How to get heart palpatations for the sum of $8
Hello all. I thought I would check in...its been a few days.
First of all - Happy Birthdays to Josh (28?), Mark (27), and Matthew (1) and Happy Anniversary to my parents - 30 years!
What have I been up to....Well, I'm starting to get productive in the archives. I've worked up the courage to drag my laptop to the archives, which of course greatly increases my efficiency. And now that I've started looking at documents....I take a lot of notes, and am slowly getting used to typing in Russian on the Russian layout keyboard. (I can switch back and forth on my laptop). It saps my energy though. I've been running a few times, I'm trying to do that 2 times a week, and am going to take a yoga class....so that I don't get too lethargic. I've noticed that I need about 9 hours of sleep here, as opposed to the 7 I'm fine with at home.
And sleeping leads me to the topic of my NEW PILLOW. On Saturday I paid my old friend Katya a visit. She got married last year and she and her husband Sasha are expecting a baby in a few months, a boy by the way. The three of us caught up, had tea, lots of tea. And sweets, lots of sweets. And I looked at wedding pictures, lots of wedding pictures. One of the great things about Russia is that Katya wore a RED dress to her wedding, and instead of having a bog reception, they registered at ZAGS (our justice of the peace) and then headed off on a plane to India for the honeymoon. I'm going to wear a red dress to my wedding...one day! So we were talking well into the evening and I mentioned that I wanted to go to IKEA or something, because I hated my pillow, and needed a new one. I described what kind of pillow I wanted, and Katya got up and brought one back, and it was just what I wanted. She said that they got it for their wedding, and never use it, so I can certainly use it for the year. My hero! It was very good to catch up with her, as I first met her in 1997 and we've stayed in touch ever since. And she's a Russian/English teacher, so can correct my grammar while she's at it.
As a result of the pillow-miracle, as I like to call it, I did not need to go shopping on Sunday. Instead, I decided to go to the Coffee Bean, down the street and get myself a cup of hot cocoa, and do some reading. There I ran into my colleague, David, and we chatted for awhile. I went to order my cocoa, and the woman held up two cups - small or large? (the large is not large by American super-size standards) so I ordered the large. For some reason (and I honestly don't know why, maybe she saw me sitting with David) she poured me 2 large cocoas....which upped the price a little of my bill. And I thought, well, these are the equivalent of 1 in the states, say at Greenberrys, so I said, why not?
Here is why not:
Russian "hot cocoa" is not hot, chocolate flavored milk. It is pure melted chocolate. Take Special Dark and melt it.....so I had 2 cups of thick, rich, steaming chocolate....and nearly had a heart attack once the caffeine and sugar hit my system. This was on top of all the tea and sweets the night before. In the states, I don't drink caffeine at all, except in emergencies. Lets just say I fell off that wagon.
And so, I have added that experience to my long list of lessons learned recently...
I mean, come on, "caution in ordering cafe drinks" in Russia ranks right up there with "don't date men twice your age", right?
In other news, something is up here, because this morning there were about 10 times as many police in the Metro as usual, and announcements on the Metro to "pay attention to your surroundings, and if you see suspicious looking people, report it to the police immediately". But my TV wasn't working this morning, so I don't know the details. A new threat no doubt....
Farewell for now, I think I've typed quite enough for today.
poka
