Saturday, Sunday, Samara

On our first Friday, we ventured around the neighborhood by ourselves. We went to a market with different rooms selling different things, of course and to a supermarket in the basement, but it was rather disappointing. There was, however, an electronics store full of kitchen supplies we will undoubtedly need. We then tried a supermarket closer to our place and found it full of basics for meal prep. Still, some odds and ends eluded me. I couldn't help but think of Korea. It took us a couple weeks to find the local supermarkets and a few months to find the foreign food markets! At least things are a bit easier here in some respects.

Sorry, I'm looking at my notes and I think this will be a four day post. Turns out the above was really Thursday, like you care!

Anyway, on Friday we met the landlady. She has fire red hair, which is obviously dyed and she loves pink! I thought it would be a good time to give her some souvenirs from the states since we had finally unpacked. She was super thankful and told us we should come to her dacha in the spring! They say in our Russian culture book that if you are ever given the opportunity to go to a dacha, take it! What's a dacha Jenevieve? It's a little house outside "the city" where you can grow some food, enjoy nature and take a rest. Many people have one. Yuri says the range in size is quite broad considering how big your wallet is.

Friday was also the day for our first communication "failure". A man was suppose to arrive that morning, hence the landlady's visit, but like we have come to learn in Russia, things may not turn out the way you planned. The man had to come and measure the place for some legal reason, although it didn't seem to apply to us. We said we would stay around the place until he got here. Eventually he showed up sometime in the afternoon. Try as we might to welcome him in, he wouldn't leave the stairwell area. We asked for his telephone number so Yulia could call him, but he just kept repeating things in Russia we obviously couldn't understand. We tried to gesture to him to come in, but that didn't work. In one word, he was completely unwilling. Once I realized this, I waited with Jeremy until the man saw it was a hopeless cause and left. I called Yulia afterwards so she could call Boris, our landlord, and explain to him the situation, so that he could take care of it. This is one lesson I learned quickly in Korea. At times, as much as I tried to be understood, some people were unwilling, even when I was speaking Korean! That's when I realized I don't need to take it personally or think I've actually failed. I did what I could; I can't change another person's stubbornness.

On Saturday, I made my first Russian meal- Pelmyeni (Siberian meat dumplings). I bet Kate (S) is salivating right now! I sauteed some garlic and onion before adding the dumplings. We topped it off with a bit of sour cream and were instantly sent to heaven! After lunch, me met Yuri so we could get a cell phone which was a very simple process- Thanks, Yuri! Afterwards, the three of us headed out to see other parts of the city. First we went to the largest bookstore in Samara. You have to go up a crummy stairwell to get there, something else I didn't expect, but I am getting used to. I thought they'd have some nice cafe connected to it like in the States- what was I thinking (Coffee?!) Anyway, it was definitely big. They even had an English section. There weren't any current bestseller's but plenty of classics and even some Russian works translated, of course. I was very happy to see them since one of our culture books had a list of must reads in Russian Lit and they practically had them all. We also picked up an extra map of Samara, but in Russia, unfortunately. Next, we walked along the streets to see the railroad station- a bizarre glass domed "Metropolis"-like structure situated between some older European buildings. Sorry I forgot my camera! The day had become quite chilly, so after more walking, I pointed out an Italian restaurant that looked nice inside. I was really eyeing the cappuccino sign! Once inside, we could tell it was a place for New Russians (the ones with money). The eatery ended up being more Middle Eastern than Italian, but we didn't mind kebabs in the least. It took an extraordinarily long time to get our food, but the waitstaff was pretty nice. The coffee maker wasn't even working, so I had to get Nescafe with milk. :( Anyway, we had great conversations. When Yuri found out I liked jazz, his jaw dropped. Turns out he's a huge jazz fan and that there was going to be a jazz concert that Thursday. So he said he would try and get us tickets. Maybe it's possible...

On Sunday, Jeremy and I braved the cold (it was in the 40's!) to find a super supermarket Yuri had circled on our map. The long walk there warmed us up, luckily. Hmm.. it seems that's all I wrote about Sunday. Guess it was a dull day spent inside. Anyway, that place had everything we were looking for- herbs and cheese we had heard of, even frozen pizzas and red lentils!

Stay tuned for the Internet Fiasco!