They're Gonna Put Me in the Movies

Today I recorded the English-language voice track for a new movie about nanotechnology.  What the hell is that, you ask?  I didn’t know either until I was asked to participate by a professor/producer at Ural State University.  He and his colleagues made a really cool film about nanoscience for both professionals and laymen - guess which category I fit neatly into.  I tried to churn out the best performance I could, but it was hard to sound excited given that I had no idea what I was talking about.  Anyway, the film will be shown at Russian, French and even American (ie-New York) science film festivals, whatever those are.  So I’m gonna be a star!

In other news, my creative writing class is still going strong.  This week we began our speech-writing unit and I taught Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream.”  The kids really responded to it, how could you not?  They all learned a lot about the civil rights movement and American history in general.  Plus King was just such a talented writer, that speech is moving even out of context.  The hardest thing is knowing when to jump in and explain things, cuz the students are pretty shy when it comes to asking for clarification.  It’s also hard to get them to read it aloud with the proper emotion, since in Russian churches, the priests don’t sermonize.  But a couple kids got it right away, and the rest did with only the minimum of prodding.

Last weekend was a huge holiday here, the 9th of May, Victory (over the Germans in WWII) Day.  This might be a somber memorial, but since it coincides with the beginning of spring, it turns into a huge holiday.  I did everything you’re supposed to do on that day.  I went to the city’s military parade, although that’s sort of redundant since Russia rarely puts on any other kind of parade.  In the afternoon I went with some friends into the forest for a Russian barbecue, which is basically shish-kebob.  The woods were full of people, congratulating each other on the victory.  Then in the evening I went to Ural Technical University for an outdoor concert of a great local, now nationally-famous band, called Chaif.  It was awesome!  I even knew two of the songs, plus they played a Russian-language version of “No Woman, No Cry.”  The crowd was amazing; they knew every word to every song.  It almost felt like being at Blossom.  When it got dark enough, there were two huge fireworks displays.  Everyone was so cheerful (read: drunk), chanting “RO-SSI-YA!” all night.  It was even more fun than New Years, if only because everyone was outdoors.

Then the next night Russia won the national hockey championship, or whatever it’s called.  I didn’t watch the match, but at 3 a.m., I was lying in bed and through my window heard “RO-SSI-YA!  CHEM-PI-YON!” so I figured out that we had won.  People are pretty psyched about this.  Now there’s a big musical event called EuroVision going on.  It’s a competition between singers from all over Europe.  This year it’s being held in Moscow because last year’s winner was Dima Bilan, who is Russia’s....I’m having a hard time coming up with an analogy.  He’s this young pop star who must be really popular, but no one I know likes him.  He’s not as talented as Justin Timberlake, but not as wimpy as John Mayer.  Plus he has such a major mullet that after he won EuroVision last year, the haircut showed up on every boy too young to protest his parents’ wishes.

This weekend there’s a city-wide event called Night of Museums.  Lots of events at all the local museums, should be fun but I’ve heard it’s terribly disorganized (big surprise).  So that’s my so-called life in Ekat.  I have just over a month left and I’m trying to get some more travelling done, just within Russia, before I head home.  See you soon.

Oh yeah, and in case you’re wondering, my metro-falling-horror-story has now become just a funny anecdote.  And the bruise, while still huge, is almost monochromatic.  Hooray!