Katrien's 20th

Maria, Elien, Sanne, Lara and Jungheum

I've been ill for a few days and therefore disinclined to follow up on the blog - Wednesday was teacher's day, so Brenda, Corinne and I bought a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates for Rima on Thursday (apparently this is the done thing in Russia - fortunately we didn't have classes on the Wednesday, as we wouldn't have had anything for her, nor known that we were meant to get her anything!! On Thursday evening, Galia, Maria and I once more went to the climbing wall at the technical state university, where I learnt, despite being averse to it, to tie a bowline knot (knowing both knots was obligatory for registration!), and finally got to climb again after over a month! Later on, I went down to the floor beneath mine to see the girls in the French class, who had to give me some homework for French, including watching the French film, 'Tanguy', which I watched in the kitchen, where I was joined by Emily, Lara and Lara. Friday, being the last day of teacher's week, and due to the fact that there was a student band playing in the afternoon, meant only hour-long lessons, but I've been struck down by a cold and so decided to stay in and recover instead (nobody has yet told me what homework I have for this coming week though, so we'll have to see how that works out!). Staying in on Friday was also quite handy, as we were preparing a meal for Vika and Dasha to thank Vika for taking us to Ulan-Ude and showing us around there. It was meant to be some sort of lentil stew/soup, but there was a mix-up in the catering department and it became chickpea soup instead. It was, in any case, delicious, and much appreciated! After this, Dries and Katrien once again went out to a club, where they met some Russians whom they stayed over with also and invited to come round on Saturday to celebrate Katrien's 20th birthday.

Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna - postcard sent by my brother

Anton and Katrien with my present

As Dries and Katrien obviously didn't come back until quite late on Saturday, staying over until quite late with their Russian friends, I decided to go out with Cristine to buy a present for Katrien. As I left the residence, Cristine noticed a letter which had arrived for me in the office, so I picked it up and was very pleased to see my Rafael's letter to me (three weeks after the date on it), although some of the content of the letter was a little bit confusing! Whilst on the bus one Russian chap started talking to be in English, but he was a little bit rude to Cristine, so we parted company without him asking me for my number or if he could add me on facebook, which is fine by me! the marketplace was quite annoying, and I ended up getting quite angry, as the stall owners realised for once that I wasn't Russian, but rudely called to one another (assuming, of course, that I didn't understand Russian) that there was a non-Russian nearby. I very almost shouted back at one of these ladies that I understand everything she says and why if she has an issue with it she can say it to my face. Eventually, we found a small toy shop, where we bought a joke-present for Katrien. When we got back, we started to decorate Maria and Lara's room with balloons and banners for the party this evening.

Sara and I decorating the room

Little by little the guests arrived (more Russians than the babushkas would have liked in the residence), and we ran a little bit late for dinner, Maria, Lara and I sharing our meal with JungHeum and two Russians, Tatiana and Denis, whom Katrien and Dries invited yesterday. Two more Russians also came along, Anton and Genia. Apart from them, the whole of our corridor came, Emily, the three Belgian girls from upstairs and Cristine. Most of the presents were of the same tack as my own, which was mightily amusing as she kept unwrapping Disney-related items. Cocktail party, so we all had to dress up for it too (except for Emily, who stayed the night here, and hadn't thought to bring any snazzy clothing). Obviously, 11 bottles of champagne, and more wine, sangria, etc, contributed to a lot of merry-making, culminating in the photo shoot in the corridor and followed by the traditional Belgian dancing which was going on in my room. Being a bit poorly still, I deemed it best to not drink, and was mightily amused by it all, although I eventually managed to get to bed at about 2:00 am.

Danya, Corinne and Emily

This morning, Maria and Sara cleaned the dishes before we woke up, as I had predicted would happen! Corinne and Danya have once more been shipped off to Baikal as part of their course here, and wont be back until the evening. Dries too, has gone to Baikal with the family of his Russian exchange student in Leuven. Emily has also got into trouble with her homestay mother, who called her this morning telling her that she'd been waiting for her all night (despite her having said she was staying out tonight). Other than this, not much has been going ton today apart from copious amounts of knitting and tidying! I am hoping, however, to go, at some point this week, to the second hand shop to see what clothes they have in stock (Dries has bought some very nice clothes there), and also to the music school to see if I can get balalaika classes, which would be very nice (apparently it is possible to get cheap balalaika's there sometimes!)