Never a dull moment

It's Sunday and on Sunday's I like to do laundry. I was going to ask my roommate to help me figure it out but I decided to take the adventure myself. The laundry room is on the bottom floor of my sector so it is very close to me. Before I came to Russia, the only advice that was repeatedly given to me was "be prepared to wait and have a lot of patience." I didn't think I would need patience to do a small task such as laundry, but I was very wrong. I had to wait over an hour to put my clothes in the washer because there was a "laundry room monitor" who would tell you when you could put your clothes in the washer. It cost around $2.85 (100 rubles) and she gave you the coins to put in the machine as well as the laundry detergent. I thought that was convenient. After your laundry was done washing, you put it in the dryer yourself, pay her again and she gave you the coins. There is an option to have her wash your clothes but that can take up to 3 days.
While I was waiting, I met some other Americans as well as a new Russian friend, so my time waiting was time very well spent.
So, I thought tonight I would order a pizza from the cafe and have it delivered to my room. I must have been feeling very confident or something. I didn't understand what the lady on the phone was saying, even with my best Russian she didn't know what I was saying so in the end I just hung up and walked downstairs and ordered it.
Other than that I have just been working on my Russian homework and trying to memorize some new verbs. I have class tomorrow at 9 am and I am definitely not looking forward to that.

Today was a day to remember

Today, Feb 15th, was just one of those days I will never forget. The American's got together with some Russians along with a Finnish guy (Mark) and watched the US-Russia hockey match. I can't explain what a fulfilling experience this was for me. These few hours encompassed why I came to Russia. The fact that people from all different backgrounds, world views, and experiences could come together and cheer for our countries without hard feelings was amazing. It is possible to have pride for your own country and not be obnoxious or arrogant about it. I thought both teams did an amazing job and I am happy that I was able to be in Russia at this time. I am so thankful for my new Russian friends that are so willing to help me with the language and willing to show me the Russia that they know and love. I will forever be grateful for this day.
After the hockey match we all walked to the red square and it was so amazing with all of the lights. Some of us went to Mcdonalds and some of us went to a London styled pub. We ate, drank, and talked about the game. One of the Russian guys told me how hard it is to understand us when we talk fast and that made me feel better because to me it is also difficult to understand Russians when they talk fast. We all are experiencing the same things when learning each other's native language. Every day I learn how we all are the same rather than how we are different. We're students on a limited budget. We study, learn and have dreams for the future. I'm just so happy I got to achieve one of my dreams of coming to Russia.

If America sneezes, the world catches cold.

The past few days have been extremely busy which is why I really haven't had a lot of time to write about whats been going on. On Thursday I only had one class, but then that afternoon our group met with a group of Russians (some young, most old) to talk about politics and stereotypes. Amazingly, one of the older women talked about when she was younger and she read a book called "Tom Sawyer." She always dreamed of the imaginary land in the book until one day she learned that there really was a place like that and it is called America. Her entire childhood she saw America as a competitor in sports and the race to the moon but she never saw America as the enemy.The way she described America made me want to go there myself. She was speaking like she was a young child again and by the way her eyes shined, you could tell that everything she said was straight from the heart.
Another lady spoke on how Russian women aren't so wrapped up in worrying about what Russian models look like, but they do want to look like American models. They do all these things that Americans do such as "eat hamburgers."It broke my heart that she said that because even though America is pretty great, Russia is also great as well. They are two different cultures but that doesn't make one culture better than the other. Obviously I thought Russia is pretty amazing because I'm willing to take 4 months out of my life in America to come here, explore and learn.
A lot was earned from this experience and I now have a greater respect for America as well as Russia. We have to realize that the actions of the government do not always reflect the beliefs of the people. Just because Russia and the USA have some issues on a governmental level does not mean the Russians and American people have to have issues with each other. We are all humans. We want a lot of the same things out of life; to make a comfortable living, have our children have a better life than we do and to live in a peaceful environment. Until we all communicate with one another on a personal level, we will sit 4,000 miles away from each other, watching CNN and FOX news believing whatever 'news' they happen to be selling that day.

Back to school

I started class today! Each class is an hour and a half long with 20 minute breaks in between. My first class was reading, followed by phonetics, followed by grammar. The classes had 6 people in it including me, so its very easy to get one on one attention. I feel like the classes are right on my level and they really were not to bad. The teachers come to you rather than everyone changing classrooms, so I stayed in the same room, in the same seat all day long. In reading class we were given a worksheet and we just read it together and translated. Phonetics class we were given a list of words and we read them while working on pronouncing them correctly. In grammar class we learned new vocabulary and went over masculine, feminine and neuter. It was good to have a review! Alex and I ate boneless wings and fries after class because we were not in the mood for culture exploration. Haha.
Tomorrow, I only have one class and then Friday I have 3 again. I think this semester will be just fine.
I went to the bookstore and bought a notebook. Lined paper must not be a thing here because all I can find is graphing paper. 

