Today I went to Novgorod, basically an old city in Russia. It was founded more than a thousand years ago. And playing at the movie theater there: Moulin Rouge.

Tomorrow I leave St. Petersburg and begin the trip "home."

I'm going to miss a whole lot about Russia. Some of it will be the predictable stuff that I sort of already miss. Vera, my host mom. The mental workout I get every day from just existing where I'm learning the language. The hospitality and the cheap cost of living and the ice cream vendors.

I wonder what else I'll miss, that I haven't thought of already. The fact is that, even though I've been studying here, in many respects this is the first long vacation I've taken in a while. And I feel as though it's the first time I've ever taken a vacation somewhat independently. I'd forgotten that you need to carve out time for relaxation, and for joy. How odd is it that Bakersfield and Russia helped me remember?

I felt really, really appreciated -- I don't know whether this is pathetic or not -- when I got on the Net for the first time in days and saw that Leonard, Steve, and Seth had all mentioned in their diaries that they're looking forward to seeing me again. I know other people are, too -- e.g., my parents and sister, and other people who don't have weblogs that I read. But it's certainly nice that every one of the three weblogs I read today mentioned my return as some anticipated event. I sort of don't want to read Kausfiles or Joel On Software now, for fear of ruining my streak.

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Originally published by Sumana Harihareswara at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2001/8/4/131636/3649