blue_lotus13 | Happy Canada day, and interviewing in other countries

Happy Canada Day! I am celebrating by working. Actually, there was a barbecue for the Canadians in Ulaan Baatar, but I was in Kharkhorin that day so I missed it.

I've changed my icon to Audrey Hepburn to pay homage to Katharine Hepburn. I love Katharine and think she was an amazing woman and actress. So this is the closest thing I could do to honour her.

Yesterday Alta and I interviewed a coop consultant named Lhusandorj. I say Alta and I interviewed him, because she has to translate everything for me. As of now, I've done about 40 interviews in Mongolia. At first, I was really nervous about interviewing through a translator, as it means you have another filter to work through when you're interviewing. However, both Doki and Alta have been really good at interviews and are generally able to get my points across, and get individuals to give me the information that I'm after.

When I first started doing interviews with a translator, I wasn't quite sure where to look. I wasn't sure if I should maintain eye contact with my translator or the person I was interviewing. I figured out that it is best to look at the interviewee when they are speaking, and nod like I can understand them. Then I look at my translator when she translates. The interviewee will often look at me, or occasionally at the translator.

Mongolians are surprisingly easy to interview. They will answer almost any question and seem to be honest and genuine. I was supposed to do interviews in Indonesia, but never got the chance to do it. Interviewing in Indonesia would have been very different. Indonesians communicate by going round in circles. You can't ask a direct question, you have to communicate by circling the issue. Mongolians are rather direct, and will answer anything that you ask them. They are also all right with eye contact, which makes things easier for me, because I use a lot of eye contact.

I've done some strange interviews here. I interviewed a blind man outside in the rain in one village. I also interviewed another man near a monumental tank. Ingrid has pictures of this, and I'll post them here when she gives them to me. The pics are quite funny. It looks like we're under attack.

I also conducted another interview in a bar with two men. While I asked questions to one man, his friend played with his hair. Mongolians touch each other a lot, so this wasn't a big deal. Still, I found it to be a bit distracting.