Something Strange to Share

So I hesitate sharing this information since so many of my friends are dog and cat lovers but I wouldn't be sharing all my experiences as Irina if I didn't blog about this.

I had been sick for like 9 days, no clue why. I thought it was the greasy food at Nina's or the fact that she doesn't really wash the dishes. She merely rinses them in the water that we aren't supposed to drink and the dries them off with the same towel that the cats sit on when they are in the kitchen. Yeah, disgusting I know. But how the heck am I supposed to tell an 79-year-old Soviet woman that she's not exactly clean. I tried explaining this to my director here at the school who says that I just have a "different definition of clean". For the sake of my faith in humanity, I'd like to think my definition of clean is universal. By the way, my definition of clean is dirt and clutter free.

Marisa (one of the teachers here) and I were talking and she says, "Wow you're still sick. I thought if it was just a bug it would go away by now. But it must be something that you are repeatedly eating." I thought about it and realized that pirozhkis are the only thing I had been repeatedly eating after swearing off my chocolate and beer diet a few days before.

But I had always eaten pirozhkis and never been sick. Hmmm...

Wednesday before our teachers meeting, Marisa and I went winter boot shopping and stopped to pick up a couple pirozhkis for lunch. I order per normal but since we were there early enough in the day, I could choose from several different types of meat pirozhkis. So you're thinking chicken, pork or beef. A likely thought, it was my own thought but I am sad to say that I was terribly mistaken.

I pointed to my new favorite, one shaped like a football. The lady working at the counter asked, "Cheburshk?" I froze in horror. That's the word that all my students (both adults and kids) warned me about- it is cat or dog meat or a blend of both. That's the same pirozhki I had been eating for the last 9 days. I should have known something was highly suspect about my finding a tasty $4 meal.

In case you didn't read between the lines, I'll spell it out for you. I had been eating pirozhkis made of either dog or cat or both for the last week or so. No wonder I've had stomach problems. The next day I double checked with several of my Russian students who all confirmed that my fears were true. However, I was told (and I quote) that "if I had eaten quality cheburshk that I would not be sick". OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't remember exactly how to spell that word but if you come to Russia, don't eat it. I'm not saying it will make you physically ill. I did get ill and somehow felt better as soon as I ceased eating the questionable meat. I will admit it was tasty- so much so that I ate it more than once, heck more than 3 times! But now there is just this disconnect in my mind that I can't fathom eating it again.

Some of my friends have told me that it's an urban legend but I am willing to bet that it's not. Some of my friends and students have also said that if you prepare the said meat yourself, then it's delicious and safe. Ironically, the same folks who told me it was not cat or dog told could not identify from what animal the meat came. Yeah, highly suspect. I shall never again eat that type of pirozhk.

On a happier note, I met two American students at church last Sunday- Reece & Becca. We have become fast friends and are heading to Moscow together tomorrow in celebration of the Russian holiday "National Unity Day". We hope to eat Mexican food at "Hemingway's" and I am dying for a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks. So hopefully I'll have both and it will cleanse me (literally and mentally) from my previously mentioned dining woes.

Until then, POKA!!!!

AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO!