Toilet Hero

Okay, here's the entry I had prepared. Enjoy!



New mama's got the sun in her eyes.
No clouds are in my changing skies.
Each morning when I wake up to rise,
I'm living in a dreamland.

That Neil Young chorus has been stuck in my head for the last week or so, mostly because of the last three lines (although my sister is a new mama). So much of my life nowadays feels like something out of a fairy tale. How to describe it... well for starters, mint grows naturally all over this place, and its ethereal aroma follows you everywhere. The geology of this region is some of the oldest in the world, which makes for mountains so smooth and rolling you could sled all the way down them in the winter. This weekend, several of us hiked a peak (see picture above) about two miles north of town. At the summit, it occurred to me that we were quite possibly the first Americans who'd ever been there. The others agreed. This town is tiny, and there's no real reason to stop here. This is the first year PC has done training in this spot, and most Americans who do wind up here probably don't get the time to hike. Even if they did, the town is surrounded by mountains. What are the chances they'd summit that one? I could of course be wrong, but it's a pretty crazy thought.

Also, it may be cliché, but the sky really is somehow different in Mongolia. They call Montana "Big Sky Country," but it's got nothing on this place. And that's saying a lot, since I fucking love Montana. Roy Chapman Andrews, the American explorer who went on to become the president of the Museum of Natural History and served as the inspiration for Indiana Jones, had this to say about it: "Before us lay Mongolia, a land of painted deserts dancing in mirage, of limitless grassy plains and nameless snow-capped peaks, of untracked forests and roaring streams! Mongolia, land of mystery, of paradox and promise! The hills swept away in the far-flung, graceful lines of panorama so endless that we seemed to have reached the very summit of the earth." That last part is about as close as one can get to describing the uniquely invigorating feeling I get every morning when I open my door.

In other news, I've really been enjoying myself in the days since my last entry. Not that I wasn't enjoying myself then, but it's amazing how much I've adjusted to life here, and how quickly my Mongolian is improving. I've been here less than three weeks, and already I speak this language nearly as well as I spoke Arabic after five months living in Egypt. I guess that's what necessity'll do for ya.

Obviously, a large part of what is making this experience so pleasant is the people, particularly my family. They're absolutely wonderful. I'll give you a little rundown on the gang.

Minii aaw (my father), Gankhuyag- My dad is quite an amusing character. At first he strikes you as reticent and rather stern, but he's incredibly generous and he opens up pretty quickly once you get to know him. Also, once he gets ahold of the baby, it's all goo-goos and ga-gas (or the Mongolian equivalent). In the picture from a previous post, he's sitting right in front of me.

Minii eej (my mother), Shinekhuu- My mom is such a sweetheart. She's always making me good food and keeping me stocked up on tea and water and dung for the fire. She works at the town hall as some sort of a secretary. I'm not exactly sure in what capacity. She's trying to learn some English while I'm around, which is really cute, because she pronounces all her Rs as Ws and all her Fs as Ps. According to her, apple is a pwuit. In the pic, she's just to the left of me, wearing the maroon button-up sweater. The woman to my other side is her friend. No relation.

Minii egch (my older sister), Purevsuren- I'm actually not 100% sure that Pucha (that's her nickname) is older than me. The sheet I got before I arrived said that she's 24, but my bro wrote down all their birthdays the other day and according to the date he gave, she turns 23 in a couple weeks. Either way, Pucha is wonderful. She's got a little baby who is absolutely adorable, and she's almost as caring to me as she is to her own son. Her husband, Gantulga (I think that's his name), was around for the first week. He's a real nice guy too, and a loving father to boot, but as I understand it, he's gone to Erdenet, which is quite far away, to work for the rest of the summer, so I won't be seeing any more of him. Unfortunately neither Pucha nor Gantulga are in the picture. I'm not really sure why Pucha isn't, but Gantulga is the one who took it.

