This One Time in Vladivostok...

1. My roommate, Katya, invited some of us Americans to a cafe. From what I understood after talking to her, we were all going to hang around, eat some cookies, drink some juice, and look at some of her artwork on display there.

What we actually ended up doing, though, was going to a cafe (where there were cookies and juice, so at least I understood that correctly) and sitting through a informal 'Learn English' class for Russians. While it was not what I was expecting at all, it was actually pretty fun to help explain why we say the things that we do. And after the lesson, we exchanged some info with a few people, and I even got to jam on the guitar. Eventually, Katya was saying that she will have some of her artwork on display there...so really I knew what she was talking about...kind of.

2.  Jordan, one of the other Americans, and I went to a bar not far from campus to celebrate Katya's brother's birthday. And while this time there wasn't any lacking information in my translation, our night was not without its fair share of surprises. First, that Russian apparently like to take their own tip from the change that they give you back at the bar. Secondly, (and probably only a shock to me since she's already been to Russian several times) because Jordan is African American, everyone and their mother tried to dance with, like, or on her at some point of the evening. And lastly, that Russians love to гулять. It doesn't matter what time of day or night (in our case 4 am), Russian will stroll with no particular destination in mind and no other desire than to walk. 

{As an aside, let me just say that on principle I actually really like thier love of гулятьing. But that evening, Jordan and I had everything against us. Both of us were kind of feeling under the weather. Jordan was wearing heels. And we had a whole 2 hours to гулять in the somewhat chilly Vladivostok air before we were going to be able to get back into the dorms.}

3. I got decently sick, and all of my Russian teachers have given me their own versions of health advice. It does get overwhelming sometimes now to have teachers randomly stop me in the hallway  or interrupt class to ask me how I'm feeling and if I have enough medicine with me, but I will always love how much the Russians care about you if you're under the weather. It's kind of like have 10 moms...only we don't really speak each others languages very well... 

4. We went to the center and celebrated that Day of the Tiger! It was so exciting to see all the people, of all ages mind you, dressed up in crazy tiger costumes or ridiculous orange outfits. We even got to see a cute group of Russians girls sing and dance to a few songs. Afterwards, we decided to stick around for the rock concert in the evening. And, let me tell you, after eating a very interesting version of a cheeseburger, we experienced on heck of a show. We saw three bands, with each one only being allowed a set of two songs. It almost had a battle of the bands feel to it, and there was a nice mix of Russian and American songs. But what really took the cake was the the totally unexpected cover of the Ghost-busters song. Never have I ever thought I would see a crowd go that wild for that song. Great fun.

5. I had to explain (in Russian) to one of my fellow peers who is from Korea, that, contrary to the John Denver song Country Road, West Virginia is NOT almost heaven, and that he should maybe rethink the places he wants to visit when he comes to America. {These are the little things that keep me going}

More Stories and Pictures to come....