Yesterday I talked Genya into taking me to the central market "Privoz", which was dirty, crowded, and smelly, as it should be. I loved it. I was a lot like the one in Kishinev, except there was a significantly better selection of produce (though not really of meat or dairy, which there was a whole lot of in Kishinev too). My favorite part of the "Privoz" was the section with Korean pickled products sold by people who were very Korean and spoke perfect Russian, and they were at least 100% nicer and less obnoxious than the Russian sellers. There wasn't any Kimchi, but the stuff they sold was an interesting hybrid between Korean and Russian side dishes and salads. And no mayonaise!! I picked up some spicy shredded carrot salad and some "soy meat with shredded carrots" which was really tasty and reminded me a bit of gluten. All of the Korean ladies were basically selling the same exact assortment of salads made from different kinds of cabbage and carrots and different types of pickles. You could try each and see which you liked best. The very unsanitary section with dead poultry was pretty scary in the context of Avian Flu so I tried to stay away from it. (Apparently there is a live bird section which has been closed due to an Avian Flu case in Ukraine - that's the word on the street anyway.) I was forced to walk through the meat section which had a horrible stench and made me want to vomit profusely. (Genya insisted it was the only way to the dairy section, and I got very mad when I realized it was just a shortcut.)
This is Genya, my 16-year-old host sister whom I have been writing about. This is her in her favorite cafe in town. She is not posing with the least bit of irony. I'm serious.

This is a cat, the owner of which I interviewed last week. Cats here are more obnoxious and curious than the ones in the US. I think that's because they are usually not neutered or spayed. Lots of old people seem to have cats with attitudes. And a few days ago I had a semi-stray cat (fed by the Hesed welfare center, and allowed in once in a while) try to climb right up my leg and into my lap and then steal my chair when I got up for a second.