Well, this will be brief. It is darned hot here, and we are working on adjusting. Alex has a week off before school starts on the 16th of August, and we are taking the time to go to a couple of outdoor swimming pools. The one we went to on Monday was nice; it had a couple of different pools, and slides as well. We had a good time. While we were there, a guy came up to me, introduced himself as "Sly" (no kidding) and asked if he could practice his English with us. I agreed, and we chatted for about fifteen minutes.

As it turns out, Tashkent is a pretty spread out city, and driving is a major necessity for getting around.

So, we've been here almost a week. Claire is settling in to work, and the rest of us are trying to find our rhythm. On Saturday, a colleague took us around town. We went to a bazaar, a grocery store, and a Turkish restaurant. It was fun, if a little daunting. All that Russian!
We've been told that we will be able to move in to our permanent housing on Sunday, which is a real positive for us. Today, we got to see the new house. It has lot of space, as well as two rabbits and a turtle. They are still touching up some details, but it is all quite exciting.

We arrived in Tashkent Thursday evening without too much trouble (although we did have to pay 480 euros to get our luggage onto the plane).

As for our house, we are currently in temporary (even for here) housing, while our actual house is being prepared. We've been told it may be ready in a couple of weeks. We've also been told that our air shipment stuff has arrived and is clearing customs (whatever that means!). So, ironically, the part of this transition that is taking the longest to get ready is the part that's been here the whole time...

The first leg is done. We have arrived in Frankfurt, not (much) worse for the wear. Said goodbye to Erika in the airport in Washington, as she went West to California. We are all tired.