DAY 51

Can you believe it? Day 51 already! The halfway point is IN ONE WEEK. Jeez.

So, here's the news. First of all, did I tell you already about playing music last week? It was pretty great. I played American Music by the Violent Femmes, and Ballad of the Boll Weevil by Leadbelly. 80's folk-punk, and 30's blues. What more could someone ask for? In any case, Anton Stepanov and I hit it off, which is cool. Also, Jarlath knows some pretty great tunes. We're planning on doing this again some time.

What else? I went to a little art museum called Етажи today. It wasn't amazing. My conversation partner and I went, but we both thought it was kind of a letdown. Kind of interesting though I guess. Then, I went home, to what else? Cold, unseasoned fish, skin-on, bones-in. I like my host mom a lot, but she doesn't have much of a talent for cooking. It's okay though. Some of the food here is simply amazing, and I LOVE her chicken soup with dill.

I think I love dill in general.

Oh, and hey! Wednesday (yesterday) a bunch of us CIEE students got to tour Балтика! That's Baltika for those of you who haven't learned Cyrillic yet. It's a brewery for what seems to be the most popular beer in Russia. They also own Kronenburg, Carlsberg, Tuborg, and possibly Nevskoe? In any case, the tour was pretty fascinating. The tour guide was a funny guy who knew a little english, and made a joke about it being "St. Patricksburg" that day. We went through the brewery, and the carboys were HUGE! The bottling stuff was really cool too. I really like the smell of malt for some reason, so I really enjoyed everything. One of the rooms was like 40 degrees (celsius)! Then, at the end, there was beer tasting. Pretty much everything they make, and we had about half an hour to sample whatever we wanted. I think my favorites were Baltika 4, 6, and 7. I haven't had 1, 5, or 9 yet. Maybe I'll have to bring some home to dad? In any case, we got free .5 liter mugs when we left, and I also have a shirt and a bottle opener, and Jarlath gave me a couple of coasters. So yeah, that was quite an experience.

Let's see, what's next? Tsarskoe Celo on saturday, then midterms, then Moscow and Israel!

Evan