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I have finally managed to call my family in Russia. Using SkypeOut. Highly recommended. Skype.com. You put money in, put in their number (in this case, my dad's cell over there), put on the headphones (must include microphone), dial, and talk! Seven cents a minute connects me to Russia. Magic. So it's been good. I miss them, but it's good to hear that they are doing well. The sisters are in school. The house is nearly set up. So I thought I'd post some pictures of them and their new home.

click to enlarge.

First a travel picture. Isaac had a little leash/harness on him to avoid airport or train station runaways. Free-running autistic boys + foreign places = parental nightmare. Notice the sisters conked out on the baggage. Fifteen hours at the Moscow train station between flying and training, plus jetlag, makes any sort of softish surface inviting.

they made a weekend trip to my uncle's house a few states away. He runs kids camps here in the summers

the next few are of Nalchik, the city they are in. this is an outdoor market (bazaar):

typical traffic scene? (these are hard to caption when I've never been there)

VERY typical Soviet-era apartment buildings. I love the tree-lined streets of the fSU, though

more city

These are of Chechnya. This building got bombed out during one of the wars of the 1990s. Much of the capital city has looked like this for years, but there has been lots of rebuilding recently.

Chechen bazaar. Some things to note: the sheeps' heads and intestines sitting out on the crate. Not an uncommon sight in these parts. Yum yum... Also the truck in the background. It says "bread" on it, and yes, that is bread inside it.

more bazaars, and more raw meat out for the flies to get ahold of. Old ladies make for good pictures. (babushkas, you might call them)