June 29th

Hello,

I’m very sorry that I haven’t posted in over a month.  Things here are excellent. My teaching wraps up in about 2 weeks (my last day will be the 15th), which mean’s I’ll have been teaching in SoKo for a year and a day.  The big news, however, is that I’ll be going to Mongolia for a week.  I leave on the 16th and it looks like I’ll be spending 6 nights and 7 days touring the Gobi desert.  I was emailed this tentative itinerary yesterday:

Day 1. Rock formation

Day 2. White mountain

Day 3. Dalanzadgad town

Day 4. Ice valley, continue the trip to the Sand dune

Day 5. Bayanzag, where dinosaur’s fossil and egg were found.

Day 6. Erdenedalay village

Day 7. Back to UB

Not to shabby!  I’m especially excited about day 5, the Gobi is home to several of the best Velociraptor (it doesn’t look very scary, more like a 6 foot turkey) and Oviraptor finds to date.  So at the moment I’m brushing up on as much paleontology and  Mongolian history as I can.  Anyway, after arriving back at UB, which is Ulaanbaatar, I fly to Seoul.  From there I fly to Portland on the 26th and then the party starts (well, actually the make up party starts, apparently there’s a “Welcome Back Richard Party” on the 8th, you’re probably invited).  So I’m sorry about my delayed return, but I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to see a country that I’ve always been interested in.  I can’t wait to be home, and I’ll see you soon!  Expect another post before I depart for Mongolia.

Cheers,

Dickie

PS, I’ve included a shot of what the dinosaur dig will probably look like, and another of my expression during most of those 7 days…