Sunday, June 5, 2005 7:27 pm

I know... I haven't written in a while... since Wednesday. To be brief--Wednesday night, Nina made blini, which were so good!!! She said she was making them because she was going to the cemetary. I asked Dasha about it, and she was confused, too, although she said that people sometimes eat them at funerals.

Thursday we had a speaker on culture and history. He was really interesting, but he thought we were really stupid. After lunch, we went downtown (Sasha, McKenna, and I), but we got lost and wandered around Old Moscow in a crowd of hurrying businesspeople and a light rain. The sidewalks there are very narrow, and the traffic is very thick. We had to wakl in among the stopped traffic at times. We ended up going to the Coffee Bean (I had raspberry cheesecake), a bookstore, and the internet cafe.

McKenna, Kelly, Tom, and I bought beers and drank them in the park. (Well, I hate beer, so I drank Coke instead.) Then I went home and ate the dinner left for me and read The Water Babies.

Friday we had class again (blech). Marshelle says she feels too stupid to be in our class, but we all feel that way. Another gross lunch in the cafeteria, of course. We all went downtown to see a television program filmed. It was in a really nice building.

The show was called "Something Domino". It was a takl show. A (famous, evidently) singer had bought an apartment that turned out not to exist, and was angry with the realtor, who blamed the construction company. Of course, at the time we didn't have a clue and were really bored.

Afterwards, I went out for dinner with Abby. She wanted to go to Mama Nina's, but it was full, so we wandered until we found a pretty little (expensive) cafe, where our waiter was very patient. I'd like to go back.

I rode the subway to Novogireevo for the frist time, and turned left instead of right. After a long time of walking and not seeing the tomato store, I turned back. While waiting at the bus stop alone, several men tried to pick me up in their cars. It wasn't quite dark yet (10:30 pm), but I was kind of scared. However, the bus came, and I made it home. Dasha says that these guys probably just wanted a girl, but who picks up women off the street? They must have thought I was a prostitute, although I don't know why.

Saturday, we visited the Kuskovo Estate. I have now definitely decided to become an 18th-century aristocrat. It was too beautiful to describe here. It's a country estate built exclusively to host 2-3-day parties of 2500 or more people. The palace is huge, the gardens are overwhelming, and the outbuildings are, well, numerous. It's pretty ridiculous, actually, but still...

Erin, Justin, and I discovered a little restaurant with good-tasting, reasonably-priced pizza. Erin and I rushed across town on the metro to see Star Wars, but learned it wasn't playing (grrrr). I came home and did stacks of homework.

Today, we went instead. I kind of like that movie. Plus, there are nice bathrooms at the Radisson Hotel. I listened to a Russian translation read by one woman's voice--kind of disappointing, but interesting, especially to note the use of formal/informal second person and the translation of mild oaths ("oh, my goodness", "may the force be with you", etc.). Erin went to mass afterwards, but I came home and did more homework.

After Nina came home, I went to the store (we have a big one close by--and it has shampoo and stuff). Then I made cherry cheesecake and tacos, only Nina says she can't eat peppers. :( We are planning to eat at 8:00, so I need to go!