And now, a lesson in Russian linens taught by the Cat Formerly Known as Prince

Here's a little bit of catching up on my personal story:

As you might have been able to tell from the post "Farewell to the Glass Monster", I moved a couple of weeks back. Basically, Princess had been living in one apartment until the apartment SHE was supposed to live in was free; and when she moved, the Institute decided that I could move as well.

Thus, I have ended up in the house of the Cat Formerly Known As Prince; for a better, shorter title, I'm going to be calling him Prince Charming from now on.

Prince Charming has become my best buddy, breaking into my room in order to take a nap in his spot (because it is HIS spot, and nothing else can be there) at least once every day. This morning, Prince Charming was being particularly incessant with his demands for attention, and all I could do was sit and laugh as he sat on my bed.

Why is this so funny?

Because I had to change the sheets. And thus, grabbing my camera, I began documenting Prince Charming's efforts to teach me in the way of Russian sheets.

Fail #1: Removing the bottom linen

So, Russians don't really believe in American style sheets, as far as I've seen; at my old apartment, the host mom laid out a blanket for the bottom, a thinner sheet on top of that, and then another thin sheet to go under, and the comforter. This has been the case at my new apartment, too.

It makes sense that the bottom sheet would be the first thing that I changed; however, his furry highness was sitting directly on top of the sheets. The result was this:

It took a while for me to extricate the cat from the sheets; however, eventually I managed to pull the sheet away from Prince Charming, and place the new bottom sheet on the bed.

For those who have ever wondered, it is really, really difficult to adjust sheets when there is a cat sitting directly in the middle of them.

Fail #2: The Comforter

Next, there was the Russian style comforter. As far as I've seen, in the US, you have a comforter, and that is that-- the entirety of the comforter goes in the washing machine, it takes forever to dry, and eventually you have a fluffy, clean comforter after two or three days and multiple trips to the dryer. Not so in Russia. Russia has these interesting sheets called "envelope sheets"; the idea is, you have a normal sheet with a hole somewhere-- this can be the bottom, the side, the top, the middle, pretty much anywhere. You take your comforter/blanket and shove it in this hole, and then that serves as your comforter.

Well, his furry highness refused to move when I tried to put out the comforter, so at first, this happened:

Aaaaand back to the middle.

However, soon enough, Prince Charming recovered, and began to illustrate the importance of the hole in the comforter's outside envelope sheet.

It was only at this point that I decided it would be hilarious to throw a pillow on him; and, camera at hand (as if I could miss a moment like this!), I tossed the pillow and waited.

And here is where you look for the cat-shaped lump. It's like "Where's Waldo", but cute and fluffy.

Prince Charming would want me to tell you about Russian pillowcases, which are interesting because some actually have buttons that you have to button up in order to get them to close. Like the one I threw at him.

Now, Prince Charming is curled up in the middle of my bed, sleeping like a baby. It's hard work, teaching Americans how to make their beds. Especially when there's photographic evidence. It's been a rough morning for him.