Little Russia

Saturday I went to Brighton Beach with a girl from my ward. I had heard that this area of Brooklyn was filled with so many Russians that it was like a "Little Russia." So we decided to go there and see if I could find some Russians to talk to. So we left around 3 pm and had no idea how to get there and were not certain of the route, but there are maps in all the stations and we were pretty sure we could figure it out. As it turns out, there was construction on almost every train line in the city this weekend (as is frequently the case on weekends). This construction means lots of re-routing and the occasional shuttle bus instead of a train. It also means that trains are sometimes stopped, started, or have their routes changed while you are on the train or while you are waiting for the train. Anyway, we finally got to Brighton Beach sometime after 5 pm--it took us forever, but we got to walk around China Town and Canal Street (where all the illegal purse selling goes on) in the process of transferring trains.

As we got off the final train in Brighton Beach I knew we were in the right place because all the signs I could see were in Russian--It was great! We walked around and looked at different shops. Almost everyone I saw looked Russian it was like I was back in St. Petersberg--we almost anyway. We looked around at some restaurants but all were pretty spendy and then we found this bazaar--store and they had a lot of prepared food there so we just got some things to go. It was amazing to see all these foods that I had been missing and so I loaded up. Most of the brands there were Russian brands--almost everything in the store was Russian. It was a lot of fun and I think Cindi even had fun.

Well we returned to my place and heated up some of our food and shared dinner. There was so much food that I have had a couple more meals from it. It was a great day. It definitly brought back some memories. I even got to speak with one of the ladies working at the store and we had a small conversation in Russian. I hate how much of the lang. I have lost but am happy to know I can still carry a conversation with someone and they still understand me. I am putting a picture on here that shows you how far I went to get there. On a regular day when the trains are running like normal it would have only taken an hour to get there but it's still far away. And I should tell you that I was a spacecadet and forgot my camera so--I just have this one that my friend took for me. She didn't have that much space on her camera or else I would have more. So thats that!

We really did have a great day and had quite the time getting there. Later!