Thanksgiving and the Aftermath

So, we had Thanksgiving. I had some friends over. Nina, Vika, Natasha K. and Irina, one of the teachers whose classes I've spoken too. We were going to have chicken but Nina brought a turkey her mom had made special for us, which was uber nice and very tasty. Everyone came at six and we ate, and talked and so on and so forth until Irina suddenly looked at her watch and it was 9:30 already! It was an awesome awesome time and we even had a ton of leftovers like we would've at home.

I was scheduled to call the family on Friday morning my time. Thursday night I was like a little kid at christmas, had trouble falling asleep, and woke up several times during the night to check the time and make sure I hadn't overslept.

I called, and briefly talked to everyone, which was spiffy. I cried on the phone because it was so good to hear everyone's voice. The strange thing was when I got off the phone I was still crying a bit and then I had the oddest thought. I realized that I didn't really miss them. I mean, I do miss my family, but it was like the feeling of missing them that I've been carrying around for almost three months was gone and the absence of it was startling. Perhaps I've gotten over the worst of the homesickness.

The next day, I skipped school. I went to talk to another one of Kunai's classes and by the time I got done, school had let out for the day because they'd had an open literature lesson. After I finished at the university I went home, hung out and then went a little after two to the Akademia to meet my new Russian tutor. Anna Nicholaevna, my old tutor is writing her Doctorate paper and can no longer Tutor me. My new tutor is named Lena.

In the evening, I was scheduled to go back to the university because they were having a competition between the english students in the different departments. I was on the jury. Basically, there were ten skits we had to watch and judge. Some were better than others. The unanimus descision was that the students from the med institue were the winners.

Today, I went with Irina to a village about two hours away from the city. It's called Nentsi. I was scheduled to speak to a group of high schoolers. The presentation went well, and I had a good time, I enjoyed the trip, but I was really tired afterwards.

Lately I've found myself getting more irritable about stuff and I don't know why. There's little things here that bother me sometimes, I suppose it's all just part of the exchange and I have to deal with it.

Probably the most exciting thing of all that I found out about is a trip the Inbounds can go on in December. To China. How cool would that be? I'm really hoping I'll be able to go!

Oh by the way, I've updated my pictures with some stuff from Vika's birthday party, Thanksgiving, today, and some random pics of the city. Enjoy!