We made it!

We made it. We arrived right on time into Baku on Thursday night (local time) - Thursday morning back in Seattle. Getting all of our bags and boxes together was a bit of an effort, but eventually we got them all loaded into the school's vans and were taken to our new home.

It looked a little dubious pulling into our neighborhood - dirt streets, garbage all around, but once we opened the door to the house, we were amazed. It is beautiful - we'll get pictures put up when we're able to. Two stories, beautiful wood floors in the entire house (no carpet at all). A huge kitchen, a living room, a bath room (and a separate toilet room) all downstairs, with a door out onto a nice size cement patio. Upstairs there are three bedrooms (actually, one is supposed to be a living room, but Heather and I have taken that one. It's huge!) Then there's a large hallway area that will actually be where the boys' desk and computer will be. It is truly amazing.

We met our fellow new teachers on Friday, were given a tour of the school, then went to a few stores to get some ideas of prices. Food is definitely not cheaper here than in the US. Some things are pretty similar, but some prices here are a lot higher.

We went to dinner with everyone at an Indian buffet near the Old City of Baku on Friday night.

Today (Saturday), we met up with our new teacher friends and went to get cell phones. Cell phones here are much more reliable than the wired lines. Email us if you want the phone numbers (but it'll cost you a lot to call us!) Then we came back to the school and got to plug in to the school's wireless internet.

So, just a quick word here to let everyone know we're alive, that we're settling in, and that everything is good.

We love you all -
Tim, Heather, Jonathon and Joshua