I think I have found the perfect diet. It is called the Russian home stay plan. I know I am losing weight, but there is no scale here. Last night I was alone as my hosts (Natasha and her son, Andrei), went to their dacha overnight. I was left dinner which was a pot of canned soup, although there were these chicken nugget things thrown in.
Dinner last night
Breakfast this morning
I am alone with their two Siamese cats whom I offered to feed (morning and evening) and I have to change their newspaper-lined kitty litter box shortly (Yech!). Since their litter boxes are like bird cages, they need to be changed daily. Then I will be off to my class which goes from 10:30 until 2 with a 30 minute break.
To be clear, however, my hosts are really, really nice and welcoming and almost all of the Russians I have met have been friendly. The directors and teachers in my school have been fantastic
BTW, I hate Russian internet.
Yesterday after class I went to the Kremlin, specifically to the Armory Museum which was quite good. I paid 500 rubles extra (about $15) to see the “Diamond Fund” which is the Russian equivalent of the Crown Jewels of England. It was absolutely amazing. Display after display of diamonds over 200 carats, 100 huge gold nuggets, some as big as Rugby balls, most the size of cricket balls, a pure platinum nugget the size of a grapefruit (purportedly worth about 35 million USD) as well as other incredible jewels.
Entrance to the Kremlin/The imperial crown of Catherine the Great, adorned with 4,936 diamonds.
Did I mention that I hate Russian internet? I am writing this document on my word program and will have to publish it once my internet server goes back online. I picture this 90 year old grumpy woman behind a desk who, for no reason, decides to turn off the system at the most inconvenient times. To outfox her, I bought a T-stick to give my computer G4 capability, but, as expected, it also doesn’t work. There is a store that sells Apple computers near the gym and I will stop in to ask for help. If nothing else, it will give me practice with my Russian.
I actually found a gym that was closer to my school and one which is in a neighborhood where I do not feel I am risking my life. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find a gym that offers day, weekly, or monthly rates. This one, which is called Alex Gym, has a monthly rate with is not outrageous, but still pricey at about $130, but considerably less than the other gyms around. I checked one gym and, before going inside, I had to put my foot in a machine that wrapped plastic around my shoes.
My new gym is located in a posh mall about 4 metro stops away from RussianLab. The Moscow Metro system is both efficient and some of the stops look like museums. Each has a different theme. I will devote a blog just to the metro system when I run out of things to write about.
The mall where my gym is located
Moscow Metro
After class, I am going to work out (my trainer in NZ sent me an email this morning (below) before the old lady turned things off IN RUSSIAN to check how my training was going....how neat is that?).
обучение обновление
Inbox
| x |
|
5:15 AM (3 hours ago)
 | | ||
Will write more tomorrow and post (if the old lady is in a good mood)!
No comments:
Post a Comment