No snow in Piter...

Happy Advent to all, and Happy 23rd Anniversary (yesterday, 29th) to the best parents a girl could wish for! All is well in St. Petersburg – if unseasonally warm – and I thought I would catch you up a little bit on the goings on here and post another piece on my time in Berlin tomorrow or Wednesday.

Arriving back in Petersburg from Germany was a little difficult. The snow awaiting us on the ground was beautiful, but seemed to only serve to remind me that I was back in the land of the cold and the dark. The woman behind me waiting to go through passport control reminded me that I'm not sure who wrote that the Russians are patient, but I think they may have been severely mistaken. The people in the metro with their stone faces and their pushing and shoving and overall inconsiderate-ness did not exactly make our Sunday night. If I hadn't known that my host mom would be waiting with a smile – and most likely way too much food – I might have headed right back to the airport again. But when I walked in the door I heard a 'is that Beth?' from the kitchen and when I said yes Ira and Pasha came out to welcome me home, Pasha carried my duffel bag and purse to my room and Ira shuffled me into the kitchen for borscht and chicken and tea and cookies. They said they had watched the whole coverage of the Berlin celebrations on TV and looked for me and my umbrella but hadn't seen me. They asked if it was as fun as it looked on TV. It was absolutely great to be back with them and I knew I would get through the initial re-culture-shock just fine.

And I have. Classes have been great, we have had excursions galore and Thanksgiving went incredibly well. Though I haven't read all of Crime and Punishment, I went on a Dostoyevsky walk that proved very interesting. We wandered around the 'most criminal' district of St. Petersburg – its much safer today than it was in his day – and saw the corners, staircases, and bridges where much of the action in in his books takes place. Definitely made sure his books will be on my 'to read over break' list. (Currently reading: Picking Cotton and Atemschaukel and trying to limit myself to a couple articles a day from the German newspapers I brought back.) Then last weekend we went to a one-man play of Dostoyevsky's The Dream of a Ridiculous Man which was truly ridiculous. It took place in a regular apartment, and we sat along the walls as an incredible actor performed Dostoyevsky's work with masterful precision and scary eye contact. It reminded me quite a bit of the one-woman performance of Fräulein Else in Salzburg, very intimate and intense. Though this time the actor did not peel an apple with a knife while running in circles as the actress did in Salzburg, he did climb out of a trunk in the center of the room in the pitch dark while we all freaked out a little. It was a great experience, and reading the play again afterwards made me shiver at the memories of how the actor performed it, tons of thanks to Irina Borisovna for getting us tickets to our own showing.

Last Wednesday some of us headed to the Baltika factory after class – Baltika is one of the most popular beers here, and is brewed right here in St. Petersburg (as well as some other cities in Russia). Beer seems to be pretty standard, didn't learn too much about the process – the Guinness Storehouse experience is definitely going to be difficult to top – but got to see some of the fastest bottling machines in the world and then came the most important part…trying to figure out how we could fit all of the beer in the 3-football-field-size store room into our bags. We failed pretty miserably at that, but we did succeed at the really most important part – the taste testing, or 'digestion' if you're reading the Russian. Plenty of different kinds of beer – both good and terrible – and lots of friends made it a great Wednesday night!

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving! We had planned out the menu in advance, all making suggestions and then Kelly and Sarah went online on one of their breaks and found recipes to make sure we wouldn't be missing anything. I did some of the shopping earlier in the week so that Vika wouldn't have to carry it all, as we would be cooking at her dad's apartment all day. Kelly and I took the long marshutka (communist taxi) ride out to the apartment and started peeling apples for the apple crisp and potatoes for the mashed potatoes. Kelly and Vika headed to the store across the street to get everything else that we needed while I cut all the vegetables and cheese for our finger-food appetizers. Shortly after they got back from the store, Melissa and Sarah arrived from Smolny after taking their phonetics test. Sarah had her pumpkin pie with her, which had survived multiple types of public transportation and still looked – and tasted – wonderful!! Her parents had brought the supplies to make the pumpkin pie when they came in October, and we were all incredibly grateful. The cooking continued without a hitch, potatoes were boiled and mashed, vegetables and bread were cut for the stuffing, turkey pieces were basted, rubbed down with spices, and put in the oven. There were no sweet potatoes to be found in Russia, and the only green beans we could find we weren't sure we wanted to eat, so we had squash with brown sugar and walnuts and salad with feta and vinagrette instead. The turkey cooked almost perfectly, and Kelly and I successfully made gravy thanks to grandmama's recipe with just some flour and a little bit of milk to thin it out. It was absolutely delicious! (Though next time I hope I get to boil some giblets and use the giblet water!) Every one of our dishes was successful, and we had sung the day away to Christmas music and Love Actually. When it was almost time for the Russian guys to come over (Vika's boyfriend and one of his friends, who we have hung out with before), we found the Macy's parade online! The guys brought plenty of champagne and a rose for each of us, and our wonderful dinner began! We toasted our friendship, Thanksgiving in Russia, and a number of other things. It felt wonderful to be enjoying the traditional American holiday outside of the country, and after I came back home that night I skyped with my family which made the day complete and nearly perfect!

