"Welcome to Siberia"

The warm welcome has, in one very literal sense, worn out here in Siberia: I'm not sure if I mentioned that the weather here had been fabulously warm for the first week I was here, but soon afterwards it began to SNOW. In fact, it has been snowing for about three days straight and just stopped this evening. The view from my window is awesome. But before I end up talking about  nothing except the weather (gasp!) I'll get to the point by saying that nothing else has turned cold here in Irkutsk.

The view from my balcony at dusk. I love the colored windows.

As I've mentioned, my department is outstanding and treats me like a magical beacon of American culture to be passed from person to person. I'm not complaining, but the system works in such a way that I visit a different class of American Studies students every day (only one, mind you) and introduce myself. There are so many groups, however, that I have yet to have a second visit with any of these groups (except one, which I believe was a scheduling accident). In an effort to pull my weight and do something besides introduce myself and answer general questions about American cultural norms, I'm starting a culture and conversation club called "This American Life" where I'll get to meet with students outside of class hours and discuss certain aspects or areas of American Culture from my own perspective, and open up a discussion for the students who attend. Our first meeting will be Wednesday, and I put a poster outside our department asking "What do YOU want to talk about?" My department was afraid that someone would steal the pen pinned to the board immediately or that no one would bother to write anything anyway, but the response has been fantastic so far. I almost feel like I'm back at St. Olaf again... Anyway, things will be getting busier this week as we plan more extra-curricular activities, as I continue to study Russian (and French?) at the University as well, and as the buses go slower and slower due to massive amounts of snow.

Snow in October isn't so bad... See?

 Outside of University life, I'm as happy as a clam. I live with all of my group mates (studying Russian as International students), and we've been spending more free time together. Today we went out into the snow to visit a Museum in the city. Lots of great photo-ops, as well as a visit to a Позная (Poznaya) which is a cafe specializing in the Buryati dish of позы (pozy). Not to be confused with Khinkali, a similar dish from Georgian cuisine (If you read my blog post on food from Georgia, then you know what I'm talking about.) They are basically giant dumplings with a small hole in the top, into which you can pour soy sauce and/or chili sauce, then out of which you can drink the broth inside. Very tasty, but very messy, since it doesn't have the convenience of the dough-handle that Khinkali offers.

Я люблю Иркутск <3

That's about it for now. I'm having a great time, still making progress at the University, and currently trying not to forget about Halloween just because it looks like December outside. Holy buckets, I've never been so crazy content (unless you count that time when they put me on intense painkillers after oral surgery...?); I want everyone who reads this blog to share in some of my happiness, because I've definitely got enough to spare. Let's hope it stays like this for a while --- In the meantime, I'll enjoy the ride.

Lots of love from Russia,
Sarah