A Heart Full of Love

Nathan Here.

I just found out that my dad had open heart surgery on Friday, but that he is recovering well and in typical great spirits. He voted not to tell me, but my brothers and mother out-voted him, so I got an email from my mom with all the latest that was the latest, then much appreciated updates from middle brother Kevin. Leslie got to the internet cafe before I did, so I didn't get too blind-sided by it.

He went in for a routine physical, the first since he was forced to before we went to scouting's Mecca, Philmont a mere 15 years ago. They ran all the tests and found a couple blockages in the back of his heart, so Friday they cracked him open through his chest, took some arteries from his leg and patched him. We're all looking for a great recovery. Glad he took a great first step in quitting smoking this year. Score two points for my dad. Glad he dodged a big bullet.

It's been a brutal week for hearts from what I hear too, what with George Carlin AND Tim Russert biting it and both from heart-related disasters. I am so glad that I can't count my dad among that unfortunate group of gentlemen.

It was also a brutal weekend for my outhouse. I was in it a lot ridding myself of some food poisoning. All better now... for now.

And if you've sent us anything, none of us has gotten any yet. Sorry. I guess no one has come up from the capital city yet with it. Apparently, we may not actually get it for another week. I hope that's not the case and I hope what you sent made it.

Looking forward to talking to my brother Kevin my tonight/his morning.

Nathan

Day By Day

We thought you might enjoy knowing a typical day for a Peace Corps Trainee. The following is an amalgamation of both of our schedules.

4:45-5:00am – Wake up due to sun peaking through the windows.

5:00am – Fall asleep again.

7:15am – Wake up for real.

7:20am – Put on shoes for quick trip to the outhouse before breakfast.

*7:30am – Nathan’s Mongolian Mom says “Caixan amarcan yy? Xool edej!” breakfast of 2 hard boiled eggs, sourdough bread, and Akbar tea.

*7:30am – Leslie gets ready for class.

*8:15am – Leslie’s Mongolian Mom says “Leslie, XOOL!” and she goes to the main house for breakfast of 1 fried egg white, bread with jam, and tea.

8:30am – Leslie picks up Evan (other PCT) at his house across the street to walk to school together.

8:35am – Nathan leaves to pick up Patrick to walk to school together.

9:00am – 11:30am – Mongolian Language classes. Sometimes cut in half by Cross Cultural training.

*11:30am-Noon – Local children in Leslie’s village show up to play Frisbee, football, or hacky sack with them during break. They are getting really good at Frisbee!

*11:30am-Noon – Nathan’s group hangs out on the front steps of the school.

Noon – 1:00pm – Second half of language class.

1:00pm-2:30pm – Walk home from school for lunch. Nathan usually has soup or rice and meat both with bread. Leslie’s meal usually varies, but it always awesome! Her Mom is a great cook!

*2:30 pm-5:30ish – Technical training. Nathan’s Economic Development group usually travels to local NGOs to learn about different programs and projects Mongolian’s use to build economic capacity and quality of life. For example, last week they visited the Chamber of Commerce, local bread factory, and the outdoor market. This providence is particularly known for its sourdough bread, smoked fish, and honey.

*2:30pm-5:30ish – Technical training. Leslie’s Youth Development group doesn’t travel as much because the Economic Development and Health volunteers travel every day (and use the Peace Corps transportation). Their main resource is children, so sometimes it is just a matter of walking out the door. They did spend one day at a local children center that provides several classes and groups for after school programs. They also present ideas for life skills classes and programs for the community.

5:30pm – Walk home for dinner.

6:00pm – Dinner with our Mongolian Moms (and Nathan’s little sister). Nathan’s is usually meat, noodles, and potatoes. Sometimes dinner is fried or steamed dumplings and bread. This week he had some tomatoes, but normally there aren’t vegetables. Leslie’s dinner has varied. While her 22 year old sister was in town, she made Leslie some great meals including an antipasto salad with a fruit salad with yogurt for dessert. Leslie is spoiled!

*6:30-bedtime – Nathan studies in his room or occasionally plays Barbies with his little sister. Nathan spent three days this week doing a medium-sized load of laundry by hand. He also bathes every couple of days in the same traditional Mongolian shallow basin. Leslie’s family has a solar shower. Leslie is spoiled.

