"If you drink, you will die. If you take a gypsy cab, you will die. Basically if you leave the house, you will die."

Hello all!

I apologize for these posts becoming further and further spread out. I am honestly so incredibly busy with homework and my hour commute to and from school and going to the gym that I hardly even have time to sleep! I've had a couple of questions for you guys regarding contacting me, seeing pictures, etc. Ok, so first things first. In the nicest way possible, I don't know how to explain this any more simply: I DON'T HAVE THE INTERNET. I have to go an hour from home just to use the internet cafe once a week, which costs about 6 dollars to use. So, like a geometry logic proof, I don't have the internet, therefore I do not have: Facebook, email, AIM, skype, etc. The best way to contact me is through letters (which I have given you all my address. If for some reason you don't have it, call my parents or one of our friends.) or by calling me. It's actually very easy to call me, guys. I sent out my phone number to all of you (if you didn't get it, see instructions for getting my address above). There is this website where you can buy phone cards to Russia, it's something "penny boss" (google it). It's something crazy like $20 for 9 hours. That's good enough for the whole year, guys! If you do call me, please do so betwee the hours of 12 and 2 pm your time, because otherwise I am in class or commuting. I do miss you all, but it's better for my learning experience (and my wallet) to only go online once a week. Oh, and for those of you nagging about pictures (aka MOM), I will put up an album every month at the end the month on facebook. So get excited!

Ok, that being said, boy do I have SOOOO much news for you. Let's see...I lost 2 kgs this week, which I think is somewhere around 4 pounds. This is utterly insane because I eat like a trucker and I'm ALWAYS hungry here. Then again, I do probably walk more then 4 hours a day and a work out 4 times a week. Oh, and don't worry, my host mom (or хозйяка) cooks really well and I usually love everything she makes. I've been eating a lot of beet related things (борщ, this weird beet salad), chicken, and a lot of veggies. My хозйяка also made this juice out of these orange berries that grow on the trees here. It is SO good! It kind of tastes like cranberry juice mixed with fruit punch. Oh fun fact, in the grocery store, they don't refridgerate milk. I was a little skeptical, but I've been using it on my self-purchased coco puffs (which I miraculously found in a универсам by my apartment) and haven't gotten sick yet. Speaking of my family, I should probably elaborate a bit on them. Well, I have a host dog, валтон. He/she is a really scrawny collie that's missing a lot of fur and smells a bit, but I really like him/her. Balton sleeps a lot in my room (because usually I'm alone in the apartment) or he/she usually sleeps in the middle of the hallway, which makes it impossible to get to the bathroom or kitchen. Then there is my host brother. Or lack of one, I should say. I was told I would have a 23 year old host brother name Dmitri, but I have only caught a glimpse of him 3 times and never actually met him. He goes to college during the day and supposedly works at night, and I'm not entirely sure he lives with us. So that's fun. Then there is the old man. Up until yesterday I called him this, because I had no idea what his name is and still don't know really why he lives with us. From what I can deduce (with my expert Law and Order-taught detective skills) he is either married to or dating my host mom. He looks about 60ish and my host mom looks 40ish, but I mean, it happens. He apparently lives with us (as there are 4 toothbrushes in the bathroom, 4 hand towels on the rack, and I see him very late at night and very early in the morning). We hadn't really talked much exept when he tried to get me to eat butter when I had a cold (Russian home remedy. Obv. I refused) and when he kept asking me why I didn't eat a lot (which is nuts seeing as how I probably eat my body weight in food everyday). Four days ago he bought an арбуз aka a watermelon for us, so he somewhat bought my affection (Sidenote: In Moscow, they have these giant cages full of watermelons everywhere. I guess people from the South aka Greece, Caucauses, etc. come up to Moscow with trucks of watermelons to sell, and everyday they stand by their cages of watermelons and sell them until they are gone or they freeze, whichever comes first. I will try to get a picture to prove these watermelon cages are real). So anyway, everyone at school loves to hear my stories about my apartment, between my non-existant host brother and mysterious old guy. Well yesterday, I don't know what happened, but old guy say me struggling to cook dinner (aka heat up some leftovers on the stove) and came over and cooked dinner for me and introduced himself. His name is Ruslan (which is crazy cute because my host mom's name is Liudmila, and there is a famous Russian fairy tale about two people in love named Ruslan and Liudmila. Basically it's like having host parents named Romeo and Juliet or Tristan and Isolde). Ruslan asked me about school and my excursions and he's really nice. I think I may never know how he is connected with my host mother, because in Russia it's SUPER taboo to talk about sex and relationships, despite the fact people are regularly heavily making out on the metro escalators, so it would be really awkward for my host mom to tell me she's living with Ruslan but it's married to him (which I'm pretty sure is the case). Whatever, he obviously provides for her and makes her happy, so I could really care less about their living arrangement. Plus he brings home good food every now and then, so really, he can keep buying my affection. I will totally sell my good opinion for some арбуз.

Met my tutor. He's a boy and 25 and smells TERRIBLE (as in a shower is a completely foreign concept). He seemed ok and nice enough, but he just left Moscow for three weeks on business and goes away a lot, so I think I will ask my Resident Director for a new tutor. I really need someone to speak Russian with. Or at least someone to help me buy some winter boots and not get ripped off.

Thursday was Russian-American club, and it was basically the best thing that happened this week. Russian-American club is run kind of by Jon, our RD, and also by Katie (one of my friends in the program, she is SO sweet) and Kyle, two of my classmates. They serve as moderators for our discussions, which take place mostly in english, because the Russians who come know better English than we do Russian. Of course. We discuss topics like gender roles and holidays and customs, the only thing we won't talk about is politics (we wants a dialog, not a debate). This past week we talked about stereotypes of people from different regions (of the US and Russia). All of my classmates came to the meeting after school as well as about 10 Russians. Unfortunately, 3 boys from the California program came as well. There is a group fo students studying at my University from California, and they are the most obnoxious people I have ever met. They speak in English at the university (we speak in Russian frm 9 t0 5) and are SUPER loud and just act like sterotypical Americans - like they own the place and everyone should conform to their needs. You guys know me, it takes a lot for me to really dislike someone, and I literally loathe these kids. It's because of them that the Russians at our school don't like us because they can't differentiate the two groups. Anyway three of them came to the meeting (I'm pretty sure they weren't invited) and they tried to dominate the whole thing. They talked super fast and with a lot of slang, so it was impossible for the poor Russians to understand, and they were blatantly hitting on this one Russian girl in the group and always talking about Santa Barbara and California. Ugh. We even started asking pointed questions about how not to be rude Americans to the Russians, but the Californians didn't get the hint. Anyway, from the discussion I learned that people in Moscow really stereotype people from the countryside and the biggest immigrant population are the Tajik (similar to Mexicans in the US) and they are usually stereotyped. There was this one Russian guy, Sergei, who had done the club last year and was very charismatic and knew English really well and really took charge of the Russian contingent. So about 10 minutes into the meeting I was noticing that none of the Russians at the meeting were really that attractive, but I thought, oh well, at least they don't smell like my tutor, when in came this guy and sat a few seats to my right in the large circle we formed. It was basically like the hallelujah chorus played in my head and I couldn't help but stare at him (all meeting, even though I tried really hard not to). He was tall and had darker skin (hard to explain, he wasn't tan, but wasn't as pure white as Russian skin, if that makes sense) and had light colored eyes. He wasn't just attractive for a Russian, he was attractive for any guy. I have no idea what his name is, but he was wearing a Washington DC sweatshirt and said he studied in the US in high school, so hello, I totally have a talking point when I see him next Thursday...So did you study in DC. Oh, that's nice. I go to school there. Oh, by the way, let's date. (Sidenote: Mom, I know your worst fear is that I get a Russian boyfriend and neevr come home. Don't worry. A) This guy is probably gay or in a relationship or isnt interested and B) I heard he's tajik, so technically he wouldn't be a Russian boyfriend). We all went out to a bar after Russian American club, but of course cute guy didn't come, so I will have to wait until next Thursday to see what happens.

During Russian American club, Kyle asked us what some of our expectations were for Russia after our horrendous orientation, which scared the crap out of all of us. So I was raising my hand for a while and the California kids kept talking, so finally Sergei looked over at me and said "Excuse me, but this charming young lady has wanted to say something for a while. Let's let her talk" Everyone laughed and I was kind of embarrassed, but I think Sergei is just superfriendly like that. So I told everyone how I go to school in DC and I'm used to a big city, but after the orientation, it came across like "If you drink, you will die. If you take a gypsy cab, you will die. Basically, if you leave your apartment, you will die." Everyone found this funny and I said that Moscow didn't seem so bad to me and then Sergei asked how long I had beem here and I replied 2 weeks. Then he asked how long I was staying and I said until May, and he replied jokingly "Well, you will have plenty of opportunities to die by then." And everyone laughed again. And all night at the bar, Sergei kept teasing me about this and when I went to leave, he noticed I wasn't drunk and he said "You can't go onto the subway at 10 o'clock not drunk. You can't. It's a russian law. You will die." I think I'm going to keep getting crap from him next week, but he's only teasing. This Russian guy in the club from Siberia, Alexander, really took a liking to Katie and talked to her all night at the bar and walked her home, so I think someone has a new admirer.

This weekend for our excursions, I skipped the Friday trip to the state Library (named after Lenin) because it looked like it would be boring (and proved to be, or so I heard). On Saturday, we took a bus tour of Moscow, and by tour I mean Jon, our RD telling a regular bus driver where to go and Jon telling us about stuff as we passed. It was actually really helpful because you don't know the layout of the city if you are always underground on the metro. Oh, I forgot, that morning we went and saw Lenin's mausoleum. It was SO creepy and reminded me of the Bodies exhibit in the states. Lenin is like glowing in a really dark room with two Russian police officers staring at you. It was like going to a really creepy funeral underground. Anyway, after the bus tour, Katie, Jackie (from Staten Island, goes to BU), and Carlos (from Barbados) and I walked around to Patriarch's pond, which apparently is described in the opening scene of Master and Margarita. It was really pretty and had a lot of swans. Carlos was freaking out when we walked the perimeter because he can't swim, despite the fact the pond is maybe 2 feets. Then we went to the house museum of Chekov (for only $1.50) and saw that. It was pretty cool. It was half exhibit and half reconstruction of the house as it looked when he lived there. I really need to read more Russian literature, as I have only read Anna Karenina. Then Jackie, Katie, and I went to a free showing of a Russian film at this film festival. It was an adaptation of a Solsitenitzen (spelling?) book and was super confusing because A) We don't understand Russian and B) they only showed us like 2 of the 4 parts of the movie and there was a really sad part where everyone in the theater was crying but we didn't know what was going on, so I'm sure we just looked really insensitive. Katie and I fell asleep a couple of times, but at least we tried. I understood a tiny bit, and we made an effort. Plus it was free. And that makes it like a million times better.

Today we went on a truly pointless two hour walking tour of Moscow, seeing a couple of monuments, but mainly just freezing as we speed (sped?)-walked in a ring around Moscow. I have school tomorrow, REALLY need to do my homework. Also need to buy new jeans as mine no longer even stay on (the whole -2 kgs, I guess). Ok, I'll try to write sooner next time. Call me, write me! Love you all!

-Me.