Farewell to St. Pete

You will all be pleased to know that I passed my Russian grammer and conversation classes. No big surprise there, but I was pleased at how well I did given how little I studied. Though maybe the breakfast and dinner conversations with my host mom count as "studying." Going to try not to let this get to my head, and remember to study a bit at Virginia next fall...

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Today's my last day in St. Petersburg. Tomorrow night, I take a train to Moscow. I'll arrive somwhere around 9am and be dropped off at my new host family. I'm a bit sad to leave my current family - they've been great. It's going to be hard for the next family to beat 'em (not like it's a competition or anything :))... The second set of classes start on Monday - yeah for a 4 day weekend!

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Gender in Russia: two quite observations. I just visited the Museum of Russian Political History - quite an awesome place - recently restored; lots of great exhibits. (Only "Russian Political History" as this museum defins it includes Stalin to Peristroika. Nothing before; nothing after) But, they offered author's names, in typical russian format: С.Ф. Федовон Fist inital. Middle Initial. Last name. But it entirley hids the gender of the author. And though I feel it might provide a bit of annomitiy. I was kind of interested in knowing the gender of the authors - who was doing to research, who was doing the writing? Because:

In Russia, I've noticed that most jobs are incredibly gendered. All the people who work in museums (except security guards) are women. All people who work at cash registers are women (with the exception of music and book stores, where there are some men). All bus/marshrutki drivers are men (Saw an employment advertisement once for a bus driver "Russian Male between the 25-50y.o.) This has been humoring me for awhile. No deeper thoughts than the (clearly not so deep ones, by definition) that you've already thought of... Just an observation.

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To Moscow!

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C Днем Рожденйя Мама! (and you thought'd I'd forget...)

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to be continued...

Cowboys and Russians

So in class today (the final class of St. Pete...), we learned the word for 'cowboy' - кобои. Which I find really hilarious because I've been reading Annie Proux. Though the gods might punish me for reading about Wyoming while riding past the Hermitage, I'm getting a kick out of it.

The short stories are a great study break (not intending to give the impression that I do much of that here :)) and I've been captivated by her writing. Highly recommended.

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to be continued...

The Gastinets'ya/Dorm/Hotel/...

A long and complicated stream of events (none of which are bad - or really of note) led me to sleep in the gastinets'ya (aka: the dorm, the hotel, the soviet style building in the middle of nowhere that is falling down/apart both inside and out). I was planning this, and so had brought toothbrush, change of clothes, even breakfast.

White Nights lead us (Melissa and this other dude Kyle and me) up talking until about 4:30. We saw the sun "set" and "rise" again (in the span of about 30 minutes...). It was the easiest "all nighter" I've ever pulled. Around the witching hour, I curled up in the enormously uncomfortable bed (Praise be my host family!) and fell asleep. I was woken at 9am by a woman, dressed in janitorial clothes entering my room. No knock. Just door opening. I was like (in half-asleep Russian - which must be particularly unintelligible), "Dude - who are you?" She had come in to check out the broken window (through a long and complicated stream of events none of note two nights prior, the window above my temporary bed had been shattered). Seeing that I was asleep, she continued prodding me, "what was the guy's name (who broke the window)?" "What room does he live in?" etc. etc. etc. Though I had heard this long and complicated story, I had forgotten (or was never told) his name/room - and told the woman accordingly. (Remember all this while, I'm curled in bed - clearly was sleeping - and only thinking, "can you come back when I've woken up a bit? Why are we having this 10 minute discussion now?" She prodded around my (temporary) bed. She made me get out of it and move it into the center of the room so that she could inspect the window more easily (I'm meanwhile in my night clothes and on 4.5 hours of sleep.

The end result was that this extended commotion woke me up permanently and I'm now sitting in the lobby of said hotel/dorm/building that's falling apart waiting for the rest of the world to wake up. I did make some instant kashi though. Yeah for breakfast. Ah Russia.

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Today's the last weekend day in St. Pete. I've got exams on Tuesday/Wednesday - and I'm trying to convince myself that I should study at least a little bit for them. I love the feeling of being a bad student. I'll get it all out of my system now.

