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Published: September 16th 2008
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Hey everyone, guess what. Unfortunately, I am still winning against Russia. They tried to off me a couple times. On the metro, on the train, in a massive McDonald's, the internet cafe lady tried to kill me by staring, the toilets try to kill you from squatting so much, and the food is similar to someone punching you in the stomach, having the food come out, and then trying to eat it again.
All in all, I am really enjoying my time!!
So what to say... first off the internet here has a monthly limit of data that we are allowed to send/recieve. So I will not be posting very often. Probably once a week or so. And I will have to keep pictures relatively small.
We have arrived here in Nizhni Novgorod about a week ago. Where we were then unceremoniously dumped into our dorm like cattle. The dorm is coed, I have one guy as a wallmate on one side and then 2 girls live next door on the other side of me. So the floors have guys and girls on them basically. I am used to this because of SMR but some of our group
was weirded out. Yes, it was all the girls. But now they say they prefer it. Honestly, sometimes I think the world would be a very boring place if only women lived on it. Everyone in the dorm eats in a small cafeteria one floor below us. Each dorm has its own eating area inside itself. Our dorm is only for Russians and Americans, specifically us RSP Americans. So we tend to get a lot of attention, and staring, whenever we walk down a hall.
Honestly, I am fairly certain some of wasted about an hour of our lives trying to explain what spooning was to the Russian students. Of course it didn't help that half of the Americans didn't know what spooning was either. So, all in all, I think you can see what I have to deal with. 😊
The food isn't too bad, but rather repetitive in the dorms. Breakfast is some sort of porridge, juice, and bread and cheese. With a hard boiled egg thrown in. Lunch always has soup. Either borsch, which is pink-red soup due to the beets in it and I must say it is my favorite soup. Other soups are
cabbage, mushroom or the everlasting potato soup. Dinner usually is completely up for grabs. From liver to crab salad to odd mystery meat ontop of mystery things. Someone called it buckwheat grains.
Anyway, I like their desserts. 😊
We have also partied it up with the Russians. They throw a dance/entertainment party at the beginning of our stay here and it was most excellent. I learned a great dancing game and the Russians dance very... wild like. Most of it was American music, they in some ways idolize us. Except that they think we are full of sin and our food is really fatty, but besides that they like us! Well, except for Bush, they hate him.
A few words on the Russians themselves. The women are absolutely gorgeous. However they are really bossy and not used to American men, of which I am pretty much the paradigm of. I think they look at me as if I were part animal or something. They don't quite know how to interact with a man who can make up his own mind and doesn't need any sort of babysitting. I am starting to get called мишкa. (Meeshka) it means Bear in Russian. I haven't shaved since I left America. No one tell Lauren. She doesn't need to know that. 😊
And the men all dress very European, clean shaven with hair always jelled and looking fancy. Don't get me wrong, the american girls like the way the Russian men dress. But I think they are kind of metro-ish. Stylish too. They don't care however if the American girls have boyfriends, they ask them out anyway. Right now I think it is hilarious. But if they ever try anything more I may have to make an example of one of them. Although granted, I don't know how much the girls are trying to divert attention. Hard to say. Part of it all I think is that all of us are exotic.
I have two Russian teachers and the first one is absolutely, without a doubt, off her rocker insane. I don't know how to describe it, she just is absolutely nuts. Makes lots of squeaky noises and likes to kind of lay on her desk. And then she dresses like she is 18 for a night on the town and she is most assuredly at least 40. The other teacher reminds me of one of the Russian military women that you see. All strict and who's only facial expression is a scowl with a bit of unibrow.
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