Day 3 ~ Sunday.. shopping and fun!

05. July

Good morning! So, today I slept pretty well, only got up once to go to the bathroom at 5 am. When I finally got to bed it was 12:45 or so, and it was dark. I was told yesterday that it’s usually dark 12-4am. I got up at 10:20 and breakfast at 10:55.

I sleep well at night incase you’re wondering, although my eyes still look really tired, at least I noticed this morning. Haha, oh well. I don’t think that jetlag has really done much to me. I haven’t felt exhausted in the middle of the day. I guess that’s what jetlag is supposed to do.

Olga made omelet with cooked tomatoes and dill for breakfast. She grows dill at her Dacha. I saw her put the egg in a bowl and then added the dill and cooked tomatoes to it. Then, she put it in the microwave! It was really good! After we had strawberries and crème, chocolate covered wafers, and green tea! I can get used to this!

After breakfast I called Masha (Michelle) and Francesca and we’ve planned on going to a Rugby game at the beach and a concert at 2, with Elena, the daughter of Francesca’s host!

Right now Olga is taking Beesha for a walk. I am gathering that she walks him at least twice a day. Beesha very excited and starts jumping around and barking. When Olga comes home he also gets very excited. Usually he is found sitting by the door waiting for her. Beesha really adores Olga, and vice versa.

There are many stray cats here also. I haven’t see as many as I thought I would have though. Outside of the building there is a cat who Olga says is named Moia, or Moira. It’s really cute! When we were walking up the stairs, there was a cat in the stairwell who did not look happy to see us at all.

Other things I have noticed.. safety isn’t a main priority here, at least to some drivers. Strangers don’t usually smile to each other when passing. Women are for the most part dressed very nicely, even when just going out. They wear nice shoes, including high heels. I don’t know how you can do that, the roads are very bumpy, lots of potholes and mud puddles. Certainly I know I will be wearing my sneakers for the most part.

Hm.. today it is cold and cloudy. I sun peaks through here and there. At home when I am around, I have my notebook and I write down a lot of new words that I am learning. Perhaps I will share them with you. Oh yeah, one thing, the cucumbers here are pear shaped not long and round like in America. Apparently that type of cucumber does not grow very well here and thus are very small.

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So, now it is 9:30. For some reason I have been really tired and yawning a lot since I got home. Perhaps jetlag is finally catching up with me. I don’t know.

Anyways. I went around 1:30 with Olga to some place near the Kremlin, a big department store, and met Francesca, Elena, and Masha (Michelle). We decided since it was raining that going to the Rugby game was not a good idea. Instead we took a bus to the other side of the Volkhov river, (the Kremlin is on one side, and we were going on the other side). We went to another department store, called ? . It has four floors and each floor consisted of something different. The first floor has a grocery store, watches, a café, and you could buy appliances such as washing machines, pianos, and digital cameras. The second floor was basically just filled with all kitchen and housewares. The third floor consisted of music, movies, books, cards, journals, and the fourth floor had kid’s toys.

There were all types of movies, and many American movies dubbed in Russian. There were also lots of American music bands and such. It’s so cool to see things that I like in America here in Russian! Basically, in this store you could buy most things. However, there were no clothes here.

Oh yeah, and also, there was a modern art exhibit. We checked that out, and I’ve got pictures of some of the stuff (Insert picture link). There was one really odd display, and I can’t figure out what it did, but it certainly was something different. (Picture link) Lot’s of the paintings were nice, Mom I am sure you would have liked some of them!

Hm, all in all I ended up buying a small children’s story book about Father Frost (Santa), postcards (which I will have to send out soon because it takes a while for them to get to the US and I would hope they arrive before I return), an English Russian Phrasebook, and last but not least, a compilation CD of the best of Coldplay. Coldplay is my favorite band, and I already have all of their CDs, but I was really excited about finding this so I bought it anyways! Haha, I know I didn’t really need it, but oh well, it’s Coldplay. It’s titled, Forever Best! Coldplay. It’s two CDs of 34 songs! I am pretty excited; I have never seen it in the US.
All of this cost 404 Rubles, which is about 14 dollars. The exchange rate for rubles and dollars right now is about 30.2 rubles per dollar. When I went to the bank to exchange my American money, for 200 dollars I received 6,040 rubles. That’s pretty good, although, last summer it was 50 rubles per dollar.

