Late and even later

Its 2:08am and here i sit. Sam is, and has been now for some time, sleeping peacefully - his contented steady breaths my soft soundtrack. It's raining outside - cold, but not quite cold enough to turn it all to flakes. i actually heard the slightest roll of thunder a little while ago. it made me yearn for warm, dark heavy spring clouds filled with lightning and thunderous claps from the skies. Anything apart from the status quo would be welcome right now. as it stands, we've had weeks of temperatures hovering right at the freezing point - dipping above and below like a child's teeter-totter. which leaves us with wet, dreary skies, and intermittent snow flurries that turn to slush hours after falling and piling up enough to cover over the mud. Think mid 30's F and wet. i believe the word you are looking for is SLODGESH. i am aware this is not a real word. but it does, quite well, encapsulate what the St. Petersburg area feels like these days.

I'm eating a сочни, which is a pastry whose dough tastes somewhat like a thick, softer version of Pop-Tart dough. it looks like a turnover, and is filled with sweetened cream cheese.



its one of the unique things I've found here in Russia that i like and isnt available elsewhere. Oh and speaking of not available elsewhere, in case you're not aware of how companies tailor their product for the palletes of any particular country, may you be taught now. for example, in Namibia some of the popular potato chip flavors were: chutney, ketchup, and sweet chilli. in Russia, some favorites are сметана(sour cream), and краб. the crab-flavored chips are Sam's pick for a treat now and then. and till recently i shied away, but today i decided to give them a try and they are quite good. and of course to make Amber jealous, I must tought the wonders of fiber yogurt.

so thanks to an american friend who recently wrote some things in Russian to me, i found an online alternative to actually having to set up our laptop for multilingual use. So now i can very easily and quickly type out some words so you can experience a little of what i do in reading signs and grocery shopping here. so you can look forward to more little Russian lessons from Amanda as my language skills improve more and more.

До свидания