Dear Россия,
On my last night here (since tomorrow night I’m being picked up at 2 am I’m not counting it) I want to take the time to thank you for everything this year. I know I spend most of my time complaining about the blisters I get from so much walking, depressing about the weather, and laughing at your crazy sense of fashion, but in all seriousness this past school year has been incredible and I want to thank you sincerely for that. These past few days making the rounds for the last time for a while have made me realize just how many memories we have made together. Picnics in the park by school, pushing through the winter wind to volunteer at the Hermitage, sunset over the gulf, smiling inwardly at American tourists who are trying to read Cyrillic, singing and dancing while Jarlath plays guitar, walking down the embankment when we could have taken the bus, and even the first time we discovered where the free bathrooms were in the center. Your beauty, both natural and of human design, continues to take my breath away, somehow even the Khrushchev buildings here at Primorskaya have seemed almost beautiful this past week. You have reminded me of how wonderful it is to get lost in back alleys and then find your way again, how a handwritten sign pasted on a wall inquiring after a lost hamster can make you smile just as quickly as a professional comedy show. The resiliency and generosity of your people continues to amaze me. Events of an entire age fill one lifetime here, so when the grandmothers are elbowing their way through the metro you carefully remind me that they have seen and experienced more than I can begin to comprehend, that everyone has their own story and their own fight. Your young people do quite often have a broader perspective than their elders, some look forward to leaving and heading west but many others are passionate in their love for you, their homeland, and I know they will serve you well as artists, engineers, politicians. Thank you for introducing me to them and their perspectives and dreams. I may not agree with many women here on their self-image and social status, but I am incredibly grateful to them for their willingness to engage in discussions on the subject and make me examine my own assumptions and opinions. I never really thought I would say this, but I am also grateful to your men; for making me stronger, more self-assured, and more certain of the woman I want to become. That woman will hopefully utilize all of the things I have learned here in the classroom, as well as on your streets. My teachers have provided me a glimpse into the life of a Russian intellectual, and for that I am just as grateful as I am for all that they taught me from books, films, and conversation. I hope you will allow me to meet them again someday soon, when I have been able to more fully grasp the immense impact they have had on my life through their language and cultural instruction and their role as a window into Russian life. Thank you for placing Irina Borisovna and all of the CIEE staff in the right place at the right time, I cannot imagine Russia without them. They have shown you in the best possible light, I only hope I can do the same as I try and show you to my friends and family. Thank you, perhaps most of all, for the generosity that runs so deep in your national character that a family could take in a stranger and make them feel as if they were one of their own. I absolutely cannot imagine this experience without Ira, Pasha, Grandma, Lena, and Nadia. There are simply no words to express how grateful I am, so I won’t attempt it because you already understand, nor are there any to express how much I am going to miss them. I cannot say I am going to miss everything about you, dear country of mullets and inefficiency, but I know I will be leaving a piece of my heart here, otherwise the tears wouldn’t be in my eyes. In just over 24 hours when I am on my way, and when I am gone, think of me, dear Russia. I’ll be seeing you.
Much love from a grateful heart – Бет Анне
Friday, May 21, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Holy Week in Stockholm!
Though I arrived in the center of Stockholm in a cloud of San Francisco style fog, it was clear to me that this was a different type of city from Copenhagen. Larger, and more complex feeling because it is made up of islands and water is everywhere even more so than was the case in Copenhagen, Stockholm felt like the regal capital of Scandinavia that it claimed to be. I was starving, so grabbed some pizza in the train station and did some active people watching, and then set out to find my hostel. It was a pretty short walk to one of the coolest hostels I have stayed in. City Backpackers is located behind its own café, and is full of common rooms, very clean bathrooms, and little bedrooms named after various towns and regions in Sweden. The kitchen was huge – and seemingly always full of guys making pasta – the TV room was full of couches and chatty people and books to borrow, the WiFi was fast even in the rooms, and the beds were cozy. I met a couple of nice, but not particularly sociable, Finnish girls in my room where I dropped off my things and headed out exploring.
Down past the train station and across the water to Gamla Stan by way of the Swedish Parliament building, a beautiful building that manages to seem classical and modern all at the same time, and is situated right next to the royal palace. The spires of the old churches rose into nothingness thanks to the fog, making for some interesting vistas. The narrow alleys and cobblestone streets led me to things like the Royal Opera, National Museum, and plenty of monuments and churches along the way. I got a little lost, which was perfect since it let me explore and wander since I had no real agenda for the day and everything was pretty much closed since it was already 5 or 6 in the evening, and wandered my way around for a few hours until I found myself back in the center of the new city, and ducked into a mall for a cup of coffee and was astonished by all the Easter decorations – including a giant chocolate bunny and a chocolate fountain! On the way back to the hostel it started to rain, so I holed up with a book on my ipod and half paid attention to the movie playing in the TV room.
