Tuesday, Tuesday, la laaa, la la la la.

It is Tuesday, yes?

I've been kind of confused about the days. Especially with today being July 1st and all. When did that happen?

Anyway, my day began in a humorous fashion because at 9:15am when I was leaving the apartment and walking down the stairs to go to school, Katya was walking up the stairs towards the apartment, just arriving home from her night out because she got stuck on the wrong side of the bridges when they went up at 1am.

School was normal, except for the fact that my conversation class professor, Veronika, was out sick -- I think she injured her leg from what I gathered -- so Jonathan Platt covered our class instead. And then at lunch one of the tutors, Victoria, who I friended last night on vkontakte ("Russian Facebook") and I talked about how much we BOTH LOVE KATYA KEEFE (ahem). Also at lunch I sat next to my grammar class professor and she asked me, "Liza, you also go by EB?" and I said yes and finally figured out how to explain my whole name evolution in Russian. It was something along the lines of: "Well, in America there are lots of Elizabeths so I was always Elizabeth B and then my friends all said 'E.B.' but then when I started Russian class my professors said you need a Russian name that we can decline so you will be Liza which is funny because I always hated 'Liz' and 'Liza' in English but in Russian 'Liza' is pronounced 'Lee-za' which I prefer but my mom and grandmom still call me Elizabeth anyway." This all was appropriate in the chain of events of the day because earlier in the morning Misha and Olga had both referred to me as 'Leez' which I liked because it makes me feel like I live here, that I'm not just a foreign guest and that they like me, but I also thought this was hilarious because Nunni always wanted me to be Liz and finally in Russia I am.... just pronounced differently.

Okay, sorry that was a huge ramble.

ANYWAY.

Our cultural excursion today was basically next door. We went to the Dostoevsky Museum which is on, hey, Dostoevsky Street which is, hey, where I live. So that was cool. I got to see his hat. The hat of Dostoevsky. And even though I am totally more of a Tolstoy person, I was swooning a little bit inside thinking of the fact that he actually lived 2 blocks from where I am living now in Russia and that he was this totally amazing epic writer and blah blah blah the book nerd (or should I say "Book Goddess"? HA) in me was very content there. (Sorry, Mom, that's where I was when you called earlier.)

After that I had coffee briefly with Emma, Grace, Sasha, Louis, Adams, Emily & Bethany (quick, tell me which schools they go to and everything about them just kidding can you tell I'm a little hyped up on caffeine right now?) and then I..... came home? At a reasonable hour? And ate dinner with Olga? And am doing.... homework? Before 11pm? What?

THOUGH, before I came home and after coffee, I was able to accomplish two errands/tasks/missions which made me feel good about myself even though they were such little things. Earlier in the day before school I visited Bryan in the office and asked him about how to deal with mosquitoes because the first week was fine but all of a sudden at night they are EVERYWHERE, even with the window closed and my blankets over my head and I wanted his opinion on 6 rashy spots on my arm because they look like bug bites but also look kind of strange, I guess like Russian bug bites or something, but I just wanted to check. He said they look normal. DON'T WORRY. Anyway, so he told me to get something called a "fume-e-gat-ooooor" which you plug into an outlet and the mosquitos leave you alone. Then we were also talking about how I feel good about my grammar skills but still feel like I never know any words and how flashcards just don't work for me, so Bryan suggested that every time I hear a new word I write it down in a little book and before bed every night just read over the list once or twice and then slowly those words will enter my passive vocabulary and then slowly they'll enter my active vocabulary as I use them. So I also had a quest to find a little notebook. AND, low and behold, I was able to find BOTH items. This may sound so asinine and silly to you people at home who can just waltz in to CVS and find everything you need in 200 different styles, but this was so satisfying. So now my fume-e-gat-ooooor is plugged in and fuming away and I'm going to list new words I've learned in my little notebook. And then do homework. I guess.