Puzzle

Crazy Weather

The weather here has been crazy. On Saturday, the temperature was over 100 degrees. On Sunday, I saw snow flurries. Just plain crazy.

Fun Movie

Sunday, I watched Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer. The movie was a lot of fun to watch. It was supposed in English, but every so often it would switch to Russian for a few sentences, then back to English again. Great fun.

Post Office Visit

I was at the post office last week. The clerk was unable to make change for me, so she gave me stamps for the part that she didn’t have.

 

Taxi

We took a taxi home last Sunday. The trip took over an hour. Our taxi was low on gas so we had to stop at the gas station. The gas station had several pumps, but only one was open. So there was a big line waiting to use the one pump. We were in line for a long time. After a while, our taxi driver got tired of being in the car with a bunch of foreigners so he would leave while we were sitting there and come back when it was time to move. Once we finally got gas, the car started lurching and could only go so fast. That taxi driver was certainly having a bad day.

 

 

HFC

A new fast food restaurant opened in my neighborhood. It is called HFC, Health Fresh Chicken. They serve pretty much the same stuff as KFC only cheaper. (And the ketchup isn’t as good as KFC)

 

Travelling

Last week, I traveled to another city. On my way there, I rode in a taxi, airplane, shuttle bus, ferry, and subway. I was a little tired when I finally arrived.

 

Lunch

Yesterday, I went to a restaurant to eat lunch. Before I sat down in my chair, a couple of chicks scurried out from under that table. The waitress continued to chase the chicks around the restaurant as we ate our lunch.

 

Extra Strawberry Smoothie

I watched a lady and her son at a restaurant today. They had a half full pitcher of strawberry smoothie, and they wanted to take the rest home with them. So one of the waitress comes out with a plastic bag, and they pour the remaining smoothie mixture into the bag and off they go.

 

 

Cheese

I bought a block of cheese last week. It weighs 5 kilos, that is about 11 pounds. It is a huge block. I should have cheese for quite a while.

 

 

Strawberry Popcorn

We went to make popcorn the other week. It was microwave popcorn, but we have no microwave, so we opened the bag to cook it on the stove. The popcorn had a strange smell. It didn’t smell right. I started looking at the package then noticed that it was Strawberry flavored popcorn. It was different, but not bad. I don’t think I would buy it again though.

 

Trash Day

I have learned to hate trash day here. I take my trash to the dumpster and inevitable there are some people sitting by the dumpster. They look through the crash for any recyclable objects. At least that’s what I think they are looking for. Regardless, it makes me feel self conscious to see them looking through my trash.

 

 

May 1 Holiday

I mentioned the big holiday earlier, but I want to explain a little more. The holiday was May 1 for the International Labor Day. We had one week off school. 3 days for the holiday, 2 days for the normal weekend, 2 days for the weekend before the holiday. Why did you get 2 days for the weekend before the holiday, you might ask, because the normal students (we convinced our teachers that we wouldn’t come) had class on the weekend before the holiday.

 

 

Not Writing

I haven’t been writing not because I haven’t had anything to write about it. I often see something and think “I need to write about that.” But until I sit down at the computer to write, I forget what is was that I wanted to write about. I hope to do better in the future.

 

Water Card

Cards are crucial to life here. Water, electricity, and cooking gas all have cards. You take the card somewhere, add money to the card, bring the card home, and put it in the meter which adds so much water, gas or electricity to your available supply. I hadn’t put any money on my water card since I arrived. I stepped in the shower this morning. Before I have even grabbed the soap, the water shut off. I had used all my available water. Time to make a quick run to the water place. At least it happened this week since there is a big holiday next week.

 

 

Road Repairs

I saw some people yesterday repairing the road. I can’t even to begin to describe what they were doing. It involved a lot of people and little machinery. My favorite part though was the guy with a sprinkler can full of tar. At one point, I saw him go over to a tank where he poured out the old tar and replaced it with new.

