Dressing according to the weather? only for weaklings and americans.

The russian language and I? are still not really friends. As strange and stupid as it might sound, it never really occured to me that my smattering of russian would be the only way I could communicate to others. I don't think the realization hit me until the third day in Moscow. Kristin and I went to the coffee shop, which was written as a cognate in cyrillic. and yes, it was just was tacky looking as you might imagine.
kristin and I ordered our drinks successfully and proudly. However, the waiter came back a moment later. he was the same waiter we had had the night before when we went there with a group of people. Using hand potions and speaking incredibly slowly, he explained to us at least five times the same words. But no matter how hard we tried, we did not understand a word of what he was saying. Finally, we understood that he wanted the flier that he had given us the night before- the one that would allow us to get one of our drinks for free. He went away, and I saw that the horror I felt was mirrored in Kristens face. I realized that fully for the first time that I was in a foreign country where I could not communicate with anyone more than to state the basics. we could either laugh or cry. we decided to laugh then, but the frustration is soon going to make me gnash my teeth.
In other news, Russia as of yet is not as cold as we thought it would be. Its the same weather we would have in late october. The girls here seem to have an indifference to the weather that is amazing. no matter the bumpy, uneven sidewalk- they wear stillettos. No matter the rain- they wear skirst short enough for Malibu. It's 8 am in the morning?- their hair and make-up is done and fabulously so. The Russian girls are girls to be intimidated of. Most are tall, all are fashionable and roughly 70% look like super models. They are all so beautiful! The russian race is genetically blessed. Life can be so unfair sometimes.