pooped

I've just been kicked out of the kitchen by Наталя Natalia, my host grandmother. When I came home at around 8:30pm, I was promptly fed dinner. I ate rice, chicken, блины blini, bread, and vegetables, the same as each day prior. I'm not sure if I will eat the same food for dinner every night, but I think I will be content should this turn out to be the situation. I have a history of being fine with eating the same thing every day: peanut butter and jelly lunch ages 6 - 18, pasta salad and garlic bread for lunch all of last summer at the farm...when others get sick of something, it just seems to grow on me. A fortunate characteristic that has served me well and, no doubt, will continue to.

Anyway, I was kicked out of the kitchen because we ate dinner с подругой Натале, Гала with Natalia's friend, Gala. After about fifteen minutes, Natalia invited me to go to my room so that she and Гала Gala could talk...in private. I'm not sure why she didn't just start talking at a normal conversational speed, because I certainly would not have understood more than a few words. I have a feeling that had I failed to understand what she meant when she asked me to go away, she would have figured that there was no reason for me to go away. So I passed a little test, maybe.

Наталя Natalia noticed that I have circles under my eyes. I told her, Honestly, I went to sleep at 11! The problem was that I woke up every few hours because of the sun. I think Гала Gala is about to leave because Наталя Natalia just now burst into my room to shine a lamp on my computer screen to help me see it. Anyway, I think the real reason I have circles under my eyes is because I am exhausted from the day.

Class this morning was by far the least of today's challenges. We reviewed the prepositional case, mostly. I'm hoping we don't spend too much time on review. Though if we do, this will also be fine because that which bores me will also become more thoroughly seared into my brain. It would be more exciting to plow forward at breakneck speed, but I have a feeling these people know a thing or two about teaching language.

After class we ate lunch at Русский стол Russian table. There were about forty of us, including students, teachers, and tutors (Russian students) and it was by far the most crowded table at which I have ever sat. Each person was literally squeezed between two other people, elbows in faces, accidentally eating each others' food. I think this exercise will be more productive once the tutors and students have gained some mutual familiarity. Also, I happened to be in a group of really talkative people, which made it difficult to get a sentence in sideways.

After some more classes, I somehow ended up going out with Ariel (male), a student, Ася Asya, a tutor, and two of her friends, Вита Vita and a fellow whose name I didn't catch, but call him Миша Misha. Ariel and I walked with them for a long while, missing 96% of their conversation but smiling and nodding plenty. Once we finally got to a cafe, we sat down and placed our orders. I tried to order зелёный салат green salad, but since they were out of vegetables, I asked for a bowl of борщ borsch. We stayed with them for a very long time, maybe a few hours, as Миша Misha plowed through drinks and cigarettes with admirable aplomb. The girls drank a little, too, and chattered even more excitedly as their drinks disappeared. It was late in the day and I'm pretty sure my fatigue detracted from my comprehension skills. I really did want to sit with and hang out with them; I only hope that they weren't insulted by my perpetual blank stare, from which I deviated only to pretend to get one of their jokes.

I think I'm best in conversation with a Russian one-on-one. When they are in a group, they have little incentive, nor should they, to slow down their speech to accomodate my limitations. But I was definitely able to get a few sentences in. Even though the experience was frustrating at times, the cafe adventure is definitely the type of thing I want to partake in. I'm sure next time I will catch a few more words, especially if I spend time with the same people more than once and adjust to their speech patterns. And if everyone were to spoil me like Наталя Natalia does with ultra-slow speech, I don't think I would learn very quickly.

I'm really glad the tutors want to hang out with us. I suppose we must be intriguing, what with our broken speech, strange clothing and finicky eating habits.

Two accomplishments from today are, in my opinion, worthy of mention: I bought some mouthwash from a store down the street, mainly because I needed some small change, and...we rode on the bus! And got off at the correct stop! Ура!

Today's album is smaller and includes photos of my neighborhood, Smolny College, and the crowded lunch.