Comfort level?

"What's your comfort level here?" my new friend Iulia from Romania asked me, with a mischievous grin, as if she already knew the answer. Not quite. So I drew it out for her on a cline (pardon me for those of you who don't understand English teacher speak, think of it as a line on a graph). I used my arms, at the top of the cline is where I feel most comfortable, say a dinner with my family. At the bottom, is where I've felt say, the most vulnerable or out of place, like Madagascar. So let's put Moscow below Italy and Budapest, but above anywhere in Africa.

I've come to the conclusion that as much as someone can travel, it's not what I would call "easy" to adjust to every new place you go to. Of course the food is different, the music can be odd, and the people may not randomly smile on the metro. You're likely to get lost, get off at the wrong stop on the metro, or fumble with the money. But all of these things are manageable, in fact they are part of the adventure that make life fun, exhilarating, new.

I think what has made Moscow a little lower on the cline is due to the language. Not only have I never learned Russian (aside from my friend Jamie's crash course before I left), but the alphabet is completely new, and for someone who loves reading roadsigns, menus, etc, this is another speed bump. Talking to my mother about this before leaving, she told me how much she hates not being able to speak the language of the land when overseas. I shrugged it off, figuring I would just learn. And admittedly my Russian has improved exponentially. Each day I seem to double my vocabulary - from one word to two, four, 8.....! So if you want to know my comfort level, it's rising everyday, everytime I have a new verbal interaction with someone: the first time I asked for 2 oranges from my favorite fruit stand lady, or the first time I ordered something from a menu. At least I blend in enough it seems. As usual I'm always the person people ask on the street for directions, or on the metro for which stop to take. Who would have thought, an American that can blend in?