K-19 Group, Whoop Whoop

Internet!!!

It seems like eternity since I last made that rushed post.  Much of the time has been spent on verge of exhaustion here in my training village of Krasnaya Rechka.  The Russian language is difficult and slow.  Drill it and kill it!!  The note cards that I had made prior to arrival are really a band-aid for a gun shot wound.  My instructor is a bit of linguistic expert you could say.  He knows 12 languages and is capable of teaching 5 of them.  Talk about turning back the clock a bit though.  The first day of language training my host Mom (Mama) walked me to class and was there to walk my classmates and I home for lunch.  Hospitality here is off the charts.  I am eating lots of great food when I have a spare moment, although dairy, protein, and fruit consumption have dropped consideribly.  Coffee has been substitued with tea too.  Gotta love those antioxidants.  My diet has shifted and is now predicated heavily on carbs.  My jeans definitely already are looser too.  Running which many of you know I love has yet to be done.  My poor Brooks!  As you may have guesseed they speak fairly quickly here.  I am lucky to catch a few words but usually miss the gist and am relegated to nodding my head more often than not.  The granddaughter is a frequent visitor and I attempt to talk with her and we have played this odd game of cards a couple of times, but every time I have been on the loosing end.  Tuesday was quite a nice change of pace.  The weather was nice, none of that horrible stuff, namely snow, and I finally noticed the breath taking mountains, which I am surrounded by.  The Rocky Mountains cannot hold a candle to these.  Another highlght was that it was the first day of tech-training where some familiar faces appeared, aside from the two volunteers that I see every day.  It was a gathering of all 7 health volunteers and I almost did not remember some of their names.  Ooopss!  During this session my superior outlined the current health situation and health care structure, and also the basic goal for the next 2 years.