*6:30-bedtime – Leslie studies in her room, is visited by friends or goes out to visit them, hangs out with her sister when she is in town, plays ankle bones (traditional Mongolian game using actual ankle bones), plays with local children, and studies some more. Leslie’s village is significantly more social than Nathan’s village. Leslie spent 45 minutes this week doing ALL her laundry with the help of her Mongolian mother and the mechanical agitator. Leslie is spoiled.

*9:30pm – Nathan’s Mongolian Mom serves him yogurt, sometimes with fruit/jelly in it.

10:00pm-11:00pm – Usually lights out. Nathan reads himself to sleep while the sun is still up/uses his crank flashlight. Leslie studies and listens to music to fall asleep.

Things we're glad we brought/Wish we brought

Things we’re glad we brought:
1. Leslie’s guitar – gained easy points with local youth.
2. Sunglasses – there’s a lot of sun here.
3. Extra water bottle – there’s a lot of hot here.
4. Funny shirts – gained easy points with Peace Corps volunteers.
5. Pants – there’s also cold here.
6. A backpack – rolling luggage on unpaved roads is a bit ridiculous.
7. Hiking boots – some good hiking here. Boots make it pain free and fun!
8. Black dress boots – Leslie can go “business casual” and there’s no toe dust.
9. Sandals – Thanks, Kathi! Our host mothers make us wear them at all times in the house.
10. A good sense of humor – there’s a lot of go with the flow, make it up as you go. You can’t take yourself too seriously when you have to mime everything.

Things we’re glad sister-in-law Kendall gave us:
1. Crank flashlight – pwr went off first day (and easy pts with local youth). Nathan uses every night for outhouse finding.
2. Carabineers – perfect for clipping water bottles, mosquito nets and pillows to pack.
3. Travel pillows – easily clipped with carabineers, good for sleeping in Mongolia.
4. Water bottles – also easily clipped and good for carrying water. Did we mention the amount of constant, hot, arid sun?
5. Indoor/outdoor thermometer – good for telling the temp in Fahrenheit. Math is hard and I don’t know what 35 feels like. Usually that’s pretty cold and I need a coat. Not here.
6. Colored duct tape – because it looks good holding my stuff together.
7. Frisbee – PC folks loves them some hacky sack and Frisbee. Dirty hippies.

Things we wish we brought:
1. More effing socks – Leslie’s socks are nasty. Even Michael Ray wouldn’t wear them.
2. Shorts – “business casual” is inappropriate for volleyball with the neighborhood kids.
3. A basketball – lots of hoops here, even some with rims, but hardly a basketball to bounce in Nathan’s neighborhood.
4. A hat – lots of sun.
5. Fiber pills and multivitamins – after a week of meat, white bread and potatoes with a side of meat and potatoes, the outhouse is the last place you want to hang out.
6. More note cards – Leslie makes a flashcard for everything. Even though we cut the ones we had in half, they really go quickly when you’re obsessive about learning every one of the 400 words your host family constantly points out. Every day is a pop quiz when your host mom is a teacher.
7. A sim card cell phone – Peace Corp won’t pay for them, but you can buy sim cards that pop right into some US phones. No charge for calls into a cell phone here.
8. A hand held recorder for language classes – it’s hard to remember what the two “y”s, the two “o”s, and the two “e”s sounds like, not to mention the diphthongs. Am I saying “hair” or am I saying “water?”

Week 2 - Boy Named "Sukh"; Oggie, Boggie, Leggie

HE SAID
Boy Named “Sukh”:
My host family gave me a Mongolian name in a late evening ceremony this week. My host dad wrote 4-5 names on little torn-off pieces of paper then rolled them into tiny scrolls. They put all of them into a little bowl, covered them with these couscous looking pellets, and then my host dad shook the dish back and forth quickly. When the first name popped up out of the pellets, he unrolled it to reveal “Cyx” (Sukh = ax).

Men’s names in Mongolian typically represent strong qualities or tough things like ax or stone and interestingly enough, I’m named after a great Mongolian hero, Sukhbataar (Ax hero) for whom our host city is named. Women’s names typically represent flowers or ideas like peace, love, or sunshine.

So far, I couldn’t be happier with my host family. The food has been good, and the company has been awkward but warm as we navigate our language barrier. I have my own room, as all trainees do, with a lock, a bed and a desk. The desk is a little short for me, so it must look a little funny, but I spend a lot of time there studying. We have an assortment of cows and calves, a garden and the outhouse is clean. What more can you ask for, really?