Minii duu (my younger sibling), Nyamsuren- In the picture, Nyamka is the only one besides me who is really smiling. That's fitting, since he and I have become pretty great buds in the last two weeks. At 18 years old, he's just finished high school I believe. I'm not sure if he'll be going on to college. It's a topic I hope to broach in the near future, when my Mongolian's a little better. He loves to play sports and all sorts of games, including Texas Hold 'Em, believe it or not. He's also a big music fan, and I've been teaching him to play guitar. This weekend, while I was studying in the living room, he came in and told me that I needed a Mongolian name. He liked Baatar, which means "hero." You might recognize it from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, or "Red Hero" (a leftover from communism). I was a little uneasy about being called Baatar, since I've done absolutely nothing heroic since I've been here (unless eating intestines qualifies me... and maybe it should; that was pretty nasty), so I suggested my name be Jorlonbaatar, which means "Toilet Hero." The family found that pretty funny, but ultimately settled on "Batbaatar," which means "Strong Hero." That's what I get for complaining.

Minii oor duu (my other younger sibling), Gan-Ochir- In the beginning, Gan-Ochir was overshadowed by Nyamka just by virtue of having a slightly more reserved personality, but he's proved himself to be quite an engaging and fun guy to have around as well. He's 16, which means he's still in school, but everyone's out for the summer, so he's always around. He likes to do all the same things Nyamka does (I'm teaching him guitar as well). It's fun to have such an active family. He's also got a great sense of humor. The other night, we were playing poker, and I placed a big bet and then joked "rich American!" to which Nyamka pointed at himself and responded "rich Mongol!" Gan-Ochir then broke into English to add, "Fuck you! Motherfucker!" Maybe you had to be there. Perfect comic timing. In the picture, Gan-ochir is on the far right.

Minii ach duu (my nephew), Monkhtolga- Considering he's only three months old, there's not a whole lot I can say about this little guy, except that he's THE CUTEST BABY ON EARTH (in general Mongolia has a hugely disproportionate amount of cute children). He's always giggling and sticking his tongue out at me and peeing on Nyamka. I haven't gotten the nerve up to ask if I can hold him yet, but I think it's only a matter of time (editor's note: I held him for the first time two days ago! EEEE!!!). If you need help finding him in the pic, I don't know what to tell you.

Well that's probably plenty for now. There are of course lots of things I miss about America, but fortunately I don't miss any of them too much. Not yet anyway.

OH! One last story! I wish I could say this happened to me, but it'd be a lie. Still, it's such an hilarious event that I have to share it. To preface, it's important to note the role of candy in this society. Hospitality is a big deal in Mongolia, and candy, along with tea and bortsog, a kind of fried bread, is one of the default things one is offered upon entering anybody's house. Ever. So my friend Brian, who's from Cincinnati, was across town at his host grandma's place, and he was using the jorlon (bathroom, in case you've forgotten), which is of course just a tiny wooden shack over an unappealing hole in the ground, and it was time to disperse the candy. Rather than wait for Brian to finish up, or heaven forbid have him miss out on the treat, his little niece came running over, yanked open the jorlon door, and handed him a piece of candy. Brian accepted, said thank you, and she stood there until he'd finished eating it. All the while Brian was of course squatting a few inches off the ground with his pants around his legs. Classic.

Oh, and here's a pic of me with an enormous eagle. A Kazakh let me hold and pose with it for only 1000 tugriks (the equivalent of about 65 cents)! What a deal! Also, it attacked my friend Andrew (not too seriously). Hilarious pictures of that to come at some point.

Oopslarai!

That's my favorite Monglish (Mongolian-English) creation so far. "Oochlarai" (it's actually pronounced more like "ochlarai," but that kinda ruins the pun) is the Mongolian word for "sorry." But I like to say OOPSlarai, cause I'm funny like that.

The reason I'm saying oopslarai is that I had a whole nice blog entry written out that I'd put on my flash drive to bring in and just post (the internet is so slow here that I'd rather not waste my time typing and editing), and then I forgot the flash drive at home. I don't live that far away, but it's about ninety-five degrees out today, and I didn't feel like walking there and then all the way back just to get it. So I'll try and get 'er done tomorrow.

That entry includes, among other things, a pretty comprensive description of my family, some details about how things have been going (the answer is pretty well), hopefully a few pics, and a great story at the end.

I actually came to post it yesterday, but after a few minutes on the internet, the whole town lost power for several hours, effectively putting the kabosh on that plan. Such is life in rural Mongolia.

