Doings

 Mr. C in front of a Russian conveyance structure.

Tonight Friend H and I went out for dinner. At this point in the venture I think we're both searching for a dredge of sanity, which is not to be found in great supply at the apartment. So we combined a bit of gift shopping with a nice dinner at the Galleria Mall. The Galleria is pretty fancy and mostly way too expensive for me, and there are SO MANY people(all smoking, of course). We ate at a sit-down place called the Eggplant. Eating a nice dinner alone was worth the extra cost, and the food was really good. I had a lamb pilaf, and we split a bread bowl that had hot cheese and butter in the scoop. When the bread arrived on the table the waitress added a raw egg and stirred it up in the center, and the egg cooked in the hot cheese and butter.

Svorosky Prospect, the street we live on.

I'm still working on Christmas presents for the family. I'm having terrible trouble with gifts for all the boys. None of the normal tourist gifts really apply to men, and the tourist T-shirts here are awful. There ought to be T-shirts that say things like "I got squished by a Babushka in Russia" or "I wrestled a Dagostani on vacation" or "I survived being a missionary nanny."

Friend H at the Eggplant with some amazingly sweet and oh-so-cute looking macaroons that Mrs. P bought for me. We snuck them in for dessert.

The Ds and Mr. P arrived back on Tuesday, and we're fast moving into our last few busy days in Russia. Tomorrow we're celebrating a birthday, followed by Thanksgiving in Russia and a trip back to Vyborg, ending with a visit to the ballet on Sunday. Then on to my forty hour journey home.