And it's an essay I don't want to write.
Well. It's the last day of classes here in Nizhini. I just turned in a final with half the questions left blank. I wrote an essay on sufferring that even I think has no place in anyone's reading material. And now...I'm blogging instead of finishing the 15 page paper that was due two hours ago. Because I just don't really care about it. I think I'm done. The only thing is...papers are 50% of our grade, and this is the most significant paper of the semester, and I should probably at least give it an hour more of my time, if not as much time as it takes to make it the minimum of 12 papges. Right? I don't want to.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
i'm leaving my heart in nizhnii- sorry, san francisco
It's snowing outside. Again! Big bolshoui flakes. Today I made my first real snowman! It's so beautiful outside! Unfortunately, I have to write a paper tonight- 12 to 15 pages- and then study for a final tomorrow. I don't really know what this paper is going to be about, but I guess we'll see! We only have five more days in Nizhnii Nov. with our families, and then we're taking the night train to Moscow. Then, 10 days of museums, outdoor bazaars and boom! we're off to the states. So what can I tell you?
Well, the Oka and Volga Rivers are FREEZING OVER, something I never expected to see. Absolute craziness, let me tell you. And there are little mini-icebergs, these baby islands made of ice floating along the river, with birds catching a free ride south. Today I saw four puppies hanging out in the snow at one of the bus stops, and I tell you what, it's a good thing I don't live here, because in no time I know I'd be a 'dog lady' from adopting all the homeless puppies. I don't know what this means for when I go back to the states. I've always felt really sad for dogs who don't have families to love them, but it's so common here for dogs to be animals, and not pets, that it's kind of changing my view of them. And I'm starting to love cats. Weird. I think I'm actually going to miss my cat most out of the three people (counting my cat) in my Russian family. How silly is that? But last night he slept on my bed without trying to attack my hands and feet, like he did the night before! He can be a little devil at times, but I love him. He was so peaceful last night!
Today I finally bought some mittens to replace the ones I lost on the autobus. It's a good thing, because by the time I got home from the market my hands were blue, purple and pink! Not normal skin color.
Did I tell you that I'm going to drink tea constantly when I get home? Because I am. And I'm so thrilled about the teapot/chainik I painted at Color Me Mine with my girls just before the end of the summer, because it's going to be perfect for black tea leaves! Yay!
When I tried to go running this morning I thought I was going to die, because it rained yesterday and then the snow and everything froze into super scary ice, and I was running on it! I only ran for two seconds, and then played in the snow. It was way funner.
I think I'm going to miss this place.
Well, the Oka and Volga Rivers are FREEZING OVER, something I never expected to see. Absolute craziness, let me tell you. And there are little mini-icebergs, these baby islands made of ice floating along the river, with birds catching a free ride south. Today I saw four puppies hanging out in the snow at one of the bus stops, and I tell you what, it's a good thing I don't live here, because in no time I know I'd be a 'dog lady' from adopting all the homeless puppies. I don't know what this means for when I go back to the states. I've always felt really sad for dogs who don't have families to love them, but it's so common here for dogs to be animals, and not pets, that it's kind of changing my view of them. And I'm starting to love cats. Weird. I think I'm actually going to miss my cat most out of the three people (counting my cat) in my Russian family. How silly is that? But last night he slept on my bed without trying to attack my hands and feet, like he did the night before! He can be a little devil at times, but I love him. He was so peaceful last night!
Today I finally bought some mittens to replace the ones I lost on the autobus. It's a good thing, because by the time I got home from the market my hands were blue, purple and pink! Not normal skin color.
Did I tell you that I'm going to drink tea constantly when I get home? Because I am. And I'm so thrilled about the teapot/chainik I painted at Color Me Mine with my girls just before the end of the summer, because it's going to be perfect for black tea leaves! Yay!
When I tried to go running this morning I thought I was going to die, because it rained yesterday and then the snow and everything froze into super scary ice, and I was running on it! I only ran for two seconds, and then played in the snow. It was way funner.
I think I'm going to miss this place.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
She Will Rise Again!
That's what the name Anastasia means. And I'm using it to talk about my re-entrance to the online world. I have internet again!
Things in Russia have started to become very white- the snow has been falling for maybe a week now, and I think it snowed all night last night because when I woke up, the world was a winter wonderland outside my window. I go tromping through deep snow- halfway up to my knees! It makes everything prettier because it covers all the garbage and dead things that no one bothers to put somewhere else.
I'm getting much better at riding these crazy buses. I'm used to people being pressed against me, and being told to give up my seat to a babushka or dyedushka, and I know that sometimes people address me as debushka.
Sometimes I know that I'm the worst forgein exchange student ever. One morning my mom made me a soft-boiled egg, and when she saw that I wasn't wolfing it down, she decided to spoon feed it to me. It was at that point that I said in my broken Russia: "My mom in America said no" because I really didn't want to eat raw egg. I found out later that it would have been okay, but...
So right now I'm going to go for a run in the snow. It's my second time, and I only fell once on my first try! I just registered for classes for my last quarter at SPU. So weird.
Things in Russia have started to become very white- the snow has been falling for maybe a week now, and I think it snowed all night last night because when I woke up, the world was a winter wonderland outside my window. I go tromping through deep snow- halfway up to my knees! It makes everything prettier because it covers all the garbage and dead things that no one bothers to put somewhere else.
I'm getting much better at riding these crazy buses. I'm used to people being pressed against me, and being told to give up my seat to a babushka or dyedushka, and I know that sometimes people address me as debushka.
Sometimes I know that I'm the worst forgein exchange student ever. One morning my mom made me a soft-boiled egg, and when she saw that I wasn't wolfing it down, she decided to spoon feed it to me. It was at that point that I said in my broken Russia: "My mom in America said no" because I really didn't want to eat raw egg. I found out later that it would have been okay, but...
So right now I'm going to go for a run in the snow. It's my second time, and I only fell once on my first try! I just registered for classes for my last quarter at SPU. So weird.
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