Russian grammar is so complex and utterly incomprehensible in every way that I am having a hard time comprehending it. Grammar is occupying so much of me that I can no longer remember my twenty words a day. This is very disconcerting. I will give myself a week to heal from the wounds that the Russian language has inflicted upon me then I will resume stuffing twenty words a day into the burlap sack which is my mind.

Whoa! We just had a ridiculous hail storm that smashed peoples' windows and stuff. I have videos and pictures of course. They are coming soon. haha and I was just talking about how nice the weather was...

Today I went to the country house and had an unexpected encounter with a unique Russian holiday. On this day everybody visits the graves of their dead loved ones. Everybody in the family who's grave still exists we visited. We visited the grave of one woman who had been born in the nineteenth century. The graveyards were in the woods with trees sometimes growing out of the graves which is different than in USA. The graveyards are also very crowded, especially on this holiday.

From what I saw Russian graves are above the ground, not below. The body in question is normally at ankle level, so the mounds are pretty big.

On this holiday everybody even remotely related to the deceased person gathers around the grave and basically parties. Every time you eat or drink you must put a little bit down on the grave near the head. By the end there is usually quite a feast strewn out on the grave.
I also gathered from this holiday that the life expectancy in Russia is very low. I looked it up later and found out that it was 58 for men. I think that is the figure for Russia overall which means that I can hack of another ten years because my region is poor and more worried about day to day survival than living to ripe old age.

this was taken at 10:00 pm
The weather has been perfect for three weeks. It is usually about sixty five to seventy degrees with a hot sun and a warm breeze. I think that the summer is somehow Russia's way of saying sorry for the winter. There are only about three or four hours of darkness every night which is cool, but makes it harder to sleep. Like I said, the summer is really the opposite of the winter here. During winter there are only about four hours of light every day. In summer, everything is green and full of life, especially at our second house in the country. It is somewhat of a farm. They have chickens and cows and a lake with a lot of fish. The country house is beautiful this time of year.

Ok I was wrong when I said the "the WW2 victory celebration will be tomorrow". That was a different holiday--different but similar. The holiday, which is called "the ninth of may" is held, contrary to what I wrote earlier, on the ninth of may, not the second.

Today, (the ninth of may) I was at the heart of this celebration in cheboksary. There were parades and some jeeps and stuff in the street. I think a total of about five thousand people were in the parade in novocheboksarsk and at least twice that much in cheboksary. Each of them had their own genuine AK47. People would say "s praznikom!" and everyone yelled it back. There were a lot of drunk people who wanted to kill me and one of them stole my chocolate, but overall I'd say the good of the day outweighed the bad. My friends and I had a barbecue and then went to so the fireworks. They were stunning and promptly set the nearby woods on fire. The fire was big and it took about half an hour for the firemen to put it out. Only in Russia

On the way home an old, drunk man grabbed me by the hair and said laughinglly that he wanted it for himself.

Today the teacher of english at my school, who's name is Lidia invited me to her house to look at the sky with her husband. I said yes for astronomy has long been one of my interests and hobbies. It turns out that the teacher is fluent in Italian Russian and English and she is an amazing singer and guitarist. Her husband, who's name is Ed is an astronomer and astrophysicist. "There aren't many astronomers in Russia" he says, "but the few that there are keep in touch over this forum...which I created."-- www.Astronomy.ru -- He has written a book and published it on the internet. It is now the most downloaded Ebook in Russia. He speaks English, which he learned from his wife. Ed also is very proud of his achievements in various martial arts including SAMBO. To pay the bills, Ed gives financial advice, creates websites, and removes viruses from computers. But wait, Ed's not done. He also is a tea connoisseur. He likes to mix teas to create his own special blends. Both husband and wife are vegetarian. They both often speak of philosophy, quoting the Dali Lama, Confucius and Socrates always in the original language. They believe that less is more money wise--it just causes problems after all.

He and his wife are always playing music, he is an accomplished keyboard player and she is an amazing singer and a very good guitarist. They played an original song for me and it was awesome. There is just one thing; they live with Lidia's mother.

Luckily I don't care about that and I will be returning to their house where fine tea is aplenty, telescopes are big and always pointed at something interesting, foreign cultures are embraced and where skilled musicians practice their craft.

Ok, right now I am in Mcdonals looking down from the second floor window on the biggest display of patriotic nationalism I have ever seen. The funny thing is that the holiday hasn't ever started yet. Tomorrow is "Victory Day" the day that Russians celebrate singlehandedly winning WW2 and just Russia itself. Everybody has either a Russian flag or a Chuvash flag in their hands, most have both. People are dancing in the streets for sheer joy. Many have dressed up in their traditional Chuvash attire and are playing Chuvash techno music from big stages. Policeman and SWAT team guys are everywhere. They make up 25% of the attendants. They are almost happy too. I have been lifted off the ground by hugs from people I don't even know. Buses and taxis are barely charging money at all. Shopkeepers are out in the streets with everyone else, their stores left unattended. Everyone here is overcome with the pride and joy of being Russian. Tomorrow tanks will drive through the streets and planes will fly overhead. I can't even imagine what the people will be like then. Every soldier in the area will be in the parade. I hear that Moscow is even shipping in some American and British soldiers.

Ok, I am going back to the celebration...more to come