A letter home from study abroad
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!"