The Friday after Thanksgiving we left after class for a 'retreat' with some of the students from the political science faculty at St. Petersburg State. We weren't really sure what to expect, and after a few hours on a bus driving through the dark woods, we arrived at what looked very much like summer camp! One building was the cafeteria, another the sports center, and then a few more were dorm-like buildings. They were nothing special to look at, but that was ok because what you really wanted to be looking at were the woods by which you were surrounded! Though not too far from the road by which we had arrived, we were definitely looking forward to walking around in the wilderness for the weekend, and Irina Borisovna mentioned that there was also a lake a little ways back in the woods. Needless to say, we dumped our bags in our room (and pushed our beds together like little girls at camp with new friends), had a round of introductions and fun conversations with the Russian students, and headed off to explore the woods with Sarah's 'rape-light' in hand. (Pepper spray is illegal in DC where she goes to school, so I think her dad found her this flashlight that will temporary blind someone if you turn it on high and shine it into their eyes. It worked great in the woods, too. Though didn't see any animals we needed to blind.) It was great to just wander around in the woods, climbing hills! (We have none in Piter, unfortunately.) We found a sand dune and what looked like a tree farm, and walked back to the 'campsite' singing Moulin Rouge, Abba, and Disney songs. It made me smile, because it was Friday night for me and I knew the girls would be getting together back home soon and I almost laughed out loud remembering how annoying we were at Disney World when we decided we had to sing Little Mermaid songs all the way down Space Mountain. So now I've sung those songs wandering through the Russian fields too. We kind of all had the sense that this was how most of Russia probably is, away from the big cities and all of the people. The lakes and the forests just felt like they belonged.

We were up until about two, and were up at nine to head to breakfast at nine thirty before discussion club at 11. We got back into our groups from the night before, my group was a great mix of Americans and Russians, and everyone was very laid back but had interesting things to contribute. Saturday morning was informal discussion, and we spent most of the time talking about national holidays in Russia and the US and sports in both countries. My reaction was that many more American holidays center around celebrating with family and neighbors, and that there are definite differences in 'state' holidays. They celebrate international women's day, but not mother's day, and men's day but not father's day. There is a day for children, and every profession has a day dedicated to it. Most cities and regions also have their 'day', and then there are plenty of holidays that no one is really sure why they are there. So it was a very entertaining discussion, and I really liked getting to know some more students better. After discussions and lunch we went for another gorgeous hike, this time in the daylight, and came back and I played basketball and ping-pong for a long time! That night there was a disco, which was fun until some very drunk Russians tried to pull Kelly and I into slow-dancing with them, so we headed out and hung out in the dorm until pretty late.

Sunday's discussion club was a little more formal; we broke up into 'countries' and discussed the issues surrounding the Arctic Shelf and Ocean. I was on 'Canada' and it was actually an incredibly interesting discussion. I realized I know almost nothing about the issue, and also that it could (and probably will) become a very serious issue as the ice continues to melt and the international boundaries continue to be disputed. As everyone was role-playing, we didn't really talk about our own opinions beyond discussing whether we thought it was a big and important issue at the present time. It was still very interesting, and I learned quite a bit for a Sunday morning. We headed back to Piter in the early afternoon – Irina Borisovna organized a bus for those of us who had stayed the whole time so we didn't have to go wait for a marshutka.

