Quick Entry

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I have not traveled and/or done much interesting lately, just worked, so not a lot to report; however, today, I took the bus to Moscow. It was suppose to take one hour instead of two hours by train, well, it took me 2.5 hours to get to the train station, which is where I needed to be at to meet the friends I met on the cruise in January. The seats were more comfortable, but the trip was just as long, and had it been hot, there would have been no air condition so I think I am going to stick with the train since you can better plan the time.

Speaking of hot, it has been excellent here. The past couple of days, I had to shut all of the windows as it was actually cold (down into the 40's)! During the day it gets to the upper 60's to lower 70's and normally 50's at night, sometimes 40's. Of course, now that it is cool, I do not need them but I am so impressed with myself for the screens I made. I found nylon screen/mess material at the fabric store then stapled small boards together to make screens for the windows. They are not perfect, but fit pretty good and are a lot better than wide open windows for helping keep the bugs out.

I also got an instant hot water heater ONLY in the event the hot water is turned off for two weeks. Those two days were more than I could stand and do not want to go two weeks. It is a very small unit so at full pressure, I get cool to maybe luke warm water, but under low pressure, it is warm, not hot, but will be just fine for a shower, shaving, washing dishes, etc. I still can not believe they turn the hot water off for two weeks. Maybe it will be the two weeks I am back in the States and I will not have to worry about it...lol

I am making friends at the Drunk Cafe. If I go in there alone, I will have two or three of them at the table with me talking. One speaks English so he likes to practice and he will translate for the rest of them who all have a ton of questions. I can not go there to think, but if I need to talk, they all have a listening ear! Here is a picture from today I took of them and then they wanted to take with me.

I am also including a few pictures from the volleyball team since it has been a major part of my time here in Obninsk. I do not think any of the guys from the team read this, but I still want to say thank you to them for allowing me to be a part of the team.

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Photos

The Guys from the Cafe
When you hear me talk about the guys at the cafe, these are them. I do not know all of them by name, but the young one on the left is Ben and he is a cousin to Samir, who is also the one that speaks English and it is his Dad that owns the cafe. Then next to Samir is Tima, another cousin to Samir and Hayal, who is the older brother and he is on the far right. I am not sure of the guy's name next to Hayal and Tima.

Me with the Guys from the Cafe
It is a little fuzzy, but here I am hanging out with the guys that run the "Drunk Cafe". For the record, it is called the Horseshoe Cafe.

Obninsk Volleyball Club
Here are a lot of the guys that I play volleyball with on Monday and Thursday. Nicholi is the one kneeling next to me and he is the captain.

Obninsk Team
My camera does not take very good action shots so I will not bore you with fuzzy pictures.

Me Passing
If you can not tell, that would be me passing the ball.

Comments

[Margaret]

Shirts
I think it's too funny to see a guy there with a Los Angeles Kings hockey shirt on playing volleyball!

[vkramer515]

They Love Stuff from the US
Most Russians love things from the USA. It does not have to be expensive stuff, just anything from the US.