The next day was Holy Thursday, and I needed my umbrella on the hour walk to the Vasa Museum, which contains a ship raised from the bottom of the harbor that has been incredibly well preserved. On the way I circled the harbor, again resolved to return in the summer when all of the sight-seeing boats currently closed up and moored would be actively showing tourists around this beautiful city. The Vasa Museum itself is incredibly impressive even before you make it inside. Sticking out of the roof are replicas of the ship’s masts, reaching to their original heights. Inside the museum – you have to walk through about three sets of special doors due to the special climate control systems – the rest of the ship has been preserved almost in its entirety. It is impossible to capture it all on camera, and a rather indescribable feeling to know you are looking at something that was last seen some 400 years ago. The funny thing is that the ship was a failure, it sank on its first voyage because it hadn’t been balanced correctly, it just keeled right over. Since it was brand new, it was in pristine condition when it sank, and was preserved by the mud on the sea floor and the lack of wood eating worms in the less salty waters of the Baltic Sea. The process of removing it was quite the ordeal, cables were passed through tunnels dug by divers under the hull, and the ship was pulled in its entirety to a dry dock to be restored with chemicals to replace the water in the wood. It is an incredible achievement that they were able to restore the ship so beautifully, and the accompanying exhibitions about life onboard and in Scandinavia at the time were also very interesting and well done. I spent many hours in the museum, and by the time I emerged the sun was shining in a blue sky full of fluffy white clouds.
I walked back towards the center in a roundabout way through parts of the city I hadn’t seen, more residential feeling with an incredible amount of green space. Found a beautiful golden church where they were rehearsing for an Easter concert, the National Library, and museums of Music and the Military, as well as multiple parks and monuments, before my legs started yelling that I’d been walking for hours and my stomach reminded me that I had missed lunch and it was already early evening. I stopped in a book market just before it closed and bought the second book in the Millennium trilogy, detective novels actually by a Swedish author that take place in Stockholm, a friend had lent me the first one back in St. Petersburg, and then walked over to treat myself – or had madre and padre treat me – to a Caesar salad in honor of Holy Thursday at the TGI Fridays in the park by the Opera. I spent a wonderful hour or two reading and savoring every bite of romaine lettuce, and made friends with the Swedish family next to me when their toddler’s balloon went astray. Everyone I met spoke wonderful English and didn’t give you the slightest bit of attitude about not speaking Swedish, and were all very friendly and helpful. The waitresses were incredibly attentive, the ice water was wonderful and I’m sure from the tap, and no security guards had to throw out a bunch of old drunk men just because it was happy hour. Simply put, the perfect break from Russia. And did I mention they had romaine lettuce?
That night after I got back to the hostel I hung out with the German woman who had showed up in my room, actually I had moved rooms because that’s just how the booking had worked out, so we had a good time talking in a mixture of German and English about traveling and things, she just had the week off from work before the Easter holiday and had wanted to go somewhere new so had gotten a cheap flight from Munich. The next day was Good Friday, so I read until about midnight and went to bed early. I got up early to head to City Hall, which a friend recommended I climb to get the best views of the city. I was grateful for my time in Russia this winter as the brisk wind blowing in off the water – which still had ice in more than a few places – was chilling the bones of the Spanish tourists standing in line with me. The climb to the top was long and windy, through many twists and turns in brick corridors, but the view from the top was beautiful. It was fun to be able to place all the places I had been and note places I still wanted to go in the city. The park island of Skansen, where the Vasa Museum is located, is like a sea of green in the middle of the city, and the many church spires and hilly topography reminded me of Salzburg. After making my way down I walked across to the old city, watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace and then stumbled upon a Good Friday procession making its way through the streets of the old town. Though I had planned on making Good Friday a day of visiting all the beautiful old churches in the city, almost all of them were closed for work, or just closed, until June. Really need to come back to Scandinavia. It made for an interesting adventure of a day, however, and eventually led to my stumbling into the beginning of a Good Friday evening service in the Catholic Cathedral where I was planning on going to Easter Mass. Later I went on a night-time exploration of the city in a contemplative mood, and loved being able to hear the sounds of the water all around now that the sounds of the day had been quieted. It was a crisp, clear night, and I walked around for a while enjoying the fresh air and peacefulness that had descended on the city.
