It's been far too long since I updated, and I suppose I can still post despite Arden's return.

Happy late Fourth of July to everyone, also. As you'd expect, there were no fireworks in Tomsk, but the Americans who are on the language program I was on last year went to the White Lake in Tomsk to hang out and celebrate, so I joined them. This "White Lake" is more like a very large pond in Tomsk, around which are little food stands, benches, shops, etc. You can rent a paddleboat and float around on the lake if you want, but it was kind of hot yesterday, so it wouldn't have been very pleasant. But it was nice to relax and talk to other Americans (although we spoke in Russian the whole time!). I don't really like setting off fireworks anyway, so this watered-down Fourth was fine with me.

Other than that, I'm busy procrastinating on cleaning up my apartment. I leave on Tuesday morning (you know, that still makes me think of that little store on Gessner), and let's just say I have a lot of cleaning to do. Work-wise, all I'm doing on Monday is getting all my copies from the archives and filling out the paperwork required for that. I'm not sure if I have enough info, or if what I have is good enough, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. We'll see what there is in Moscow.

I also have some more pictures, but I'm stupid and forgot to bring my camera with me today, so it'll have to wait a little longer. More interesting pictures will come once I'm in Moscow, anyway. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm glad I have the guide Arden gave me (thank you) because the last time I was there I mainly just followed program leaders or people who knew more Russian than me. So this time maybe I can go specifically to the places I remember being really interesting, and to places I didn't visit two years ago.

I'll keep you posted.