Feelin good, feelin great, how are you?

It’s Saturday night and I’m perfectly happy to be sitting at home in my leggings and Cleveland Browns sweatshirt.  I’ve been having almost too much fun the past few weeks, so I’m thrilled to have a night to myself.  Right now I’m listening to the Boss and doing some prep-cooking for a mini-dinner party tomorrow night.  Nerd?  Maybe.  Content?  Definitely.

Today I had to do something rather difficult: cancel private lessons with a very sweet young woman.  It felt like breaking up with a boyfriend, or so I imagine, having never had a boyfriend.  The problem was that when we first met, we agreed that there needn’t be any money exchanged if we spent half the time talking in English and half in Russian.  But as it turned out, the conversation was always in English, and when I asked her Russian questions, she couldn’t explain.  If nothing else, I learned that being a native speaker doesn’t qualify one to teach the language, so I guess I must’ve brought something else to Fulbright’s prestigious table.  Anyway, I took a passive-aggressive tact, telling her that my program forbade such lessons (almost true), and referring her to Yulia, who’s an experienced English teacher.  I also invited her to my JCC classes, which was uncomfortable because earlier she had made some vaguely anti-semitic comments.  Still though, it was the best meeting we’d had, and I was having second thoughts about my decision, but I think I did the right thing.  We promised to stay friends, and man, this is sounding more like a break-up with every sentence...

So.  Here are some accomplishments from the last couple days:
An administrator asked me to move from vi (formal “you”) to ti (informal, friendly “you”).  This is the Russian social equivalent of a romantic interest asking you to go steady.

I helped two people edit their application essays to American graduate schools.

Had a jolly good at Yulia’s birthday party last night, but kept my wits enough to walk home and get up for temple this morning.

All that didn’t keep me from spilling ketchup-mayonnaise sauce (called Russian dressing in America, French dressing in Russia) on my beautiful wool dress today.

I’m also getting more Russified every day.  For example, I can’t stand it when I get mud on my leather boots.  I’ve made an important decision: it’s not that streets in Russia are necessarily dirtier than those in America.  Russians just get more upset about the dirt than we do.  In any case, I’m now the proud owner of both shoe cleaner and polish, different but equal products.  Now I just have to start wearing makeup and stop sitting on the ground.  It freezes your ovaries, you know.

That’s all for now.  Tune in next week for adventures in wacky world.