Learning to cuss..

I have a new Russian teacher. She is the former instructor for the Peace Corps volunteers here and is an absolute character. She lives with her husband in a modest flat about 20min from here where I see her in the evening. She generally has tea and delicious home made pastry for me and we discuss various topics in both Russian and English. For some reason she reminds me of a female Yoda.

The other night she wondered what coffee I liked. I sheepishly explained that I drink coffee for the caffeine kick and have been known to take a spoon full of the freeze- dried stuff and wash it down with a gulp of water. After that I like any coffee that my connoisseur son makes, except that it takes too damn long what with all the ceremony and prayers of thanks to the coffee gods.

Then our conversation went something like this:
Her: "Do you like Starbucks?"
Me:"Not really. But, like I said, I'll drink it if I need a caffeine hit."
Her, spitting: "Starbucks..."
Her: "Do you know where the best coffee in the world is from?"
Me, thinking that this was a gimme: "Ethiopia!"
Her: "No Mike, Vietnam."

Coffee excrement in the wild. Apparently there is lots of debate about whether this is real.

She then went on to explain how there is a variety in Vietnam wherein a civet will eat a coffee berry, husking it inside his gullet, then excrete is out as a coffee bean, what..., well you get the point. The beans are cleaned (she assured me) and then roasted. Now they have these critters on farms and it is done there. It costs 6000USD per kilo and it is very contoversial. Still, I had to come to KZ, and take Russian lessons from this character out of a movie to find out about it. Cool. An yet something tells me that I am the last guy in my circle to know about this and for some reason I can hear Eli's eyes rolling,

Then onto the lesson.
Her: "Mike do you know how to swear in Russian?" (I just knew I was going to like this teacher!)
Me, seizing on the moment: "No!"
Her: "Well we Russians love to curse, I teach you." The two principle ones are transliterated as "Fack" also "b`lyad'! and "Sheyst" also "derr`mo" and now I am armed and dangerous.

The group of interns I have been teaching are for the most part attentive although they would be more so if they didn't have their blasted cell phones. On Friday I followed them to a small cafeteria where I got a cup of tea and sat at a table thinking I could get lost in some thought for a few minutes, only to have a group join me. As is my habit I asked each one if they saw themselves in medicine in 5 years and if they did, what did they think they would be doing? Two of them were going into peds, another was going to be an ultrasound tech, another adult medicine and the last, "Stand up comedy!"

Absent a white coat one isn't taken
seriously

The interns present on Friday,
six out of thirty.

I said that in my country when we hear something as outrageous as this we call "BS" on it. He said what is this "BS"? I said that he knew good and well what it meant. We all laughed although the irony in the moment was thick.

Can I get an "amen"?

I received a care package from one of my homies on my cycling "team", Team Bag Balm, wherein the motto is "I think y'all is crazy!" I do love Payday bars as they are the best bonk proof substance out there and you already know how I feel about peanut butter. When cycling if I feel a major bonk headed my way I indulge in a Mountain Dew, a bottle of water, and a Payday and I'm good. Apparently a couple of riding buddies observed me eating one and I might have had a grin on my face that was termed "post coital". Not even close my brothers. But when they heard Ian was sending a care package they insisted they include these.

When I went to the post office to pick up the package I was confronted with a crowd in a room a quarter of the size of an average class room. I gently hip checked and shoulder butted my way to the front (ain't no lines over here), and found out I needed to fill out some more items on a claim form. This was  done with the help of friendly bystanders who are abundant and very indulging of a "white beard".