Bird,
 
Today I feel homesick. I don't like spending time with college kids. Also, these little street boys shoved me 
today (three times) while I was outside, and although I didn't feel particularly threatened, I felt helpless 
because I don't know what to do when assaulted by children. I wasn't the only one who got shoved, and 
I know it probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been standing around a bunch of Americans, but it 
bothered me. Also, I had a bad nightmare last night, my first night in my homestay. I don't remember what 
it was, but I woke up screaming. This morning, my homestay mom was worried (why she didn't make sure I 
was okay last night, I don't know), and I didn't know how to tell her that I had a nightmare without using 
the dictionary. Her impression of my scream was blood curdling.She speaks no English at all, which is actually 
kind of fun, most of the time. My Russian is improving already, but that ain't saying much. 
 
How's the place coming together? How's Keatsie's adjustment going?
 
George

Birdle,
 
My HM, Natasha, is probably in her early sixties. She has one daughter, but she lives in Israel. They are 
Jewish obviously, but Natasha is "agnotistika" and only goes to synagogue for the atmosphere.The apartment 
is shabby but not dirty. It has only two rooms. She sleeps in the living room. The bathtub and shower are fairly 
normal, but the water pressure is cruddy. The toilet is in a separate closet. She feeds me too much food, and 
I have to eat it all because of the WWII blockade that made all of Petersburg very unwasteful. Sometimes I 
don't know what I'm eating, like for breakfast the last two mornings. It was nuggets made of some sort of 
vegetable matter with lemon jelly on top. For dinner the last two nights I had a big meatball, potatoes, cabbage 
soup, and a salad of pickles, onion, and tomato. Mostly pickles. It was all edible, but not what I want to be 
eating all the damn time. Lunch, which I'm responsible for procuring for myself, has been mostly salads and 
yogurt, though today I had a delicious meat pie.  
 
The kids yesterday were probably eight or nine years old and there were maybe five of them. They already 
smoke. They were saying "money, money!" The other students didn't like it either, but I didn't discuss it with 
them much, because I don't like them much. Encouragingly, I met a German guy on campus today who is 28 
and hip, but not too hip. Maybe I'll meet more people like that. 
 
Yesterday I found Camels, and they cost less than a dollar. There are Russian cigs that cost eight rubles. 
There are 28 rubles to the dollar. Crazy, huh? And beer is much cheaper than water. Even crazier, I saw a 
man walking a bear on a leash down the street. 
 
This city is amazingly beautiful. There are hundreds of awesome buildings, any one of which would be the 
pride of Chicago if it were there.
 
Do email pictures Birdine! That would be awfully nice.
 
George

Hi Bird. 

Class is going fine. The language classes are taught in a much more effective way than anything Sergey 
ever managed at UIC. Of course it helps that I'm being exposed to Russian a hell of a lot. I would guess 
that my vocabulary has almost doubled in the past week, which sounds impressive until you consider how 
little I knew upon arrival. I'm still very far from conversational, though Natasha and I have had some pretty 
funny "conversations." She told me that I look like the wife of Woody Allen, but Allen sounded like Ireland 
and Woody was Voo-Dy, so I was thoroughly confused for a good while. It was even worse when she tried 
to tell me that she likes Ray Bradbury. 
 
This is what my school looks like:
 
http://www.travel.spb.ru/img/smolny.jpg
 
I'm sure there are bigger, better pictures here on the www, but I haven't time to look for them now.
 
George

Hi Bird. Thanks for writing. No need for apologies, just write when you can. I don't have much time right now 
myself. Too bad you didn't go to Geoff's. Nick went and quite enjoyed himself but would certainly have been 
very glad to see you. I'll just tell you about one of my memorable Russian breakfasts before saying goodbye: 
Bread, topped with ground carrot and a whole lot of mayo, then heated in a toaster oven. It was even worse 
than it sounds. I've also had fried carrot nuggets topped with lemon jelly. 
 
I'd love to see Patty's resume.
 
George

Berble,
 
Sorry for the slow response. I was out of town for the weekend in Novgorod, and before that I was extremely 
ill for a couple days. Good old fashioned food poisoning. Two classmates and I shared a salad last Tuesday, 
and 24 hours later we were all puking our brains out uncontrollably. Fever too. For eight hours, not even water 
would stay down. Thursday I just laid there like a dead person. Luckily, Natasha was amazingly nice to me. She 
took my temperature regularly, changed my puke bowl when necessary, and for some reason, checked my blood 
pressure repeatedly. She even slept in my room. On Thursday, she went out and bought a chicken in order to 
make broth. Very sweet lady. Did I tell you about the headache cure she subjected me to my first week here? 
If not, I will, because it's quite bazaar. 
 
I'm glad to hear that you guys had a good time in St. Louis, but sad (and somewhat frightened) to hear that 
you've been depressed. Are you feeling any better now? I'm doing alright here in Russia. Thanks for asking. 
Sometimes I'm bummed out, but mostly I'm pretty neutral. I've found one classmate I can actually relate to, 
and one or two others I can tolerate. As I've said, the city is lovely. Write me soon. 
 
George