2022.10.21. – Fame

I was on the Mongolian news today.

The Embassy of Hungary had an event today at the National Library here in Ulaanbaatar for the unveiling of a Petőfi plaque. My husband and I had also been invited (that’s why we had to go to Naran Tuul yesterday to get fancy clothes), and they had also told me I would need to give a short interview to the Mongolian TV. I could write my own questions but they cut most of it out anyway (it was 4 questions), thankfully. They kept the part where I talk about the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship which basically enables university students from outside of Europe to go study at a Hungarian university – those are the students I used to teach back in Hungary.

The National Library (not too big, but quite nice)

Celeb vagyok, ments ki innen!

The event itself was less than two hours but I think fairly interesting even though it was all in Mongolian so I had no idea what was being said. There were two musicians (one women played this traditional Mongolian instrument while the other sang) that were really good – both the playing and the throat-singing gave me low-key chills. Another woman also recited a Petőfi poem in Mongolian and although I didn’t understand a word, I thought her performance was stunning too.

Once the performances and official programme were over, it was time for mingling and introductions. I’ve been introduced to so many Mongolians today and I do not remember a single name, let alone face. I am horrible at this on a good day, with Hungarians. Then you give me the anxiety of having to do an interview on national TV, on top of having to wear fancy clothes (I am so bad at wearing umcomfy and elegant clothes, my aesthetic is tomboy, not fancy lady), and then you give me Mongolian names mumbled during quick handshakes? Don’t expect me to remember any of it, sorry. At least I met a few Mongolians who spoke surprisingly good, fluent Hungarian.

There was also a small reception on the side of this mingling and social networking, but every single food item on the table (mini sandwiches, tacos, cakes) contained meat, egg, milk, or even all of these at once, so I just sipped on a Coca Cola we shared with my husband.

During our walk home, it started snowing a bit more forcefully than before, proper snowflakes and all. It didn’t actually form a sheet of snow on the ground so I couldn’t properly capture it, but I took a pic of the snowflakes on the Embassy intern’s coat.

There is usually something going on on Sukhbaatar square - today was no different
Look at all these Mongolian clothes on people, I love it.

Proper snowflakes

For lunch – I was pretty hungry, since I had a slice of bread with Dijon mustard for breakfast and nothing else since – we got our weekly Namaste takeout, and I gotta say, I still love Indian food. This Chana Masala is one of the best dishes I’ve ever had, the chickpeas cooked to perfection, the spices blooming. Anyway, I am no culinary expert, but lunch (and dinner, from the leftovers) tasted great.

In the afternoon and evening hours, I did some work on my computer (lesson planning, file organisation, administration, talking to a real estate agent about available flats and showings, and such). Sometime late evening I also got a text from the diplomat at the embassy with the link to the news report where they show the whole event we had today and there’s also a clip of me talking. It’s nice to have coverage (for the popularity of Hungarian courses) but I am glad I was only there for a few (still too many) seconds.

My husband was also visible on the news for a hot second

Me on Mongolian tv
Our new CEH LEH BREH TEHH *flounce*