This internet cafe is so slow it's driving me INSANE.

The internet at Café Koks didn’t work today when Lucy and I were there. That was very, very sad.

The adjustment phase is going relatively well. I think. We have yet to be in the apartment alone though, which…a) hopefully won’t be too uncomfortable and b) hopefully I’ll be able to understand him when he asks more questions about the swamps of New Jersey.

Eddie, Lucy and I had coffee at this little place near the square (also near Tex-Mex). I thought it was very nice, and probably a good place to do homework…which is key, now that I don’t ever have alone time in the apartment.

Children’s home today was okay. They were kids of all different ages, so it was sort of difficult (and at the beginning they didn’t want to play with us), but in the end it was fine. I also love being with all the people from my SPO Phoenix group. We went out for tea afterwards too, so that was fun. We’ll be back next Saturday. As for tomorrow…I don’t so much want to go, to be honest. But I probably will.

Tomorrow we’re meeting at Café Fiesta (grrrrrr) to study for our Baikalovedene test on Thursday. I don’t really know what we’re going to study, because he said he was going to ask very broad questions, but…whatever, we’ll see.

Then at 5 I’m going ice skating! With the SPO Phoenix people. I’m excited. Joseph and Ivan might come too.

Still need to figure out winter plans. Like, I want to see Moscow and St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl…but I also want to go home. I dunno. I think I’m just ready to leave Russia. The interesting thing, though, is that I’m NOT ready to stop speaking Russian all the time. I’m afraid I’m going to forget a lot of it when I go back home. And I don’t want to do that. I haven’t really figured out how to solve this problem, but we’ll see. I think that’s a good sign though (that I’m not ready to stop speaking Russian all the time), and hopefully I won’t regress too much when I go home. I probably will, but I think I’m coming to terms with that. It’s not like this is going to be the best I’ll ever be at Russian.

Sunday, November 25th
AHHHH I HAVE ALONE TIME! Mama Olya told me this morning that “If you come home later and no one’s here…” and I immediately perked up. She even told me when she was leaving! Meaning I could plan this all out! Wooooo! Nadya and Papa Yuri (Yura? Not sure) went to see Natasha, and Mama Olya went…well, somewhere. So I left our Baikal study group early (I don’t think we were really accomplishing much anyway) to come here and hang out by myself. And it is wonderful.

I was a bad person this morning. First of all, I didn’t end up going to the children’s home…and then I didn’t give any money to this guy begging on the street. I don’t want that karma coming back around.

My winter plans seem to be taking shape. I think Joseph, Ivan and I are going to go on the train to Moscow. I don’t know if we’re going to get a 4 person compartment (maybe a fourth person will come?) but I think I’d rather just do the 6-person, open compartments. It’s only $80 that way. I think we’re going to go to Yaroslavl too. Then Joseph’s going to Copenhagen, and Ivan’s going to Helsinki. I’ll probably to go St. Petersburg, and I think Sonya and Alya are going to come at some later date. This is probably not interesting to anyone but me.

Several hours later:
So….we didn’t really go ice skating. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. Like, it was ridiculous. And no one was willing to stand in a line or anything, they all just shoved each other out of the way. Like, seriously? It’s ice skating. Anyway, so we got shoved aside, and waited a long time, and then decided to go to a café. So that was good (also, evidently cocoa with milk is just hot milk…what?). Then we went back, stood in line, and they told us we’d have to wait another hour. So I left.

And I went to the internet café and looked up flights from New York JFK to Cleveland on January 1st or 2nd. And they aren’t obnoxiously expensive. So as soon as I talk to STA travel…woo.

I’ve been trying to keep good posture lately, because I never really stood up straight to begin with but it’s gotten way worse while I’ve been in Russia. And it is like WHOA uncomfortable. And my shoulder/neck muscles are tense to begin with, but now? MAN. Also I’m not really sure I’m doing it right, because I still feel like my shoulder blades are sticking out and not sitting flat on my back, the way they should be. Also every once in awhile I need to shake out my shoulders and then reset myself, and that just looks weird.

Again, several hours later:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I just called STA travel and they have NOTHING between December 23rd and January 6th. So now I have to decide whether I want to cut out early (and be home for Christmas?) or hang around for what could be a very long time. ESPECIALLY if I’m going to be traveling alone for a large amount of time. I think I’m going to just suck it up and stay until the 6th. I know I’ll hate myself later if I was in Russia and didn’t see Moscow and St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl. And I’ve heard that I could stay in St. Petersburg for, like, ever. Why are so many people flying on New Years Eve/Day? Seriously? I figured that NO ONE would want to do that and I’d have no problem. AGHHH.

Okay I think I’ve already decided. I’ll go for the 6th, and ask them to put me on some sort of wait list if something else opens up before that. Can they do that? I would think so.

Five minutes later:
Okay, freakout SO over. This is going to be great. I can spend a long time in Moscow and St. Petersburg and I’ll have a great time…is anyone going to BE in Moscow or St. Petersburg? At first I thought that there would be a ton of people but they all seem to be slowly dropping out. Sad.

