helllloooo

sorry. my plan was to catch everything up yesterday, but of course my internet was out.

so. thursday instead of class we walked around Moscow and with our teacher taking pictures. this is our lab class and we had photography vocabulary. i think i was supposed to be using it on the trip around. we saw some interesting stuff i probably wouldn't have found otherwise. there was a statue thing that was about how the vices of adults effect the lives of children. It was kinda cool but kinda creepy looking too. we also crossed this bridge that had these fake chain type trees on it. on the trees were locks with couples names on it. it was kinda cool. people locking their love forever. ha. we made it back from our little excursion just in time for a guest lecturer from the state dept. who of course talked about how great the foreign service is. it was actually pretty cool, but i don't think i could move every two years. That lecture lasted a bit and afterwards i left and came home early so i could do laundry and such. it was pretty exciting.

Friday was Russia day. it is when russia declared independence from the Soviet Union. Linsey and I hung out all day because most people went on a camping trip. we vetoed that idea for several reasons..mainly it was supposed to rain all weekend. after hearing some stories we are pretty happy with our decision. We went to old arbat street and looked around, it has souvenirs and paintings and such. it is a pretty cool place. then we went to red square to see what going on there for russia day...turned out not a whole lot. well there was a marathon going on. I still don't see the amusement in doing a marathon. I'll stick with my sprint triathlons. thank you very much. then we went to this grocery store to buy water. it is very hot and water is a necessity but we have to buy it because we don't want to die after drinking tap water. we found this really good 1.5 liter water for 7 rubles. that is like 23 cents. so yippee. then we went to this park which we learned today isn't really a park but a boulevard because it is in between two streets. so even though it was green and grassy...not a park. there was supposed to be a free concert there but we couldn't find it. so we just sat and talked. Then linsey came over to my apt to spend the night. my family was out of town, but told me how to make this ravioli stuff which you basically just boil. good thing i can work a stove like no other. just in case Nina showed me how to use the stove. i swear you can't speak a language so you immediately become incompetent in every other aspect of life. anyway. linsey and i enjoyed our ravioli and picked out a movie to watch, the da vinci code. to make ourselves feel better we put on russian subtitles. the only problem is when they spoke french or whatever we had no idea what was going on. because instead of english subtitles there were russian ones. shocker. before the movie we went to my nearest productie, that is what they call little convenience stores. and got some fanta and chips. haha. super healthy i know. then we kinda just chilled and then went to bed. it was a fun girl's night.

Saturday we got up and went to the renick and looked for stuff. we bought some stuff too but i am not telling what. it was fun bargaining and talking. we are getting better. after that we went to the novodivcty convent and cemetery. the cemetery has people like kruschev and yeltsin and checkov buried there. it is a really cool place. the greenery is just kinda let go and grows everywhere. so all different plants are everywhere. they also had free bathrooms which ended up being holes in the ground so linsey and i vetoed that real fast. then we headed up to the monastery which was build for peter the great's wife after he wanted to be free of the marriage. it takes get thee to a nunnery to a whole new level..here honey i built you a convent to live in. apparently she was crazy but still i think that there are more subtle ways to go about things. It was pretty and interesting. there are three churches inside. one is still working so we stayed for mass. it was really interesting and had lovely music. however we had to leave before it was completely over because of the incense plus we had to have our heads covered so i was getting really hot in there. after that we were beat. walking around in very hot weather is somewhat exhausting. i came home and nina had made some yummy chicken. i think it was fried chicken. it was delicious. sometimes ok a lot of times good meat is hard to come by. i think that is why i have become mostly a vegetarian. mainly because that is what i eat. i eat salad every night for dinner. it is kinda funny because nina uses oil and a little balsamic vinegar for dressing. all that oil has really helped out my hair. nice and shiny. plus i haven't blow dried it since i have been here. after dinner i read for a bit and then just crashed i was so tired from the day.

sunday. i pretty much laid in bed til i had to go to church, my body needed it. church was fine. still didn't understand much. although i did understand when this lady began asking us if we sang or played instruments. i gladly informed her that linsey played piano and ashley sang. i knew what was coming. she asked us to do a musical number. i think i might have to do it but i think i mostly pawned it off onto ashley and linsey. so woohoo there. my internet stopped working sunday so i read pretty much the rest of the day. it was nice relaxing.

today i did not want to get up. i was sleeping so well. plus mondays are usually brutal so i didn't have a lot to look forward too, but classes went surprisingly well. linsey asked our teacher how to say mold because her blind (well maybe) babushka has been giving her mold strawberries. our teacher got really concerned and told linsey that she shouldn't eat moldy things like bread or fruit, again...incompetent in all aspects of life. and she told linsey if she knew what her babushka was putting in her meals. haha. hilarious. anyway i thought it was funny. after class linsey ashley and i went to a children's theater which does ballets and things for kids. but it is supposed to be really cheap. we actually got ticket for 50 rubles which isn't even two bucks and got to watch swam lake. i think it is a cool idea having a place where children can come and watch things so they are disturbing snooty rich people. so it was really good. funny in parts ..of course not purposely but how serious can you take a bad guy when he is wearing tights and leaping about. not very. afterwords i cam home and ate with Nina. I like talking to her a lot plus it helps my russian. the other day she said i was a comfortable person which i forget the russian word but it is in the context of relations. she said she liked eating with me basically. i know cause she translated for me. ha. that pretty much brings me up to now. catching up on my blog.