Living Arrangements

I have finally been moved! Last Tuesday at 10:30 PM Sergei and Irina Borisovna showed up at my apartment to help me move. However, the only night that the elevator doesn’t work happens to be the night that I have to move. So I lugged my heavy suitcase, backpack and some odds and ends down nine flights of stairs. Which really meant that I pushed my suitcase down a flight, then picked it up, and then pushed it down again. When I finally got to the bottom, I could hear Sergei and Irina Borisovna calling to me to let them in to help. However, when I was in the middle of the apartment building I couldn’t hear them! Sergei said that luggage was not for woman’s hands, it was for man’s hands. I am okay with this philosophy.
I now live on Vasilevsky Island. This is an older part of St. Petersburg that was included in the original design scheme of Peter himself. There are many cafes, restaurants, and clothing stores near where I live. There is also a park and a fitness center. Also, I live near another student so I do not have to come home alone every night.

My new host family consists of one woman named Irina Victorevna. She is about 50 – 60 years old and has two grown children and grandchildren. One of her daughters lives in St. Petersburg with her family. The other daughter lives in London with her own family. Irina Victorevna asks a lot of personal questions and loves to watch t.v. all day long. She thinks many things about me are extremely strange and I get the impression she thinks I am a dunce.

She spent last weekend at the dacha. 75% of all Russians have dachas, so there are many different kinds (dilapidated, well built, in the middle). Her dacha is in the forest and she picks mushrooms and berries. She makes a jam out of the berries and apples that she picks every Sunday. Tonight for dinner I had some of her delicious mushrooms.