongolia – in small villages and in one GIANT celebration in Ulaanbaatar. The festival lasts three days, and as a national holiday, well… hello 5 day weekend! We went to our local Naadam in Darkhan, after watching the opening ceremonies of the Ulaanbaatar festival on TV. Drove past friends and family on the two lane dirt road leading to the stadium who were leaving for the day, but there was still plenty to do and see. First stop, fresh cotton candy spun onto a chopstick. Second stop, shish kabobs with sheep meat served on a piece of toast. Third stop, huushur. Eating as much huushur as possible is Naadam’s unofficial fourth wo/manly sport. There were about 100 gers set up  around the wrestling and archery stadium, almost all selling the same thing – huushur. Huushur is a Mongolian empanada, filled with goat meat and not much else. They’re greasy, crunchy (deep fried) and meat-juice and oil come pouring out of them with your first bite. People usually order them by the half-dozen and share them with family and friends. For some people, huushur is the highlight of Naadam, not the games, not the tradition, just the food. Darkhan’s Naadam definitely has a county fair vibe. Admission is free – carnival games, food and souvenirs cost. Getting your photo taken sitting on a camel is about $3. Riding horses kids brought in from the neighboring countryside costs about the same. You can see it all in a day, but the main events – the races, the wrestling and the archery – take all three days, running tournament style so you can keep coming back for more huushur. We caught the vetting for one of the last races of the day. Four year old horses were racing 15 km with their grade school aged jockeys riding in all arrangements of barefoot, bicycle helmeted and bareback. We’ll be heading back tomorrow to cheer on a cousin’s horses in the races in the morning, and to pick up some delicious looking watermelon, more cotton candy, and sheep shish kabobs. Not the same as eating vegan banh mi and Thai food take-out at the GR Comic Con booth, but the wrestler’s uniforms do remind me of all-too-revealing cosplay.
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