This Thursday I got a little more ambitious with cooking (by my standards). I decided to pan-fry some chicken and boil some potatoes. That sounds like super simple business, but I usually don't prepare meat raw meat due to laziness. I typically rely on eggs and summer sausage as my meat source at home. Anyway, Katya, Niklas, and Sasha came over and we fried up all the chicken. I added some "universal" spice that I bought at the store specifically for the chicken. I thought it turned out pretty great! It tasted good and nobody got sick, so it was a win-win. There were also plenty of leftovers.
Friday was a pretty interesting day. Of course, as usual, it was a fairly dismal start. I got up at 6:45am for my 8:00am class. Class went well but it's always a bit discouraging when it's still dawn when you're done with your first class at 9:30am... At this point, the sun come up until close to 10:00am and it's almost completely gone by 5:30pm. Days are getting shorter and shorter. For my second class, however, only two students showed up. Also, our usual classroom was taken and we didn't really have anywhere to go but sit in the middle of a very small library. I decided it would be much better to take our class to a cafe instead. We went to Traveler's Coffee, which I've now been to a handful of times and I still find it cozy. We got a pot of tea for all of us and just chatted about anything. In this sense, it really wasn't a class. It was more of a conversation. You could tell we had a good time because we stayed for about an hour longer than our normal class would have lasted. Golf was brought up in conversation and I convinced Olya and Anya, the two I was with, to come with me to CityGolf on Sunday (more details on this later).
After "class," I bumped into Niklas and Katya on the way back home. It was still pretty early but Niklas and I were both really hungry so we tried to figure out what to do for dinner. (This usually happens to me on Fridays. I eat breakfast at 7am, which leads to an 11am lunch, resulting in an early dinner. In this respect, Friday contrasts greatly with the other days of the week.) Anyway, Niklas and I decided to finish the leftover chicken and potatoes and, since that would not have been enough, we agreed to meet up about an hour and a half later to go to Subway for a second dinner. I was all for this idea because I've been curious to check out a Russian Subway to see how the sandwiches and prices differ from the US chain locations. To my surprise, it was actually noticeably more expensive. We both got the "nightly special" which is their cheapest foot-long option and it was about $5.20... without cheese. I added cheese and it put it about $6.50. Most of their foot-long subs were over $7. At least, that's what I gathered when I glanced at the menu. The selection was much smaller. They only offered one type of cheese as opposed to the 4 or so they offer in the US. According to Niklas, we were lucky with the bread they had that night. Usually they only have to options for bread, but we got some sort of special herb bread. Also, the meat looked different. I don't really know how to explain it, but it just looked more "Russian." I can't really complain though. I really enjoyed my sub. Also, now I can check Subway off my list of American fast food chains that I need to visit in Russia.
Saturday, like usual, held in store American Corner. This time, however, I don't think it was as good as usual. We were supposed to watch a movie but we didn't have one ready by the time the club started. Moreover, our coordinator couldn't come so we were strictly limited to a two-hour time limit. Due to a combination of poor time management and technical difficulties, our discussion club turned into an impromptu conversation over various topics, such as the economy, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and affirmative action. It certainly wasn't a disaster, but I just found it less enjoyable and fulfilling as some previous meetings.
On my way home, I once again bumped into Niklas on the street. He invited me over for dinner (again) because he had already made plans with Sasha to make something. So Niklas, Sasha, Dima, and I hung out and had spaghetti dish. It was tasty but I ate entirely too much dealt with an overly-full stomach all night. I spent the rest of the night in my room relaxing (with the exception of my stomach, who worked all night long).
