A reflection on the camp:
On the campground there were several gazebos. There is a small table in the center and seating for about 7. Often, I would pass by the gazebo adjacent Misha and Polly's room, and he would be perched with guitar on knee with anywhere from three to twelve kids lingering. Misha would be playing from a variety of songs he knows and everyone would chime in on the tunes they knew. Others would watch and wait for the next song, but everytime the favorites came along everyone would sit up on edge and sing loudly tune like 'Hop Stop' which Polly's homestay mom, Irina, explained is a song about gangsters. Misha wears the hat of pied piper amongst so many others. But, everyone was enlivened with their participation and some would go and others would come along. This would sometimes go until 1am. His energy is breeding community; it truly has been something else to witness.

Last night:
So, the shower has a gas unit that you need to turn on regulating the hot water. My understanding of the matter was when the water got too hot you'd balance it out with some cold water. That is what I had done for the past two days without difficulty. Of course, lastnight when I was tired, it wouldn't happen that way. The shower head started balking, so I changed it for the water to only come out of the faucet. The same condition continued with the faucet rattling a bit. At this point I'm completely covered in Soap, but conditions seem to be worsening a little. I turned off the gas grabbed my towel and went for help. Galya came in and took at look at what I had done. She turned off the cold water and then a couple seconds later a combination of rust and water came out followed but a rush of steam that I thought was going to crack all of the porcelein in the tub. It definately would have been a problem for that to contact skin. We concluded with her saying that I received another lesson in technology. It's not that I can't do these things properly, but I suppose some of them are not quite as intuitive since all my life there have been two knobs, and no fear of blowing up the block. Think about that next time you easily draw a bath!