Okay, random thoughts

I saw my first Russian car accident the other day (they aren't any different than regular car accidents). 10 minutes later, I saw my second Russian car accident. With the way people drive over here, you would think that I would have seen at least 20 already. As in, New York drivers have nothing on Irkutsk drivers.

Today in my classes I, again, understood nothing. In Siberian history we were talking about something, and different sizes of settlements (or something). I learned that if you have a big square with circles around the corners, and there are more than four little squares (bashens) inside of the big square, it is no longer an ostrov, but a gorodok. This makes as much sense to me as it does to all of you. On the plus side, in Baikal today we talked about riding moose across the Taiga.

I read Eddie's blog entry and started laughing out loud. The jam water is true. But my host family's jam water is really good, where as Eddie's I guess isn't? Dunno. I'm still eating way too much and can't stop them from feeding me. I think my host mother knows how to do it. See, I don't want to refuse fruit, because it's so rare that I'll eat any that I feel like I can't turn down the opportunity to get some vitamins. I'm pretty much on a strict diet of meat and carbohydrates (yesterday our entire dinner was potatoes. And then we had pirashki, which is like meat inside of bread. Good, but I could really go for some fruits and vegetables). So then, like an hour AFTER dinner, she offers me an apple and some grapes. Ugh.

So Sonya and I found a gym. It's called Alex Gym, and there are 2 Sashas and a Yulia there. All very nice. Sasha 1 was really excited we were there and started talking to us in broken english, but sometimes still declining nouns (such as "yes! You student save ten bucksov!"). He then wanted to know if we wanted to work out, like, immediately, which we politely declined seeing as we were in pants, sweaters, and dress shoes. So yesterday (or Tuesday, rather) we went for the first time. I rode the bike for awhile. Fine. Sonya was on the treadmill. Then we switched.

So, I'm not the greatest runner to begin with (especially since I haven't run in like months), but this is just a ridiculous apparatus. First of all, it's on an incline, and doesn't go by itself. It's sort of like a hamster treadmill, because you have to run to get it to move, but you can't just run regularly. You have to hold onto the sides, sort of lean forward, and propel yourself. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. I feel like I'm running up a 45 degree incline, in water, with 20 pound sandbags on my back (of course, this could just be all the extra meat and potatoes I've been eating).

Do I talk about food a lot here? Because 70% of my days here are also spent talking about food.

Today we had lunch in this cafe where the girls wear sailor outfits and they have ridiculous techno music playing. Today we heard the techno remix of "The First Noel" (no joke, or some other Christmas song like it), as well as a song about a girl comparing her life to the Vietnam war.

yesterday we went to visit lyonya, which was excellent, and something I hope to do more often. We also talked about our baikal class, which was really quite amusing. Our baikal professor has this half mustache (Eddie says it's like a catfish). His face is completely shaved except for like right above his upper lip. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen and I don't really know what to make of it. I can't look at him for too long without laughing. Also he goes on and on and on and then asks if we have any questions, there are these long awkward pauses, and when he realizes we don't understand, he goes through the whole thing again without really explaining anything. He does, however, explain words such as "history" and different rivers. The other day he asked us some question about animals and we answered "Medved" (Bear. A typical, safe response.) To which he responded "Da. Po-Anglisskii (yes, in english) 'Bear'". Yes, thank you. We naturally understand all of the minor details about the sediment on the bottom of Baikal, but are stumped as to what a "medved" is. Did I already explain this? It's worth explaining again.

I also forgot to talk about Eddie's notebooks, which are fantastic. When I first saw them I didn't think anything of them (this being Russia) but after some consideration, came to the conclusion that they are absolutely ridiculous. One of them has a picture of a bunch of acorns and says "Forest Nut". The other says "Rope" and has various possible arrangements of a piece of rope. Another has a truck on it. And one says "Motor Lady" with some girl next to a motorcycle in like, a sweater.

Pictures soon to come.