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.