Sonomdejid
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990242
Name: Sonomdejid
Parent's name: Törmönh
Ovog: Beil
Sex: f
Year of Birth: 1949
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: tusgai dund
Notes on education:
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Hotont sum, Arhangai aimag
Lives in: Bayangol sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
work
cultural campaigns
belief
keepsakes / material culture
education / cultural production
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
childhood
schoolchildren's life
sum centre
urbanization
city life
holiday
nature and environment
belief
work - labor
hunting
keepsakes
To read a full interview with Sonomdejid please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 090702A with Sonomdejid
I was born in Hotont sum of Arhangai aimag. Having trained as an accountant in 1970, I worked as an accountant in the Arhangai and Hotont sum’s trade provision unit. In 1980 I came to Ulaanbaatar to work as an accountant in the Central Council of the hunters’ association and retired in 2004.
Until I went to school I tended the lambs and the young goats and I helped my sister who milked cows in the farm. At first I went to the Öndörsant sum elementary school at the age of six. In 1965 I completed the Hotont seven-year school and entered the financial vocational school in Ulaanbaatar. After completing the seventh grade, some of the children went to study further in the secondary school and the rest got appointments to study in the teacher’s, kindergarten, or financial vocational schools. At that time when giving out school appointments, they considered the academic achievements and the life background of the child. The orphans were sent to school before everyone else.
In the beginning, I think, there were lots of work and few people with the qualifications and knowledge. Those who graduated from the schools had been appointed to work in the sums and their nutags. The people of the socialist period followed well their working hours. At 8 in the morning there were meetings where they discussed about the work issues and in the evenings many various people were invited to lecture. In autumn the people working in administration went to the countryside for 4-5 days to help in the haymaking. The official organizations were given standard assignments to provide so many tons of grass. Alongside with the work we used to do a lot of this kind of national work. My husband was a military man and we worked without having any leisure time. Sometimes we met at home two or three days a week. In fact, we went out in the morning and came in the evening and had a rest having had some supper.
When I worked at the central council of the hunters’ association in 1983-1984, many foreign tourists used to come to hunt. They established a contract through our association and went to the western aimags for hunting. Some killed one argali [wild sheep] and returned home happy with its head. The majority went back empty handed. The Russian organizations, the Russian military unit people often used to get approval to go fishing.
My parents had a woman and a man’s pair of Mongolian gutal [boots]. We cherished them for they had a 200 year history and I sold them two, three years ago. I used to wear them sometimes during tsagaan sar. The gutal’s design was very fancy and one rich person persuaded me to sell them, and he purchased them. Sometimes he is seen to be wearing them.
