Yesterday, today, naptime and things.

I have been remiss in my blogging, alas! Partially because the internet wasn't working last night or this morning, we're not sure why.

Yesterday we went off to class! Class was good. Because some of our vocabulary words were about things blowing up and driving words (like hitting the brakes, or hitting a tree, or a deer), we watched clips from "Long Kiss Goodnight" - a movie I had seen part of on TV at home and been unable to identify. My favourite part is where someone throws a grenade at them, and Samuel L. Jackson yells "Fuck it!" and starts running the other way. It kept making me laugh in class because the Russian dubbing in most live-action movies or TV shows doesn't completely cover the English voices.

After class, we went to Teremok for lunch again. Because we're addicts. I'm going to go through bliny withdrawal when we get home. After that, we came back to the dorm and Charlie and I picked up our laundry from the laundry babushka who does all the laundry (even though the sign says "self serve" or something to that effect. It means "Carry it down here yourself, and this lady will do it, and give it back to you without bags so you have to bundle it all in a towel like a baby."

Last night, I tried to make this sandwich for dinner. But we had some trouble fighting with the chicken, and also were missing some ingredients. The important part was, it was delicious and the chicken was just right - not dry, and not undercooked. Numnum.
And then I took shortbread cookies and put them in a frying pan and put chocolate on them and covered them until it melted. And they were spectacular, and maybe the best idea I've had since we've been here.
And then we watched Alice in Wonderland. Good, and weird - which is good, because it wouldn't be Alice in Wonderland if it wasn't weird.. The Mome Raths translated as Forget-Me-Nots. Silly.

There was a spectacular thunderstorm last night. And the light in our room wasn't working, so we had no choice but to sit in the dark and enjoy it - which was good, because I'm usually the only one who wants to do that, and when people don't get it it's really hard to explain. I did wait until the storm had moved over a bunch before going to bed, mumma, because my bed is right next to the window. Thought you might want to hear that.

Today, class was also good. We watched clips from Spy Games, for some more blowing-stuff-up vocabulary. At break there were no more pirozhki (pastry things) so I had to get a Snickers and an instant coffee, and Oh Boy was it delicious.
After class, we went to the restaurant next to Teremok to try out their BiznessLanch, which was terrible and we will not go there again. It went like this:

• We ordered cheese fries to share, because that's what attracted us to the restaurant to begin with, and we were all dying for some. Turns out it was mozzerella sticks, only with worser cheese and weird sauce.

Business lunch was:

• some egg salad with smoked herring in it. I can't stand egg salad, and the fish was really fishy, and it had bones in it. Sasha and Charlie were pretty brave, but John and I almost died trying to finish ours without being sick. I didn't finish mine (but I wasn't sick either). I wasn't going to get a drink, but it was an emergency - and Coca Cola here still comes in the adorable (yet wasteful) glass bottles.

• Cold borshch, which wasn't bad - but also wasn't good. I make much, much better borshch, and why would cold soup be the only option on a cold and rainy day?

• The "house cutlet" which was like a small but thick burger, with something that was almost salsa and almost ketchup, and some cole slaw without sauce.

And then we went to Teremok to get dessert bliny and cheer ourselves up and get the taste of eggs and herring out of our mouths. We brought them back here and ate them and watched Buffy (the one with her mom's funeral in it, Sasha and I cried even though it was in Russian and we couldn't understand it). And then I took a nap. Apparently for a couple of hours, I'm not sure. I woke up around 6. And had some tea.

And then we went to get stuff for dinner - Grilled cheese with tomato, again! A classic. and we didn't set the fire alarm off this time (because I may have injured it yanking it out of the ceiling that other time), which is now sitting on our counter. And then we watched Aladdin. And it was awesome.

We all seem to be having this problem in which we're tired, and all cultured out. I want something trashy to read/watch (FLIPPER was on TV last night, it made my day), and a comfortable bed to snuggle up in, and just not to talk to anyone or do anything. Probably if you know me you're not surprised - after this long of not being alone for more than fifteen minutes, I'm about ready to crawl into a closet for three days just so I can feel like nobody's looking at me. I'm pretty attached to having some (a lot of!) privacy. It's a problem that I have no way of remedying. But I have to talk to people, and do things, and I feel badly for not wanting to be out seeing the sights.
But we've been out seeing the sights for two straight weeks, and it's tiring. After a while a museum is another museum and your feet hurt just as much as they did in that other museum, and the statues are nice but they keep checking your passes and you're afraid to take pictures, and then we feel guilty for not appreciating it.
So we're waiting to catch our second wind. Tomorrow we're going to go on the Cruiser Aurora (it's supposed to be sunny and not rainy like the rest of this week), which is outside and you can climb on stuff, so that should be good. Apparently someone ran their boat into it last week - always a good choice. I see a battle cruiser that started a revolution? My first thought is to play chicken with it. Every time.

And yes, we're still having fun, and it's still a great learning experience, and all those shenanigans. Just homesick, and puppysick, and lovesick - but importantly, not Giardia sick!

New pictures up: The Cutest Pickle Ever, and the rainbow that just happened outside our window.