Technical Difficulties Solved!

Found a universal adapter at the computer store “Key” today. Of course it was almost $20 (in the US, I think you can get like 5 of them for a few dollars), but desperate times…I’m excited to be able to start taking pictures for real! I also am really proud of myself because I went into the store without even really knowing what to call what I was looking for.* But, the guy knew what I meant when I described it, which is always a nice ego boost.** After that success, I decided to go buy a map of the city, so I went to Dom Knigi (Book House). I also picked up a paperback copy of Nabokov’s Dar (The Gift), which I’ve only read in the English translation, and haven’t read since I was in Petersburg. Hopefully I will finish it before Christmas. 

The pensive statuette in my bedroom.

There is something really satisfying running errands and feeling confident doing the things that need to get done. I am still getting weird looks (sitting odna—alone—in Traveller’s Coffee***, for example), and the cashier at the grocery store got a little irritated when I pronounced the word glamour as one would in English (with a slight roll of the final ‘r’—think glamourrr), as opposed to the Russian “gley-murrrrrr.” Clearly, since glamour is a singularly Russian thing. But, Chumbawumba was blasting from the football stadium that is a few blocks from my apartment, so as soon as I left the store, I was reminded that everything was truly going to be alright.

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* Even in English people get confused as to what I’m talking about. Sometimes people think I’m talking about voltage converters, or something…I’m not really sure why, I guess it’s just not something that you think about on a regular basis because normally you don’t have to change the type of plug you’re using all that regularly.

** Sometimes when people hear you begin to speak with an accent, they act like they really don’t understand what you’re saying. I used to run into this problem a lot in Petersburg, but haven’t really here, yet. Maybe my Russian has improved (most likely), but people are probably also a little more patient here (definitely). 

***This apparently invited the attention of Andrei, a molodoi chelovek (young man), who came over to ask what I was reading, and then seeing that it was a book of American short stories (obviously not in the Cyrillic alphabet), he preceded to explain to me that he studies different typefaces and was fascinated by the Latin alphabet. Me too, Andrei. Me too.