The German Kleenexes

So, there is nothing better than a German Kleenex. When you blow your nose in one, you don’t end up with a handful of snot like you do with American kleenexes. I bought some Russian ones a couple of weeks ago and they weren’t bad, but didn’t have the thickness of German brands. So when I saw some from Zehe on the shelf recently I bought them. Hooray! Real German kleenexes.  I come home and open one of the individual packets and.....they are scented. Oh Lordy. They smell terrible. I suppose I should wait to use them when I have a cold again so that I won’t be able to smell them.

Sonia and I met at 11 to get some shopping done. I mostly needed supplies for projects at school and she was looking for typical souvenirs to take back to Spain with her for the holidays. The souvenirs were the easy part. I cannot find plain white paper plates for Santa Claus’s to save my soul. Emil, who speaks some English at the grocery store, led me to what they had. But it was mostly plastic stuff with the dividers in the middle.

In any case, we went to the craft store at the mall and we texted Fouad to meet us there for lunch because his dorm is not far from there. We ate at a Russian chain at the food court which had some exceptionally good onion rings and ended up discussing politics for an hour and a half.

Sonia had to go to meet some people she’s going to give Spanish lessons to, so we parted ways and I headed home and she and Fouad still hung out. It is bitter cold today, but nobody in Kazan really seems to mind. It is a fact of life here and everyone deals with it. And I must say, I’m so warmly dressed, it doesn’t bother me. It’s just annoying to have to take off hat, gloves and mittens every time you go into a warm building or the subway.

Tomorrow I’ll take the bus to meet Anna at the Russian history exhibit. We went to see the second half of it, which covers the time since the revolution. Then we’ll probably catch a bite to eat. And when I get home, I want to skype back to the States.

Monday’s the ice hockey game and Wednesday is payday and The Magic Flute at the opera house. The only tickets I could get were standing room only, but I didn’t want to miss this. Wednesday the kids also have to put on their little performance for the parents. Some of the kids are doing so well with their English, they are even generating their own sentences now and not just repeating what I say. It’s fun to converse with them in English.

And even though I speak English most of the time, I’m definitely understanding a lot more Russian. So there’s progress all around. So I’ll let you know how the rest of the exhibit was tomorrow night.