Pictures

The town square on New Years Eve. Everyone gathered here to dance, sing, and celebrate, then right before 12 they all ran home to watch the clock toll in Moscow, drink champaigne, and listen to Medvedev's speech.

Sitting down to New Year's dinner

Our feast! - from right to left in the picture is beat salad, hering, sliced pickles, peppers, and sausage, and solyanka soup.

The special guest at our feast - a roast goose!

fireworks!

Sledding on New Years day

The hill was short, but it was lots of fun. I think sledding is more fun the older you get.

We went corss-country skiing on the 2nd. The forest was a winter wonder land! The pictures are a little dark because the sun wasn't out, but it was still increadibly beautiful.

Turning around was hard.

The place where we rented skiis. Very Russian.

Here are some more pictures from Kazan and from the village where I teach English.

At the English teacher's house

Because they don't have running water and have to carry their water in from the well, they've come up with this contraption. You fill it up, push up on the plug, and the water comes out.

I've gotten so used to seeing these brooms that I've almost forgotten that people in America only use them for decoration. Everyone uses them here, even in the city.

More pretty wood work.

The New Years tree in front of the village preschool. All the trees they use are real!

One of our university buildings.

Mailboxes in an apartment building.

Another sunset.