Hello everyone. Just a quick post. I am at the office of my "dad" - he has generously allowed me to use the internet here on a couple of occasions. A bit faster than at home. Today I went with my "mom" Tatiana to the Kalishnikov museum - the guns that were/are (I think) produced here. Interesting, but the highlight was when Kalishnikov himself appeared and spoke - they were having a grand opening of a new exhibit. He's a very old man and a celebrity - most amusing to me was the certificate (on display in the musuem) showing his "lifetime membership" in the NRA. It's very bizarre - it seems that everywhere I go something unusual happens - Tatiana said that she enjoys going out with me because she keeps seeing things she's never seen before. I am leaving this family on Sunday evening and will go to live with one of the teacher's at the school who has a flat more near the center of the city. I'm not sure that I want to leave - I like where I'm living and enjoy the company of the family very much. As my "dad" Andrei said, "We are a strange family." I told him I was from one too and that was maybe why I liked them so much. But the new place will be closer to everything (I'm in the Tartar Bazaar right now - on the outskirts) and I guess I'm ready for a new experience in any case. Believe it or not, I haven't really started doing anything at the school yet - it's getting kind of frustrating. On Monday we (me and the 2 teachers Nadezhda and Tatiana - the Tatiana I *will* be living with, not the Tatiana that I *am* living with) will meet with some students to figure out the game plan from here on out and will hopefully have a class everyday next week. I will also start (I think) tutoring a small adult group (maybe just 1 man) in the evenings next week as well. I'm looking forward to meeting more people and hopefully getting out in the city more. Everything else has been going well - great food and, like I said, good relations with my family. I'm really starting to miss home though - 1/3 of the way through... and I'm really missing baseball. And no one here understands anything about it of course... I can't believe I missed a Jason Schmidt homerun!!

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. Hope everything is good back in California.

And Happy Early Birthday Heather!