the tip of the tongue taking a trip

clearly i should have become a fluent russky before coming here. i spent a large part of the day on a bus with belorusians and ukrainians. i had lunch at a table of moldovans and a chinese girl who was so fluent that i didn't even dare to pretend to speak or quote hedgehog in the fog. if i were daniel tammet, this would be under control by now. also, i have been trying to pick up some phrases in shanghainese at work. but it is really really hard. i can barely count to six.