Yekaterinburg II

5:00 pm. Me and two cats in someone else's flat. The cats are someone else's too.

Just had a shower, a cold one, since for some reason they decided to switch off hot water for the entire city this morning. So I have been delaying it..
I feel like a house husband. Not doing anything all day and waiting for the wife to come home and cook some dinner. Irina is at work and coming home any time so there is some parallel, I guess. I was supposed to do some serious programming work today but I could not bring myself to start it. Once I'm past this point I usually can't let myself loose until it is done, but we are not there yet, unfortunately. So I have been browsing the internet, making myself countless cups of tea and washed my trainers since not much was left of their original color after the three weeks 'out in the field'.

I have been ill for the past few days. I managed to take with me some dodgy tonsillitis from Moscow. As it didn't seem to go away by itself and the size of my tonsils begin to give me nightmares I have reverted to my mighty med-kit and prescribed myself some antibiotics. Few days later I could sleep again so I must be a good doctor.

All would have been fine by now and I would probably be on my way to Tobolsk if I didn't get myself entangled in a little affair with my lovely host. What can I say, a couple of minutes on the dance floor shakin' and twistin' with her and some of her friends, followed by lots of complimentary looks regarding my moves'n'grooves, me fitting in by treating them all as if we were long term friends, few undeniably gentlemanly gestures, and two days later, without any real input on my part, I am being kissed on the lips by the lovely Irina. Not that I am complaining of course!

So I spend my days waiting for my lovely 'wife' to come home and cook me dinner. Heh.

With a kiss from Irina I also got a terrible Russian cold. The tonsillitis was a summer fling in comparison. My throat is on fire, my head hurts and I am gagging on my own mucus. (Sorry for the vivid imagery.) I have managed quite a nice weekend before the cold tied me down to the house though. The salsa on the river bank on Thursday evening followed by a reggaeton club night. The latter was quite impressive: probably 70% of guests were girls, all dressed in a way that words wouldn't do justice to and some putting on moves that any classy stripper should have in their routine. Sadly for you I took mental pictures only - no camera at hand, sorry.

On Friday Irina took me to a salsa lesson, which turned out to be for beginners, so we made our own party in a nearby parking lot. Dirt floor, salsa pouring out from a car stereo of an old Lada, quite a picture. As I was trying to get a drink from the nearby pub to quench my thirst after dancing a Russian stranger semi-dragged upstairs where a wedding was taking place. The reason is vodka of course and I have to go through quite a lot of explaining that I cannot drink since I'm on antibiotics. At some point the Russian fellow waves a closed fist in front of my face and I, smiling since the merry occasion and broad day light does not seem to possess any threat, apologize once again, tap him on the shoulder and leave. Being probably too drunk already he let's it be.

Saturday is here, we're going camping!

The weekend is on and what's a better way to spend it! It's super hot, swimwear and tent is packed and off we go. Grabbing a 'taxi' (stick your palm out and wait for anyone to stop, agree the price and off you go) to take us to the other part of town where we, Irina and I, are picked up by Irina's friend. A quick stop at the shop to stack up on shashliki, beer and vodka and into the wilderness we go! - Well, not so much a wilderness since this is a favorite past time of all Russians: getting out of town on a weekend. Thus we arrive to a lake that is already in majority taken over. Apparently it does not matter what class your from, I can see old Ladas together with new Jeeps and other SUVs. I guess in swim suits we are all the same.

We pitch our tents next to the tents of friends of our friends, who have already settled in, started a fire and seem generally in a good mood. Since we are in a pine forest I have to repitch the tent a few times not to damage the very thin bottom layer. After all I bought a super light tent (a 1.4 kilo two-person) so what else can be expected. All successfully done and off swimming we go.

We make barbecue, drink beer and to my surprise wait with vodka until it's dark. Apparently this is how they do it here: if getting drunk is unavoidable this way at least most of the evening is enjoyed. Can't argue that. Especially when after a 20 minute walk in the forest Irina and me come back to find the party slightly disbanded with the author of the previous words lying down apparently not having the greatest time ever. That's how things go and when two of the ladies shed some of their clothes and start dancing around the fire to the beats of Timberlake's Cry me a river I am beginning to regret no vodka has gone down my throat. Couple of hours later with few drops of rain and the thunder getting closer we depart for our tents.

The next days most of the activities are repeated. No vodka involved this time and more food then the day before. Some of us spend the day lying down and I assume generally regretting yesterday's activities. Me and a few others swim the lake and at about nine pm we all had back for the city. It's quite a ride since half the Yekaterinburg is doing the same and all of them drive like crazy - it is not unusual for a three lane road to be taking more rows of cars, one additional on the outer side reserved for emergency vehicles and to my great surprise, another one on the other - no asphalt, just grass and gravel. If you include the overall lack of road law enforcement no wonder Russia has one of the highest road accident mortality rates in the world. Getting 'home' in one piece is thus quite a relief and I make a note for the future to try to avoid car rides at all costs.