So, today was nothing short of wonderful! For starters, I went to the right class today. Then, I successfully had a conversation with the international student secretary who only speaks Russian, which was a great encouragement, because the first day I got here, I didn’t understand a word she was saying. She understood what I was saying and I understood her, enough so that I got all my classes paid for, we talked about what I need to do to get a multiple entry visa – and the government doesn’t require me to get a shady AIDS test! (they used to make all the students go get one, even though we had to get one in order to get our visa in the USA, and there have been many stories about the unnecessarily large needles and the questionable sanitation. But apparently they changed the policy! yay!) And she helped me and Jessica (the other A&M student) pick our top elective choices and gave us her thoughts and recommendations. It was great!

Then, around 2pm, we opened the curtains to find the sun shining blindingly bright! It was the first time the sun has really been out since I’ve been here!

Then, Jessica and I went to the city center, and met our new Thai friends. We decided to visit Pskov this weekend – it’s a really old city close to Estonia. We bought train tickets and leave tomorrow evening! Oh, so at the train station, our friend Prang ordered them for us all, but apparently Pskov sounds like Moskva when you have a Thai accent while speaking Russian, so we ended up with tickets to Moscow instead of Pskov at first, and had to go back at change them. Luckily the lady was really nice, she even smiled (which made my day; even though she was laughing AT us, it was ok, because everyone needs a smile and I don’t see many smiles here that have to do with random people AND especially not with people that work in or near the metro or train stations).

Then, for dinner we ate blini – Russian pancakes – it’s pretty much the Russian equivalent of a crepe. It was delicious. And cheap! Like, less than 50 cents. You can get it filled with many things. I had one with cheese, of course. And another with mashed potatoes and green onions. Jessica had ham, cheese, and bacon and another with honey.

Then, this is the best part of the whole day I think… our Thai friends showed us this AMAZING supermarket. It was HUGE – I would say a mixture of SAMS and HEB. They had aisles and aisles of cheeses and sliced fresh meats, and some weren’t even questionable! haha. seriously though, it was wonderful. And we didn’t see any, but we heard you can find stuff to make tacos there! (which was the number one thing on our “foods we miss” list). Beautiful. And I found a hair dryer for less than $15. Now, not only can I dry my hair, we have a warm-up-your-clothes-in-the-morning-if-it’s-freezing system! Beautiful! That’s all I can say. It was a beautiful day!

Oh, except for the fact that it’s like 5-10 degrees F. But I think we’ve learned how to convince ourselves that it’s never colder than 25 F and that we’re just being wimps, and somehow it does seem to work. You do seem to get warmer after 10 minutes of walking. We also have an ongoing animal count… so far the only living animals we’ve seen are birds and dogs.

P.S. dogs ARE allowed in the metro and sometimes they apparently come in and go down the escalators themselves cuz they’re just hanging out down there. I’d be down there too – it’s like a thousand times warmer!

Here’s some pictures:

this is Russia for sure

Jessica, Vishy, me, Prang

Church of the Spilled Blood

Sunset!

this is my Russian face. you gotta have one. everybody’s doin it.

(posted from laureninrussia.blogspot.com)

5 comments:

Laura Rosas said…

It sounds like you guys are having a blast! Tell Jessica that I’m glad she is eating…sounds like those pancakes are a lifesaver! And…its so cool that you guys can get stuff for tacos, I was trying to think of ways I could mail yall beans and cheese and tortillas, but I’m glad you got some supplies there. Keep having fun and keep warm and safe!

February 4, 2009 11:52 AM 

Anonymous said…

Lauren-I love reading your blog. You are a wonderful writer. You are in my prayers! May He be with you! Kay Kay

February 4, 2009 6:04 PM 

Tati Orange said…

divinaaaaaaaaaa!

February 6, 2009 9:03 AM 

Anonymous said…

I really enjoy your russian face, thank you for keeping a blog so I can know what you are doing!!!! 🙂 – Jennifer McCatharn

February 6, 2009 1:57 PM 

Anonymous said…

hahahaha your Russian face!

-amanda

February 8, 2009 12:05 PM