Jay and I immensely enjoying out carrots outside the gates of Pavlosk

Part of the Smolny Campus

Maggie and I in Tavrichesky Sod, my favorite park of St. Petersburg

Have I Really Been Here for Over a Month?

Hmm, now I finally understand how the foreigners feel in America. My mother would always point out the signs at museums in NYC and how often the astronomical price is really just a suggested price but the only translation of "suggested" is done in English. I think the shoe repairman gave me the suggested price...after he spent 5 minutes trying to figure out where I was from and I was so frustrated at trying to communicate with him so I could get my heel fixed that all my basic russian went out the window. Then he proceeded to tell me that it would cost me 500 rubles to repair my heels -- that I understood. Translation - $20. That was ridiculous. In my horribly broken russian I told him that I will pay him when I get my shoes back. I'm a foreigner, but I'm not in the mood to play the stupid American.

Why is it that Russian women are beautiful and have perfect bodies -- okay maybe they are missing some curves here and there -- but still. And how do they wear heels all the time? And if stilettos are not enough they have to add an inch and a half platform to it. Too bad the designers of the city didn't pay attention to fashion, because there are heel death traps everywhere -- I think I may have to do an exposé on the issue. And from now on, I think in all of my landscape plans I'm going to provide an alternative route for the serious heel users.

I'm not this bitter all the time. In actuality, my bitter and critical thoughts are solely in use to fill this huge void in my life; a void that for so long was quite adequately satiated with stress. Now that I’m getting more than four hours of sleep a night, and homework can be finished between 10:30 and 11:00pm, what else is there to do then think and analyze everything. I’m very critical and I enjoy paying attention to the fine details but a mind recorder would be handy. Instead on speaking into a microphone, or sketching, or writing everything down, I could just push this button on my skull and it could record my thoughts. But honestly, I think I would just have a enormous collection of thoughts lying around that I’d never get around to sorting through. Are you really still reading this post? Ha! Anyways, the bitterness smacks you right in the face when you spend the afternoon walking through the mall looking for some nice boots only to find them to be $500 which may exceed your budget (just a little). But then it hits you, $500 is NORMAL in Gostiny Dvor and Nevsky Prospect. For the $100 budget shoes you're going to have to do some traveling. And then it rained...and when I say rain I mean pour. I guess the 'open air' market will have to wait until another day. Too bad by the time I was off the Metro (subway) and walking to my apartment the sky had opened and the rest of the day was beautiful: I spent it in my room.