Псков и Печоры

So for the last weekend in Russia Tim and I travelled to Псков (Pskov). Pskov is about the same size as Novgorod. But we quickly realized that there aren't as many people walking the streets and the town reeks of eeriness. There are dogs that have creepy barks and other things too. Well the first day we walked around the city. We saw the Kremlin and the cathedral inside. We both noticed that the Kremlin in Pskov is nothing like the Kremlin in Novgorod. Novgorod's Kremlin at least has some other buildings inside, but Pskov's only had a cathedral and open ground. Tim made the comment that it resembles Forts out in the American West. Only walls and not much inside. We also went to the Museum there it was very interesting, they actually had to kick us out. There was an exhibit on The Great Patriotic War (WW II), icons (don't need to see anymore icons for a long time) and village life. We found that the people in Pskov were much more talkative towards us. We'll these kids asked for our help b/c their friend was puking, drunk, wet his pants, and so Tim helped pick him up w/another guy and brought him to a railing. An Orthodox priest blessed us later in the Kremlin. Immediately asked us which state we were from and then asked us if we were Christians. I told him yes and that I was Catholic and he told us how we all believe in the same God and then he blessed us. People also asked us for directions around town, I being a foreigner would have said, "Sorry, I'm not from Pskov." But Tim w/his trusty map would look on the map and try to help them out and he did. I thought it was a little bit funny that the Pskovians got help around their city by an American. hehe.

On Sunday morning someone set the trash can on fire (b/c he didn't put his cigarette out completely) in the toilet room of our hostel even though it is forbidden to smoke in the hostel/bathroom. That day we went to Pechori. On the way we saw a huge sign for a Kolkoz (collective farming from the time of the USSR), that was exciting for us. But the monastery at Pechori was really neat. Imagine a bunch of small orthodox monasteries placed in a valley and surrounded by a wall. On the bus ride back, the man sitting next to me asked if he could look through my Lonely Planet Russia and Belarus book, I said yes. He was looking through it with his girlfriend and he came to a page and told me there was a mistake in the spelling of a city. I told him to write down the correct way and we started talking for the rest of the busride. I found out that he is from the Agin-Buryat Autonomous District, it borders the Mongolia. He asked what we were doing here. I asked him why he was so far away from home, he tells me he is serving in the army. I asked him if he can do Mongolian throat-singing and he told me no I'm not able to do it. But his girlfriend brought out her cellphone and had us listen to some throat-singing, very cool. Tim asked him to speak some Buryat for us and he did, also very cool. It's related to Mongolian. He also told me that book is wrong saying that the Buryat language is Turkic. It's Mongolian. Sunday night Tim and I walked around the city, we saw towers, churches, and a ferris wheel. I arrived back in Novgorod yesterday. My host sister Ксеня left for Dubai yesterday. She told me that she and her friend decided to go there only a couple days ago! ha! I said goodbye to her. Today I have to pack for I will be leaving Russia tomorrow morning. Can't believe it has gone by so quickly. When I get back I'll post pictures up.

Монгольские Студентки и Вышибали

So another week has gone by, I have less than two weeks remaining in Russia. I have to say I'm torn: I want to go home but I also don't want to go home. Oh well. I'm surprised I'm not sick of potatoes yet, it's probably b/c I'm part Irish and I love potatoes. Anyways, this week Tim and I met the students from Mongolia. I initiated it, I asked if I could sit down and they said yes. Then asked where they were from and they said Mongolia. I said, "Cool, I'm from America. Are you from Ulaan Bataar?" They were surprised that I knew their capital, they responded with: "Yes, we're from Ulaan Bataar! How do you know Ulaan Bataar!!??" I responded with, "I know it is the capital of Mongolia." I found out that some of them study medicine and some study economics. They are here for 5 years. It was hard for me to understand them b/c they had a thick Mongolian accent. Thursday was the last day we ate in the cafeteria b/c all next week classes only go until noon. So we took pictures! It's not the prettiest cafeteria I've been in. Thursday was a holiday for the University, so there was a concert and afterwards a discoteque (not sure how to spell it, never wrote it in English) to go to. The concert was okay, little did I know that it was just a talent show for students. It lasted 3.5 hours. Ugh! But some of it was interesting. The club was fun, after the concert I was starving so I bought a half liter of Brahama and some pretzels, all together was less than $2! After I finished them off I entered the club, but the guards looked at me and said, "Can you stand okay?" I said yes. They said, "Your eyes ...(not sure what they said)" They were questioning me to see if I was too drunk to enter, so I replied with, "I'm a foreigner." They said, "Oh! Okay!" And they let me in. The club was fun, for the first time I drank Gin and Tonic from a can, most likely the last time I'll do that b/c it wasn't very good. Tim and I danced on the stage. We tried to enter Karambol but the bouncer wouldn't let Tim in b/c he thought he was too drunk. He was. Friday didn't do much did some homework. Tim went to Moscow last night for the day. I stayed b/c I have homework to do.

