Every Friday, instead of school, the whole group goes on an "excursion" to a point of interest in the city or in another city. Today we visited "Stariy Vladimir" (Old Vladimir), which is basically just a small museum detailing the history of Vladimir. It also has a great view of the city, and I'll have to go back to get some pictures. Afterwards we went to a big market near my apartment called Fakel, where they sell lots of clothes and souvenirs. We went to a mall for lunch, and later tonight we're going to a karaoke bar to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls here, who turned 25 yesterday.

I'll write a little bit about the other students here. The three girls in my class are Madelyn, Kelsey and Sarah. Madelyn and Kelsey were my roommates at orientation. Madelyn is from Delaware and half her family lives around DC. She lives in Las Vegas right now with her husband, who is in the Air Force. She's 21. Kelsey is from New Jersey. She goes to school in Philadelphia. I think she's 21. Sarah is from West Virginia and goes to school in Pennsylvania. She's 20. Everyone gets along well, though there are people I see more and know better than others. Today I hung out primarily with Madelyn, Faye and Chelsea. We ran into Kyle (one of the boys from West Point) and Chris, who studied here last semester and used to be a Marine. 

I guess at this point I can share a few stories. For one thing, those who know me well will be amused to learn I almost lost the two rings I was wearing before I had even left the Moscow airport. This was actually a thrilling experience though. I had taken them off to wash my hands but hadn't even noticed until I was outside the airport waiting for a bus. When I remembered, though, one of the teachers from the program escorted me back to the airport and I rushed to the bathroom. The rings were gone, but a cleaning woman was sweeping up outside the bathroom. So, in my first attempt at Russian this whole trip, I asked her if she had seen the rings. She said no, but motioned toward the other cleaning lady, who did in fact have the rings. The feeling was exhilarating. Not just that I found the rings, but that I used my Russian. Though nowhere near good (I even forgot the word for ring), I was able to communicate my need and succeeded as a result. 

A few nights ago I was taking the bus home. I wasn't sure if I had passed my stop, but began to worry and soon realized that the ride was taking much longer than it should have. On every bus there's a woman who you pay for the ride. Unlike American buses, she's not the driver, but she walks around the bus collecting money once you get on. So I mustered my courage and asked her if we had already passed the stop, and she said we had. I then asked how I could get there and she said she'd tell me. The bus runs in a circle so the next time we passed the stop, she told me and I got off. As inferior as I feel my language ability to be at this point, I realized that in a real emergency, I have more than enough to get through. Body language goes a long way, and the longer I'm here the less intimidated I am to interact with the Russians. I'm feeling more confident by the day.

My phone number here, by the way, is +7 905-143-5076. I think that's what you dial if you're using a cell phone. If it's landline, I think you would replace the +7 with an 8. But honestly I don't know. If you want to call, give it a try and we can see if it works.

Also, if you want to communicate with my privately, email is better than Facebook. Facebook takes a really long time to load here. Use ls1037a@american.edu because I check this address every time, the others not so much. 

Alla's younger son Kostya is coming home from school sometime this weekend. He'll be staying with us for 2 weeks. Next weekend we're having an excursion to Moscow. People have told me that  Vladimir is a good example of the "real" Russia but I've learned much more about Moscow and St. Petersburg in my studies so I almost feel as if that's the "real" Russia, or at least the one I'm more familiar with. Either way, I'm excited. Glenn Miller just came on the radio. One of my favorite Bob Dylan songs was playing earlier. It's only been a week but I still feel a little weird about the fact that I don't miss home. No one else does either, but we all feel a little guilty about it. Still, there's something comforting about this American-style cafe. 

Anyway, that's it for now. Tired as usual. Have a good day.

Sorry for the short update yesterday. I'm sure those waiting to hear from me were disappointed with the sparse info, but it's difficult for me to get used to using the internet in a public place. The truth is that so much has happened and it's very difficult not only to remember it, but just to revisit the past. I'm living so much in the moment right now that looking ahead is very hard, and looking back is impossible. I feel so much like I'm living someone else's life that my old life seems so distant and vague. I also realize that speaking or writing in English feels clumsy. I haven't been here for that long but I speak and hear Russian all day and reverting back to English is more difficult than I thought. Not difficult to speak but difficult to speak well, or articulate. 

Where do I start? I'd prefer not to do this chronologically because that's too daunting a task. Instead I think I'll go by category.

