Landed

Hello everybody!

This is the first time we have gained access to the Internet...sorry it took so long.

We have arrived in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.

While sleep-deprived, the team is in great spirits and we are teaching our first class today at 2:30pm NT time (10 hours ahead of EST).

The flights were relatively uneventful. I met up with Samir (another teacher who is teaching in Siberia) at the Moscow aiport, and we muddled our way to the other termial which was about 6km away from the terminal which we landed in.

We had to struggle with the city bus, figuring out how to get on. This was no easy task with large luggage, but we managed.

At the other terminal, Samir and I parted ways, and off I flew to Ekaterinburg. The flight was delayed about an hour.

When I landed, Nadine (another teacher at NT) and Svetlana (our site host) were waiting for me. Then, Nadine and I got into a (very fast) car that drove us about 2 hours away to NT from Ekat.

We arrived at our place around 12:00am, and at this point I was extremely tired.

I got to bed around 1:30 or so after showering and eating a bit, then up at around 7:00am when the other two team members arrived (Marcin and Nishma).

We spent most of Sunday lounging around, took a stroll through the city looking for a groccery store. We thought we found one, but it turned out to be a hardware store.

I have taken a few pictures, but do not have them with me at the school (where I am accessing the internet right now).

I hope to have pictures uploaded within the next couple of days.

Our residence is beautiful.

We have to flats, one for the guys (Marcin and myself), and one for the girls (Nishma and Nadine).

Our flat has a small bedroom with two beds, a washroom, a kitchen, a dining/living room combination, and a balcony. It looks very new (besides the bathroom), and was likely renovated very recently.

We also have a TV, and entertained ourselves by watching Russian television and trying to guess what was going on.

We didn't go to sleep until around 2:30am last night, and I woke up at 6:00am due to the bright sun. The sun sets at around 11 or 11:30pm, and rises extremely early. I am trying to wear a mask, but it always falls off at night. As such, I am still extremely tired, but my body is (hopefully) adjusting to the lack of sleep.

The food has been good so far. We eat at the cafeteria that is at the school (which is 2 minutes away from our flat). The only problem is, they serve us the big meal at lunch (3 courses), and then a small dinner. Typically this would be fine, but since we teach right after lunch eating tons of food isn't a great idea.

I think that is all for now...

Hope all is well at home!

-Chris