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Saturday 19th August, 2023

What has been done

• Visit to GrandPa's grave with GrandMa
• Made an apple pie with GrandMa
• Apple party with russians in Paris appartment
• Vélib' ride to bus station, then bus to airport
• No sleep

What we learned

Who we met

• Russian (irrelevant entry)

Bibliography

New questions

• What correlation is there between beeing taken for a fool (on the ethnographic field) and being "distancié", as ethnographers should be?

Digressions

Monday 20th August, 2023

What has been done

• Flight to Finland
• Train to Helsinki city center
• Realising Finland does not sale Roubles
• Can't withdraw as much cash as I want. I have a little more than two thoursand euros
• Getting coffee and trying to find a structure for this daily ethnographic report
• Bus to St-Petersbourg
• Crossing the border smoothly. Border cops are unexpectedly nice. I see no weapons.
• I'm surprised by how people friendly behave with each other in the bus. It fells like a school bus. People talk to each other like classmates would.
• Feeling sleepy
• Arriving to St-Petersbourg perfectly on time.
• Meeting Andrei
• Andrei drives me, to a great falafel shop, offers dinner, drives me to his and Kirill's appartment
• We go to sleep

What we learned

Who we met

• Andreï, Kirill's friend

Bibliography

New questions

Digressions

Tuesday 21th August, 2023

What has been done

• Andreï cooks brunch (datcha salad + varienki) in the appartement. He bought what I now call "The cool chocolate potatoe cake" (picture) - It's not writen cool as I honestly thought: it's the price. I read it upside down

• We go to the bank, to create a debit card for me. But the attendant says that we need a phone numer first.
• We go to a supermarket with a phone service. I now have a SIM.
• Returning to bank. Getting bank account, buying roubles, and transfering cash into account.
• Andreï does all the talking, he is a superhero.
• We go to a egyptian restaurant
• Then to a graffiti shop he used to work in. He talks with his friend behind the desk. The car is parked in the shop's parking, to not to pay for it outside.
• We go shopping for hicking shoes. I buy Nike's.
• Going to a tea place. Andreï buys some.
• Call with Masha, a Russian friend living in Paris. She might get me in touch with a friend of her's.
• We go drink tea by the river. I meet Aliocha (or is it Asman? I have a doubt), witch is Andreï and Kirill's friend. He has a funny bike.

• I feel like I very slowly progress in Russian understanding.
• Midnight street tuning session

• We go back to the egyptian place. We eat.
• We head back to the appartement, at 3a.m. and sleep.

What we learned

Who we met

-Andreï "graffiti" friend

-Aliocha (Asman?)

Bibliography

Since I might work on tea accross Russia and China. There was pictures of a men, probably the writer, in chinese tea fields.

New questions

• Im trying to figre out the optimal form of this daily post, to not make it look too much like a travel journal, and try to show the "ethnographic" side.
• Finding a way to write "daily ethnography" is hard. What can be already said?
• At this stage, it seems like there is nothing different from a basic journal. It will change. It's to short, missing relevant details.

Digressions

• The whole thing is.