1-24-07

Another day of writing, another day of not posting. I really need to get more regular about this. But honestly, today, I TRIED. I hauled my laptop around all day for the express purpose of going to Idealnaya Chashka after classes and just hanging out there for an hour or two online. But for some reason this time it wasn’t working. My laptop said there was a full-strength signal, but nothing would come up. That was frustrating. But I still have over an hour’s worth of time there; I’ll try again, maybe tomorrow, or maybe the weekend. Currently, I’m toying with the idea of just taking the last three posts I’ve written on my flash drive and attempting to post them from the lab at school. The guy that works there is really creepy, though.

So as of now, it’s been over a week since I’ve been at home. It won’t be a full week in Russia til tomorrow at about 4:45 and it won’t be a full week with Marina until Saturday. As frustrating as my experience in the café was (No one wants to sit on a computer surrounded by smokers with no idea why the internet won’t work and no way of communication what the problem is), I’m actually beginning to think that I might just be able to do this! By this, I mean, RUSSIA.

We had Conversation again this morning, followed by our class called Gazeta. In Gazeta we’re basically learning how to read and listen to the news in Russian. It’s about as thrilling as it sounds. Then we had lunch, and after lunch was Civilization. This class seems like it’ll probably be a good time, as the instructor is very lively. I’m quite pleased with the percentage of discussion in class that I’ve been able to understand. If all goes according to plan, that will only increase in the coming months.

We had mushroom soup, hot dogs, and cabbage for dinner tonight. I don’t know why I feel the need to write about everything I’m eating, but the mere fact that I was able to shovel as much cabbage into my mouth as I did surprises me, so I think I want it on record.

I swear, Marina is some kind of social butterfly. I have no idea what she does all day (that seems like an awkward question to ask, but I have to, eventually), but she’s getting calls every hour of the day and she just talks and talks while she watches her soap operas with way too dramatic music and horrible make-up effects for people with facial injuries. Also, I’m pretty sure that one girl has amnesia. I just watch it from the kitchen while I eat dinner. I can see half the screen and only kind of hear the dialog, a large chunk of which I don’t understand. But it seems to me that people are always either in the hospital or getting arrested. Some kind who had just gotten out of the hospital got arrested yesterday.

I think I’ll keep this one short; I actually have my homework tonight. Oh, and I was able to get my homework done yesterday before class, and then we didn’t even have to turn it in. Whatever. It’s weird to think about homework. I mean, I know this is STUDY abroad and not just SPEND TIME abroad, but it still kind of feels like we’re all at summer camp. Except in a huge, polluted, dark city. I’m sure that camp feeling will end soon. Okay, I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll actually post this tomorrow….