So, I've officially decided that Russia is a "Nightmare Before Christmas" fan. True, it did start snowing last night (prompting me to burst into song while walking home), but THIS was my view from the window this morning:
For those who are wondering, yes, this is a bit early for snow-- according to my host mom, the snow usually doesn't hit until late November. But that's not stopping Russia.
Anyways, with how late I got home last night, I decided to go to bed (which I failed miserably at, in case you were wondering) rather than write a blog post about yesterday, so here we go:
Morning started off with hitting up the St. Isaac's Cathedral (there will be a full review whenever I get the pictures), then lunch at Happiness (again, going to be a review soon). After that, we decided that one museum in a day wasn't enough, so we went to the Museum of the History of Religion (and a review on that one coming up, too.)
After that, we had a Russian-style Halloween party. Now, this was HILARIOUS because Russians
1) Have no idea what you're supposed to do for Halloween;
2) Have no idea how to bob for apples;
3) Cheat horribly at Musical Chairs (except for when one of the exchange students won; but that was before the epic cheating); and
4) Think it's okay to have living pieces of their Halloween costume.
No, I do not mean that someone was wearing a bunch of live snakes sewn together on their head for Medusa (though that would be epically intense, and I would give them props for being brave enough to have those angry snakes writhing around near their face). What I'm talking about is one of the girls came as a witch and decided to bring her black cat on a leash.
With America's obsession with little, itty-bitty dogs, I'm surprised that we still haven't taken the logical step to cats on leashes. Maybe it's because we feel that it's inhumane. Maybe it's because we don't want the arm workout. Either way, seeing that poor, terrified kitten getting dragged by a leash was equal parts adorable and sad.
Anyways, party ends, and then I go to Judo. Total fail, by the way. I've realized that I learned how to do a lot of things differently than they do; and so, when they're doing the forward rolls into standing up, or backwards rolls into a handspring, I can't do that because (somehow) they're going straight over their own heads, whereas I'm going at an angle. This was my only moment of clarity for the entire class; after that, it was learning and practicing moves while having no idea what was going on, somehow tweaking my ankle (it's fine now) but having to frantically indicate to the Russian people to the best of my ability that they could not, for example, use my foot as a crank for the knee bar (might as well show you want I'm talking about):
... as well as begging them to not do an ankle lock on that foot. However, class was over, I punched something harder than I should've, and with a collapsed knuckle (hey, at least they match) and a slight limp, I headed home singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" and "Let it Snow" as loud as I could without people hearing me. (Snow, by the way, does wonders for icing injuries; my knuckle is already back to almost being normal.)
So that was yesterday. I do have to admit, seeing a cat on a leash and a little kid carrying a big one (like, one two feet taller) invokes the same feeling of sadness and adorability. Yesterday was just... unique. And from the way today has started off, today is going to be just as special as well.
For those who are wondering, yes, this is a bit early for snow-- according to my host mom, the snow usually doesn't hit until late November. But that's not stopping Russia.
 |
| Because, in my opinion, this would be SO much better of an explanation for why it's snowing today. |
Morning started off with hitting up the St. Isaac's Cathedral (there will be a full review whenever I get the pictures), then lunch at Happiness (again, going to be a review soon). After that, we decided that one museum in a day wasn't enough, so we went to the Museum of the History of Religion (and a review on that one coming up, too.)
After that, we had a Russian-style Halloween party. Now, this was HILARIOUS because Russians
1) Have no idea what you're supposed to do for Halloween;
2) Have no idea how to bob for apples;
3) Cheat horribly at Musical Chairs (except for when one of the exchange students won; but that was before the epic cheating); and
4) Think it's okay to have living pieces of their Halloween costume.
No, I do not mean that someone was wearing a bunch of live snakes sewn together on their head for Medusa (though that would be epically intense, and I would give them props for being brave enough to have those angry snakes writhing around near their face). What I'm talking about is one of the girls came as a witch and decided to bring her black cat on a leash.
With America's obsession with little, itty-bitty dogs, I'm surprised that we still haven't taken the logical step to cats on leashes. Maybe it's because we feel that it's inhumane. Maybe it's because we don't want the arm workout. Either way, seeing that poor, terrified kitten getting dragged by a leash was equal parts adorable and sad.
Anyways, party ends, and then I go to Judo. Total fail, by the way. I've realized that I learned how to do a lot of things differently than they do; and so, when they're doing the forward rolls into standing up, or backwards rolls into a handspring, I can't do that because (somehow) they're going straight over their own heads, whereas I'm going at an angle. This was my only moment of clarity for the entire class; after that, it was learning and practicing moves while having no idea what was going on, somehow tweaking my ankle (it's fine now) but having to frantically indicate to the Russian people to the best of my ability that they could not, for example, use my foot as a crank for the knee bar (might as well show you want I'm talking about):
 |
| Considering this was the motion that was hurting, my head would've exploded. |
So that was yesterday. I do have to admit, seeing a cat on a leash and a little kid carrying a big one (like, one two feet taller) invokes the same feeling of sadness and adorability. Yesterday was just... unique. And from the way today has started off, today is going to be just as special as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment