Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Genghis Clyde?

I’m getting out of here. WAY out of here.
I leave Saturday for 15 days in Mongolia as part of the Global Scholars program at the University of Missouri. Seven faculty and staff from different departments will join a half dozen others from additional universities to rediscover the legacy of Genghis Khan.

I’ll be in the good company of Amanda Sprochi from International Education, Monika Fischer and Nichole Monnier of Foreign Languages, Marty Walker of Engineering, Marian Minor of Physical Therapy and Lorie Thombs of Statistics. We will be joined by five professors from other universities.

"Mongolia" always seemed like something of a joke word to me, It was another way of saying “you can’t get there from here (“Emerald Street? Man, that’s way out in Mongolia!...”)

It’s not. When I first went there in 2002, to teach online journalism to news people with minimal access to the Web, I discovered it was a wonderful country with a rich history and friendly people. Wonderful, but cold as a the bells on yak herder's hat. It snowed in Ulaanbaatar this weekend.

I’ll be recording our adventure on my blog – aptly named Heard from Afar. So tune back in for the adventures of Genghis Clyde and the Mizzou Horde.

1 comment:

Reyes-Chow said...

Have a great trip! Look forward to reading about the adventure!