The place between Russia and China

by Jane Lim, KF9, Mongolia

here’s where i’m at:

i wanted to write a before and after just so you can hear my drawn breath of anticipation / trepidation in between…

before: 9:30am EST on Friday, Oct 9th
i realize no one knows a lot about Mongolia… therefore i can make up absolutely anything and people will believe me. haha

case in point. (some of the following are actually true)

1. there is a mongolian mythical creature called the Mongolian Death Worm which is purportedly found in the Gobi Desert, grows up to 5 ft long, and spews sulfuric acid which makes it deadly to men
2. Genghis Khan’s father wasn’t his mother’s first husband
3. mongolians historically have been nomads, and hence do not farm; therefore amongst many other things their vegetables are made-in-china
4. there is another mongolian mythical creature in the Kharyagas lake which is roughly equivalent to the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland
5. there is a Louis Vuitton store in the capital
6. there still exists barter trade in Mongolia. I am for instance, trying to use xx units of xxx as currency. (am not revealing exactly what because i don’t want it to devalue. j/k)

turning to more mundane matters, in the next 35 hours starting at 4:30pm EST i will take 3 flights, have 2 layovers, be in 4 airports (Boston>LA>Seoul>Mongolia), before arriving in Ulaanbataar.

hopefully it’ll go like clockwork.

after: roughly 3pm on Sunday, October 11th (Mongolian time is exactly 12 hours ahead of EST)

Landing in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
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time to be a Kiva fellow.

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