The brilliancy of anonymity and the dictionary project

I like cities. Know what I like most about them? It's not the ability to get brie, although that was a delightful treat. It's not the ability to buy curry paste, or ramen noodles, or numerous other edible treats not available in villages. It's not the constant thrill of the nightlife, or the public transportation...

Don't get me wrong, I do love the public transportation. And hey! I got asked for directions yesterday on the trolleybus! Not that I could do anything but look blankly at them and say, "scuzați, eu vorbesc puțin romaneste," only to have them look blankly at me, and then to realize that they were probably speaking to me in Russian, but *still*, I got asked for directions yesterday, which means somebody thought that I looked like I belonged. Somebody young and foolish, obviously, but somebody!

But what I really love about cities is that nobody expects you to look at them and smile and say "buna ziua!" or "christos anviat!" You keep your business to yourself, and I appreciate that reservedness.

Which is funny, I guess, because one of my fondest memories in Chicago was blowing tourists kisses and waving at them when they went around on those trolleys. Where was my reserve there, huh?

I guess when you know that the chances of you being able to communicate with anyone are pretty much in the lower 25% range, the desire to start up a conversation plummets.

Yesterday was mother's day in America. Not that I knew that until my host family *reminded* me of it, which is a little embarrassing considering that Moldovan's don't have a Mother's Day. They have a Woman's Day, and it's a State Holiday - people get off work for it and everything, and it's a big deal. Many masa and celebrations, and much homemade wine.

Other things that I love about cities? Fast internet connection. Oh my, how wonderful is that. I've been able to download all the most recent episodes of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl...

How tragic is it, however, that Battlestar Galactica has moved to Amazon.com, and doesn't work with a MacOSX platform? What was SciFi thinking? Don't they know that most scifi geeks are mac users? Geez. Un!Cool.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to get dsl in my house. The temptation is strong, oh so very strong. But that would just make me more of a homebody than I already am. What to do.

In other news, I have a new self-imposed project. It's called the dictionary project. Since I no longer have lessons, I'm going through our dictionary and making flashcards of all the words and the phrases that I think are useful (because our dictionary comes with phrases like: that blows my mind! and who doesn't want to know how to say that in every language possible?) I have finished the A section and am halfway through the B section. It is a good way to spend time with my family, as homework time in my family is group family time. I figure it will take me about a month and a half to go through the entire thing, and then I can go backwards - go from romanian to english.

And of course at some point, I'll actually start studying the flashcards.

By far, they have been the most useful method of me learning vocab, and it's a nice way to interact with my new sister because she likes to do the romanian to english. I already have a stack the size of my arm from training. The cards keep getting smaller because - really, who needs a full sized index card? I can save $.02 if I cut them up into 1/4's.

Tonight I start my tutoring sessions with a woman named Vicky, or Victoria. She's a language tutor, although she wasn't mine... she worked with all boys in a neighboring village. She lives in Chisinău, so I think it will be a good match. The only problem is that another training session starts in three weeks, and so when that happens, I'll have to find another tutor. Fuarte Triste.