2016 Campaign Update 9

We had some crazy notion that there might be time to relax on our last week in UB. That was three weeks ago.

As soon as we returned to Ulaanbaatar we were in a whirlwind of press appearances, meetings and workshops. Bolor had no less than four interviews, including a TV morning show with myself, Teddy and Binderiya.

With all the press it finally became a necessity to for Bolor to have a proper portrait and so we went to the Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs to get a shot with the Tarbosaurus that started this whole thing, which is on display in their main hall. Instead, we ended up in a very interesting meeting with the museum director, Javzmaa Namsrai. We signed a memorandum of understanding for future cooperation and look forward to working with the museum.

And we eventually got the portrait.

Workshops were a blast all week, we held them in a geology classroom at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, and the dim but beautifully dinosaur-embellished auditorium of the Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs.

We also met so many people who wanted to work with us in some way that I can barely remember them all, from a couple building apps for kids to an alternative energy specialist who specced out the Moveable Museum for solar panels.

And then we had to say goodbye, with so much more to do and so many more ideas than we came with, four far-too-short weeks prior.

We have one last Mongolia-based team member we’d like you to meet. It’s my pleasure to introduce Gambold Luvsannamjail, who drove the Moveable Museum this year, last year, and with all good luck for many future years to come.

We met Gambold through Bolor’s mom, who was a 5th grade teacher once upon a time. Gambold wasn’t her best student, but she remembered him long after he moved to Khazakstan to become a crane operator. Gambold served in the Mongolian military for three years, and then served the public for many more as a municipal bus driver in Ulaanbaatar.

Late one night on the road, when our team was huddled in a ger and it was very cold outside, I asked everyone what time they would go to if time travel was possible. Gambold was the only one who picked the future. He sees Mongolia on the rise, hosting the Olympics, growing a space program to rival the US and Russia. It was because of him that I started imagining the Martian landscape dotted with little white gers, and that image will be with me forever. Thank you, Gamba.

Much more to say–too much for this update. Til next time,

Thea

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