Sarcasm? YES!

So I got up today and went for a run. There were tons of cute babies, but it's so cold here you can only see their face, which makes it more adorable. They are bundled up in adorable little-person suits, and then their carriages are completely covered (except for around the face) to keep the snow out. Hannibal Lecter would just look cuddly in these outfits. But anyway...

Did some Russian homework and relaxed, then went to Russian... at 6pm at night. Thursdays I have one class from 6pm to 8pm. Weee! hahaha. But I was standing there, and there were more people standing outside the classroom, and I didn't want a bigger class... But it was okay. They're all really nice, and there's a girl from Afghanistan in the class! This might seem like a random thing to put an exclamation mark after, but I find it quite amazing for obvious reasons (last 50 years of the country's history). Besides of all the places to meet an Afghan... Estonia? Moving along...

Sat down and someone I didn't know sat down and asked how the class was. And I said, well, it's not too hard. The pace is apparently pretty manageable, and this is a continuation course. But for a second semester course, they know an awful lot of Russian, so I think it'll pick up relatively quickly. He says that this may be too easy, due to the fact that he spent a year in Novosibirsk. And I said yeah....

But he didn't have the courage to just leave at that point, so he spent the rest of the time in class, and provided me with a great deal of laughter. We read a text describing a family (of course, in every language there's a wonderful family), but he noticed the "Soviet" tendencies behind it. A factory worker father, Russian language schoolteacher mother, oldest brother is doctor, younger son is going to build houses, youngest brother is playing soccer and hockey, and the daughter is a chemist. Bahaha. Basically, he and I were partners for all the exercises and we may or may not have made fun of this family for quite some time. He's British, so his sarcasm is beyond well-developed. It was quite enjoyable.

And supposedly in Estonia, sarcasm is the prefered method of humor. But it's in Estonian. I doubt they find foreigner sarcasm in English very funny. Besides, how can they like sarcasm if they don't speak? How will I ever know? So having a wildly sarcastic Brit in my class was a sigh of relief. He's a master's student writing his thesis on Russia media's rights affecting relations with EU. Interesting stuff.

But Dara (the new Brit) and I met up with some other international students for a dinner at a place I hadn't been to yet, but was rumored to have huge pizzas. OhmyGodIfoundmynewplaceforfood!!! It was soooo good. The pizza I had was thick and delicious and huge and for $8. I am set for life. And it's the restaurant right after the bridge, so it's a mere 6 minute walk if you got caught by every traffic light.

I wanted a more low-key night after Club Illusion the night before and running. So I got wind of some of the American students watching Hamlet 2, the movie of a drama teacher who writes his own play, including the song "Rock Me Sexy Jesus". It was funny, not as great as I had hoped, but I was certainly entertained.

Then we headed to Zavod. Now, this is an important lesson in the culture of Tartu. Zavod is THE pub/bar/place. Anyone in town will tell you to go here. What makes it great? It stays open the longest. So it's empty until midnight... then the crowd POURS in. Zavod is Russian for factory, and it really does seem like a factory just spewing out dozens of drunks. hahaha. But Zavod was wonderful, a true delight. It wasn't too crowded, but we left at 2:30. It still had a good 2.5 hours of bar time left, so I'm sure it became more ridiculous. Zavod, the holiest pub in Tartu.