pelmeni and rain.

So I started a blog post a few days ago and did not get very far.  But here it is:

I am, at the moment, eating pelmeni with smetana, watching the rain come down outside of my apartment.  This morning when I left my apartment, the sun was shining and I actually took my umbrella out of my backpack.  But then of course when I emerged from the metro tunnel at the last stop an hour later, it was coming down in ridiculous torrents.  And even though hordes of confused, agitated Muscovites were blocking the exit out of the metro while they waited for the rain to stop, I took a deep breath (of foul, humid metro air) and pushed my way through and got really, really wet very quickly.  It didn't help that I was also running late to class... when I walked in, literally dripping dirty, polluted acid-rain Moscow water, I shamefully took my seat in the back of the class and tried hard for the next three hours to dry off.  Oh and yes I really did go into a bathroom first and stick my head underneath a hand drier, I was that wet.


Other than that misadventure, a good day.


My landlady just brought me four beautiful strawberries on a plate.  I am so lucky to be her tenant.

Um yeah sorry I ate one already.

Hey so guys it is now several days after that rainy strawberry day I am doing great.  You've probably heard me say something like this before, but Russian is a dang hard language but I am improving bit by bit every day.  Sometimes it just comes out so easily, and other times... you just have your good days and your bad days.

I've been spending as much time with the Russian members of the Church as possible, because 

a) they are very nice people; 

2) they want me to hang out with them, which I can hardly comprehend why because it's not like I'm the most full-functioning social creature when I speak Russian;

d) I'm frantic about being in Russia for three weeks already and only having two months and a week left to try to speak really well.

They also are very patient with me and let me finish my mangled sentences, and probs the best part of all?  They actually speak to me in Russian.  Thank you, all of you, wonderful people for helping me with maybe the hardest parts of language learning, getting actual speaking and listening experience in a socially dynamic situation.

In other news it is dang hot all of a sudden, and really humid.