And ya pack and ya pack and ya cross over...

So those might not quite be the correct words for the Shim-Sham, but I go dancing for the first time in a semester in a week and some change, so I'm excited, okay? :-)

It's over!! Or at least school is. We had our last ( of 2/3 ) exam today. Grammar - blech. But it's over! This was, without a doubt, the easiest exam period of my college career (senior spring in high school is still the easiest of my life - we played Spades all week). Phonetics was Friday, but you can't really study for phonetics, so we just went in and read and got it over with.

We were supposed to have History on Tuesday, but the teacher got sick and cancelled the exam. Of course, no one told us this, so the three of us girls spent half of Monday night crashed at one apartment, cramming what city KAMAZ trucks are made in (Kazan, in the Volga region), and the order of the first Rus' kings of Russia (Rurik was from 862-879, followed by Oleg, followed by Igor, followed by Olga, whose son-in-law Vladimir Christianized Russia in the 10th century.) We had a couple of Russians on hand for help, and they decided that the stuff we were having to learn was hard. We then showed up Tuesday morning and sat around waiting until we got the teacher's cell phone number and called her, only to find out that she'd already turned in an "excellent" for all of us. Yay!

I need to be packing now, but it's hard. I've successfully *unpacked* both suitcases now, so I can start putting things back in them. I'm worried it's not all going to fit. Oh, dear, oh dear. Don't worry - all of your presents will be coming.

I think this was originally meant to be more interesting, but I'm tired now. And now, like Erica, I have a new entry to look at. Yay!

Happy Thoughts

The weather has gotten over its grumpy mood and has resumed the lovely falling-snow thing. You have no idea how incredibly happy this makes me. So happy, in fact, that I busted out the furry white shopka today for the purpose of keeping my head warm. It's somewhere between lovely and ludicrious, I swear (and I can't spell, but that's nothing new).

The shopka really makes me laugh because the boys (that would be the WP and AFA guys that I study with, Ashley), are forever teasing me about the fact that they think I'm visible from a mile off, with my long blonde hair, bright purple scarf, and big white coat. The shopka really just enhances that, I suppose. At the same time, they always see me because I'd stand out in America - here, I actually kind of blend in (I still feel really obvious, but I know I'm not). It's weird like that.

Y'all are all just about done with exams, and I'm still in class. Pooh. On the flip side, we should have exams at the end of this week/ start of next, and then I'll be done. At this moment in time, I don't really know when or what exams I have - they're not really big on advanced planning over here. I'm so ready for classes with schedules and syllabi and all, when you have at least some idea of when things are going to happen, and your course schedule doesn't change at random...

In other news, life at our little apartment is as interesting as always. Yesterday, I accidentally misinformed my hozhaika's son that hozhaika was at the dentist, when she was in fact no such place. You see, she'd been talking about the "zahntekna" and needing something with a "kron". My strange little brain took the "zahn" out of "zahntekna" and said, "Oh! 'Zahn' is tooth in German, thus 'zahntekna' must be dentist. And since we're talking dentistry, a 'kron' must be a crown. I get it!" Um, yeah, not so much. As it turns out, a zahntekna is something plumbing-related, and a kron is a faucet. Way to use that brain... But no harm, no foul, and it's funny, so all's well.

Hozhaika also managed to 'lose' me yesterday. I'd been at church, and I'd popped my head in when I got home around 9.30, as per usual. Somehow, hozhaika didn't hear my greeting, so I spent a good half hour sitting in my room with the door open, mentally grousing about the fact that I wanted my dinner and wasn't getting it, while she was on the phone with another hozhaika, talking about how she couldn't find her devyshka, and she didn't know where she'd gone. (Mind, I left a note that said I was at church, and I always get in around that time, but whatever.) Silly hozhaika.

Be good, stay warm, and enjoy your holiday! I'll see you all soon!

Now it's cold and dark...

Cheerful, aren't I? It is, in fact, dark and cold outside at the moment, and it's not snowing, nor has it snowed in the last week-ish, thus there is no need for dark and cold. And I should mention that it's only 4.20 and it's dark. The sun just hasn't been making much of an effort lately - it's kind of sad.

Basically, I'm feeling kind of bored and such. I have things to do (ahem, Christmas presents to buy), but I really want to crawl into bed and take a nap. I tried earlier, but I couldn't sleep, and then Anatoli called to give me a slightly garbled message about the concert tonight, so I gave up. I'm not going to the concert, even though I already have tickets (kind of - I have tickets to the originally scheduled time - I have no idea if they'd honor them or not...). It's the winners of the international music contest that ran earlier this week, and I went to that (or at least, I went to 4 hours of the who-knows-how-long extravaganza). It's like having Sing and Pigskin within a few days of each other, when Sing wasn't that amazing to begin with...

I haven't had proper school in at least a week - last week, I had a class-ish bit and then an exam for the boys (I had to take it, but we're not having our exams yet, so it was a just because thing), went to Elets on Wednesday, had a conference on Russian-American relations on Thursday, and then a going-away party for the boys on Friday. Thus, no school. I have classes tomorrow - should be interesting to see if I've forgotten all my Russian yet :-)

For those asking, the book y'all mailed was Poison Study - I believe the other half of the Powers that Be has a copy. Oh, and I'm at least somewhat hooked on The West Wing these days - yay TV?

Basically, this was a pointless blog, as I can't come up with anything remotely interesting to say, so: Hi! I'm still alive! And I miss you all! I'll be home in two weeks! I like exclamation points!

