Hello everyone, I am at my first family's house now after a surprising trip to a camp for a few days when I first got here. The plane and train rides all went fine and I even met a very nice couple on the train who are from Izhevsk but live in Barcelona. My day in Moscow was very full and somewhat confusing. Getting a key for my room at the hotel was a little more complicated than it would be in the U.S... There was one person for every possible job - the key person, the bill person, the check-in person, etc. Anyway, my tour was fun and I got some good pictures - I hope. I tipped the tour guide and driver way too much, but oh well. It was all I had... Upon arriving in Izhevsk I was told that I was going straight to a camp with about 19 kids and they very desperately needed a native English speaker. I spent 3 days at the camp and roomed with a couple of the girls - very nice. Everyone was a little hesitant to speak to me, but once they got talking they had all kinds of questions for me. A lot about how much things cost here - they were shocked when I said yogurt could cost as much as 1 dollar. After those 3 days at the camp I came back to the city and am now staying with a very nice family on the outskirts. They have 2 teenagers - and they all act like a completely normal family - if it weren't for the speaking Russian part, they are just like an American family. I am going to stay here until I think Thursday of next week when I will then go to stay with one of the teachers that I met at the camp and who works at the school where I will be volunteering. I am meeting with the main teacher I'll be working with on Monday. Til then I am basically just sightseeing. Today we went to a smaller town nearby called Votkinsk where my "father" grew up. We visited his parents in their apartment and I was treated with a lot of good Russian food. Lady fingers covered in sweet sour cream and bits of chocolate... mmm.
So anyway, so far things have been going well. Everyone I meet is curious why I wanted to come to Russia - what good could it possibly do me in my career?? I try to explain it has nothing to do with my job and find it harder to explain when the desire to come here was first instilled in me. I've also found that Russians are exceptionally aggressive drivers - which is maybe true for all of Europe...
Anyway, I have to sign off now - the cell phone that I am connecting to the internet with is very low on batteries... Hope everyone is well and will try to post more later.