Yay, I am no longer officially male.

Of course, the Russian bureaucratic saga continues. My visa was only good until the end of 2007, so I spent most of the month of December trying to convince the secretary at the International Student's office that yes, indeed the four photos I was trying to give her were printed on matte and not glossy paper. I finally ended up getting another round of photos from the little photo-printing store across the street from the university, making sure the clerk understood the difference between matte and glossy. I marched back into the office and, of coure, she said they wouldn't work. If I was a real Russian, I would have accepted this, but my American bargaining skills won out and I began to beg and plead with her. Her main objections was that the ink from the official stamp would smear because the paper was too slippery and shiny. Finally, I convinced her to try stamping an extra pictures to see if it would work. She stamped, gave it about 10 seconds to dry, and then licked her finger and tried to smear the ink. She was determined to prove this all-too-persistent American girl wrong. Well, God must have dried that ink extra fast, because it didn't smear one bit. Small victories, I tell ya.

December 30th, I armed myself with Pride & Prejudice and settled down for a bus ride across town to pick up my new visa. Amazingly, it was ready, and I distinctly remember thinking, on my way back home, "That was way too easy ... something must be wrong." Then, I got shut in the door of a marshrutka (a little bus) while waiting for change and forgot all about it, as I was occupied with wondering whether my arm would ever be the same. A few days later, I happened to have my passport out and glanced at the new visa. My first thought was, "does that seriously say I'm a man?" And yes, it definitely says man instead of woman. My second thought was, "what happens if I get stopped and some policeman sees this? This could get awkward very fast."

About a week ago, I went back into the office to notify them about this little tiny mistake. To her credit, the secretary was very embarrassed and promised to call the police office that very day. Fortunately she had my new registration papers (I was afraid I would be visa-less and hiding in my room at the dorms for a few days). On Friday, I was back to the office again to pick up the corrected document.

My secretary friend unlocks the safe, pulls out my documents, and hands over the visa. It definitely still says 'man'. I shoot her a quizzical look and she says, "Turn it over." On the back, written in blue ball point pen, it says "Correction. She is a woman, not a man. Signed - some unintelligible Russian signature."

What can I say, life is great. In other news, a 15 year old, piano-playing, Seventh Day Adventist Korean girl (who speaks zero Russian but a little English) has moved in down the hall from me. She and I have really hit it off. Last night, we had a team meeting and I was super tired and very excited to head back the dorms and hit the sack (a rare occurance). I made it back to the dorms before 10 pm and was just hanging up my laundry when someone knocked on my door. It was her and she spent the next two and a half hours sitting on my bed telling me about everything under the sun. She is very surprised I can happily coexist with my two Chinese roommates. She thinks Chinese people "stink" and are "mean".

This morning, she was back, explaining she didn't know how to get to class (a three minute walk from our dorms through various gravel-asphalt patches, a construction site, and rickety staircase up the side of a hill). We walked together, found her classroom, and learned some necessary phrases on the way: "I don't understand. I don't speak Russian. Please help me." I think we shall be friends.

Tomorrow is Deanna's 7th birthday (she's in the process of being adopted by the Eshelmans, missionaries I work with). It's an American-Indian themed party and I've heard rumour of a bison hunt (bison played by Cecil, her dad). I will, of course, try to get pictures. As far as I know, there are no rules about interns posting ridiculous pictures of their missionaries dressed as ferocious beasts of the plains on the www. We'll see what I can get away with, haha.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men!