We finally made it to Castle Frankenstein! The day dawned clear and above freezing; we had nothing else to do, so off we went! We took the stopped labeled, "Frankenstein", asked directions of a nice lady, had one correction in course, and went hiking. An hour later, we passed yet another pair of English speaking hikers and asked, "Is this the way ( Read more... )

So, an acquaitance this semester was fluent in French, and provided me with a few choice phrases, one of which follows. She is also an amateur linguist, so a 'useful' tidbit also follows. But you'll have to 'pardon the French"--literally, and since I'm in Russia, that's the closest this will get to censoring. France's word for seal is "phoque"-- ( Read more... )

So, this group (most of whom leave in 5 days) are debating what they'll do when they get home. Eat x, watch tv, drive. As for me, I realized that I've et too much, cars are rather scary, tv is overrated, and all I want, all I really really want, is to give/get a major big hug to/from everybody! So, that could take all summer. ;p ( Read more... )

and the internet is being finicky, so I can't check my other mail. hope there's nothing important ( Read more... )

Or at least that’s what the Russians call it-since they don’t see too many palms ( Read more... )

So, we’ll start with the ha-has. This guy in class (he’s really smart, but we all have brain-farts) read a sentence, and the teacher got the most confused look on his face. See, said-student read “soyuz” when he meant to say “saw-oos” which are only one nuanced-letter different in Russian, but in translation, they are union and sauce (condiment ( Read more... )

Well, “I” knew was entering the far north for a spring semester. And I could recall crazy cold days in early May, so I only brought the “one” super-warm, most-everything-resistant coat. These other kids-the all-American optimists, brought lighter coats for when they could put away the heavy ones. The sweet little things… So, we got a cold snap ( Read more... )

What else can you call a week of trips to the consulate, Blin-Donalds, Wagner and Tuba museums ( Read more... )

So, I realized, it’s not that my English deteriorates in the face of constant Russian pressure: it was horrible to begin with. Case in point: After passing high school geometry, I promptly forgot the name of that semicircular thingy that measures degrees of an angle… I recall this fact because I need to translate it for the museum…any clues, ( Read more... )

That’s the joke on an M&M’s pkg here. Another says: oh, my color, I’ll go now (as Red crosses on red light). And I found Siberia’s ancient toothpaste: it’s like cedar boiled into tough nougat-you chew a little and then spit it out. Yeah, that was a shock and it was wierd-so you all at home get to try it now too ( Read more... )