It has been an incredible few weeks here in Piter, I can't believe it has already been such a long time since Berlin. And in less than three weeks I will be at home! Skyping with my family has been so wonderful, we even got Grandma in on it for a few minutes! I love being here and I am so grateful to my host mom for making me feel so at home, but I also can't wait to be lounging and causing trouble with the brother, cooking with mom, and teaching dad not to be afraid of the WiiFit anymore ☺ These next few weeks are going to fly by, we are going to Pushkin's Flat Museum on Wednesday, Thursday night is movie night at our director's apartment, and either this Friday or next Friday we are going on a walk about the history of Russian rock and roll in St. Petersburg! So I'll definitely have a lot to keep you updated on! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't forget to break out the Advent calendars! I bought a little book at a market in Berlin that has a picture and a quote for each day of Advent, I'm very excited to start looking at it tomorrow! Much love to all, and send some snow this way!

Travel Chronicles Part II: the fall of the dominos

Sunday night Tom and I headed out in search of food and an ATM, and to wander around a little bit. We thought we wouldn't get very far, our hostel was in the center but a little north-east of the very center of town. But we were surprised how much closer everything was than it looked on the map, and ended up walking all the way down to the Brandenburg Gate and the row of dominos. I was glad we did, because it was all lit up and the spotlights were shining and they were setting up all of the big video screens for the ceremony the next day. It was a gorgeous night, and though we were a little chilly by the time we walked all the back to the hostel we warmed up with DÖNER at a little stand real close to the hostel – more on that lovely place later. The next morning we got up pretty early and headed back down towards the center. This time we walked around the 'government quarter' of the city, with its modern architecture and even more domino stones. The dominos were even set up on a flight of stairs – only the Germans. We walked all the way down to the other end of the domino stones on the Potsdamer Platz (Potsdam Square) and got a late morning breakfast/coffee in a café that had once been split by the Berlin Wall. Currrywurst for lunch was Tom's first experience with the lovely food, and he liked it almost as much as he had liked the Döner. We found a lot of interesting sights around the Potsdamer Platz and enjoyed the fact that it wasn't raining – yet. Grabbed some snacks for later in a grocery store in a mall on Potsdamer and headed out to see if the craziness had begun. From about 5 PM – 11 PM we stood in pretty much the same spot, in front of the Brandenburg gate behind the dominos. We were technically on the Western side of the wall, and the ceremony started on the Eastern side and then moved to the west for the political speeches and things. It was incredible listening to the snippets of stories I could hear around me being told in quick East-German accents, with their 'sh' instead of 'ch' sounds and the emotion in their voices. There were lots of young international people there too, a couple of girls from Canada weren't far away and we could hear plenty of Americans and Europeans talking and laughing to distract themselves from the fact that it had now started to rain incredibly hard. By the time the orchestra started to play and the politicians had taken their seats – Hillary next to Medvedev, or at least close to him from what I remember – it was a regular downpour. Luckily our Russian umbrella held its own, and when the surprise came and the orchestra started playing 'Berliner Luft' everyone who knew the words (I only know the chorus) sang right along and drowned out somewhat the pounding of the raindrops.

The cheers when Chancellor Angela Merkel led the charge through the Brandenburg Gate were incredible. The group of VIPs walked from the east to the west (umbrellas in hand) on the same path that many had taken 20 years before, under such different circumstances. The mayor of Berlin began the speeches, thanking everyone who had made the incredible night of November 9, 1989 possible – especially the resistance members in Germany, Hungary, and the Czech Republic who were present for the anniversary. Merkel followed, and reminded the audience that there are two anniversaries that take place on the 9th of November. There is the happy holiday of November 9, 1989, the happiest day in the history of modern Germany according to a blog post of the chancellor herself. However, the date November 9, 1938 must also be marked. On that night Hitler ordered the Kristallnacht, and nearly all synagogues and many Jewish business were attacked and burned. I thought it was yet another interesting reflection on just how much the country has changed in this century. One part of me realized that it was politically necessary that she mention the somber 71st anniversary of the Kristallnacht, another found it interesting that it would be so prominently discussed (though, granted, she was the only one who really discussed it) on such a principally happy occasion. Coexistence in Germany, however, is a part of life, even when they must share one of their happiest days with one of the most painful and challenging anniversaries in their history. It made me pause in my translating to Tom – who doesn't speak German – and think about it for a second before I realized that she must have known she couldn't have let the occasion pass without discussing it. Merkel spoke very well, I always enjoy listening to her speeches and was incredibly excited that I could kind of see her head over the crowds of people, though I watched the speeches mostly on the big-screens since it was right in my line of sight and I didn't have to strain.

