Мне нравиться борщ

Saturday May the 12th.

My first Saturday in Russia and I don’t know what to do. I need to buy a notebook for school so aimlessly wandering around the streets hoping to stumble on a book or paper store sounds like a great idea. During my breakfast of some sort of oatmeal, (I think) and bananas, my host mother asked me if I wanted to eat borscht this afternoon. Of course, I said. She told me to be back by 1 and we would eat borscht. Borscht, finally the moment has arrived but until then, aimless wondering.

I knew that my best chance for a notebook would be on one of two streets, улица Кирова или улица Свободы. I glanced at a map in the phone book and off I went. Needless to say I didn’t find the streets I needed, I was lost. When being lost is solved by following the bank of the Volga River home, life could be much worse. Along the way I stumbled upon several ancient churches and even the Kremlin. At a kiosk inside the Kremlin I swallowed my pride and bought a map. I found my mistake, of course, a right at Красная Пл. (Red Square) what was I thinking. I knew I shouldn't have taken that left turn at Советская. A quick look at the watch, 12:30, there's no time for notebooks now.


Double time down the the Volga, I can't be late. I made it back home at 12:50 and the apartment smelled delicous and the bortsch was fantastic.

Speaking of smells, last night at about 10:30 as I sat in my room trying to translate the newspaper, I heard a series of explosions. I looked outside and saw fireworks. I opened my door to ask my host father about the fireworks when I saw some fireworks of my own, the kitchen, on fire. Apparently Mikhail left the stove and had Irina not walked in as the fire started who knows what would have happened.








Инциденты/Incidents

~~I had a lovely encounter with a pay toilet today(really, no sarcasm). 6 Rubles for the cleanest bathroom and some of the friendliest smiles I've encountered all week.

~~I made the mistake of asking my host father to clarify the directions on the phone card I bought. 90 minutes and 3 angry phone calls to telephone companies later, we gave up.

~~My host mother forced me to watch Минут Слабы (Minute of Fame), a sort of Russian American Idol. The three guys that play crystal were good, the guy that snaped his fingers, not so much.