Genghis Khan is often brought up with the history buffs. The story has amazed me since I was young. I can remember sitting for hours reading a National Geographic outlining his conquest. He united the nomadic, squabbling tribes into one giant horse-riding, arrow-shooting killing force. To quote Badass of the Week, "Then he figured, "S**t, while I have all these soldiers here, I might as well kick the a** of everyone else in the known world". So he set about doing just that." It is believed that over 5% of the worlds population can trace ancestry back to Genghis Khan. His death was kept a secret due to the concern that his enemies would see this as a weakness, and then attack. His burial site is still unknown, and shrouded with mystery.
While I can't be certain what it was like to amass an army and demolish half the world, I imagine the Great Leader felt a similar apprehension in preparing to leave his home, just as I am now. I leave in 9 days. Soon it will be a week, and before I know it, I will be looking down at the shrinking mass known as the western world. I look across the living room at the unpacked suitcases, that I will need to fill with the belongings for the next two years. My nerves haven't been bad at all, as it was always too far in the future to hold any real concern. When I received the work visa, it suddenly became very real. I'm really doing this. I'm really leaving everyone I know behind, to travel almost exactly half way around the world.
I am excited to meet new people, not only from Mongolia, but from the various places the other teachers and staff hail from. The rest of the world is out there for me to experience. Whether I can get all of my traveling and adventure out of my system in two years or if I get addicted to new experiences, is still yet to be decided. I've been asked many times if/when I will be coming back. To answer, I don't know. In 2 years I will come back, whether to stay indefinitely or just for a short time before heading to another corner of the globe.
To the friends, family, and people that I've grown close with, I will miss you, and I hope to share many of my experiences on here as well as Facebook. Check in for pictures and updates from across the world. Skype is always an option, and I would love to see familiar faces. My skype is cdjohnson184
To the friends, family, and people that I've grown close with, I will miss you, and I hope to share many of my experiences on here as well as Facebook. Check in for pictures and updates from across the world. Skype is always an option, and I would love to see familiar faces. My skype is cdjohnson184
To the people I will meet, I look forward to your addition to the group of people mentioned above.
