Here are a few observations and occurrences worth remembering in 20 years when I retire from the FS:
a) Russian women go all out and dress to kill and Russian men do nothing and let themselves go and look like thugs.
b) The health clinic is far busier than Niamey and I miss Amina terribly but I'm enjoying the newness of overwhelming patient care.
c) The milk products in this country are to die for (and many people do die from the coronary artery disease they produce) and so worth it!
d) Dina brought home beautiful salmon and trout last saturday which we broiled with teriyaki sauce and served with noodles and cabbage salad. It turned out to be smoked & salted fish and was so salty that it was in a hyper-osmotic state and the teriyaki sauce repelled off it and rolled off into a corner of the baking sheet as far as possible and refused to add any flavor. It was so salty, we couldn't eat it.
e) I had 2 people resign (unrelated to me or my arrival) and suddenly I'm an administrator.
f) Moscow is an expensive city to live in, especially if you haven't received your hardship differential, language, or cost of living adjustment.
g) My Russian language instructors find me funny and I think they are all rotating me so that they can all have a chance to get a good laugh and look up some Russian words they haven't heard in years (A Gene-ism).
h) Autumn lasts only 3 weeks in Moscow.
i) I had my first medevac this week.
j) Dina says it's more like Europe than Africa and our friend Alison says it's more like Europe than China and I agree.
twenty-something years of "what have you been up to?" 
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