Probably not.

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Today was especially lonely. The girls have gone to Moscow for a holiday until wednesday, my computer is still at Yartek after the party and I blocked my sim-card by mistake so sending 'sms-ki' was out of the question too.

I went for a long walk in what was left of the snow. Sunday should be a time to relax but it didn't prove to be very good for my self-esteem. I wanted to buy ingredients to make my own dinner, which was to be a sausage roll of sorts.

In the street outside the shop where I bought the bread and sausage two men stopped me and asked me "Where's Lenin?". Assuming they meant Prospekt Lenina and not Vladimir Ilych I directed them to the end of ulitsa Nekrasova and then left at the House of Culture. In hindsight they could have meant his statue, which is a kilometre in the opposite direction. Then I realised that the sausage wasn't the type you can eat without cooking.

In another shop the guard took my bag off me and I didn't understand what he said to. When I got to the till the girl said, bluntly: "What are you? Probably an American?" to which I replied "No, I'm English." "Oh, so you're from London." Can any country make you feel more ashamed to be foreign than Russia does?

The girl at the next place said "fourty six roubles" then moved her till round so I could read "fourty six roubles", by which time I was too grumpy to make a fuss.

I tidied my room then went to bed at midnight.

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Photos

Stay!
The girls' last night at Yartek.