To the ballet: Act I. (Hopefully!)

The speed with which October is passing me by is becoming rather frightening. I put some things into my iPod calendar today and was already writing things down for late October and November and it just felt extremely strange. (Examples of things I was putting in my calendar, since I know you will ask, are: a violin concert this coming Thursday that I was given a ticket to because I play the violin J, times of travel to Berlin for travel week, and a one-man play by Dostoyevsky that some of us are going to on the 21st of November.) We are headed to Estonia this upcoming weekend, well Friday morning at 7 am to be precise, and then we get back so late on Sunday that we don't have class Monday which will just serve to make the time pass even more quickly.

This week went by so fast. Classes are still going very well, I am enjoying doing some academic reading for my class on ethnic studies, and in grammar I feel like I'm remembering things much more quickly than I was even at the beginning of this semester. And my host mom tells me my pronunciation and conversation is much better than when I got here, she's still really great about helping me use new vocab all the time and explaining things that we're watching on TV or that I see on the street. Her cooking has gotten even better, we are now making eclairs all the time to practice making the dough just right and she's discovered that I love chicken and peppers and cucumbers – but not tomatoes so we laugh about that sometimes. She also got some fresh apples a couple of days ago so I think we're going to make an apple pastry tonight! If we're done early enough I'll go out dancing with some of the students, but if we keep up our tradition we won't be done making and trying out new types of tea until after the metro closes!

Apart from cooking, baking, visiting a couple of cafes, and doing homework in the evenings, we also went to the ballet this week! Wednesday after class, choir, and interning at the Hermitage (where we worked mainly on an article about an 18th century table clock with a 'musical mechanism'), Kelly and I headed to the Michaelovsky Theater on Arts Square next to the Russian Museum. It was pouring, so both of us stayed in our black boots rather than changing into our heels. We met Vika and Melissa at the theater and headed up to our seats, Sarah made it just in time no thanks to the trolley-bus and the incredible traffic on Nevsky! But she made it, and found us up in the top circle of the theater. It reminded me a little of the theaters in London, nice and tall but small enough that everyone in the building has a good view of the stage. It was great to be able to see not just the dancing but the spacing too, and we rented a pair of 'opera-glasses' to share when you wanted to see the intense amount of mascara and make-up on the dancers' faces up close. The ballet was Tschaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty, and it was absolutely exquisite to watch. Even though I know nothing about the formal terminology or training involved in ballet, I could still appreciate the incredible talent and beautiful work of all of the dancers and the many more people who I'm sure were required behind the scenes to make everything look as amazing as it did. We could also see into the pit orchestra from where we were sitting, and that made me smile – though it was just shy of being a full symphony, it seemed, and they were definitely in much more comfortable conditions than we ever were!! The music was awesome as well, as would be expected! I hope this was the first of at least a few trips to the ballet!

The final act of the ballet is probably the best known, it is the wedding of Sleeping Beauty and the Prince and there are all sorts of characters who show up to take part. The famous Bluebird step, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood are some of the pieces that make up the final act. It was a wonderful experience, and it is a long ballet so we had just enough time to get dessert in a café and make the metro before it closed! (We had opted not to get tiramisu or red caviar at the buffet on dress-circle level at the theater, though we were especially tempted by the strawberries and champagne!) I had stratiatella ice cream and thought of Salzburg and Rome while eating it out of a cone with my little spoon! Kelly filled us in on some more details about the ballet and we talked about our different experiences with the performing arts for a while, it was a great evening with great friends – despite the not-so-great rain!

And now I've moved from school to a café to skype with dear Kathleen – though unfortunately we were too gorgeous for the internet and it cut us off after a few minutes so we are currently chatting it up old school while I finish this up. The last few days of this week have been pretty typical, though its been sunny which has been a little strange. You can definitely tell that it is getting darker, the sun is just barely peeking over the Winter Palace when we drive over Palace Bridge at 9 am on the trolley bus now. This weekend is the big Germany-Russia soccer match, and I think we'll be at Vika's Saturday night before our excursion on Sunday to a palace just outside town. Time is flying by, and I'm working my way through Team of Rivals pretty quickly now! Keep the book suggestions coming, and comment or email so I know you're reading and can thank you accordingly! I hope fall is treating all of you well! Love and as much sunshine as I can send while it lasts - beth

 

PS – On a rather unrelated note, we got all giddy at the ballet talking about our Thanksgiving plans when we realized that thanks to the time difference we can plan our dinner to come out of the oven at the same time the Macy's parade starts and watch it online (hopefully someone streams it!) at Vika's where we're hoping to make dinner! So the time difference is good for something! J