In Which Cabbage is Hated Upon

30.09.2008

I don't know how much more stuffed cabbage I can take. I almost started vomiting during the last bites of my dinner, tonight, because the texture of the cabbage was making me gag. But there's no real easy way to tell someone you're going to vomit if you keep eating their food.

I think the pirozhki I ate this morning was also filled with cabbage. Jesus Christ...

In any case, today was interesting. I don't know, my mood is a roller coaster. I was feeling fine until I got into my Razgovornaya Praktika course, in which the professor, Elena Nikolayevna, was not too terribly nice. I don't think she likes me. Or Americans in general. And she's the head of the Russian as a Second Language program... Anyway, she ruined my mood. After that class I just kind of wanted to go home and go to bed, and cancel the plans with Yura. But I didn't, because I knew I regret it,

Bryan wants to go to the Marc Almond concert with me, tomorrow, so he gave me money to buy him a ticket since he had to be in work all day. Well, the Teatralnaya Kassa closes from 3-4, so I was waiting around Smolny for a couple hours, and Ilana asked me to go to the Muzhskoj Balet wiith her (which is an all-male ballet? I don't know, it sounds strange). So, now I am basically doing/have done something every day of the week! Well, except yesterday.

Yura, his friend Masha and I went to the Botanicheskij Sad (Botanical Gardens) today. Which was kind of sad -- All the plants were dead or in just some sad state. But it was thoroughly enjoyable and an uplifting time because I was conversing and being conversed to in Russian. We joked, we laughed, we enjoyed ourselves. They called me a "suspicious American" because I don't drink whiskey.

When I got home and was telling Tatyana where I had gone and such, she asked me about these friends, and was worried when I said they weren't students from the University. She was like, "They're not Ukrainian, Moldovan, or otherwise...?" and I was like "Uh, no, I think they're Russian..." and she nodded in approval. Sooo, there you go. She also told me to not walk around this district at night because there were a lot of "Ukrainians, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs living in the area." I wasn't aware of this particular suspicion of Ukrainians -- I thought it was more of a patronising demeanour than anything else between the rest of the Slavs and Russians.

Oh, and I finally got around to asking her where she works... and... she just gestured out the window and said “There.” I was ultra confused, and said, “...Where..?” and she was like, “There!” and then said something else that I didn't understand. So there's that.

So, Marc Almond tomorrow, ballet on Thursday, Hermitage and Tri El' on Friday, Central Station on Saturday, and Pavlovsk on Sunday. Masha and Yura were saying they wanted to go to Pavlovsk and have a picnic and whatnot, as well, so we'll see what happens there. I didn't entirely understand, but, Russians seem to not have a grand concept of time so I'm sure they'll call/text me on Sunday MORNING with the plans.

Busybusy week. I actually better get started on my homework...

I'll upload photos on Thursday.