Representatives of the victorious Allied nations, Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy, Hillary Clinton, and Dimitry Medvedev all spoke after Merkel – who made sure to thank them as well in her speech for the Berlin airlift and all that they did to help reunite the city and the nation. Brown was rather boring, to be honest, I thought he got a little too political talking about the current crisis and some things that were rather UK-specific. Sarkozy was entertaining as always, and echoed quite a few of earlier statements about other resistance movements and cooperation etc. Medvedev talked very carefully around the fact that it was due to the forerunner to his nation that the city had been divided by concrete and barbed wire, and did a fairly good job of it I thought. I didn't really think he looked comfortable at all, he was speaking in Russian and they were translating over it (an interesting experience for me), whereas Putin would have spoken in the nearly flawless German he possesses thanks to his time in East Germany with the KGB. All kinds of interesting dynamics always come into play when you're talking about this country in which I am living. He talked about cooperation for the future and recognized those present who had dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom for Berlin and Germany. Hillary Clinton spoke a little on her own and then introduced a message from Obama – which was drowned out for about the first 5 seconds by loud cheers from Americans and others alike. She provided an interesting perspective, as a non-European and also without the yoke of the former Soviet Union on her shoulders, and praised Europe's progress in the last half-century and spoke specifically about the continuing work to overcome all walls. Many of the leaders, as well as some of the later speakers, spoke poignantly about the walls that still exist in the world – whether they be of poverty, the walls still faced by women, or the concrete walls in Palestine or Korea. President Obama apologized for not being able to make it to Berlin and praised again all those who personally played a role in the fall of the wall and what it began, as well as all those presently working to overcome walls in their own lives or the lives of others.

The dominos were to fall in stages, and at some point in the process of the speeches and the fall of the dominos it had stopped raining. Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachov largely about the importance of freedom and the power that people have when they know something with a certainty that allows them to fight for it against incredible odds. (My civilization teacher here in Petersburg thought it was odd that Gorbachov didn't push one of the first dominos, whereas I was glad it was resistance leaders and not really political powers that pushed the first down.) While the dominos fell on the big screens, people who had been involved in the resistance in Berlin spoke about their memories and their emotions on the night of the 20th anniversary. It was clear that they were proud to have been a part of something so important, but also that they were just a few of many who deserved the credit for the changes that took place following the fall of the wall.

One of the most interesting moments of the night was when they told us that this would be the push of the dominos that would bring the falling row past the Brandenburg Gate and have the two ends meet. We all counted down, cheered, and turned our cameras on as we watched the falling dominos on the big screen approach where we were standing. However, the dominos appeared to misfire a block or so from the Gate, and there were plenty of boos to be heard. (I have a three minute video of nothing as a result, which I don't begrudge except it really killed my battery.) What quickly became apparent, however, was that it was an intentional stoppage rather than a mistake. The falling dominos (which I think were made of some type of foam or like material) had hit a domino that was clearly made of stone or concrete. That domino didn't fall with the weight of the others on it. This domino was to stand for all the walls that still exist, and how they prevent freedom and joy from being truly global and universal. There were two men from Korea there who spoke about the need to continue to work to tear down walls, and then a video piece showed people painting some of the dominos in places where there were or continue to be significant divisions in society – whatever the kind. Dominos came from South Africa, recently freed from its apartheid regime, from Korea, from Palestine, and from other places all over the world where freedom is not complete and populations often feel trapped. What appeared to be a mistake turned out to be one of the most poignant moments of the evening, despite the fact that it had started to rain again and we could no longer feel our feet. When the dominos finally came crashing down in front of us, it was an incredible feeling which unfortunately no words can describe. A fireworks display began on the gate at the same time, and everyone was smiling and hugging and jumping up and down, even as we headed out of the mud for some warmth in the U-Bahn station to head home to the hostel. It had been an incredible evening, one I will never forget. Unfortunately it is impossible to capture how it felt to be standing there, especially as a foreigner who feels so much at home among the Germans but, when it comes down to it, is an American. I feel incredibly blessed to have experienced such a momentous moment in the history of a country that I have come to love, and went to bed somehow feeling more experienced, older than I had started the day.