But anyway, I wrote that entry last weekend, and a few things have happened since then that I wanted to add anyway, so I may as well write them here!

The main thing is... I've started teaching! During training we have a couple classes a week to start putting the skills we're learning into practice. Monday was my first, and I basically taught them how to say "Hello" and "My name is/What is your name?" It turned out the kids were a little more advanced than we'd expected, so that wasn't the best class ever. But I had my second today, and we were supposed to focus on listening and reading, so I brought in my old git-fiddle (such a lifesaver out here) and performed "Hello, Goodbye" by The Beatles for them. I gave them a lyric sheet with some of the words missing and had them fill it in. It's a trick I employed while teaching in Cairo as well, and it's a great one. I mean, I doubt Paul McCartney had this in mind when writing it, but it's pretty much the perfect song for people learning English. You say yes, I say no. You say stop, and I say go, go, go. You say goodbye, and I say hello. Etc etc etc I'm sure you all know it. The kids loved it; it was a great lesson. So that's good.

In other news, the first member of our group early terminated a few days ago. That's a Peace Corps euphemism for "went home." He was at another training site, so we don't know the details, but it's just weird (and pretty intimidating), especially considering he was one of the last people we all expected to. He was actually one of my roommates in Zuunmod, and he seemed like he was just so into the experience. I wonder what happened. So you know, on average about 30-40% of PCVs don't make it through the whole twenty-seven months for one reason or another. So that means, out of our group of seventy-five, more than twenty or so will probably go home. I hope I'm not one of them.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Би монгол хэл сурч байна!!!

That's pronounced "bee mongolh khailh surch bane" and it means "I'm learning Mongolian!" It's true, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Host family life has been quite the reality check after the relative ease of living with a bunch of other PCTs in Zuunmod for five days. But my family is really wonderful (that's them up top... they're much more cheerful than they look), even if I can't communicate with them, and there are ten other PCTs here in town that I get to see pretty often. Nevertheless, I've done several things for the first time in the last few days which have all been quite... interesting, to say the least. I've...

• pooped in a nasty outhouse, although actually it smelled better than some that I've used in the states
• washed my clothes by hand... and that's a lot of work!
• seen my host sister breastfeed about twenty-five times a day
• bathed my entire body while standing in a tiny bucket... I got water EVERYWHERE
• heated my ger with dried dung
• eaten a fucking goat's head!

Actually none of these experiences have been that unpleasant. And this town is so beautiful. I admit that there are moments when I retire to my ger and stare off into the vast emptiness and wonder what the hell I'm doing, but as soon as my sister (Purevesuren) or father (Gankhuyag) come and ask me "tsai oh?" which means "do you want some tea," I remember all the good will around me and the struggle becomes totally worth it.

Also, clearly there is internet here. It's incredibly slow however. I'll try to post once a week just to let you know I'm alive and how things are going. When I get to Zuunmod in July for Mid-Summer Days, you can expect a longer, more comprehensive description of what I've been up to. Maybe some pictures too!

Biggest surprise so far? Burning animal poop doesn't smell bad. In fact, it really smells quite nice. You probably won't believe it, but maybe I wouldn't have ten days ago either. Holy argalin it's only been ten days!

Goodbye for a bit?

Hey faithful readers. So since last I wrote I've mostly been having A GREAT TIME. Everyone here is so cool, I'm starting to learn some Mongolian, and each day is filled with exciting new mountains to climb, people to meet, words to learn, foods to eat, etc etc etc. But as much as things have been changing, that's all about to look like diddlysquat. For tomorrow afternoon, we all leave for our host families. Mine is in a very small town about two hours east of Zuunmod. I'm mostly excited to meet them (all the M20s and M19s seem to have really treasured their host family experiences), but I am a bit worried about the fact that I can pretty much only say three things to them: "Hello," "What is your name?", and "I like apples." I'm sure my vocabulary will be increasing greatly in the weeks to come.

