BRRRRR!

Yay! It's finally COLD here in Moscow! Winter has arrived.

Saturday was looking pretty dreary and rainy, but I couldn't come to terms with sitting inside all day, so I went for a walk. If you look out my window, you can see the tops of a few really tall buildings to the north. The building lies on top of the only hill in the city (Vorobyovy Gory), and if you walk a bit north, there's an overlook with a view of the entire city to the north. I knew this, but I had never walked that way. I set off in sneakers, my heavy brown jacket, and an umbrella. I was really glad I brought the umbrella because this weird half-rain, half-snow mixture began to fall and I would have been even colder if I was wet. But then my feet got wet from all the rain as the sneakers have basically a mesh top (I'm thinking I am going to have to buy a pair of comfortable casual shoes that don't get wet as quickly) so I ended up cold anyway. Apparently the Vorobyovy Gory overlook is only a 10 minute walk from the main building! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures of it just yet. It wasn't very pretty with the rain anyway.

Sunday was even colder than Saturday. I ventured out around 6pm to go to the rinok with Alissa. When we got there, the little time and temp billboard said it was 0 degrees. That's FREEZING, folks! I bought (and made) fixins for American salad with a delicious Italian-ish dressing. But only in Russia does the Italian salad dressing have dill in it. Hey I also finally bought some forks and two plate type things. After nearly six weeks! Anyway, I was really cold because I was still wearing my heavy jacket and I didn't bring my mittens.

But I have been having bad luck with my room lately. First, the sink drain seems to have clogged again, even though I poured drain cleaner down it a week ago. Second, I still don't have internet. I am trying to sign up for a cheaper plan, but Alyosha the internet boy somehow disabled my login, so I can't even add money to my account. Finally, my room is so cold. Every other one of my friends' rooms is, at the very least, cosy, or downright broiling. Earlier this week my room was pretty warm too, but the past 2 mornings I have been freezing. My only guess is that my window is really drafty... I need to ask the floor mother about this, because it's already annoying me after 2 days. Alissa and Henrike sleep with their windows open because their rooms are so hot, while I have to sleep in sweatpants and socks.