This was probably the best part of today- the sunset. It was one of those days when everything is off. For example, it's been really difficult to work while here, and this morning just as I was sitting down to catch up and record this week's audio lessons... cue a loud thunderstorm. For six hours.
When I finally got the chance to record again, the students upstairs decided to have a karaoke party. When they stopped, the rain started again. The microphone picks up the sound of raindrops outside, so I'm calling it a night.
In between the work attempts, we had a really lame afternoon event. It was supposed to be a language exchange, but again, there was a last-minute cancellation and change of plans. This happened yesterday as well. Everyone was excited to go over to the local duma (government office), thinking we'd get to meet people and talk politics.... wrong. We went to a fancy room and... watched YouTube videos on soccer. Six of them. And one was in Portuguese. Why? "Because this is what's important to the people of Nizhny Novgorod right now."
But today, luckily, us girls had some cheap Crimean wine on hand to lift our spirits afterwards.
A nicer event- I met a dog today when taking out the trash. The rest of the campus pack was skittish and ran off quickly. This guy stuck around to see if there were any scraps for him.
On the way back from the trash, I met a woman who was feeding the stray cats. There were two cats rolling at her feet- two brothers. She said she would love to take them home but she already has cats. When she left, they tried to follow her. She had to scold them into staying.
I suppose it's probably time to end this pointless entry and go to sleep. The shower line has ended and everyone else is sleeping. Tonight I was #3 in the shower queue. This was pretty exciting, since the daily temps have recently been over 80F, there's no air conditioning, and there's a single shower for about thirty people. And then, the shower broke down. One of the guys from Iran managed to fix it using a pair of scissors(!!). With all the people milling around, I lost my place and became #7. That was a bummer. But at least the day is finally over, the heat is gone, and there's always hope for tomorrow.
I think that thunderstorm (or part of it) hit Kazan. I'm in a BRAND NEW place, but everything seemed to be damaged. Makes me wonder how cheap all the materials really are.
ReplyDeleteCrimean wine is SOOOO good. Not sure how the boxed stuff tastes but I usually drink something called Crimsky or something like that.
There are so many street animals in Russia. There is a puppy here and I was petting it and then someone told me it has lice. So, no more petting the puppy. :(
Fixing the sink with scissors reminds me of when I was in Irkutsk and this guy we met stopped to help two other guys who car broke down. They used wires from speakers to jump start the car! I've never seen anything like it. I wish I was handy like that.
Privet Jasilyn! I heard that there was a serious storm in Kazan, hope you guys are okay there. And you reminded me- I'll be there this weekend! Will you still be around?
DeleteThis wine was definitely boxed wine ;) but yeah, there's some really good stuff from Crimea. We just don't have a bottle opener, so... Have you ever tried any Масандра? That brand is so good!
That speakers story is wild. Real ingenuity!
Ah! I'm still here! But I'm leaving tomorrow around 1 pm! When do you leave Nizhny Novgorod again?
DeleteI'll have to ask Anton if they sell it in Ufa!
We're going to Kazan tonight...arriving tomorrow (Sunday) morning! But the school has a policy of not revealing any details until the very last minute, so I don't even know what train or where we're staying or what we're doing or anything. But hope to run into you in the streets miraculously ;) I don't have a local phone but some of my classmates do, so if you want you can send me your phone number (katherine at street russian dot com). We have one more week in NN, but part of that will be in Kazan now. Oh, the chaos! :p
DeleteAww. I won't see you. We are taking an airplane back to Ufa. Innopolis is about 50 minutes from Kazan. I have an interview sometime next week, so I don't know what our Moscow plans are anymore but if I happen to go to NN I will let you know!
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