Monday, November 26th
I was SO productive today and it felt really good. Actually, to be honest, I wasn’t really all that productive, but….more so than usual. Sonya, Ivan and I went to the library and found the books we needed for our papers. I photocopied the parts I need from one and the other three will be here tomorrow. The library system somewhat makes sense, we just had to have it explained to us. They have search catalog, just like us. You can search for books, articles, etc by author, title, keyword, etc. A thing will pop up telling you what they have and a little code for it. The only thing, is that the main library (where we were) doesn’t ACTUALLY have many books. Like, in the whole library system, they have 3 million. But in the actual library? Not so many. What you have to do is order them from the gigantic building NEXT to the library, and they’ll deliver it the next day (or in an hour). Which means that most of the library is sort of inaccessible. Or it could be somewhere else, like at the Geography Department. You also can’t take books out of the library, you have to read them there. Which is why I had everything photocopied. Oh, you also can’t photocopy, you have to have someone ELSE photocopy it for you. Anyway I found the two books I need for my mainstream (she said we wouldn’t need more than two…in fact, she seemed surprised when we said we were actually going to do the paper) and two for Baikalovedene, which means I have more than enough (Pavel Alexandrovich gave me another one and some websites). So by tomorrow afternoon I should have all of my “research” done…which means I’ll have a bunch of information sitting in front of me. In Russian. Oh, good. AGH.

Yesterday I went with Joseph and Eddie to this café/bar type thing. Okay, we decided that even if we TRIED, we couldn’t explain the experience of being in a Russian bar. It just can’t be done. And you remember how I said that a lot of strange things in Russia don’t even faze me because, well…almost everything is strange? Yes. Well, remember that, it will be referenced later.

So we went to this bar. You could see the smoke in the air. There were blacklights everywhere and a dance floor in the middle. They had a strange man in the corner who controlled the music/sometimes badly sang. There were about 5 awkward Russians dancing in the middle of this gigantic dance floor. It was a Sunday night. They had the prices of all of the dishes on the menu (I guess if you broke any of them? Anyway). The music was this awful techno stuff. And I’m looking around at all the different people in this bar, wondering why they were there, and then did a double take.

Why were there two 10 year old boys sitting in the corner? What? And then in the other corner-two 10 year old girls. Was this a coincidence? Were they just there because their parents were boozing on a Sunday night? THERE ARE CHILDREN AT A BAR!

Other than that, I would say the experience was pretty standard.

After the library Sonya and I went to the little coffee shop I went to with Lucy and Eddie. I thought it was an enjoyable experience. And this guy that was staying at the Golden Gobi with us was there. WEIRD. At first I didn’t notice him, and then I looked again, and he was just like “hello.” So he’s going to Baikal for a week and then coming back and wanted to get together with us, so now he has my number. He also said he’s going to Vladivostok to get a visa for China, since he was turned down for one in Mongolia (WHAT?! I didn’t even know that could HAPPEN) because he said he wanted to go to Tibet. Is that true? Can you get turned down for a Chinese visa because you said you wanted to go to Tibet? Also this was a conversation in English, so it’s not like there was something lost in translation.

So things with the host father are better. He’s sort of this cute little Buryat guy. I feel bad, I think he’s lonely and wants someone to talk to. He told me the history of two musical groups today. I guess they left the Soviet Union at some point and came back in the 90s. Also this morning before I left to go to the library, he asked me if I was going somewhere and seemed slightly disappointed when I said yes. So then he sat down on the couch and watched TV.

BUT-he did leave the house this morning around 9:30, when I immediately jumped out of bed and was able to put back my breakfast so I wouldn’t have to eat all of it. EXCELLENT. BEYOND EXCELLENT. And I showered and washed all of the dishes before he came back. But anyway, when I came back from the library and asked him how his day was, he was thrilled to show me what he had been working on. I’m not entirely sure what it was he was working on, but I think he fixed the sink (it was broken? He said something about how the water could peacefully run now, or something), and part of the counter was pulled away from the wall and hanging out with the refrigerator on the other side of the kitchen. I also actually REALLY like the music he’s listening to right now. It’s like, the Russian Tom Waits. But actually just now Mama Olya came home and yelled at him to turn it off. Also sad.

I feel bad because Nadya and Mama Olya are yelling at him a lot (well, he’s only been home for two days, but yes). We were watching this ice skating show (where professionals get matched up with celebrities and they have this competition and every week one pair is eliminated), but anyway he was explaining to me who the people where (“And that girl, well she’s a professional figure skater and her husband, that guy right there, is her trainer. Her partner is an actor, usually on…”) and was interrupted by Nadya yelling at him because I’d already been hearing this for two months from her and Mama Olya. But I don’t mind, he can tell me again if he wants to.

