The big adventure of Christina and Babette

Christina expressed an interest in seeing a shaman, presumably because she had seen the movie, "The Horse Boy", as I had, also. I asked the teachers if anyone knew a shaman, or if they all resided in the countryside. The school director said he knew a shaman and gave me her name and telephone number. Since the shaman speaks no English, I asked one of the teachers to call her and ask her how we could make arrangements to see her. Buyaa called her, but the shaman said she had to think about it before she would make an appointment to see foreigners. It was the end of the day, so I thanked Buyaa and took back my phone and left. About 30 minutes later, the phone rang and it was the shaman, Ayuka, but of course I couldn't talk to her and she couldn't understand me. When I got home I called another teacher, Naraa, and asked her to call Ayuka and find out what she had to say.

Naraa called me back and said Ayuka would see us Saturday evening at 8pm. I asked her if she would be willing to accompany us since we would need a translator. She agreed and I called Christina and told her about the arrangements. We also made plans to get together in the afternoon and have dinner before meeting Naraa and going to the shaman's ger. Things proceeded as planned: we met Naraa at 7:30pm and took a taxi to the ger. The shaman lives in one ger and has a second one for her shamanistic activities, decorated with various stuffed birds, including an eagle, and animal furs. We met with her briefly, but when Christina said she was interested in having a reading, Ayuka said she had to prepare for it and we would have to come back the next night. I asked Naraa if she would be available on Sunday and she agreed to come back with us.
On Sunday as I was doing some chores, my phone rang. It was Naraa, saying that she was having company that evening and couldn't go with us. I asked her to call the shaman (since I couldn't) and cancel our appointment, but she suggested that we ask another teacher to go with us. I told her I didn't have Buyaa's number, but she said she would call Buyaa and ask her. Then I get a call from yet another teacher, Enkhmaa, (Naraa had called her) who said she would go with us. I said "great" and told her when to meet us. In the evening, I met up with Christina and told her of the slight change in plans which didn't seem significant to us at the time. Soon afterwards, my phone rang. It was Enkhmaa, saying something about her sister and that she would not be able to go with us. I asked her to call Ayuka and cancel the appointment for us and she did.

When I got to school on Monday it seemed that everyone knew what had happened over the weekend, but no one volunteered to go with us the next weekend. Enkhmaa, who sits next to me in the faculty office, didn't say anything to me about the canceled trip, nor did she volunteer to go another time. Later in the week the director asked me how things had gone with the shaman and I told him that we had had translator problems and hadn't been able to go.

I discussed the situation with one of my students and he explained that there are "white" shaman and "black" shaman, signifying exactly what you think they do. Black shaman are said to be able to get inside your head and stay with you, and that might explain why Naraa was unwilling to go back with us to the shaman (she's the pregnant teacher at the school), although I'm still unsure why she agreed to go with us in the first place, especially since she had told us that she had been to see a shaman in the past. The good news, however, is that the student, Odbayar, VOLUNTEERED to go with us, so I felt confident that this time things would work out. I asked him if he were nervous about going, but he said that he didn't believe in any of it, so it didn't bother him. He offered to call Ayuka and set up the appointment, which he did for Saturday the 20th, at 8pm.

Saturday rolled around and the 3 of us were off to see the shaman. We arrived at her ger again, were ushered in and sat on the floor. She got into her shaman outfit: a heavy del with many animal skins, silk scarves and bells hanging from it. Then she put on the headpiece, which had a lot of feathers and bells, and some long fringe covering her face. Some other people arrived for the event and then she began beating on a drum and chanting in a low voice. Various people went forward during the session, apparently asking her for cures, because she would put her drum over someone's head or an ailing part and beat on it (the drum, not the ailing bit). Christine asked her a couple of questions and the shaman asked her if she were serious, which took her back a bit. I don't think Christina quite got the answers she was expecting/hoping for, but it was an interesting experience and a glimpse into another culture. At the end of the session Ayuka took a bundle of silk scarves and animal furs and slung it over the back of anyone who went forward. Then it was all over and we went home. And that was the end of Christina's and Babette's Big Adventure.