Maps!

So almost another week has gone by.  Time flies rather fast on this side of the world.  This week I started teaching a Kindergarden class that has 14 boys and 4 girls.  It hasn't been too bad, because they behave most of the time.  But I am only a sub for that class b/c the teacher is on vacation.  I starting teaching 4 graders in two weeks.  I have to decorate the classroom.  Maybe I'll use some ski posters?  Probably not.  That definitely won't fly.  Also in the news, the Russo-Georgian Conflict is concluding/at an end.  We won't know for a couple days.  But in all honesty, Georgia got pwned!  They attacked South Ossetia and when you attack a bear's cub you should expect to hear from the mother.  One of the reasons why Russia moved into Georgia is b/c they are still mad over Kosovo's independence from Serbia.  Abkhazia and South Ossetia deserve their independence more than Kosovo did.  Anyways back to what I am doing.  I've been running these past two weeks and I've noticed that I've gotten a lot slower.  I think the heat and the humidity have a big effect on how I run.  Or maybe I've just gotten out of shape.  Today after I ran, I used Google Earth to find a pool.  I found an outdoor pool in what looked to be a university campus.  I was right.  So I walked over a klick (that's 1Km) to get there.  And it was indeed a pool and it looked like I didn't have to pay.  So I looked at the sign just to be sure, however, it said that I needed to show my student ID.  Well, I have 2 student IDs.  So I looked around just be sure and then proceeded to walk into that pool.  One lady looked at me as if I was supposed to give her something, so I quickly pretended that I didn't see her.  Then a guy walked by me and I did the same thing.  I jumped into the water and swam a couple laps, it felt great to be in the water again.  After watching Phelps and the rest of 4x100 meter relay I was so psyched up to swim.  Ten minutes after I jumped into the pool I saw some white people!  I get a little bit excited when I see white people outside of work.  Yesterday, when I opened a bank account (in the wrong bank for some reason), I saw some white people and said to them, "Hey, what's going on guys?"  All I got was a "hey."  But the white people who showed up were German and I didn't really want to start a conversation with them, it would've probably started out like this: "Sprachen zie Englische?"  But I did see them show their id cards or something to that lady.  So after I finished swimming, I was toweling off and that women comes up to me and draws a rectangle in front of me with her finger in the air.  I say "Ok" and proceed to take out my 2 student ids (my International Student ID and my St. Olaf one) and she looks at me and I say "alright" and put them away.  I take it that I just made her really confused and I was probably intimidating.  And the whole language barrier worked to my advantage.  See in Taiwan they assume you do not speak the language.  But I should probably find another pool.

Anyway about the map.  Jennifer and I bought a world map on Sunday and then placed it on my wall in my room.  I then underlined every country that I want to go to, and then I started marking out the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Caspian, Trans-Aral, Trans-Mongolian, Turkestan-Siberia, and the North Caucus Railways.  I came to the realization that I could take a train from Vladivostok all the way to London if I wanted to.  Well it wouldn't be direct.  I would have to buy a train ticket in Moscow to Paris and then from Paris to London.  But it is possible.  I have pictures of the apartment now.  I will put them up a little bit later.