After shopping, I had to find a place to buy more minutes to put on my cell phone. You can put money in an ATM machine and you give it your cell phone number and it puts the money on your phone. One minute is one Ruble, I believe. However, it costs 5 rubles per minute. At least, that’s what I gather from the amount I’ve used it so far.

We came across the Catholic church where the concert was, but we didn't want to pay 30 rubles to go in, instead I went and took a picture of it, and it was so nice and sunny that we decided to enjoy it since it's hardly ever out long enough to enjoy. Of course, later on it got cloudy and cold again!

From here we decided to get something to eat. There is a café right near the store. The four of us went. It was a cute place. Elena knows engligh pretty well so she translated the menu. We decided on tea and sausage rolled in a pastry, like a hotdog in a cresent roll. The pastry part was sweet and doughy. I ordered black tea with pineapple and honey flavor. You couldn’t really distinguish the pineapple or honey flavors, at least I can’t, but it was still good. Since we have a hard time reading menus, Elena helped us with some names of different foods.

Elena informed us that the Blini I had for breakfast yesterday is something you eat during Russian holiday when winter turns to spring. Sort of like our Mardi Gras. Anyways, Blini is a symbol of the sun (if I remember correctly). Blini are thin pancakes and you can put whatever you want with then and eat it in various ways.
We practiced learning some Russian words for various foods, and I was trying to write them too. It’s very difficult for me to write what I hear, some of the letters are so similar it’s hard to tell which ones to use. On that same note, I have difficulty reading, well pronouncing things I read correctly, and often have to hear them over and over, and once more, to remember correctly. Russian I feel is a difficult language to learn to speak properly. I am sure in time this will get a little easier, I hope.

We walked to some more stores, Masha was trying to find a SIM card for her phone, and a phone to use as well. Went to a flower shop, and also the Adidas store, which was expensive I though. On our galavant we saw some interesting looking cars too! We were stopped waiting to cross the street, and this car was turning and it was purple with a joker painting, I went to take a picture of it but missed, well anyways, as we’re crossing the car ended up turning around, but the driver realized that we wanted to take a picture. He was going to turn right, but stopped for a few seconds and smiled so Masha and I could take a picture. Francesca and Elena were laughing at us. Later on another car had a large cat on it, a cheetah or something. I am easily amused.

Instead of having to take the bus home, Elena’s guy friend Michael picked us up at the big department store that we all met at, and drove us each home. I got to see where Masha lives, a few streets away from me, farther out away from the Kremlin. That was super nice though, I don’t feel comfortable navigating the bus system by myself yet . There are multiple buses with different numbers that each go different places in the city, it’s confusing, I don’t want to get lost!

Dinner tonight was again really good. Olga made some type of meat, reminded me of pork chops, when I asked her she just said it was beef, or meat. With it we had potatoes with dill and onion, and salad with egg and dill and onion and a dressing. I really like all the dill that she puts in everything. Olga also opened a bottle of red wine, I had about a small glass and a half.

I am thinking the wine had something to do with making me really tired. Drinking it at home also makes me tired. So after we ate, we watched some TV, and I watched Beesha and Shira play. They are really funny to watch and I was falling asleep.
Eventually we had some tea again. Olga took Beesha for a walk, I read a book, she returned and I decided it was time for me to get ready for bed.

With that, it’s 10:20, and I am ready to just sleep! First day of school tomorrow! I have to get up at 7. School starts at 9.

Goodnight, miss you all!
~ Love, Lexi

PS - Dad, Olga's doesn't go to Church on sundays, There is a catholic church but I doubt I will be able to go to it. I will try at least once.