back from eating

Mom said something was wrong with my blog and someone else did also. I hope ya'll can continue to read it. We went upstairs to eat pizza and ran into the nicest young man. He asked if he could eat with us. He is 18 and a university student in Physics. He is from a city of 300,000 people. We took our picture together and I told him I would email it to him and he said his mother will be so proud. I'm back to the 1st day I was out of contact. I told Lena after that experience that she had let us see that Russian way of doing things and we didn't need to have that experience again. We finally arrived in a vacation spot--hundreds of people and booths everywhere. We got a wonderful pastry-it was like Indian fry bread around mashed potatoes. Fantastic. Soon we were in the most beautiful hills and rivers. I don't think I've ever seen mountains like them before. We were all excited by this time. WE had been gone for 4 hours. We were in major tourist traffic. We didn't know if anyone knew where we were going. Dr. Brooks just sitting there so calmly. They stop every once in awhile and ask but never tell us anything. I'm use to being in control and this was driving me crazy. They told me yesterday they had voted and that if any one of us could be dropped of in one of those villiages in remote Russia and survive it would be me. They said before long I would be running the villiage. I know Im not shy to ask questions and figure out what I need. I'm trying to learn to relax and not be bossy. So this trip is changing me. A new calm me. Will it last??????? We drove down a mountain road for two hours before we found our hotel. WE had to get off the bus at one point so that we made sure the bus could make it over a wooden bridge. We love our hotel in the mountains with a lake outside our balcony. We feel like we are in Dirty Dancing-- a hotel in the Poconos. Russian get a month off for holiday. People come to stay here in 24 day sections. We get breakfast and dinner. Russians don't mind breaking in line. They are not service minded people. WE have had to grab what we want and not sit back and wait to be waited on. Very relaxing place. we played a game and went to bed. Love it here.