Flea Market

This morning I went with the Germans to a flea market they had heard of only a few metro stops away from our flat. It was so cool! Actually, it was outside and therefore freezing (!), but it was totally worth it. They had everything from antique books, teasets, and even military uniforms (fairly old) to computer keyboards and universal remotes (not so old).

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I ended up at one booth where the guy had a huge pile of old watch faces. Now, you wouldn't think they would be much worth selling, but some of them were beautiful, and all of them were interesting. I hardly knew what I would use them for, but for only 10 rubles a piece (about 30 cents), I couldn't pass them up. The gentleman selling them asked me if I was planning to make earrings, and I would have said "I am now!" if my Russian were good enough. What a unique souvenir that would make!

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So now it's late, and I'm off to bed- with visions of art projects dancing in my head!

Billiards

One of my favorite things to do here is play pool with our friend Arina. There's a great pool hall not too far from our flat. We meet on the corner near my place and walk there, more often than not stopping to get сосиски (sau-SEE-skee- basically giant pigs-in-a-blanket) at her favorite little bakery on the way. It only costs about a dollar each to play for an hour, so it's a relatively cheap and fun way to spend an afternoon.

My beautiful billiards partner

Anyone who has ever played pool with me will know that I'm terrible. But with all this practice I'm getting better. Arina, on the other hand, is awesome. But today a miracle occured! Due to the combination of me playing the best game of my life and Arina suffering from a spectacular bout of bad luck, I actually won! For the first time. Ever. Recognizing that this will probably NEVER happen again, I decided to take a commemorative photo- this is me aiming for the 8-ball for the first time ever. That's right- I've never even made it that far before!

Who says miracles don't happen? :)