 

To be continued…

Back in Petersburg

Just a follow-up, this blog may get a little confusing as I’ll be posting a piece from travel week everyday (hopefully) and occasionally also a piece from present-day Piter. I hope it keeps you interested, doesn’t lose you anywhere, and occasionally makes you smile. I have mobile internet now, so I’ll be online more often and may actually figure out how to post pictures on here now that my internet is strong enough. I’ll write more in a piece devoted to ‘my return to Piter’ later, but suffice it to say that it’s a very good thing my host mom is so wonderful, otherwise I might have boarded the next plane back to Germany. My own mom has now met my host mom, via iChat of course, and seen our kitchen so I somehow feel like a new connection has been forged with my host mom too. So, all-in-all, I’m glad to be back in Piter and settling in for the last month. I’ll be home a month from today (Nov 20th), and I know its going to fly by.

So, look for me online, and look for posts chronicling travel week to come one at a time to keep you in suspense ☺ Not really, more like to make sure I don’t lose all feeling in my fingers by trying to catch up with my journal and the blog at the same time! ☺ All the best from Russia!

The Travel Chronicles: Part I: White Snow on Red Square

The biggest city in Europe, Moscow has the buildings, the streets (and the traffic) and of course the people to prove it. And, not that it needs it, but it has plenty of the sense of imposition and painful history too.

We arrived in the capital city of Russia early on Friday morning by night train. I think it ended up being about an eight hour ride – needless to say none of us got a full nights sleep – of food, cards, talking, and laughing. Sarah, Vika, Tom, and I ended up in the same compartment and we were joined by some of the guys and Kelly and Melissa for some card games and to eat the rather ridiculous amount of food our hazaikas had given us/we had bought for the trip. When our alarms woke us up before seven the next morning we were already on the outskirts of Moscow, and Irina Borisovna was far too chipper and awake as she ran up and down the corridors making sure we were all alive and moving. From the train we piled onto buses and made the quick drive to the hotel – I remember seeing lots of small stores and dirty streets but we were all pretty tired – for breakfast. Not quite like the breakfast buffet in Estonia, but there was plenty to eat and there was even an omelet station! Perhaps more importantly, there was caffeinated tea and coffee, as we were set for a bus tour right after breakfast.

Our guide, Edward, proved entertaining enough to keep us awake (most of the time, as I think I did nod off a little just before Red Square) as we drove toward the center of the city. Without doubt, the Kremlin is the beating heart of Moscow. So we drove along the river – where an incredibly tall monument to Peter the Great towers over even the boats and the bridges – towards said beating heart. We were shocked awake by the cold when we got off the bosses, and then were shocked again to realize that the square is truly as beautiful as it looks in the millions of pictures we had all seen of it. With St. Basil’s at one end, the red brick of the Historical Museum on the other, and the other two sides formed by the Kremlin and GYM (pronounced goom, absolutely giant and beautiful mall), it was incredible to realize just where we were standing. Though we wouldn’t be going into the Kremlin until the next day, we took as many pictures as we could of the outside of it and of all the cupolas on St. Basil’s – under each of which there is a different chapel. It is an imposing place, has a different feel from the Palace Square of St. Petersburg with the Winter Palace and the Neva. This is probably due, at least in part, to the existence of Lenin’s mausoleum. It is such a strange concept, I am not even sure how to describe it. Apparently, according to our conversation teacher, there is often talk of moving Lenin to a cemetery or something but it has never really gotten anywhere. It was incredibly strange, to be taking pictures of the outside of something that we knew contained such a historic figure in such a strange state of preservation. Luckily, the warmth and fountains of GYM didn’t let us dwell to long on the rather creepy implications of the fact that we were essentially walking all over Lenin’s grave. We were freezing after waiting just a few minutes, and when it was finally almost time to get back on the buses Irina Borisovna taught the five of us girls a little folk dance to keep our feet moving. So I can now say I’ve danced in the Red Square. (Which, incidentally, is actually ‘Beautiful Square’ from the old Russian.)

From there we headed to the place where it is rumored Tchaikovsky was inspired to compose ‘Swan Lake’, for the name of the place is ‘Swan Lake’! It is just outside a convent where many royal wives were sent to live out their days when they failed in their duty to produce an heir. There are no swans anymore, but plenty of ducks – including some bronze ones given by First Lady Barbara Bush – and a playground! A few of us couldn’t resist a quick climb up the rope ladder and slide down the pole, much to the amusement of the Russian children playing there. Then it was back on the bus to head up to the main campus of Moscow State University, which is on a hill providing a great view of the stretching metropolis that is Moscow. We also got a close view of the ski jump used for the Moscow Olympics boycotted by the United States – it now looks very strange as just a lone piece of tall construction rising above the hill.

