Wheel's on Fire

Ladies and Gentlemen, I can hardly believe my luck.  I am writing, and soon will be posting, from my house.  That's right: I got internet in my apartment!  They gave me enough wire to take my computer all over the flat and the connection is surprisingly fast.  I even get the first month free (not including the 1000 ruble installation fee of course).  Today the Mac expert came to iron out the kinks.  He even spoke English and, though I busted him watching one of my episodes of "The Simpsons" when the installation still wasn't complete, he was nice enough.  Not nice enough for me to accept his flirtatious invitation to "call anytime," but he got the job done.

So now I'm reclining on my luxurious, mattress-ed bed, thinking about all the things I can do now that I couldn't before.  I think I'll even join VKontakti, the Russian version of Facebook, just to further blur the line between student and teacher at the Ped. Institute.

This evening I gave my second English class at the synagogue.  It wasn't as well attended as the first, but that's ok because this group was much more manageable.  We read Countee Cullen's "The Incident" and Langston Hughes' "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)," the latter of which I read in my best Stephen T. Colbert voice.  The participants, I hesitate to call them students, trudged through the poems and I think came away with a good sense of both form and content.  The one problem was an overly eager student, who took it upon himself to correct the others' English grammar.  I, as the teacher, don't even correct grammar, because I know it's nerve-wracking enough to speak in a foreign language.  If he comes again and pulls the same shit, I'll give him what-for.  Also, when we were talking about racism and political correctness (a favorite topic of Russians'), I joked that I don't feel any liberal guilt, because while Africans were enslaved in America, my family was "busy being raped by Cossacks."  No one got the joke, or even how that could be a joke. I guess it was lost in translation...

Friday is Halloween, so I've started a rumor that anyone who says "Trick or Treat" to me will get some candy.  I bought three bags of candy, so hopefully they'll take me up on it.  Also I plan not to "teach" but to show episodes of "The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror."  That evening, I'm going with my colleague Dasha's son Danilo to see "The Overcoat" at the local puppet theater.  I have no doubt that it will be a remarkable production.

Next week we have two days off school, because what used to be The Day of the Revolution is now The Day of Remembrance and Forgiveness.  Hilarious.  To celebrate, I'm going to Tiumen to visit Katherine, a second-year ETA.  It will be great to see her and to visit another city.  My only regret is that I'll have to leave before the election results are in, so when I get back I'll be drinking (either champagne or vodka, depending) alone.  For now, I'm happier than a proverbial pig in shit.