Wicked witch of the west

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a week since I've posted last. You know what they say.. When in Rome.. oh wait no.. that's not what they say at all. I'm not sure what I do with my time, but I seem to have very little free time. If I'm not out manouvering aroud on the muddy streets, I'm desperately trying to learn Russian or having Nikita terrorizing me by pulling my hair and throwing all my things around. It's cute you say?
Also, the internet in this country is complicating. You need an internet card.. and to get one you have to buy one.. and to buy one you have to talk to the person at the store.. you get the idea. Complications, complications and more complications.. but today, I went and bought an internet card. I'm sure there's some lame saying.. "complications are only opportunities in disguise" whatever.

I've had a bit of a cold/flu/culture shock/some strange type of Russian illness lately, which is quite annoying. I ate some liver and spinach for lunch today, and I figure that will cure me OR kill me. Time will tell I suppose.

Work is going okay. Not good. Just Ok. My "supervisor" who is actually another guy from our group.. and kind of took the role of supervisor just for the sake of it.. well he's kind of annoying. He thinks about everything for a long time, and he's kind of old fashioned.. he's very chivalrious.. (is that a word? polite to women..opens doors and stuff ya know) yet treats them like they're half retarded. Granted, sometimes I have acted half retarded, but I he doesn't know that. I'd rather open the door myself and be treated with some respect. I have to wait for him to tell me what to do.. so while I wait, I sit and try to teach another co-worker french. I think it's important.. for her to learn french.. and then I know from the way he looks at me that he secretly wants me to die. Also, he has the key to the office, and he comes 15 minutes late. If I come on time, which for some reason I have been, I have to wait outside. The only reason he got a key is because he's a boy. And therefore manly and responsible.

So I talked to Cheslav, our russian group supervisor, whose really cool and understanding. He reminds me of Frau McAllister (high school german teacher) and he told me that it'll be hard, but I have to deal with this right away or it'll turn into something much worse than it needs to be. He said that all kinds of people need feedback, because sometimes their attitudes (towards work, punctuality, oposite sex, etc) are just habitual and they don't understand why they might hurt other people. Feedback. Give him feedback. No problem. Next week, focus will be on Feedbacking.

A few days ago, Axana (Nikita's mom) came into my room while I was asleep. She woke me up by sitting on my bed and trying to kiss my cheek. She had drank some vodka and wanted me to go to the disco with her. I was not really in the mood for a disco, so I tried to decline.. I was a bit annoyed, not cause i wanted to be, but because it's just natural instinct to be kind of pissed off when Mrs. Vodkabreath is sitting on me while I'm trying to sleep. So she asks me to teach her some english swear words. It was funny, cause I seemed to have an abundance at the tip of my tongue.
"screw off and get the F*ck out of my f*cking room you stupid idiot" I saw it as a good way to express emotion, she saw it as a learning experience. She said she'd leave me alone if I would smoke a cigarette with her. So I did it. And then went to sleep. This was also another bonding experience I think. Seeing people when they are most vulnerable, they can't really hide as much as they normally do. She's pretty cool.

In the mean time, I've been learning alot from Val, my bro (check out the pic) He taught me that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. He said this while wearing slippers with playboy bunnies on them and drinking out of his super cool coffee mug (let me describe it. So on the cup there's a fisherman standing by a river fishing. And when you put something hot in the cup, a mermaid appears in the river and is giving the fisherman a blow job. It's called Angler's Glueck or Fisherman's luck. Good way to start the day off.. with some hot tea or hot coffee. I don't really find it that funny. i guess I don't have a sense of humor.)

On the topic of "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach," this place is a bit behind the times in terms of.. attitudes..towards..cough..women.. Men never shake hands with women. If there's a group of people, men and women, the men will say hi and shake hands only with the men. Handshaking is just a guy thing.. like fishing I guess.. I dunno..
Regardless of who the woman is or what she does or how much money she has or who she's married to or how well she cooks.. no hand shaking. end of story. That was a bit of a shocker for me. It's not necessarily a disrespectful thing, just a thing. different attitude.. we had the same thing in Canada awhile back.. 1954..some of you might remember. (sorry I don't mean to be venting here or offending any Russians, I just have to get this "culture shock" issue off my chest)

One other cultural difference I'll bore you with. duh duh duh.. TIME is NOT IMPORTANT here. Earlier, I noted that my supervisor comes late.. it's not a problem. Others come to work an hour late and it's not a problem. I'm not saying that everybody is lazy and unproductive. They just don't place the same value on time as we do. Cheslav told me a saying.."an american will come 10min. early, a german bang on time, japanese 10 minutes late, Italian an hour late a bit tipsy and a russian won't come at all and won't call to cancel. Yeah, this is a stereotype for sure, but stereotypes are based on truths. You're supposed to meet somebody at a certain time and they show up an hour late. No apologies, no lame excuses (like we make in Canada) they just sit and act like nothing happened. I found this a bit annoying, cause it's like they have no respect for your time. But in a way, it's cool.. cause I've been late in the past, in Canada for example. Turns out I was never late, I was just in the wrong country. Once you catch on, you learn to be late for things. When in Rome...

I've signed up to be a witch in a Russian children's halloween play, so I'm pretty excited about that. I get to carry an umbrella and dance like a witch. Should be a nice balance of fun and humiliating. I'm excited for the weekend and for my flu disappear.. when in Rome..!!??