In which I hurry.

Oh, there's so much I want to tell you guys about! The crazy food, the crazy buildings, the crazy cars, the crazy people, the crazy plumbing... so much!

I'm a little short on time today, since I've got to finish an essay that's due back in the US, so I'll have to be pithy.

You see great shirts in English around here.

• With cartoon characters:"Stylish confusion"


• "You may think you are free, but you already hooked on me" (seen twice)


• "US Army: statistics for battlefields" (this arranged in artful spirals.)


• Apparently a trend: "Sweet Bunny" and "Sweet Kitty"


• Just now in the internet cafe: "GLUP GLUP GLUP" in lividly striped block letters

And I'd forgotten how much fun the games were. There are the general travel games, the classics- "How many times can I wear this?" is a favorite, along with "What did I just eat?" and "Is everyone in this country nuts?" Russian favorites include "The Game of Change" in which all players attempt to keep as many small bills to themselves as possible, and the person with the most hundred and fifty ruble notes wins, and "Go to the bathroom but don't touch anyone else's filth". For those wanting a challenge, there's the perennial stumper "Convince your hostess that you're full," but beginners should be warned that it is an unwinnable game.

And now I go to try and pound out the last few paragraphs of a paper on Russian immigrants' perspectives, and then trot on home to play another hand of "Convince your hostess".

Poka!
(That's how you say 'bye' in Russian, fyi)

PS photos soon but the lab was closed for a quasinational holiday and the cafe computer doesn't allow outside devices.