If I'm brutally honest, and sometimes I am, I'll have to admit that I am an extremely lazy person. I'm not sure if I'm actually any lazier than other people, but I think I am. I enjoy doing nothing productive. I should be studying Russian, I should be preparing more lessons in advance;I should be reviewing English concepts so I can remember specifically the proper names for things, instead of just going "Dammit, it's the conditional where it's not realistically going to happen, or impossible, i.e. hypothetical" (2nd Conditional for all you wondering). I should be keeping this blog updated, I should be preparing for FSOT...blah, blah blah.
Probably most damningly, I should be exercising...but dammit I hate running. If I'm lucky, I force myself to do something or at least a good number of pushups/sit ups, but it's nothing like I used to do. I can't really even complain about being too busy right now...I also hate waking up and cooking and etc. It's not really a good sign for me that my last two blog posts are basically on the them of laziness, and I'm sure anyone reading this is probably bored to death by my self loathing ("Get up and do something about it, you whiner!"--I hear you...but...Meh?)
So, how about something actually Kazakhstan related? Let's talk about how I stay functioning on those days where (for some reason that I don't really understand) I can't sleep the night before and I have several classes or I need to stay awake until the next sleep period so I don't screw myself up even more?
Easy right? Coffee? Except I have yet to find any decent, non-freeze dried coffee here that isn't prepackaged from Nescafe with tons of sugar and creamer or doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. Tea isn't strong enough--or is it?
Allow me to introduce the marvelous(...) Russian invention: Chifir. A popular drink among convicts and gulag inmates--all you need is a crap ton of black tea and time. As far as Victor and I can figure out, since there's many different recipes online--you want about eight teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per serving. Boil that sucker for about 15 minutes, till the leaves (or in my case because you don't got actual leaves, just these little pellet deals) drop to the bottom.
Then you drink it.
Chifir is bitter and hard to drink, but if you do it right (or at least somewhat right) you'll get some serious caffeine.
You'll also get a stomach ache and the need to use the toilet in ASAP. But the caffeine rush you get lasts a lot longer then what you get with coffee and I sometimes need it...
And of course I'm going to put this video here.
Probably most damningly, I should be exercising...but dammit I hate running. If I'm lucky, I force myself to do something or at least a good number of pushups/sit ups, but it's nothing like I used to do. I can't really even complain about being too busy right now...I also hate waking up and cooking and etc. It's not really a good sign for me that my last two blog posts are basically on the them of laziness, and I'm sure anyone reading this is probably bored to death by my self loathing ("Get up and do something about it, you whiner!"--I hear you...but...Meh?)
So, how about something actually Kazakhstan related? Let's talk about how I stay functioning on those days where (for some reason that I don't really understand) I can't sleep the night before and I have several classes or I need to stay awake until the next sleep period so I don't screw myself up even more?
Easy right? Coffee? Except I have yet to find any decent, non-freeze dried coffee here that isn't prepackaged from Nescafe with tons of sugar and creamer or doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. Tea isn't strong enough--or is it?
Allow me to introduce the marvelous(...) Russian invention: Chifir. A popular drink among convicts and gulag inmates--all you need is a crap ton of black tea and time. As far as Victor and I can figure out, since there's many different recipes online--you want about eight teaspoons of loose-leaf tea per serving. Boil that sucker for about 15 minutes, till the leaves (or in my case because you don't got actual leaves, just these little pellet deals) drop to the bottom.
Then you drink it.
Chifir is bitter and hard to drink, but if you do it right (or at least somewhat right) you'll get some serious caffeine.
You'll also get a stomach ache and the need to use the toilet in ASAP. But the caffeine rush you get lasts a lot longer then what you get with coffee and I sometimes need it...
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