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There is nowhere to half-pipe, but you can still kick some air on Sukhbaatar Square
By Michael Kohn
"What have you been doing all summer?" I ask of 15-year-old Zurgoo as we lounge on the sunbaked steps of Sukhbaatar Square, Mongolia’s equivalent of Red Square. "Hanging out with my friends and riding around on this thing," he says pointing to a beat up homemade skateboard. He grabs the board and excitedly shows me his bag of tricks. An S-turn here, a power slide there. He attempted ollying up a curb but wiped out. Nearby, tourists mill around the army of photographers willing to snap a shot in front of the statue of national hero, Sukhbaatar ? leader of the Communist revolution in 1921. At the bottom of the square is a park ? a popular place to scope the opposite sex - and at the top is the parliament buildings or the Ikh Hural. The favourite place for boarders and bladers is at the steps to the Hural. Zurgoo, and many other kids his age, told me he had learned skateboarding and rollerblading tricks by watching action sports on cable TV. He was doing his best to emulate the same people kids all over the world admire as heroes. Thirteen-year-old Zorigbaatar then skated over to us, his shiny new rollerblades skidding to a halt. He punches Zurgoo in the shoulder and sits down next to us.
"What's your name?", Zorigbaatar inquires of me.
"Michael."
"Ah yes, Michael Jordan! Chee-cah-go BULLS!" he howls. "I am Mongolian Michael Jordan," he says rather confidently, displaying his Bulls t-shirt, hat and shorts.
Basketball is quite a popular sport in Mongolia, there is even a professional league with six teams. But most kids look towards the United States to find their stars. Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing and Penny Hardaway are other local favorites.
Enter friend number three, 15-year-old Alia, decked out in phat gear, wraparound sunglasses, earing, backwards kangol hat and walkman. Alia struts over groovin' to the latest hip hop from Notorious B.I.G. A product of the MTV generation, bred right here in the depths of Mongolia. Makes you think twice about all those stories you heard about Mongolian kids chasing their yaks in minus 50 degree temperatures.
Alia likes Puff Daddy and Warren G too, but admits that he also goes for local bands. He likes 'Black Rose' and 'Speed,' two of Mongolia's better-known rock bands. "But what we need is more hip hop," he says. "I want to be the first Mongolian hip hop singer." He gets shy when I tell him to bust a rhyme, but eventually pulls out some of his lyrics.
"So what is the best thing about Mongolia?" I ask.
"Blue sky. Four seasons. Wide spaces."
Under all the MTV action sport gear, there is still a lot of Mongolian in these kids. I then approach two 13-year-old girls, also on rollerblades, who are full of giggles when I introduce myself. They manage to contain themselves long enough to tell me about themselves. I ask specifically about fads and trends in Mongolia and learn that just about everything is inspired by American TV programmes and movies.
"What do you think of the American lifestyle?", I inquire.
"I think American kids are very free and mature, they can talk openly and on the same level with their parents. Mongolian kids are too shy," said Oggy. "They also have many opportunities to play sports, go places and do things. A lot of Mongolian kids want to be like Americans."
But unlike Americans, I found that Mongolian kids were excited for the upcoming school year. "Summer gets kind of boring, I can't wait to get back and see all my friends and teachers," Tuul said between 360s.
"But summer is also a great time!
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Oh yes, we went to summer camp and met lots of people, even Russian kids," said Oggy.
Mongolian summer camp is a lot like the North American version. Kids play sports and games and go on hikes into the mountains.
"The only disappointing thing was that the pool was dry, I really wanted to go swimming," Tuul lamented.
"And what do you think is the best thing about Mongolia?"
"Living in a ger. Riding horses."
Proof once again that the MTV culture has only pierced skin deep. Mongolian kids are different than their parents and even their older brothers and sisters - life has changed a lot for kids over the past two or three years. But once the roller blades are off the only other thing they want on their feet is a set of stirrups.
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Mongolian youth were asked to write an essay about "Youth in the 21st century" . These excerpts are printed from "Young love" newspaper.
My name is B. I am 15 years old. I am interested in politics. I like watching TV news and reading newspapers. I am from a typical Mongolian family. There is one thing that really worries me. That is the problem of street children. I feel pity for those children who do not have opportunities to study and get educated as we do...
In the last five to 10 years children have changed very much. Today's children are able to distinguish the adults' "rights" and "wrongs" . Also some children begin sexual life very early. I think that children under 16 should only make friends and allow nothing more.
Adults often consider us as small children who do not understand much That's why they avoid talking with us about sex, drinking and smoking. We long to do everything we want to. Boys and girls have many problems such as making friends and choosing friends. However, because we do not have people to advise us we make decisions on our own and as a result sometimes we suffer. We keep everything inside.
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I am on the threshold of my life - I am 16. Adults often ignore our dreams and desires and do not accept our views. That is very common in life. I want to tell you about my friend who failed to make his parents understand her.
My friend, a 15-year-old girl made friends with one guy. They were very happy. The guy was very calm , well-behaved and smart. But he was from a family with hard life. My friend's parents could not accept their relationship and didn't want their daughter to go out with a boy from a poor family, so her parents punished them so severely that their friendship ended . My friend suffered a lot and begged her parents to let her be with him but they refused and broke her heart
There was one boy in our house who could play musical instruments and sing amusingly well. Once Boldoo told me about his dreams and said that he wanted to organize his own band now, or when he grows up and to become a star. I supported him but his life was very difficult. His mother was unemployed and his father worked as a bus driver .He had three older brothers and he was living with a life full of hardship. We were very happy friends. But it did not last long. Only two years. They sold their flat and moved to the ger district. Boldoo saw me before leaving and told me "My dreams have been shattered. " I knew it was true. How can he organize a band if he is not able to pay for the rent of his flat ? If I had been rich I would have helped him. When I heard these words I almost cried. People, we have a bright future in front of us full of high ambitions. Please, do not destroy our hopes...
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When adults look at children they judge them as flirtatious girls, hooligans, or well-behaved , ill-behaved or modest etc. Actually children are very different. To get praises from others, children often bully and insult each other. The most important thing is that they do not behave naturally and begin to humiliate the weake ones.
For instance if they see a child wearing a del (the traditional Mongolian robe) they say 'What an old-fashioned fool !", or if someone is wearing Chinese-made clothes or cleaning the floor, then they say "How hardworking you are!.' But anybody can wear a del, clean the floor, wear Chinese-made clothes.Children simply pretend to be someone else and start judging others. To be accepted by others they do not say what they really think or want to. When children read what I have written here many of them would say "Yeah. Let's finish that."
One rainy autumn day Tugsuu was sitting in his room sadly. He was sitting there as if he believed only in the pills he was holding in his hands and thought: "Dad does not understand me at all. My friends go out with girls but why can't I ?" In the other room his parents were talking...
"You are his father, just try to talk to him as to a man" said his mother.
'Oh, no, he wants too much. He is still too young to flirt with girls" said his father unwillingly and how could he imagine that just after a few minutes he would be regretting about not talking to his son as a man to a man. This very second Tugsuu was opening the lid of the pills.
...Suddenly there was a rushing sound in Tugsuu's room and his parents jumped up.
Several seconds after there was heard a sorrowful cry of his mother :"Tugsuu, what have you done!" and I wished I could make that cry the last cry in the world. |
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发表于 2007-1-10 11:18:37