Adventures in housing (aka do you know anyone looking for a flatmate in moscow?)

Sooo it seems that my life here is continuing to change in unexpected ways.

Here is a brief update of my last couple of weeks here in Moskva:

First I was living with a family (SITUATION #1)
Pros:
-Totally loved Sasha and Artyom, the two children
-Located next to a pretty park
-Outside of the city, so dark and quiet at night
-Really liked Misha, the family driver, and we got along super well (yah family driver, these guys are loaded)

Cons:
-Mom thought of me as the kid's tutor and treated me as she would "hired help" (did not talk to me, rarely made eye contact, vaguely incapable of smiling except towards the end when she would do this painful wince-face that was, I think, smiling)
-Far from school/the center of the city
-I did not have a key...or furniture for that matter (just a mattress on the floor)
-I really, really, really wanted to work on my Russian- but wasn't supposed to be speaking it

SO moral of the story, I ended up leaving under friendly circumstances, I guess- the mom realized I was really busy and got wind of my work schedule and differing expectations, so she told me about an apartment that a friend of a friend was renting out for 10,000 rubles (sweet deal!) right across from the highschool.  Sweet deal, right?...?  So I was given a week to try out the apartment without paying and to decide by the end whether or not I wanted to live there.

SITUATION #2:
Pros:
-Living with an older, babushka type who taught me a lot about the traditional cultural wisdom of Soviet Russia
-Across from the school!!
-Evgenya (babushka/хозяйка) fed me and treated me more or less like a племяница or внучка or something (niece or granddaughter), which was sweet
-Authentic soviet russian apartment- communal bathroom, one working sink in the whole apt (with 3 people), kitchen in disrepair, refrigerator: space between the kitchen window and the screen, etc., super old furnishings

Cons:
-The story below (which occurred 5 days after moving in to test the waters):
I went out late thursday night with a friend and came back tipsy (it had been a long and stressful week and I didn't have classes until 2pm the next day, ok?)
The door was locked from the inside in a way that I could not open with my key (??? confusing).  So she got up to let me in.  I felt really bad about it and planned on apologizing the next day.
When I got home the next day from school, she immediately called me a drunk, continually insulted my upbringing and family, gave me a 10pm curfew, called me "uneducated" as well as some other less-than-pleasant names, told me I was "disordered in the head" and threatened to hit me next time I came back after 10pm.  Then she tried to guilt me into living at the apartment.

...SO...yeah.
I called Tamara (the absolutely wonderful woman who got me the job at the elementary school and pretty much gives me support 24/7) and she offered to pick me up that night, saying "just get out of there."  I left the next morning, after Evgenya had gone to work, and left on note on the table with the money I would have paid for the week.

So basically life has been a bit of an adventure.  There is a sort of natural wondering and guilt lodged in the fact that I have stayed at two places then left (like...uh oh it has to be my fault), but I feel much better now.  Tamara has SO kindly given me the chance to stay at her house with her family until I find a good place to stay (this time I check it out BEFORE staying over).  I hope I can find something soon, but meanwhile I am wildly content to be here.  Tamara is so kind, and her daughters have been so lovely to me.  The apartment is cozy and modern and Tamara has offered a situation where I can both be independent, and incredibly supported and comfortable.  Bonus point: they have two ADORABLE kitties.

Her older daughter Katya (9 years old, I think) in particular has been incredibly sweet.  Just tonight she said to me "I really like you!" and "I know I haven't known you for very long, but I feel like you're my older sister!"  I babysat the girls and we made pasta and watched disney channel, and katya even made me a "Welcome Charlotte!" card.  It was exactly the kind of night that I needed.

Sorry for the long and rambling story, if you read this far then HOORAY!  Tell me and I'll make you cookies next time I see you.

Sorry for the lack of pictures- I'm too lazy to upload from my useless iphone, but I will do so soon!

...

Drinking port and watching twilight in Russian ("Сумерки"):

 

Classiest moment of MY LIFE.

p.s. the biggest photo is meant to represent Russia, and does so surprisingly well.

Холодец...never again

Just tried this dish:

A word to the wise:

If it looks like meat in jello, it moves (UGH) like meat in jello, and people tell you "It's meat in jello"...

It's probably going to taste like meat in jello.

If I try to think of two foods that should NEVER EVER be prepared together, "meat and jello" is right up at the top of my list.  

I like to say that I'd try most things.  But now I feel like gagging/dying a little.

Xolodetz just tied with "headcheese" at the top of my list of foods never to ever eat again ever.  

Moral of the story:

JUST SAY NO

TO MEAT AND JELLO

(catchy right?)