After driving – actually sitting in traffic was more like it with driving occurring only occasionally – through the center streets of the city past the national library, the main shopping district, many federal buildings, and plenty of embassies, we headed back to the hotel to check-in and rest. Our hotel (Beta) was part of a complex built for the Olympics, and had a supposedly ‘star-trek’ theme that manifested itself largely through a strange combination of silver metal accents, bright blue lighting, and interesting ‘other-worldly’ water and garden features. Star-Trek? Maybe not quite. Uniquely Russia? Oh yes. Everyone grabbed a couple hours nap and then headed out exploring. I went with the girls to St. Basil’s cathedral, which is a labyrinth of small chapels – it is two stories – that I can just as easily picture a child playing hide-and-go-seek in as monks wandering through the corridors holding candles and singing Gregorian chants. The icons were exquisite, and the paintings on the walls had an antique feel, as though they would need to be restored in a few years but would rather stay just as they were than be updated in brighter colors. The balcony on the second level provided beautiful views of the square and the city across the river. It was sometimes hard to believe we were standing inside such an important piece of Russian culture, it was so beautiful and authentic feeling. Which doesn’t even really begin to describe it, but I was never very good at describing churches. They have a feel, rather than a look, provide a sense rather than an understanding. Which, in my opinion, is as it should be.

We window-shopped for a while, but with Moscow being one of the most expensive cities in the world (if I can just get myself to Tokyo next semester I’ll have been in the top 3…just kidding!), were sure we wouldn’t be buying anything. Then we headed off in search of a Georgian restaurant that Melissa had read about in order to spend some of our food stipend! The Moscow metro is as different as can be from the Petersburg metro, has many more stops and is sometimes just a flight of stairs beneath the surface. Some of the stations were elaborately decorated with statues and other decorations, but others were more plain. Soviet symbols, however, could still be seen in almost every one. On our way to the restaurant, it had started to snow! It was the first snow of the season in Moscow, and though we had already had snow in Petersburg we experienced the excitement all over again as we slid our way to dinner. The proprietress of the restaurant welcomed us warmly inside, chattering away about how we must be frozen but wasn’t the snow just so beautiful and on and on. We had an absolutely adorable waiter, the service was incredible, the food delicious, and the wine even better! We slipped and slid our way to a café afterwards for some chocolate fondue, and caught the metro back just before it closed to crash for the night.

The next morning we were up early for our tour of the Kremlin, which was absolutely wonderful and incredibly interesting. Our guide explained that Stalin was the last leader to actually live in the Kremlin, and that many of the formers are also buried in its grounds. The Kremlin is the heart of Moscow, and therefore the heart of Russia – and the heart of the Kremlin is the square on which its churches are located, next to the bell-tower built by Ivan the Great (grandfather of Ivan the Terrible). The tsar’s dwelling and that of the patriarch were right across the square from each other, reinforcing the importance of their relationship. A giant cannon stands guard over the square – incidentally pointed at the building where the president now works, a situation that is apparently the subject of endless jokes for the Russians – and a giant bell that was never rung due to a crack sits just next to it. Every city on this side of the Atlantic seems to have something that you have to rub for good luck – Moscow has more than one – and one of Moscow’s is a part of this bell. So after appropriately taking off our gloves to gain some luck, we went in the cathedral where all Russian tsars were crowned, and also in one of the other three cathedrals on the square. The icons in the Kremlin, in my opinion, are unrivaled even by those in Novgorod and the museums. Perhaps it was the atmosphere, perhaps something else. In any event, from the churches we went to tour the ‘armory’, the museum of the Russian treasury to experience the splendor of the Russian empire preserved by the communists.

Whoever it was among the Bolsheviks who suggested that these pieces – not only the silver and Faberge and jeweled icon covers but also the churches we had just seen and the beauty of the Kremlin itself – were too important to the national heritage to Russia or even to the USSR to be destroyed has my eternal gratitude. In light of the destruction that they caused elsewhere and the havoc they wreaked on the beauty of the churches in the capital in particular, it is somewhat incredible to realize that everything in the Kremlin survived. Though some of the Faberge collection and other pieces in royal possession were sold or found their way abroad, the extensive collection on display at the armory pays testament to the fact that much was allowed to remain. From the beautiful carriages of Catherine the Great to the boots of Peter the Great and silver brought from diplomats from Germany and the icon cases from Russia herself, we spent a few hours just admiring the many beautiful things before us and being thankful that we were able to see them.

