Victory is Mine!

So yesterday was a good day. My violin arrived from the US, and it is working out well. I was very happy with the service I received, and the violin is what I expected. Next step on that, of course, is to learn to play the violin.

I also co-bought a copy of Settlers of Catan with one of the other volunteers and we shall dragoon the rest into playing with us. It is amusing because it is in German and Russian.

Today I made gnocchi, and although they were not spectacularly successful, I am happy with them as a first attempt. The sauce was not quite as good, but was acceptable, and I will eventually figure out how to make a good sauce.

I will also be on TV on Sunday at 12 here. One of my teachers had a camera crew (a cameraman, a producer/chaperone, and a kid who did the interview). The interview was in Russian, which will hopefully be well edited, but they said I could get a copy of the show by going to their office after the second airing of the show.

This will be useful because I might not be able to watch it on Sunday since I may be helping brighten the lives of orphans here in town with a cluster of other volunteers who are coming to town for Kreshenia.

Kreshenia is a holiday here where people, presumably mostly hairy men, strip down and dunk themselves three times in the river Ishim next to town. It is scheduled to drop near -30 degrees C over the next few days, so it will be a very cold river. They will probably use power-tools to cut the hole in the ice, and I wouldn't be surprised if they need to pause the dunking to get rid of new chunks that grow. The volunteers are coming all this way to participate, of course, and I anticipate general survival, as well as lots of shivering.