Western (kosher-keeping) Man vs. Russia

If you're not familiar with Bear Grylls, the star of Man vs. Wild, a show on the Discovery channel (I think on friday nights) you should be. It's an amazing show, teaching you all kinds of survival techniques. I've had to use a share of my own today in my last day before classes. Of course, I'm exaggerating, but when my Babushka served me a plate of perch she'd fried that still had most of the scales on it, and was only half cooked, I thought to myself if Bear could do it (see the video of him eating raw fish) then I should be able to. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, seeing as how I know i've butchered half the words I say to her in Russian, and I'm sure i've already offended her somehow. I ended up asking her to cook it just a little more for me. I've been eating fine otherwise and I'm really happy that I packed all eight of those Clif bars and the peanut butter.

At around 9 tonight, to my surprise I looked out the window and the sky was blue. I was so excited that I went outside for a little walk and took a couple pictures.

Some of you have asked me what my general impressions are of this city, and I think it's going to take some getting used to. I knew Moscow would be gritty from movies, books, etc, but I just thought St. Petersburg would be similar to some of the pristine European cities I've visited before. I was wrong. I would say it's quite the opposite (outside the heaviliy touristed parts). Much of the city is under construction of some kind and almost every single sidewalk is filled with huge ditches either roped off or half filled with gravel. The soviet-style administrative buildings are still everywhere, but interspersed between some very pretty architecture.


I also went for what was supposed to have been a 40 minute run but turned in to an hour when i made a wrong turn. Luckily I had a map with me. Besides the dumbfounded looks I got from almost everyone I passed today, the worst part was a little pipsqueak dog lunged at my leg. I'm pretty good about watching out for larger ones but now I'll be more careful next time.

One thing that's made me very happy is the host family has a dog named Keri. I'll try to get a better picture sometime but she was not cooperating. I learned the word for Daisy is Margaritka :-(.