back in the USSR

[you don't know how lucky you are...]

well, i would first like to note the changes i made to the blog. since we are, in fact, no longer residents of leverett f-20, nor, save a housing catastrophe, will we ever be in the future, i thought it would be acceptable to make some changes.

anyway, i have now been here in the motherland a full week and some change, and i thought i might provide a few comments on the general efficiency of the country, for the enjoyment of the blog.

• my adventures with uselessness here began almost immediately upon arrival. since i had the rather splendid treat of having my luggage get temporarily misplaced, i had a whole batch of adventures with general incompetence. where to begin??
  - First: they began with some forms. i had to fill out a lot of paperwork. lots of forms. but here's the thing. it was, in the end, only one form. but i had to fill it out a good 3 times, becasue they evidently believe in copy machines or even carbon copy.
  -also to note, though i dutifully informed the lovely lady that i had searched throughout the room to no avail, she need to walk around with me. though i told her my suitcase was RED, she still felt the need to ask if each unclaimed BLACK suitcase was, in fact, my own, and i had simply failed to notice it.
  -then, the waiting room! after filling out paperwork, i had to discuss the issue with another employee. now, this would be totally standard at any airport. but still, it was done with a level of russianness that every comrade would admire. so i waited in line. i was fortunate, i was the third there in our rather large group of flights that came in about the same time. but they, of course, had a single person working. and she accepted one at a time. so i still had to wait a good 45 minute or so before i could actually talk to the person, simply to tell her that i had a red bag, with wheels, etc. they were then kind enough to give me a phone number so i could call them starting the next day to get updates.
  -next adventure involved calling them. seriously, should not be a big deal. i called around 10 am. busy. and again. and again. and agan. calling them on and off for a good 45 minutes. finally i got through. luckly the person spoke english. i gave her my claim number (but evidently she couldn't hear me say one of the numbers, which caused great misunderstanding... it took quite some time to get that straightend out). finally, she tells me to call again at 8 pm. so i do. busy. and at 8:30. busy. 9... 11... busy busy busy. the next morning? also busy. so what good does the freaking number do? though, to their credit, my suitcase did FINALLY arrive on monday night, just before midnight. oy vey.
• then there was the fun nature of getting registered. not a major hassle, but it did involve copious amounts of running around.
• and then, finally, this office! it is fantastic. actually, i quite admire the work they do here. someone is here at the office around the clock, which in itself is quite admirable. the people here clearly believe in the work they are doing, which is great. but what work they do? somewhat limited by their copious amounts of tea drinking and internet surfing. and the best part? over the course of 6 days--all of which i was in the office between 6 and 8 hours-- they have found actually NOTHING for me to do, except to sit in their library and educate myself on human rights issues (a very worthy task, don't get me wrong--but i am not here to read books for myself--harvard is paying me good money to work as in "intern." but i don't jsut read. sometimes i even check my email. today, someone was supposed to be here who would actually be able to find me some work today. well, she was here. a lovely lady, really. but she told me that tomorrow at 11 am she would have time to get me started on something. so, here is day 6 of my internship, with nothing yet accomplished. but i do ever so much like it here.

oh motherland, how i do love thee!