First day of classes, sexiness, cold weather

So yesterday we were all here all day, diligently working (or maybe playing frisbee in the backyard with some random Russian kids) because TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!! I have to admit, I'm super nervous. I got up this morning and dressed in my best no-bullshit outfit, ready to show those Russian kids who's boss. "HOW DO I LOOK?" I demanded of Kamila.
"Oh, Rosie, you look really sexy!!!"
A confidence booster? Not exactly. But hey, if my teaching skills fall short, I can always fall back on my sex appeal. Selling the English language with sex, that'll be me this year...

It's actually been getting really cold here lately, which is showing me another (very prominent) side of Russian culture. They LOVE to worry about other people's body temp. For example, I got up yesterday and Kamila told me "I realized that you were really cold last night." This was news to me, and it took me a minute to realize that she was ASKING me if I had been warm enough. And God forbid someone leave a door open to get some air circulation. Even in stuffy hot restaurants, on buses, everywhere, the second a breeze drifts in, people start freaking out about the draft. IT WILL MAKE YOU ILL. IMMEDIATELY. I almost got busted trying to go out to a club in a skirt the other night, but luckily Kamila was distracted by getting ready for her sister Munisa and baby niece Din-Din(suuuuper fun and suuuuper cute respectively).

The club was also a bit of a culture shock. Let me set the scene. It was opening night, 1am, we were there waiting outside in a huge crowd, trying to talk our way in. We are surrounded by people dressed to kill, pointy shoes galore, the women looking HOT and scandalous. We get inside and.... no one really dances. They certainly don't grind. There is some shoulder twitching, the odd person actually dancing, but even though HUNDREDS of people were there, there was a good six inches (or more) of space around everyone. To be fair, though, the music is terrible. Anyway, my first club night was really fun despite that and I didn't get back until 6am, and as Alex said, it makes you feel like an AWESOME dancer to dance in Russia.

And, finally, we were invited over to Bethany's for a party set up by her host sister. It was really chill and fun, BUT after about 30 minutes, she got up, shushed us all, and started playing piano and singing. One song...followed by another...followed by a flute recital...a cd recording of her... Rudy jumped in and jammed on piano for a couple of minutes until she asked him to stop so she could start again. What a weird dynamic (plus, let's be for real, she wasn't stellar). And the thing is, a really similar thing happened at our first meeting-the-students party, so I guess the part performance dynamic is just really different in Russia.

Anyway, after our James Bond introductory skit for the students last week (met by...wait for it...blank stares), I'm feeling a little bit nervous about trying to get the students to go buck wild and play pictionary, etc. today, but we'll see what happens. LOVE YOU ALL!!