Town: Vladimir is a really nice size for a city. I haven't been to Moscow or St. Petersburg so I can't compare, but I'm sure it feels much smaller. Everyone so far has said that it won't take long to get to know the city pretty well, but at the same time I still feel like there's plenty to discover. It has the necessities. I can't speak for the people because I haven't met most of them. I can't say they're nice because on the street, in general, Russians never smile at or acknowledge strangers and I haven't been in stores much. Honestly I'm a little intimidated but I think that's just something I'll get used to, and it's been improving very slowly. I live right behind the Vladimir Pedagogical University. I don't live very close to anyone else from the program, but not very far either. Some students were lucky enough to live literally next door to each other, but all the students are scattered throughout the city. Some live in the center near school, some live far away in a section of town called Dobriy, but I live a reasonable distance from the center. ("Center" is actually a term directly translated from the Russian term "tsentr". I suppose a more accurate English equivalent is "downtown" but by habit I still say "center".) It takes me 50 minutes to walk to school in the morning, which I prefer to do. There's a park right next to my apartment, but it really resembles a small forest. I love how the trees here appear black against the white snow, so to me it's a beautiful view. I'm not sure exactly how long it would be by bus, but shorter. I walk to school in the morning and I guess usually take the bus in the evening since it gets dark early and we're not really supposed to walk around by ourselves, or at all, after dark. All the stores, or the ones that are useful to me so far, are in the center near school. Today after school I went with some friends to buy Russian SIM cards for our phones. And I'm at Coffee Bean again. So while there's a grocery store near my apartment, it's probably easier to just run errands right after school in the center and then return home for dinner. In the center of town is a landmark called the Golden Gates, or Zolotye Vorota. It's the most popular meeting place. I'm not sure what else to say about the town, comment if you have questions. Here's a website with some general info.

Home life: I live with a 49 year old named Alla. She's very sweet but also more laidback than it sounds like some of the other students' host moms are. We spent a lot of time together this weekend because she had to show me the ropes and everything, but this week I've had more space. She works and I go to school, so we really only spend quality time together over dinner. She wakes me up in the morning before leaving for work, leaving breakfast ready on the table. She usually gets home around 5:30 I think, but so far every day I've gotten home after her. When I get home, she prepares dinner and we usually talk. Yesterday was a triumph for me because our conversation was very fluid. I was disheartened to realize when I met her how limited I was by my language ability. All our conversations seemed awkward, there were just too many words I didn't understand and I couldn't seem to express myself at all. But things are improving, and it's really fun to see that, especially in so short a time. After dinner I say I'm tired (because by this time I really am exhausted) and I go to my room and do homework. I fall asleep  soon after. I don't know if it's jet lag or because talking in Russian non-stop all day is so incredibly tiring, but I get SO tired at around 6. The latest I've stayed up was till 9 I think, and even that is hard for me. I usually wake up around 6 in the morning, but I don't have to get up until around 7. But the schedule works for me. I don't know what I'd do with a lot of free time, at least not yet. Anyway, the biggest inside joke amongst all the students here is how much food our host moms push on us. Probably the first new word we learned upon arrival was "kushai kushai kushai!" which means "eat!" Everyone complains daily about how much food they're forced to eat, or how unhealthy the food is. Along with "how did you sleep?" and "how are you?", "what did you have for dinner" has become a daily question. Sympathizing with each other over this form of hospitality has brought us all closer together. We all laugh about it, it's a definite part of the culture here. Alla has been pretty good with me though. She doesn't give me too much of each individual serving, but she gives me too many varieties of food. For example, breakfast may consist of an omelette, meat, yogurt, tea, bread and candy. But I'm set with just the omelette and tea. And if I don't take any food, I feel rude, but at the same time, I can't eat it all. So today I carried the bread with me to school in my backpack, and later fed it to one of the many stray dogs on the street. Generally speaking, though, when I say I'm full, Alla lets me be. But she insists that I try everything. Food is definitely different here. Salad is different. And Alla tried to give me mayonnaise with my salad, which I refused, but inevitably was forced to try. It's actually different from the mayo in America, but still not terribly appetizing. Alla was also shocked when I said I don't put any sugar in my tea. She's never made me try it, but she still leaves sugar on the breakfast table every morning. The food situation is one of those things which we all complain about, but while laughing. It's definitely a very endearing part of the culture. And the food is of course very good in an ethnic kind of way, aside from the fact that it's often soaked in butter and other sauces. One day I couldn't finish breakfast just because everything was so heavy. But ultimately, the food is of good quality, and it's really nice to get a home cooked meal at the end and beginning of every day.

Alla's husband and both of her sons are in the military. Her husband died a little over a year ago, though I don't know how. I do know he was in the army. Her oldest son is an officer, and her youngest is studying to become one. She also said her father and grandfather are in the army, which is something I find terribly interesting about her. I assume she must be very nationalistic as a result, but we haven't talked much politics. I tried one day but it was a mistake. It was a mistake because I realized very quickly I lacked the capacity to understand her and express myself, which is a very bad thing when discussing politics. When we started talking about Obama, I don't know, I thought it seemed as if she's racist, but that's not the kind of thing I want to assume about anyone and I don't really know what she was saying for sure. And even if it's true about her, which it very well could be, that's not something I'm prepared to know yet. Even if she is, it doesn't matter, it's a culture thing and I know that Alla is a wonderful person in every other way. She knows I'm Jewish, I made sure to tell her early on, and she's obviously fine with it. She did ask me some questions, though, which I found funny, about if my parents would be okay with me marrying a non-Jewish Russian, and also an African-American. I said as long as we loved each other, they'd be happy. Alla has a great smile, cooks well, wraps her arm around mine when we walk places together, brushes dust off my coat, makes sure I'm always dressed warmly enough before leaving the house, and forces me to eat to her satisfaction. Overall, she takes good care of me while giving me space, and I think anyone would say that she's doing a great job.