Although I'm supermegapumped for the next stage, our group of seventy-five volunteers is going to be dividing into six parts, so I'll be saying goodbye to a lot of the friends I've made. That's kinda sad. I'll see them again of course, but not so much, and never again so easily. We've been having a lot of fun. Last night we climbed up on one of the hills near town to play frisbee, drink beer, and watch the sunset. It was indescribable. Afterwards, on our way back down, we were throwing the disc around and half a dozen little kids ran over to play with us. They were so cute and they went wild whenever we tossed it to them. Most eventually wound up tackling fellow PCT Brian, and he had quite a time extricating himself from their tiny hands. They grow 'em tough out here on the steppes.

A few summations. Classes have been a little overwhelming but very helpful. The food is still pretty good, but it is a lot of the same basic ingredients recycled into different forms, so I can see myself getting tired of it before long. The weather has been surprisingly rainy this week, but that's okay. When that blue sky comes out, it's all worth it, and the landscape still possesses a striking beauty in the low-hanging clouds.

So originally it sounded like internet would be hard to come by in my host community, but today one of the teachers implied that I might have some access. If I do, I'm sure I'll be posting here and there, depending on how busy I am. If not, this'll probably be the last post until July! Maybe. It's hard to say.

Well I guess I won't be playing the "got your nose!" game for a while...

...that's apparently one of the things that some volunteers do with their host families as an ice breaker, and Mongolians find it quite offensive. Haha.

In other news, I MADE IT! It's been wicked fun so far. I slept like a baby on the flight to Ulaanbaatar. When we got there it was quite rainy. We got off the plane and thankfully no bags were lost NOR did my hot sauce explode. Good news, amirite? When we exited into the main terminal, there were soooo many current PCVs and they were screaming and cheering and welcoming us to Mongolia and it was such a wonderful feeling. We loaded our bags onto a truck and stood around talking in the rain for an hour or so. We got to ask the current volunteers all sorts of questions about service and how their experiences have been. When we finally arrived around midnight at the dorm where we're staying in Zuunmod, we were pretty beat. I took a freezing shower, the first of many unpleasant bathing experiences in the years to come, and then I crashed. Although the beds weren't really the most comfortable, we were all so exhausted that I slept quite soundly. Nevertheless, jet lag had just about everyone up and kicking around 5 AM.. Hopefully that won't last too long.

After getting my bearings and arranging my belongings, we had a surprisingly tasty breakfast in the dorms. It was some sort of sausage and toast and mashed potatoes and, believe it or not, buckwheat. Then we went outside and played some frisbee, the perfect sport for a country this open. It's a beautiful day here, and this is a fucking gorgeous country. You can see for miles all around, and there are hills and mountains lining the horizon. The sky is enormous and blue, just like they said. It's supposed to rain sometime today, but it's almost 5:30 now and there's still no sign of it.

After frisbee, we had an orientation session and then were issued our water filters (so necessary), our mega-intense sleeping bags, and our first couple weeks of walk around allowance. We get a budget of about 2000 tugriks per day, which converts to about a buck and a half. Meals are taken care of, so there's nothing we really have to buy, but it's still pretty amazing to think that we can live comfortably with only that much to spend. Afterwards we played some more frisbee and then had lunch, which was also surprisingly delicious. It was a burger-like patty with an egg on top, as well as some rice, carrots, and cabbage. Oh, and there was a fatoush-like salad to start. Apparently we've been eating stuff on the higher end of the culinary spectrum here so far, but still, I'm glad to be enjoying the food so much. After lunch we went for a tour of Zuunmod. It's a pretty quaint little town, and it's filled with the cutest children on earth. They smile to excess and strike sassy poses when we walk by.

Anyway, that's pretty much what's up so far. My anxieties about this whole experience have all but disappeared, and I'm pretty much just having a blast at this point.

Bayartai!

Greetings from Sunny South Korea!

Hey everybody. So I guess I lied when I said my next post would be from Mongolia, because here I am sitting on the floor in Incheon International Airport in South Korea, making a post, waiting for the final leg of this four-part plane trip, the one that will take me to the Land of the Blue Sky. I figured I ought to take advantage of internet while I have it, since I'm not sure quite what the next few days are going to be like.

Since I last posted I've done several things.

