Weird-o-slavl: A Week In Review

As my first week here in Yaroslavl comes to an end, I thought I'd share an uber exciting (exaggeration) update.

The flights here were uneventful. I crashed out hard on the trip from San Francisco to New York and after a quick layover in the grossest terminal in all of JFK, I was en route to Moscow. We had some serious tailwinds on our side and the jump to Russia was a quick 8 hours - wonderful. I stayed awake long enough to catch most of The King's Speech and snack on some (gag) airplane food before falling into an ambien-induced slumber. The remainder of my time was spent catching up on the lastest dramz of Serena, Lonely Boy and Mr. Chuck. Icing on the cake - I managed to score exit rows for both flights. Overall, a pretty easy traveling day for me with one exception: the reigning "World Cup Arm Wrestling Champion" (or something) was sitting in front of me on the flight to Moscow. I'm not exactly sure what kind of supplements, vitamins or weird food he had going on in row 20 but whatever it was, he was definitely making it work. I would not recommend spending 8 hours of your day sitting in someone else's fart if you can help it. 

This isn't the guy, but it easily could be...

I emerged from baggage claim to find a cute little Russian man holding a sign that said Kate Diers. He toted my bags to the curb and held up his hand as if to indicate he'd be back with the car in 5 minutes. 20 minutes later, I found myself still standing on the curb, looking lost and attempting at all costs to avoid making eye contact with anyone who might try to speak to me in Russian. At long last, my Kia chariot had arrived and it was off to Yaroslavl. By chance, Andy was walking out of his apartment when we pulled up a short 3 hours later (it's been known to take much longer to travel from the airport to Yaro).


And so, here we are. I'm writing from my "nook" - a little window seat in the kitchen - and here is my beautiful view. I love this little place because it's sunny and that makes me happy. A little vitamin D goes a long way when most of your days are gray and cold.

A nook with a view...

The week has been uneventful yet simple (I won't complain). I've watched a handful of Andy's volley practices, read a few books, wandered the market aisles aimlessly looking for anything that might resemble mustard, diced tomatoes or table salt and most recently had the pleasure of celebrating Andy's teammate's birthday at an authentic Russian restaurant in the center of the town. We've enjoyed cooking together (a few images of our creations below), catching up on American TV shows, attempting to "shop" at the "mall", and trying to kick jetlag's butt.

Impressive produce section at the "good" market.

Loving our veggies (and beer)!

Traditional Russian fare - potato/cheese pierogies with sour cream and green onions.

Andy has the day off and we're heading out shortly for an "adventure." It's sure to be a thriller.

on to the next one...

love,
k + a