I'd better start drinking

Well, I'm doing it. I'm going to Russia.

Unfortunately for you, fellow Metro East player, this is during the summer.

Anyhow, here's the deal. There's this group called Learning Enterprises, a student-run organization mostly active in the Northeast/D.C. area. Their mission is to provide conversation-based English classes in different countries around the world. I applied and was accepted. I'm accepting because I really believe it'll be a great way to experience Russia for the first time. Here's some reasons why.

First, it's not Moscow or St. Petersburg. I really want to visit both places at some point in my career, but this is a great opportunity to see non-European Russia... i.e., I'm going to Siberia. I'll be teaching in and around Biysk, Russia. Here's a Google map of where it is. The city itself is comparable to Amarillo, TX. In the middle of nowhere, but a quarter-million people or so live there. The city itself is, according to highly dubious Wikipedia, considered the gateway to the Altai Mountains, an absolutely stunning mountain range in southern Siberia. It's really green and hilly and pleasant -- that is to say, it's temperate nice Siberia, not GULAG Siberia.

Secondly, I'll be there from early July until mid-August. So if it turns out to be miserable, I only have to brave a month or so of suckitude before returning to the Land of the Free. Also, it allows me to have a semi-normal summer, and to visit everyone before I leave. The one snag I can foresee is if I have to move someplace far away for grad school (which is quite likely, given where I applied). Then, I'll get back from Russia and basically have to pack up my whole life (again) and move to God-knows-where almost immediately, depending on when school starts.

Thirdly, I stay with a family and they feed me and house me for free. This is really good, given that I have to pay for my own airfare, which will likely be over 1200 dollars. I also don't get paid, which sucks, but honestly, I need to do this, even if on the whole I'm losing a shitload of money.

Fourthly, I really just have to do this. I've studied Russia so much, it's time to actually go there. I didn't before because my commitment to the ultimate team trumped all. I'm not trying to play up my reputation or whatever, I'm just saying that's why I never studied abroad. But now it's time. And I've always been a grammar asshole, so why not teach English abroad? It's been a possible career aspiration for a little while, too. Especially after all the great stories that Aras has from teaching English in Lithuania. Furthermore, as Ashley said, I'll be sure to come home with a lifetime's worth of absurd stories, since Russians are among the most absurd people on Earth.

Anyways, I need to be in Moscow on some day in early July. That's the only travel requirement. What I'm thinking is that I should fly to Moscow a couple of days early, bum around there for a little while, and then fly into Siberia. Basically, this is just so I can avoid a 22-hour plane ride. Blargh. The travel is the only thing that scares me at this point. I can't sit still for that long, seriously. But I'm going to do it anyways. As Max said, there's probably few other times in life I'll be able to do something like this.

So there we go. From the beginning of July until a few days into August, I'll be in the Russian Federation, teaching English to little Russian cretins. I am honestly quite excited. Now we just need to see where the whole grad school adventure leads...

P.S. if anyone wants to accompany me to Russia, that is to say, to Moscow for the few days before I have to be at the program, I'd be willing to help pay for your plane ticket. I am dead serious about this. Get in touch with me for more details.