I completely aced my recent Russian test. It was an oral test so I was able to branch out and show what I know while cleverly talking around what I don't know. I study fifteen to twenty vocabulary words every day. Ten nouns five verbs and sometimes adjectives. Also grammar, which is the hardest part--I have to study that a few hours every day also in order to learn it. I finally got to use some more unusual words which was very fun.

Only the NSLI scholarship kids were tested that day, we get tested alot, the US government wants to make sure it is getting it's moneysworth. Don't worry general public of America, your tax dollars will not be wasted on me!

The lady administering the exam came down to cheboksary from moscow---she is one of the cooler people I have met here. This other lady loved me until she saw that I had not worn a coat--then she freaked out. She seriously went mad with rage. I thought she was making a joke or someting at first but I quickly learned that she was not. I didn't catch all of what she said but it went something like this: "you are in Russia, you must wear a coat, you will catch a cold, you are like a small child, sometimes it is negative thirty degrees here and you must wear a coat."

All of this was said neglecting the one most important and fundamental bit of information: it was ten degrees celcius outside. That is warm. Unfortunately, she didn't seem able to concieve of any possible variations in temperature so I respectfully apologized and promised to wear a coat during the summer to make up for it, which seemed to satisfy her.

The way I see it, if it is cold I wear a coat, if it is not cold, I don't wear a coat.

That is the beauty of human intellect--we have the freedom to make such choices.