A Typical Russian Day

Last night the American opera singer, Carmen Balthrop, performed in St. Petersburg. She's in town to judge a vocal competition, and a few of us Americans got to meet her. Here I am with her.



Sometimes it's aweseome to be one of few Americans. It's also awesome to be somewhere where people really enjoy and appreciate classical music.

Rewind 6 hours.

Jonathan and I were walking to a tux rental place and were noticing the prevalence of piles of dog poo everywhere. This is a country of people who appreciate classical music, but do not pick up after their dogs... and even with that in mind, this neighborhood was especially stained. After a while Jonathan tired of my counting all the crapola (I'd reached over 30 on my count within 3 blocks), so I stopped paying attention. Suddenly Jonathan screams "NOOOO" and grabs for me, but it was too late. I stepped in an enormous, still warm, pile of dookie. Up the street, ahead of me, I saw a pack of stray dogs- the culprits. C'mon, people. Spade and neuter your dogs. Bob Barker wasn't joking.

Here's me in a Russian alley, scraping dog sh*t off my shoes.



And they used to call America the land of contradictions...