Moscow's 858th - Happy Birthday

I arrived in Moscow Russia last Thursday, and have enjoyed my time here quite a bit. It is difficult being in such a large city, knowing so little Russian. I find that almost no one, especially at banks, restaurants, etc. knows English. Those who do know it know it poorly. None the less, my fellow teachers are great people, and I look forward to working with them this year. My flatmate, and fellow teacher Martin, is from Puyallup, the same city I live in at home! (I've never met him, until now)

Monica is from Romania, and is teaching English and spanish, and Navina is from Arkansas (and Canada), and she has been here for three months. Fortunately, she knows how to get around Moscow, and knows a little bit more russian than I do.

There are small anoyances of being here, like the language barrier, and the huge spoons, the lack of peanut butter, and the massive amount of junk and trash that the last 100 tenants have left in your apartment, but otherwise, things are good here. Stuff is cheap, it doen't feel unsafe, and people are very nice.

I start teaching tomorrow, and I am really lookign forward to this. I don't think it will be much trouble, at least not after the first few days.

Paka,

Arthur "Nikolai"