So what, you ask, am I doing on my last free day in St. Pete? Helping the other homestay student (remember, there's only 2 of us), move into the hotel/dorm/building that's falling apart. Apparently, here Russian mom has gone off the deep end and has become unbearable to live with. Scolding, yelling, being unreasonable etc. etc. etc. To want to move in to this place - especially with only 4 days left, things must be bad. But I offered to help, cause I know what it's like to be living in unbearable places (think France - 1st month...). So then I'll be the only one in a family. And you couldn't pay me to live in this dorm/hotel/building that's falling apart. I guess that worked out well.

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to be continued...

White Nights

June 21st was the longest day of the year. In northern parts of the world (St. Pete and here too) this means that it gets "dark" at about 2 and light again at 4. It does a doozy on the sleep paterns. But it's cool - and beats -20 degree C.

Friday was also the last day of exams for graduating high schoolers. St. Pete celebrates these events by throwing one massive party. Here's my attempt to descibe:

1. people. a lot of em. 1 million (1/5 of the city). Spread over two parks and the adjoning bridges. As my lungs expanded, they hit other people. 80% of the time. Not the party to go to if you're claustraphobic. The people were young (all of the grads - all wearing Ms. America beauty Pagent sashes - many of the women in gowns), and old (there were a fair number of babushki), and middle aged (who were the only ones we trusted to take photographs of us...)

2. music. for the first time, it was exclusivly Russian music. Which, though good to experience, might be the only exposure to it I ever seek out. We saw two groups perform. The first was a Backstreet Boys + New Kids on the Block group. They must have been really popular, because the crowd went insane - and everyone was singing along to every word. They weren't actually that bad (but don't take that as support for BB or NKOTB (speaking of which - I did see a guy wearing a NKOTB jacket. Reminded me of my old jean jacket. I took a picture. It was too tempting.) The second group was a Spice Girls wannabe - with even less musical ability - or maturity. Scantily clad, they danced across the stage. I felt like I was watching 80s club dancing. It was painful. This group made us wander (or rather let ourselves be pushed (see 1.)) over to a nearby bridge.

3. bridge lifting. St. Pete is the Venice of the North. There are a lot of bridges here. A lot. And - to let ships through, the bridges open from ~2-6. Only, it's Russia - so the times aren't exact. Planning isn't really possible. But, they can keep you on an island for several hours preventing you from getting home. If you're hanging out at a club on the main island - and the bridges open at 1:30 - plan on hanging out in the bar (or others) until morning. No way to get home. So 1/5 of St. Pete was out last night to watch the bridges open. (Hopefully everyone was watching from their proper island...) It's supposed to be magestic - but after growing up with the Coleman Bridge - I was disspointed. but....

4. fountains/fireworks. It was accompanied by some serious fountains (which are seasonally installed in the River Neva) light shows (in the fountains), and fireworks. The fireworks were certainly classy. They were almost all white (uh -- White Nights....) Though it was barely dark. The fountain show lasted several hours and the fireworks a solid 60 minutes.

5. alcohol. So now. I'm not sure there's any way to accurately descibe the alcohol consumption last night. Except to say that I have never seen 999,997 drunkards gathered together (Melissa and I were entirly sober, dad --- :)) Old men, graduates, 8 year olds with beer in their hands. Drinking is so much a part of what it is to be Russian. On the 4th of July, people are surely drinking on the Mall - but clandestinly (open container laws.) The riot police were even drinking. There were piles and piles of empty bottles along the streets. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it. And that's all I'm going to say on that.

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Today's my host mom's birthday. We bought her a cake from the European bakery (above their budget, but not ours....). Going to eat it tonight. Yum. We also ordered SET (we play almost every night now...)

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The White Nights Marathon is today. (Hopefully they've cleaned the streets a bit since last night.) Still a little bitter I can't run. Ok - Really bitter. After my failed marathon attempt this spring, I thought I could let my femurs heal for a few weeks and then finish off training for the White Nights - but I'm still not 100% I knew that that was out of the question within the first week or so of getting to Russia. Sadness. Not going to let this goal get away though. Going out to cheer the runners on now...

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to be continued...

Ramen Heaven

So I've written before about adversitiments (and them being priamrly for the arts) but now I want to write about ramen. Yep. Ramen.

