Kazan — summer 2014

Gotta say that the 3G modem is not working slick this year as last year. Price has gone down, upload/download limits have improved, but the system itself I'm thinking is overburdened. Next year I'll have to give in a get a 4G modem.

Ryan Roccio, one of the resident directors for our Batumi program, just posted this to Facebook:

1) Step up to the curb, maintaining a safety zone of at least 5ft to avoid the mirrors of buses that may pull up.

2) Wait for the light to turn green for traffic traveling parallel with you.

3) Look left, look right, look ahead, and perhaps most importantly, look behind you for cars turning left.

4) Assess the driver approaching the intersection on the right. If he looks aggressive, STOP. If he looks weak, take one last look in all directions like an owl.

5) Step out into the intersection and make EYE CONTACT with your adversary. Be assertive, Georgian drivers can sense fear.

6) Once you have safely passed into the center of the street, shift your attention to your left and ensure that no cars are running the red light.

7) Continue through the intersection maintaining situational awareness at all times.

8) If you have reached the sidewalk, congratulations, but you aren't safe yet.

9) Look up to see if the building in front of you in under construction. If so, swing wide and maintain as great a distance as you can to avoid possible falling building materials and equipment.

I wake up, get more money at the bank for rent. Time to go shopping. First stop is the store where I buy:

• Frozen string beans
• Chunk of sausage (докторская, like bologna)
• Yogurt
• Katyk (Tatar milk product, like yogurt)
• Big hunk of cheese (сливочный)
• Jar of tomatoes
• Jar of horseradish sauce
• Chocolate cheese bar

The chocolate cheese bar probably sounds nasty, but imagine the cheese from a cheese danish, thicken it a bit, then dip that bad boy in chocolate. Glorious!

Then to the market:

• Pound of white cheese (сливочный сыр)
• Kilo of pork-beef ground meat
• Kilo of ground chicken
• A packet of cumin
• A packet of cinnamon
• Head of cabbage
• A bunch of onions
• Princess Nuri tea

Buying spices at the farmer's market is not like buying them at Safeway. Take a look at the spice vendor's space. (Click for larger version)

Then I get called to the institute and meet with an official there. All went well.

Reading in the afternoon.

Home. Some of the curry spices I bought last year are still on the shelf. Hm. Did no one live her all year? Or did someone who didn't know how to cook live here? How can you not use curry powder? I make up a mess of curried chicken and cabbage, one of my favorite go-to recipes.

Oof, gods, now to attend to e-mail.

The Russian parliament has introduced a bill that will assign fines for “unjustified used of foreign words when publicly disseminating information in Russian.” (mirror)

My objections:

1. It is stupid. Language changes, and setting up laws to limit language change will simply not work in the long run.
2. It is evil. It fits in with Putin's politics of jingoism, trying to infuse in the Russian people the idea that they are superior to other people and therefore have the right to go into other countries. All ethnic groups must eventually learn to respect all other ethnic groups. Sadly, many people haven't learned this yet. We should live in such a way that all our ethnicities grow to support humanity in general, not certain ethnic groups in particular.
3. Also on the jingoism issue, it fits into Putin's propaganda of eventually trying to expand Russian power into other countries simply on the basis of parts of the population using the Russian language in those countries.
4. In the modern world we should use the law to create safety and freedom. A law limiting language use curtails freedom and does not improve safety; such a law is unjustified.

Had a meeting this morning with our peer tutors. These are people who serve as conversation partners twice a week for our students. Seems a nice bunch.

Then one last afternoon of pleasant reading. My brain candy of the day was a fantasy novel by Daniel Abraham. Finished it. Damn! The very last line was a complete cliff hanger, and the next book in the series won't be out until August 5th.

As of tomorrow things get much busier. A meeting with our teachers in the morning. Registration of my visa in the afternoon. Visiting with the Osipovs in the evening. Our first students arrive on Saturday, the remainder Sunday. Monday classes start.