In Which a Movie is Watched

21.10.2008

Alright, so, before I write about anything else... I just watched the movie "Mongol," which I was anticipating for a while because I even saw it advertised in the U.S. And, I'm PRETTY sure it's a Russian film... I'm going to check IMDB tomorrow... but, I was a bit surprised when it was in a language other than Russian (I'm going to assume Mongolian, or whatever language it is that they speak in Mongolia -- excuse my ignorance), DUBBED OVER in Russian. Like, maybe that just doesn't make sense to ME... but... I don't know. I know there has been a trend in American films to film the movie in the original language of the setting or whatever (if that makes sense) and then subtitle it ... but what the fuck? You could HEAR the Mongolian language under the dubber, who, as I've noted before, is ONE voice actor doing ALL the dubbing for the entire movie -- female characters, male characters, narrator. Without any emotion. But in any case, luckily I could understand him, but the dialogue wasn't exactly that profound. Indeed, I was overall disappointed by the movie, but ah well.

And unfortunately I had to change the regional settings on my laptop to even PLAY the movie, WHICH I CAN ONLY DO FIVE TIMES!!! So I guess I'll keep my laptop at region 5 for my stay here, and try to only buy DVDs that have no regional setting. Which shouldn't be difficult since most are pirated anyhow.

Oh, I think I've mentioned this before, but the stray dogs here are SO ADORABLE. I would totally take them all in if I could. There are usually a lot laying around outside the metro when I come home from the university, and a lot of the time I'll see two of them playing out in front of one of the stores -- Well, like, one is lying down trying to sleep, and another is pawing and nipping at the one lying down, trying to get him to play. From afar it kind of looks like they're mauling eachother, but when you get close it's obvious they're just playing. IT'S SO CUTE. I want to feed them, but then I'll have a pack of stray dogs following me home. So I'll leave the feeding to the old ladies.

I spent another absurdly long day at Smolny, so I don't really have anything exciting to impart. I took two exams this week, two classes were cancelled... blah blah... I finally feel like I'm really improving in my language, but at the same time I feel as though my RSL classes aren't contributing to that in the least. DEFINITELY not in dialogue. Maybe a TAD bit in grammar. But that's about it. Indeed, that's my only real complaint about the program -- I sorely dislike the RSL program itself. Ah well.

Yura called me today to discuss going to the ballet. I told him I was going to buy the tickets, and he didn't need to worry about it, etc, and we got into an argument about that. Thankfully, I could understand most everything he was saying, but I got flustered because he started to tell me HE was going to buy the tickets because I don't have money or something (I don't know where he got that idea), and I just started speaking really fast... and by "speaking" I mean I spewed out a string of Russian words that were neither declined nor conjugated, so I can't imagine what it would've sounded like to him. Probably entirely incompehensible. In any case, it's still unresolved, but I'm buying tickets tomorrrow, regardless. He said he's going to send me a message or something. We'll see what happens.

Tatyana said that I needed to get warmer pants for the winter... I'm not sure what that means ... ? What exactly are 'warmer pants'? Ah well. I guess my legs will freeze, or something.

Update on 22.10.2008:

For some reason, right now, I'm just feeling completely and totally anti-Russian in every sense. I hate everything, right now. I think a great deal of it is frustration. I'm really just wanting to drop everything, give up, and go home (though clearly, I can't). I don't know... It's probably temporary, but for now, I just want to stab something.

Of course, and this starts at a rather inconvenient time. It's still fairly early and my homework is complete, so I have plenty of time to go over vocabulary or read Russian articles for recreation, or watch TV or something. But I really just want to withdraw from that. Yeck.

Of course, and it doesn't make much sense... Two classes (including my LEAST FAVORITE) were cancelled this week, I had a very easy exam in one class.. I don't know. It should have been a good week (indeed, it went by ULTRA FUCKING QUICK), but it was not. Truly, it was awful. And I go to Moscow next weekend.

Last night it really hit me that I only have two more months, really... Which at one relieves and terrifies me. Mostly it terrifies me because this experience has pissed me off so much that I feel like I really need to come out on top by the end, and I'm not sure I can do that within the next two months. Despite my doing more goings-out every WEEK than I would be doing in MONTHS while in the U.S., I still feel like I'm not doing ENOUGH. I don't know.