I was watching the World Cup last night on TV (and not just because you, BP prompted me too... It was a house bonding thing), and there was a commerical on for beef-ramen. Now first you have to understand that I'd been sick most of the day (even skipped classes -- gasp!) and hadn't eaten much. But it was about 9pm and I was craving food. But I didn't know what. Ice cream - net. potato chips - non. But then this commercial for ramen. Immediately, I knew. Yes! Yes! Ramen! Now! Feed Me!

And then I got to thinking. Ok - the ad was for beef ramen, but maybe they make veggie ramen. So I throw on some shoes, and call to my Russian mom (an oppertunity to practice the grammer - and my Russian intonation (damn my phonetics teacher)), "Is the grocery store still open?" "For another hour" she replies. And I'm off.

I, remembering that I had seen ramen earlier in the store, go directly to the Ramen counter (see earlier post about Russian grocery stores). And lo and behold, ramen c gribami - Ramen (you got that) with mushrooms. I was estatic. One please, I request. For 14 rubles (about 45 cents), I was in heaven. Got home. Boiled water. Waited 3 minutes (paced the house while waiting), and devoured. It was perfect. And advertising works. Yum.

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It's 34 degress celcius here (this equals rediculously hot), humid, and sticky. We live in sweat. And Russians don't like deodorant. Or A/C (rather - it's just usually -20C - so they don't need it.) I've succomed to the fact that I too will be sweaty, and smell. And life is good.

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I also found a phone card to call the states with - that's an amazingly good deal. $3 for 90 minutes. So - if any of you want to e-mail me your numbers again for a call from the Motherland, go ahead :) (AAB has my American cell for the summer so I've lost access to those numbers...)

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to be continued...

Pad Russia

So today was a long day in class. We had only 2 yroks, but half of our class went to Moscow this weekend. They apparently didn't sleep well on the train back this morning, so decided to sleep in and skip class. Which I probably would have done too, but that reduced our class size from 4 to 2. Three hours in a one-on-two class only working on verbs of motion (which are dreadfully difficult in Russian --- up until today's lessons, to signal that I went somewhere, came somewhere, left somewhere, I would just use the ASL sign for "walk" to avoid figuring out which form to use.... now it'll be harder to justify that since I "know" (at least part of) the verbs) But anyway - I had a headache. I though, what better than a yummy spicy Thai meal. My guidebook has a review of a restaurant that seemed fairly decent - so I thought I'd give it a go.

Two things should have tipped me off in the beginning: 1. the lack of any Thai (or nationalities other than Russian as servers or chefs...) and 2. that there were a group of employees sitting in the corner eating boiled potatoes and ham. But I didn't catch any of that.

So I look at the menu - nothing's particularly Thai. No noodles - some sushi, but mostly just meat and sauce. No basil, no tofu (I was looking for a good source of protein - see the post below about peanut butter), no pad thai. nada/rien/nisto. But there was curry. I thought - maybe? So the (Russian) waitress comes over, and I point to a curry (there's three on the page - beef, chicken, shrimp) and explain that I'm a vegetarian. Could I have it with just vegetables? Sure she says. Great I reply. And I order rice (of course that's extra.)

The "curry" comes. Not sure it's deserving that name, even in quotes... It had a few token pieces of celery in it, 1/6 of a red pepper, and some onion. The "curry" was tasteless, red, MSG. Incredibly disappointing. They stared at me while using chopsticks... "She knows how!?!" I could almost hear them say... But the curry wasn't even deserving of the authenticity of the wooden-pull-apart-comes-in-a-paper-sleeve chopsticks. But oh well. I'm thankful that I've got food, and eat the rice.

The bill comes. 317rubles for the curry. My jaw drops. This is a ridiculous expensive price. especially because I remember looking at the general prices on the menu all hovered around 150-200 rubles. I read the bill, they charged me for the shrimp curry. So I call the waitress (Russian) over and ask why I was charged for the shrimp curry, which I clearly didn't have. She answered that it's because that was the one I pointed to when I asked for my curry with vegetables, and they don't have a curry with vegetables. I replied that I didn't eat any shrimp - and clearly the my dish cost well below the 317 rubles they charged - and well below the 175 rubles they were charging for the chicken "curry." Why didn't she just charge me for the chicken curry? She stares at me and says, "this is already in the computer, if you don't pay it, I have to..." As you'd imagine, my response, "can you not tell the computer you made a mistake?" This goes on for an unseeingly endless amount of time. I ended up paying only 175, but boy did it piss me off. Especially since it wasn't even worth 75. I shouldn't stray from Troitskii Most. Learned my lesson. Going to write to the guide book too... That place shouldn't be recommended.

