The Russian eye chart

I went to the doctor’s today, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Saturday started with a nice breakfast with Ravil. We yakked again for a long time, then we decided to walk down to the lake, since I was going to meet Sonia for lunch and we still had some time. The weather was beautiful, the day was perfect, and we decided to take a rent a paddle boat and paddle around the lake. It was good for the bicycle muscles and afforded us some nice views of some of the architecture around the lake. Everybody was required to wear a life jacket, which was very wise. This lake is supposed to be very deep.
We walked back into town where I met Sonia and Ravil was going to meet a childhood friend. Sonia and I went for some lasagna at Basilico’s and then went out to an amusement park near the river which was sponsoring a colorfest. Fouad met us there.
It turned out to be an event where about 300 people could buy bags of colored powder and throw the contents at each other. Of course there was an MC on the stage who got people to come up and dance or do other things. They had a trick bicycle rider who jumped his bike over people. But the main thing people were interested in was buying (Yes, buying!) these bags of color and throwing them at each other. There were some pretty messy people running around. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, so I watch from a distance for a bit, then I went home. The day was long enough without having to take a two- hour shower before I went to bed.
Sunday Anna had suggested one of the fast-boat rides out to Sviazhsk monastery. I know, I was just there on Tuesday, but that was with the slow boat. Besides Anna is a big museum-goer, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to spend time in that new archaeological museum. And it turn Ed out to be a wonderful museum. All the exhibits were labeled in English! That’s unusual for museums in Kazan. The displays were very well done and the museum is somewhat built into the side of a hill. It was a modern, refreshing building where nothing was falling apart!
We got back into town and went over to Black Lake, where the were  holding a Swiss festival. We listened to an Alphorn conference and then went for a pizza at Agafredo’s . And that’s how a pleasant day ended.
So, now to the eye chart. I’ve had a cold since Wednesday. Some of the kids have been sick, so I probably got it from them. It started with a sore throat, then my nose started running an eventually it went to my chest. But I had been sucking on throat lozenges and wad feeling slightly improved, but my eyes were itchy. I figured it was caused by pollen in the air.
When I came in this morning, one of my moms, who is a doctor, looked at me and told me I had conjunctivitis. Oh joy. She made a call to her clinic and got me an appointment for 1 p.m., which is when the kids are napping.
My great TA Rimma went with me to help translate. We got there, signed in, paid up front, and the doctor took us in immediately. Since it has to do with my eyes, he makes me read an eye chart. With and without my glasses.  When I got to something I could read, I said so. ThenRimma pipes up to the doctor in Russian, “Maybe she can’t read it because it’s in Russian.” I answered slightly insulted, “Are you nuts? Of course I can read Russian letters!” My god, I’ve been here two years . I should have learned something by this time.
In any case, he prescribed nose drops and eye drops. As soon as we got back to school I started taking them. This will go on for a week. Then I hope it’s the last illness in Kazan.