What are they doing?

We've only lived in our current apartment for two years now, but if we remember correctly, this tractor has dug up a huge hole here 5 times now since we've lived in the neighborhood. In the spring, summer, and fall, this area gets all swampy and mucky. And it's right on the way to the bus stop. We want to know what they're doing. Do the pipes underneath break? It's a mystery.

We were told that our visas to leave (and re-enter) for Mongolia will be ready tomorrow. So, if all goes well, we'll be on a train to Ulan Baatar (capital of Mongolia) on Tuesday morning. Little Anneka has been sick with a high fever the last couple of days. Thankfully today, her temperature was almost back to normal and she's been happily running around. Some other kids on the team had the same thing and have gotten better after 2-3 days. Sometimes it's nice to know that other kids have the same thing (so I don't start worrying about meningitis or appendicitis or something).

We were thrilled to learn that my parents received their visas to come to Ulan Ude in two weeks. It'll be so great to see them! On another mostly-happy note, our Swiss teammates' boxes made it from Moscow to Ulan-Ude (long story but a miracle that they were released). Now their boxes have been sitting in the customs office here for over a week. We pray that they'll get their belongings SOON. It's been about 3 1/2 months now that they've lived here without their things.