So I came to Vancouver to talk at TED. Now you should understand that this is an opposite side of the Earth, and unlike many other events I participated in, there are not so many people here who have been to Central Asia or even ex-USSR in general.
So what a surprise was to find out that my senior fellow mentor is Ed Ou, who is:
a) An amazing journalist I can learn a lot from;...
b) Has been to Kyrgyzstan, where he covered Revolution 2010 and ethnic conflict in Osh;
c) Stayed at the same apartment in Istanbul where I stayed with Kloop students in 2009, because Carolyn Drake is our mutual friend;
d) Was in Donetsk, Ukraine, at the same time in May 2014 when I was there.
And what was the biggest surprise - he brought his Donetsk People's Republic media registration card with him! And I brought it too.
So this picture has just been taken in Vancouver, BC. The evolution of DPR credential cards. On the left is Ed's one from April 2014. On the right is mine from March 2015.
What a progress these bloody separatists made in printing in less than a year.