I had my first Russian lesson in a while. My previous teacher Lola left (Artichoke had recommended her to me, amidst choruses of "met her in a bar down in old Soho..."), so now I have Natasha. Like Lola, there's no real glitz or performance, she just teaches me the language and is an affable person along the way. I think if I had a more ego-driven teacher I'd hate it, which makes me feel better about my own functional rather than entertaining classroom presence. But then again, if I want to hear crazy personal stories in Russian I can just prick up my ears on the metro, whereas teachers are the only native English speakers most of the students know, so maybe it's more justified on the English end of things. Speaking of which I have to go teach.