THE LONG TRAIN AND THE DISTURBED COSTA RICAN

Did you know that Mikhail, my Russian student lives in Vladivostok? That might not be very exciting to any of the uninformed out here in the West, but his city is the very last stop on the famous Trans-Siberian Railway that traverses the entire Russian countryside (including Mongolia and parts of China). That train ride takes SEVEN days and covers 5,772 miles (through eight time zones!). If he wants to take a trip to his Capitol by train,6 he better pack more than a good lunch.
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In other, more titillating news: I received a student from Costa Rica at the last minute yesterday. He will only be with me his last four days in the Santa Barbara. Apparently his host mother before me was cleaning her house in her underwear, and that made him uncomfortable enough to move out!