T-Minus 3 Days

This is a story told by two of us, David and Molly Preston. David recently finished a two-year Peace Corps-esque stint teaching English at James Monroe High School in Southern California. Monroe is the fourth largest high school in the United States, with more than 5000 students. More than 80% of those students are Hispanic or Latino, and many don't speak English at home. Some don't speak English at school. They all seem to have Ipods and RAZR phones.

One day last winter David was stunned to discover a student in possession of a book that wasn't assigned. And it wasn't just any book-- it was The Art of Happiness by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The student turned out to be Zolzaya (Zoogii) Damdinsuren. Somehow Zoogii had found his way to Monroe as an exchange student from Mongolia.

Over time, David and Zoogii got to know each other, and Zoogii's English improved enough that he invited David and Molly to meet his family. At their house. In Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia.

So we're packing. In three days we will fly to Beijing, China, and hop on the Trans Mongolian train past the Great Wall, through the Gobi (we don't call it the "Gobi Desert" anymore because Gobi means desert in Mongolian), and the Mongolian countryside to Ulaanbaatar.

Actually, we are learning that Mongolia is mostly countryside. Mongolia is larger than Germany, Italy and France put together, and yet only 2 million people live there. 1 million live in Ulaanbaatar. In 1990 Mongolia became a democracy. Our trip coincides with the national celebration of the 800th anniversary of the unification of Mongolia by Ghenghis Khan. Know how many people emigrated to Mongolia in 2005? None. We're going to find out why.

Stay tuned to this space for inconsistent updates during our trip.