A Close Call on Leningradskii

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Yesterday I was truely scared for the first time since I've been in Russia. I was walking along Leningradskii Prospect, which is a huge six lane highway. Normally there are tons of other people walking about there too, but yesterday I was one of the few pedestrians. It was noon so I don't know why there were so few people on the sidewalk. But anyway, I was walking along and then noticed that there were two guys coming towards me smiling. Before I noticed them I had slipped into the American way of thinking and smiled for a second because everything was going much better with my host family. So of course they knew that I'm an American. When I noticed them staring at me I turned my eyes to the pavement and tried to put a sour look on my face. But when they came over to me, one stopped directly in front of me and the other went directly behind me. The one in front of me asked with a heavy Russian accent, "Do you speak English?" I was nervous about the guy standing behind me so I wasn't going to stay around long enough to answer him. I tried to move around the guy in front of me. But he moved in front of me again to block me. The guy behind me came closer and ran his hands all over me. After several attempts to get away from the guys I said "I don't want..." (in Russian) And before I could finish the sentence the guy in front says, "What don't you want? What don't you want?" (in Russian).
Finally I was able to get around the guys but it scared me a lot. Thank God that it happened in the middle of the day. I'm going to buy pepper spray.

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Comments

[Sam!]

Sounds Creepy...
Genna! I finally found the link to your travel blog! Now that I'm back in Ann Arbor, I should be able to get on the internet much more regularly and I'll make sure to visit your blog more often! That does sound like a pretty freaky experience. As I was reading it, I was hoping that it wasn't going to end with you getting mugged! Pepper spray might be a good idea, but you should find out if it's legal to carry in Russia. I know that it's illegal in some countries (i.e. England), so be careful. We all miss you; come back soon! :D

[Sam]

Creepy...
Genna! I've been trying to post comments on your blog...but it hasn't been working! Hopefully this one goes though... That does sound like a creepy experience. I was definately expecting that entry to end with a description of you escaping a mugging attempt. Still, you can be confronted with things like that in big cities in America, so I wouldn't worry TOO much about it. About the pepper spray. You might want to look into whether or not it's legal to carry it in Russia. I know that some countries (i.e. England) don't allow it and carrying it can result in rather strict penalties. Just something to keep in mind... I'll definately be keeping up with your blog from now on!!!