July 24, Russians’ cooking day and lake loss

Between the Lines updates (international writing program)

I made a discovery today – there is sweetened condensed milk in America. Sguschenka, that is. We found it today at HyVee food supermarket to serve with Russian bliny. Russian girls wanted to treat their American peers to some nice home-made food. So the organizers reserved a kitchen for them in a Methodist church, took them to a supermarket and didn’t forget to take a first aid kit to a cooking party. Bliny stuffed with minced meat and potatoes, Russian salad or Olivye, and sugar pies called ‘pies for son-in-law’. It was greater fun to watch Americans join the process, listening to crazy Russians’ orders while glued to frying pans.

After kitchen fun, we went to Coralville lake, which has a beach and a camping area, for a picnic. Even on the shore of a lake there is a water fountain. On campus they are everywhere. Students played American Marco-Pole game in the water. It is similar to our zhmurki. One person with his or her eyes closed says ‘Marco’ and everybody answers ‘Polo’. He or she should catch anybody following their voice. When played in water, it turns into funny splashing and mar-co-po-lo-mar-co-po-lo singing.

Another discovery for today, and a shocking one. I was robbed. I got all my clothes stolen while I was swimming peacefully in the lake. Blue shoes, a jeans skirt with watch in the pocket and one dollar, a grey-collared T-shirt and a light long jacket, a white towel – that’s what I wrote in a lost item report. Looking into trash bins didn’t help. Everything just vanished. Shivering with cold in a wet swimsuit, I stood To be robbed in the middle of nowhere in Coralville while I was safe in LA (Los Angeles), DC (Washington, DC), NYC (New York City), TBC (to be continued). The ranger who was on duty in the camping site said it  had never happened before. A mystery. TBS (to be solved).