Chocolate Papa

Another really short entry since I need to be up early to go to the railway station tomorrow..

Woke up at 9am, and waited for my host mother to get up for breakfast. I always try to have as many meals with her as I can since I want us to bond, but it seems like breakfast we barely talk and dinners are a bit more conversational. For breakfast, I stuck to pastries--croissants with some sort of sweet cream in it, and a fluffy flaky powdered sugar pastry with jam in it. Had my usual black tea with milk and sugar, and yeah.

Left the apartment to meet the others in front of the Gogol statue on Mal. Koniushennaya and was the first one there so I chatted with Olga until the others joined us, and we were all off to the Alexander Pushkin Museum and Memorial Apartment, which has a beautiful and peaceful courtyard. Professor Firtich joined us and gave a brief intro into Pushkin's life and family and how Firtich's grandfather was a Pushkin scholar and was the first director of the fairly young museum. We had a very long indepth tour around Pushkin's apartment, pointing out every single little thing in the room. My feet started to hurt since we'd walk, stand for a good 15 minutes, then walk a bit again. Meh. But it was a beautiful and interesting apartment at least...

Afterwards, we went to have lunch at Yolki Polki, a traditional and famous Russian restaurant chain. The service was slow and the food came out so staggered, but I had a good lunch: can of Coke (a whole can!), "Shchi" soup (which didn't have cabbage in it, but had sorrel, chicken, carrots, potatoes, etc. and was really good and reminded me of the sour soup my parents make at home :D), a pirochki with mushroom and onion inside, and dessert was a special honey cake that was delicious.

After lunch I went back home, but stopped at a mall next to the Metro station in the hopes of finding some new fall clothes for school. Everything was really expensive though, so I didn't end up getting anything, but I did go to all 5 floors and nearly every store. I even told a sales girl, in understandable Russian, that I didn't understand Russian ha. I did get some funky hair accessories since it's kind of warm here now and I need more hair ties in general what with this long hair of mine now.

I got home and immediately started feeling sleepy, so I took a long nap and kept hitting snooze on my alarm until about 8:30pm and I realized my host mother had left me chicken soup with veggies on the stove. I added the noodles from the Russian ramen bowl I got and had myself dinner in my room with a cup of peach (not breast) juice. At about 10 I left to meet the others at the Beer House which is like 5 minutes away from my apartment, and enjoyed a glass of Pepsi-Cola (came in a nice glass bottle and everything) and chatted. Always a pleasure to be hanging out with these lovely people :) After all of that, Jonathan, Eric, and I went to the supermarket across the street from my building and tried finding snacks. I decided against buying more food since I probably wouldnt be able to finish it and Jonathan found a hilarious tiramisu ice cream bar that was called "Chocolate Papa" and had a picture of Shaq as a chef on the wrapping. So hilarious haha

Well I'm an express train to Moscow in less than 12 hours so it's time for me to sleep.

I'll be in Moscow living in a hostel until about Sunday morning, then I have to run some errands, and then classes start on Monday. Fun stuff to come. But this means I will not be updating or even being near a computer until Sunday afternoon.

Spokojnoj Nochi!