Strange Names

I met another Райли yesterday! A Tuvan Riley... pretty bizarre. Apparently this lady's father liked to read books and somehow found the name "Riley" and gave it to his child. I find it all kind of interesting and unlikely... I never thought I'd meet another Riley here!

I should also mention "Elvira Saunders"... one of the efforts of the Moscow English Language Office has been to start an association of school teachers of English in Tuva. I have been privileged to attend some of their events this year--and whenever they meet, the most vocal and enthusiastic teacher is always Elvira Saunders. She is a Tuvan grandmother with possibly the strangest haircut I have ever seen. She died her hair bright yellow and it's cut in something that looks like it came from the punk-rock subculture. Or an anime film.

The really intriguing thing about Elvira Saunders is that she started her life with the name of Vera Mongush, an extremely typical female name for Tuvan women born during the Soviet years. "Vera" is a Russian name. Probably 5% of women in Russia are named Vera. "Mongush" is the Tuvan equivalent of "Smith." According to what people tell me, back when Elvira Saunders was Vera Mongush she was an extremely normal young Tuvan woman--quiet, respectful, sensible, traditional. Then, according to gossip, something happened in her life and she reacted by changing her image. An English teacher, she decided to pick an English name and came up with "Elvira Saunders."

Last time I met Elvira Saunders, she beckoned me over to her and then slipped a piece of paper into my hand. Opening it, I found a map to her apartment! She was trying to get me to come practice English with her teenage grandson. Maybe I'm just supposed to follow the directions on the map myself and find the apartment, but I'm not going to do it without more information. I suspect that maybe Elvira Saunders feels some kinship for me in my foreignness. Being a foreigner in a place like Kyzyl, it's interesting to see which sorts of people reach out to you, and which don't. Also it's interesting to realize how much people are paying attention to me/observing me, even when I am totally oblivious. One thing I am really looking forward to about going home is that I will be able to lose myself in a crowd.

But I will have to say that the likelihood is great that in the future I will have a dog/fish/cat/child and give it a Tuvan name. It goes both ways I guess!