Ekaterrific

O my faithful comrades, I know you are probably thinking that I have been neglecting my blogging duties, but this is not the case. In fact, I am here in Ekaterinburg, a wonderful city but with limited internet capabilities. I have been writing faithfully, but have not yet had the chance to transfer my entries to this here blog. Right now I am sitting in my first ever internet cafe, so I'll try to catch you up on the major developments.

So. I spent about 8 whirlwind hours in Moscow between Kiev and here. I tried to go to Red Square but it was closed for a holiday called City Day. What kind of logic is that? I could only just catch a glimpse of St. Basil's Cathedral over those massive walls. Then I had to get to the train station for my 25-hour ride to Ekat. The train ride wasn't bad at all, but writing about it is giving me deja lu because, as I said, I have been writing every day, just not posting.

Anyway, now I'm here in Ekaterinburg, a big, beautiful, industrial city, not unlike Cleveland! I'm staying in a dorm, wherein the top floors are nice apartments that serve as a "hotel" for guests of the university. It's nice except there's no internet, no real kitchen and the bed is horribly uncomfortable (I've been sleeping on the couch), all this for 1000 rubles (about $40) a night. I'm trying to find an apartment, but so far I've only found 2-room flats, which are obviously more expensive than I was anticipating. So I might have to take one and come up with an imaginary roommate. I've always wanted a sister...

I haven't started teaching yet, but I've been observing my colleagues' classes. The students here are very advanced speakers, but their English tends to be bookish. That's where I come in I suppose. So this Friday I give my first lecture on cross-cultural communication, ie how Russians perceive Americans and vice-versa. Jennifer Day gave this lesson on our first day of Russian, and David Fe did the same on our first day of teacher training. Seems appropriate. I only hope it kills an hour and twenty minutes. Tomorrow I'm going with a student to check out the legendary American Center and then another apartment. Hopefully it will be more to my liking than the last place, because I'm getting pretty sick of my couch.

Ok my darlings, that's about all I've got. Don't hesitate to email me; even if I don't always have internet access, I'll get it eventually. If you're reading this, you can pretty much bet I miss you like mad, but I gotta keep on keepin' on. Bye bye for now, or as we say in Russian, "poka-poka."