So I went to the gym today. As I do many days. Because there's really not that much to do here, and since chocolate is one of the other major things to do here, I have to make things balance out. I'm going to pay for it tomorrow, I think, especially since today was weight-increase day for me, so I upped the amount I was lifting on most things. Maybe if I just keep telling myself I was a good girl for going, it'll be okay. At least the showers were fixed today - I went yesterday, only to be met with broken showers. I then had to run home post-workout and take a cold shower (hot water is hard to get during the day) so I wouldn't smell funny for church.
Church was fun - yesterday was a "club" for older kids in the local orphanage and for kids who've aged out of the orphanage. I still didn't understand most of what was going on, but the people are nice and the fellowship is good. Zhenya, who's about 13, I think, seems to have decided that I'm at least mildly entertaining in my attempts to follow what's going on, was kind enough to make sure I understood what I was supposed to be doing in the games and such. He's the self-declared paparazzi, so he's got a lovely shot of me sticking my tongue out. I shudder to think what's going to happen to that when he's done with the Photoshop.
Post-gym, I had to walk all the way to Frederich Engels* to buy a banana, so I stopped at the drugstore to buy some shampoo and conditioner. You know how you can stand on the hair products aisle for about an hour, considering all the various options, weighing the promises and the murky distinctions between brands and subtypes? (Ok, at least I can do that for a long time.) Now imagine trying to do that with an aisle full of products labelled in a language you have to concentrate to read. Fun times. What's up with the not actually labelling the contents of the bottle? It's great that's a new scent or for color treated hair, but what is it? Who at the advertising agency decided that the consumer didn't need to know if it was shampoo, conditioner, or some random concoction (and Russians love those) in that colorful plastic bottle? Seriously. On a random note, Palmolive (whom I mostly associate with dishwashing liquid) is a big name in beauty brands here, it seems. Then again, the company that makes my hairspray (or hair lacquer, as the can translates to) - Wella - also has a storefront on our street that sells paint products. Weird.
All of my pictures from the Volgagrad weekend are now up. Captions and translations to come. They're publicly viewable via Facebook at http://baylor.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131471&l=0482c&id=9214311 and http://baylor.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132166&l=ccb6a&id=9214311 I'm planning to blog about the weekend, too, but that's going to have to wait until I have a lot of time and concentration, as I want to do all the war memorials justice.
Have a wonderful rest of the week!
*Yes, we have a Frederich Engels street - it's one of the main streets in the area. We also have a "Revolution", "9th January", "Karl Marx", and who knows what else. Oh yeah, and a huge statue of Stalin...
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5 comments:
People who hate football games should not to go football games. Therefore, you should not have taken me to one. We did almost go to that AM one though.
Anyways, we're reading Purgatorio, which I actually looked forward to after Inferno.
We should have the same color scarf and walk around Waco and tell people we're twins...and identical ones. After we say that we have to run away pretty fast though.
I miss you a lot!!!
I'm going to look at your pictures and be very jealous. I hope you're having an amazing time besides the boredom.
Amazing pictures. I like the really huge one of the woman with a sword. So you've been going to the gym a lot. Does this mean you think you're going to be able to beat me in arm-wrestling when you get back?
Any kind of shopping is amazing in a foreign language. Sounds like quite an experience!
We had to read a map in Russian for our homework today, and it was very difficult. Since I'm a bad person, I googled most of the monuments and museums. My point is that it must be very difficult to read shampoo labels in Russian. And I definitely know what you mean about spending a long time looking for new shampoo!
Sarah and I are reading the entire collected works of Langston Hughes, and we just read his 1930s poems, which are all about how he loves Communism. It was actually quite sickening to read.
I'm going to look at your pictures, but not quite yet - I just got home from a flag football game, so I stink. Lucky for me, I get to take a hot shower! :-P
We miss you!!!
Eep!
Palmolive beauty products... Sounds interesting. My sympathies on shopping when everything is labeled in a different language. When I was in Israel this summer, it was pretty bewildering when we'd go to the store and the labels were all in Hebrew. Something of a challenge.
We miss you lots!
Sarah
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