The time has come for us to say goodbye to mother russia and pack our bags for Denmark. I am glad we are moving at a good time of year this time, instead of the onset of winter. If you need to get a hold of us you can still email us. I will send out an email when we get to Copenhagen with new contact info.

Theres a huge party going on outside right now, for another person who is leaving...maybe I should go celebrate as well?

We will be back home in November so looking forward to seeing you all...

Sorry this is so short but even though we dont have to pack out we have to get ready to pack out, which takes a lot of organizing. Especially when you only get 20 kg allowed of onflight luggage, you really have to think about what you want in your air shipment and set it aside.

I know I am way ahead of myself, but things are progressing for us having an office in Fiji...It will probably take a few more years, but I should have a real shot at finishing up this program there. After that I will probably make career changes and move on to other interests.

As far as missing this place...I will miss friends and church associations, but I wont miss the crappy traffic, crappy weather, crappy attitudes and crappy prices. Did I miss anything? Moscow was recently voted the most expensive city in the world. Not that Copenhagen will be any cheaper...all of you keep that in mind that are already planning on coming to visit.

I am looking forward to seeing a different European culture and getting to know and help these people.

Hope all of you are enjoying the blog...I made the picture files too big, I apologize for those of you having trouble downloading them, I was in a hurry. Next time they will be smaller and easier. I have also downscaled it alot since I dont have a lot of time anymore (who does?).

Speaking of time I am being yelled at from downstairs to go outside and get some barbeque...thats a good enough reason for me to end this here. Take care and be safe!

LB

Looks like this guy had a little too much to drink. Out of all the fountains, ruins and sculptures we encountered in Rome, however, this one was far from the wierdest. That said, it was pretty cool to walk around streets with modern buildings and ruins right next to eachother. Only there for a week but we got to see the tourist sights (and there were a ton of tourists) like the colluseum and basilica, vatican, spanish steps, etc. You get a sense of history here, but for the uninitiated into this genre, quite frankly, there are only so many ruins you can look at before you go mad. Its when you talk to people in the streets, try to get to understand the history and life behind these things left behind from once the most powerful empire the world had ever seen...that was the interesting part for me.

And another tip as with other places in Europe...you got to watch your step around the motorists and the motorbike riders so-dubbed the motorini. Russian drivers still take the cake, but by far the most dangerous part of rome is getting run over by these guys. Its surprising that you can walk around the city and see quite a bit...its not that big. We walked around some of the non-tourist streeets and just ate at the next italian hole in the wall restaurant...truly its the best italian food you could ever have (next to Kent and Terra's) just amazing. Euro's...what can I say the exchange rate stinks but not as bad as some other places weve been like cyprus.

We didnt shop much the fashion is so high end nothing really appealing...we didnt go there expecting a gap. But a lot of souveniers, and I was able to pick up a few things for you guys, I will get them out when I can, especially Kent and Terra - got you something I think you'll really like. Can you believe, no pope on a rope anymore...you plain cant find it. Someone told me they think its because the last pope thought that it was inappropriate that people were washing themselves with a figurine of his likeness...guess I could understand that. I mean, how would I feel if everyone was washing themselves with a figurine of Lobsterboy?

You can get an idea of the things we saw in the photo section on rome, we did take a lot of pictures. I really need to find an easier way of putting the pictures on cause this took a lot of time, so I may be changing the way I do that soon. I dont have time to put captions on all of them, but when you click on the images there is a short explanation by how I named the photo file, you should see it in the address line of internet explorer. Mostly self explanatory.

We went on a tour of tivoli, a small city built on a hill not far from central rome but enough out in the country to get a feel of what other parts of italy must be like. We went to an old mansion there where there is a huge garden and waterfall...owned by somebody pretty high up in roman times, the mansion, pretty much a castle, was very well cared for. Theres a small town there not much else. The people were for the most part very friendly, something we are definitely not used to. This place was huge...you could get lost in this garden your first time around...take a look at the photos.

Rome was a good break. I'll have to go back now and watch Hudson Hawk again and see if I recognise any of the places. Only six weeks left for us here. Its the fourth today, went to the store and bought a new vacuum, but couldnt find any fireworks. Shoulda had you guys send me some...I'm sure fedex would have been ok with that. Well, I cant wait to get to copenhagen where I have stuff to do again, but man I really would have loved to shoot some m80s off tonight or something, just to irritate my russian neighbors. I'll have to go now, gotta think of something...

LB