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Moving on....

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I wanted to write a bit about the metro in St. Pete. Because it’s awesome. Firstly, it’s not famous like Moscow’s – and certainly not as ascetically pleasing. But here’s what’s awesome:

1. The Metro is REALLY deep into the ground. If you think the metro escalators are deep at Dupont and Medical Center in DC, you are mistaken. I timed it once, it takes a solid 4 minutes to descend into the depths of the earth. (so long in fact that many people sit on the stairs of the escalators to rest their feet…) Cool.
2. The trains run incredibly frequently. About every 30-40 seconds during rush hour – and when I take the metro late at night, or early on a weekend morning, I can expect a train every 1:30-2 minutes. Much different from DC’s 15-20 minute wait. Ditto on the coolness.
3. The ads in the cars (and there are a lot of there) make for good reading practice.

But there are a few cons:
1. Not all Russians shower frequently. Put a lot of them in a closed space….
2. If you are disabled, you can’t (at all) use the metro – or the busses. No elevators. No ramps. Pushing a baby stroller is really tough too.

But it’s cool. Looking forward to Moscow’s.

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I’m just about ready to leave St. Pete. I need to go visit the Russian Museum (which I was planning on doing today, but then came the massive headache and the ridiculous lunch…) and then I’ll have seen everything I care to see here. Ready for a change.

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Congrats Hugh IV on the graduation thing….

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Oh – and I introduced my host mom (and new foreign student) to SET. They’re addicted :) Two more converts. I ordered on on-line today to give to my host mom as a gift. And they’ll even ship it to Russia.

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to be continued…

The Bread Museum

Ok --- most of you will (if you don't already) think I'm crazy, but I was really excited about St. Petersburg Bread Museum. (SCN should get this right away.)

St. Pete also has a Chocolate museum, which seems to interest most if not all of my Arizona companions - though I was drawn to the lesser known Bread Museum.

First a story: When SCN and I were traveling through Italy, we took time (and 8 euros) to wander through the Pasta Museum. Now let me tell you about this museum. It was awesome. Seriously :) Pasta making, pasta propaganda, pasta memorabilia, pasta folklore, pasta samples (I might be making this one up...) It's what I remember most about our trip.

So, when I was glancing through the St. Pete guide and saw there was a Bread Museum - it was top on my list. I tried to convince the Arizonaites to join me ---- how awesome the Bread Museum would be. But they said bread was boring and that a chocolate museum was more worthy of a visit than a bread museum. So off to the chocolate museum they went.

But I was determined to get to the Bread Museum. So, after classes today, I, by myself, in spite of endless mockery for my interest in the Bread Museum, hightailed it over to the Bread Museum. After walking cross-city (there's the exercise for the day), I got to the address to find it closed for renovations.

I have to admit, the excitement of my ability to read the Russian sign without my dictionary temporarily drowned out the immense sorrow of the situation. But only for a moment. I was soon overcome with grief. My beloved Pasta (oops - Bread) Museum was closed for 3 months. Maybe this is fate telling me nothing can ever top Rome's Pasta Museum - and saving me from incredible disappointment. But for now, I'll just accept the bitter truth - and head over to the Chocolate Museum.

