Iiiiiiceee creeeeaaammmm

Well, things are going well here. I got a bunch of sleep yesterday, so today I feel much better. Classes were quite interesting this morning- we had our class on Russian mass media, which is taught by a charming and animated sexist. He's pretty sweet, actually.

At the moment, I'm sitting in the computer lab, where some South African students are fairly opposed to politely waiting their turn- they're wandering around rattling people's chairs and demanding to know when they'll be done. I nabbed the last empty computer about five minutes ago. Ba ha ha.

My hostess is at the dacha again today; she's working hard to de-winterize it and get it liveable, since the Russian ideal is to spend, if not the entire summer, then the entire weekend at the dacha. I've been out there once, but I didn't take my camera- next time, I'll take a bunch of pictures for you.

I don't mind having the apartment to myself for a couple of days- there's plenty of food, and we live half a block from a grocery store, there are two tvs, tons of windows, and comfy (if small) furniture to sprawl on. I look forward to a peaceful evening of playing music, watching crap american movies dubbed in Russian, and doing homework.

If everything pans out, Olivia and I are making a foray to the open market to buy shoes, hats, sunglasses, and whatever else it is that we've needed.

The sun! The sun here is crazy! We're all turning into freckle factories. I have freckles on my HANDS. Since when do my hands freckle? Since I came the sun capital of the entire solar system, I guess. Olivia says she found a store where they sell sunscreen. I plan on buying a gallon.

Our water came back on on schedule on wednesday, but at about nine last night it conked out of its own accord. This morning, my hostess filled the bathtub with water, so we have something to flush the toilet with, but that means no shower. I want a shower. I want a shower soooo baaad.

Have I mentioned that russians love ice cream? You can't walk half a block without passing an ice cream stand, if not an entire colony of them. I caved in today and bought one and- as always- it was amazing. Even the Nestle brand ice cream here is better than in America. So delicious. This love of ice cream appears to have some sort of calorie-burning magic to it, too, since I pass hordes of model-thin women eating ice cream by the coneful every time I step out on the street.

Another weird thing, that seems to have something in common with the gold teeth that almost everyone has, is that a lot of people from the older generation- in their forties and fifties, say- is that they're missing what I would call their wolf teeth. Wolf teeth are small molars in horse's mouths that they take out so that the bit can fit, but around here people smile or talk, and from the side you can see a big gap about two teeth behind their eyeteeth. Why? No other teeth are commonly missing. Huh.

We went on a tour of the Kremlin yesterday, and also a bus tour of the city. I've got some pictures to upload later, but for now I'm going to sign off and try and figure out where we're having our presentation on Russian cinema, since I'm pretty sure they aren't going to haul a tv up three flights of stairs to our usual auditorium.

Love you all! All comments read and re-read, and well appreciated.