tuesday

hello everyone :) and thanks for continuing to read.

we took our placement test yesterday...it was actually quite difficult. but we met some other international students (americans, italians, and austrians) so that was nice. the floor they live on is SO much nicer than ours (the majority of our toilets lack toilet seats), but hey, it's part of the experience i suppose.

people keep staring at me on the metro. i assume it's because i have short hair and don't dress like a supermodel (most women in russia look like supermodels all the time). this morning the housekeeper barged into my room while i was asleep (to get my sheets and give me clean ones) and she looked at me and said "malchik?" (little boy) and then "nyet, devochka" (no, girl) lol. so that boosted the self-esteem haha.

the other day we went to the museum for contemporary russian history, which was absolutely fascinating. then today we went to a gallery with 57 rooms, it was insane. the art was quite nice though. i bought myself a smaller purse since my laptop bag was too big to take into the museum...i had to check it like my coat and it scares me not having everything i own on me at all times.

we've been watching a lot of movies on my laptop...mystery science theater 3000 is what keeps me sane, i think. when i'm freaking out i just sit down and watch it and all is good.

classes don't start until the 12th. we'll find out what classes we get placed in this coming friday or saturday. i'm not sure i did amazingly well on the exam but i'm sure it's a fairly adequate representation of my russian skills. we shall see i suppose.

for those of you who have asked, rob is able to call fairly often (about as often as he could when i was in the US). so that's nice. he may not get leave while i'm home so we may not see each other until september or october :(. please cross your fingers and/or pray he gets june leave.

well i suppose that's it. keep commenting and emailing, i'm sorry if i take a long time getting back to you.