PRIVIET!!! yes i found a net-cafe within 24 hours of being here. and the best thing is it's just down the block from my "dom". where do i start? well, this costs .. uh 180rubles an hour. that's almost 6$/hour. that's a lot. the public library is 15 rubles an hour.

so....St. Petersburg...:!!! it's absolutely astonishing. here i am, finally, in the place of my dreams. the city is old, dirty, collapsing, and gorgeous. i live on Derpitskij Ulitsa, with an actress and her father (her mother is at the dacha). i have a large room all to myself, about 20' by 15' with high ceilings. i got here and was extremely tired. i slept until nine pm last night, had dinner with grampa, watched Cliffhanger in Russian and then went for a walk around 11pm. i walked about 6km around the area, and it was quite an experience. when i got back, almost 1am, the sun was still shining. it was dusk. i went to bed around 1:30 when it was still light outside, woke up at 4am, and it was purple out. within minutes the sun came up and i couldn't get back to sleep. i laid in bed for 2.5 hours trying to sleep. i have a large window by my couch i sleep on...it's about 8'high and has one lace curtain. darkness is impossible in this city in May. i eventually got up, had some tea (they have a really awesome modern samovar), and read some of my book. i also mapped out exactly where everyone in the group lives. class.....we tested and ended up being split by gender (the guys happen to have more experience than the girls, coincedentally). i changed $20 into rubles, and got a kabob and apricot juice for lunch -- 45rubles. i like the prices. then we took a tour around St. Pete in a van. it proceeded to get windier and colder... i have only my blue zip-up sweatshirt jacket.... tomorrow i will bring something warmer.

dinner awaits. i wrote so much in my personal journal the past few days i feel strange repeating myself... i'm sure this will get more exciting later on. so far...i'm alive, i'm extremely excited... i'm living a dream.

email me. i checked my email and had only five junk emails. very disappointing. people? is anyone reading this?

i am all packed except for the batteries to the digicam (they're charging). it is almost noon. my plane takes off at 1510. then i fly to Dulles, which is D.C. then i fly to Frankfurt. then to St. Petersburg. i arrive there tomorrow morning (local time? i don't remember). ok i am going to post the time differences for St. Petersburg and Moscow for the US. ok:

St. Pete and Moscow are both EIGHT hours ahead of US EST. and that means NINE hours ahead of US CST. so... if it is noon now, in Charleston, it is ---> you guessed it, EIGHT PM. yay. everyone take a bow. so now you know.

finally! i hope it keeps working.... i leave for the airport in a few hours. i'm gonna go shower and make sure everything is packed up nicely.

yesterday Chasaty did swing by for the evening. it was so much fun. i miss her already.

hmm i am currently trying to fix this site...

ok. this is interesting... i meditated after i couldn't find it, trying to calm myself down. then i did some yoga because meditating caused my back to hurt really badly. then i fell asleep...at 1:30am Kevin called, and we talked for two hours (it was awesome). still i couldn't find my passport and it was driving me crazy. i woke up this morning after dreaming it was in a backpack at the foot of my bed. strange? i thought so. i had so much conviction when i awoke that it was there...i almost called my mom to tell her i had found it. of course, the backpack i dreamt about was in my closet, not by my bed. i looked -- nothing there. then i looked all around my bed. i once again checked my hiking pack and voila! it was there! in the little pocket on the front. i had put it there before i left STL so i wouldn't lose it. ironic.

Chasaty is supposed to come today. i never really count on her because she's stood me up so many times in the past. she probably forgot. of course, she could be on her way. who knows? she has a 2 hour drive...

i wish this was showing up...i wish this webpage was working.

oh! Pete (my neighbor) loaned me his digital camera. if you want to get pictures i take in Russia, email me at : matthead@slu.edu and i will try to get it to work and send them to you.

Paka~