Two hours later:
I am now officially web registered for:
Soviet and Russian Politics, The Civil Rights Revolution, Psychological Disorders, and Russian Culture and Civilization II. I’m not especially enthusiastic, but I think my schedule will work out. At first I was worried about not having morning classes, but this means I can get up super early and be really productive for long amounts of time (and I’m GOING to do that-after doing nothing in Russia for an entire semester I’m ready for like, crazy amounts of productiveness). The only thing that sucks is that means I’m going to want to go to bed at like, 9:30, and on Monday nights I have class until 11. I think that’s just a screening though…maybe I can just watch the movies on the weekends…we’ll see. Also my cursor just went insane, that sucks. Is it possible to have to replace touchpads? Maybe I just need a new mouse. I don’t have one right now.

Tuesday, November 27th
So this morning as I ate breakfast, my host father had coffee and sat with me, very nice of him. But he turned on the TV (TV is on for all meals here) and turned it to the music video channel. I’m not entirely sure why, but I definitely would have preferred the news or something, as it was somewhat awkward as in the background of our conversation were rappers talking about their many girls and other doings. Granted, most of them were in English so he didn’t understand any of it, but still. I think he turned it on for my sake, thinking that the music video channel is something I would enjoy…but it created quite the awkward atmosphere. Anyway.

Today in class Irina Militievna pulled out the email Lizi sent her (she printed it) and then taught us how to say “a person from San Francisco” (It’s, like, Sanfransizetz or something). She then told us that Russians have many interjections, such as Oh! Ah! Wah! and Ba! but Americans only have one, and is this exasperated “ugh” sound. We all found this hilarious, had NO idea what she was talking about as we have a) never used this strange sound and b) have never spoken to her in English. Then for the rest of the class we used an absurd amount of interjections, most of them being obnoxious exasperated “ugh” sounds, or BA!. Actually Eddie did most of the noise-making.

Then when I went to go to the library they told me I couldn’t take my own books in. I found this ridiculous, got very upset, and left.

But that’s okay, because then I went to that coffee shop that I fell in love with and fell in love with it even more. The really cheery waitress (I KNOW, in RUSSIA!) Tatiana was there, and it was great. And I WASN’T the only person there alone reading! There was another Russian guy that came in and just had some coffee and read. Also sometimes they play strange music, but today they had fantastic coffee shop music, and “The Sounds of Silence” (sound? Not sure) by Simon and Garfunkel played. That, like, REALLY did it for me. I was so happy. And then later they played “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, which was just like an extra treat. And then I started to get sad, because although we have Starbucks and Caribou Coffee and even a ton of cute, little independent coffee shops, I’d never been in one quite like this. They had a food menu, a LARGE variety of coffees and teas, and, well, I dunno. I’ve just never seen a coffee shop like this in the United States. Also I don’t ever remember seeing “coffee with Bailey’s” on any menu in the US, which is my new favorite coffee drink. It is SO good. So I got sad, thinking about how soon I would have to leave this wonderful little coffee shop.

I started feeling that way about my host family too. I think that’s a good thing.

I’m still freaking out about the paper writing, but I’m going to worry about that AFTER our Baikalovedene exam on Thursday (AHHHH). Irina Militevna ALMOST assigned us a term paper about some sort of grammatical concept, but when she saw the panic on our faces, she decided not to. Excellent.

Okay, back to Baikal.

Also, as my trips to the library have increased, I’ve seen SO many people running along the road next to the river. I mean, I know people told me it was POSSIBLE, but I didn’t think anyone actually did it! If I weren’t so busy, and so out of shape that running in front of other people would be completely embarrassing, I would totally run along the Angara.

Wednesday, November 28th
This is like the neverending blog entry. I need to post this pronto.

I feel a little bit better about our exam tomorrow…but not THAT great. It’s multiple choice and hopefully not too hard. I’m sort of tired of studying at this point, even though I REALLY need to be studying more. Eh.

Also I’m trying to call STA travel and for some reason it isn’t working. This worries me. AHHHH GET ME BACK TO THE UNITED STATES.

Thursday, November 29th
Okay, our exam for Baikalovedene? HARD. He let us use a dictionary though, which helped…but, STILL. Like, I actually studied, and didn’t know most of the answers. Some of them were ridiculous though so it was easier to narrow it down…but still. And it’s sad that Pavel Alexandrovich is going to be like…they don’t know anything. He took pictures of us today, by the way. We were like….awwwwwwwwww. Sad that I’m never going to see him again after two weeks.

But I feel a lot better now that that exam is over…except now I have two papers to write. Eddie wrote 2 pages yesterday, which I think is incredibly impressive. I need to gather more info, which means I need to go to the library again. AHHHH.

Still working on getting my ticket changed. I think I’m going to have to just settle for the 8th. It’s a bummer right now, because I am sick of Russia, but I know once my classes end and I’m actually traveling I’ll be glad to be here (in Russia, not Irkutsk). But once I DO get back, all of my time is going to be spent whipping myself into shape for softball….

I should probably go to the library now. Or at the very least, the internet café. My host father keeps asking me if I want to eat, which is probably my cue to exit the apartment.