5 september 96 well, the first thing that happened to me after I got off-line last night was that I discovered that my journal entry for the 2nd had gotten eaten by the damned machine. It's too bad too. Here's the really short version: We had placement tests in the morning. in the afternoon, we were given a tour of the university's main building. As we were entering the building, I ran into Alyosha, whom I hadn't seen in about a year and a half. I had called his house, but somebody else answered and said that nobody by that name lived there. He was rather surprised to bump into me at his university. On to today... I woke up at about 8...to discover that nobody else was up yet. I didn't know whether to wake people or not. I opted for not. Nobody was up by 9 when I had to leave to walk to school. It took about 20 minutes to walk. there's a trolleybus (called an electric bus in the states) that runs most of the way, but I didn't feel like waiting. Besides, it was a nice walk. I ran into several classmates as I was entering the building. We all headed up together. Today's first class was "Film" -- taught by the literature prof. After waiting for about 10 minutes, we found out that Film takes place in another room....one with a television. It sorta makes sense now that i think about it. Well, just like in junior high, the teacher didn't know how to use the VCR. (Note: explaining how to use a VCR in Russian is a bit easier than explaining how to use a mouse and microsoft word in russian. I just wouldn't want to explain how to set the clock on the VCR) In the end, the professor handed me the remote and told me when to play, when to rewind, etc. It turns out that I've already seen the first film we're watching in class. I feel so bad for the poor professor..I've already read the story she chose for us to start with _and_ I've seen the movie she picked. Both are worth doing again, but she seemed disappointed. After Film, we had a brief break before conversational hour. I had what might be the best meal I've had at the stolovaya so far: Tea and a piroshok c yaitsom (with egg). We were a few minutes early for Conversation and passed the time debating which of us speaks the worst russian. As in: "I don't understand half of what the professor says to me!" "Hell, I don't understand half of what _I'm_ saying." The prof is a very funny middle-aged lady. She accused several of us of being sadists, because we talk to softly and she has to strain to hear us. I'm told that the other class spent the time talking about beer. After classes, alicia, george, adrian and I went off in search of food. Before I knew what was going on, they had settled on McDonalds. I kicked and screamed and Alicia caved in and admitted that she had another idea....she knew about some woman who makes "really great hot dogs...So we hopped on the metro....She was right...for 3000 rubles, you can get a hotdog with a steamed bun and either ketchup or mustard and parsely. Most of us ended up having two. And then it was back on the metro to the dorm. As we left the metro, we saw Katya...she handed us our "yedinij billeti" (public transit passes) for the month. Now we don't have to spend 30 cents every time we get on the metro.. Back at the dorm, we found a bunch of people hanging out. Somebody had decided to put together an expedition to BDNX. BDNX stands for something that translates roughly as "Exposition of Soviet Economic Achievements." Now, it's a huge amusement park/electronics emporium. In at least one hall, there is a huge steel bust of lenin looking out over a vast hall full of off-brand japanese TVs. It is truly a sight that must be seen to be believed. Shiloh insisted that jerry had told her that she could buy her chekhov book there. I told her I doubted it, but would come along for the ride. When we got to BDNX (that's actually a mix of russian and english spellings....it's pronounced VaDinHah) Shiloh immediately gravitated to a bakery kiosk and spent about 10 minutes trying to decide which of 20 really good looking pastries she wanted. Every bakery cart we saw was swarming with bees. I'm amazed that the women working in them weren't covered with welts. BDNX was sorta neat. Shiloh and Liz split a Shashlik. The man who sold it to them said something and refused to take their money. They were under the impression that he had given it to them. Actually, what he had said was that he wouldn't take their money unless they were completely satisfied. They were a bit surprised when they complemented him on how good it tasted and he asked for their money. Unfortunately, I had to head home at about 5, because I was supposed to meet Alyosha at 6. I waited for him until about 6:30, but he never showed. I still haven't heard from him...I guess I'll call him. After that, I went home. As I was walking up the street toward my house, I saw a tiny grey and white kitten cowering in an alcove outside a shop. The poor thing looked tired, scared and defenseless as hell. It was all I could do not to take it home with me. The evening was fairly uneventful. About half an hour after I got home, my host mother went out. Half an hour after that, my host-sister told me it was dinner time...Yum! Cold chicken, a tomato and instant potatos...:( Not terribly tasty. She told me that she'd be leaving for work in about an hour and wouldn't be home till about 6 am. She said I could have her key if I wanted. The only catch was that I'd have to wake up to let her in at 6. I declined. She said she didn't know where her brother was. I had about an hour to myself before Oleg showed up. He's nicer than I thought. The only annoying thing is that once he saw my computer, he wanted to play doom on it. I should have explained to him that you can't really play games on it. Instead, I admitted that I had a newer game that was similar called Quake. Now all he wants to do is play quake. About 10 minutes into his first game, something happened and my machine got really horked. :( I had to spend the rest of the evening fscking with it. jesse