ENGLISH HUGS

Seeing English here is like getting a big warm hug, and seeing English used in the right context here, well that's like getting a big hug AND friendly pat on the bum (too much?). So I've been trying to get the hang of basic communication, i even took out my handy dandy pen and transformed my hand into a mobile cheat sheet, but every time i have the perfect opportunity by brain just farts, my eyes glaze over, and I'm sure if you listened hard enough you would be able to hear the faint "puff" as my brain deflated. The thought has crossed my mind to just tattoo Russian phrases all over my body. Do you think tattoo's would be acceptable as long as they were for educational purposes?
I was on my way down to the metro, standing on the right side of course because it's just common courtesy to stand on the right so that those who are late for a very important date can zoom right past on the left. I tried that whole zooming down the escalator thing...not good, especially since i was known at school as the girl who always tripped both up and down the stairs, usually bringing those withing a three foot radius of me down as well as I'm frantically searching for something stable. After what felt like an eternity I totally started to lose my coordination and i would have to stop for a moment to compose myself for fear that i would lose my footing and make it into Ripley's Believe or Not as the girl who made the longest, most dramatic, most pathetic stair fall in history.
It's so funny standing on the train trying as hard as I can to find that thing on the floor that everybody seems so tranced by, and for some reason everybody seems to see it but me, so i eventually give up and just take in my surroundings. Gotta love that awkward moment when you make eye contact with someone, and then for the next five minutes you're playing a game of eye tag, but it's even more awkward here because every time i make eye contact i silently ask for forgiveness for intruding on their soul. What's even funnier is having a mini heart attack and declaring in a not so calm voice, "Why are we moving with the doors open?!" only to then realize that it was just the other train moving as we were safely dormant on the other side of the station.
 Walking over to the school for lunch i had the pleasant sensation of having the peach fuzz on my cheeks freeze over as it caught the mositure from my breath. It's like every day is a new opportunity to discover those little surprises as to what parts of my body can freeze. I almost can't believe it when i hear that this is a mild winter!
So today i tasted my first 100% authentic Russian meal! We have this cute little chef at our school who makes us lunch five days of the week, i hear that somedays you just want to lick the bowl clean and others you just gotta down that sucker and not think about it! I am happy to say that it was definently a bowl licking worthy meal. Today was dill soup (which i would soon learn that i will be saying that same phrase every five days for the next four months), which is basically flavored water with LOTS of dill, a delish meaty potato carrot mash, and TONS of bread.

 Yeah you see that piece of bread? Yeah that piece was just the taste tester of the appetizer of the meal of bread i ate for lunch that day. You think I'm exaggerating on the amount of bread they give us, but oh no, I'm not kidding.

Behold, the mound of bread.

 On my way to find the bathroom to wash my hands i learned two things: none of their doors match which you would think would make it easier to find the bathroom, and that when you walk in on two Russian woman, dressed all in white, folding laundry and the room goes silent as they give you a "who the heck are you?" look, you can assume that that is not the bathroom.
We were given portfolios of the children we would be teaching after lunch, and seeing the pictures of their cute little Russian faces, their cute little Russian noses, their big Russian eyes, their blond Russian hair, their little Russian ear lobes, and those tender little Russian smiles, just got me so excited! I was ready for teacher mode.
So that's my day! And there's no better way to finish off a day than walking home with a baguette of bread under one arm and a tube of ice cream (yes, that's right. i said tube) under the other. Until next time! Farewell and goodnight!

P.S. Welcome matt10012! Congratulations for being my first official follower and for beating my fiendish friends to the punch! (Yes, you know who you are...Annie...McCall....Andrea....)

P.S.S. I would like to take this time to shout out to my second and third follower! She is glorious, she is fantastic, she is big hearted, she's got one big booty, she has given me her "hand me down's" since i was knee high to a grasshopper, she fed me when i was poor, she has always been there for me, she is more than i could have ever asked for, folks I am proud to introduce my second follower as....my sister! Sage Hennen! And thirdly... he is the first one i ever got, he's cute, he's cuddly, he's got a soul of full of passion and dances move you wouldn't believe, he likes to make inappropriate jokes at weddings, he's got a heart of gold this one, he's.....my brother-in-law! Justin Allen! Welcome!

P.S.S.S. Don't be expecting such a grand welcoming all you future followers. This girl only has so much.