Hey SUMOs, its been a while.

I have been pretty busy recently, what with finishing up student teaching and preparing for the future and the end of my youth and all that.  

In order to forestall the inevitable despair of being a REAL adult (whatever that means) and doing adult type things (tupperware parties and town meetings, perhaps even the occasional trip to the elks club)  I have decided to dedicate the rest of my twenties to adventure, travel, science, triumph and general awesomeness activity.  In three weeks, I'll be getting on a plane and flying to the charming city of Dnipropetrovsk, formerly Yekaterinburg.

I know what you are wondering, fair SUMOs.  Why, for heavens sake, are you going to that place, Dan?  We will miss you here in the West!  There is no Sumo fan base in eastern Europe (yet)!  My answer, dear readers, is that this is not a permanent placement.  I'm just going for a month to work at an international summer camp helping lil' Ukrainians learn English and such. So while I'll be hard at work, it does not mean that I wont be traveling and having adventures, which I'd like to share with all of you when I return stateside.

Chernobyl.  Radioactive city, wasteland, haven for mutants and monsters and mayhem (if you believe the horror movies).  I'll be going there to see the 8-legged pigs and giant catfish monsters myself.  I'm also really hoping for a radioactive mutation a la the hulk.  But lets not get greedy, right?

Odessa.  The Black Sea.  Wild, reckless, eastern European style partying.  I'll be there, basking in the glow of a sweltering summer night on the side of a sea that represents an escape from Stalinism.  Should be interesting.

These and many more adventures await me on that other, now open side of the Iron Curtain.  Wish me luck and I'll keep you updated, SUMO friends.

-DH