Rants and Raves

So I just bought my laptop for law school. Ouch. But deed done.
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This may sound obnoxious. So you may skip it if you'd like. But I'd like to briefly write about buses - and social security. Bare with me, I'll make the connection. So here's the deal: It is common protocol that when someone older than you gets on the bus - and there are no seats left, you offer yours. They can refuse to take it from you, at which point, sit away! But, it is only common courtsey to offer your seat. Buses here are crowded - especially during rush hours. And I often either "loose" my seat early in the ride, or never have one at all. Though I'm a bit sad about this - as it prevents me from reading (too much effort to stabilize myself) or writing (ditto), or sleeping (ditto), that's ok - because I'm "banking" time. When I'm older, I'll get to sit down nearly every time on a crowded bus, because people will offer me their seats. Right? Maybe not. I've noticed so many younger people here (and in DC too) that do not offer their seat to the babuski'i and elders on the bus, who need it much more than us youngins with our healty legs. Unless you're pregnant - offer your seat. I offer mine now not only because it's the "right" thing to do - but also (selfishily) with the promise that when I'm older, the younger generation will offer their seats to me. It's kind of like banking time for the future. I know that the Social Security taxes I pay to support my grandparents now - I'll never see. But I do hope to see a bus seat when I'm 75. And now I'll get off my soap box. Thanks :)
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Need to rid myself of this wretched cough. People stare at me.
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Going to the symphony (again) --- this too is getting slightly obnoxous. I almost want to pass my ticket off to my host mom, who hasn't been in ages. I can only absorb so many perforamances in shuch a short period of time. (I think this is the 5th is 2 weeks....) Not that you're hearing me complain or anything.... But we all got to school today and were told, "Symphony tonight!" No warning - no choice in what to see/hear. Just handed a ticket. Sure makes life easy --- but I'd love to see some experimental theater/dance/puppetry (my Swat background coming forward there...) But don't think I'll be handed tickets to those shows. Arizona seems to prefer the Marinskii and other huge venues. But off to the Symphony (and also -- I miss Bach.)

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If anyone wants to foward me some peanut butter at the following address, I'll be ever greatful. (Creamy or crunchy - no preference!)

Russia
Moscow 111395
Yunosty str.
5/1, block 6 of.35
University of Arizona Program
SPB & J
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My house is getting another foreign student on Friday. Can't remember if I've already told you guys this yet. But yeah --- a girl.
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to be continued...

Food Stuffs

Feeling quite ill --- some sort of stomach virus. Praying it's not giardia.... Ah - St. Pete water.

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Wanted to briefly talk about trips to the grocery store. I usually pack my lunch and take it with me to class - plus it's nice to have some yogurt at home for those late-night snacks. But let me tell you: going to the store in Russian - is quite difficult. Generally, I have little idea what I'm buying. I go to the bread counter. (In most Russian grocery stores, you must ask for what you want... you can't just pick it up off the shelf.) So I see a crossaint. Sure - looks good. But is it filled? Who knows! I've learned to ask, "bez chocolata" and "bez myasa" (Without chocolate and without meat?) because one time I got stuck with a roll filled with ham. You never know. What looks innocent mighn't be at all. I also spend a great deal of time trying to deciper labels. I picked up two packs of what looked like crackers of a sort (in a grocery store with isles... and another thing: pagacaking here is entirely different.... except for Lays :)) but they had different words on them. The pictures looked the same - the colors were the same. But the words different. What was the difference. My dictionary didn't have the words. So I just picked one. But all of this takes time. Adventures to the grocery store can last seemingly forever as you decipher what's what. Don't even get me started on Shampoos! Granted I know when I'm buying shampoo versus conditioner. But am I buying shampoo for curly or straight hair? died or natural? volume or not? or some combination? It's complicated. (And note - packaging different --- can't rely on the yellow colored Herbal Essense!) Ah Russian grocery stores....

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Went to Novgorod on Saturday with the group. A 3.5 hour bus ride - a 4 hour visit - and a 3.5 hour bus ride back. But I (surprisingly) enjoyed it.... Spent most of the bus ride down talking to Z about different religions' takes on the afterlife and commandments. He's Morman --- it was interesting. But did make the time pass.

Novgorod itself was quite splendid. It's the first major city in Russia - and at one point (centuries ago) was larger than Paris and London combined. It was a huge traiding center. We went to a few monestaries outside the city - then took a tour through the Kremlin. Ate a huge lunch at this medieval restaurant "Detinets". Quite yummy - And they had called ahead to ensure a vegetarian meal for me. Mine looked much better than the meat versions - if I may say :)

The bus ride back was spent singing childhood songs/rhymes (Miss Mary Mac...) and getting "Advised" I met with the program leader. As I'm a graduate student, I'll be getting 12 Russian Independent Study Credits. Not bad :) And it doesn't revel that I'm taking only second level :)

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Yesterday, we were off to the Marinski'i again. This time to see the senior recital of the graduates of the Vaganova School of Ballet. This is probably the best ballet school in the world. Period. Technically, they were quite good (with a few missed landings not-so-steady-lifts) but you can still tell they're a bit young. Missing some of the artistry and emotion that I've seen in the NYCB, Jacek's, and other companies. But there were two exceptions: a modern piece that was fabulously executed - and this hilarious clown duet. They got a call back. And they deserved two more. I'll post some pictures later this week.

