Well, Melvin and I wrapped up our final presentation today in Vorenezh!!! I can’t believe our Siberian adventure is nearly over— 16 days and 14 flights later, we’re doing incredibly well- still kicking! Our agents here in Vorenezh run a tight ship and we hosted over 200 students and gave away as much CIEE stuff as possible to lighten our load! We rocked the house and moved through our presentation like pros (we actually are at this point!)

It was funny, last night we just couldn’t take it anymore and we decided to be the chubby Americans and treat ourselves to McDonalds… it never tasted so good! We also were surprised when we were joined by a few local teens who had the guts to not only stare at us, but actually approach us to practice their English. It’s funny, everywhere we’ve gone on this trip we are always stared at or rather gawked at and no matter how much we stare back in return (before we become uncomfortable) the locals continue to look blankly at us… so, it was nice to actually be approached and to ask the question, “why do you stare?”

Over the last few days Melvin and I have begun to take on Russian stereotypical behavior, take for example the other day while waiting in line…. like all Russians who will cut in front of you if you give them a little space, I’ve learned the fine art of jockeying for position and literally cutting off people. It’s odd, I almost feel as though I’ve been taken more seriously by the locals and actually have felt a bit more respected. I’ve attempted not smiling much as I feel this is a dead giveaway that we’re Americans, but you all know me, I can’t help but smile!!! Melvin had an interesting situation happen to him a few days ago that I thought would result in a bitch slap of the gentleman that forceably pushed Melvin as we exited the plane… if there’s one thing that I’ve claimed as valuable as gold since being here, it’s my personal space. I waited in fear as I watched the man push Melvin and all I could do was hold my breath as Melvin asked the man to “wait one second” and then he turned around like SATAN and told the man, “Don’t push me for Christ’s sake”. I laugh now, but it could have been the next Rocky vs. Dolph…