1. Finished packing. What a bitch.
2. Went to Denny's in Portland with my mom, my sister, Renee, Peter, Jake, and Ted Gill for my last Maine meal. I got chicken fried steak and eggs. It was delicious.
3. Said goodbye to all those people. I have to admit I got a bit choked up at the airport, and walking through security all on my own, I suddenly realized just how daunting this adventure could be.
4. Flew across the fucking country. In case you didn't realize, it's really big. Oh, and when we got to the jetport, we found out that my original flight to DC had been canceled due to fog. Fortunately they stuck me on a couple Continental flights that got me to San Fran via Newark only half an hour behind schedule.
5. Met a ton of the other PCTs (but not all of them... there's seventy of us!) and did the whole staging thing. Training was kinda boring at times, since it rehashed a lot of the stuff I've already read in the literature the PC sent me, but it's been reaaaaaaaaally nice to meet all my fellow M21s and to see that they're going through the same things I am, that they have the same anxieties, and that we're all gonna be jusssssst fine.
6. Partied like a rockstar in San Fran. Well, not quite, but we got some dinner and beers and hit up a nice little hookah bar. As a result of said debauchery, I only got three hours of sleep, but it was a fun way to spend my last night in America for twenty-seven months.
7. Sat through a twelve hour flight to Korea. It actually was much better than I feared it would be. I managed to get a couple well-placed naps in, and I was talking so much with fellow PCTs that I never got all that bored.

So yeah, that's what's new. I'll try to post as soon as I can once I'm in Mongolia. It's coming right up! Love you all. Miss you all.

Jumping out of planes

In just ten hours, I'll be on an airplane to DC, and then forty minutes later I'll be on an airplane to San Francisco, and then the next day I'll be on an airplane to Seoul, and then three hours later I'll be on a plane to FUCKING MONGOLIA WHERE I'LL BE LIVING IN THAT YURT OMGEEEE IM FREEEAAAKING OUT!!!!!!

Actually I'm not really stressing all that bad. The last month has been awesome. I'm pretty sure I've managed to tie up all my loose ends, I've done all the stuff I wanted to do, and I've seen most of the people I wanted to see. I did my 9K two weekends ago (it went great!), I went skydiving (UNBELIEVABLE), I did some great hikes in and around my home state (always lovely), and I went camping with friends and family for a weekend at Moosehead Lake (my favorite place on earth, so that obviously rocked). My mom and sister came up for that last one and will be here through my departure tonight, so it's been great to be surrounded by the people I love.

My last few hours at home will be filled with eating and packing. I've got everything I need; I just have to figure out how to put it into my bags in the best way. My mom is currently cooking my favorite food on earth, fried haddock. She's also making her famous mac & cheese, which is probably my second favorite food on earth. Needless to say I'm in heaven. I have to be at the airport at 4 AM, so we decided to have a little gathering at Denny's beforehand, seeing as it's the only place open 24 hours around here. How better to remember Maine?

I'll get into San Fran at 11:20 AM, and then it's staging orientation until the evening. I'm excited to meet everyone and for the adventure ahead, but it's still pretty surreal. I don't have any idea what I'm getting into, but I'm pumped anyway. Good news for you guys though... this blog is probably going to get a lot more interesting. See you guys later! The next time I post, I'll be in MONGOLIA!!!!! LOVE YA!

Mmmmmmmboy

Here's a few little videos pertaining to Mongolia which may interest you. The first two are from Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, a show from the Travel Channel. The second video paints a very, shall we say, earnest portrayal of the kind of stuff Mongolians eat, whereas the first one is a little more appetizing.

Mongolian Dumplings

Top 5 moments in Mongolia (not for the weak-stomached)

And this last one is a little sadder. It's about the ongoing famine in Mongolia which is getting more devastating by the day. I hope it rains soon! Props to Sari Gardner for finding it (and once again to Jason Patrick Douglas for the first two vids).

A Bitter Spring for Mongolia's Nomads (this one's a wee bit unappe- tizing as well...)

OMG it's really happening!

So us soon-to-be trainees all received quite the email from headquarters a few days ago. In it we were given our first glimpse at the details of the next few months of our lives, and let me tell you, it's a bit intimidating. After getting over the initial shock a few months ago, I've felt very little anxiety about this whole Peace Corps dilio. But now that departure is less than three weeks away and I'm starting to get a better idea of the reality of my impending life in Mongolia, I'm pretty much crapping my pants.

So here's a few things I've found out.

