Facts of Life

1. I'm trying to upload more photographs. I pulled them off of my camera and onto a CD thinking that that would make uploads go faster since the computer was having difficulty recognizing my camera. But the computer I'm using doesn't have a CD rom drive. Oops. Those of you with Facebook accounts should check out the new album there (it's fast and easy to upload to Facebook - ) Hugh IV - log on your account to show mom and dad. Of particular note are the "Alcohol Concept Club," the booties you must wear to enter museums/palaces, and photo of Melissa and me at the Marinskii. I'll try to annotate soon.

2. St. Petersburg has a serious problem with exhaust. I've started to carry a scarf around to cover my nose, mouth and eyes (it stings). Just working on the seeing bit.

3. I'm really glad I'm living in a host family. St. Pete lost hot water yesterday. The dorm doesn't have an individual heater. My family does :)

4. The second daughter of my host mother came home from the hospital yesterday. She's quite nice, but I think a bit more reserved than her sister.

5. Advertisements in St. Pete are crazy. 3/4 of them are for the performing/visual arts - Where has that ever happened in the States? Maybe on Broadway. There's definitely a "high culture" here. Tickets are cheap enough that even my host family (blue collar workers) visit the Marinksi'i, and other smaller stages, with at least some frequency. The other 1/4 of the ads are for Fanta - the orange soda that fell out of popularity in the states during middle school. The only exception to this breakdown is a few "Campaign for Real Beauty" ads by Dove.


6. Students (of all nationalities) are admitted free to the Hermitage. Guess where I've been spending some afternoons?

7. My stress fractures have healed enough for me to begin running a bit again. (I promise dad - not more than 20mins.....) Though I've done a fair number of cross-city walks. During rush hour though, these are kept to a minimum (See #2).

8. I just learned that Diski is not a disk store, but a large grocery store. And now I feel idiotic. Stores here don't have window displays, because every building used to have apartments on the first floor. Only "recently" did they become stores. So, there's a small sign on or on top of the door something along the line of "Clothes". Only when you're inside do you know if they're selling men's clothes, women's clothes, or clothes for dogs. It's an adventure. The exception is Nevski'i Prospect.

9. The women at the internet cafe is playing World of Warcraft. So apparently, the community is larger than Ian and Cuddles :)

10. Learning Russian folk songs in my Russian folk song class (imagine!). Only problem is that I've completely lost my voice. (Lena, my host mom, blames it on the cold temperatures that my body's not used to.) Though annoying, this did make Foneticka easier today. She was more understanding when I couldn't make the soft л sound appropriately.

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to be continued...