Oh, la la. It has been some time. So many thing have happened in the last two weeks. Alex, Daria, and I went to Crimea for a wonderful week of warm weather, mountain hiking and beach bumming. I've been playing a lot of chess. I've gone on another boat trip; although, I see as I scroll through my blog I didn't write about the first one. I've been in a frenzy of activity and cultural exchange, and now is not even the right time to go into much of it because I have to firm up details for my upcoming transition to India via Germany. Perhaps tomorrow I will execute the grand description of what life has thrown my way the last several weeks. So much to say. Mom, I'm still alive.