The first real snow.

So the weekend turned out to be not quite what I had envisioned, but I *did* manage to get a washcloth, and that made it a success so far as I'm concerned. The original plan, if you recall (or if you look down at the earlier posts in this very blog) was to hang out some with Robin on Saturday, then maybe go to the Hermitage and see what all the fuss is about.

As it turned out, Robin was recovering from the party she had on Friday night and was in no shape to go anywhere. So I decided I'd go out and find Sadovaya or Sennaya Ploschad' metro station, and maybe see if I could find a better grocery store somewhere in the neighborhood--one with the big 6L jugs of water. The second I found almost immediately--there's one down on Rimskogo-Korsakova, and the produkti next door has them up on top of the coolers. At about this time, my original plan to find the metro disappeared somewhere, and I just started to wander in the general direction of Nevskii, figuring I'd have McDonald's and stop at Dom Knigi to get a transport map. Sighting on St. Isaac's and mostly staying on nab. Moiki, I headed that way and eventually wound up in the ploschad behind St. Isaac's. It was in this area that I found the gorgeous building down below--the one with the statues. There was McDonald's, and it was so delicious; there was Dom Knigi, and I annoyed the clerk trying to find exact change. (NB: If you don't pay with exact change here, you wind up with a *lot* of change. There are five, two, and one ruble coins, as well as 10 and 50 kopecks. It's a minor quest of mine right now to pay with exact change everywhere I go so I can get rid of all my coinage.)

Heading back, I got a bit lost; as I've mentioned in connection with a photo, there aren't very many street signs here, so it's tricky at the best of times to figure out where you're going. Add to that a few weird intersections and it's a recipe for getting lost. After a little bit of panic, I spotted the bridge on Pisareva that I cross on the way to school and breathed a sigh of relief. Home was not far.

Sunday, it turns out, is the new Saturday. At least, it was for me, on this particular Saturday. After meeting Robin at the Bronze Horseman (really, I need to find a better place to meet people), we headed to Gostiny Dvor metro station. The metro here is fairly inexpensive--you can get an all transport (buses and metro, though not mashrutki) pass for something like 1200 rubles. It's good for 75 trips, but it expires in a month. So far, I haven't used the metro at all--I've just walked everywhere. School is something like 25 minutes away; Nevskii is a bit farther, but still walkable. I agonized a bit--I hated the idea of wasting my money on something that expired--and eventually got five tokens for 100 rubles. A little more expensive, but no expiration date. From there we stopped at a fantastic western-style grocery near Robin's place where I got my washcloth(ish things). Another stop at McD's and a visit to Gostiny Dvor (the department store, not the metro) finished the day.

Monday, to be honest, nothing of particular note happened. I went to class, I came home. The high point was getting rid of two two ruble coins and one one ruble coin buying a can of coke. No kiddin'. Plus, Natasha gave me some cookies with dinner. :D

Today I headed out and noticed that it was snowing. (Say, there's this white stuff falling out of the sky!) No big deal, I thought; not snowing hard. I walked to school, and suffered through an especially dull and frustrating day of classes. (This teacher, Elena, is a bit of a stickler for penmanship. The way I write Russian is fairly legible and, in general, close to what it supposed to be. As a grown man with his very own grey hair, I'm going to get pretty grumpy if you insist on perfect penmanship--especially since I know what my English longhand used to look like.) Classes done, I stepped out and found: OMG, снег! (Not cher, sneg.) It had snowed for real--I'd guess three or four inches at least. And of course traffic had beaten it into a lovely brown slush on and near the roads--but it still at least thought about being pretty. On the way home I passed a couple having a snow-fight (they weren't really making snowballs) and three guys who had rolled up giant snowballs. When I see things like that, it makes me feel more comfortable here--if they like to play in the snow, they can't be all that strange. The same goes for the fact that they seem to love animals--I've seen folks feeding pigeons and ducks, and TV is full of cat food commercials. Plus, there are "zoomagazini" everywhere--pet food/supply stores.

Just had dinner--fried fish, rice, and a bit of sour cream with a dill garnish. Very tasty, like most everything Natasha's cooked for me so far. (Exception: The cheese on bread breakfasts.) She keeps giving me fresh tomatoes on the side, though, and I *hate* fresh tomatoes. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to eat them because 1) I don't want to be rude, and 2) it's like the only vegetables I'm getting over here. Today she gave me more than usual--I wonder if she thinks I really like them because I keep eating them all…

After class today, I went to see… Sveta(?) and changed my group to one that's been going for about a month or so. Hopefully this'll be a little bit better--I've been bored out of my mind in my class. My pronunciation is no doubt weird and needs work, but that can be a project. I need to be doing something more than making noises and learning words I already know.

Now for a little bit of studying and then Dr. House. Might head to the produkti to see if I can break my 1000 ruble bill on something....