Bursting pipes and exploding minds

So there's boiling water seething near the dumpsters in our parking lot. This means that there is only a small trickle of boiling hot water in our apartment right now. No one is hurt, unless you put your hand in the gurgling pool of water…

The boiler burst in Sasha and Zhanna's apartment, so they have NO hot water (although the city heating is still flowing through the radiators). No one was hurt there either, but it's difficult to repair when there's scalding water spraying all over.

We're now in that COLD part of the winter where most days are colder than not (hanging out around 0 degrees most days) and pipes are starting to burst from the temperature extremes. It's a pretty big problem to not have heat or water, and really helps me to realize how good we have it in America, that most of us absolutely take that for granted.

So the exploding mind part of the story. Basically, I've been overloaded with too many new words and new concepts to learn in Russian. And I think like most folks on the field, I've taken up too many responsibilities and I don't have time for my Russian homework appropriately. I can't believe how many mistakes I'm still making (although in basic communication I'm doing fine). So I'm just trying to remember that the resting mind can also process information and learn. Phew.