The next day I headed to Skansen to meet Deborah, the younger sister of my thesis advisor back in Athens, Dr. Weitsman. I was actually kind of nervous, Dr. Weitsman has told me I remind her of her sister a few times and I respect her so much I wasn’t sure what to make of spending the day with her sister and her family. But she got off the bus in a red Indiana University pullover looking quite a bit like her sister but maybe a little smaller, hugged me and introduced me to her husband, Akihiro, and her 5 ½ year old daughter, Hannah. Skansen is an outdoor park full of old-style buildings exhibiting Swedish village life and a zoo of Scandinavian animals, so the plan was to walk around and enjoy the weather, which we certainly did. Though happily interrupted often by Hannah, I had an amazing time getting to know Deborah and Akihiro, who had met in Japan while Debbie was teaching English there and married in the US while getting their graduate degrees. Akihiro holds degrees in Political Science and Anthropology, and has worked as a professor around the world including at the moment in Sweden and Germany two days a week. It was interesting talking about the different university systems around the world in relationship to different cultures. Debbie was very interested in what I had been up to, to be able to study abroad so often and we talked a lot about living abroad and how she ended up in the lifestyle she has found. She was more than willing to share her experiences, and walking around Skansen it felt like we had known each other for longer than just a few hours. In between all of these conversations I was seeing how far I could long jump and climbing on ‘spider webs’ with Hannah, who is a very outgoing five year old to say the least. She taught me a few words in Swedish, which was very entertaining, and reminded me how much fun spending time with children can be, something I don’t get to do much of here in Russia. She has already had some pretty great life experiences, and it was fun seeing them through her eyes as well as her parents.
Skansen itself was quite entertaining as well, from blue herons to seals and wild boars to buffalo lolling about and bears sleeping in trees, there was always something to see. The blue sky was incredible, and the day passed by quickly, running into a few of Hannah’s friends from school along the way and stopping for a pony ride at one point as well – unfortunately, I was too old ☺, but Hannah enjoyed it! At some point early on Hannah asked whether I was coming over after, to which we all responded that no, I had to get back to my hostel, for which we received a pout and a few minutes of protesting before she relented. A little while later, however, Debbie invited me over for dinner – with Akihiro’s laughing caveat that it was Passover, so it wouldn’t be gourmet. I had enjoyed the day immensely, spending time with such a welcoming family after almost a week on the road was an incredible blessing, and I couldn’t have said no to the little hand pulling on my arm begging me to say yes, even if I had wanted to. So I accepted the invitation, and was immediately hugged by Hannah who then requested a piggy back ride to the bus stop. So I carried Hannah to the bus, while Debbie carried my purse, and we piled into the bus where Hannah happily swiped my transit card and told me stories all the way home. We stopped at the store for some ice cream for an after-dinner treat, and Debbie made sure that one of them didn’t have chocolate in it since it was still Lent for me. That small gesture made me feel so welcomed even after spending the day with them that I almost hugged her right there, but was pulled off to look at the very interesting cereal selection by an eager Hannah. We also stopped in a department store for some socks, and Hannah gave her mom permission to go with dad, she was certain I could look after both of us. So we tried on nearly every headband in the store before we were ushered away to walk the final bit home, where I was immediately shown a Disney princess play tent and a book to read before dinner. Sometime during the tour I heard Debbie on the phone saying, “I have someone you know in my house”, which made me laugh and realize she was talking to Dr. Weitsman back in the US. About halfway through the book I was reading to Hannah we called her on skype, which was quite fun. I am incredibly grateful to her for being willing to introduce me to her sister and share her family with me, the day I spent with them was by far the best day of the trip and came at the perfect time when I was coming to realize just how much I missed my family over the Easter holiday. After a wonderful dinner, tea, ice cream, and losing about 10 games of Uno, I headed back to the hostel with a goodie bag for lunch the next day of the delicious lasagna we’d had for dinner and some fresh fruit. I was incredibly touched by their kindness all day, and as you can probably tell by the amount of space in this blog detailing Saturday’s events, I am still incredibly grateful and touched every time I think about it. I sincerely hope that one day I can repay them for their incredible kindness to me. I arrived back at the hostel very happy and exhausted, packed a little and collapsed into bed.
Easter Sunday dawned clear and warm, and I put my bags in a day locker since I was flying out in the late afternoon and walked over to the train station to meet a friend who had worked at the Cleveland Council on World Affairs when I had interned there over winter break. I hadn’t realized she was back in Sweden, but luckily Josie contacted me on facebook and we met for Easter breakfast before parting ways to go to church. It was great to catch up with her, she’s an incredible sweetheart with lots of fun experiences and just very easy to chat with, we had a great time catching up and laughing about AJ Roccos and the quirks of CCWA. It was a real blessing to start off Easter with her, and as she headed to go set up for her church’s Easter celebration I took my place in the Catholic church for Easter Mass in Swedish! The church is a large one, and was more than completely full with what seemed to be a very diverse congregation. Thankfully the only part that was really lost on me was the homily, since I could follow along with the readings in the Bible I brought and know the parts of the Mass pretty much by heart. It was fun to celebrate the holiday among a truly global family of believers! After Mass I did some last minute souvenir shopping since I had planned on doing it Saturday but ended up staying with Debbie’s family all day, and headed to the airport on a bus. Made it home to St. Petersburg without a hitch, and host mom had tea and chocolate and cake waiting for me in my freshly cleaned room, and I caught a few hours of sleep before starting class the next morning. And so, travel week came to an end and the rest of the semester began.
