Russian SMS

We text message a whole lot in this country because phone calls on cell phones are very expensive (about 20 cents/min). I have become decent at texting, although I'm not to the master level of some of my fellow volunteers, claiming that they can easily text while their hand is still in their pocket - this is actually a useful skill when the temperature outside is around -17 C (0-ish F). This week, I hit a highlight in my cultural acclamation: I sent a series of text messages coordinating a grocery shopping trip with my host mother - in Russian. My phone knows more Russian than I do, and therefore helped a little with the spelling, but she understood me, I understood her, and we bought food. It was a momentous occasion.