School: I still haven't finished my first week of school, or had all my classes, but I still have the general gist of school by now. We've been split into four groups, and I'm in a group with three other people, a group that includes my two roommates from orientation. This is great because I have a special affection for them, due to all the pillow talk and whatnot. My courses are phonetics, grammar, conversation practice, mass media, history and some kind of reading class I think. So far my professors are great. Very sweet ladies plus a soft-spoken man. They're all very patient and helpful, and manage to teach the whole class in Russian in a way that we can all understand. I've been learning A LOT, and it all sticks better than at normal Russian classes at home because for once the information is extremely practical for our lifestyles. I NEED to remember the words and sentence structures, my well-being depends on it. Though I have to say, after a full day at school, my brain is absolutely exhausted because it takes so much energy to concentrate on the speech. But overall class is fun, creative and challenging, I really like the girls in my group, and it's great to have such a small class. 

Students: I think there are 13 other students here with ACTR this semester. I like all of them. I don't want to talk about specific students, even to say nice things, because this is a public website and it weirds me out to talk about people in any capacity when they could be reading. But I'm very happy with the students here. There's different personalities but we all get along, everyone's nice. The students who are here for their second semester are great. I look up to them as older siblings or as seniors to our freshmen. They've already helped me a lot because they just know everything that you want to know, and they've been through it. The other day a few of them decided to escort me home, completely out of their way, and besides being helpful, it also just made me feel good to have someone watching over me like that. 

Tutors: We all are assigned a tutor that we have to meet with every week for 2 hours. All the tutors are Russians, or Russian speakers, who live here in Vladimir and are around our age. Other students. We hang out with them, make them run errands with us that may be difficult, go to see a movie, etc. We met with the group of tutors on Sunday and got to choose the one we wanted. I ended up sitting next to a girl named Kamila from a small town in northern Russia near Arkhangelsk. Her father is from Azerbaijan and her mother is Tatar. As a result, she doesn't look like an ethnic Russian and I guess that's what attracted me to her initially. After the meeting, I got to walk around with her and her friend, Lilit, who is Armenian, and we talked about racism in America and Russia (in English). Lilit absolutely loves America, and she traveled around for awhile. Since Kamila doesn't go to movies in the theater, Lilit said she'd go with me. That's definitely something I'd want to do. The tutors speak perfect English and, although we're not allowed to speak in English when we hang out, it's very comforting for me to know that they do and I can resort to that if I need to.

There's more to say, I guess, including a few specific stories that are really great, but I'm really tired now and want to go home. Chances are I'll be back again tomorrow but, if not, I'll update again soon. In short: everything's great here. There's nothing to complain about. I'm still adjusting to life here, though. Life in general is definitely more challenging, but that's not a bad thing. 

I'm sitting in a cafe in a mall drinking an Irish coffee because this is Russia, and in Russia these things are normal. This cafe also serves tequila, rum and cognac as an additive, much in the same way you can pay a little extra to get a shot of vanilla in your coffee at Starbucks. But instead of vanilla flavoring, I get whiskey. Because this is Russia. Where you can drink beer and smoke cigarettes in movie theaters. To be fair, the amount of whiskey they put in is small, but I still think this version tastes better than the type my Mom prefers to get at home. 

I'm sitting here with a few friends from school because this is one of the few places in town where you can get internet on your computer. There's also an internet cafe with desktops that you pay to use, but I definitely prefer this setting. The other place for Wi-Fi is called Whiskey Bar. So apparently it's my fate to drink whiskey every time I'm on the internet. The internet here is slow so uploading pictures will probably take a very long time and might be a rare occurrence. Though I think I might come here every day after school because one of the women who works here is probably the nicest person I've ever met in Russia, and she reminds me of one of my old Russian teachers. It's comfortable, never too busy, and the whiskey is a plus. 

I meant to write more but ended up talking to the other students too much and now I have to head home. I'll probably write a much better update tomorrow or soon after. Hope everything's well in the States, or wherever you are.

The entire world has been counting down to Tuesday with great anticipation, so I guess I find it funny that I have too but for a completely different reason. Tonight is my last night at home and tomorrow orientation begins at some hotel near the Dulles airport. I had wanted to go out somewhere for the inauguration but I'm behind in packing so it looks like I'll be watching it on TV at home with my family. Kind of unfortunate timing to leave the country just when things are supposed to get interesting, but it actually gives me a great opportunity to observe Obama's first hundred days from outside the US. Maybe see how the Russian media treats him. I'll try to report on that.

Orientation lasts until Thursday evening when my flight leaves at 5:22 PM. I'm set to arrive in Moscow at 1:25 PM on Friday, Moscow time. That's 5:25 AM for those on the East Coast. Then a train out to Vladimir from there.