Yaroslavl

The coat of arms of the Yaroslavl region

Yaroslavl is a very old city with a very long history, and though there was settlement here long before 1010, 2010 marks its 1000th birthday! Yikes. The city was founded by the Kiev Prince Yaroslavl the Wise. As legend has it, local inhabitants set loose a bear to chase him away, BUT! much to their chagrin the strong prince wrestled with and killed the bear... and founded the town on the spot. There's some debate as to where this spot is exactly, but I'll have to check it out. I'm not sure why Prince Yaroslavl was considered wise, or what the locals had against him, but in any case, the bear is now the town's symbol. Steve pointed out that this is a bit ironic... didn't Yaroslavl kill the bear? Didn't the people express a sort strong dislike for the Prince by releasing a bear to chase him away? Hmmm... anyways, it's a neat emblem.

The weather is getting warmer here and the ice is melting, leaving super slushy mushy streets during the day, and slick sidewalks at night when the temperature drops again. We went for a walk in the park yesterday and came home with wet feet. At least Steve did, my Sorels are impenetrable. Though neither of us are super into watching tv, with all our free time over here we've started watching The Office. I hated season one - there was way to much obnoxious, sexist, racist humour for my taste and I was SO annoyed with Michael (worlds best boss) that I wanted to somehow transmigrate into the show and quit work... and quit watching. However! We're now on season three and really enjoying it - I'm not sure whether I've gotten used to the humour or whether it's changed... but ??? I love Dwight Schrute. And Pam and Jim.

Last thing for now... Good news ladies - it is acceptable for us to propose marriage today! Apparently, in the English speaking world, it is a tradition that women may only propose marriage on leap years. Hmmm. Interesting. Furthermore, apparently in 1288 there was a law passed by Queen Margaret of Scotland (age five) that a man would have to pay a fine if he refused the proposal! As a result, the tradition was "tightened" because men felt that this placed them at risk... I can only imagine - crazy women on the loose hunting for husbands! I imagine that it would have been a day where the men would have, er, stayed home.