My Neighborhood

I actually had to stare at the title for a bit because it looks wrong without a 'u' in there. I have a feeling my spelling is going to be very confused by the time I return to the States. People will read my writing and wonder, "Is she American? Is she British? Is she illiterate?"

As I mentioned in my previous post, I live in an apartment rented by a family. They actually rent the two apartments on the top floor of my building - the mother, father, and son live in one, and their two daughters live in the other. Their older daughter is studying abroad this year, and so they are renting out her room to me. So, yes, this means I am living in a two-bedroom apartment with a 13-year-old as a roommate. I haven't actually seen her much at all because the family has been gone on a ski trip, but she seems nice and I've been told she barely spends time over here.

My kitchen is just the bare bones of what you'd need to cook, and that suits me well. Lack of a microwave and oven makes leftovers a slightly sad and cold affair, but really, I'm discovering leftover food tastes just fine cold. There is a grocery store right across the street, which makes food purchases very convenient.

The apartment is right across from the metro stop, which is only 2 metro stops from work. On a bad day, it takes me 15 minutes to get from my apartment door to my office chair, which is just plain silly. The same metro, in the opposite direction, gets me downtown in 10 minutes. The buses and trams are quite convenient too, and many stops have an electronic sign telling you when the next bus/tram will arrive.

I walked around a bit last night, and I found an Asian food store, owned by an Indian man and selling mostly Indian goods. The poor guy was quite put-off by the fact that I wandered into his store and left without purchasing anything, but hopefully I can redeem myself when I return to buy Naan and curries. There's an Orange store here, as well, where I can add money to my phone. I also found a Georgian/Russian/Viennese shop that's open 24-hours a day, and I nearly keeled over from the shock of it because most stores (except restaurants) close at 6-6:30pm here and are closed on Sundays. It sells alcohol and a few food items, and I kind of want to go one night in the middle of the night, just to see if anybody is actually on the streets at that hour and visiting that store. I mean, there'd have to be a story behind an excursion like that, right? Right by the metro is a shop that has the major bases covered in its name: "News - Snacks - Alcohol." There are also 6 or 7 cheap food stalls and takeout places within a block of my apartment.

By far, the most entertaining store is the unmarked and low-lit bong store. Its display windows are in black light, with glow-in-the-dark bongs and house music blaring. Inside are shelves filled with bongs of various sizes, and (can you believe it?!) a no-smoking sign. Outside, there was a frantic little dog tied up and barking at just about everything. That dog seriously needed to chilllllll man.