Back in English Speaking Countries

I've been back for just about a week now.

I spent a couple of days roaming Ulaanbataar with Heather. We had some great Indian food, saw Transformers (in a HUGE, empty theater with subtitles), went to the giant state department store, and visited the Black market. It's not the underground secret illegal-goods market. It's just called the Black Market (Though I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find pretty much anything you want).

After getting a bunch of nice cashmere at low-low-low prices and browsing the $2 pirated DVDs and decent meals at low prices, I was ready to get out of UB.

My flight left at 6.45 am on the 23rd of August. So my driver arrived at 5am at the airport to take me out. Checked in, boarded at 6.15, and then around 7am we were told the flight was delayed due to high winds and we de-boarded. The announcements were few and far between, and about 2/3 of the time they forgot to do the english version. Luckily I understand enough Mongolian by now to understand our flight was delayed to 9, then 10 and then finally at about 10.30 we were able to board. I somehow ended up in a middle seat, with at least 2 babies in close proximity.

Thankfully I had originally had an eight-hour layover in Seoul, South Korea, which was now a 2.5 hour layover in Seoul, so I guess that's something to be happy about.

I left Seoul around 7pm on the 23rd of August, and arrived back in Vancouver, BC at noon on August 23rd. So Einstein was wrong, and time travel IS possible. At least with time zone changes.

Got downtown on 3 hours of sleep in a 36 hour day, met with my stock broker, popped into the Entree Gold office, and then finally got to drive home, where I promptly slept until noon on the 24th.

The morning of the 25th saw me on to yet another plane, this one to Denver, Colorado to see my friend Allyson. After a thoroughly depressing night at the bar at which none of the people I previously knew in Colorado showed up, we drove out to California on Monday morning. Hot, sunny, driving through the desert, kind of like being back in Mongolia.

Taking it pretty easy (this IS my vacation after all), and then straight back to school when I get into BC on the 3rd of September. I honestly cannot wait for classes to start, and the couple of concerts that are occuring in my first week back. (Wolf Parade is playing on the 6th at Sugar in Victoria, and Spoon is playing on the 7th at the Commodore in Vancouver, and on the 8th at Sugar in Victoria, woo!)

I'll try and keep this interesting through the school year, so check back every now and then