Observations

Just a few things I've taken note of so far while living in the Village:

Drinking out of Cups: In every house (and in all the classrooms at school) there is a tray somewhere holding a jug of water and a few glasses. At my house, for example, there are two glasses on the tray although I live with a family of 5. We never wash these cups. Germs? Whatever.

Хлеб --- всему голова: Bread is a staple of every meal here in the village. It’s not as if you take a piece of bread to nibble on with your main dish, it’s more like “Here’s your meal of bread, supplemented by cheese, and maybe a few different things to dip it in. We seriously go through about three loaves of bread a day. On the upside, my bebia (host grandmother) makes it from scratch and bakes it in the woodstove --- and it is DELICIOUS.

Lenin-y Fresh: Our family keeps a spare copy of Lenin’s memoirs in the door of the outhouse. At first I thought it was for light reading, but the other day we ran out of toilet paper and I realized that everyone just tears the pages out when need be (or, you know, whenever you’re feeling particularly sassy).

Keep it real, Georgia.

Sarah