evening, first day

Currently 9:00 PM, and still bright as day. Jonathan and I took a walk this evening to get a feel for the neighborhood. We stopped by a bistro for dinner. It was cafeteria-style ordering, with samples of some dishes on display, so it was fairly easy to order by pointing. Also ordered something off the menu, which turned out to be chicken kiev. We ended up with that, sautéed vegetables, cucumber and tomato salad, and french fries. All in all it was pretty tasty. Then we took a walk back to our apartment. It was steaming hot out, probably close to 90 degrees. 19 hours of sunlight a day and no air conditioning in most buildings adds up to a sticky mess. On the way home, we stopped by the small grocery store- the produkti- on our block to pick up a few essentials. It reminded me of the kind of grocery stores you find in extremely small towns- several aisles in one small room, with just enough space for one person to get down an aisle; one or maybe two versions of any product, such as pasta sauce or mustard (many choices for beer, however); everyone carrying baskets because there’s no way a cart could maneuver in there; one cash register with the employee tucked into a cubicle surrounded by candy bars and packs of gum. And while produkti means produce, and that seems to be the main selling point for most of these little stores, the produce selection was small and tired-looking. I guess we’re pretty far from any place where fresh fruit actually grows. There were, at least, about 20 different kinds of fruit juice.

Currently we’re trying to figure out how to access our money. Apparently our bank, despite their proclaiming their experience with customers overseas, has made it nearly impossible to get money from ATMs here. They claim they are too nervous about Russian fraud. But I don’t know what, exactly, they expect us to do about it. Very few places here take credit cards, so how can we access our cash? Jonathan is currently on the phone with them trying to figure this out. Hopefully our groceries will last for a while, since we’ve already exchanged our limited supply of cash and don’t have a ton left.

Some quick observations on local fashion- perhaps it’s because they’re trying to catch a man, perhaps it’s because it’s hot out, or perhaps it’s because that’s just how they roll- but most women here are not very subtle about their undergarments. I have never seen so much panti-line or so many see-through shirts in my life. Most women don’t bother wearing bras under t-shirts, and when they wear a blouse, it’s inevitably sheer and they’ll be wearing a black bra underneath. A phenomenon I truly don’t understand. I mean, even 40-something conservative women. Yikes. I even got a few dirty looks from some women- although I’m not sure if it’s because I was fully dressed, or if I’m obviously a foreigner. Perhaps those two things are one in the same.

Tomorrow more of our things arrive. I hope I packed a black mini-skirt in there somewhere so I can start to blend in more. I’ll wear it with granny panties and a swimsuit top; then I’ll fit right in.