Leslie and I are sharing the weekend at her host family’s house, which isn’t too far away. Week one down. We’re off to a great start!

SHE SAID
Oggie, Boggie, Leggy
The Peace Corps did everything possible to place all the CYD (Community Youth Development) volunteers with families with children. Imagine my surprise when I found out all of my дуу (doo = younger siblings) lived in a city hours away. On Thursday миний дуу (my younger sibling/sister) came home and brought her best friend with her. To make it easy for me, the 22 year olds introduced themselves with their nicknames; my sister Boggie and her friend Oggie (like Lisa Auge). Soon after, my host mother dubbed us Oggie, Boggie, and Leggy.

I’ve had a great time with them learning traditional Mongolian games and staying up late learning Mongolian using silly voices. Oggie thinks English vowels sound like people talking while holding their noses. I told her Mongolian has too many vowels anyway, so we called it even!

My family is amazing! I live in the family’s summer home and have quite a bit of room. My mother is a math teacher and always ready to teach me the next thing, since she doesn’t know any English. She even gave me a notebook to bring to every meal so she can teach me something new three times a day. She is also silly, fun, and charming and I’m so grateful being placed with her! She definitely my speed!

My classes are great and I am thankful for my hysterical and supportive classmates. I couldn’t imagine that I would become so close to so many people so quickly! Life is эх сайхан (very good)!

Editors Note: Pictures are still not loading well, even at low resolution. Hopefully we'll be able to find a way for you to see more of this beautiful country and our host families, but so far, no dice. Please keep reading an commenting. We appreciate knowing that someone other than our country director, Jim, might be reading.

First Week in Mongolia

SAIN BAIN UU?

We’ve arrived in Mongolia and have already had some remarkable experiences.

Our first night after over 16 hours of flying, we arrived in Ulan Bator (UB as they say here) and spent the night in a very posh ger (Like Gary without the “y”). We were quickly informed by the current volunteers who ceremoniously met us at the airport that we shouldn’t get used to the cement floors, connected bathrooms with running water, fruits or electricity complete with chandelier. It had four beds for us and another married couple, Darren and Laura from Colorado. Like the other married couple, Ben and Faye from Alaska, we’ve enjoyed getting to know the other “marrieds” and have been automatically bonded by our unique situations among the 64 volunteers.

In fact, last night, the married couples from the current volunteers (we’re still considered trainees until we swearing in in August) treated us to a spaghetti dinner at one of their apartments. Like almost all the buildings here, it’s a big Soviet, communist apartment building lacking aesthetics. The inside and the hospitality were nice.

Since that first day in the ger, we’ve been in a hotel, three hours north of UB learning more about the culture, some “survival” Mongolian and introducing us to our jobs. The hotel is a little different than we’re used to in the states in that the beds are much, much harder than we prefer, there’s no hot water right now and the doors only lock and unlock with a key from either side, but there’s a balcony and the walk to class is about ten minutes.

One thing we’ve noted right off is that the temperatures in Mongolia are much higher than advertised during the day, though the swing into evening is pretty severe as promised. It doesn’t get dark until about 10:00, though the sun is up bright and early at 4:30.

The first day of orientation we were treated to a ceremony put on by local students including dance, contortion, singing, more dancing and more singing. All were impressive, all were endearing, and all be learning as much of them as possible in the coming months. Leslie is especially pumped to learn the traditional two-stringed instrument we’ve yet to put a name to.

This weekend we ship off to our separate host families for some intensive language and culture training. We’re eagerly looking forward to some awkward meals, playing with our host siblings and bonding with our hosts.

Until next weekend…

P.S. We have a ton of photos and some videos we'd love to share on here, but the upload speed is too slow where we are right now. We'll see what we can do going forward.

The Final Countdown

It's been a long week of goodbyes, bon voyages, farewells, and see-you-laters, but we've come to the final countdown in San Francisco. We fly out tomorrow morning!

In the mean time, we had a blow-out fun time in Cleveland complete with baseball game, feasts galore, a private boat tour on lake Erie, a ride in the rocket car, etc. in what oldest brother Ryan brilliantly orchestrated (and named) "From Cleveland to Mongolia Chamberlain Staycation Birthday Blowout!" A big thanks to the Rudolph crew for getting up early and joining us for the fun stuff and the somewhat underwhelming but informative adventure to the Natural History Museum photo exhibit, From Cleveland to Mongolia. And a special thanks to the Gruttadauria's for their help in planning and to Larry for banking what amounts to a couple year's salary for us in Mongolia. It was a blast seeing all of you and it was a very special send-off.

