well, here I am at my landlady's computer in Greensboro, Alabama! suffice it to say, although I arrived in the States on Wednesday, it has been so completely whirlwind and busy that setting up my own internet account has been the last thing on my mind. I have been straight in at the deep end, being picked up and driven directly to the site of the term's first project, a week-long 'neck-down' project involving all this semester's Rural Studio students, remodelling the incredibly run-down house of a 79year old black lady named Juanita. After several hours hard work of hammering, drilling and sawing I finally got to go home to my new apartment!

Today the project was meant to finish, but of course there's still work to be done so we're back there tomorrow. But this evening Juanita and her family came by to be formally given the keys to her new front door, and their reaction to what we had done justified this programme absolutely. I will write more in due course about the project and post some pictures, which I can't wait to do. But today, after 12 solid hours in this heat and humidity building the house, I don't quite have the energy. Despite the fact that the day ended with a catfish fry down on site and, as it got dark, the most mosquito bites I have ever had in a one hour stretch of time.

So, I am here, living in an apartment out back of Mrs McCleskey's house, which she shares with four mad dogs, several parrots and a silent husband...