Snow!

It's finally snowing! And by that I mean it snowed for the first time a couple days ago and I've been too lazy to update.

See? SNOW. It's magical. And totally unexpected in Siberia.

Like I said, the long awaited snow has finally hit and Irkutsk is much prettier for it. The downside is that traffic is even worse than it was before, especially in my part of town, and there's a whole new level of difficulty getting around on public transportation. If I thought it was hard before figuring out what stop to get off at, it's even worse with the windows being frosted over because you can't see anything unless you carve a little hole in the ice to peer out of. Which is pretty much impossible if you're packed into a bus or marshrutka and can't get to a window. Siberian problems. 

Anyway, I don't want this blog to turn into a "complain about Irkutsk transport" blog (which it very easily could, oh yes, yes indeed) so I'll just leave it at transport here is hell. Hell, I tell you. 

Right. Snow. This is especially exciting for me since it's pretty much the first snow I've seen since last time I was in Russia. At that time snow and I needed to take a break from each other and see other people. We've had a long enough separation that I'm happy to see it again. 

I'm sure I'll look back at this moment in time a couple months from now and laugh bitterly. But seriously, right now I'm still basking in the glow of my first snow in Siberia, something I've always wanted to experience-- roughly since this time last year when I looked on a map and realized that Irkutsk gets more sun than any of the other cities in Russia I could have chosen to go to. Anyone who doesn't understand the reasoning behind this clearly wasn't in contact with me the last time I was in Russia. My general level of misery in Russia is way less now that I'm living somewhere with regular sunlight. (And yes, there is always some level of misery associated with living in Russia. Please refer to any piece of literature ever written by a Russian if you don't believe me.) That's it for now! 

A picture taken the last time the sun was seen in St. Petersburg, Russia.