bloom and grow forever

I'm sure the Baroness will be able to make things fine for you. If not, a year in Russia sure will.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

We Played Monopoly in Spanish and Met the Mustachioed Lady

Ok. I'm in trouble for not posting. As if you teachers don't know every intimate detail of my life already. Well, since Mushroom Extravaganza 2k6, I've had a fun weekend in Nizhni Novgorod, or Gorkii as it's often still called, staying with Joanna's friend Joanna (yeah), who has the sweet job of being an R.A.-and-crisis-management-person for a study abroad program. Embarrassingly, we went to McDonald's twice in 36 hours there. But it was so, so good. The city was gorgeous; the Kremlin overlooks the confluence (strelka?) of the Volga and Oka rivers (kak Oka? shiroko! nasha reka!) and it's a beautiful place to walk around. It brought back memories of Gorkii's miserable childhood, or at least the reading of it, although I didn't make it to his house. On the rainy Sunday we stopped into the so-trendy-it-hurts cafe Bezukhov for a solid cup of coffee. Nizhni: Ten Points!

This past week I've been coming home to the U.S. Open (I'm lucky to get the Eurosport channel.) It's been somehow wonderfully conforting to get home - often before Irina does - make a cup of tea with lemon and sugar, maybe heat up some cabbage soup, and lie there on the couch just watching tennis. I passively absorb the Russian commentary, my heart starts to pound during the tiebreakers just as it once did back when I was a sportsmenka, and for once I feel no culture shock at all.

1 Comments:

Blogger TeacherMan said...

стрелка is arrow - basically it is that little strip of land that sticks out into the water where the two rivers come together. In Yaroslavl, the strelka, between the Volga and the Kotrosl' was one of the most beautiful spots in town, once spring finally came and they opened up the fountains. I remember walking out there one day, hearing the Zемфира blashing over the speakers from the amusement park across the river...
anyway, this is getting too long for a blog comment. the rest will go in an email

7:17 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home