No New News

We are well into week 4 now and everything has sort of evened out. I am learning the routines and others are learning mine. I have found that as long as I keep Tanya informed about my schedule, she is pretty accommodating. I am still running every morning which is not easy since half of it is uphill (at least it’s the first half, and not the second half). The quality of the sidewalks here makes it a bit difficult to daydream. I have to be extra careful where I step which turns out to be good since I have been shocked at how much money I find on the streets here. I don’t mean substantial denominations, but the volume of coins that I find on the streets or sidewalks is really odd. Others have commented on this too, so I know I’m not the only one who finds money***.  Anyway, I take my run, get home, shower and get dressed by 7:00 and Tanya has breakfast waiting for me. Every day it is oatmeal with different fruit toppings (by request), one slice of bread, and a cup of tea. Sometimes she tries to add some bread, cheese and pepperoni on a side plate, but I just ask her to wrap for lunch, which she does. Every day I tell her when I will be home from school and she has dinner waiting for me, no matter what time it is. So on the days when I get home at 3:00, I eat dinner at 3:10. If I get home at 5:30, I eat at 5:40. I have had to put my foot down with the dinner offerings though, since the amount of starch in some meals is going to kill me. Some nights I will be served soup with potatoes AND pasta (like chicken noodle soup with potatoes- lots of potatoes) plus a side plate of 2-3 big or 8-10 small mashed potatoes and 3 (or more) slices of bread. I have gotten so that I don’t feel bad about leaving the food, since I made my food needs clear. I have been noticing some changes in what gets set out for me. I guess it’s a work in progress. The food is still good and they have been pretty good about letting me try new things without having me come home to find a plate of new food for dinner. Usually she makes the new stuff for Sasha and he lets me try it if I want. Did I tell you I tried salo? Now, I am not sure yet what the story is with this stuff. It looks like a block of unsliced bacon with virtually no red (meat). So it is just a block of fat. I was under the impression that they will slice the fat from the block and put it on a piece of bread to make a, well…fat sandwich. But, Tanya and Sasha will cut it into chunks and fry it like bacon, but it is not smoked or cured, so it looks like about 1% lean bacon, but just tastes like fried fat. I will be interested to see what form salo takes the next time I am presented with it.
*** Speaking of odd things I find on my walks: a giant tooth probably from a cow or horse- nowhere near a farm but on a city street; and my forth, yep fourth, hypodermic needle, and not like in front of a possible diabetic’s house where his garbage may have fallen apart, but in four separate spots around town. I’ll keep my eyes down for other weirdness.

Also, I wanted to post another angle of this church that is on my street since I think it is pretty cool looking. Wish the background sky was a better color, but I’m sure I’ll take more shots of it at some point.  

I told you there was no new news.