Monday, September 9, 1996 Well, I woke up again today to find that everybody else was still asleep. It was pouring rain and, in fact, it hasn't stopped all day. I gathered my stuff for school and headed to the dorm to do the homework I neglected over the weekend. I got it done really quickly and killed some time hanging out before class. Classes were uneventful. Afterward, I talked to Katya about moving out of my host family. She was really agreeable and even offered to come with me to run interference in case they gave me any trouble while packing. On the way over, she actually offered to do the talking for me. I took her up on her offer because I wasn't really sure how to handle the situation in English--let alone in russian. The situation turned out the one way I wouldn't have expected. They didn't show _any_ emotion...or even say goodbye. The mother only took a moment out from the private lesson she was teaching to talk to Katya and the Kids (Oleg sr. and Anya) didn't even really look away from their TV set. So, for the moment, I'm living in the dorm. The plan is for me to find out if my friend Alyosha was serious about wanting me to live with his family and to take him up on it. If not, ACTR will find me another homestay....one where my hosts don't smoke upwards of two packs a day at home. For the time being, I can be reached at 011 (7 095) 245 28 61 which is the party line that katya shares. After getting all my stuff back here and doing some homework, Katya, Jerry and I went to Gorya. (The georgian restaurant across the street) None of us had jackets on and I was the only one with sense enough to bring an umbrella. Well, we waited for about 10 minutes and the line grew and grew. The 8 british people who had been in line when we came in were still in front of us, even though there were about 4 empty tables and the restaurant closed at 9 and it was already 8:30. Two separate pairs of well dressed men came in and simply sat down at tables and got served. I'll let you draw your own conclusions...you're probably right. Katya talked to the hostess and was told that since there were only three of us, they could probably find us space. Since that felt wrong to her, katya decided that we should go elsewhere. Her destination of choice was "U Mama Zoya" (At Mama Zoya's) This restaurant serves food that's quite similar to Gorya...at similar prices...with a similar looking menu...in fact, it's owned by the same people and tastes the same. The only difference is that it was a 15 minute walk through the driving rain without a jacket. When we were through, we asked for the check and were told that the total came to 110,000 rubles. Since that seemed a bit high to us, katya asked for a written check. I jokingly told her that they were going to bring us a piece of paper with the number 110000 written on it. We were _almost_ amused when she came back several minutes later carrying a piece of paper with the number 110 000 written on it. We didn't leave a tip. All in all, it was an amusing and thoroughly Russian experience. gnite oh...something from yesterday that I forgot to mention: While "melki" and I were playing basketball, I got fed up with him tugging me everywhichway, so I started to stand perfectly still. He bumped into something and I let out a giggle. He turned to me and said--in his most grown up voice "If you're going to act like that, the friendship is over!"