hello from russia! on the eve of my third day in vladimir, i have finally gained access to the internet and have officially entered the world of blogdom (ala nerdville). After a two-day orientation in DC and a 24-hour journey viz Frankfurt and Moscow, I arrived in vladimir around 11 at night, was greeted by my host family (Nikoli. Olga. and Vlad), given a great feast for dinner, and sent to bed. it was the best sleep ever.
according to the weather predictions, the average temperature for the moscow area until february is around -30 Celsius. as a reference point, at -40 both celcius and farenheit are exactly equal, and for all real purposes, they are also equal to zero Kelvin, the end of the eath). the russians even think this weather is extrmely cold. so basically, i'm in heaven :/. It takes me about 15 minutes to put all my layers of clothes on, which comes out to be about 15 total. after about 5 minutes outside, all the extremities of your body have basically frozen solid. there are simply not enough socks and mittens in the world to endure this weather. after about 10 minutes, your mouth beccomes numb from the wind and speech beccomes slow and impaired. but then, around minute 15, you begin to stop caring about the pain and it subsides into what is known as the last stage of frostbite - death. well not really, but according to multiple sources, if your fingers are left exposed outside for more than 20 minutes, they will freeze and fall off. i don't doubt this one bit.
perhaps because of this cold weather, my family has made it their mission to send to back to the united states as big as a bear. at every single meal, about 5 times the normal amount of food i eat is placed on the table. they expect me to eat the same amount of food that would feed the vatican, which is not as easy as it sounds. russian food is, well, interesting. regardless, around 15 minutes of every meal revolves around every member of the family telling me to eat more, that i am the size of their pinky, and that my mother will faint once she sees how small i have grown. today, i was forced to weigh myself in the kitchen at breakfast in front of the whole family. i think from now on i will have weekly weigh ins, to make sure i am attaining their goal of becoming a bear.
otherwise, the trip is going very well so far. i've walked around vladimir some, which is very beauitful when all the boring soviet architecture in covered in snow. i start classes tomorrow, and by classes, i mean me and a teacher, one on one, for the entire day learning russian. please send e-mails and messages, they warm my heart and soul, and right now, that really sounds amazing.