First things first, I'm sorry for having been a bum and not updating earlier.
The last few weeks have been very busy and very, shall we say, cranky. In case it hasn't been in the news in America, and I really don't know if it has or not, I'll start this post by letting you all know that it's the hottest summer in Russian history, literally. It's been over 100 for days. Because of the extreme (and may I add extremely abnormal) heat, there's a horrible drought in Russia, and there are fires all over, including in our province. Also, they're stopped grain export because of the drought. Bad deal. The air in Kazan has been filled with smoke and smog for about a week and a half. So, we've all been a touch cranky. Russians rarely have AC or ice, by the way.
Other than that, things have been rolling pretty normally, but busy. I spend almost every evening out with my friends, and I know that the Yakovlev's and my Russian friends will be what I miss most about Kazan. I'm already sad to think about leaving them!
But of course, what would a blog update from me be without some kind of anecdote? Here goes.
Tuesday was a long day. I had classes, then spent 5 hours kicking around town waiting for friends to call me, only to find out they had changed the plan, they were late, etc. We were going to go souvenir shopping, and I didn't get as much of that done as I wanted, so basically it was a disaster. About 7:30 I was about to head home when Ivan called me to see if I wanted to hang out. I wasn't ready to go home yet, since I knew how hot it would be in the apartment, so Ivan and I met up, bought some bananas and juice, and went to sit down on a beautiful square. This square is paved and has many fountains, and is on the edge of a lake. It might actually be more like a bridge. On the edge of the square is a short wall, and directly below the lake. Straight shot, forty feet down.
Ivan and I sat down on said wall and had a chat, just shooting the breeze, when all of a sudden we heard "bloop". We both looked down at the ring of ripples in the water, looked at each other, and began to laugh hysterically. My phone had fallen right out of my pocket into the lake. It was such a ridiculous situation on top of a horrible day, we had to laugh.
Now, my friends are great. Ivan instantly called Damir because he had an old phone I could use, and the next day our director Natasha bought me a new sm card for my phone (they have a different phone system here, always 'pay as you go') and all is well. But I was so distraught after that day that Ivan and another friend Irek go on my bus with me and walked me home.
"You're having such a bad day, we're going to escort you home".
On the way I taught them idioms like "icing on the cake" and "ticking time bomb". It was a blast.
Right now, I'm getting ready to have lunch with Damir and say goodbye. He has to go to the village for his great-grandmother's funeral, so we won't see him again. I can feel the water-works coming on already. Tonight is our final concert; we'll be reading poems, singing, making toasts, etc. with our host families and our whole group. We're tired, and I wish I could say we're all very very excited but well, like I said, we're tired.
I'm looking forward to going home. Most of all, I want to see my family and friends, but I also want BBQ and AC. Soon, I'll be home, missing Kazan.
Jane
