Sunny Winters

I quite like the winter in town. Sure, it's much colder than
California, but there's never any rain or snow storms here. I think
it's pleasant that our town has sunshine during the winter months. It
would be depressing seeing cloudy grey skies everyday. I'm really
excited about going to college in the States, because I have some
ideas on how to continue studying Russian, and also, I've decided I
want to work more with international students. There's a part of my
heart in being a foreigner; I would have never felt this if I wasn't a
exchange student. I feel absolutely positive right now, because this
week has been treating me rather kind.

Yesterday, Tasha came over. I was rather anxious, because I never had
friends at the flat before, but all was well. I met my older sister's
friend Nastia from Moscow at tea. We all sat in the kitchen and
acquainted ourselves. In addition, Tasha and I picked up some Russian
slang. Some words are rather rude, so I rather not advertise them over
the Net. At some point, I think all exchange students might pick up a
few curse words in the country too. How could you not? I doubt I'll
use these words, but it's useful for the movies, especially the
thrillers/actions. Nastia decided to join Tasha and I for the French
film later that day.

Time passed so quickly. Afterwards, we were on our way to the central
library. We were already running a bit late to meet our schoolmate
Lily, but we easily found the viewing hall. The film had just started.
"Ensemble, C'est Tout" had Audrey Tatou, who's famous for starring in
"Amelie", so I thought the film was rather cool. It was easy to
understand. I defaulted on reading the Russian subtitles, but at times
I understood the scenes from hearing the spoken French. These
subtitles disappeared "ochen bistro" (really fast), but overall, it
was a good exercise to improve my foreign language comprehension. I
felt proud being about to understand the film with the absence of
English. The film ended around 7:30, and then we all headed home.

I was rather hungry during the film, because one of the character's
profession was a cook, but the hunger just dissolved when I was on the
way home. In fact, the ride home was itself a joy. Shortly after
Nastia departed, I met a high school student who spoke English. She
attends a school which specialized in English, and has had many
exchange students in the past. Long story short, we exchanged numbers
and let's see how it goes from there. I'm beginning to think that
Cheboksary is a lot more globally-connected than I initially thought.
We lost contact with the language festival volunteers, but they're
also part of Cheboksay's international communtiy. I really missed the
cultural and ethnic diversity in California, but it's wonderful that I
can find it here too. It just requires some effort to see!

So that's more good news for you. ;-)