Идёт Снег!

So last night was tim's birthday, he went to a play with a girl. And afterwards we had dinner at his house. Let me just say that his host dad is awesome! He walks around the house in his underwear and a beater! And yesterday he and his grand-daughter and his daughter performed the Three Bears for Tim! haha! I got Tim Talladega Nights and Super Bad all in Russian of course for his birthday. Saturday we visited the wooden architecture museum, it was very interesting but not everything was open unfortunately. We then went to Urevev monastery and walked along the coast, the river is almost completely frozen over and there are ice fishermen all over the place. We had a small lunch at a cafe on the beach (which we didn't know about) around the monastery. It was very good, шишлики (pork shishkabobs) and pike from Ilmen Lake, yum yum yum! Friday night we visited the banya again, this time we bought branches to beat ourselves with and I brought a hat to wear in the banya to protect my hair and my ears. I also tried an amazing beer its called Brahma its a Brazilian beer. Thursday night was a little weird met a rapper named Stan (but I think its just a hobby of his) and a skinhead named Igor. It was all double Dutch to me b/c they were either using a lot of slang, using words I don't know, or slurring all their words together. I tried cow tongue that night, tasted just like beef but it was just weird eating it because I've felt a cow tongue before. Today people are voting for the Duma. It'll be interesting to see who wins.

Ещё Неделя

Another week gone by, not too much has happened this week. Birthday was good, Tim came over with a cake from Jennifer and candles from Jennifer, so nice of her! Tim got me two DVDs: 300 (in russian of course) and a russian film that I don't remember off the top of my head. My host family bought me a Russian Dictionary, and as they said, "so you can stop asking us what a word means!" I didn't think I asked them that often, haha. I thought that was a very nice of them and also a very useful gift. Dinner was full of toasts with vodka that incidentally shares the same name as Putin's Political Party, Единая Россия or United Russia. The elections for the Duma is Dec. 2nd so naturally I asked my family who they're voting for. My host mom, Nina, told me that she and Sasha will be voting for the Communist Party because they grew up under communism and life was better for them under communism. Free education, free healthcare, free daycare, free apartments, food was very cheap, travel and transportation was also very cheap. Life since perestroika began has been harder for them. But she did say in the last two years it has gotten a little bit better. Ksenya (Ксеня) my host sister didn't tell me who she is voting for I think Nina said that she's voting for Единая Россия. This week I met some more students, this time from Jordan and Syria. They'll be here for 6 years.

Мой День Рождения!

И День Благодарение (Thanksgiving) but that was Thursday. Well today is my birthday, big 22. Today so far I've cleaned my room a bit, did a little bit of homework and caught up on my hand written journal. Thanksgiving, was the first time I went to class and the first time I wasn't with my family for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Russians aren't thankful for the Mayflower or the Pilgrims or the Native Americans that helped them. Remember that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in the New World and not in Russia. So Tim and I decided to go to an Asian restaurant for Thanksgiving. He got soup, sushi and some ice cream desert with an apple. I got soup, plov (an Uzbek dish with rice and mutton, it was okay) and green tea ice cream. We also had a little bit of sake, it was warm too! Later we played some pool at Карамболь (Karambol') and finally we watched Диверсант. My host dad told me that Russia's soccer team is the champion of Europe or maybe of their bracket because Russia beat Andorra but England lost to Croatia! haha! earlier this year Russia beat England. Friday we went on an excursion to the art museum, it was interesting. I've found that I'm becoming a big fan of landscape paintings. Saturday I went to the central market, didn't buy anything. I just wanted to look around. I've always wondered where people buy racing jackets b/c I see them all the time, answer: at the market. I think thats where most of the people of Russia buy things. Not so much at stores such as Addidas or Nike, but at the market where things are dirt cheap. I've also noticed that a lot of people here where clothing that advertises a company, not clothing companies like Ralph Lauren, but other companies such as: HP, Marlboro, BMW. I've seen these on jackets, sweatshirts, and hats. Anyways Saturday night, Tim and I went to a club but this was an exclusive club. We were at a car dealership! ah yeah! It was for battle of the DJ, I don't know who won b/c Tim and I left at 2am and it went on till 6am. But it was a lot of fun.

