2010 10 26 - First Day of School

Tuesday I have classes at MIU for the first time. Unfortunately it is a day that Billie Jo is working, so I will have to navigate the metro on my own for the first time.

I am nervous.

Screw that.

I am scared.

Fortunately, I have been training for this moment for the last couple of months. Billie Jo has been prepping me with some key words that I need to know. These include the names of the two stations I will be traveling between, Kievskaya - where we live, and Belaruskaya - which is where I disembark for school. I also need to know about the Vokzal - which is a Train Station - which is different from a Metro station (Stanzia). I only travel via metro for this trip but I do need to pass through the Belaruskaya Vokzal on the MIU end of the trip.

I have made the trip twice over the last couple of days and should be able to do a lot of it from memory - although that is failing me more often these days.

And of course I need to deal with this whole crazy key system just to leave the apartment.

As I mentioned on my arrival Billie Jo went over all these odd nuances regarding the various locks needed to get into the apartment. Well I don't know if I mentioned this but it is almost as complex to get out. The first door can be locked one of two ways (deadbolt or key) depending on who is in or not in the apartment. of course, If the key lock is used there is the question of how many times it must be turned to unlock the door - typically 2 or 4 - but then I may discover that I had inadvertently locked the deadbolt - the permutations are endless. The lock on the 2nd door is a bit simpler and need only be turned 1/2 to 2 full rotations. Oh, and did I mention all the locks work in the reverse direction from the US.

Yes, if I am home alone and set off a kitchen fire because I forget to convert 375 F to Celsius, the smoke inhalation will surely kill me before I get through these doors.

And then once I have figured out how to unlock the door - I will also have to figure out how to lock the door on the other side - I will forgo this step if there is a fire.