Memorial Day, we roasted weenies and 'smores with the Kings and Crams in Delroy, OH, then stopped off for some Luggie Loving in Columbiana, OH, then had an impromptu overnighter Tuesday with the Mehls in Boardman, OH, just up the road. We knew they all generally lived in the same area and loosely envisioned seeing all of them, but it worked out better than we could have ever planned. Thanks to all who fed us, allowed us to bathe, and who hugged us with enthusiasm. We're still holding on to two of those. Especially thanks to the Shaffers for making this trip possible by allowing us to drive their brand new Prius, and thanks to them for their above-and-beyond hospitality, love, and constant selfless giving.

Speaking of which, we both put on a little weight the last month, so we had to make an emergency run for some roomier clothes to accommodate for the extra American "culture" we're hoping to leave in Mongolia. From what we've learned, it shouldn't be tough to do, what with all the walking, stomach ailments and repetitive culinary specialties we can expect in our immediate futures.

Training was a blast (though elementary and repetitive), but we've already met some great people we can't wait to know better. Our buddy who lives in Monterey is coming up tonight for one final send-off. On the agenda is pizza, beer and repacking. Not necessarily in that order. We're under the 100lb weight limit, but one of us has too many bags according to PC regulations.

We'll be off the grid for a while during pre-service training (PST), but our goal is to get something out once a week, probably on a Saturday or Sunday, so stay tuned each weekend for the next 10 weeks unless otherwise noted.

We miss you already.

Nathan (and Leslie)

P.S. I think the address came out weird in the email we sent to everyone. For the first three months, it will be:

Trainee’s Name, PCT
Энх Тайвны Корпус
Тов шуудан
Шуудангийи хайрцаг 1036
Улаанбаатар 13
Монгол улс

P.P.S. Thanks, Carmella, for the coffee and the two dollars. It looks like we'll be able to spend it a couple times during training.

Georgi: Nathan's feet are 12.5" and Leslie's are 9.5".

Our Secret Mission to Mommy-golia

We just came back from my Temple University graduation trip to Philadelphia. I had two of the most exciting days of my life! During our stay I became Leslie Ann Shaffer Chamberlain, MMT, MT-BC, turned 28, and found out I was going on a secret mission to Mommy-golia. As we were getting ready to leave, our nephew, Harrison, hopped in my parent’s car, looked me square in the face and said:

“Yaya, we going on a secret mission to Mommy-golia. 3-2-1, BLAST OFF!”

Apparently, he has been enjoying the concept of “secret missions.” He also told Nathan we needed to join him on a secret camping mission to make a tent up in his room. As his aunt and uncle, we go along with anything he says. To match his secret missions we sang the Mission Impossible theme song for him. Too bad we don’t have video of him dancing to it because he had the camera, but he informed me it was better off “safe in his pocket.” I’ll leave it to you to imagine its brilliance. The following video is one of his first attempts at the word “Mongolia”.

Though she can’t say Mongolia either, we also spent some quality time with our niece, Parker. She has a spectacular smile! She is easy to entertain right now, so that helped our egos a little. She also looks a lot like my sister-in-law’s father. We kept trying to just imagine her with a beard. She is gorgeous without it, though.

Kendall Glouner Shaffer & Parker Glouner Shaffer

As a Temple University graduate I received, what I refer to as, a fauxploma. I now am the proud owner of a lovely cherry binder with the Temple crest to represent my diploma. Sadly, I will be in Mongolia when my real diploma arrives. Here’s my photo of the proud MMT (masters in music therapy) and the fauxploma.

LASC, MMT, MT-BC & Fauxploma

We’re looking forward to our “From Cleveland to Mongolia Chamberlain Stay-cation Birthday Blowout!”

Stay tuned for more details!

Open House in Wilmington

It's our going away open house in Wilmington today. We're looking forward to friends and family from points near and far. Our friend Kara and her fiancee had car trouble at the last minute, so we're bummed they can't make it. Otherwise, we're looking forward to about 30 people to help us celebrate.

