It's a small world. This morning I decided not to care about blending in and put on my Ohio State sweatshirt (the high today was 62F--welcome to August in Russia). I went to the store this afternoon and was walking back along a downtown-Vladimir sidewalk when I noticed that a group of older guys was staring at me as I approached. Then one of the guys started yelling at me. I couldn't understand what he was saying until it dawned on me that he was yelling English words in a strong, Southern accent. He was a Purdue fan and was heckling me good-naturedly (I actually still am not quite sure what he was saying), and I replied with a slightly-confused "Go bucks!"

It turns out that these guys were part of a group in town to work with orphans (interesting because the Russian government recently prohibited Americans from adopting kids from Russia). One guy was from Pennsylvania and has a kid who lives in the Cleveland area, and another is a college sports announcer who has been at countless games at Ohio State's Horseshoe, where I myself seen quite a few OSU wins. We talked for a little bit and then went our separate ways. It's amazing that, 5,000 miles away from the US, people still razz strangers on the street about Big Ten football. That, America, is success.