The Swankiest Hotel in all of Oblast

Why am I checking flights to London from Moscow right now? I was supposed to travel to China. I was supposed to go through Mongolia and find myself wearing funny hats and speaking Mandarin and living in a monastery in the woods meditating over a plate of steamed broccoli. I was supposed to get a job teaching English in Vietname, get fired after two weeks for only teaching the different meanings of the word "sick" and then head south to Indo and Australia. Maybe West Papa New Guinea. But instead I'm trying to find the LOT Polish Airline website because they have the cheapest tickets to London from Moscow. Do I really want Chipotle that bad? Or do I really just want to be able to speak some English.

I have 13 minutes left at the Ring Hotel here in Yaroslav', Russia, so I must make this brief. I want to learn Russian. But it has been hard. Only the big towns have Russian schools. But I finally found a woman named Ulianna who will teach me Russian tonight for one hour. If I don't start learning a lot of Russian -- soon -- then I'm getting the hell out of here. I am here to learn. I am not here to spend lots of money on Solyanka and ordering expensive things on the money just because it's the only item that contains the word "chicken."

I am starting to feel better. I am not as tired as before and now more or less convinced that I don't have scurvy. But just to be sure I'll go get some orange juice from the supermarket after I'm done here. And continue to try to find the Russian school. The hostel is interesting here. Most of the people staying in it are Russian and don't even look at you in the hallways. I think the Russians are pretty reserved. The girl working the front desk's name is Janna (I think) and she's very nice but speaks almost no English. I tried to ask her which water I should use to boil spaghetti last night and she said "No problem", turned on the burner, and walked away.

There is always a good chance I will go to Africa. Maybe in September. Or something. But if I do that I need to know what to do till then. Not just spend money. Maybe I can get a job teaching English in Uzbekistan. Or maybe I can get a job at MacDonald's here. Or maybe I should just buy the longest train ticket it's possible to buy and see what happens. The skies the limit. Or I guess LOT Polish Airilines is the limit.