Naive. Super and other stories of un-comings of age

The weather in Moscow is consistent. Consistently gray and rather chilly. Although this does free my mind up to think about other things. I remember the weather occupying a good part of my mornings' foggy thoughts in Ohio. "What will it be this fine December morning? A foot of snow? Sunny and windy? 60 degrees and raining? Weee! Who knows!" Here, it's cold and gray and occasionally snowy/raining with a certain feeling of apathy. It's all the same, so I can think about other things, like the fact that we're leaving soon, in less than six weeks.

I can't tell how I feel about this. Somedays, when I just...want...a...burrito.....I think that returning will be great. Simpsons! Thai food! Driver's license! Potable tap water! Plus, I'm starting a whole new life, beginning with a month-long cross-country trip. I've never done this, and while it will be slightly less romantic to make the trip in late January, it it's still seeing whole parts of the world I've never seen before. And then living in a part of the country I've never lived before, that has different trees, different furry things, and I bet even some different beer than Southern Illinois or Iowa. And I can feel that I'm coming back to the States a little different. It's trite, I know, but spending six months in a place where you can barely speak the language has to change you. You have to deal with loneliness, in a bigger sense than I usually felt at home.

At the same time, I've gotten used to it all, and even enjoy my daily routine...the unfamilar conversation buzz in the Metro, the yellow lights of the stations, the smell of pastries and dill and car exhaust. And I still don't know what I will do when I get back to the States. You know, do. Career-wise. And I've enjoyed the state of suspended animation that living in Russia has allowed. I just had to focus on learning a foreign language, keeping myself full of food and drink, and wonder around with Jason, taking in the sights. Soon I'll have a real life to maintain. And more importantly, develop. A new city, new job, new interests, new friends. I can't help thinking, what do I want to become? What do I have the guts to become? That sounds so F-ing John Hughes, but it's how I feel. It's my Molly Ringwald moment.

Oh, and I'm reading my first book in Russian. Well, by reading, I mean, scanning and trying to understand a semblance of what is going on. One of my students gave it to me, and cited it as one of his favorites. It's called Naive. Super by Erland Loe, from Norway. I'm going to go out on a limb and pre-recommend it to Jake. From what I read online, and heard from my student, you might like it. The narrator uses lists to organize his thoughts, and you seem to be fond of that vertical orientation.

"У меня есть два друга. Хороший и плохой. А ешё у меня есть брат. Мой брат, может быть, не такой симпатичный, как я, но, в обшем, нормальный."

"I have two friends. Good and bad. I also have a brother. My brother maybe isn't as nice as me, but he's generally alright."

- Opening lines of Наивно. Супер., and one of the few sentences I could translate completely.