Stressful Day

I am glad Wednesday is done. Just a few minutes before I can sleep. This morning, I was going to get up at 9:30, but I kept hitting snooze, justifying it by having a cold. I finally sat up, at 10:20. I could tell this would be the beginning of another busy, stressful day. After my shower, a bite to eat, and trying in vain to fix Vitaly's computer, I finally made it out the door about 12:10. I had to be at the Division office to teach English. It was an hour away. First, I had to wait about 10 minutes for Navina to deliver a bible for this girl who works in the kitchen at the Division office. So, finally about 12:20, I got on the crowded green line metro train. Standing room only, but at least it's not the typical sardine squash. Transfer to the ring line, then to the blue line.

While on the blue line, I had one of those "hurting sun" experiences that I have recently read about. The sun, which I haven't seen totally unobscured for days, blasted through the metro car's window as we rode into the above ground stretch near Ismaylovskaya. The light hit my dilated eyes like a bullet. It made me wince and tear up. I love the sun, but this was so bright, it literally hurt. I think I've been in various caves so long, I forgot just how bright it is.

At the Division, I had a quick, but decent lunch. The potato blinni (crepes) were delicious. And it was fun eating with Rodney and his three Ukrainian boys. I think my funny faces amused the five-year old, and made us both smile.

Then, as quickly as I could leave the cafeteria, I walked into my 3A class, five minutes late. As usual, all but one of my students was even later than that. As my students trickled in, I progressed. It went well enough, but I was dog tired, and my cold was leaving my brain at 50% power. I finished the chapter half an hour early, since it is the short one before the big midterm test. Despite my doubts, I was able to find enough review material to fill the rest of the time.

My second class was the same thing, but with 2A students. I love these people, but some of them are too quiet, and I have a hard time telling how much they are understanding. This class kind of slowly dragged through its hour and a half. Finally, it was done. Alexander gave me a CD with a few Simpsons episodes with it, and while I was waiting for that CD to burn, I decided to work on my Geography report for my extra English class tonight. I finally left the division at 17:10. It takes about an hour and 10 minutes to get to the school. Damn. I'm going to be late. I thought to call my boss, but didn't have her number on my new phone. I tried calling Navina, but that didn't work. My SMS didn't get through until about 5 hours later. :( The bus I caught then got stuck in bad traffic! Ugggg....

Since the Division is at a terminal line, I got a seat on the metro. This was good. I spent the next hour with my nose in my dictionary, translating advertisements I saw around me. Then, a while later, I transferred to the gray line... just 4 stops to the school. I dug my watch out from under my thick coat sleeve... 5:55, it read! Oh man... not good. The gray line was, as usually in the evening, super crowded. I stood, like a vertical sardine, for 20 minutes. The one comforting thought I had was "Thank God tomorrow is Friday!" Then, at Nagatinskaya, I was freed! Up to the frigid street again! I waited, then got on the tram. Wrong tram! $@%#& $*&%@! Fortunately, the first stop was about 50 meters from the fork to get to the right tram. I got to school about 25 minutes late, shed my two coats, then flew to class. I showed up embarrassed, and apologetic that I had no graded workbooks, or graded tests. I didn't even have my bag. I left that in the office way down the hall. During my frantic tearing through pages, to get to the right spot to teach from, it dawned on my that it is only Wednesday. Do'h! Tomorrow isn't Friday. Ah man... Despite the hitches, class went just fine, but slowly as usual.

By the end of the hour and a half, I needed to get my handouts about Oregon for geography class. I had done this earlier at the division, and emailed myself the Word document. Downloading and printing this took about 10 minutes. Lousy 14.4kbps dial-up. My half hour geography class started 15 minutes late. It went quite well though. I wish I had color maps to hand out. I guess the B/W as a little unclear. Oh well, in Russia you use what you have to work with.

My last class, my largest all week, went fine. Because of its large size, and talkative students, the energy level is high, which is crucial for it going well and quickly. No complaints here, but after the class was over, I was more than exhausted. Navina came over to my classroom, and I asked for a hug. I needed one. I put all my teacher gear up in my cabinet for the night, and we left the school, walking in our spacesuit-like wears into the biting cold wintry air. I more than eagerly accepted her invite to their apartment to have a midnight snack, since it is on the tram line on the way to my place.

The beet salad and Gouda cheese sandwiches with tea were delicious. Hot tea is your best friend when it is -24ºC outside. I hated to leave back into the cold. I notice that the tram was at my stop, right across the street. I ran, thinking I might just have time. Nope. It pulled away. Damn, I hate this day. The next tram didn't stand until I did my 15 minutes of waiting in the horrendous cold, where a cup of water will freeze on a bus stop window before it flows 2 feet (.6 meters) down. Seriously cold. Stupid tram. The next tram smelled badly of vomit, but took me home. So here I am. I'll Call my dad, then hopefully I'll be in bed by 2:00. Goodnight.

I'm listening to NPR... I just found out that it was Nirvana Day! Ha! *rolls eyes*