14 June 2008: Fish, No Chips

Today I almost quite literally did nothing at all. I got up rather early and waited for Irina to wake up. I didn’t realize that she works on Saturdays. I had thought perhaps we could go for a walk somewhere, but that wasn’t going to happen. She asked what I had planned for the day, and I mentioned taking a stroll around town. “By yourself?” I said yes, but this was most displeasing to her and she told me not to. I decided it would be a good idea to listen to her, so I stayed in all day . . . and slept . . . all day long. I’ll just use the excuse that I was making up for jet-lag.

There was a funny story from today, in spite of my lethargy. Sometime late into the evening, I heard a gleeful shout from the front door. Irina was calling for me to come see something. I hadn’t made it out my door yet before the “something” met me in the form of a very large fish. Alexander is an avid fisherman. He goes out almost everyday to go fishing in the river (whose level of cleanliness is questionable) and sometimes comes back with a weighty catch. I always know when he’s caught something, because I find it in the tub the next morning. Fortunately, the fish is dead and wrapped in a plastic bag, which makes getting it out of the tub easier, but avoiding contact with the fish juices that have leaked out can be kind of tricky.