5/22/09, 2:36 p.m.

i'm slowly getting used to russia
not that there was doubt that i would
but i wasn't sure how long it would take
gotta say, it's a big culture shock

the classes are certainly interesting
i have four while i'm here
we have phonetics/intonation, practical usage, grammar, and culture
they're all pretty good classes
phonetics is taught by lyena's mom, who is awesome
and the culture guy is really cool
he's got all sorts of fun stories and stuff like that
the kicker?
every single class is entirely in russian
this entire trip is basically a baptism by fire
and it's definitely working

i'm starting to understand more of what's being said to me
i feel like less of a complete idiot, at least
so far, the only thing i can do successfully is order food
thanks to our continuous jaunts through petersburg and moscow
but, with four more weeks of classes только по-русски
coupled with my homestay and conversations with other random people
my comprehension should see some improvement

and, sadly,
i have yet to take a trip to мамаев курган
i have, however, seen the statue
we passed by it on the train ride into town, and it's huge
i think we're taking an trip there sometime next week
we went to a concert last night of more contemporary russian folk songs
popular songs from movies, plus some early 1900s folk songs
the концертный зал is the old soviet office for political propaganda
it has the faces of marx, engels and lenin carved into the façade
it's like a soviet mt rushmore
we have another concert there tomorrow, more folk songs
should be a good time