12.10.09
Today was the first snow of the year!! And tomorrow I will buy winter shoes. Converses are not going to work here in the wet cold winter. The snow is beautiful, but wet and it doesn’t really stay snowlike for long before it turns to slush and finds all the holes in my old warn convs. The streets are wet and cold now, but looking out my window on the 5 ½ floor, the rooftops are all still white with the fresh snow. When we saw the snow falling out the window in class, all of us ran out into the court yard and played in our first Russian snow. It was glorious.

Living on the 5 1/2 floor as I do, I get quite a work out every day hiking up and down the stairs, as the lift is under construction right now. My building has, possibly, the smallest lift in the entire world. It is difficult to fit two people in it, my host dad and I tried that out, and it was slightly awkward. I can never seem to get the giant metal lift door open, but luckily I live in a hotel building and we always have a doorman. I have become friends with a few of the doormen. My favorite is Mikial. He is probably in his late 40's and he is good to practice my Russian with. Sometimes I go sit in the entry way and try to have conversations with him because he seems bored most of the time.