The year in numbers
Apparently I like statistics!
This should keep everyone amused for a while. In about 4 hours I leave for the airport to get on a plane to fly home.
So as of this post, my Russia blog is hereby concluded - at least until I come back next spring. If you want to find out what I'm up to and how I'm doing you'll have (gasp!) send me an email. Thanks to everyone for reading, and thanks to those who still kept emailing me, even though I had this darn blog.
So here it goes....
Number of days actually spent in the Russian Federation on my 365-day visa: 312
Number of round trip flights to and from Washington, DC: 3
Amount of money spent on 2 round trip tickets home: $1800
Number of frequent flier miles earned since June 2004: 39,324
Number of foreign countries visited, aside from Russia: 3
Number of different means of transportation I used to cross an international border: 4 (plane, train, bus, hydrofoil)
Number of apartments lived in: 3
Total number of roommates: 6
Amount paid in rent this year: $5900
Total amount in rent I would have had to pay if I did not live rent-free in St. Petersburg: $7700
Amount in rent I will pay for the next year in Charlottesville: $4800
Total cost of this year: $24,000 (give or take)
Number of records in my database, each record indicating a separate document from the archives: 1822
Number of notebooks filled with research notes: 5 ?
Amount paid in rubles for photocopies (actually January - August 2005 only): 5683
Amount in dollars: $205
Number of packages of books mailed home: 10
Total weight in kilograms of said book packages: about 40
Total weight in pounds: about 88
Cost of mailing 80lbs of books home: Don’t ask
Number of hikes taken: 3
Number of times I used my tent: 0
Number of times I used my sleeping bag and/or sleeping pad: 45
Number of places said sleeping pad/bag were used: 1 (my room)
Number of times I slipped and fell on the ice: 1
Number of times I fell through the ice: 1
Number of photos taken: over 2000
Number of times I had food poisoning: 2
Number of hot dogs purchased from street vendor in Vladimir: 2
Number of times I had food poisoning before buying the aforementioned hot dogs: 1
Duration of most recent bout of food poisoning: 7 days
Number of bus rides to Finland: 1
Number of “white nights” witnessed: 1
Number of currencies in my coin jar: 6
Number of foreign visitors: 2
Number of train trips to St. Petersburg (one way): 13
Number of drunk men who fell on me from a train bunk: 1
Date of construction of oldest thing I saw here: 1167 AD
Number of dead bodies seen: 2 definite, 1 probable
Number of pairs of shoes purchased in Russia: 3
Number of pairs of shoes abandoned in Russia: 3
Number of new friends with whom I think I’ll stay friends: 5
Number of times I cried: 4
Number of times I laughed: countless
