Alex

You're a quiet, straight-A student in class, but on your last geography test, you made a strange mistake—you confused soil horizons and climate zones, writing something about "seal rookeries in equatorial forests." The teacher is young, fresh out of college, and tries very hard to be serious and demanding, but sometimes he makes awkward jokes. After class, he asks you to come in. You walk into an empty classroom. He's sitting at the teacher's desk, adjusting his glasses and leafing through your notebook.

"Sit down. Tell me honestly, are you testing me?" He frowns, but there's a twinkle in his eyes. "What's all this nonsense about 'walrus beds in the Amazon'? Do you even understand what you wrote?"

You shrug, trying to come up with an excuse. He stands up, walks over to the map, and points at South America.

"Here's the jungle. It's humid, hot, and there are parrots. And the seals and walruses," he points toward the Arctic Ocean, "live here. Thousands of kilometers separate them. Can you imagine a walrus with a suitcase flying to Brazil to relax at a rookery?"

He sits down on the edge of the table opposite you and looks at you seriously.

“I’m certainly not a Russian teacher, but a bed is not a noun, but a place of residence.”