I’m not 100% sure what to make of this month. I feel like it definitely hasn’t been a month since, um, a month ago. Really though: a month ago I was getting ready to go to Syktyvkar, and then I came back and saw the northern lights and got sick for a week. That feels like yesterday. Time is going by really quickly. That’s a good thing (going home soon!) and also a bad thing (leaving Ukhta soon!).
So in that tiny moment-of-a-month, I wish I’d known:
- that you can pay as many months of internet service at once as you want.
- how much sun Ukhta can get… so I didn’t have to totally despair in the winter.
- how quickly the day length changes… so trying to tell time by the sun’s position in the sky really doesn’t work and will result in being late to everything.
- that I have bad luck with all washing machines, and if I use the dorm machine, it will inevitably break and keep all my socks captive inside for several hours.
- that even when I recover my socks, they will look dirtier than they were when I put them in, so handwashing is probably the way to go with this one.
- that Katherine Mansfield is too much for intermediate ESL students who have maybe never encountered stream-of-consciousness narration in any language.
- that I will have actually no time and should get out of unnecessary commitments ASAP, rather than waiting until it’s too late to pull out and still be a responsible, considerate person.
- how much fun writing grammar worksheets is!
- that Russian deodorant is literally useless, as in totally ineffective, and if I’m already going to bring enough from the USA to last me six months, I may as well bring enough to last me nine months.
- that serving your guests tea before lunch is a social faux pas. Just don’t do it.
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