Here's a recent email I sent the fam shortly after ariving. Hopefully more to come soon, but I'm a busy beaver!
Well, God is good. They have some kind of internet plan, and I can use it as often as I want. Also, I have skype up and running.
I really love this little family already. Marina is very kind and funny, and she's actually Tatar, but she doesn't really speak Tatar and is Christian. Anatoli is a professor at a technical institute. Yesterday we went on a walk all around the neighborhood, and he showed me how to get to the institute and told me all kinds of odd information about history, Russian language, etc. He speaks english, but it's forbidden for me with the host family. Our site director Natasha told him she would cut his tongue off if he spoke English, so he's pretty good about it.
The kids are a kick in the pants. Masha is very smart, and gets all A's in school. I know because she showed me her grade book. She also showed me some of her school books, and we read some Pushkin together today. She told Marina that she wants me to become her new sister. Radion is the little man of the house. Marina babies him, which is very common, and he runs amuck a bit. I'd call him mischevious, maybe naughty, but he's a really sweet little boy at heart. And really, if Mama says no, it means no.
Masha and Radion LOVED the toys (n.b. I brought Masha a Bell Barbie and Radion some cars with Mickey on them). It turns out that Radion loves cars, and Masha loves dolls. Marina and Anatoli loved the book (of pictures of Missoula); Marina said that it looked like I live in a fairy-tale. They showed it to all their friends. They really loved the jerky, and don't know what to do with the brown sugar. Maybe I'll bake something for them. They also loved the water bottles, which is good because I was worried! The kids really do, at least.
We went on a giant group tour of Kazan today; it's beautiful, and reminds me of Vietnam somehow. None of us could understand the tour guide, but we could understand our director Natasha when she spoke in Russian. We split up after the tour and a few of us went to lunch; I had real borshch, and it was AWESOME.
I have so much to tell you, but I don't know what to say. The food is good. Marina is an excellent cook. Everything is in pie form. It's kind of like heaven, actually! Everything is pie or pasties, Marina offered me chocolate today at breakfast, and they eat jam out of the jar with a spoon. And honey too! The food is really not that strange. Meat pie, cheese pie, we had potatoes today for dinner and some fish. Today I had caviar (red, not at all like ours) and drank tea out of our of a samovar, so I feel very Russian.
It's 10000 degrees here, with no ac, but I'll live. Just have to shower a lot.
I'm pretty pooped, and I still need to bathe, but listen: I'll try to skype you guys around the same time tomorrow. BTW Wyatt, I showed Marina you picture and she couldn't stop going on about how handsome you are. The ladies love you. I love you guys! I'll talk to you later.
XOXOXOO Jane
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