Classes as usual. Nothing special to report. Student Marissa keeps having additional bug bites appear. She did some web research: the bugs resemble bedbug bites. According to her research the bites themselves may not be obvious for days after the… more »

At three o'clock we hopped into our trusty Mercedes van to head out of town for a two-night excursion. [image:172:] It's a longish ride, four hours. Our group is nine of our students, plus two from Texas A&M who came here through SRAS, plus… more »

It is Saturday. I wake up and see this view. [image:178:] Anyone who has grown up in the southwest has seen a thousand similar sights. The only thing missing is cactus, and even that is not lack is not immediately obvious. We have a breakfast of… more »

Wake up. Breakfast was simply bliny (Russian crepes) with strawberry varenie, which is like pureed strawberry jam. We hopped on the bus, drove for an hour along dirt roads that kept getting worse, through Kyrgyz villages that stored horse manure for… more »

Most everything is going smoothly, outside of the minor bumps one expects in a new program. more »