It's dark...

As per the title, it is in fact dark. Primarily because the sun went down at about 4 PM today, which is at least mildly depressing in and of itself, but even more depressing is the fact that my entire block's power is out for the second time today. There are few things worse than waking up long before you feel like it, only to discover that it's dark and grey outside, and then having to search the bedside table for the little tiny reading lamp, because the lights won't work. 'Twas not a happy morning today.

In other news, after twenty years of maternal worry and protection at candlelight services (seriously - I didn't get my own candle until I was like twelve...), I set my hair on fire on Monday. Twice. (Note: anytime I set something on fire, I seem to do it twice in quick sucession. Remember this should I ever burn my house down, k?) Now that my mother is having a panic attack (you talked to me on Tuesday - clearly, I'm fine), I swear the damage isn't bad. I was toasting bread in our toaster oven (which has no settings at all - it's either plugged in or it's not), and heating water for coffee at the same time. Leaned over to rescue the bread, and dragged a strand of hair in the gas burner (I'm going to need an electric cooktop for safety when I grow up). By the time I realized what the sound was, I'd moved my head, and the flame had puttered out - it only burned an inch or two. Burning hair really does have a very distinctive smell, though. The second time, the burner was off, but still hot enough to singe some more off. You can't tell or anything - I just thought it was interesting. And I really hope someone took pictures of my mother while she was reading that...

This has been a week for creepy Russian men. Monday, I was out doing a touch of shopping, which, as always, involved crossing plenty of streets on foot. While I was waiting for a light to turn, the guy (who was probably at least 30) next to me started talking to me. I have difficulty understanding anything if I'm not really paying attention (gee, imagine that), so I had to ask him to repeat himself. The second time around, I still couldn't sort out what he was saying, but I decided I didn't like the way he was looking at me, so I walked away and stood between a couple of ladies. Sadly, el Creepo didn't get the hint and continued talking to me when we hit the next waiting point and crossed the next street (sometimes you cross half a street, wait, and then cross the rest of the way). Since ignoring wasn't working, and I'm not sure of the best way to say "Buzz off" and mean it in Russian, I ended up going around the opposite side of a kiosk from him, except he kept going, while I stopped and essentially hid behind it so he'd go on and leave me alone. One of the ladies I'd originally tried to hide beside came up and told me to walk with her and whatnot - I believe she got a bit of a kick out of it.

Then, last night I was out with Lindsey and her grandparents, on our way to Spartok to meet some people. Again, we were waiting at a light (hitting on random girls on the street is actually considered a valid pick-up technique here...) I'd been turned, talking to Lindsey, so when I turned to face forward, I realize that the guy in front of me is twisted around staring at me. Not just glancing or something, but hard-core, creepy staring. He then proceeds to inform me that my hair is interesting (I had it up in a Dutch braid) and ask if it's natural. Now, I get the hair question a lot here, but from random dudes on the street? Not so much. I just ignored him and turned back to Lindsey, but the guy kept talking and kinda getting in our faces. Lindsey starts trying to shoo him, asking him what he wants, making it pretty clear that he's not welcome, but he just stared at her as though he couldn't figure out why she was even part of the conversation, and keeps talking at me. Finally, the light turns and he rejoined his friends, but there was more turning around and pointing... Ugh! He was even blonde, but believe me, Lulu, you didn't want him anyways (and no, I'm not bringing either of them back.)

That's enough for today, methinks. I finished that book y'all sent already - it was good, and I can't wait to read the sequel. Happy finals-ing and stay sane!

I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts...

Actually, I don't have any coconuts. Haven't seen one in ages, either - something about the climate in these parts not really supporting them... Funny stuff, that.

What I do have is a super-excellent-awesome package from the lovely ladies of Sigma (and a few extras, I believe). Even the part where I had to deal with the postal service yet again, in order to obtain it, went smoothly. They'd butchered my last name on the slip (yes, it's foreign, but it's not that hard and Chelsey wrote clearly...), but they didn't hassle me with the box, so yay!

Bigger yay, though, to the letters and suprises! I've already sat down and read all of the letters over a cup of coffee au lait (I thought Ashley'd approve) - it was like having all you there for a little bit. I need to reread and take notes, but just the quick stuff for now:
-Is Ashley married yet? It's been a few weeks since the letters were written, so you never know...
-If they're still planning the wedding, can I be the flower girl?
-I hereby promise that I am still alive, and intend to remain so, despite Ashley's apparent desire for my immenient demise...
-Lulu, you and I can celebrate Christmas all break if you'd like - do you have somewhere to go for Christmas? You know you're welcome with us.
-Chelsey, that was a very well-drawn turkey and I love the card - I think I'm going to show it to my hozhaika - I'll let you know what she says.
-H, try to avoid having too many scary stories, okay? Continued survival is good. And nice choice of sticker - do I want to know why you have one of those?
-Sarah and Chelsey and Ashley and everybody else - when I get back (from Russia, not the dead), we shall have a party of sorts and spend lots of time talking about our grand plans for the future without having to make any sort of commitment or serious plan, so that everyone can stop stressing...
-Please don't die with finals, all of you. Good luck!
-I'm already three chapters into the book - good choice, Sarah (and good timing - I just bought The Pickwick Papers yesterday, and now I can put it off some).
-I'm wearing the socks right now, and I'm planning to back some of those cookies for my trip to Elets tomorrow.

In conclusion, I have amazing friends, whom I <3. Thanks so very much for brightening my day, y'all!