january 5

I have a building cat. He kind of reminds me of a tabby cat, but then if I were to try to define what I tabby cat is off the top of my head, I'd be stumped. Today I talked to the building cat in Russian. I've discovered that several residents in my part of the building feed this cat. My neighbor across the hall likes to leave whole fish and fish heads on the floor outside his door for the cat to eat. Oh-so-lovely.

2007 is predicted to be one of the warmest years Minsk has ever seen. Lucky me! Though, I wish there were snow. It makes things so much more beautiful and peaceful, and then I forget about the cold and the harsh, blowing wind.

I went shopping on December 30th at the largest grocery store near my house with a friend. When I say largest, think small. MAYBE a FIFTH of the size of a Kroger… and only the grocery section of a Kroger… still, with five or six aisles, it's impressive. It was like Black Friday at the market; in summation, it was insane. New Years is the biggest holiday for Belarussians, so everyone in the neighborhood was shopping the same time I was. While there, I even ran into another friend, shopping the same time, and thereby keeping my theory alive that there really was the WHOLE neighborhood there. And by neighborhood, don't go thinking about a "subdivision of houses" in the U.S. Think of about 5 square blocks that are packed with 5-15 story apartment buildings… Maybe you can imagine… To top it off, the power in the grocery store went off FOUR times in a span of 10 minutes. And of course, without power, there are no cash registers. So the lines were doubly insane. Where else could I have such wonderful and interesting experiences??

I'm planning a Star Wars movie marathon with some of my friends. I have Belarussian friends who have never seen Star Wars, which is a travesty that should be remedied immediately... I haven't had a Star Wars movie marathon since… 2001... I think... As I remember, only 2 other brave souls besides myself stayed the whole time, watching 4 of the movies, which was all we had then. Even then, I was the only one who remained awake to the last minute… What can I say?... That makes me… stupid or hard core. ;)