Sharon Dirlam (Russian Far East 1996–98) taught English and Teaching Methodology at sdirlamthe Birobidjan Pedagogical Institute in Birobidjan, Russia. Prior to her Peace Corps service Sharon was a staff writer in the Travel Section of the Los Angeles Times. She is the author of Beyond Siberia: Two Years in a Forgotten Place, and two stories published in Travelers’ Tales: A Woman’s World. She has placed one novel with a literary agent and  is working on a second.