10:08 am I have not stopped dripping sweat since we have arrived in Krasny Mak. Everybody's feeling slightly droopy and I'm hoping that we start adjusting to the warmer weather soon. Try dancing in this heat, you can go for about 20 minutes, and then require a cool down. Yesterday we taught our hosts and team some of the dances we will be doing in the evenings with the community. I taught Alya (our hosts daughter) how to do the jive and she got it after ab...

7:20 am Waking up in Krasny Mak is a unique experience at any time of year, it just starts earlier now that it's summer: dog's barking, roosters crowing, ganders gendering, and birdsong everywhere. Sara didn't wear ear plugs like I did, but I think she will tonight! It was very good to see Maxim last night at the airport. Some things just have a rightness to them and being here again, seeing him and Jhenya definitely fit the bill. It was funny at one poin...

8:14pm We are in very hot plane getting ready to complete the "last flight" that will bring us to Simferopol and then a short bus ride to the "hamlet" of Krasny Mak. It's been another long day starting with an early check-in at Heathrow airport (6am) and finishing tonight at around 12am when we final arrive at our host's homes. It's hot out too - about 30 degrees, which means Simferopol will probably be hotter. Jordyn asks me if there will be air-conditio...

Our day begins with a quick goodbye to our host Sarah - she has to make a dash for something work related, so we have some cereal and head out for downtown where we'll meet Mariah and then do some exploring in one of the most visited cities of the world. One of the things I love about cities like London is that you never know what you'll discover around each corner. Street performers include an amazing Charlie Chaplain imitation, a fabulous juggler/acrobat, ...

So we couchsurfed last night for the first time and in London. This city's a big place, so from Heathrow it took about 2 hours on the tube (metro) to get to Sarah's house. At one point the train was so packed that we had to split from the kids to get on the very hot, and smelly train. Of course, by the time we got to Hainault station we were starving so into a little corner store I go to buy something to eat. This venture resulted in the purchase of six pla...