ку ка ри ку (That's what a rooster says in Russian)

During one of my classes the topic of animal sounds came up. As you're probably aware, animals don't necessarily make the same sounds in different languages. For example, in English a rooster says cock-a-doodle-do which Russian speakers find freakin' hilarious, since the Russian equivalent is ku-ka-re-ku. Pigs- English: oink, oink. Russian: huru, huru. Dogs- English woof, woof (big dog) or arf, arf (little dog). Russian: gavf, gavf. But the one sound that really got me- the hedgehog.

Did you even know the hedgehog makes a sound? I always thought they were silent creatures, like turtles. I also thought they were peaceful vegetarians- turns out they're hunters. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a hedgehog in real life. Denis has been telling me stories of growing up here, catching hedgehogs to play with. That sounds so..... exotic. I want to get a hedgehog now as a pet. We went to the pet store but didn't see any. Only fish, birds, reptiles, and hamster-y creatures. Oh well.

This week was a loooong week. My soul felt all taught-out by the end, because they switched the work week around so that we ended up teaching 6 days in a row. I was definitely dragging my feet by that point but things did end on a high note: one of my students celebrated a birthday yesterday and brought in 2 fancy chocolate cakes, cookies, candy, and juice to share with the class. It was a really generous gesture. Mind you, this was not a local but a student from Sri Lanka. I've only had 2 students from Sri Lanka so far but they've both been prone to such extravagant acts. The other was the one who brought me the flowers at the end of the semester. It makes me really curious about their culture. The only thing I know about that country is that Arthur C Clark, the greatest sci fi writer ever, lived there. Anyways, the work load should be lightening up now, especially since this will be a 4 day week, yeah!, and then we'll have midterms. Also, D and I found the local OVIR office and will be able to ask about the visa stuff on Tuesday. It doesn't necessarily  mean things will work out, but at least it'll be an active step in some direction.

Two newly-discovered products:

Anti-stress Kleenex. This is the greatest stuff ever.

Who could pass up this toilet paper? Take a closer look...

It's made with US technology, haha!

And silver ions! (Whatever that means...)