Friday

Last night

I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time, in my entire life.
Words cannot express the joy I feel in my heart<3

Saturday

I haven't even left Russia.

And I'm already planning my next trip, after Italy, Spain, and France.

I'm thinking....Mesoamerica. December 21, 2012. Party with the Mayans for the "End of the World."

Who wants to join me?

Wednesday

Russian Ivan.

It's been awhile since I've actually written on this blog, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Ready...set...READ..

We FINALLY met our neighbor! Oh, you guys haven't heard that story. Let me rewind. Not long after arriving we had our first encounter with our neighbor, but it wasn't a good one. He decided to blast his russian-bass-filled-rap at 2:30 in the morning making all of us suffer silently while trying to sleep. A few weeks ago, a lovely Sunday afternoon, it started again. We were all a bit fed up so my roommate found a way to connect her Ipod to the speakers here in our apartment and blasted our own lovely tune. This will probably remain one of my favorite memories here in Russia. Blasting our music and jumping on the couches trying to show our neighbor who's boss. It didn't really work, but it was worth a shot. Our second encounter was just last week. Julie and I went to a market while Jenny and Kaysi ventured somewhere else. We all had the mindset that Jenny and Kaysi would return first so they took the keys. Unfortunately, Julie and I returned first. While sitting outside our apartment door

, our neighbor (we're thinking this is the Dad, and the one blasting the music is the son) walked out and saw us. He invited us in but out of shock we both declined (something we kinda regret). He went back inside and a few seconds later came back with some sort of fruit. The texture was like a tomato, but it was sweet. The third encounter happened on Thanksgiving day. At our apartment, there are two doors, one on the outside that locks than another just on the inside. Thanksgiving night I guess we forgot to close the outside door and suddenly we heard a knock. We were all confused because no one ever comes to our apartment so Kaysi went to answer it. Suddenly a Russian 20-something-year-old man starts opening the door while saying, "You left your door open!" No one really knew how to respond so we said, "Thanks!" then closed and locked the door. Totally bizarre. Anyway, those are our first three encounters. So, for Thanksgiving we made cupcakes and apple pie. We had a few left over so the next night we decided to take them to our neighbors. I rang the doorbell and the mom (we think) answered. She looked at me, totally confused, as I sat there holding a plate of sweets and smiling like I belonged in an insane asylum. The woman said something in Russian than turned around and knocked on the door behind her. Out came the swanky Russian 20-something-year-old man who speaks a bit of English. Wearing: A purple button up shirt, halfway buttoned to show a little bit, but not too much. We handed him the cupcakes and he said thanks and asked our names. After repeating my name a couple times he finally said, (Now you HAVE to read this in a Russian accent) "My name is Ivan. Russian Ivan. If you like, I can take you on Moscow excursion in the night. We can go on excursion." We think he means clubbing or something, but we're unsure. We bid our adieus and went back to our usual activities. Not long after there was a knock on the door, confused once again I went and answered it. But apparently I wasn't quick enough because Russian Ivan walked right in. "Cupcakes so good. SO good! American cupcakes are delicious. Here, ve vant you to have this." I looked, and behold, I was holding a jar of mushrooms. Because naturally we exchange cupcakes for mushrooms. Unfortunately we've been warned against eating mushrooms, so we threw them away. But not after many laughs and many pictures. Gotta love Russia.

Monday

Raise your hand

If you want me to start updating this blog again?
I don't care what you think, I'm doing it anyway.

Wednesday

Well, it's been awhile.

I'm not sure why I stopped blogging, I think I kinda got over it. But I do have a tumblr now.

http://missfindeis.tumblr.com/

you chould check it out, fo sho. I think that's where I'll be doing most of my blogging from now on, mmkay?

Friday

Guys

I am so over it, okay?

Saturday

"You see things, you keep quiet about them, and you understand."

I really, really love this book.


once on a yellow piece of paper,
he wrote a poem
and he called it "chops"
because that was the name of his dog.
and that's what it was about
and his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on he door
and read it to his aunts
that was the year father tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
and let them sing on the bus
that was the year his little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
and his mother and father kissed a lot
and the girl around the corner sent him a
valentine signed with a row of x's
and he had to ask his father what the x's meant
and his father always tucked him in at night
and was always there to do it

once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem called "autumn"
because that was the name of the season
snd that's what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
and the kids told him
that father tracy smoked cigars
and left butts on the pews
and sometimes they would burn holes
that was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see santa claus
and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
and his father never tucked him in at night
and got mad
when he cried for him to do it

once on a piece of paper torn from his notebook
he wrote a poem
called "innocence; a question"
because that was the question about his girl
and that's what it was all about
and his professor gave him an A
and a strange steady look
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
becaue he never showed her
that was the year that father tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of apostle's creed went
and he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
and his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
and the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
that made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
and at three a.m he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly
that's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem
and he called it "absolutely nothing"
becaue that's what it was really about
and he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on that bathroom door
because he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen


-The Perks of Being A Wallflower, pg. 70-72