Sunset

Test post using a pic from my phone.

Sunset from the park.

Too hot

The reason I spent nearly all day inside again today - taken at 7:00pm.

Making a tiny bit of progress sorting through my photos from my year and half abroad. 45,000 pics of Russia, and 6,000 of Kiev and Vienna! Certainly enough to keep me busy for a while.

Summer

 The temperature hit 105 F today, so today was spent in front of the computer, going through files and doing some research on various things. Here's what my desk looks like right now. Highlighted is my lovely 2TB hard drive which houses the thousands of photos of Moscow and Europe that are waiting to be sorted through...

Flowers

I went for a walk this morning and spotted these bright purple flowers. It was unfortunately rather humid, and the mosquitoes were enjoying feasting on my legs, so I just snapped a few pictures and returned to my car. This isn't exactly what I hoped to capture, but I like the image nonetheless.

Dascha

Dascha helping me work, and thoroughly enjoying the pile of clothes and down comforter!

Where do I begin?

Life here in Moscow has been full of interesting things - things I've done, seen, and experienced - and I always plan to write about them here, but for whatever reason I don't... and because of that, I think I've forgotten what it's like to live in a foreign country, because part of that is getting to experience so many new things! Moscow isn't foreign to me now, and it really hasn't been that way for quite a long time. I know that's part of the reason I haven't blogged much at all, so starting from today I'm challenging myself to see Moscow from a tourist's point of view, and to write about it here.

I've been living in Moscow for nearly 16 months, and I just can't believe it's been that long! Time has more than flown, and I'd prefer if it would slow down a bit. I don't know for sure when I'm leaving Russia, but I do know that I need to make the most of all the time I'm here, and hopefully by attempting to do that time will stop feeling like it's just fleeting away, slipping through the tight grasp I keep trying to capture it in...

I want to go back and relive all the 'firsts' I had here, and capture the joy and wonderment I felt when I was experiencing them. Reading through my first posts from Moscow makes me remember what it felt like back then - more than one year ago. I almost feel like I take things for granted now, since everything is just so, well, ordinary! Moscow is Moscow, it's the place I currently call home. There's so much I want to see and do here, and I need to start seeing and doing those things, rather than just postponing them, saying I'll do them another day...

So, time to go to bed, as it's almost 1:00am here. Today is supposed to be bitterly cold but sunny, so my goal for today is to figure out how to enjoy the sun without turning into an icicle!