We are the World

Last night was sort of a going-away party for me and our friend Sunmin (she left this morning). We started out at the apartment with me, Jaspal, Sunmin, Mandkhai (a recent Cal grad who just moved back home to Mongolia), Amraa (whose family owns Jaspal's apartment), and Amraa's two-year-old son, Sonor. He and I had a great time playing a game of tabletop soccer with peanuts.

After that, we hit the local karaoke bar (we left Sonor with his grandparents, unfortunately), ending the session with a rousing rendition of "We are the World." It was great.

Our final stop of the night was Metropolis, UB's newest and most popular club. This was my first time really going out in UB, and Jaspal says that now I've seen everything. It was kind of insane. Clubs here don't close until 4 or 5 in the morning, so when we showed up at 1am, things were just getting started. Let me tell you, they sure do love techno and strobe lights here. I felt like I was at a rave in 1996. There was a good set with some Snoop Dogg, Daddy Yankee, Beyonce, and Cypress Hill, but then the techno came back with a vengeance, so we called it a night (I think Jaspal could have stayed and danced for another hour, but Sunmin had to head to the airport at 4am, so I felt bad).

Speaking of 4am, that's what time I'll be heading to the airport in the morning. Not looking forward to the long flights and long layovers, but I'll be back home about 24 hours after I leave here. It has been a great trip, and I'm really glad I came to Mongolia. Something tells me that Jaspal will be making at least one or two more trips here in the future, so who knows -- I may be back. Sunmin and I were creating a list of things we'd love to see changed here by the time we next visit (for her it's only a year). My number one was for the roads and sidewalks to be fixed, and my number two was for people here to stop polluting. It's common to see people throwing trash anywhere they want, both in the city and the countryside. Plus the air pollution in the city is terrible. My number three is for more business to be conducted over the phone or Internet. Sunmin's main request was that people regularly schedule and keep appointments, rather than saying, "Yes, let's meet now," and then showing up three hours later.

We'll see. Jaspal says that often the good changes bring more bad ones, so maybe it's best to just see what happens and not expect anything.

Thanks to anyone who's been reading my blog, and especially to those of you who've left comments. I hope to see you soon!