skills

So, I spent a long time today, while waiting for a meeting, sitting on a bench outside the International Department building watching Russian students walk past. I was trying really hard to figure out the Russian fashion sense, with the possible view of imitating it. I gave up almost immediately. I can't generally manage American fashion sense, but I can usually at least identify the fashionable when I see it. The Russians are clearly going on a set of rules wholly unknowable to the untrained mind. I'm not going to bother trying- I'll just be a dorky American. Besides, as soon as ice appears on the sidewalk my chances of walking to school in high heels without falling will go from about 15% to about 0.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time yesterday looking for the Palace of Children's and Youths' Creativity (it doesn't sound that dumb in Russian) to see a concert of the choir my host mother directs. I only succeeded when I found some toothless old women distributing religious tracts- they very competently and nicely directed me, which is a lot more than I can say for the rest of the city's residents, most of whom I talked to at some point during my search. After I finally got there the receptionist was very suspitious of me (I had a drop or two of the grape popsicle I bought on the way on my shirt- immediate sign of an undesireable person) and I had a hard time convincing her to let me in- finally I saw the concert, and the first half was simply beautiful- Russian folksongs and whatnot. Then the kids left and came back in some misguided version of jazz outfits or something, and sang various western music to disasterous effect. My personal favorite was O Happy Day, possibly the most miserable, depressed-sounging redition in history, and sung more like "o hippy dey."