Sept. 26th

Highlight of the day- check out dinner:

"hinkeli"

They're boiling. Verdict is still out on whether they taste as good as they look.

(Update: DELICIOUS! But don't buy the plain variety. Make sure it's the green label!)

Today was not the greatest day. Classes were just, eh, not good. I don't know if it was the lesson, the students, me, the weather, the day of the week (Monday) or all of the above. But rewinding back to the beginning.... at 10 AM this morning someone started doing a ремонт in a nearby apartment. Remember when I said that remodeling is a national obsession here? You're either actually doing it or you're on the verge of doing it, there is no third option (contentedness?)...today a neighbor started doing some heavy demolition. Heavy as building-shaking, massive thuds with a sledgehammer.... I could actually hear things crumbling. I went out and did more shopping for 2 hours (apartment is looking very comfy! Joyce, you'd be proud! D, you will be proud!) Came back, still marathon of destruction going on. Went to a new nearby cafe (local wifi finally, yeah!!!!) for 2 hours, attempting to lesson plan. The cafe was nice. Maybe I'll go there tomorrow to post this, as internet in the apartment has been like an election campaign promise. Supposedly I'm top priority now, they say. Uh-huh. Anyways, then classes, which fell as flat as a bad loaf of bread. All today I had this low mood, this feeling of burn-out. Students can be vicious little beasts; they pick up on that mood so quickly.

Yesterday a coworker took us out to a fancy restaurant called Мiсто.

must remember this, such a good champagne!!

Мiсто is a decent restaurant next to a night club/bowling complex of the same name. Even with all these spectacular things- caviar in the salad, bread basket, bottle of nice Crimean champagne, at least one dish per person- it came to about $60 for the 4 of us! Wow! I ordered chicken and a side of eggplant grilled on charcoal. It was nice to get out on the town and play expat. Sometimes there's something a little comforting about that. Speaking of which, the esteemed colleague who took us out had just recovered from a serious bout of food poisoning... which his doctor first guessed was cholera. Seriously, cholera? {Hey, I know you're thinking it too- Oregon Trail!} Apparently there was a outbreak in a coastal city that he'd recently visited and the doctor mentioned it as a possible cause for his illness.

Mine for only $3! But it's the dual dub version...

Finished Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Have a crush on Captain Nemo. Re-reading Dracula for the second time. It's a good read!!! Am about to run out of books on my Kindle, will switch to watching Russian pirated DVDs. I bought cartoons (чебурешки and so on) and plan to pick up the Russian-language version of the Tudors. Sadly ironic that I came here to learn Russian but find myself operating 98% of the time in English (class, lesson planning). Need to fix this!