Strange Things

On the TV

erratic_prophet | 02 June, 2005 16:47

Russian television...

It was a strange thing to me. My Russian family did what most American families-- mine included-- do. They kept it on all of the time as background noise. If something interesting came on, we'd stop and watch. Usually though, it was just on and no one watched.

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Amusing Park

erratic_prophet | 21 May, 2005 21:09

The town I visited, in southern Russia, was built around a rather large park. Really, the park was unbelievably huge. And I don't think anyone really mapped the whole thing out. There was always something new to find there. Luckily, you couldn't easily get lost. If you took a path long enough, eventually it would lead you out of the park. We'd passed the amusement park several times before we decided to give it a go. That was our first and last time to a Russian amusement park.

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Fear of the Body Snatchers

erratic_prophet | 18 May, 2005 13:10

I've brought up before-- several times, I'm sure-- that we, my cousin Den and I, were not allowed to go anywhere unescorted. This wasn't due to fear that we might get lost somewhere, but fear that we might get kidnapped.

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The Bazaar

erratic_prophet | 17 May, 2005 21:10

Another Russia story..

I mentioned the bazaar before but hadn't gone into detail. This story is about the one time I went, with my cousins, on a trip to the bazaar..

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Culture Shock

erratic_prophet | 12 May, 2005 16:47

More background on me, the family and our trip to Russia and a story about how we were attacked by rabid fish can be found here.

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To say things were a bit different in Russia than they were back at home in Jersey would be a gross understatement. Even the city we were in was unlike anything I'd seen back home. It was clean. Even when we were in Moscow, the subways were not only gorgeous-- think marble, gold plating, etc.-- they were spotlessly clean. They looked more like museums than public transport stations.

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

erratic_prophet | 12 May, 2005 16:46

It was the summer just before my senior year in high school. I was 16. I figured that I had a nice long summer of doing nothing and hanging at friends' houses doing nothing. This didn't bother me as much this year because some of my friends now had licenses and cars. That meant roadtrips.

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Tales From the Pond

erratic_prophet | 12 May, 2005 13:37

Or Attack of the Leaping Fish.

This story comes from my trip to Russia when I was 16. I was a lucky girl, wasn't I? My father took me, his twin sister, and her son. My mother didn't go because she refuses to set foot on a plane. This was my first plane trip ever. I was very excited. I plan on telling a few Russia stories, so I should give some background. My aunt hated me. Very much. From the day I was born. She taught her son to hate me as well. He'd forget on occasion, and when he did we got along very well. But a lot of the time, he was a brat and we fought. My father and I fought almost constantly when I was a kid. So no one really got along and we were going to another country for 6 weeks. Sound like fun? (More)