Can't Take Me Anywhere

Trey always teases me that I put the ass in class and, here in Russia, I am living up to my lowly uncivilized American standard. :-) I really should not be allowed to learn foreign languages.

I can say hello, thank you, what's your name, etc. in Russian. The basics. BORING! Andrea's favorite phrase, however, is "closnaya popka", which means "nice bum" (translated into Yankee English, it means nice ass). So, as Rob and I strolled down Karl Marx Street, which is the center of town, I would say hey baby, nice ass. He would giggle and say thank you in Russian and I would say you are welcome. You could see the amusement on the Russian faces as we babble away in a language they can't understand and out of nowhere comes absurd Russian. Yes, this is how I amuse myself these days.

Back to being civilized. The indigenous people here in Siberia are the Buriyat. They look a lot like Mongolians, so you can easily distinguish them from the Caucasian Russians. Siberia become part of Russia when the tsar started sending the prisoners here. People who were running from the law also escaped here because the idea was that if you could survive the trek over the Ural Mountain Range, you were free. It's kind of the Australia of Russia.

Not sure if I will be able to e-mail from Moscow. Because of a change in train schedules, we ended up with an extra day in Mongolia and one less day in Moscow. In a day and a half, we will be on a mad dash to see Red Square, the Kremlin, Lenin's tomb, etc. It's going to be intense.

Off to the supermarket to stock up for the three day ride. If we're lucky, we may even get a shower on the train. No more baths of wet wipes! One can only hope or dare to dream of such luxury.