На концерт

This graffiti is in the courtyard of the building where I live. On a semi-related note, I am really, really, really looking forward to seeing the new ТРАНСФОРМЕРЫ (Transformers) in a day or two!


Going to a concert tonight! Don't really know anything about it yet, but it's not too much money, and it'll apparently be a really excellent folksy sort of thing, not far from the school.

If you're my friend on Facebook, I've started putting up a lot more pictures from Israel. There are many, many pictures, so it'll be a while before they're all up.

I've realized that food tends to be my comfort of choice. Fortunately for me, I have a pretty good metabolism and I'm always pretty active--it's a ton of walking all the time here. One nice thing about this city is that chocolate, ice cream, candy and the like, are all good and all cheap.

I also rely on music, but I don't feel comfortable walking around the streets here with my earbuds in. It's a little too conspicuous. At night, though, mostly when I'm working, I listen to a lot of stuff. I picked up LOADS of great music in Israel (did you know that there's a whole lot of excellent Israeli music out there?), but I also listen to earlier favorites as well. I'm starting to learn a bit about Russian music now too.

One interesting bit from Phonetics class today is that it's fairly common for Russian children to have some sort of speech impediment--the English-language equivalent of a lisp. Curiously, such an inflection in Russian children sounds a bit like an English accent. I realized when I heard this news that I had heard such an accent yesterday on the street: I was walking up Sredny Prospekt heading home, and there was a boy of about eleven years old (maybe even nine or ten), something like a town crier, selling newspapers to the passing pedestrians. I didn't think much of it at the time, but he sounded a lot like the kids that do the exact same thing in, say, London, only he was speaking Russian. I thought to myself how like a young English boy he sounded, but didn't think much of it until today.

Thanks to everyone who has been sending me messages and emails and such! It all means a lot to me and I appreciate it very much, and I will reply to everything when I am able. Keep them coming!

To be discussed soon: thoughts on the eventual return to Israel and associated arrangements, more general thoughts on life and what I want and where I'm going, looking to the future and to Japan. And of course, impressions of the concert, this weekend's coming trip to Pskov, and my thoughts on adjusting to life in Russia.

Oh yeah, I bought a sweater two days ago. But don't worry, Mom, it was only 100 rubles. That's about $3.31. And the dollar has gone up!