One Month in Moscow

As of today, I've been in Moscow for exactly one month. In some ways, it feels like so much longer, and in others it still feels like I've just arrived. I guess I'm unpacked, but since my suitcases are serving as my closet right now, I'm not sure if that entirely counts as unpacked or not! I've learned how to light the stove without burning my fingers - woohoo!!! I've also learned that not only does the oven work, but the temperature indicator works too! I don't have to guess what the temperature is when I want to bake something, how great is that? Small luxuries.

Teaching is going very well. I'm enjoying all of my classes, and I love the feeling that I get when my students are able to speak more and more in English. I have one student, a complete beginner who I work with daily, and he's making so much progress. Maybe I'm a complete loser, but it's the greatest feeling to listen to him actually speaking in English! To be able to give someone a language is pretty awesome, and it's a gratifying experience, to say the least.

It also appears that nowhere in the world is safe from kitsch. I'm sitting at my usual cafe (they're playing Christmas music again, ugh) and outside there's a woman dressed as Snegurochka handing out flyers for something. Snegurochka is Dyed Moroz (Russian Santa's) helper/granddaughter or something like that.

I'll leave you with a picture of a winter-y and cold Red Square, complete with ice rink and New Year's tree.