The Final Countdown

well after the switch of my host city in Russia, ive been doing a lot to keep myself occupied in the last month of my exchange. upon my arrival in Nahodka, i instantly went on a resort trip to the sea with the other exchange students, my friends from taiwan and brazil were very happy to see me after such a long time. we stayed at the seaside for 3 days,there we stole an abandoned inflatable boat from the docks and rode along the lakes with it, and did some rock climbing along the edges of the shore, it was very fun to do as usually i wouldnt be so stupid to go jumping off rocks onto other rocks, but the dangerou of Russia gets to eevryone, at the camp, the people next to us were playing music, but not any music.. my favorite russian band lubeh! so the entire time, i could listen to my favorite russian songs as we relaxed by the seaside chopping wood for the fire place. we spend the time at night, singing songs and guessing who wrote them. so soo the exchange students had to leave for the district conference, and i was left with no friends to be with for about 2 weeks. what do i do? well this is why i have native russian friends in this city along with me. when i returned from the seaside, i was instantly "stolen" by my friend vova for 2 days, he showed me the university where he goes and there i also saw my other friend who lives in nahodka, aselya, a girl who along with vova was at the orientation helping the inbounds. we watched kung fu panda and went to the head rotary chairman's house. where she helped me study japanese better. so within days i went to my first rotary meeting in nahodka, where i told them all about myself, my crazy brother, and my godgiven mom and grandma. and they helped me find a soccer team in the city where my brazilian friend also plays, but i havent played soccer since childhood and all the time was a defender, so i cant kick the ball right, but when it becomes game time and im defending these russian 20 year old forwards meet their match in most cases. so arriving from tailand is also another friend who i started to meet, elena. she now lives with the brazilian student and for many days we walked along the city with her friends and joked about everything. they showed me the famous soviet cartoon "cheburashka" and gave me him as a doll. my friend vova also challenged me to bowling and pool. where we swapped victories in bolwing and thanks to his white ball mistake when he was sinking the black, i won in pool, but was beaten in the nextround by a total novice. my host brother, who lives outside of the house and will soon be married on the 25th. invited me and his friends to the nature, while there, they askedme to start a fire and show the american way of starting fires, and in under 30 seconds with a lighter, i started a fire which dropped the jaws of the russians. after 9 months of no scouting, pulling off the fire was a big surprise. they came back all saying "im jealous that he can start a fire that well" the eagle scout rank always helps! something that ive always asked my families to do, and never really have succeeded in, is teaching me to cook. well my new host mom, decided to actually teach me to cook. she taught me to make russian soup "akroshka" and russian meat dish "myaca pa kapitancki" or "meat in the style of captian" which really tastes good. after the cooking lesson, she showed me the town Naxodka. including the biggest freight port in the world, ocated outside of nakodka, and the sea where her son will get married.

so finally, the students arrived from the conference in the russian siberia! and along with them, were 2 other students.. brazilians, who were some of my bestest friends at orientation and the trip to the russian capitals. they will be here for 10 days, then leave back to siberia. on ths day also, my host mom showed me the museum and the X men, first class movie. so the next day, all the students got together and literally hit the city! we walked everywhere, everyone talking, happy to see eachother, nobody with a frown on their face all day. we 6 students were probably happier than a dairy cow whose in the middle of work. we had picnics next to monuments and saw sites of the city. on the weekend, we were invited to partizansk, a neaighbooring city to nahodka, where we stayed for 3 days. there we watched movies, and celebrated "Russia day". in moscow, there was a concert on red square and i saw my favorite russian band "lubeh" sing the rock version of the russian anthem. the brazilians and i spent a lo of time talking about video games. we all shared mutual games we loved and discussed new ones coming out. how i will soon know the feeling of video games. i havent played since i arrived to russia.
in more recent news, i did a presentation to nahodka club about my 2 cities in the US, Columbus and westerville. and when i was telling about westerville, i mentioned the shinto shrine, no alcohol, our awards, 4th friday, and the field of heroes. the idea of the field of heroes was taken isntantly in by the club (as i had wanted in the first olace to present to them this idea) and they are thinking about doing it this fall for a holiday. they just wantg to talk with my club about it first. maybe its how i can leave a part of my exchange for the community in russia. too bad that if its taken in, i wont be around to see it with my own eyes.
well the countdown has hit 14 days, its hard to believe that in 2 weeks ill be sitting on the plane headed home.. that in 2 weeks ill meet the people who gave me this opportunity, the country i love more than anything, the people who i know, the language which i speak better than anything, the food which i lost 7 kilograms from when i stopped eating it. in my mind, it truely seems like the final countdown has just started