Bungee cord, part 2.

So, today two kids called in absent and two kids sat out in the cubby room with their moms because they were afraid to come in. Actually, it was more the case that the moms don't want their kids to cry. Three were in class with us altogether. One little girl is picking up the language extremely fast. She's answering in Russian, but they are the appropriate answers to the questions. The kids sleep 2.5 hours everyday. We had them outside in the nice weather twice today.

OK, now to the bungee cord. My bike basket doesn't quite hook under my bike rack so I figured I would run to Megastroy (literally Big Build, the Home Depot of Kazan), thinking they would have to have some. I looked bungee up in the dictionary first, and the nearest I could translate was big rubber band. I was out of work at 4:30, the sun was still shining, so I hopped on the tram and got off at the right stop. I went in and started asking people. They offered me a caulking gun. Nope, I wasn't getting my point across. By this time there are about 6 "merchandizers " (salespeople, in this store) standing around me while I draw a picture. One of the guys gets what I mean and explains it to the others. A young woman takes me first to the garden dept. Nope. Then she takes me to housewares. Nope.  Then she takes me to the other end of the store, where they have what I want. They only have one size and one kind in a package of what looks like 4. I am happy. I come home on the tram and don't overshoot my stop this time. I stop quickly at the grocery store, get home and open my bungees and see that they have a hard plastic ring around all of them. Of course, I can't get any of the individual cords through the ring, so I will take it to work tomorrow and ask the maintenance man if he can smash the plastic ring with a hammer for me. Necessity is the mother of invention.

On another note, I keep forgetting to mention that man purses are IN here. And I'm talking about some really nice leather cases with long straps that the guys hang around their necks and over one shoulder.