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Off to Peterhoff today.
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to be continued...

Svetlana!

E-mailed today.... We're going to try to arrainge a meeting. I'm figuring out how to change my Russian single entry visa into a double entry visa and how to get a visa to Belarus. In the mean time, we're trying to find a time an a place! How exciting!!!
Thinking of bringing someone to translate too... But a dictionary will probably work.

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Going to Novgorod this weekend. Should be fun. And a log bus ride (3.5 hours eacy way. yuck....)

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Living at Trotski Most Cafe. What a wonderful place.

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Trying to upload some photos to my old posts... Check the archives to see :)

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to be continued.

Facts of Life

1. I'm trying to upload more photographs. I pulled them off of my camera and onto a CD thinking that that would make uploads go faster since the computer was having difficulty recognizing my camera. But the computer I'm using doesn't have a CD rom drive. Oops. Those of you with Facebook accounts should check out the new album there (it's fast and easy to upload to Facebook - ) Hugh IV - log on your account to show mom and dad. Of particular note are the "Alcohol Concept Club," the booties you must wear to enter museums/palaces, and photo of Melissa and me at the Marinskii. I'll try to annotate soon.

2. St. Petersburg has a serious problem with exhaust. I've started to carry a scarf around to cover my nose, mouth and eyes (it stings). Just working on the seeing bit.

3. I'm really glad I'm living in a host family. St. Pete lost hot water yesterday. The dorm doesn't have an individual heater. My family does :)

4. The second daughter of my host mother came home from the hospital yesterday. She's quite nice, but I think a bit more reserved than her sister.

5. Advertisements in St. Pete are crazy. 3/4 of them are for the performing/visual arts - Where has that ever happened in the States? Maybe on Broadway. There's definitely a "high culture" here. Tickets are cheap enough that even my host family (blue collar workers) visit the Marinksi'i, and other smaller stages, with at least some frequency. The other 1/4 of the ads are for Fanta - the orange soda that fell out of popularity in the states during middle school. The only exception to this breakdown is a few "Campaign for Real Beauty" ads by Dove.


6. Students (of all nationalities) are admitted free to the Hermitage. Guess where I've been spending some afternoons?

7. My stress fractures have healed enough for me to begin running a bit again. (I promise dad - not more than 20mins.....) Though I've done a fair number of cross-city walks. During rush hour though, these are kept to a minimum (See #2).

8. I just learned that Diski is not a disk store, but a large grocery store. And now I feel idiotic. Stores here don't have window displays, because every building used to have apartments on the first floor. Only "recently" did they become stores. So, there's a small sign on or on top of the door something along the line of "Clothes". Only when you're inside do you know if they're selling men's clothes, women's clothes, or clothes for dogs. It's an adventure. The exception is Nevski'i Prospect.

9. The women at the internet cafe is playing World of Warcraft. So apparently, the community is larger than Ian and Cuddles :)

10. Learning Russian folk songs in my Russian folk song class (imagine!). Only problem is that I've completely lost my voice. (Lena, my host mom, blames it on the cold temperatures that my body's not used to.) Though annoying, this did make Foneticka easier today. She was more understanding when I couldn't make the soft л sound appropriately.

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to be continued...

Bringing literature to life

There is an entire sotre of Henkles knives near my apartment here. I've never seen such a place. I took a picture and will upload it to the pic site as soon as I have the patience to deal with uploading (It may be a few days....)

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Visited the Kazan Cathedral today. This one of the large, central (on Nevski'i prospeck (the equivelant to the Champs Elysees) cathedrals in St. Pete. It's a crazy design because it's got Corinthian colums that makes it looks like the Basilica in Rome. But more interestingly for me, the two statues that are on each side of the curvaceous colonnades are Michael Barclay de Tolly and Mikhail Kutuzov. The first Michael was a Nepolionic War genearl - but the second, Kutuzov, was the hero of Tolstoy's War and Peace. What cathedral, anywhere else creates memorials to their imaginary heros? And, doesn't that degrade, at least a little bit the statue to Barclay de Tolly? I've found that Russia is an emotional country. There are these ideas of "choosing with your heart." Rationality is nowhere to be found. But at the same time, there are no political writings that are engraved in people. No "I have a dream." No "Four score" No "We the People." Russia's gone through so many different regimes that the only thing that's been contanst is it's literature. Everyone is familiar with the stories, the poems. Quotes from Russian fiction can be found everywhere where in the States we'd see quotes from the Consitution or the Pledge of Allegience. It's what make's Russia. But I find it hard to understand. We have busts of Faulker, but not of Quentin Compson.