After the Kremlin – we had to vacate the area because of a military parade on the Red Square commemorating the march of the Soviet troops from there to the front – we wandered around the shopping and central districts of the city, making the obligatory stop in Starbucks (and don’t roll your eyes, I don’t even like their coffee but you would miss white chocolate mochas too and don’t deny it) before getting Russian food for lunch and doing some souvenir shopping. That night Vika and I were unsure of what we wanted to do and ended up talking in a coffee shop for a couple of hours which was great, we got to know each other a lot better and it was the perfect evening that I needed – I knew I’d be back in Moscow at least once or twice in the spring to visit the OU program there so I wasn’t worried about cramming everything in to our 2 day visit – because I wanted to arrive in Berlin at my best to prepare for the celebrations Monday night and a week of taking advantage of being back where I feel truly at home, never mind the fact that I had never been there. So we ended the night with chicken wings and blini.

The next day we said our good-byes and everyone headed their separate ways for travel week. I went souvenir shopping at the market with some of the guys – though couldn’t buy much due to space limitations – before heading to the airport with Kelly. The airport we were flying out of – I believe there are 4 – looked somewhat like a space pod and contained more duty-free stores than I believe I have ever seen in one place. Waiting to get on the plane, I couldn’t suppress (though I’m not going to say that I tried) the feeling that I was heading home from some strange trip. Its impossible to explain to someone who has never experienced the feeling, and saying that its an incredible feeling doesn’t seem to do it justice. I almost hugged the stewardess when she said good evening to me in German, and when I saw the newspapers I could have cried if I wasn’t so busy smiling like my face would break. So I spent the flight reading up on the excitement that awaited me…in Berlin!

To be continued…

before Moscow there was...

Meant to post this before I headed to Moscow...so we'll backtrack and I'll have new posts for you this week :-)

Happy day of the people! (Or something like that.) Well, actually that was yesterday, November 4^th. It’s a rather new holiday, instated a few years ago in place of the November 7^th holiday that everyone had gotten so used to in the Soviet Union. No one quite understands the new holiday though, it is a blend of an old Imperial holiday marking the importance of the Kazan icon and the remembrance of the Soviet holiday, some say. My host mom wasn’t sure what the holiday was, but she knew that it was a day off of work and therefore a great day to bake! So some friends came over this evening and we made pelmenni to celebrate the holiday!

This past weekend was a lot of fun, though it didn’t include very much sleep! Friday night we went midnight ice skating after starting the night at a sushi restaurant. The ice skating was tons of fun, though would have been better if the skates and ice were better. Friends make up for everything though, and it was very entertaining to observe that teenage boys in hockey skates behave pretty much the same regardless of what continent you’re on and what language they’re yelling at each other in. Brought back great memories of Cleveland Heights and Athens too, except that in Russia they don’t mind if you take tons of pictures on the ice and skate backwards around the outside!

Saturday was Halloween, and Tom and I decided it would be a great day to visit a cemetery! The Alexander Nevsky Monastery is quite famous here, the patriarch of St. Petersburg lives there and it also houses a theological school. Within its walls there is also a gorgeous Orthodox church and plenty of cemeteries to wander on what turned out to be a sunny, if cold, fall day. It was wonderful to crunch through the leaves and look at the differences between Russian and American cemeteries, and just enjoy wandering around until our hands and feet started to go numb after a few hours. The cemeteries were also particularly interesting because of the grave ornaments – many had portraits or photographs of the person buried there, and many others had the communist star or the hammer and the sickle. The majority were still probably marked with Orthodox crosses, but the hammer and sickle on one particularly tall headstone definitely reminded us that we were not in Kansas anymore.

