Photos at last!

Alright, I'm finally uploading photos. The downside is, I have to hand select each one on and can only upload six at a time. So it's taking a while. I'm about a quarter of the way through, and I don't know when the lab closes.

You can see the photos on my flickr account and I hope to have them tagged and sorted... uh... tomorrow?

Alright, there's a big pile of nearly a hundred photos on my flickr now, make of them what you will for the moment. At least this time they're all right side up... I think.

I think the lab is technically closed now, but I think I can use it for a moment or two more.

All is well with me. I'm already homesick, in a way I wasn't last time. I'm having a blast here, but at the same time as I'm doing all sorts of crazy and fun things, my mind wanders off to people and places and things at home pretty often. I just got out from under the cloud of jet lag, though, so let's see how I feel in a week. :-)

Classes are great- our group has the best teachers, and I like all of my classmates. We even have a decent classroom, which is a godsend. Lots of homework. Boring homework. Very useful homework.

The food I'm being stuffed to brimming with is pretty healthy, homecooked and tasty. Still not enough veggies, let alone raw veggies, but lots of yummy whole grains.

I went to the open market last Friday, and I think it deserves a post all to itself. But for now let's say that if you want anything, it'll be laid out on a grimy table somewhere in the middle of Kazan.

(I was informed today that Kazan was voted the 'dirtiest city in Russia' a few years back, and I can believe it. Filth! Suddenly house slippers and lots of clothes changing makes sense.)

And to further reassure you that I am well taken care of, our fearless leaders flew out from St Petersburg for three days to talk to us and make sure that everything was working well and that we were all right. We even got to speak English for about five minutes.

Speaking of which, everyone is sticking to the language pledge really well. It's a lot of fun to just sit around gabbing in Russian.

I may have located another source of wifi to try, and I may get access to this lab more and more as the regular students leave and we have it all to ourselves.


Alright, I'm hungry and the computer lab is deserted. I should probably start the walk home. I love you all!