Hi all, just wanted to start off by saying that yes, I am alive. I have been busy/super tired over the last few weeks, hence the inactivity. So as a sort of consolation, I’m going to do my best to recap it. Enjoy!

First of all, I came off of a week-long cold back in February. It wasn’t totally unexpected, as there was a stretch where everybody at school was feeling under the weather. However, in typical Conan fashion, I ended getting whatever was going around that caused me to hack my lungs out. Yeah, it was rough. However, I found out that I do in fact have a taste for tea; I may have had way too much of the free tea at work to find that out.

On a more uplifting note, I’ve started to play hockey at the local outdoor rink! Literally, this place is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, and it’s fantastic being able to play for free. For most of my life, I wondered how I’d able to play the sport I loved for no cost, and bam, I found it. The only downside to this is that since it’s outdoors, nature dictates the conditions. Shoveling snow off with makeshift shovels gets tedious, but the reward absolutely justifies this minor inconvenience. Plus, there’s something oh so right about playing with snow on the ice-I guess it compensates for the fact that I’ve never played pond hockey. So yeah, I’m bummed that I didn’t learn about it earlier, as it’s been a blast not only playing some puck again, but I’ve been able to work on my Russian! Granted, it’s the basic things, but it’s been a fantastic way to practice my listening skills. I also have earned the reputation of “the American”, so the guys there have tried to practice their English with me/help me out. For the longest time, I was looking for a way to get more immersed here in Moscow, and this has been an awesome way of doing so!

Finally, time for some news. While it’s not official, I will be renewing my contract to teach for another year! The decision was a very easy one given how fantastic my time here in Russia has been! I will sound like a broken record for saying this, but it’s true: I am absolutely blessed to be teaching English! From my awesome roommate/coworker to my Russian coworkers to the students, everything has been a blast. There’s also a chance that I might be teaching in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk over the summer as well, which, while that means I probably won’t get a chance to visit home, means that I get to see more of Russia. So, I can’t wait to see what the next year of teaching brings!