First of all, Vanya arrived today. Well, last night. He slept with Marina and Irina on the bunk above the driver's seat in our van. I haven't really written much about the van yet, have I? Somehow we all fit in it: Armen and Vera in the "bedroom" (i.e., on the bed behind the curtain); Lena and I on the sofa—it's in the main cabin, past the shower and toilet if you're moving from back to front; Juris on the bed that forms when you fold the table and slide the seats opposite the sofa; and Marina or Irina (plus Vanya, as of yesterday) in the alcove above the driver.

Naturally, we can't travel like this; we only sleep when we're parked. But it's actually fine, especially when it's stuffy. Just yesterday we had a drink to celebrate the fact that nobody is planning to kill anyone yet, and on the contrary, we're all living together like a family.

So, Vanya. He works at the International Exchange Center as a man: he's the only one besides Armen. But seriously, all summer he's been meeting students arriving in America at New York airports and sending them on to their destinations. He dresses perfectly and, despite finishing his finance degree this year, he wants to become a photographer—and not just any photographer, but a fashion photographer. (Oh, how I love writing things like this in Russian! I also love the words "glamorous" and "exclusive"!)

So there. We have Vanya. And tonight we have a party that the WHOLE TOWN is supposed to attend. Also: the tans of people who have been walking the beaches for days looking for Russian-speaking youth, or just sunbathing. Also: things bought in stores like Marshalls when, for example, yesterday, an hour suddenly opens up between interviews or other chaos. (Lena, for instance, bought wonderful bubble wands with a huge handle and a ring at the end, so the bubbles turn out quite large.)

And this morning, we discovered that our gray water tank was full, and we can no longer take showers or, um, pee. Moreover, it turned out there were five centimeters of water in the shower from someone who washed yesterday, and as we moved, it spilled into the cabin. So Armen, Lena, and Vanya had to drive to a campsite where we could dump it into the sewer and refill the fresh water tank at the same time. But—and here another "but" arose—for some reason, all the water was pouring back out through the fresh water tank, even though it was fine last time. So now we're living without water. And you know what? We're still clean because people took us in, let us use their shower, and gave us coffee. And now, even though we're tired, we're happy. And Vanya will be the host of the party at the Party Bloc club tonight...

In short, I write about what I see.