Disjointed updates

I was walking home from work last night, when I realized there was a huge geyser shooting up in the middle of the street. I'd say it would have reached a second-story window. So crazy! It looked like a pipe had burst, and the asphalt crumbled away and hot water came streaming out. I felt really bad for whoever owned that silver cross-over SUV parked right by it. I'm sure steaming hot water and flying chunks of asphalt can not be good for a paint job. This morning, that section of the road was taped off, and there was a construction crew patching things up. I took a picture of it I'll have to add tomorrow.

Found out a couple of things about myself today, thanks to BBC personality tests. I am attracted to masculine faces and introverts. Huh. I also realized, thanks to Andrey, that cottage cheese is pretty good with sour cream and sugar.

Also, I forgot to mention that Monday night I came home and Irina had been making...let's call it stew. When she asked me if I would like to take some to work the next day, I said, "The soup?" "It's not soup!" she indignantly replied. "Oh, I'm sorry, what is it called?" "Well, well, it's..." and then she proceeded to name all of the things in it, like chicken, vegetables, broth. I don't know how I mistook this for soup. We finally settled on calling it a Bulgarian dish, not a Bulgarian soup, mind you, but a Bulgarian dish.

Spent the morning cursing the lack of hot water. I gave in and washed my hair, though I stubbornly refused to pour a bucket of water over me and opted for the cold water flowing from the shower head. Sometimes stubbornness only hurts yourself.

Last night, Sergey came in and asked if I was sick. "Nope, I was tired so I took a nap." "Well, are you bored? You've been home all evening." I was watching a movie on my iPod at the time. "Not really, just decided to rest a little." "Oh, okay." I'm taking this as an indicator that I have really lived Moscow up to the fullest extent--my nights chilling at home are few and far between.

My family has gone to Lake Powell without me, but I'm sure it cannot compare to the joy of translating names and positions of participants on the program for the upcoming St. Petersburg conference. I for one am not missing tubing, cliff jumping, all of my cousins, brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces playing without me. Not one bit...