Letter from August 28.

Sender: Anastasia Lebedeva, Dallas, Texas

Recipient: Yulia Keda, Kazakhstan

How to survive killer mosquitoes.

Hi, Yulka! You won't believe what happened to us! Today we were supposed to wander the streets of New Orleans, but guess what, we're still in Dallas. And why? I'll start from the beginning.

Nora turned out to be a very friendly, energetic and interesting person. She lives in a quiet neighborhood near the lake. She has two dogs – a male, Derby, and a female, Mabel, whom we were afraid of at first. Nora is an avid traveler. She has been to Mexico, Italy, China, France. She plans to visit Argentina and other countries. In her free time she goes to a Buddhist temple, attends yoga classes, does rock climbing and kayaks. She also plays guitar and likes to watch travel shows. She listens to blues and country. That's the mini-dossier.

In just a few days she showed us all of Dallas! We ate at real American diners, listened to the chants of Buddhist monks, went to the movies, and didn't skip the museums! We learned a few words in Thai. For example, the greeting 'savatika'. And we tried Thai food.

We drove to the lake and took photos. We saw George Bush's house. At least that's what the locals say, but nobody has seen him there yet. At first we were afraid to go to the lake because of mosquitoes — carriers of a deadly virus. We put on hoodies, sneakers and jeans. Everyone asks us: where are you from? And we: from Florida — the Sunshine State.

And now for the main thing: Linkin Park was AWESOME. Yes, we were at their concert! Chester sings and screams just a few meters away! The songs were both new and old, which we never could have expected. Everyone sings along, and we sing louder! Craaaaaaaaaaaawling iiiiiiiiiiiin my skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! These wooooooooooooooooounds, they wiiiiiiiil not heeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaal!!!!!!!! The photos turned out pretty good, and the videos too. We couldn't even imagine we'd get to a Linkin Park concert before! Awesome! So many positive emotions! Live sound! We tore it up! That's rock!

Filled with bright hopes and charged with positive emotions, Nora and I went to the Greyhound station. We had tickets for 3 a.m. After warmly saying goodbye to our new Texas friend, we grabbed a bite and were about to check our suitcase. Then we discovered that our bus to New Orleans was canceled! Shock. The reason was the approaching Hurricane Isaac.

We had to stay at Nora's for one more night. We hope to get on the next bus. We'll write when we get to New Orleans! Good luck! Adios!