Arrival

I have now been in Yakutsk since Thursday (it is Monday now), after 3 full days of traveling, from Washington, DC to Atlanta to Moscow and then to Yakutsk. I unfortunately spent the weekend in bed due to an illness that was aggravated by the long trip, but am up and moving around now and feeling quite good in fact. I've moved into the dormitory here, where I'm happy to say, I should be able to access the internet as soon as I have it set up. There are only two other international students there at the moment, two Koreans who unfortunately do not speak much English or Russian so it is difficult to communicate with them. But they say another group of 5 Koreans should be arriving soon, two Austrians and and Polish guy. So, it should be relatively lively place shortly.

A few words about the city. It is quite similar to the first time I came here, almost 3 years ago now. It has not been a severe winter for people here--in fact, people say it has hardly dropped below -40 and it is around -30 now. While that may sound to most of, if you have spent time in conditions such as this there is quite a difference between -40 and -30. If you can imagine, -30 is tolerable, people have no problems going about their daily business. When temperatures drop below -50, however, the whole city just about shuts down--it is almost impossible to do anything out of doors.

But, enough talk of cold. The city is quite beautiful right now. When I arrived, a quite dreary fog sat on the city so that the sun was hardly even visible, just a glowing patch in the foggy sky, but on Sunday, the fog lifted and it even got a little warmer so that I was able to go for a walk. When the sun shines it is amazing. It glints off the trees, which are all white, caked in snow and bend over the walkways, themselves covered in snow, making it seem truly like a winter wonderland. The people who live here all dress in fur, which further contributes to this wonderland like feeling. The women look like princesses in the long coats and felt boots, ornately decorated with beads. The men don't look like princes, but are impressive nonetheless with their oh-so-stereotypical Russian hats--you know the ones that have the long ear flaps that can be tied on top? and they rarely let those flaps down--I wonder their ears don't fall off.

I hope this finds all of you well. I will write more soon.

Susan