Last post before we move!
That's right, folks! In under a week, we'll be moving to our new apartment. We're excited, but a little sad since it will mean saying goodbye to our friends Dan and Nancy who are living there now. It will be nice to have our own place for B to turn into a home, though. We did finally get our hot water back last week, so the guest apartment hasn't been nearly so tough for a while.
Anyway, we've been quite busy lately. Though our language teacer is gone, we're still doing our independent study. Not having to go to the office every day for class has opened up some time for other culture study events. B has done her regular adventures with her language helper, traipsing around the city in an attempt to begin to understand the Russian culture. I've gotten a chance to do a bit of wandering myself, doing things like sitting in the train station taking notes on what we see to ask about later. Quite interesting.
Oh, and thanks to all of you who have been thinking about my need for a language helper. I was able to finally find someone who had the time and desire to help me learn about the language and culture here. His name is Andrey, and we meet 4 days a week now for 2 hours to chat, do some language drills, etc. I'm sure I'll be posting a lot about what we get up to in the future.
Anyway, on to the pics:
Actually, we have a lot better pictures of Steven, but I just think this one is funny. Do not mess with Sensei Steven - his whole body is a weapon. 3 points for whoever knows where that comes from, and a bonus point if you know who said it.
Last weekend we had some of our Russian friends over, Denis, Iulia, and B's language helper Dina. We had a great time with them (although our conversation was a little limited :) ). B made them some American-style food, which they seemed to enjoy. Their favorite was barbeque chicken, which B managed to make with some BBQ sauce from the Swedish grocery store in town.
B took a trip downtown to one of the many beautiful Orthodox churches, so here's a shot of that. Quite a pretty place, actually.
Today we had a jaunt out to the market and after that, the big mall where we can get some more Westerny-style goods. Baby formula is cheaper there, so we always get it in bulk. Here, though, we enjoy the rinok goods, which are a lot cheaper and fresher than we get in the supermarket. I love the colors, and it reminds me of the Saturday market on America St. in Bolivia where I grew up.
This store is like the Mega-Walmart from your nightmares. First time I've been there, and I don't think I've ever seen so many people "enjoying" the fruits of capitalism at one time. I think I'll avoid this place like the plague in the future.
OK, so on to the What Is It?™ for the week. Last week's question has, well, no real correct answer, since no one really knows what those things are really for. However, I do think that they were originally for wheelchairs, so Marie Bobbie, and Anne were all right, according to my theory. The problem is that I've never seen anyone with a wheelchair use one. In fact, I've never seen a disabled person in public here. Either the healthcare system is so good that noone ever gets disabled (which I would guess is quite unlikely), or they're just unable to get out much. Anyway, the problem is that they only fit one certain exact size of wheels, so I'm guessing that when things were more regulated here, they were required to only have one size of wheelchairs. They might also accomodate some strollers, but I've never seen anyone able to fit their strollers in the rails either. We can't fit either of our strollers into them (one is too wide, the other too narrow), so I can't say that that's what it's for either. B did see one daring bike rider use one, so maybe I should give the point to Joy and Lydia.
This week's photo shows something from the platform where you catch the metro. These metal boxes are there just waiting for you to use them for something, if only you can figure out what it is!
