Beautiful Day

What a productive and lovely day. Well, actually the weather was not what one would exactly call lovely, but still it a nice day all around. It started with a nice breakfast of a boiled egg, dark bread with homemade strawberry jam, and 2 cups of coffee! I also managed to make it to a meeting on time and not get lost along the way. This was truly monumental for someone with a very limited directional understanding.

I met with an important person on the Russian jazz scene today and he was so helpful and enthusiastic about the subject. We met at a cafe (Eat & Talk - yes, that is the name of the cafe and not a translation) downtown very close to the state library, formerly known and very often still known as the Lenin Library. It was a very nice cafe with a strange assortment of music - Enya, Huey Lewis, the Stones, Michael Jackson, and Geico commercials. But, more importantly he not only brought me a year's worth of his journal, but he also gave me a copy of his upcoming book, which is actually an edited collection of one of the most important jazz theorists of the Soviet period. Truly a treasure for my topic!

It was such a nice afternoon, especially after my frustrating trip on the metro, which would not have been frustrating at all had I bothered to read the signs posted throughout the stations. It would have been most helpful had I noticed that my connecting station was closed for repairs and that is why the conductor never once stopped the train there. But one of the beauties of the metro is that there are so many connecting stations that you can always find an alternate route.

On my way back to the apartment I noticed an older gentleman throwing a frisbee with his yellow lab who was catching every throw. He was on the grounds of the American embassy and maybe it was the marine tattoo on his forearm, the New York Yankees baseball cap, the fact of where he was, or just something in his general manner, but when I walked by just figured that he was American and told him how beautiful his dog was and what a good catch he seemed to be. Of course he was American, but it made me wonder how subconsciously we all decided whether or not someone is in "our" group. I don't remember thinking of anything in particular when I came to the conclusion that he was American, but there it was. It helped to explain to me why Russians that I come across in the metro or in cafes automatically assume that I am not Russian.

I also got to meet my hostess's students tonight and have tea with them. One of them is a medical doctor and the other is in the IT field in some capacity and they told me some pretty funny jokes, which I most certainly will not repeat here. They also told me about rabid Russian soccer fans and how the game is not for normal people anymore.

Lastly, Alla brought home one of the most delicious things that I have ever tasted, although it might not sound that appetizing - cabbage pie. It was lightly sauteed cabbage mixed with a boiled egg and butter, all wrapped in nice bread. I would gladly post a picture of it, except that I was too happy eating it to even think about taking a picture of it. So I will post a picture of my pelmeny and Czech beer instead.

The other picture is of my apartment - my room is on the 5th floor, and the other picture is of a major street in my area at approximately 10 pm.