What Comes Around Don’t Always Come Back

For that purpose, I want to share some photos that have never made it into the wordier posts. I’ll do my best to explain the relevance of each, but I think that from here on out, posts will be getting a little less Russian. Quite sad, but quite true.

Bear necessities: This is the sign above the traditional Russian store across from our campus. We had to request anything we wanted because all goods (vodka, bread, cheese, all of it) are placed behind cash counters. Hooligans often frequented this storefront with lots of cheap beer.

Cautionary tales: Here’s Joey as we gazed out over the so-called  “Bay of Finland.” Saint Pete’s was particularly frigid that day, and we had hiked out to this point only to find a lot of ugly, ghetto land reclamation going on. But I like this picture; feels like I took it 502 thousand years ago.

Last minute surprises: this super famous Soviet structure/statue was unveiled only a few days before our departure. They (meaning the Russians) used to flash an image of it before every film; sort of like the 20th Century Fox intro. Construction obscured our view, but the reconstructed monument was worth seeing nonetheless.

Coincidental canines: Of all the stray dogs I tripped across in Russia, this one, who resides in Sergiev Posad, was by far my favorite. As dirty as he was, I just wanted to hug him, call him Chewbacca, and tote him back to the United States. He was kind enough to pose for us for several minutes.

Legendary parallelograms: This square at Oxotny Ryad (awful transliteration) lies right in front of Red Square in the center of Moscow. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been there and back again. The first few times you see things like this (at least after living in Missouri for over 21 years), you can’t help but be a little gape-mouthed.

Shameless tourists: Here we have one of the few posed photos I actually make an appearance in. Joey and I are standing in front of the Church of the Spilled Blood in Pete’s (again, ages ago). For those of you who will actually see me in due time, I have to show you photos from inside the church: all mosaic, all the time. The place must weigh a million trillion tons. Besides that, I think the two of us look sufficiently silly/happy, which is all you can ask of a “golly, we’re in Disney World”-esque photo.

So, for now, that’s all folks. I’m kind of rethinking the blog right now, trying to figure out how to carry it over from this last semester. Features on life in Kirksville it is! I might be kidding. I might not.