Upon entering the home equipped with champagne and oreos for a present, I was given a pair of tapochki about half my foot size which I must walk around in at all times. The apartment is cute and quaint, my room full of tapestries and rediculuously decorative wall paper. The real deal is DINNER. As a part of Russian hospitality you are fed until you drop and you are really in trouble if you have an old babyshka who was in Leningrad when it was under seige--thousands of people died of starvation in the seige and as a result attitudes are very sensitive toward food. My first meal was in fact a bowl of borsh with sour cream, a carrot dish with tons of raw garlic, chicken, potatoes,four slices of bread with butter or jam, and a plate with two pastries, as well as some other cookies. The next morning I was served five blini or thin crepe-like pancakes and thought I was done, until my hostmother put out TEN MORE BLINI next to my plate. And yogurt, and a banana. And always tea.

I digress, after using every word I know for "that's too much," I have been served less. A friend of mine has a war babushka who will make her dinner, and she'll go back to her room only to find her hostmother knocking on the door for a second dinner. Ah hah. But uhh the food is good, though generally bland, staple like food. I'm going to miss every herb, salt and pepper, and anything spicy. Russia only knows dill, pickles, and dill. Also more sourcream than one can imagine. As for walking around, everything takes time. Service is always slow, never right, and there are always lines. In Russia, you wait. It took me nearly five days to get my phone working right, after going back to three stores and finally taking my hostmother with me to lay down the law. It's not actually too cold, and every single women under the age of fourty absolutely wears massive heeled, knee high boots. Lots of makeup, the works. I love it. But the people are nice, though frank, and usually willing to deal with my crappy Russian skills.

But for now, I must run. I will write some more later, maybe. Hope all is well back home!

written by  The_Red_Life on February 9, 2009 from Saint Petersburg, Russia
from the travel blog: Exploring the Streets of Saint Pete!
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Glad to see the blog is finally up and running! You should keep a word.doc version of this in case this blog site goes under some day as your travel log.

As far as the food issue--have you tried just eating really slowly + shifting food around + finishing about 90%?

I look forward to pictures :)

written by  Allison on February 13, 2009

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