Sunday is absolutely my highlight of the week. I got to swing a golf club for the first time in two and half months! I went to CityGolf with Olya and Anya to use their driving range. CityGolf is a complex located within an office building that offers about five golf simulators, a tiny mini-golf course, a small driving range (into a net), a bar, a restaurant, and a teeny tiny pro shop. We went with the cheapest option, a bucket of golf balls for each of us, since this was their first time. I got a kick out of teaching a couple Siberian girls how to play golf. Of course, you're a bit limited when only have a few buckets and you're hitting into a net. Nevertheless, I think they had a great time trying something new out. So I had fun instructing them and getting in some swings for myself to keep my golf muscles loose. I also found out that they have a tournament coming up soon. There's one small problem though. All but one of the simulators requires that you play right-handed... If I properly understood the guy I talked to, then I might be able to use that simulator during the tournament. If it's unavailable, however, then he just suggested that I play right-handed. Yeah... no, that won't happen. I'm not going to spend that much money on making a fool of myself. Even if I can't make the tournament work out, I'll absolutely go back again to play in the simulator. On a side note, their simulators appear to be really high quality. One of them is panoramic and, instead of just one, has three screens. Maybe I can even rile up a few more people to make it a four or fivesome next time. What better way to combat the -15 and -20 temperatures than to get in a quick 9 holes?
Friday was a pretty interesting day. Of course, as usual, it was a fairly dismal start. I got up at 6:45am for my 8:00am class. Class went well but it's always a bit discouraging when it's still dawn when you're done with your first class at 9:30am... At this point, the sun come up until close to 10:00am and it's almost completely gone by 5:30pm. Days are getting shorter and shorter. For my second class, however, only two students showed up. Also, our usual classroom was taken and we didn't really have anywhere to go but sit in the middle of a very small library. I decided it would be much better to take our class to a cafe instead. We went to Traveler's Coffee, which I've now been to a handful of times and I still find it cozy. We got a pot of tea for all of us and just chatted about anything. In this sense, it really wasn't a class. It was more of a conversation. You could tell we had a good time because we stayed for about an hour longer than our normal class would have lasted. Golf was brought up in conversation and I convinced Olya and Anya, the two I was with, to come with me to CityGolf on Sunday (more details on this later).
After "class," I bumped into Niklas and Katya on the way back home. It was still pretty early but Niklas and I were both really hungry so we tried to figure out what to do for dinner. (This usually happens to me on Fridays. I eat breakfast at 7am, which leads to an 11am lunch, resulting in an early dinner. In this respect, Friday contrasts greatly with the other days of the week.) Anyway, Niklas and I decided to finish the leftover chicken and potatoes and, since that would not have been enough, we agreed to meet up about an hour and a half later to go to Subway for a second dinner. I was all for this idea because I've been curious to check out a Russian Subway to see how the sandwiches and prices differ from the US chain locations. To my surprise, it was actually noticeably more expensive. We both got the "nightly special" which is their cheapest foot-long option and it was about $5.20... without cheese. I added cheese and it put it about $6.50. Most of their foot-long subs were over $7. At least, that's what I gathered when I glanced at the menu. The selection was much smaller. They only offered one type of cheese as opposed to the 4 or so they offer in the US. According to Niklas, we were lucky with the bread they had that night. Usually they only have to options for bread, but we got some sort of special herb bread. Also, the meat looked different. I don't really know how to explain it, but it just looked more "Russian." I can't really complain though. I really enjoyed my sub. Also, now I can check Subway off my list of American fast food chains that I need to visit in Russia.
Saturday, like usual, held in store American Corner. This time, however, I don't think it was as good as usual. We were supposed to watch a movie but we didn't have one ready by the time the club started. Moreover, our coordinator couldn't come so we were strictly limited to a two-hour time limit. Due to a combination of poor time management and technical difficulties, our discussion club turned into an impromptu conversation over various topics, such as the economy, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and affirmative action. It certainly wasn't a disaster, but I just found it less enjoyable and fulfilling as some previous meetings.
On my way home, I once again bumped into Niklas on the street. He invited me over for dinner (again) because he had already made plans with Sasha to make something. So Niklas, Sasha, Dima, and I hung out and had spaghetti dish. It was tasty but I ate entirely too much dealt with an overly-full stomach all night. I spent the rest of the night in my room relaxing (with the exception of my stomach, who worked all night long).
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| Random Picture: A weekly favorite for dinner. Eggs with some combination of potatoes, red pepper, onion, or sausage, bread with raspberry jam, and coffee. |
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