Nathan's mom and dad have spent a couple hours each day preparing food and the house for company. We have a good spread of sloppy joes, potato salad, and quite the asortment of adult and family beverages. They've been the perfects hosts. We'd stay at this hotel again.

Nathan went golfing this morning with middle brother Kevin and former roommate, Michael Ray, who came in last night from Augusta, GA with Mike Wills, via Atlanta. The rain held off for now. Hopefully it holds off long enough to play cornhole in the back yard.

Dallas was fun

We had a great time in Dallas with Leslie's brother Stephen, fiancee Lisa, and Lisa's 8-year old son Ethan. Because they're getting married in September and we obviously won't be around, we were glad to spend some one-on-one time with them. They showed us a really great time, including a fun family Mother's Day gathering they hosted at their house, which was attended by Lisa's parents, her cousin and her aunt. We helped plan and execute the menu with Stephen while the others were at church. It included Chipotle grilled chicken, a strawberry Gorgonzola and walnut salad, rice and various fruits and veggies. We were also able to rid their kitchen of the largest Costco bottle of Riesling.

Speaking of Costco, we found a 320 gig USB hard drive for $170, and it's not much bigger than a deck of cards. We decided not to buy another computer, so the extra space for music and pictures really worked out great; and it doesn't require an additional power supply. We bought an 80 gig drive about 6 months ago for a little more than half that price and it was way bulkier. We feel like we won the jackpot with the new one.

The challenge as we wind down our time stateside is eating and drinking all our favorites, but to not outgrow our clothes in the joviality. Results have been mixed, to say the least. We need to exercise more moderation and exercise more, period.

Leslie received word that she got and A- on her final thesis. All that's left is the results from her final paper in her supervision class. Graduation is next week and we're confident everything should fine.

Our going away open house is this weekend at 3PM. Some of our favorite people in the world will be joining us for lunch, etc. at Nathan's parents' in Ohio. Some people we were hoping to see before we left won't be there for various reasons, but we'll still have a good time.

We're selling our car to Nathan's dad this weekend. With the cash from that, we'll pay off the credit card debt we've mounted in last few months.

The countdown continues...

No Rent, No Jobs, No Problem

Friday was Nathan's last day at work. His supervisor took him out for an exquisite farewell lunch, and he ended the day forgetting his prized name placard on his desk, perhaps not quite prepared not to come back. Even still, his first, real, big-kid job is now a past-tense, bulleted list on a resume. No turning back now. Mongolia or bust.

Sunday, with the indispensable help of Leslie's parents and our friends Justin Stuempfle and Mike Lilly, we packed all of our worldly belongings into a 17’ U-haul and two cars, one of which we towed on a trailer. A couple hours of cleaning later, we hit the road for Erie - security deposit in hand - with an overnight stop in northeastern PA at a White Haven Comfort Inn. Monday morning we made our way across a rainy Pennsylvania, tailed by Leslie's parents, to our storage facility in Erie. After an early dinner we transferred the world’s most comfortable king-sized bed, coma-inducing couches, and most everything else that won't be going with us to Mongolia snugly into their new home.

We took a little trip to Tinseltown movie theater for “Baby Mama” (2 thumbs up), and then crashed hard for the night. Though we slept well, the moving hangover carried on through the day as we zombied the U-haul back to its rightful owners, creaked to the mall for some odds and ends, and shuffled to the lawyers office to sign over our powers-of-attorney to Leslie’s parents. We clearly have a case of the blahs.

Tomorrow, Nathan is looking forward to golf at Peek’n Peak Resort in nearby NY, where we found a great deal: $13 for 18 holes. Leslie will be working on her final project for grad school and trying to work in a massage at the resort, where, incidentally, she worked in high school.

We have a ton of administrative things to accomplish for the Peace Corps in the coming days as well, and we have to move ahead more aggressively with learning the language. We’ve read through the 104-page welcome book, and we continue to learn more about our future home each day. Even still, it's been hard to pursue with so many other life events converging at once.

We’re also debating buying a second computer to take with us. We’ve found one from Dell we might like, and even though it might be in our price range, we just can’t decide whether we’ll need two. The debate continues. Bulk and weight remain a concern as we are only allowed 100lbs of luggage.

Though we’re homeless and unemployed, all in all, we’re holding up well and looking forward to the wedding this weekend of our best man, Eric, to his sweetie, Emily.