Umbrellas and pie.

Today was one of those days full of little Russian learning experiences... you know, like every day. The kind of day that Hodge said would be the real challenge of living in Russia -- not my language classes. After class today, Grace and I decided to try to accomplish two very simple (in our minds) tasks:

1. Find me a cheap umbrella.
2. Locate this café that Grace's host sister told her about and do homework there.

Well.

Well.

First of all, stores in Russia are still how things used to be back in the day before Walmart and all that stuff. You know, when Walgreen's was just a drugstore that sold drugs, not Lexington, MA shotglasses and flip flops. So, first off, all drugstore places were ruled out because you go in and, surprise surprise, they actually just sell drugstore stuff -- bandages, advil, moisture cream. The next place we tried was a mall with a bookstore and clothing store that Bryan said might have umbrellas but, much to our astonishment, the bookstore sold books and the clothing store sold clothing. We then found a store called "Assecorize" (okay, I just had to keep the mis-spelling of that because that just shows how not-used-to speaking English I am now. that sentence is also further proof of that) -- I mean, "Accessorize" -- that had little cute umbrellas for..... drumroll please, 900r. That is almost $40. WTF. The cheapest one was 700r, ooh, a real bargain at $28. So that wasn't happening, especially after Olga told me this morning that I should be able to find one for 50r. So Grace and I kept looking but no other accessory stores seemed to carry umbrellas.... I could not comprehend where all these Russians walking around with their umbrellas had found them. I was beginning to think there must be a store that just sells umbrellas, but it must be underground. We even tried a kiosk because our textbooks had once mentioned that you could buy umbrellas there (LIES). Just when were were about to give up, as if fate, we walked past a window and there in it was one red and black umbrella on display. This was the window of a small store that didn't even have a name -- it was kind of a dollar store atmosphere, full of everything and anything..... tea cups, hair dye, t-shirts, sponges, nail polish AND..... umbrellas for 100r. Perfect.


Though, ten minutes after I purchased it, the string on the handle already broke. Of course.

So that took about 40 minutes, and by then we were really in the mood for coffee and Sasha was done using the internet at school and ready to meet up with us. Anyway, this part of the story is less interesting to tell..... it just involved us walking back and forth up along the first line (street) on the island where Smolny is, looking for this café called Stolle. We finally found it after much confusion and, at least, it was so worth it. Much cheaper than the "Coffee-House" chains that are everywhere, and significantly better atmosphere -- plus the most amazing perog (Russian pie) ever. Sasha and I both had the strawberry pie and, oh my god, I almost died. Dad, when you visit me here, I am taking you to this place. You are going to lose your mind over how good this pie is. So we hung out there for a bit, doing some homework and also reading David Sedaris (oops, not homework) and that was that.