I think my roommates are actually afraid of me. I haven't yet figured them out. They are three little Japanese girls, Yuko, Rieko and Mei. I haven't yet figured out which is which, as they speak no English, so conversations are always limited to my grasp of the Russian language, which, however much it is increasing, still doesn't really make for chill nights talking about the state of the world and literature, or alternately shoes and boys. (Though we have had conversations where I go, in Russian, "I very much like..." and then point desperately at whatever item of clothing it is that mne ochen nravitsa. I apologise if I mispelled that.) They tend to giggle a lot, and have cute Japanese boys over for tea a lot. They're really nice, though, as far as I can tell, though for all I know they might be saying "Oh, how it displeases me to have to live with you, evil Italian trollop" through their giggles, and I would just be smiling and nodding along and pretending like I understand. I think I live with Yuko, though the one I think is called Rieko has occasionally taken phone calls meant for Yuko, so I don't know what's going on. I'm not really sure what Mei's deal is. I think I saw her once at school, with Yuko and Rieko-- they waved and said "Privet, Alexandra!" and I waved back and said "Privet!" and then we all turned around and ended our social interaction for the day. I haven't actually seen Mei in the suite, though, though I think I've heard her giggling from the next room and the couple times I've peered into the other room, only one bed appears to have been slept in. I don't know. It's amazing for my Russian that I can' t communicate otherwise, but the results are very very amusing, and I end up feeling bad for them when they try to inform me of simple things that involve 4 or 5 retellings and a dictionary before I figure out what's going on. I also really hope I don't get Yuko sick, sharing a room with her. I've been hacking and sniffing all night long, but she has somehow, miraculously slept-- or if she didn't, there was no way of saying "shut up and die!" to me.

I think they're leaving in a couple weeks, which is actually kind of sad. It's surreal living with them, but I do like them.