 

Birthday

I thought I was going to an English Corner at the Medical University with 2 other native English speakers. That is what I thought. As we got to the university, the friend who invited us called, we were going to one of her friend’s birthday party. Cool, birthday parties are fun. Later, she told us that we were her birthday present to her friend. First time, I have ever been able to say that I was a guy’s birthday present.

 

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Time

My teacher today described morning as the time before 2 pm, and afternoon as the time after 2 pm. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. I realize in some ways this makes sense in a place where the sun rises at 7:30 am and sets at 8:45 pm, but I am still amazed at the ability to arbitrarily reassign when morning and afternoon are.

Horse

I may not have been able to eat the chicken’s foot, but today, I ate horse. It wasn’t bad. The fat was a little chewy, but it was pretty good.

Classmates

My classmates are a reminder of how little Americans know of languages. Many of them are only in their teens, and they can speak Russian, the home country’s language, Turkish, English, and the language we are studying. They not speak them well, but how many Americans know more than a handful of words in 5 languages by the time they are 18.

Chicken's Foot

I tried to eat a chicken’s foot yesterday. I really tried, but I just couldn’t get past the skin. It felt so rubbery and gross.

Local Preschool

Before my friend tried to find me a bus, she took me to a local preschool. There were children ranging in age from 7 months to about 5 or 6 years. I am not sure what the purpose of our visit was, but I know we played show off the foreigner. I went into each of the 4 classes to say Hello, and so all the children could see me. Then if any of the children knew any English, they would be encouraged to tell me what they knew. Usually, “Hello! What is your name?”

 

 

Does this bus go to the Ag College?

I was out with a local friend when I decided to head home. My local friend insisted on trying to help me find the bus home. After asking several people where the bus to the Ag College (where I live and study) left from, she took me to the bus stop. I tried to explain that I was pretty sure the bus dropped me off here coming FROM the Ag College, but no, they were sure this bus goes TO the Ag College. I got on the bus figuring that I had been to a lot of new places recently and maybe this bus really was going the right direction. I rode the bus to the end of the line, and sure enough I never went to the Ag College. I got off the bus and back on one going in the opposite direction.

 

 

Mattress Delivery

I bought a new mattress for my double bed. The one that the landlord had left was literally about an inch thick, and I think it has some sort of straw or something of that nature inside. All that to say that I needed a better mattress. I bought the mattress, but they wanted to charge me for delivery since I live on the 6^th floor and my building has no elevator. Since they wouldn’t negotiate on the price of the mattress at all, we insisted on free delivery. I am sure they told us what free delivery would entail, but we didn’t understand. First, the delivery guys were about an hour late. Second, when they did arrive there was only one who came not in a van, but on a bicycle cart. This one guy was unable to carry the mattress up to the 6^th floor by himself. (I can’t imagine why not!!!) So one of my fellow Americans and I helped him carry it up to the 6^th floor. We would help him to go around the corners and get it up the first few steps then he would carry it to the next floor. It worked pretty well after we figured out what to do, but who thought we would moving a mattress to the 6^th floor.

 

  

Buying Chairs

I went to the store with 2 friends who have been here longer and bought 4 new chairs for my dining room. We couldn’t take the chairs on a bus or a taxi and the store would not deliver the chairs, so we paid the store worker to help us hire a van. He found a lady beside a van who said her driver would take us for the agreed amount. We sat down outside in the chairs that I had just purchased while we waited for her driver. Her driver was expected back a few minutes. Finally, another van pulled up. This was her driver. I still have no idea whose van we were sitting by. So the 3 of us, the 4 chairs, and some others things I had purchased piled into the van. The van only had 2 seats in the front, so my two friends took 2 chairs each and sat on them in the back of the van. I am sure it wasn’t a great ride home, but it was also better than sitting on the floor.

 

 

Rose Petals

My first 4 nights here I stayed in hotel. For some reason, every day after they cleaned the room, they would put rose petals in the toilet. I am not sure why, but every day when I came home, they would be there.