1. When it's going to get cold in the Spring or the summer, you always know because there's a tree that blooms white flowers to warn us. Then later, there's always this white cotton like stuff that floats around, and would be awful if you had allergies, but it looks like snow is falling amongst the flowers and leaves.
2. Because it's been so cold recently, I've been wearing favorite my coat out.
3. My "aunt" Anya came over yesterday and we talked for an hour just the two of us.
4. There's a book store in town that is closing down, so now all books are at least half off, and I found my all time favorite book there in Russian the other day!
5. I watched a movie with really fast Russian subtitles the other day, and it was hard but I read almost all of them.
6. I found a movie that I love with English subtitles and I can't wait to show everyone I know.
7. Murzic, our grumpy older cat, has been such a love bug the last two days! He slept with me, and when I picked him up, he sat with me (as opposed to clawing at me and leaping away).
8. While looking at all the pictures on her wall, Dinara realized that many of the pictures or things she had written had come true. Inna pointed out that her wall was covered in pictures of women... Hehe.
9. The mail man came to my house a long time ago and looked at me, then at my passport and announced "You've lost weight!" It really annoyed me at the time, but looking at my driver's licence recently, I realized that I have. :)
10. The oven that we bought the other day just arrived, and it'll be working as soon as the city gas people come and get the gas working!
With so little time left, I am doing my best not to be sad. I can't wait to see my family, friends and dogs. I still have so much left to do, including packing (which I have most certainly not figured out yet). I have two maps, a painting and many gifts. How to bring all this home? Well, I'm sure I'll figure it out.
Also, my dad asked for some pictures of the area around my house.
<-Winter (first snow)Spring->
And here are a couple of my bedroom. For those that don't know, I live on the fifth floor (we have no elevator), we have one bedroom, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. It's small, but we're all girls, and I'm used to it. It's pretty normal for a Russian home, and it's not a bad thing if you catch on early and figure out how not to leave things on the floor. If anyone reads this and is going to Russia, keep in my that your room almost certainly won't be singularly your room, which means you have to keep it up.
I digress. The pictures:
On another quick note, I read Emily VanLoo's latest blog recently and realized how very true so many of the things she wrote there. Writing a blog has been really pretty hard for me because after a while, you settle back into things and life gets into a rhythm. Maybe it's not the rhythm I had in the US, but it's mine all the same, and one I forget to think or write about. Living in another country, whether on exchange or for any other reason, is an amazing experience, but it's life all the same. The difference is that I have learned to take the time to appreciate the things around me more, to take notice of things I might not if not for where I was.
I won't forget that lesson, even though it's a surprisingly hard one. Life may be rhythmic, repetitive, or even boring at times, but we still have lots of special little things that make it all worth it, that we so often forget to look at.
I will be back in the USA in a little over a week, and I know I won't take the little things for granted.
From Russia,
With Love,
Bettina
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