Safety and Monkeys

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Yesterday I talked about my experience with the Russian guys in class. My teacher thought that it was very unusual for something like that to happen during the day but warned that if I traveled alone at night things like that happen a lot. She said that men here are much more aggresive when flirting with girls and that groping is not at all uncommon. Here there are no laws to prevent sexual harassment. She said that most supermarkets here carry pepper spray so I'm going to buy that. She warned though that I should only use it in dire straights. If I used pepper spray when the two guys surrounded me I could get in big trouble.
On a lighter note, Renee and I had the most random experience ever a couple days ago. This guy came up to us holding a monkey stuffed animal. He shook the monkey in my face, saying, "You look like a monkey" (In Russian). He said this completely without emotion as if he was just making some regular statement. After shaking the monkey in my face once more he walked away.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was wearing all brown. Who knows.

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Photos

Renee and I
We look like sisters. This is from the day the guy said we look like monkeys