Heavens, what a day…
I was definitely late by an HOUR for class today; it seems that I did the "switch lines of text while I'm reading" thing again…… I was sooooo embarrassed!! I talked to the professor though, so it's all ok. For those of you who appreciate a twist of Irony -- "shame" and "embarrassment" were two words I studied yesterday. Who knew I'd have needed them so soon?!?
I enjoyed my classes today -- and the teachers are all fantastic so far!! Granted, I missed the first class, so I can't talk about that; but in "Video" we had a professor, Vladimir Alexeevich, who told us, "You may be familiar with Vladimir Lenin, and Vladimir Putin -- but I'm better than all of them!" He was quite a character. He also told us, of his last name (Sypic [soup-ic]) that it was, "A tasty last name," (Syp = Soup). =^__^=
Then there was Tamara Evgenevna, who is our teacher for something of a conversation class -- she seems really nice, and very sharp! Those were the only teachers I had today -- more descriptions will come in the future.
On the Internet situation -- it's finally working -- but I definitely wanted to cry again while in the store!! That whole, "wanting to cry when I'm über stressed out" is a total ego killer… = @_@ =
I didn't quite wait to use my internet, however, so I have a sinking feeling that I may get charged a little extra for that… Hmm...
I took the Metro home, and all went well there -- but I was exhausted to the nth degree. Nothing like being late to your first day of school and getting waaaay in over your head trying to buy electronics/technical things to tucker you out.
I was *supposed* to start my homework once I got home -- but I decided to do some exercises and stretch a little bit instead; then it looked like dinner time, so I went out of my room.
I ate my dinner with Igor -- and there, we wound up talking more politics!!! How is it that I always get into Politics, when it's supposed to be one of the "Taboo Topics," and one I have no, real useful vocabulary for?? Summary of the discussion: Igor wanted to know what I thought about Obama, and the government in general at the moment -- and I basically summed up Democrats and Republicans as follows -- Democrats = Like to Spend Lots of Money** on People, Are More Involved in Individual Affairs, Make Laws Against Guns; Republicans = Like to Spend Lots of Money,** are Less Involved in Individual Affairs, are Nicer to People Who Shoot/Like Guns. The "Spend Lots of Money" thing, well, both sides will say their counterpart spends lots of money -- and no matter which party people are part of -- in some way or another, it's true. Can we say, Pork Barrel Politics? Politicking aside, Igor and I also had a fun little discussion on the Celsius/Fahrenheit relation -- where I managed to tell Igor about the 28 C = 82 F distinction, and he filled me in about how -2.7 C = 27 F.
In other news, no puns intended, on the T.V., I saw a news bit about rescue dogs doing an exercise (finding survivors after disasters, etc), and there was a program that Igor was watching that featured Russians and Ukrainians debating each other on certain issues. I wish I'd understood more of that one.
The night wasn't entirely serious though: while I was sitting with Olga, having a clementine, I shared with her about how I always tried to peel citrus stuff in one go, after seeing my Nana do it. Unfortunately, with all the talking between myself and Igor, and Olga, too, my food got cold!!! I spent a long time at the table tonight.
Once I finally finished, I went back to my room, and was supposed to start my homework again; but instead did my internet set up/trying to catch up -- all the while thinking that I probably shouldn't be using it yet… Went to start my homework again; and then I got on my "make a list of words I need to know," except I haven't got the time to study them tonight; and in the middle of all that, I was trying to plan out my time during the week!! That brought on a nasty, sinking sort of feeling, to realize that I'm here in Moscow, and my time is TAKEN. I mean, I knew I would be busy, but if I plan it right, I'm going to be using every second of every day, in order to do everything that needs to be done. Homework and dance should each have about 3 hrs, and 2 AT LEAST. School alone goes from 9-4 every day! With at least a 45 minute commute. So, commute has to be figured in, and I don't want to miss dinner, because I WANT to eat…. Wow, just zoned out…. Need to see if maybe it'll be ok to go dance RIGHT after school, and maybe Olga will save something for me to eat around 8? Although she doesn't have to… But it'll save about an hour of commuting from one place to another. But all that means my bag will be rather heavy… Ugh…. Needless to say, it's going to be hard. I'd like to space ballet out through the week, too, not just shove it into the weekend, where I may not always have time to go to class. And, I want to see the city, and have fun, too! But I'm here to dance, and learn the language above all, so… Something has got to give. I'm also trying to make sure that I schedule at LEAST 6 hrs for sleep, but I'd like it to be 7. Busting that tonight. Great.
If you've followed all of that rambling -- Congratulations!!! Welcome to what my brainwaves have sounded like for the last few hours...
OK -- I need to stop now so that I can have 9 minutes to change and maybe read something to have done SOME kind of hw tonight, and be in bed at 12:30 to be up at 7. I think I got everything down about today…
Ack, wait -- just two more things:
Thanks to being in class, and meeting the teachers, we joked and laughed, and loosened up a bit [in Russian] for the first time since we arrived. I cannot TELL you how nice that was, to just laugh, and be joking around. It was such a relief, and release even. Humour really is so important in life; and when you leave and go someplace where you're not fluent, you definitely loose your ability to be funny… It's an odd feeling; wanting to laugh, and make jokes, and realizing you "can't" anymore. So, thank God for today's laughter.
Also, John mentioned an article in a Russian Magazine (The New Times) today about corruption in Russia's secret police force, the OMON, if I'm not mistaken. He warned us it would be a tough article; but that there was also some kind of BBC response article. (2-15-10 Update - I bought the magazine but have had ZERO time to read it; and never did find the BBC article online.)
Much love,
Moscow Kitty; 12:21 AM
=^__^= --- but really -- =@_@=
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