~2 days left
Monday, August 30th
We’re going back to the City of Joy for the last two days of the trip. From where we were, that’s about a 6-8 hour drive because of the mountains in the way. I downloaded some music on my phone for exactly this situation. My sister is sleeping and I’m looking out the window at the sunflowers 🌻. It’s very overcast and a little foggy from the mountains. For once I’m wearing a t-shirt instead of a collared button-up shirt.
The travel back was mostly uneventful, barring some awkward conversation about politics and communism and Joe Biden and shit like that. The fact that nia gvidanto keeps saying that America is sliding into communism to these people, for whom communism means totalitarian oppression and horrific conditions, makes me really uncomfortable. That’s not at all what’s happening in America, and listening to him be a complete idiot rightoid is embarrassing. He won’t shut up about how horrible the commieblock apartment buildings are. I agree, the damage done by the communists is comparable to uhhh the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, as we can see in front of us. Don’t keep reminding us with your blather, because the evidence is *right there*!
At least the city is pretty (commieblocks and all).
We got to the city, set our things down and said goodbye to our ŝoforo elstara, and raced off to do some sightseeing. There was a church built by Tsar Nicholas II that we wanted to visit, but it was closed on Monday evenings. We tried a bookstore afterward, but it had closed about 7 minutes before we arrived. So, we went to some souvenir shops with a remarkably large set of handmade items.
A little while later after we bought some souvenirs, we went and bought dinner at a convenience store. We grabbed some cheese and meat, though nia gvidanto emphasized that it ought to be “traditional”.
I think my sister left her water bottle at the convenience store. Nia gvidanto was hurrying us along because 🙄 and I think she left it on the counter.
Dinner was fine, although I’m becoming very tired of goat cheese. My sister and I talked with our parents about how nia gvidanto has acted and interacted during the trip; it was really nice to talk with them about this. I can’t wait to get back home.
Tomorrow we’re going on a tour of the churchly administration buildings. I’m kinda excited, they’re very big and impressive.