Siberia!

So, the plane tickets are purchased and now I can say that I'm going to Siberia!

Coworker: People used to say that in the 1950's, too, but I think it was in a different tone.

I wrote a possible itinerary and now have to go about getting all my ducks in a row so I can write the final itinerary. But, basically, I'm going to New York for my brother's graduation, on to California for a couple weeks at home, then to Beijing for a few days (trying to figure out just how many is the hard part), then I'm taking the trans-Mongolian railway back to Moscow. So, from Beijing, I want to go to another city in China because otherwise it's a long train ride. In any case, it goes: Beijing - ? - Ulan Baatar (the capital of Mongolia) - Ulan Ude (first stop in Russia) - Lake Baikal and Irkutsk, where I'll spend a few days - Zima (which not only breaks up the train journey, but was also described as "a weird little town" on one website and has a poem written about it) - Krasnoyarsk - Novosibirsk - Omsk - Tobolsk - Yekaterinburg, where I'll spend another few days - Perm - Nizhny Novgorod - Moscow. Of course, this is idealistic, as train timetables, money, and the fact that I might get fed up and quit will all disrupt the itinerary. But this is the dream.

And it has led to the biggest packing challenge of my life (which is why I've started thinking about it two months in advance). I need to bring a camera, documents, money, and some other stuff. The other stuff has to be suitable for a graduation ceremony in New York (my current wardrobe, I feel, is inadequately preppy), walking around New York City (inadequately fashionable), walking around Beijing (I don't really think I can blend in here, but I don't want to stand out more than I have to), walking around small, nature-infested Siberian towns and Lake Baikal (inadequately rugged), walking around bigger Russian cities (I at least have this one covered), and spending a lot of time on trains. It will also have to not need ironing, be hand-washable, and fit into no more than two small bags and a backpack.

Anyway, I went shopping this weekend for something graduation-y (I decided to start from the beginning of the journey), but all I found were tent-shaped minidresses, dresses with a waistband that is supposed to fall somewhere around your hips (this wasn't due to my height (I have more sense than to try such a dress on), it's the way the dresses are actually supposed to fit), a lot of loud prints, and some passable clothes that were out of my price range. There was also a nice red skirt that I could afford and that looked like it would probably fit, but by the time I came across it I was feeling far too pear-shaped for a brightly colored skirt. It would have been inadequately preppy, anyway.

Anyway, looking around at all the cute clothes made me think of how much money I've probably saved by being rather difficult to shop for. If I were six feet tall and rail-thin, there's no way I'd have enough money to go to Siberia because I'd have spent all my money on clothes because everything I tried on would look good. At least, that's what I imagine such a life would be like.

I also discovered that, no matter how many shoes I have, I can't not walk into a shoe store. Just to look, of course. I'm like a recovering alcoholic who still goes to bars, or a newlywed who still reads Craigslist. In other words, it might not end well.