Happy Labor Day weekend, America! I would love to be at a backyard barbecue right now, but Russia doesn't celebrate Labor Day (they have May Day, of course, but that holiday is inseparable from communism). Actually, while America has a day off tomorrow, we are actually starting our new academic year on Monday. So, put another way, we're laboring on Labor Day.

Puns aside, I'm excited to begin teaching again; that's what I here for, after all. I'll be teaching two levels this year--ZII and AII. I taught exclusively ZII last year, and it's the second-lowest level we have, so the grammar is very, very simple. AII should be more interesting. It's still a pretty low level, but the syllabus includes conditionals, passive voice, and past perfect, so at least my students will be able to talk about more exciting things than their daily routine and what the ate for lunch yesterday. Tomorrow and Tuesday we are meeting our students, which means that we're going to put on a skit for them and then learn who's in our classes. It should be fun.