Yesterday in the evening, we headed on the SkyTrain through Burnaby and into the downtown core of Vancouver. Even though all was damp and dark, the mountains which shoulder the city, were obvious. We were on our way to a dinner at the apartment of friends. Early on, the host put on a disc which included family photos on the DVD player. We saw people, houses, and land in south-eastern Nepal. A bit later in the evening, there was a discussion of New Years in various cultures and first hand accounts from countries such as Japan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Later in the evening the discussion turned to the current world affairs regarding the cartoons of Mohammad and some spoke of knowledge from the living and working in the Middle East. There were many other topics too, of course. A flight attendant had to leave a bit early as today he's on his way to Dallas and connecting to work a flight to Osaka.When coming home, I discovered my actual life had turned out to be as interesting as those National Geographic magazines I collected as an adolescent.