What do you call it when you go on a trip when you're already on a trip? This is the riddle I've been asking myself, seeing as I leave tonight for a nine-day trip away from Moscow and Russia as a whole tonight. It sounds strange to say, "I'll be leaving the country for a while," when I'm already not in my own country. Regardless of whether or not I ever find the answer to the riddle, I am happy to say, "I'm taking a trip while on my trip."

Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Those are the countries to which I will be heading over the next nine days... and you can bet your boots that I'm super excited. I'll get to go to the temple while in Helsinki, hopefully eat some meatballs and ham-banana-curry pizza in Stockholm, wander the the cobblestone streets of Tallinn while in Estonia, and...well, I honestly have not idea what I'll be doing (besides lots of walking interrupted by bus-riding) while in Lithuania and Latvia. So, I guess you could say I'll be having totally new and grand adventures in Lithuania and Latvia since I have never been to either country. Whoo-hooo!

You may have thought I was joking about being excited to get to eat meatballs and strange pizza while in Sweden, but I really wasn't. I consumed both dishes while in Sweden before, enjoyed them both thoroughly, and have made them both mulitple times since I returned to the U.S. after that family-trip. It seems like that for the past two weeks at lunch, every time I have sat down to a plate of egg-blocks, cabbage, or buckwheat, all I have been able to think is, "In a little while, I will be eating meatballs with lingon or one of my favorite types of pizza, ham-banana-curry. Now that's something to look forward to." Yes, eating meat with jam may sound strange, but I like it, and Americans like to eat ham (which they call Candian bacon) with pineapple on their pizza (which I've thought is strange for nearly two decades), so they really can't give the Swedes a hard time for liking curry (which, in my opinion, improves almost any meal), ham, and fruit on their pizza. At least the Swedes don't try to make their own ham sound more exoctic by calling it "Nowegian bacon."

Don't worry, the food isn't the only thing I'm excited about. I hope to give a full report of my adventure when I return to my lovely Russian flat. Until then, enjoy eating your "Canadian bacon" and pinapple pizza.