12:58 PM. Monday.

So we hit the internet earlier than usual today, mostly because we've got some serious shopping to do (groceries and winter nylons... woo!), but also because transfers happen at the end of this week and we as a Zone want to go and climb the little mini mountain located just east of the city. Once again... photos as I get around to them. See also: When I find a computer with USB capabilities. Basically what I'm saying here is that while I found a battery charger for relatively cheap, I now need to focus on getting photos off the camera. I figure you'll get to see what my life is like on the mission sometime after I return home.

And also, before Iforget, and because if I wait until next Monday it'll be too late: Happy Birthday Dearest Eldest Sibling Mine. On Sunday. Oh for cuteness... Christopher is going to be... 27? Really? That's disgusting. I'm disgusted. Hippo Birdies, Sibling Dearest. Hippo Birdies.

Let's see... what else? Ah. Sometime last week Sister Ivanova declared that she was in the mood for french fries, and so we bought potatoes (fast food is not something readily available around here... although now that I think about it, I did hear that there's a Baskin Robbins somewhere on the American (see also: waaaaaaay south and very very very very rich) side of town. I'll have to check that out sometime) and put them in the refrigerator (here again we see the silly Russian habit of keeping the wrong food cold. Milk can be left out for days and days, but potatoes? No thank you, we like ours cold). Today we finally got around to frying them, and as a result, I smell like grease. And I'm pretty sure that I'm going to smell like grease for the next two weeks. Maybe that'll help draw in the investigators. Well I can hope.

So around Tuesday-ish of last week I discovered that Russian has what I would call every-day-common-usage swearwords, and Bad Ones. Sort of like the difference between our mild taboo words and the words that polite people would never ever ever use... only more so. And, interestingly enough, I discovered this in the middle of a lesson, of all places. HA. I'll tell you all about it next week though, because I don't have enough time this week.

Per usual (though of course that doesn't make it any less), I love you all, I expect you all to stay safe this week, and I expect stories of all the fun things you do without me.

-Calista Davidovna. Missionary Russian-style.