Sept. 23--Update from Ivanovka--my new home

Dear friends & family,

I have a wonderful host family and have already begun learning lots of Russian…I live with my host mother and sister—my sister is an attorney and works for an NGO that assists refugees from Tajikistan. I learned today that my legal practicum will be with her NGO. I have fully recovered from my brief bout with food poisoning, but unfortunately many of my comrades have recently fallen ill. I live in a village (actually quite big…around 15000) called Ivanovka. I can be reached at 996 31 31 48 3 56 (this should be the full phone number…996 is the country code) I am usually home around 6 iu the evenings and we are awake until at least 10 PM I hope all is well in the states. I will compose a longer email and update later. Unfortuntely Hotmail was not working so I could not read or respond to any individual emails.

p.s. Solena, either address will work for the absentee ballot---thanks for taking care of me, as always!

Take care,

Love,

Larry