The Quest for Bumaga

This was my first purchase on my own here in Russia. When the American team left, I took a cab to the house and wanted nothing more than to crash by myself for a day or two. There was not a scrap of TP to be found in the whole house, however, so that got me out and about the neighbor hood real quick. Fortunately, there are small neighborhood stores ("magazines") that stock the basics all over the place. A word to the wise: it helps a great deal if you write down your shopping list in Russian ahead of time, instead of trying to use your pocket dictionary with the shop girl in real time. In this case, it would probably have greatly reduced the amount of giggling as I tried to find the word for toilet paper (which, remarkably, is not found in my pocket dictionary). Then again, the shop girl probably would have laughed at me, regardless. This type of bumaga is the sort you typically associate with Russia in your mind: the texture and consistancy of brown paper towel but not nearly the tensile strength. I have since found some stores that have better quality bumaga, but at the time it was all I could find and unprepared Americans can't be choosers.