I'm sitting in the business center at Beijing Airport, about to board a flight to Ulaan Baatar. I'm sure you guys have heard about a strange flu epidemic sweeping throughout Asia that's highly contagious and has killed off several people. Thankfully, we've not passed through the officially affected areas, but we've been awfully close for comfort (Thailand and Yunnan province, China.) It's funny because one day, I got about 5 international phone calls on my cell phone from anxious family members of my group leader worrying that he was dying, and even offering to come out here.
Of course, there's also a matter of a war with Iraq. The deadline's at 9 AM our time, and hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to watch it unfold live on CNN at Tom and Nancy's place in Mongolia over breakfast. :)
Seriously though, Being abroad, and yet, hearing about these crazy things going on is still sort of surreal to me.
It's reassuring and rather ironic at the same time that Mongolia is at this moment, is surely one of the safest places in the world to be in right now...