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I am still in the depths of culture shock, and to write otherwise would be a lie. I slept ~16 hours yesterday afternoon/night/morning. I think because sleeping is easier than doing anything else - and because all of this wears me out. And my peanut butter's almost running out... So all you out there - write to me! And let me know what's going on!

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Mom would love this place though. Apparently, in Russia, it's customary, after the wedding ceremony to travel throughout the city and take photographs at all of the historic places. So, on any given Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (days of weddings), while walking around downtown, you will see 6-8 different wedding parties. Bride, groom, and the entire guest list traveling behind in a van. Around every corner is a different wedding group.

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to be continued...

PDAs

Public Displays of Affection.

Remeber High School? With the popular girl (who wasn't any of us) and her football and/or soccer playing boyfriend (not any of you either....) making out in the hall between classes?

Well increase the degree and multiply the people and you'll have Saint Petersburg. Seriously. This place is insane. Everywhere you look there are young people embracing eachother. Middle aged couples kissing. (The elders seem to refrain from PDAs...)

I was on the bus today --- it was a crowded bus. To avoid sitting on this elder man's lap, I was pushed back into another guy on the program, Mike. Not a big deal. But equally close to us was this couple to my right, his left, who were making out. They were sqeezed into each other by the number of people on the bus. And they were into it. Sounds were audible. I was flabbergasted (sorry Uncle T. I like that word :)). Though it might have been tasty (sorry again :)) for them, it wasn't for the rest of us on the bus. Some affection is sweet. Hand holding. Lip pecking. And the like. But there's a place for necking: in private. Please.

And it's not restricted to this incident. Walking down the street, there are hands in other people's pockets (and jeans are tight here: it's Europe....). Ah - enough now. Maybe it's a cultural thing. (I'm not sure I'm going to make it part of my immersion experience though)

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That was the only thought of the day. I've got a post brewing on a я versus a мы society - but you're going to have to wait for that one.

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to be continued...

Sojourners and Settlers

I've uploaded some more photos to flickr. I've annotated the photos (hopefully) Thanks AC for giving me the site... Though I wish they didn't take quite so long to load.
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My class seems to be at just about the right level. At first we were moving too slowly, but today, we definately picked up the pace a bit. Vocabuarly is of course increasing.

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I think I've written about the weather already here, but serioulsy. This is crazy. There are only 35 days a year when it doesn't snow or rain. Yuck. Not my climate.

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Getting used to hearing Russian. I was in the Cathedral of the Spilt Blood today (what a name...). There was a tour in French that I illegally latched myself onto. Could understand just well and fine. Then I started to feel guilty because I hadn't paid the tourguide, so I moved on - and started overhearing another tour - in Russian. Only I didn't realize it. I was following on as if it were in French. Only after about a paragraph did I realize that I wasn't hearing French. Cool eh? Funny how these things work. I know that I will always have better aural comprehension. But in Russian there's a drastic difference between my speaking, listening and reading skills (Let's not even begin to discuss writing!). I was reading from my workbook in class today - I had to sound out every sylable. And even then I got it wrong. But I can listen all day long. On well. That's what you get for leaving the language for 6 years. Can't expect it to be all in place when you get back.

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I sent a BD/Fathers' Day card home yesterday. So for all of you who had marked on your calendar to remind me not to forget my mother's birthday can now check it off your list :) Done. (Now of course if I were a good daughter, I would have sent a gift. Maybe next year.

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I learned that another Swat Sarah's going to be at UVA Law next year. Sweet. That'll make two of us. We travel in packs, right Sarah C.?

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Melissa and I have become tour buddies. We're also the two homestay kids. And as a result, we know our way around much better. After class, we go see a sight or two as we're not afraid of venturing out on our own... But it's cool.


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I've eaten a lot of musrooms and a lot of blini.

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to be continued...