Going back again.....

Well, I left to go back to Russia again today, and this time for 1 month. Hopefully it will go by fast! It feels really weird when your "VACATION" is actually going home FROM Russia! It should be the other way around.

GOOD BYE RUSSIA.....

Good bye Russia...For now! I am leaving today to go back to the states. Can't wait to be home, and back in my own bed, and be with my family again, who I missed a lot! I go back to Russia on Oct 17th, and I am sure my time at home will fly by faster than my time in Russia did. Oh well! It really doesn't matter right now, because I am coming home! YEESSS!!!!

A few pictures around the town - It was raining and about 45 degrees, ON THE 31st of AUGUST.

BRRRRRRRRRR. Had a good walk around town and I will get some more of the pictures up as time allows.

Doing well here. Kinda have this place figured out. It is a totally different world. The way they do things, the way the people interact, the things that we take for granted, they don't exist here.

Couple of more pics to give a sence of scale in this building. It is huge with so much going on. There are 3 major machine areas here. All to make LVL eventually.

Here are a few more pics of the equipment I am working to try to start up. It is going well. We have power on now and I am starting to get stuff to run. I am under the gun though because there is a deadline for "first board" of Sept 15th. It is a hugely political date. Don't forsee anything that will cause problems yet.

Thank you everyone for the birthday greetings. They were all very appreciated. Today I fugured I would throw up a few pictures of where I work over here. The first couple of pics are the front of the MLT building and the third one shows a little of the the container farm where a lot of the construction workers are living. They have hired some operators from the states and they are living out there in the containers too. The containers are bigger and nicer than my hotel room but I think they will be a bit drafty in the wintertime. Also I don't want to spend all my time here on site.The first one is a picture of the office where they stuck us "foreign specialists" along with some of the translator staff.

Shopping Trip

The other day we went to the little grocery store on the other side of town. They sell a good mix of stuff there, but it is nothing like an american store. They depend on small stores here and the people that I have seen usually seem to do their shopping on a daily basis. You see a lot of people in the evening walking to and from the small stores that sell basic supplies. The grocery store we went to has a little larger selection including some toys, shampoo and soap stuff and fresh meat. They even had chicken heads. Next time we go I'll get a picture of the chickens.