So I said before I would post some pictures, and then post some more from my birthday party. It turns out, I don't really have any pictures that are worth posting at the moment, much to my chagrin. I only took about 7 at my party, and none of them are very good.

In any case, the party was fun, I'm 21, and still in Russia...for the forseeable future. My tutor gave me the DVDs of my favorite Russian TV show, which I'm super pumped about, and Matt's tutor gave me some rockin' banya-wear. Picture a wool hat not unlike the one Gilligan wore on "Gilligan's Island," and an over sized wool mitten, but just one. Oh yeah, it's as sexy as it sounds. We drank and sang and played backgammon to our hearts content. The place was lovely, and the sauna was as hot as ever. Of course the fact that we had school the next day made things a little harder on the old noggin, but I snapped out of it by the time the first class ended.

Monday was spent in horrible fear, however. In a drunken haze, at about 4am Monday morning, I had crawled out of bed and gone to the kitchen, pouring myself a big glass of tapwater. No problem, right? Well, they say the tapwater here is like the water in Mexico. I finished the water, then came to my senses. I returned to bed fearing for my guts. The next day was spent overanalyzing every little pop and gurgle my tummy made, though such noises aren't out of the ordinary for me here (fucking cabbage). I think everything is fine though, knock wood.

I finish my semester up next Monday, and not a day too soon. I really need to take it easy for a while. It's amazing how burnt out I am. It's hard to describe just how tiring life here is, speaking, and even listening to, Russian all day really takes it out of a guy. A month of hibernation sounds like just fine to me right now. Hopefully this strange weather will pass, and the temperature will drop below freezing again. December without snow just isn't December, especially when you're in fucking Russia.

So that's it for now. I look forward to the day where I can walk into an American bar and proudly use my now fully functional ID, but until then I shall have to make do.

I'd like to say I've been busy for the last week or so, but the truth is I've just been lazy. I have a few pictures I want to throw on here, but again: lazy. I'll do it some other time.

The weather here has gotten unseasonably warm. Our 9 inches of snow have all but melted, and it's not even slushy on the streets anymore. It feels like late april in Vermont, when there are just a few patches of snow left in the shadows, and the ground is largely dry. Kind of sucks, I'm not going to lie. I was kind of looking forward to getting my ass kicked by the Russian winter. I suppose I still have plenty of time for that though. It is, however, seasonably cold in Siberia still; the last I heard it was -20 degrees Celsius in Irkutsk.

My birthday is this weekend. The realities of turning 21 in Russia have hit me and taken a fair amount of the wind out of my sails, but I shall do my best to overcome. A birthday is a birthday I suppose, though this one is somewhat more landmark than most. Such is life I suppose.

Other realities that have struck me recently include the fact that I won't be home for Christmas for the first time ever, and that I won't see America for a further 6 months. It's not an upsetting thought or anything, but it does give one pause. Still, I consider it a test of my own mental and emotional fortitude, one that I know I will pass, which gives me confidence for the rest of my time here. Or something.

My SLC friends are probably entering, what I would lovingly refer to as, "the shit." I'm not going to lie, I kind of miss pulling the all-nighter, busting out a conference paper, then sitting outside at about 8am drinking tea and smoking cigarettes with shaking hands from sleep deprivation and sore typing hands, watching the good people of Sadie Lou pass on their way to the gym or wherever the hell Sarah Lawrence students could possibly be going at that ungodly hour (Dance rehearsals?). Holy shit, that was a long sentence. Is it run-on? I hope not.

I guess that's it for now. I'll get some pictures up here tomorrow, I hope, and then probably some after my birthday. This is going to be a long weekend. I'm going to кутить a lot, and if you study Russian, look that word up, you will always make Russian people laugh if you use it, it's absurd.

My party will be at the banya, the very same one as last time. I'm making a concerted effort to remember it this time.