2012-02-25 A New Place to Call Home

John Steinbeck’s compelling collection of stories set in Monterey, creating the novel Cannery Row, passionately flirts with the loneliness of an individual as well as the inverse; the compelling nature of community. A friend of mine said, “It’s purpose is to help you find a sense of place.” I fittingly finished the book a few days ago, whilst I of course delayed the inevitable packing dilemma that laid before me. As always though I managed to pack in the final hours and I now find myself typing in my surprisingly large bedroom, with my new welcoming family, in a cozy apartment, in an alien, in the familiar city of Saint Petersburg… and in Russian.

I am moved in. To a large but rather bare, minimally furnished room. Yet, the item that matters the most, the bed, is leagues better than my old one in the University dormitory. As for now I am content… and obviously hungry. Let the awkward, barely coherent communication commence.