Hmm, well here in Louisville much of the city has been without internet, power, hot water and a few other things for nearly a week courtesy of the edge of hurricane Ike.  Louisville has an occasional tornado with high winds, but the whole city has learned for the first time how to deal with hurricane wind aftermath -- more than 600 power poles snapped and thousands of huge trees are down!  All those camping skills such as heating water to wash dishes and figuring out how best to read by lantern light come in handy in Louisville and apparently in Sophia and Moscow.  Moscow?  Well, they turn the hot water off in sectors of the city for three weeks at a time to clean the boilers (hot water comes from the city to heat the buildings and all washing jobs).  So for three weeks, you more or less wash yourself and your dishes with a teapot.  Christopher was there a few weeks ago and the internet and hot water were both out -- must be a cousin thing -- and he decided he longed for the internet over the hot water.  But if you really want depravation, I think you need to visit the path of the last US hurricane! It is interesting that your adventure in Sophia looks so much like our experience here and Chris, ET, Beth and Andrew's experience in Moscow.  However, generally speaking, your adventures keep us a LOT more entertained than anything that happens here.