A letter home from study abroad
September 16, 1996
I've been quiet for the past several days, as I've had the cold from hell
and basically stayed in bed. (Except today, when I went to classes and
took a trip to the metro station)
Friday morning, I woke up and promptly decided that classes were
not worth it. My throat hurt, my nose was stuffed up and i was generally
woozy. I told katya that I was taking the day off and that I'd see her in
the morning. At about noon, I got up the energy to brave the pouring rain
outside to buy myself some orange juice. I drank orange juice and read
and slept. Saturday, I read and slept and programmed and looked out the
window at the pouring rain and gusts of wind....I was very glad that I
hadn't felt up to the trip to Boris Pasternak's dacha. When everybody
else got back, it was even more apparent how lucky I was that I opted to
sleep rather than brave the storm. That night, a bunch of people cooked
us chicken stir-fry. There was pork, too, but most people decided that
they weren't daring enough to eat it. Sunday, there was more lounging
around and looking out the window...but I got a bunch of programming done.
Today, we had classes from 11:30 to 2:30 (I don't have a first
class on monday or a last class on friday....such a deal!) Nothing
particularly special. This evening, I decided to head down to the metro
station to get burritos from "MetroExpress" (A PepsiCo venture...it used
to be called TacoBell, but now they sell hot dogs too) They also sell
some form of dessert named "Pigeon Toed Mouse" Someday,I'll try it...on
the way back to the dorm, some guy walks over to me, grabs my arm and says
"I don't want your ice cream" which, i assume, was a reference to the
three taco-bell packets I was carrying. Then, he asked me for 1000
roubles. (I think.) I say "NYET" and pull free of him. He said something
like "Why not?" as I walk away... truly bizzare. The burritos were
mediocre....certainly not up to Taco Bell's high standards, but there was
no question of what they were. Now I have to do far too much homework.