All Things Russian

War and Peace. I impress myself with how uppity it sounds. I am the first person to check the book out here in Heves -- in English, at least. It has been sitting untouched on the shelf since 1994, according to stamps in the book. I am currently on page 34 of 1,444...
Suddenly interested in Russian culture and related pursuits, my book-du-jour (or the next three months?) is

Last night continued a long trend of Oh-Fer on the soccer court. But, it should be noted that three of my shots came close and I made several defensive plays that elicited applause. My definition of "defensive play," though, is simply putting myself between the ball and the goal with or without strategy or forethought.

Tomorrow is a vaguely special day involving making fun of the new students and teachers. It involves storks, aerobics, singing and an evening dance, although that explanation came from a class of 12-year-olds, so it might be a bit off.

Discussing jobs and occupations this week with many of the kids. One of the girls, amidst a race to write as many jobs on the board as possible, scribbled "bitch" in big letters. I regretted to inform her that bitch is not an occupation. She insisted it was. I told her it wasn't. She thought for a moment, then said, "happy woman." I paused. "Prostitute?" Yes, she explained, in Hungarian the words bitch and prostitute are the same.