The next morning we met the landlord at the apartment with the two real estate agents, and of course, Yulia. After signing a very reasonable contract, we were told Vasili, the landlord's driver (this dude must be loaded!) would be our super, as in, we do all bitching and moaning directly at him.
We paid all the fees and rents and then headed downtown to get our fist peak of the bustling area of Samara. On the tram, we saw the only strip of road that would look anything close to new and modern in the states. It was kind of like a colorful main street with higher-end shops. Sadly, most buildings in Samara are dull in color while others are truly dilapidated. All around us were signs of a past, but few of the future. Even though Samara is growing in leaps and bounds economically, transition takes time, I suppose.
Our first stop was a traktir restaurant that I believe may have been mentioned on Jeremy's blog recently. Just for those too busy to check out both our blogs, it's a traditional Russian restaurant with a menu full of all foods Russian. We first got the salad bar, which, of course from all the salad bars we've seen outside of the states, is nothing like you would imagine. It was actually a salad bar of salads with many types of slaw and potato , but a few fishy ones we stayed clear of. We ordered Shchi for our main meal. It's a cabbage and dill soup teaming with vegetables which I have a feeling Nicole would really enjoy. Maybe I'll make it the next time I'm in Madison...Anyway, the soup came with buckwheat pancakes, but they, again, are not what you would imagine. They are much flatter, and disappointingly just plain funky. I don't know what it is about the buckwheat here, but it's a little weird. Instead of being like any other grain (tasteless) an aftertaste appears that's just not right to my taste buds. I'm rambling...We also got dumplings we didn't have room in our bellies to eat, so we brought them home for dinner. Lastly, we had the dessert bar which was obviously full of sweets. Most countries seem to get that right although sweet azuki beans in Japan took some getting used to!
Afterwards we visited the English Language Center and met two of the employees. One was Yuri who was interested in giving us a little walking tour of the downtown. So we walked a bit downtown, had some money exchanged and got a first grand view of the Volga. From the beach, you can see the Zhiguli Mountains which are like a large wall straight across the horizon. We learned Yuri had been in the FLEX program a few years ago. If you've ever been to a typical summer vacation spot, you've probably been served by a FLEX student. They're mostly form the Eastern Block countries and Russia. We even met one at Wisconsin's Devil's Lake this summer. Yuri said he worked at the McDonald's in Virginia Beach. He thought it was incredible that the average worker there makes 7 bucks an hour. At the one in Samara, they make about 30 cents! But the prices for things here are somewhat comparable to those in the states. I swear, I don't know how anyone can survive here
To end this blog, I'll leave you with a view from a bedroom. I love how the sky eats up half the view! You can see the Zhiguli Mountains from our place too, but can you spot the Volga?
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