The furs have come out...

As temperatures in the Moscow region have plummeted to -25 degrees Celsius (and that's not counting the brutal wind chill!), the furs have come out and I'm seeing women swathed in full-length fur coats everywhere. I am incredibly jealous - me, someone who has never pictured herself adopting the Cruella DeVil look because it just seemed so, well, Cruella. But if you want to be warm here, it's appearing that fur is the way to go. I've been walking around wearing two pairs of pants, at least three shirts and three pairs of socks, my winter jacket, two pairs of mitts, a hat, earmuffs, and a scarf wrapped around my head like the Michelin man, and I'm STILL freezing. My eyelashes are sticking to the skin underneath my eyes whenever I blink! It's not even like we have snow anymore to make things pretty, although the lack of ice when it comes to navigating the streets is nice, I must admit. I still haven't mastered the unique ability of Russian women to power over ice-coated sidewalks in stilettos...nor am I confident of my chances of that ever happening actually...

I skipped my usual run today because yesterday's run had left me in tears from the cold. Instead, I half-heartedly attempted to do some aerobics in my room, but I just felt stupid so when Iain rang up I stopped my workout with relief. We spent a very pleasant afternoon sipping tea and talking about everything from Ireland's recent EU-IMF bailout to his upcoming job interview. Then, too soon, it was already 3pm and I had to rush to the Wasteland for Lebron's class. I wish we could have class at a different time, as I think he's just too tired by 4:30. He spends most of our lesson yawning, which in turn makes me yawn...and we know how yawning just turns into a vicious cycle...

In other recent news, the Mytishi ESL teachers had another Thanksgiving over the weekend, this time being the American version (I'm not going to enter into a debate over which Thanksgiving came first, in case Rhea is reading this :). Even though there were only two Americans actually present at this celebration, it was a great, relaxed night full of delicious food and great company. The majority of our guests were Russian or fluent in Russian, so most of the conversation was in Russian (with a bit of Finnish and French thrown in there by our polyglots!). I definitely did not understand everything that was being said, but I did feel heartened by the amount I could pick up on. It's been three months (to the day!) since I moved here, and I'm starting to really notice an improvement in my Russian. Now I just need to start cracking down on my grammar...I brought my Russian grammar book from uni here with me, but as of now it's been sitting forlornly on my couch, unopened, for the past three months...

When its this cold out though, how am I expected to do anything besides shiver, layer on more clothes, and continue to eat more tvarog in the hopes to adding an insulating layer of fat to me???

The view out my kitchen window, a week ago when we still had snow.
The building you see is the Mytishi Arena, where our KHL team, Mytishi Atlant,
plays, and where the 2007 IIHF World Juniors Tournament was held.