Почти 22 года

Last weekend Tim and I visited St. Petersburg where we visited the Russian Museum (an art museum) it was lovely and we also saw Peter the Great's house. He had a a small house, only three rooms while St. Petersburg was in the process of being built. We, of course, bought some souvenirs from Tim's dealer. He's got a hookup and he gave us the friend discount. Sunday we visited the ballet back in Novgorod and saw "The Nutcracker" I enjoyed it very much. But then I was wondering to myself, all this for a nutcracker...hmm interesting. I mean why not a G.I. Joe or something cool. haha! Time to eat.

Баня

We have more snow! The Norwegian returned back to Norway. Yesterday, Tim and I ventured into the Баня (banya), which is similiar to a sauna except we beat each other with branches. Unfortunately, Tim and I didn't have branches but we saw other people beating each other with branches. It was a pretty fun time, although I had more fun in the sauna when I was in Finland with a bunch of Finnish students. Anyways it was enjoyable, during breaks from the banya Tim and I would run outside onto the beach and roll around in the snow. I made some snow angels. Then we would run back into the banya giggling like little girls as the бабушки (grandmothers) would shake their heads at us. After the experience, we bought some beers to replenish ourselves and watched Диверсант (Saboteur). A great TV series about three Soviet soldiers during the Great Patriotic War (World War II) who are special forces, but for sabotage. Its very good. Tonight I'm going with Tim to the theatre to see a comedy and then on Sunday I'm going with him to the ballet. Yesterday I bought Монгол (Mongol) and Black Sheep. Mongol is a Russian, German, Kazakh film about Ghengis Khan from his childhood up until he unified all the tribes of Mongolia. Very good film unfortunately no subtitles, but I understood a lot of it. Black Sheep I have yet to see, it is a New Zealand comedy about sheep zombies.

I apologize, I need to be writing these more often (Keith, tu es content? C'est une blague!) This past week has been full of new things. First off classes are different, instead of taking primarily language classes we are now taking subject classes. Before I was taking Лекция (Lecture) or a class on some hardships of the Russian language and learning slang. Lexicon is what we might say in English. Разговорная Практика (conversation practice), Аудирование (Listening), Культура (Culture), Грамматика (Grammar), and Литература (Literature). Now I have Литература, Культура, Грамматика, Дискусия (Discussion), and История (History). What was surprising is my history teacher is Tim's host mom. He didn't even know that until class started. I have met some more foreigners, one from Ghana and another from Norway. Norwegian is 44 years old, his name is Hauken. He is in the Norwegian military and was accepted to be the military atache to Moscow starting next year. He's only taken 4 months of Russian and he's pretty good at it. We eat lunch with him everyday, he is also the only other foreigner that has lunch the same time we do. This is probably going to be long again.....anyways...The weekend was fun, Tim and I went clubbing at Night Ocean, a popular club in Novgorod. We arrived around 11PM and no one was dancing, I felt like I was in middle school again! I learned that the place doesn't get bumpin' until 1ish, which is when we left. Saturday we went out with Hauken to some bars. One used to be the Comsomal for the town. At one of the bars, they were playing the Macarina so naturally Tim and I had to do the dance. There were already people dancing but no one there knew the Macarina. As Tim and I were dancing it, everyone was staring at us like "WOW, what an amazing dance." By the end of the song some people were trying to steal our moves. Oh we got an applause at the end. The result of that, for the rest of the night women in their upper 40s/50s were asking Tim to dance. Oh time for my show Дизертант I'll write more later.

