First day at work.

I feel a bit clumsy with new forms, data entry and running credit cards through the machines.

Lots of slow times means lots of reading. I finished The Dream Life of Shukanof by Olga Grushin. Though I had no problem interpreting the meaning of the themes, I still can't decide if the hero dies in the end. It is not very clear, or I don't get it.

I am now starting a biography of Upton Sinclair.

Today's lecture I missed was Lilia Shevtsova, senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

Tomorrow will be Clifford G. Gaddy, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Russian Economy Expert.

As you can tell, this week's theme is Russia.