PS, I didn't write a post yesterday because I didn't feel like me sleeping all day was blogworthy. Sooner or later my sleeping will get adjusted.

At least I tried...

This morning I got up to take my Russian placement test -_-. Since I couldn't even understand the directions, its obvious I didn't do very good. It consisted of listening, grammar, reading and speaking. I wrote on my entire paper, 'Я не знаю' ( I don't know). I never even made it to the speaking before I gave up and said "just put me in the beginner class."I am definitely struggling with the listening part. I'm not going to get discouraged though because I'm here to learn and I'm getting better everyday. After that me and some others went to the mall and ate Lebanese food and it was actually really good. I've believe I've previously mentioned the shower issue where the water wouldn't drain for like 5 minutes. Well, my roommate being the angel that we all know she is, bought me drain cleaner. I don't believe anyone fully understands how wonderful she is. I would have never found drain cleaner here because it's all in Russian. I will forever be grateful for her helping me to adjust and figure things out here.
Not much else is really going on today. We don't start class until Wednesday and mine doesn't start until 10:50. Thank the good lord Jesus. A good tourist would probably spend the rest of the day and tomorrow out adventuring, but it has been non stop since I've got here and I think I just need to sit back and take it all in. We are going to be visiting a historical sight once a week for the rest of the trip so I think I'll see plenty of sights.

Note to self

Today I woke up and thought I would navigate the bus system since I had a free day. I have to get to the classroom building tomorrow to take a placement test at 10 am. Luckily, the first bus I got on took me straight to the bus stop in front of the language department. Walking there is around a 25-30 minute walk, which is very reasonable but I know most days I will not want to be trudging through the Russian winter at 8 am for class. After getting off, I took a little mini bus back to where all the shops were to go to Ashan, which is like a little Walmart. I bought, 10 hangers, hair ties, 2 books, a towel, and a shower caddy all for 9 USD. I then went to McDonalds and ate. A man was walking around asking people for money and it was a little creepy. My friend Alex went with me on all of these little adventures today.
On Sundays, you cant walk through the entirety of the building, so you can only get to your dorm room by entering from the outside door of your sector. Alex and I entered in sector Б rather than sector В and there was no way to walk through the building to get to the right side. A guy from China walked us through some sketchy underground doors that lead to outside and then walked us to sector B. I am so thankful that he did that because we would never have found it ourselves.
Tomorrow I have to get up early for the placement test. I need to be in the beginner class to review on the grammar. I wish I could just tell them that rather than going through this whole testing process that includes speaking. I hope they don't judge me on my southern Russian accent.

New russian friends

Today was one of those days where it was so cold outside that I just wanted to stay in bed and not move, but I made myself get up and get ready to go on the tour.

The morning started off with breakfast at the cafe. I tried to ask if it was breakfast or lunch and it turned into a complicated scenario but in the end I got an omelet. I then took the "marshooka" (little mini van bus) to the metro with my new friend Alex. We met our group, a girl from Florida, some new American students and 4 Russians. We all went and met our tour guide who gave us a walking tour of historical points in Moscow and gave us interesting information on the political situation and basically why Russia is so far behind everyone else. It all boils down to geography and Russia not having mountains or rivers like everyone else. Fun fact for everyone, did you know that currently, United Russia is the number one political party in Russia and the Communist party is number 2? I thought that was interesting information. I saw St. Basil's cathedral and it was extremely breathtaking especially with all the snow! Ivan the Terrible had St. Basil's cathedral built and it is the first Russian building with the onion domes on the top. He actually took the idea from India. There was a story that he wanted this building to be the most beautiful in the world and no one could remake it, so he cut the tongue and eyes out of the architect. I'm not sure of the validity of the story.
After the tour we all set down at an armenian restaraunt for dinner. This gave us time to talk to the native Russian's about their stereotypes of Americans and our stereotypes of them.  The interesting thing was that they had to think really hard on American stereotypes and only came up with one which was that Americans were going to steal the Russian people. This was a big contrast to the 20+ stereotypes that Americans have of Russian people. We are so quick to think that Russians "hate" Americans but in reality they all don't. The Russians actually invited me and 3 others over next week for pancakes and we all exchanged numbers. Since one of my mental life goals was to meet a Russian person and become friends, I did that x4 today. I ate potatoes at the restaurant. I'm still trying to figure out the foods to eat. :)
After eating, we all took the metro back to MSU and here I am. I've had a struggle trying to get on the internet because I kept getting some warning page in Russian. After pushing buttons for an hour I think I might have fixed the situation. Fingers crossed.