Sunday, September 11, 2011

And now suddenly, everyone is... gone:((

Well then. Natalia and her daughter have moved to Moscow, and I have my very own apartment! Yayy!!
Except, it's more like this:
I had to say goodbye to Natalia who has been incredibly sweet to me and hospitable, and had introduced me to new people every day, and now suddenly everyone is gone and I'm living alone. I'm not used to this at all. Especially because everyone I had met happened to be "busy" this weekend. This better not be a regular thing... I am a social person. I do like my own space, but I cannot go an entire weekend without any interaction with people.

In order to break up the lonely weekend, I set out to find a place to run, other than the track nearby (which is in rather poor shape). I managed to find the park where Katya took me last week, and indeed, there was a forest with miles of trails to get lost in, and a pond clean enough to fish in... a place where you forget you're in the middle of a big industrial city. But then you get to the other side of it and you get to the lake, and on the other side of the lake, the familiar Soviet factories greet you once again.
I imagine I shall run here many weekends.

I'm still waiting for my actual classes to start...I have become introduced to them (maybe that's why this weekend felt so awkwardly quiet.. I had been running around meeting new people all week and suddenly there wasn't a constant flow of introductions) Today is only the private tutoring session with Yury Vladimirovitch, the vice-governor.
My favorite English sentence of his: "Chelyabinsk-region, ecological, not good."
Nah, his English is fine for someone who has only learned it less than a year, it is actually really impressive how he constructs sentences and recalls particular vocabulary..it's just the humility and honesty sincere effort of this sentence that kind of brought tears to my eyes... anyway...what he says is true, but really, it is not as bad as some people say .

Yes, Chelyabinsk has Internet Meme status. In Russian, of course. Any search for "суровый город" (literally, "severe city", could also mean closer to "tough city" or maybe "badass city") The tease on the city's dirty industrial (and formerly, nuclear) reputation has given its residents Chuck Norris qualities.
They usually begin with something like, "Челябинцы настолько суровы..." (Chelyabinsk residents are so severe that...)
One example of a Chelyabinsk "fact":
Челябинская водка настолько сурова, что ее запретили в 190 странах мира как ядерное оружие.
Chelyabinsk vodka is so severe that it is forbidden in 190 countries like nuclear weapons.
Oh, and I found another fact:
Chelyabinsk muzhiki (guys, blokes) are so severe (tough) that Chuck Norris considers himself a Chelyabinsk muzhik.

Well, obviously... Chuck Norris doesn't live in my neighborhood. This part of the city is perfectly normal.

Katya, by the way, is an acquaintance I made through Natalia. She drove me around different parts of the city... we both speak each other's languages equally, I'd say, and she has an overall great personality. I hope we can meet up again, it is good to know someone close to my own age. She goes to the same school Olga went to (the one near the park where I went running) called YuUrGU: Yuzhno-Uralsky Gosudarstveny Universitet. South Ural State University.
I'm sorry, but that school will ALWAYS be thought of by me as YOGURT.

Today, I'm going out. I refuse to do any work at home, I need to be in a public setting. I need to at least... TALK to people, even if it's asking for a coffee or the time of day. Yeesh. I hope I don't have to live alone forever, it's depressing to think that there are many people who do. 

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