So on Monday night I started feeling a bit ill, and to spare you the gory details, over the next 48 hours I had some painful, inconvenient and exhausting symptoms [although I am proud to say that I still have not thrown up since I was 9 years old. It will be 10 years this November...] I'm on Cipro now as well as Pepto Bismol, Tigan (anti-nausea drug) and a bit of Imodium, so that should clear things up.
I didn't go to class today, on the advice of my professor, and I also missed the tour of Pushkin's apartment. I'm kind of (read: a lot) behind in my coursework but I trust that people will be understanding. It's lonely here and all I've been doing is sleeping, to tell you the truth, interspersed with trips to the bathroom. My only company today was Fedya, who really was just using me as his maid-service.
Despite some severe stomach cramps that woke me up from my nap about 4 pm, I was feeling well enough for dinner, which was a delicious healthy meal.
Speaking of which, despite my stomach symptoms (which I attribute to stress, too many cherries plus perhaps ingestion of the local water, followed by maybe antibiotic-associated death of probiotics in the intestine) I'm actually feeling rather enthused about the food I've had here so far... here's what dinner's been for the past 4 days:
Saturday: Chicken soup, black bread, cherries and chocolate wafer cake
Sunday: Nelya wasn't home, so I had yogurt. This is a rare occurrence, and she did try to feed me when she got home [however, it was really damn late.]
Monday: Stir-fried potatoes with dill and mushrooms, green beans, cherries and dessert
Tuesday: Cooked pickles with cheese (surprisingly delicous) and dessert
Wednesday: Stir-fried chicken with mixed vegetables, whole-grain couscous kasha, and steamed broccoli, plus dessert
Man, I had forgotten how good chicken was. Mmmmmm. "Vegetarian" here means that you don't eat red meat or pork - fish and chicken are still game (so to speak ... hehe) - so I've been eating what my хозяйка prepares, which so far has turned out delicious.
Tomorrow I do heartily plan on having bliny at some point, even if I just leave the house early and make a stop at Теремок. Ouch there's my stomach, probably telling me not to think about food, not get ahead of myself :P
I've been getting by thanks to my handy water filter, it's a bottle with a microfilter attached to the sipper so when you suck the water gets pulled through, filtered for cysts, spores and such, and then treated with some iodine compound to kill bacteria before reaching your mouth.
I just woke up for a bit due to a loud traffic accident, so time to go back to bed. Here's hoping I'll be up to speed in the morning, ready to brave St. Pete anew!
So you're eating animals? How is that going for you? Are they delicious?
ReplyDeleteAlso if you want to talk it would be helpful to know what times your "awake" hours are.
Yes, they are delicious. I can't get all my protein from dairy products [which may not even be pasteurized.] And there's no tofu or garden burgers in Russia. In short, it's going quite well. MMMMMM CHICKEN.
ReplyDeleteMy awake hours vary. I'm usually "awake" from about 8 am to 10 pm my time - which is 12 midnight to 2 pm your time - but don't expect me to talk in the morning, i.e., I'm not functional until probably I get home from Uni (bout 8-9 am your time). In short, uh, live chat is going to be difficult.