"Let's Yota!"

....I woke up at 1:15 pm.
What time was I supposed to meet the others?
Oh right, 1 pm.
So what woke me up?
People calling me asking if I was coming.
I am fail.
So sorry, you guys :(

Anyway, after flying out of my apt, 3 minutes to lock my doors, and
running down Vosstania, I met with the others finally -_-.
We walked down to Loft Project ETAGI (Лофт Проект ЭТАЖИ) for a Fashion
Week type of event, with a bunch of Russian designers selling their
things for cheap--so there was a melange of jewelry, shoes, clothes,
and even books. It reminded me a lot of Potpourri at Vassar, and the
jewelry looked pretty nice and reminded me of Etsy lol. The place was
like a huge warehouse with some construction going on and these stands
were just set up one next to the other and it felt like such a
hideaway hip bohemian place to be. Not high fashion, but definitely
like stylish people were just hanging around. I didn't buy anything,
though, since I'm trying to save some roubles and nothing really stood
out for me. Also helps that I can't ask "How much?" and even if I did,
I wouldn't recognize the numbers haha. Best temptation blocker ever.

Anyway after walking around a bit and gawking at all the pretty stuff,
we went up one level to The Green Cafe which is this really nice chill
inexpensive cafe. The food took a bit too long to come out and certain
things didn't make sense like how 3 out of 5 teas came out one after
the other, but not 2 of them even though one was just another order of
something that was brought...maybe it's because we looked, sounded,
and are Americans. Who knows. Anya and a guy named Sergei came to have
lunch with us and the others got practice speaking and maintaining
Russian conversation with them, but to my relief, I found out that
Sergei understood and spoke a bit of English as well because I was
sitting there awkwardly quiet. I was listening to their conversation
in terms of intonation and maybe common sounds/words and even though I
can't actively remember anything, a lot of it is being stored, just
like how I get lost around my house but I'm learning through
remembering landmarks that I've encountered even when I'm lost. It's a
bit confusing still because there will be areas that I get lost in and
I remember it later on, thinking that I'm going in the right
direction, but today I realized my instinct is growing stronger, so
that's a good sign. But back to lunch--I was starving since I ran out
of my apt without having any breakfast (but I saw that my host mother
left out some bread and milk for me, but I had no time), and I got
pelmeni, which are essentially Russian meat dumplings. I had three
huge ones filled with minced pork and bits of onion and it was soooo
good and delicious my stomach is growling just thinking about them. I
also ordered a strawberry milkshake, which the waitress forgot to
bring so she had to make it for me near the end of lunch, which was
fine since people were still eating and all and we had dessert as
well. It was fried dough--but it was like light pieces of dough so it
was really crispy and light, covered in powdered sugar. Forgot what
it's called but it was good as well :) The yummy strawberry milkshake
went well with it. It was more strawberry milk than a thick American
milkshake with ice cream, which I'm kind of glad about since I
wouldn't have been able to finish if it had been thick.

After lunch we went on the Metro to Nevsky to go to the gorgeous
building right across the street which happens to be a huge beautiful
bookstore. It's a bit claustrophobic, but none more so than Strand
Bookstore, but more so than Barnes and Noble. It was like a big
beautiful Russian Barnes and Noble with tile floors and high ceilings
and chandeliers in the staircase. The building itself is gorgeous as
well from the outside and it's always the first thing I notice when I
get out of the metro. I bought a small pocket dictionary but it's
British English so it has...interesting words in it. "Crankshaft"?
Really? I might need to get an English to English dictionary.

Well after the bookstore fun, we split into two groups, with one group
deciding to wander around Nevsky, while I wanted to go back home for
dinner and also shopping at the supermarket for non tea items.
But yeah, dinner. After I got lost because I took a left turn and
thought maybe I turned too early, walked down three streets and
realized I was right the first time but I should've gone right instead
of left...Streets and numbers in Saint Petersburg are weird--odds and
evens are interchangeable on buildings and not always in chronological
order. Also, street signs are small plaques on buildings not at the
corner, but down the block maybe on the second or third building
sometimes, and sometimes they're on one side but not the other, and
there is no alphabetical order for street names, and there are block
numbers which are out of order and had to do with the planning history
of building the city and planned, but failed to be built, canals.
Also, there are weirdly shaped blocks. Not as crazy as lower lower
Manhattan but definitely nowhere near the grid part of Manhattan or
even Midtown. But yeah, I finally got home at like...6....haha. Dinner
was at like 6:30 and my host mother made rice, pork, and left out
cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles. She also made me clear
broth with pepper, which was absolutely delicious and made me remember
home, and the pork was cooked really well and not too fatty. I was
iffy about the rice because it was kind of wet and meh looking since
she made it in boiling water on the stove, but it tasted pretty good
actually and not too mushy. I'm also a huge fan of pickles haha.
Afterwards I had tea with milk and sugar. I am fond of both kinds of
tea in my house--they're a pretty good "Ceylon Black Tea" and "Jasmine
Green Tea." Especially the jasmine, since it's like my favorite smell
of all time I've realized. +milk+sugar makes me happy :D

After that I set up my Yota, and now I am happily typing all of this
on my laptop rather than my host mother's computer. I felt bad using
it knowing it's like, her work and personal space and all I use it for
is for facebook, gmail, and this blog haha. Yota! So far no problems,
which is good but it's so slow loading youtube clips and downloading
files :( Also google automatically reverted to Russian but I changed
it quickly enough haha. I've also been getting more pop up ads about
Russian things and it's annoying, but I LOVE USING MY LAPTOP :D

I also went to the across the street from my apartment and it's huuge. Very brightly lit and filled with many items. I had fun walking around looking at labels, trying to read. I had the wrong idea about how to spell "without gas" in Russian so I had to text Olga to send me what it would say on the label and then bought a bottle of (still) water, a bottle of Pepsi (easy to spot, and not too expensive haha), a thing of peach juice (hopefully it's good--the company's name is, after all, "Da!"), and a ramen bowl. Just one, just to see if it's worth it >_> Russian ramen. Gonna be interesting. Hopefully not "my stomach will never forgive me" interesting. At the register I was able to pay without trouble AND I had my first successful Russian response (good timing, no hesitation, natural!). Translated, it was:

Girl at register: Bag?

Me: (shakes head) No.

:D Tomorrow will be another fun filled day: going to the University!