That night Sarah came over to my apartment and we got ready to go to the Halloween party hosted by the university at one of the big clubs in town – with a stop at a student bar first for some beer and garlic bread. By the time we got to the club it was already packed, and Jarlath had us completely fooled by his mummy costume! 5 of us danced the night away as the Spice Girls which proved to be a fun and very comfortable costume decision, if not the most creative of all time. Random contests and dances – costumed and otherwise – on stage broke up the night, but we were more than content to just dance and sing all night. I caught about an hour of sleep Saturday night and woke up to get myself to church. I was incredibly glad that I made sure I got up, because I actually met an OU alum after church! I had my OU sweatshirt on and he introduced himself to me afterwards, asking if I was really a student from Athens or whether I had just bought the sweatshirt somewhere. Turns out he is a ’74 grad in chemistry! He was just a tourist, not here for a long period of time, but it was still pretty crazy. Every time you forget how small the world is, something happens to remind you!

This week went by especially quickly because not only did we have the enticement of Moscow and our vacation week, we also had school off on Wednesday for the holiday-that-no-one-quite-knew-what-it-was. Spent the day relaxing with the host mom and then some of my friends came over and we made pelmenni and they were all so overjoyed by my host mom and how warm and inviting our apartment is. I have only been to one other apartment, but through listening to people I only know of a couple situations that are like mine in that respect. It just makes me more glad that I have decided to stay for next semester! And now off to skype with Stef and tonight, the train to Moscow! 

Hallo aus Berlin!

Hello from Berlin, all! I actually have another blog written from St. Petersburg that I forgot to post before I left so that will be posted Monday if all goes well. But for now, let me share a few thoughts about my time in Berlin which is somehow already coming to an end.

We left Moscow on Sunday evening through one of the 4 major airports that service the capital. It resembled a space pod from the outside which was entertaining and the inside was massive, more duty free stores than I think I have ever seen in one place. The flight was delayed a little but nothing major, just enough to start to irritate all of the punctual Germans waiting in the gate area. The most exciting part of the flight was when we entered the plane -- there were TONS of German newspapers waiting for us. I grabbed a few and tried not to dance all the way down the aisle. I ended up having 3 seats to myself which never happens to me so I got to stretch out. The newspapers all talked about the festivities Monday night for the fall of the wall and the closer we got to Berlin the more I really felt like I was headed home for a big party. We transferred to a bus from airport Tegel with no trouble, and Tom and I got to the hostel probably around 8, but I dont really remember. He hadnt realized that I had never been to Berlin before, with all the talk about me coming home and all the things I couldnt wait to do. It was a strange feeling, knowing I had never been in this place but feeling like I should show Tom the best parts of it and explain everything as best as I could.

Ill skip to Monday night and then give you a brief overview of what Ive been up to, many more details to follow when Im in Petersburg -- especially since Ive decided to buy mobile internet for the month.

Monday we headed down to the Brandenburg Gate -- about a 40 minute walk from the hostel through the main streets so definitely not a boring walk -- to see how many people were around. We wandered the gallery of domino stones, more than 1000 larger than life dominos that had been painted by people from around the world and would be knocked over as part of the festivities that night, and made our way over to the quarter of the city where most of the government buildings are located which was at one end of the more than 1 km long row of dominos. The architecture of the Parliament and even the office buildings was awe-inspiring and clearlz very modern. We got Currywurst for lunch at one of the stands set up for the party that night, and then rested our feet in a little coffee shop for a few minutes. It was a good thing we did, because from 5-11 that night we pretty much stood in the same spot! (7 minutes left on the internet counter!) We were right in front of the Brandenburg Gate, and luckily the pouring rain wasnt dampening anyones spirit or enthusiasm, the most it did was cause some interesting umbrella wars as everyone tried to work to cover everyone! The orchestra played Berliner Luft, look it up on YouTube :-), and then the politicians gave their speeches. More on those later, but it was incredibly interesting and though Obama wasnt there Hillary introduced a message from him which the crowd drowned out for about the first 5 seconds with loud cheers. When the dominos came down a massive fireworks display started over the gate and behind us over the Tiergarten, everyone was smiling and some people were dancing around despite the rain that had started again. It was a great night, and I have learned a lot since then as well through visits to the Wall Memorial and death strip at Bernauer Street, the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, and the Jewish Museum. We also went to the Pergamon Museum yersterday to see the Pergamon Altar.

2 Minutes left on the counter now. I have loved every minute of being in this city, the friendly and diverse people in the coffee shops and cafes and on the streets, the architecture, and the language continue to make me feel at home. I promise to write more when I return to Peter! Much love to you all in these final seconds of internet and always!!