Diplomacy and Packing Day

5 Days and Counting...until I depart Lexington for Ulaanbaatar!  The excitement is building as Friday, September 14 approaches.  So much to do.  

Even though I've been planning, reading, studying and emailing with folks at the University of Kentucky, the US State Department, the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar and Hatnaa (my Mongolian friend and onsite contact), TODAY it finally hit me.  I'm going!

My itinerary is completed.  The meetings and activities are set.  Today, I had a conference call with the US Department of State to go over details of the trip.  Adam, Della and Denise were incredible as they provided me with a lot of information about current events in Mongolia and answered my disjointed questions.  I'm sure they felt as though they were on a roller coaster as I swerved and turned from topic to topic at break-neck speed.  Information is KING!  They were good sports about it all.

I've decided not to post how I anticipate things will be.  It will be much more fun to blog as it happens and then have a laugh at my own expense when I realize how wrong my assumptions were!  That's the best part of the adventure.  I will say that packing clothes appropriate for the climate in September has been a real challenge.  It could be warm, cold, raining, snowing and sunshiny all in the same day.  We'll laugh about that later. Hmm...sounds a lot like spring and fall in Kentucky!

One thing I have learned is that Genghis Khan is BIG in Mongolia.  Have a look:

And we think we have big horses in Kentucky!  I can't wait to visit this place.  

Thankfully, I have a full schedule for the next couple of days.  I've been invited to speak to Dr. Jennings' class at UK tomorrow evening on the topic of strategic planning.  Maybe I should throw in a highlight reel of my strategic planning for this trip.  That would be a comedy, for sure.  I can't thank Dr. Jennings and Dr. Kim enough for nominating me to go on this journey.  KLC and the UK Martin School have an incredible partnership. Together, we are learning new ways to help all of our cities in Kentucky including reaching out to others around the world to better understand the "connectedness" that we all feel because of the global economy.

That's all for today.  Later this week, I'll do one final sendoff post and, then, I'll be posting from my new global headquarters in Mongolia!  Enjoy the journey.