I don’t have too much time for a decent post, but I thought I’d put in an update that we made it safely to our training site. We’ll spend the next 3 months here with our cluster of 3 other volunteers learning Russian (among other things). We’re staying with a lovely host mom named Natasha and her mother — our babushka — named Nina. We’re very comfortable in their home, and they take very good care of us (I already feel 10 pounds heavier). I’m very glad we get to stay in the same home — it wasn’t a sure thing since most host families don’t have enough room for 2 guests.
Anyway, we have an internet place in town, so we’ll try to post regularly and give you lots of interesting details (which we have plenty of already).