the call

It was -30C (-22F) when I woke up this morning.  Brr!!

As I lay in bed this morning all nice and toasty, I didn't want to get out of bed and into my cold(er) room.  Last night, I used one of my brother and sis-in-laws Christmas/birthday presents.  A hot water bottle!

I have the red one :)

I've never had one of these things, but holy cow was it phenomenal!  When I get in bed, my toes are usually freezing...so I tucked this down at my feet and let it warm up my toesies while I read my book (Chasing Harry Winston).  More on the book in a minute.  

I conducted my morning like normal.  Made hot water for my instant coffee.  Cut up a banana and ate it with yogurt (note: had to thaw the yogurt first because my fridge is frozen...).  Turned on my computer and checked email and facebook.  And then, my phone rang.

It was Olena, my counterpart, on the phone telling me the most glorious news ever: I didn't have to come to work today!  "See you Monday," were the last words we spoke.  Yippeeeeeeeee!  That meant that my day became a LOT more productive, at least in the scheme of things that needed doing at my apartment.

Important things first...I tried this video that my brother posted on my blog yesterday.  Turned out to be an epic fail from my window, but it's still cool to watch the lady do it!

Eventually, I started making veggie chili (I base it off this recipe but definitely can't follow it to a tee.  Half of the ingredients aren't available here...).  Tastes pretty darn good if I do say so myself!  Watched the newest episode of Glee.  Cleaned up the apartment.  Thought about showering and then decided it was too cold.  Then decided it was time to go to the store.  But first, let's take a look at the weather (this is tonight and tomorrow's forecasts, but they were basically the same):

current temp right now: -24C

gonna get down to -29C in the morning but it will feel like -30C. Wowzers.

So, I decide to go to the store.  Kishenya is my favorite store in Kirovograd but it's a marshrutka ride away.  I wanted to go yesterday but didn't think I could physically wait for a marshrutka in these temps, so I opted for the grocery store that's across the street from my apartment.  I'm pretty spoiled, I know. 

There are a number of marshrutkas I can take to get out to Kishenya.  Instead of waiting for one that I was positive would go there (I had already been standing outside for 2-3 minutes), I saw the #5 that I knew went out to another store nearby.  I assumed that it would go down the street that Kishenya is on. 

I assumed wrong.  

Let me state that marshrutkas are not easy to see out of to begin with.  But, when the windows are completely iced over on the inside of the mashrutka, it makes it really hard to see out.  It was literally like riding in a big box with a tiny hole to see out of the front.  I had to guess where we were half the time.  We stopped a few times and let people off and more people got on.  Eventually, I figured we had to be getting close.  And then, we stopped.  Everyone started filing off the bus and I could tell that we were at the end of the line...and nowhere near Kishenya.  

I had to laugh at myself for not waiting for a marshrutka I knew would go to Kishenya.  At this point, I was by some apartment buildings and could see EpiCenter about 500 yards away.  Head down, hood up, hands in my pockets, I started walking.  Let me add that the first breath you take outside literally makes you cough because it's so cold.  My eyes were tearing up.  I wasn't all that cold, just feeling incredibly stupid because I wasn't patient :)  I stopped in EpiCenter and looked around, mainly just to warm up.  EpiCenter is kind of like a Home Depot, while Kishenya is like a Wal-Mart/Target.  

Not sure how far EpiCenter and Kishenya are away from each other, but I had a revelation sometime along the walk (it's probably half a mile if I had to guess).  I had heard talk of people saying their eyelashes froze...but I didn't understand what they meant.  About halfway through the walk, my eyelashes felt weird and wet.  And then they started sticking together.  It is SUCH a weird feeling.  It must come from the fact that my eyes were tearing up like crazy and I'm sure the wind doesn't help the situation either.  Whatever the scientific reason, by the time I got to Kishenya, my eyelashes were icy and white-ish.  I didn't have a camera or I would have taken a picture of this phenomenon. 

While at Kishenya, I bought a rolling pin.  I have really been wanting one (instead of using a bottle of hairspray in a ziploc bag) and decided that I will truly use it in the next 17 months.  I plan on making homemade wheat thins sometime tomorrow or Saturday (recipe here!).  We'll hope they turn out well :)

Back to the book I'm reading.  This is the first book book I've read since I have had my Kindle.  I picked this book up in the Peace Corps office last weekend and thought I would give reading a real, physical book a shot again and give my Kindle a rest.  

It is SO weird to be reading a real book.  My fingers instantly try to hit the "next page" button.  Or even worse, there are words every page that I want to look up the actual definition for.  Can't do that with a real book :( Don't know how I feel about this because I absolutely love having real books on my shelf and picking them up to look at them.  Read the plot.  See what other books the author has written.  It's so strange now to have it all electronic.  BUT, I'm very thankful I do have the Kindle because without it, I wouldn't have read as many books as I have (somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 since I've been gone?).  

I am tired and cold and ready to curl up with my hot water bottle and my real book :)  goodnight blog readers!