things are loking up some

Well I'm still in St. Petersburg, and heading back to Moscow on a midnight train. (I'm on that midnight train to Moscow - sing along!)

The research aspect of the trip has gone well, and I got a lot of work done to prep for my time here. It's just exhausting not having a place to rest my head - I checked out of the hostel this morning, so I"m just killing time....and I missed the showing of Bridget Jone's Diary II. I think the internet cafe is cheaper anyhow.

But I *think* I might have a place to live. It sounds too good, that I am afraid to jinx it. I had been making phone calls from the hostel, using their phone because the phone card their pay phone, for which they had sold me a card, broke. So the women working the desk yesterday became well aquainted with my search for a place, including complete strangers, whose numbers other people had given me. "Hi, are you the friends of Alexandra? I am the friend of a person in Moscow who knows her, and she said you might have a room." (In that instance, the woman who could answer this question was NEVER home.). Or - I called this woman Svetlana, and she told me to call Irina, who told me to call Nadezhda, who was the one with the apartment (also never home). I also emailed some people who haven't answered yet, including a Russian scholar whose book I've read, whose email I got from an American scholar who bought me a beer and onion rings the other night (I'd read his book too), and asked for the Russian scholar's mother's phone number, because SHE knows people with rooms.

But I digress. On one of my calling attempts last night, the woman at the hostel - who is very nice and conversational. I met her the last time I was here, also at the same hostel - said to me "I have an offer for you - come live with me for the 2 months you'll be here." So her offer is this: I would live with her and her 2 daughters (age 9, and 20is), her cat, and a talking bird, and sometimes a dog, and I would speak English to them half of the time, and we would buy food together, and otherwise, the room would be FREE. (Like I said, I'm afraid to jinx this). She's very nice, and appears normal. I have no problem speaking my native language for my rent, and they live basically in the center of town, and on the same metro line as my boondock archive, so this sounds great! And free rent would really free up my photocopy budget for Petersburg, because there is TONS of stuff here that I need. So, we exchanged info, she told me to think about it and call her. a) I have no other options b) I am poor - how can I not accept????

Perhaps the gods were smiling on me last night.

Now if only my nose would stop producing copious quantities of viscous snot, all would be well in my world!

But in general, thanks for all the moral support! I need it and I do appreciate it! THANK YOU!

Now lets hope that I don't get stuck in a train compartment with 3 men again, like I did on the way here. They all snored, and I couldn't help but think that the it really sucks that the compartment door locked from the inside. ANd speaking of trains! Even though I"m travelling 2nd class (3rd was sold out), and paid more than 3rd class to Latvia - on the Riga train, in 3rd class we got free water, free breakfast and free sheets. On the 2nd class Russian train I still had to pay for my freakin' sheets and there was NO food or water. Cheapie Russians!