Hey Everyone

I decided to start a blog so I could let all of you know what I'm experiencing (and perhaps more aptly "dealing with") here in Moscow. It's only my second week here and already I've seen, done, and been through a lot of things. And been yelled at in Russian just about everyday, so, there you go.
I'm going to Moscow International University, my group has about 25 people in it. We're split up into smaller groups named after Russian cities, mine is "Astrahan." With only 2 years of studying the Russian language, I'm in a considerably less advanced group! Some people in the program are in grad school or have been studying Russian for 6 years. We are only allowed to speak Russian to each other in school or at lunch, which has also been hard. We're getting better, but sometimes there are slips.
I live pretty near the school, it's a 20 minute bus ride in the morning, but an hour after school because traffic is so bad in the afternoon. I'm really lucky, most of my friends must travel 40 minutes to an hour to get to school. I live near the metro station "Sokol" with a woman named Marina and her dog Tosha (I think "Skinny" in English). She's really nice and feeds me way, way too much. After a week of being stuffed just about every hour of the day, i resolved to eat a smaller lunch or just have tea or coffee at school. This helps because by the time I get home I'm really hungy and I'll eat all my dinner, which makes her really happy. If you tell her you're full, she won't believe you. She says "Emychka (pet name for me), you can't be full. That portion was a perfect amount for you," or "but rice isnt cheap, why do you want to waste it?" There is no arguing with her, her friend came over for dinner and told Marina she didn't want salad. Eventually, the friend ate her salad like she was supposed to. As Marina says "It's my house, if I say eat salad you have to." The one thing Marina apparently doesn't really eat is sweets, which I love. My usual dessert is fruit compote, a fruit drink made from boiling fruit together and adding water, then you refrigerate it and ladle it into cups with fruit bits at the bottom. It isn't terribly sweet, but I like it. But I miss ice cream! Maybe this will be good for my figure, I've already lost some weight from all the walking! Besides that, the food is really bland, with only mayonnaise or ketchup to spice things up.

My initial hope that I would look Russian and blend in has now been replaced by the hope that I NOT look Russian. This is because I get asked for directions allllll the time, I guess because I'm a woman and look pretty harmless. Usually I listen to the quick stream of Russian, understanding nothing, then sort of smile and say "Shto?" (what). They repeat it and then I either say "Sorry, I don't understand" or "Sorry, I don't speak Russian well." Once I forgot to say "well" and told a woman that I don't speak Russian at all. She gave me a weird look.
We also take "excursions" every Friday, and sometimes into the weekend. I've been down the Moscow River on a boat and also went to Borodino to see the reenactment of the decisive battle between Napoleon and the Russians. Apparently there was no real decisive victory but the Russians are still really proud of this battle. We were all really excited for this trip, but our excitement dwindled after a 3 mile walk on a hot, cloudless day. We were all wearing jeans because we only prepared for cold weather, not hot. Then the battle reenactment was long, and there was no audio accompanying it so you might understand what is going on. Then another 3 miles back, and on to the elektrichky, the commuter train, which was packed with people. We stood for the 2 hour ride back to Moscow and I got heat sickness and had to sit on the floor of the train with my head between my knees, while a 15 year old boy was smoking and SPITTING on the floor. It was NOT fun. But tomorrow I get to see Lenin's Library, and the day after, Lenin's mummy!
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to write again next week, I'll probably only make it out here once a week, it's sort of far. Much Love