The sentry and the driver

There are two jobs in Mongolia that have equivalents in Canada but somehow feel totally different here.

The sentry:

Jijuur is defined as sentry in my dictionary. But really, a jijuur is a door person. Practically every commercial and residential building has one or more door persons. In a commercial building, the door person is usually male and his main duties are to "monitor" who comes in and out.

Residential buildings usually have women acting as jijuurs. There's one for each entrance. The women sweep and clean the stairwell, take out the residents' garbage, roughly monitor the who comes in and take care of the sidewalk and street in front of their entrance. In exchange, they get a small salary and a place to live. Their apartment is the cramped space under the stairs on the ground floor. There's usually enough space for themselves, a small bed and a dresser. I was told that the women often come from the countryside following some kind of marital breakdown or family trouble.

We have a jijuur living under the stairs in our entrance. We say sain bain uu to her every day but that's about the extent of our interactions. Most times, she stares at us wide-eyed.

In the morning, there's usually an army of jijuurs out on the streets sweeping away. No matter the season, they're sweeping. Dust or snow.

The driver:

There are various types of drivers in Mongolia. Some organizations will have one person whose whole purpose is to be the organization's driver. VSO has one. Some are bus drivers and minibus drivers. Some drivers are entrepreneurs. They are taxi drivers or long-distance drivers. Their cars may be unmarked but this is how they earn a living. I think it may be a job Mongolian men do when they're unemployed. Or a job they do because they like being out and about. Instead of herding cattle, they herd people. When I ask my students what their dads do, a great number of them respond driver.