Я Ещё Живу

Forgive me, I haven't written in awhile, I've had a lot going on. I've been to many places. The past two weeks I was on vacation, I spent about a week in Moscow with my friend Christian and with my parents. My parents and I toured Moscow we saw the Kremlin, Red Square, Lenin's Masouleum (very weird), the convent where Peter the Great sent his wife b/c he became bored with her, State Museum, and the American embassy with the golden arches also known as Don's or McDonald's or Макдоналдс. Christian and I had a fun time we found a cool wine place that just opened and we were invited to the opening by our new Italian friend, who also cut up a 40kg piece of bologna. We sang "Strangers in the Night" with musicians at a German restaurant and afterwards they recruited Christian to join them, don't know if he's going to do it though. Had the best hot dog ever, Star Dogs. A hot dog wrapped in bacon with ketchup, mustard, onions and pickles. soooo tasty! also had shaurma or in novgorod called shaverma also really tasty. Had Uzbek food which is also tasty and had Georgian food with Christian and my parents. Also very tasty if not more tasty!! After Moscow my parents and I travelled by overnight train to Novgorod for a day and saw the sights and had dinner with my host parents. I was the translator and by the end of the night my head hurt and was making silly mistakes such as saying "tomorrow" instead of "yesterday." Just from mental exhaustion. Slept very well that night. Next day we travelled by train to St. Petersburg where we saw Peterhoff, Catherine's Palace, Paul's Palace, and the Hermitage. I left them and went to Великий Устюг (Velikyi Ustyug). We also went to an ice bar which was way cool, everything was made of ice even the glasses! Velikyi Ustyug was an interesting place. 30,000 people and kind of difficult to get too. Took a 24 hour train ride to Kotlas and from there an 1.5 hr bus ride to the bus station followed by a ten minute cab ride into the middle of the city. Only thing there is Дед Мороз or Father Frost (their equivalent of Santa Claus) I happened to run into him at the post office where I was buying some souvenirs. So naturally I got a picture with him. I saw him the next day when I travelled to his estate, a 20 minute cab ride from the city. He recognized me, he even said, "Welcome guests! and the guest from America I recognize, yesterday we had a picture taken together." He has a very deep booming voice. I had a tour of his residence and must say he is more stylish than Santa Claus. He has fifteen different outfits all different colors while Santa Claus only has the red suit. Santa you gotta get with it. I even asked Father Frost what happens to the bad children, he responded with, "they get the worst presents you can imagine." Kinda creepy. His estate was also a little creepy. Set in the forest in the middle of nowhere, he has a trail you can walk around that has background noises of howling wolfs and hooting owls. Eerie. I'll post some pictures later. I even got a picture with his reindeer, he only has one. Father Frost is up with the 21st Century, he moves around be motorized vehicle. I think he even has his own helicopter. Though I would never want to fly in his, nothing against his piloting skills. I just don't trust Russian made helicopters. Anyways I left Velikiy Ustyug two days early and thankfully the railway ticket agent had the patience to help me change my tickets. I left Yadrikha which is in the middle of nowhere on the way to Kotlas, and went to Vologda. 12 hours. And to save money I went third class where 54 people fit into one train wagon, not bad but not too comfortable. Don't fit on the beds, luckily it was an all day ride. Arrived into Vologda with 3 hours to kill. Tried to negotiate with the head provodnitsa or nachal'nik on another train going to Petersburg if I could change my ticket. She said I was too late. But there was another provodnitsa (female carriage attendant) who tried to help me and was very nice. But it didn't work out, had to wait the three hours. Waited and caught the 12 hour train to Petersburg, thank goodness I went second class. I slept the entire train ride. Spent the day in Petersburg and saw the Blockade Museum. Very interesting, I wish it had more but it didn't seem like it had a lot of testaments from the civilian population. Took the train back to Novgorod last night. Today tried to buy some running shoes that caught my eye but unfortunately not in my size, uber lame. Went to the opening of a supermarket. Never have I seen soo many people standing in line to go to a supermarket! In front of the supermarket there were tents with games. One was arm wrestling, called arm wrestling in Russian. I played and won, after a grueling 5 minutes. I won a can of plov, uzbek food that I've wanted to try. I wanted the supermarket t-shirt but I got canned food instead. At least I won something. I saw a 12 yr old boy go up against a babushka (grandmother) and she took him down easily. It was hilarious.

Познакомиться

Yesterday was a good day, I met a guy from Congo at school. I found out that he's been in Novgorod for a year now and he doesn't like cold weather. There are a couple other students from Congo here. I asked him at one point if people spoke French in Congo, I wasn't sure. And they do, so I told him I also spoke French and from then on we spoke French. It was good to use my French, but I realized very quickly that I've forgotten many words and Russian has surpassed my French speaking skills, but I still can understand everything in French. Then last night Tim and I met a guy from Kazakhstan. We learned some things about how they do tea there, one thing is they don't have handles on their tea cups. They use their hands to hold the cups on the lip. Therefore, they don't fill the cup to the brim, unless they don't like the person, but usually they fill it up 3/4 of the way. We also learned some interesting things about the country. If you didn't know, Kazakhstan was the first of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) to repay all its debts from the collapse of the Soviet Union. We also saw some really neat pictures of Kazakhstan and Abkhazia. We're going to meet him again and he's going to teach us some kung fu and we're going to play floor hockey on Saturday!

