The following words come to mind:

Awe-inspiring
Bureaucracy
Cold (the wind that blows off the Moscow river at night)
Deep (the underground escalator to H-E-double hockey sticks)
Exhilarating
Fabulous
Gargantuan (the buildings)
Hot (the first day we arrived it was +30’C -we’re much more comfortable now @ 23’C)
Intimidating
Joking (as in “you’ve got to be...” THIS is where I live?!)
Kind (the girl at the grocery store who tried to find a common language so we could understand each other)
Literal
Monumental and Militaristic
Non-committal
Overwhelming
Pragmatic (the Russian people)
Quiet (our flat during the day)
Respectful
Serious
Tall
Understand (I don’t!)
Vroom (the sound of cars rushing by, almost taking me out when I don’t look both ways)
WTF (see “Y”)
X-cellent (hey, you try to find an appropriate word that starts with the letter X!)
You’ve got to be kidding -Cinnabon?  Wendy’s?  DUNKIN’ DONUTS?!!
Zany (my sense of humour about all of this)

(I bet you were expecting wirty dords, weren’t you?  That may be next week, things are still fresh -stay tuned.)

Top 15 things I’ve learned in the first week:

1. Sending a detailed letter to the manager about the issues with one’s stay at an upscale hotel chain nets you some pretty nice rewards.  W St. Petersburg here I come with the bonus points I was awarded for putting up with a few unpleasant inconveniences.  (So what if there were pubic hairs left in the shower from the last occupants of the room, right?)
2. Nodding your head in salutation is the norm -smiles and laughter are reserved for interactions with young children (and the feeble-minded).
3. It is possible to catch someone off guard and make him/her smile unexpectedly (especially if you’re a goofball like me -I am not longer “young” so that must make me feeble-minded).
4. The weather can turn on a dime so be prepared for anything and everything.  Pity that my umbrella is in the sea shipment that is presently in Canada “awaiting paperwork”.
5. Recycling?  What’s that?  It is killing me to throw away egg cartons, glass and plastic packaging.
6. Very few people have curly hair.
7. Hot water is not guaranteed after 8AM -in fact, sometimes water doesn’t happen at all.  That explains a few things -I’ll let you extrapolate what you will from that.
8. One can only watch CNN, Euronews and BBC for a limited time daily -once they’ve each gone through their reporting loop, it is rather painful to watch a second time (not to mention the first time).  We have got to get internet access soon -TV streaming here I come.  When does the House MD premiere air?
9. There are underground tunnels to cross streets -trying to dart across 12 lanes of traffic without the assistance of a traffic light is NOT possible nor is it encouraged.  The little green pedestrian “walk” sign at corners doesn’t last very long.
10.  Cars have the right of way here.  Don’t be caught unawares! Look both left and right TWICE before crossing any street because the normal method of determining the orientation of a street does not apply here.  People park where they can, when they can, however they can.
11.  The underground is just that -UNDERGROUND.  Holy cow is it ever deep!
12.  Gestures and body language are almost as good as verbal language to make one’s self understood in any situation.  Don’t ask.
13.  Living without a car is going to ensure I get back into shape.  The 45 minute walk each way to/from the gym is going to do me some serious good -I just have to stay away from the Starbucks that is at the 1/2 way mark.
14.  Bringing your own bag to the grocery store nets you a discount at the cash (especially if the cashier sees the English writing on the bag -thank you T.G. & Royal Lepage!).
15.  Be thankful for inexpensive strawberries in North America.  $2.99CAD/lb is nothing to pay.  Apparently a 2lb pkg costs 1300 РУБ here (this is equivalent to $37.14 CAD).  In the strawberries’ defence, they were really quite succulent-looking.  I just about fell over when I did the mental math.  Not surprisingly, they stayed at the store.  You can, however, get a great loaf of bread for 76 РУБ ($2.17 CAD).  (1 CAD = 35 РУБ)

Yesterday must have been some kind of Saint’s celebration day as I saw a few Orthodox priests walking around and there was a woman displaying a religious icon, prostrate on the sidewalk (she was prostrate, not the icon) receiving donations.  I had to laugh (inwards of course) at the irony of the young priest walking down the street in head-to-toe, traditional, black garb while preoccupied with texting on his smartphone.  Did he have a direct line to someone in particular?  Ah, the face of modern Orthodox Religion.  If there are Twitter discussions about the Quran and the Torah, why not txt your higher power?  I wonder what kind of long distance plan he had...

Draw your own conclusions from the following two statements:

I can’t believe we’ve already been here a week!!?
Has it only been a week?!!

our daily bread

Bench?

For Lan (check the background)

Our apartment building is in there (somewhere).

Jy-janteek kall-yooms as per Gunther Nolte (sound it out, I promise it makes sense)

From Russia, with love.