So I'm really excited because I'm going to get my visa for CHINA in Mongolia so I can go and meet up with Jenna! This is going to be fabulous. It's almost November, which means I really have to start thinking about my travel plans for the end of December/beginning of January. I'm actually really excited. I think there are going to be a lot of people in Moscow/St. Petersburg around Christmas/New Years too. WHEEEEEE!!!
So Sonya and I walked about the Targovii Complex around the History Department yesterday. She showed me how very strange it was. There were like, 10 stores (2 of them selling fur coats), and around they had little couches and tables and a car. One of the couches was like 2 hands next to each other, which reminded me of Buster's hand chair in Arrested Development. Maybe when I get my power cord I'll download some off of itunes.
So, there's this girl, Tanya in our mainstream. She sort of has this weird fascination with foreigners, and we think she doesn't really have any actual Russian friends. So she texts me a lot and after class last week she asked where I was going afterwards. I told her to the bus station to ask about tickets to Olhon. She told me she'd walk with me, which is fine, but it's pretty far. Anyway, we walk, everything is nice, and then she asks me what I'm doing the next day. I tell her I have class in the morning but we could probably meet up in the afternoon if we wanted. We agree to do that, but then she wanted to know exactly WHEN I was going to class ("When are you going to Universitetskii (area where the mezhfak is)? 10:30? I'm going before 11! Let's go together!"). I don't quite understand, since she doesn't live near me. We'd have to meet at some agreed upon stop, then sit next to each other on the marshrutka, and then I'd leave to go to class. I completely didn't understand. But I said fine, we agreed to meet at the central market and go from there at 10:30. So I get a text message at 10:20 saying she can't get there in time, but let's meet at the corner of Lenin and Karl Marx, she'll be there in 20 mins. First of all, it's about 15-20 mins from me, and THEN we'd have to walk to another stop, and then go from there (usually a ride on the marshrutka is like 30-45 mins). So I really don't want to be late and I'm sort of irritated, but we meet up, ride, and I end up not being late. But then we meet up for lunch, and afterwards I say I'm going to the gym. "Like, right now? Where is the gym? Downtown? I'll ride with you!". Then she later asks when I'll be done at the gym. I say probably around 5. At 5:05 she starts calling me, and in 40 mins calls me SIX TIMES. I call her back. The conversation is as follows:
Natalie: Sorry, I had my phone on silent and didn't hear your calls!
Tanya: It's okay. Where are you right now?
Natalie: I'm leaving the gym.
Tanya: So you're downtown? Right now? Walking? Where are you going?
Natalie: I'm on my way home.
Tanya: oh...you're going home. *VERY clear dissapointment*
Natalie: Yea, I have to eat dinner quickly and then I have a meeting at 7.
Tanya: Oh, so you're busy later tonight.
Natalie: Yea, sorry.....
*long awkward pause*
Natalie: so....where are you?
Tanya: I'm at home. Bored.
Natalie: Oh....sorry. Well, yea. I'm on my way home.
Tanya: Okay. I guess I'll see you later.
It was more awkward than it seems.
Also every time I leave the (new, upscale, almost like something that could be found in America) gym, all of the women (and also some of the men) yell at me for leaving with wet hair. They also ask me if I want tea. Only in Russia does your monthly gym pass come with free tea after every workout. Things are even less awkward with the trainer that I don't really want help from but who continues to watch me as I work out. Only problem is I have no idea what any of their names are.
Also I need to be going more often but it's SO HARD. I think next time I'm going to get the pass that let's me go in the evenings, when I'm more free. Also I'm going to be spending like 4 hours a day at the civic center when I come home. This is ridiculous.
So, I realize I'm sort of a weird person, but I DON'T understand this whole homesick phase thing. Like, I'm here, and yes, there are some things that I'm frustrated by that I wouldn't be frustrated by if I were in America. But I'm not like ACTIVELY missing home or Middlebury. Like, yes, I'm excited for next semester and being back in the states, but I'm not finding myself sad here because I'm not there. Does that make sense? I just keep reading these comments where people are like "I MISS MIDDLEBURY AND HOME SOOOOO MUCH!" and yes, these places are without a doubt better than Russia. And yes, I would STRONGLY prefer it if I had independence and flexibility. But I'm not feeling this strong "missing" feeling that people keep describing. I don't know, maybe it would be different if I were going to be here longer. But I'm not going to be here for that much longer. Then again, I find that I don't actively miss things in general. The only time I experience that heartbreaking "homesick/missing" feeling that people describe is when I leave situations I will never be in again (for example, after my Washington Workshops program) or people I will probably never see again. Anyway the point of this is that I probably have some sort of mental imbalance. No big deal.
But my mom is sending me peanut butter, marshmellows, and jelly bellys soon, which is ridiculously exciting. I want to show my host family and all of my Russian friends.
I wrote a lot more yesterday before the internet cut out and this internet cafe and lost the last part of my entry. I saw THE BEST (well, what I thought was the best) kiosk the other day. It was entirely devoted to baby food. But then sonya told me she saw a kiosk entirely devoted to cat and dog food, so I guess that's better.
I get really excited about seeing people I recognize in the street. I realize that it's not THAT big of a deal, and Irkutsk really isn't that big of a city, but I feel like I see people I know everywhere. I've run into Elissa and Ivan in the street a couple times (well, we see each other like all the time, but still), I recognized some guy I rode the marshrutka with, this guy that checked our coats at Old Cafe (while coming out of the internet cafe, but I don't think he recognized me, which is unfortunate because we talked for like 20 mins), this girl from SPO Phoenix, Elissa saw Sasha, and so on and so forth. I don't know, I just get excited about it.
We went to the Zemfira concert on Tuesday night. It was really good, actually, I quite enjoyed it, and would like to return to this nightclub. This may be difficult, considering that my host mother doesn't want me out after 11. Sasha was there too (how does this happen? How does he end up where we end up so often? well, only like 3 times.)
These guys at the internet cafe are ALWAYS here and listen to this song that's really upbeat and when I first hear it, sounds like a techno remix of a song from The Phantom of the Opera (I'm completely blanking on which one right now).
Also I'm going to meet some people at a bar to listen to jazz music. I'm wearing a polo shirt and a sweater. This would probably be inappropriate attire in an American bar, but in a Russian bar, this is like completely unacceptable. Oh well. I don't really care, nor do I have appropriate attire for...well, Russia in general (by "appropriate" I mean ridiculously ugly clothes with high knee boots (actually I do have those...) and miniskirts (...actually I have one of those...)).
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