One week already!

I'm finally back on the internet! We have free WiFi on the 5th floor of the building where I have class, and luckily class was cancelled for today, so here I am writing this up. The connection is pretty poor, so we'll see how this goes.

I haven't been doing too much, but at the same time I am doing a lot. The past few days have been spent trying to get settled in and meet new people. Saturday, the ladies in my group and a few from the university went to the Eternal Flame and inside the Kremlin. The Eternal Flame was my request because all the newlyweds visit the flame and lay a bouquet as tradition, so I wanted to see that. Inside the Kremlin, which sounds really neat, was a little underwhelming. It's a lot of cathedrals and then lots of buildings you can't go near. I also walked down Stary Arbat one day, which was pretty fun too. It's a street with lots of souvenier shops and artists and performers.

I've also gone out exploring a few times. I like to ride the Metro and look at the pretty stations- some are really fancy- and the people. Yesterday I got off at one stop and walked all the way to the other one. It took me an hour, but the neighborhood was really different and nice- lots of families, kids, and green space. Yesterday and today the weather had been beautiful, in the upper 60s/ low 70s with lots of sunshine. However, tomorrow it's supposed to be a LOT cooler (8 C) and stay that way for a few days, then warm up again!

As far as my language abilities go- they're getting better, sloooowly. One thing that's important to remember is that if you can't say it in Russian, it's better to not say it at all. It confuses and annoys people to hear a mix of English and Russian. I can read it pretty well now, (and thus sound out the words) and I can even understand a conversation if people speak slow enough. You have to remember that there are lots of people who grew up in the USSR for whom Russian is not their first language, so they speak it slowly and simply enough to be understood.

What's very ironic is that I have been speaking a TON of German. A lot of the people I have met are German or Austrian- or they speak German- so there's no language barrier there. One of my Russian acquantainces speaks German very well, so for us it's easier just to talk in German rather than English or Russian. When we go out in a group, it's fun to transition from one language to another to yet anouther. I always thought I was weird for not speaking any Spanish in America (one American said to me last night, "How do you survive in America by not speaking Spanish?") but here it's definitely an asset to speak English and German, and to know even just a little Russian.

Well, I guess I have said enough for today, so I'll leave you with a few pictures I've taken lately.