Big News! The biggest and most important event in my life over the past 3 weeks has been moving into the Obschezhite, or dormitory, which will be my residence for the next 9 months. The good news: it's very, very close to where I work, and it's very, very cheap. The bad news: The building itself is damn disgusting - (BUT!) my room, which is normally reserved for foreign professors, is extremely generous, especially by Russian standards. Unlike the rest of the building, my apartment is recently renovated, and I have two rooms to myself. I use the word apartment seriously here, as I have 2 rooms and a bathroom (all to myself). So while my good friends live in squalor downstairs, for example, 4 germans to two bedrooms, I live in 2 rooms, each larger than their entire combined area. To put it simply, I live like a king compared to everyone else in my building.

Previously, I lived in an apartment in the center of Irkutsk, which was nice being located in the center, where there are things to do, but it was loud and full of obnoxiously drunk people everyday after approximately 8pm. Not to mention, I had an extremely difficult time sleeping because I was awoken maybe every other night by stray dogs barking/fighting/harassing the foreigner living on Kievskaya (me). I've always thought that dogs were secretly super-intelligent, and these Russian dogs were undoubtedly aware that a foreigner was living in their territory. They absolutely went out of their way to make sure my sleeping schedule was severely disrupted. However, now that I live at Universitetskiy, which is much quieter, I don't have to worry about being woken up by stray dogs at four in the morning; instead they have been replaced by Russians who enjoy blasting techno music from their lada's. Still annoying, but a good trade none the less.

The best part about being here is knowing that my Russian language skills are definitely improving, albeit slowly. I am definitely not a natural language learner, but already in 6 weeks I have made significant progress. When I arrived, having not spoken Russian for more than a year, I was hardly able to say more than 'My name is..' or 'I would like to buy that..' Now I can actually have real conversations, and about real things!.. Not just what kinds of food I like or that I have two dogs at home or that I hate the service in our university cafeteria. For better or worse, I am more or less able to communicate, including my my many complaints.

Despite the minor inconveniences, all is well. My classes are particularly rewarding as I have never before had a 'job' which I actually looked forward to! I actually enjoy working; last week I introduced my students to American college life by hosting a film screening for the movie Animal House. Students definitely did not understand the word plays but at least they understood the situational humor. "Double Secret Probation?" Что?? American and Russian humor are just about as different as their respective educational systems. In almost every way Russian universities are absolutely not comparable to the American education system - I'll skip over the details but basically there is nothing in common. Generally, Russian college students are more similar to American high schoolers. I am trying in the process of introducing them to educational material which is more interesting than traditional university materials which have been used for decades. Last week - John Belushi; Next week - Halloween! Really I don't know how successful this will be because this grandiose holiday is not widely celebrated in Russia so I am going to attempt to boost awareness. More to come on this topic next week.