They call it babuleta - or something like that. It's hard getting the pronunciation right in the Roman alphabet. The vowels move differently. It's what we call Indian summer in the States. It's wonderful weather, clear, warm, and mild.
I rode my bike into Shchuch'ye yesterday. About 29 miles round trip, although I could have done it in 25 if I had ridden straight and not explored. It's a nice little town. Not very organized, things are kind of scattered around here and there. I went to the train station to get the schedule. Stopped at a store. Stopped again in Chumlyak to get some wine. I actually had a small talk conversation of two whole sentences with the storekeeper. "This weather. Woman's summer?" She corrects my pronunciation - I go "Da, da." Then I tell her it is good. It's a start.
The telephone and internet communications at the camp are having trouble. I really don't think it has to be this bad. I really think there must be something our IT people could do about this - IF they wanted to. I think the biggest problem is that they don't care to do anything. Very low level of responsiveness.
TTFN.
Mark
