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A review by liralen
Hearing Birds Fly: A Nomadic Year in Mongolia by Louisa Waugh
5.0
Waugh had already lived in Mongolia for two years when she set off for Tsengel, a village on the western edge of the country. She wanted to understand -- to experience -- the nomadic life, and she agreed to teach English in Tsengel's school in exchange for housing and some food staples.
But Waugh was very aware of her role there, and of what her role wasn't. She was the foreign English teacher, yes, but the vast majority of her students were never going to have cause to use English; teaching was mostly her 'in'.
But she taught, and she listened, and made friends, and by and large seems to have had a powerful experience. She's aware, throughout the book, that she's an outsider and a temporary one at that; she's not there to make some kind of Big Difference, and she regularly checks her assumptions. She meets a man whose face is half covered with hair -- is it his discomfort or hers that makes conversation awkward? She's frustrated by the obvious alcoholism of some of the men -- but it's tolerated locally, and not something she can confront.
At one point Waugh remarks that having another foreigner around would have made things easier, somehow, in a way that she did not want -- it would have forced her less outside her comfort zone. In any case, she connects in a way (aided, I am sure, but having liked in Ulaanbaatar and studied Mongolian for two years), and is comfortable in a way, that isn't always the case with this sort of thing. (I'm going to put this down to a few things -- really wanting to connect, being ready to go with it, and accepting culture there for what it is rather than trying to change things.) Really a lovely read.
But Waugh was very aware of her role there, and of what her role wasn't. She was the foreign English teacher, yes, but the vast majority of her students were never going to have cause to use English; teaching was mostly her 'in'.
But she taught, and she listened, and made friends, and by and large seems to have had a powerful experience. She's aware, throughout the book, that she's an outsider and a temporary one at that; she's not there to make some kind of Big Difference, and she regularly checks her assumptions. She meets a man whose face is half covered with hair -- is it his discomfort or hers that makes conversation awkward? She's frustrated by the obvious alcoholism of some of the men -- but it's tolerated locally, and not something she can confront.
At one point Waugh remarks that having another foreigner around would have made things easier, somehow, in a way that she did not want -- it would have forced her less outside her comfort zone. In any case, she connects in a way (aided, I am sure, but having liked in Ulaanbaatar and studied Mongolian for two years), and is comfortable in a way, that isn't always the case with this sort of thing. (I'm going to put this down to a few things -- really wanting to connect, being ready to go with it, and accepting culture there for what it is rather than trying to change things.) Really a lovely read.