taking stock

Whew! My year on the road is almost over, and what a year it's been. It's been fun, full of adventures, but I'm not sure I'd be ready to do it again any time soon. :) Some statistics:

• Books read: 500
• Pages of notes:1000
• Archives visited: 4, in 2 countries
• Libraries visited: 6, in 4 countries
• Money spent on overweight baggage: nearly $500
• Packages of books shipped home: 5
• Lost bags: 2--#*&$*& Air France. When they found one, it was shredded. They never compensated me.
• Best meal in former Soviet Union: suprisingly stylish Japanese fusion in Lviv
• Worst meal in former Soviet Union: usually my last meal; too many to remember
• Visitors to me in the field: 1, the stalwart MOMS. Everyone else who promised to visit: you suck! Just kidding, you have your reasons.
• Current weight: -7 pounds. Ranged from -15 to -3 over the year
• Hottest day: +37C, Moscow, May
• Coldest day: -20C, Warsaw, February. I was lucky: it got down to -45 in Ukraine last winter!
• Biggest traumas (in no particular order):
  1. stay in Ukrainian hospital
  2. being pooped on by a seagull
  3. having a group of Ukrainian students discuss in front of me whether I'm a Jew--their criterion being whether I have "eyes like snakes."
• Biggest highlights:
  1. Dave's 39th Kiev birthday: pure madness in the depths of January
  2. Nicole's Moscow bliny fest
• Weirdest/most vodka filled night: Midnight visit to House on the Embankment, Moscow
• Oddest landlady: definitely Inessa, St. Petersburg, who keeps removing my dairy products from the fridge, telling me that it's dangerous keep milk cold. Did I mention she's a bacteriologist?
• Greatest travel discovery: Warsaw--cheap, great food, great coffee houses, great bookstores, nice people