In which our heroine returns home after the whirlwind

Russia was astonishing. I was so nervous about potential problems with the police, but my time there passed without a hint of an incident. It seems my accent has gotten pretty good; I hear no difference between how it was and how it is, but lately I have been told often that I speak without one. Or at least, I sound like a Ukrainian. I am willing to accept that, but there are still people who can tell straightaway that I am a non-native speaker.

At any rate, I recommend Russia highly. I enjoyed my time there, and to my surprise, Moscow and St. Petersburg were cheaper than the other cities I passed through. I speak here of Riga and Dublin. Dublin is not so surprising, perhaps, but I was shocked by the prices in Latvia. Congratulations to the Baltics, but I was irritated by how far my money did not go.

I am home now and mostly happy. America has not been quite as awesome as I expected, but it has been nice. I am home and housebound (and mostly isolated), but I have four fat books to see me through (The Merlin Conspiracy, Dragonfly In Amber, A Rabbit Angstrom Compendium and Kristin Lavransdatter). I've been meaning to read the latter books for sometime, so I will be more than occupied in my cold, silent home. [NB: New York is FAR colder than either of the cities in Russia. The coldest temperature I experienced was -10 C/~15F in Moscow, and New York greeted me with flurries and 7C. So much for the Russian bear.]