We Played Monopoly in Spanish and Met the Mustachioed Lady

Ok. I'm in trouble for not posting. As if you teachers don't know every intimate detail of my life already. Well, since Mushroom Extravaganza 2k6, I've had a fun weekend in Nizhni Novgorod, or Gorkii as it's often still called, staying with Joanna's friend Joanna (yeah), who has the sweet job of being an R.A.-and-crisis-management-person for a study abroad program. Embarrassingly, we went to McDonald's twice in 36 hours there. But it was so, so good. The city was gorgeous; the Kremlin overlooks the confluence (strelka?) of the Volga and Oka rivers (kak Oka? shiroko! nasha reka!) and it's a beautiful place to walk around. It brought back memories of Gorkii's miserable childhood, or at least the reading of it, although I didn't make it to his house. On the rainy Sunday we stopped into the so-trendy-it-hurts cafe Bezukhov for a solid cup of coffee. Nizhni: Ten Points!

This past week I've been coming home to the U.S. Open (I'm lucky to get the Eurosport channel.) It's been somehow wonderfully conforting to get home - often before Irina does - make a cup of tea with lemon and sugar, maybe heat up some cabbage soup, and lie there on the couch just watching tennis. I passively absorb the Russian commentary, my heart starts to pound during the tiebreakers just as it once did back when I was a sportsmenka, and for once I feel no culture shock at all.