Фотографии

Here are some pictures that I've taken over the past month. Enjoy.

Me in Novgorod across the river from the Kremlin

New Moscow (where all the foreign companies are headquartered) I found out later that taking pictures was forbidden.

Christian and I at Red Square

This is Urevev Monastery (I think)

Everyday in Russia You See Something You Wouldn't Normally See

Today, I saw a stray dog wander through the cafeteria. puzzling. yes. Again it has been awhile since I last wrote. Last Friday, we had an excursion to Софиский Соборь it was interesting, a little on the long side but there was a lot of good facts. For example, the original cross that was placed on one of the domes was stolen by spaniards during the Second World War, not Germans. Spaniards. They actually kept good care of it, they kept in a church until two years ago they gave it back to Russia. That night Tim and I hung out with his host sister and her friend, we drank some beers ate pizza and watched TV. I learned a couple new words that night like бабка which is slang for money, and then there is жрать which is to eat like a pig or gobble up. Saturday we learned to never ever take a bus to Saint Petersburg b/c traffic is a nightmare. It is supposed to take 3.5hours, it took us 5 or more. then we took a commercial bus to Petrodvorets and that is supposed to take 40 min, took us 1.5hrs. But it was definately worth it, it was a beautiful day and most of leaves have changed color. I took some great photographs, I'll upload them later. After we decided to take a boat back, it was worth the $10, comfy and no traffic only 30 min. We should've spent the night but we didn't. Sunday was fun. I went to my family's dacha out by a forest. Russians are pretty much self-sustaining. My family grows apples, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic or onions, and they even have their own honeycomb. So they make their own honey. As well as their own jelly and alcohol. I got to use the banya and it was a great experience. I had to wear a hat so as not to burn my head, ears, or hair. My host dad told me that sometimes you have to wear gloves. Anyways I got beaten with birch leaves, then I beat myself them. It was fun. I learned that Russians can also drink a lot too, at dinner I had about 4 shots (as many as everyone else) with my meal. I didn't feel it because of all the food in my stomach. Last night was another story. Last night was my host sister's 28th birthday. So lots of toasts=lots of drinking, I had about 7-8 shots (as many as everyone else). Classes are going well, in grammar class we started learning about verbs of motion and in literature class we finished reading some Dostoevsky and tomorrow we're moving onto Чехов. Life is good, but still need to decide where to go for break...maybe Murmansk and Petrozavodsk?

Another week gone by

Another week has gone by and little by little things are falling into place. I'm understanding things better, not neccessarily retaining certain vocabulary, but I am retaining some. Highlights of the week, going to a club with Tim. Tim danced with a prostitute, and we didn't know that she was a prostitute. Either the club was lame or Russians/Velikiy Novgorodians don't know how to break dance. I tried break dancing in the circle but no one did anything, TIR. Tim found Grand Dad's Vodka. If you didn't know Tim is a huuuuuge fan Grand Dad's Whiskey. So naturally we bought it. I went swimming on Sunday, it felt really good to get back in the pool. Next week I'll start volunteering at an archeological dig, I'm really excited about that. Oh and I'm attaching a picture of the swim team doing the haka because its sweet!

Москва и Другие Вещи

Last weekend, Tim and I ventured to the small and inexpensive city of Moscow. (if you didn't catch that then shame on you since Moscow is at least 10 million people and is the most expensive city in the world) After taking the overnight train from Novgorod, where the first five minutes in the train were so awkward b/c our cabin mates did not say a word to us. Therefore, there was an awkward silence whereby I almost started laughing b/c I found it so humorous. Anyway, didn't sleep well but arrived in Moscow at 5:30AM. One thing I learned very quickly, Muscovites aren't very friendly, especially the women who work in the metro. We took the metro to meet Christian and go back to sleep. But first we went grocery shopping. Moscow was a lot of fun. On Friday, Tim and I walked around the city, went Arbat St. and the Kremlin. Unfortunately, Red Square was closed b/c there was a concert there that lasted the entire weekend. Uber Lame, I mean Очень Lame. I did see bagpippers in the Kremlin and was rather curious as to why they would be there, oh well TIR. Saturday was also fun. Christian took us to an Electronics Market where I bought a cell phone. Earlier I found a sim card on the ground in Novgorod and it worked in Moscow but it no longer works now, жаль. We also visited a local German beerhouse where we promptly had sausages and beer. It was marvelous. We then proceeded to go meet our friend Khatia in another part of town. Khatia went to Olaf for a year, she was an exchange student from Russia. We spent a couple hours with her and tried to go to the circus but the season hasn't opened yet so we walked around the city some more. On Sunday, we met up with some of Christian's friends and walked around the city and also saw Chuck and Larry in English. I forgot that I was in Russia during the film. One thing that I didn't expect from a Russian cinema are metal detectors and the fact that it looks really nice inside. It looks like the elite member lounge in an airport, US Airways Club or United Red Carpet, something like that. At the end of the day we saw Moscow City. This is where all of the international corporations are building their offices like IBM. They're really amazing. One of the buildings is supposed to be the tallest building in Europe. You can really see the change that Russia is going through there. The metro stations in the area don't even look like Russian metro stations. Jumped on the train back home and arrived 4 hours before class started. So I was in good shape.

some things ive learned this week. 1. russian mustard is about as spicy as wassabe if not more. if you've seen the movie blood diamond you know what TIA is. well i decided to make TIR = This Is Russia. 2. Cars park wherever they want, even in the middle of the street, TIR. 3. You can get locked on the floor where you're taking classes, TIR. 4. Some busses were formerly used in Finland, or stolen from Finland. 5. there are cats everywhere, Tim thought one was a monkey b/c it was jumping around in the branches of a tree. they also appear out of nowhere, sometimes from holes in buildings. 6. Russian billiards, did not know that it existed, still haven't played tim and i decided to play pool instead. 7. femmullets, mullets, and rattails are all quite popular. its like the 80s all over again. but without the heat sensitive shirts.
In class the other day we were learning about некоторые and несколько one of the examples in the handout was "all of the women are beautiful except for..." haha i found that funny. i had to give an example, so i said all the dogs are green and my teacher looked at me as if i were on crack, and said зеленые? i said нет, зелёные. she said i have quite an imagination. i tend to think so too. classes are going well. No I haven't been arrested yet. However, I am going to Moscow with Tim tomorrow and we'll be staying with Christian Lorentzen, who was on the swimming/diving team with me last year. God only knows what we'll be doing.
I need to study now cause I have a grammar test tomorrow on Perfective/Imperfective and its 22:25, fantastic.

Tim and I have been in Russia for about a week now. Things are getting better, culture shock is wearing off. I do wish I had brought all my cash to pay for classes like tim did and then exchange the money at a bank, but instead i have to go to an atm machine and get out 10,000 rubles at a time. i need 131,000. whatever. Last night was friday night, so before tim and i went out my host family had a guest over, he brought a bottle of champagne. we drank the bottle. russians don't sip champagne like we do. nope, they drink champagne. two sips and the glass is finished. so we did that and then tim and i proceeded to go play billiards at a bar. i didn;t know that there is a russian version of billiards. we played that for two hours and had some beers and listened to a mix of french trance music, russian electronica, under my umberella, and other great hits. the other day on one of my runs i found some sweet graffiti, i laughed instantly because the writer obviously doesn't know english very well. on the wall is written "fuck of" of what? ill be taking a picture of it later. crossing the streets in russia is a very delicate matter. on some intersections there are crosswalks, but these intersections are small ones. on big ones, there usually isn't a stop light. so...we usually wait for someone to start crossing and then follow suit, but sometimes you wait for a big group of people and charge out into the street. or you just follow the local babushka (grandmother). later today, tim and i will be going to a chinese festival hopefully it'll be a nice!

so ive been in russia since sept 1, everything has been fine so far. things ive found out, in hockey there are cheerleaders, mullets are everywhere, no wears shorts.
today was fine, im starting to get a headache that comes about when your brain starts rewiring itself. literature class was intense, we read a pushkin poem i didn't quite understand it but whatever, my teacher doesn't speak english so oh well. ill just look up the words. conversation class was fun teacher told me that i spoke without an accent. weather was beautiful, i don't understand why russians where so many layers when it is 65 plus degrees outside. they're wearing pants and jackets some winter jackets, no wonder they complain when its cold outside. there are a lot of mullets here. i think im getting culture shock.

Initial Post

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

At the moment, I don't know what to think about my time that will be spent in Russia. I still have a couple of weeks to go before I depart but I thought that I should create a blog so people can check up on me. As you can see you probably don't understand some of the options on my blog since they're in Cyrillic, but I tried to change things up by providing a translation on the side. Someone will call me a terrorist for that. About my trip, I still have no information about the school, who I am staying with and so on. Oh and I don't have my passport, uber lame. But I do have my plane tickets. More to come later on.