From the Motherland

So I've neglected the blog for a little bit. A quick update:

1. I'm down to my last day and a half in Russia. And I actually think I'm going to miss this place. Only in the last 24 hours have I realized how much I've grown attached. Hoping I can come back at some point.

2. Blinchick came into town. We've been hanging out a bit. (I've been taking advantage of her fluency... She's edited a letter to Sveta, asked for tables in cafes etc.) Tried to take a trollybus around the Garden Ring, but stupidly went during rush hour (chas-peek in Russian :)). So we got off 2/3 of the way walked down Starie Arbat (Think Hippie Street) and ate icecream. Good times.

3. "Graduated" for a second time this summer. Got my self a fancy-smancy diploma. Managed to recite a poem about a family and their samovar while everything in front of my was blurry (sick there for a bit.) I'm beginning to like these quick graduations and the stack of diplomas I'm acquiring.

4. Since my vision was better today (and headache disappeared), I made a trip to the Sandunoy Banya today - the most famous in all of Moscow - or so I'm told. For an hour and forty five minutes (I could have stayed for 2), I striped down (no bathing suits allowed), plunged into the bassain (cold - frigid - pool) and headed into the steam room. It was blasted hot! I was there for maybe 5 minutes. Every ounce of water that was in my body now was on the towel. I couldn't take it any longer. Left the room. Took a shower (without soap) to remove the salt from my skin. Made a trip to the bassain then back to the steam room. This psychotic cycle was repeated approximately 8 times. I opted not to thrash my back with branches (from a tree). It's supposed to feel wonderful, but the older women cringed each time they were hit. So I declined. When I put my clothes back on, I could tell just how much water I had lost in the room. (would be ideal for wrestlers, I'd imagine). I promptly drank 1.5 liters of water. And am still slightly dehydrated. But refreshed...

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I've come to the conclusion that my generation thinks that life stops at 30. (or when we get married/become professionals/settle down.

I've been thinking about upcoming travels. I want to visit AC in NZ and DT in Chile during their Fulbright stays. I've budgeted the time and am now finding the money. But I've also got it in my head that I'd like to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain. From what I can gather, depending on where I start, it takes ~ 6 weeks to the end point in Spain. And I've been thinking, "when am I going to have time to do it?" During summers, I'll need to work (with the exception of the week I'm going go visit DT...) and the I've got winter break? But when can I have 6 weeks off? There's this mentality that if I want to do anything I need to do it now. Travel. Learn a language. run a marathon. play tennis (this is another new dream....). Bus really -

Even in talking to other people here, I often here things like, "well this was the last chance I was going to have to travel - so I thought I'd come to Russia..." "I'd love to do _____, but I just don't know when I'm going to be able to - with ________ and all (insert some activity in the first blank and some "obligation/distraction" in the second).

I'd love to believe that all time for travel/learning/studying doesn't end when I turn 30 - and that though difficult, there are opportunities to peruse random interests after getting a law degree. I think of my host family in Toronto who both got leave from work for a year, "home"schooled their 2 kids for the year and drove around the boarder of the United States for 12 months. It's possible, right?

Anyway - just a thought....

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to be continued... (most likely from the States)