I made an all important discovery today, or maybe I just rediscovered. Anyway, I learned that caffeine helps me focus like no other. I thought it was just Redbulls, and given that they’re expensive on a Peace Corps budget, I had written them off as an option. It’s just the caffeine. I downed a nice cup of Starbucks instant coffee today after class and I was able to sit down and focus on my novel. I have already written about 2,000 words today and I’m ready to write some more after this post. The only problem is that if I drink coffee after 3pm, I can’t fall asleep at night. So I’m limited to drinking it on days I get home from school earlier.

Rose unloaded a bunch of stuff on me today and I have to pass it along to other volunteers who claimed it. I got some goods out of the deal. I got a sweet huge towel, a backpack which folds into a tiny bag for easy empty carrying, a bunch of random food, a set of knives and some other kitchen supplies. I pretty excited to have new things.

Today’s task for my 30 Day Challenge is to talk to three strangers. I will half do this task because I want to make excuses today. My main excuse is that my Russian isn’t good enough to talk to strangers with it. It’s a tried and true excuse, I tell you. Also, I won’t be making business connections or future wife connections this way. The bulk of business ends here in a year and I’ve already stated that I’m not looking for a Ukrainian wife. I will try to fulfill this task, though, by talking more in Russian to people I know who I know will be willing to deal with my Russian. Case and point, teaching the music teacher Dmitri English. I have to work both in English and Russian to do this. We communicate well. But I need to find more people to talk to, maybe the cute social science teacher or the school accountant? Oh wait, no Ukrainian wife. I’ll talk to them anyway.

When I redesigned my website over the summer, I was happy with it and I planned on using it to develop my critiquing of television, books and movies. But I’ve noticed that posts in these sections come in bursts and the bursts are don’t come often. I’m considering redesigning the website into a single stream again. I also want to change the style to something I’ve considered for a while now. Where to find the time to do this? After November ends, that’s where.