Winter sport season has started... yoohoo!

This is what Akademgorodok looks like now. A little piece of heaven wrapped in a layer of immaculate snow. And on the right, this is one of the numerous cross country skiing tracks that are litterally at a walking distance from my place. I said "walking", because apparently, you don't want to ski in the city... I don't know why, but when I mention we could use skis, locals look at me like I am a total weirdo. Anyway, there is nothing like a good walk home by minus 15C after 2 hours of skiing at the same temperature.


I had a lot of fun this week end: on Friday night, I went to a rock climbing gym, which is litterally at a walking distance from my place. There, I could appreciate how my forearms shrunk in size in the last 3 years where I did not go climbing. Then on Saturday, I went to the all new shopping mall, called MEGA CENTER. And well, if you think the Russians have anything to learn from the westerners for building shopping malls, you are totally wrong: there are IKEA, AUCHAN, Leroy Merlin, Benetton, Nike, Reebok, Puma, Apple retailer, Zara, and even Subway... (and much more). I forgot how great it was to shop in a noisy and crowded mall, with the good ol' junk food smell. And, of course, there is the standard ice rink in the middle (you would have thought they'd come up with something more original than an ice rink for Russia, like maybe snorkeling or fly fishing).
On our way back from the mall, we drove by the Ob Sea. It looks much more fun in winter than in summer: the trash is covered with white snow, and there are wind sailers (on skates) and kite surfers (on some type of skates as well). I guess it is advisable to learn kite surfing in water before going on ice, but that looks like a lot of fun! And there are also ice fishers.
In brief, the whole city is like a giant winter sport resort. It's getting fun.