• We'll arrive in Ulaanbaatar late at night on Saturday, June 5, (though it'll be early morning back in America!), and then we'll hop on a bus to Zuunmod, a small city of about fifteen thousand people. Zuunmod is about fifteen miles south of UB as the crow flies but nearly thirty miles by car. The road is so much longer because it has to wind around Bogd Khan Uul, the three thousand foot mountain that sits between the two cities (click the map above for a larger image; UB, Bogd Khan Uul, and Zuunmod are just to the lower left of center).
• In Zuunmod, we'll be given the first fourteen days of our walk-around allowance as well as a -40° sleeping bag. We'll be there for at least the next five days for orientation, living in dorms.
• After that, we'll be sent off to our host families, where we'll be for all of Pre-Service Training, which will take up the next ten weeks. I'll be in a community with between eight and twelve other trainees, but we'll each be living with a different family. I still don't know where I'll be for this portion of service, but I doubt it will be Zuunmod or Ulaanbaatar.
• Training for Mongolian PC service follows the Community Based Model. Rather than sitting in classrooms and studying in the more traditional way, we'll be doing much of our learning experientially, through engaging with the community in which we live. Apparently this is a relatively new thing for the Peace Corps, and many nations still use the older style. However, it sounds like a more efficient method to me, so I'm excited about that.
• Apparently while being trained, we'll also be responsible for conducting a community service activity in our area. Just to keep the stress level maxed out.
• Assuming I survive training and am chosen to become a Volunteer, I will be sworn in back in Zuunmod on Friday, August 20.
• While in Zuunmod, it will be fairly easy to stay connected via the telephones at the post office and the city's two internet cafes. However, the email says that communication will be much more difficult once we're living with our host families. We are told to "be prepared for this limited communication and prepare your family [back home] for the fact that you probably will be able to call or email them only rarely after you head out to your host community."

So yeah, pretty intense. But already a lot of the anxiety has dissipated and I'm getting excited again.

My time in Maine has been nice so far, although I wish I were getting more hours at work. I've been spending too much money, but at least I've been doing a lot of the things I'm gonna miss a lot: going to my favorite restaurants, eating lots of seafood, seeing my buds, going bowling. Jonny Hyman, one of Peter's best friends from college and a very good friend of mine as well, was in town all last week, and then this weekend Eric Gibbs, one of my best buds from Oberlin, came to town. He and I went hiking in northern Maine (see pic below) with Erin Child, another Obie, and generally had a great time. Saying all these goodbyes is getting rough, but I guess that's just the way it goes.

I've also been studying a little Mongolian. I'm focusing on the alphabet, but I've got some words down too. Here's how you say goodbye: bayartai!

Crying in the Aisle

Wowie wow wow. A month from now I'll have been in Mongolia for three days already. Yesterday I called the Peace Corps travel agency and booked my flight to staging in San Francisco. I have to leave at the fucking crack of dawn from Portland on June 3, but my travel agent was so charming that I barely noticed. He had a very endearing Indian accent and he told me that I should not worry but the Peace Corps would not be mailing me a paper ticket because they have no money, and neither would the airlines because they have no money either. And then he said he liked my state because it's abbreviation sounds like "me." Finally, he asked, "would you prefer a window seat so you can wave goodbye to mom and dad since you won't see them for three years, or would you rather sit in the aisle and cry?"

Staging sounds like it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'll get into San Fran at 11:20 or so, and then we have some preliminary training until 7 at night. After that I'm pretty sure we're given some money to go out and get trashed on our last night in the country. But the shuttle takes us to the airport at 6 AM the next morning to leave for Mongolia (layover in South Korea!), so I doubt there'll be much sleeping.

In other news, I'm back in Maine. On my birthday I drove to Boston to go see a Red Sox game and celebrate with my friends. It was a lot of fun. Then I came the rest of the way so I could start work at Handy Boat yesterday. I was supposed to work today and tomorrow too, but there are only a dozen boats in the water, so they told me I didn't need to come in. Which totally sucks because, after I finish buying all the crap I need for the PC, I'm gonna have no money in the bank for the next two years. Oh well. At least I have some sweet dancing to look forward to (props to fellow M21 Jason Patrick Douglas for finding the video).