Down past the train station and across the water to Gamla Stan by way of the Swedish Parliament building, a beautiful building that manages to seem classical and modern all at the same time, and is situated right next to the royal palace. The spires of the old churches rose into nothingness thanks to the fog, making for some interesting vistas. The narrow alleys and cobblestone streets led me to things like the Royal Opera, National Museum, and plenty of monuments and churches along the way. I got a little lost, which was perfect since it let me explore and wander since I had no real agenda for the day and everything was pretty much closed since it was already 5 or 6 in the evening, and wandered my way around for a few hours until I found myself back in the center of the new city, and ducked into a mall for a cup of coffee and was astonished by all the Easter decorations – including a giant chocolate bunny and a chocolate fountain! On the way back to the hostel it started to rain, so I holed up with a book on my ipod and half paid attention to the movie playing in the TV room.
The next day was Holy Thursday, and I needed my umbrella on the hour walk to the Vasa Museum, which contains a ship raised from the bottom of the harbor that has been incredibly well preserved. On the way I circled the harbor, again resolved to return in the summer when all of the sight-seeing boats currently closed up and moored would be actively showing tourists around this beautiful city. The Vasa Museum itself is incredibly impressive even before you make it inside. Sticking out of the roof are replicas of the ship’s masts, reaching to their original heights. Inside the museum – you have to walk through about three sets of special doors due to the special climate control systems – the rest of the ship has been preserved almost in its entirety. It is impossible to capture it all on camera, and a rather indescribable feeling to know you are looking at something that was last seen some 400 years ago. The funny thing is that the ship was a failure, it sank on its first voyage because it hadn’t been balanced correctly, it just keeled right over. Since it was brand new, it was in pristine condition when it sank, and was preserved by the mud on the sea floor and the lack of wood eating worms in the less salty waters of the Baltic Sea. The process of removing it was quite the ordeal, cables were passed through tunnels dug by divers under the hull, and the ship was pulled in its entirety to a dry dock to be restored with chemicals to replace the water in the wood. It is an incredible achievement that they were able to restore the ship so beautifully, and the accompanying exhibitions about life onboard and in Scandinavia at the time were also very interesting and well done. I spent many hours in the museum, and by the time I emerged the sun was shining in a blue sky full of fluffy white clouds.
I walked back towards the center in a roundabout way through parts of the city I hadn’t seen, more residential feeling with an incredible amount of green space. Found a beautiful golden church where they were rehearsing for an Easter concert, the National Library, and museums of Music and the Military, as well as multiple parks and monuments, before my legs started yelling that I’d been walking for hours and my stomach reminded me that I had missed lunch and it was already early evening. I stopped in a book market just before it closed and bought the second book in the Millennium trilogy, detective novels actually by a Swedish author that take place in Stockholm, a friend had lent me the first one back in St. Petersburg, and then walked over to treat myself – or had madre and padre treat me – to a Caesar salad in honor of Holy Thursday at the TGI Fridays in the park by the Opera. I spent a wonderful hour or two reading and savoring every bite of romaine lettuce, and made friends with the Swedish family next to me when their toddler’s balloon went astray. Everyone I met spoke wonderful English and didn’t give you the slightest bit of attitude about not speaking Swedish, and were all very friendly and helpful. The waitresses were incredibly attentive, the ice water was wonderful and I’m sure from the tap, and no security guards had to throw out a bunch of old drunk men just because it was happy hour. Simply put, the perfect break from Russia. And did I mention they had romaine lettuce?
That night after I got back to the hostel I hung out with the German woman who had showed up in my room, actually I had moved rooms because that’s just how the booking had worked out, so we had a good time talking in a mixture of German and English about traveling and things, she just had the week off from work before the Easter holiday and had wanted to go somewhere new so had gotten a cheap flight from Munich. The next day was Good Friday, so I read until about midnight and went to bed early. I got up early to head to City Hall, which a friend recommended I climb to get the best views of the city. I was grateful for my time in Russia this winter as the brisk wind blowing in off the water – which still had ice in more than a few places – was chilling the bones of the Spanish tourists standing in line with me. The climb to the top was long and windy, through many twists and turns in brick corridors, but the view from the top was beautiful. It was fun to be able to place all the places I had been and note places I still wanted to go in the city. The park island of Skansen, where the Vasa Museum is located, is like a sea of green in the middle of the city, and the many church spires and hilly topography reminded me of Salzburg. After making my way down I walked across to the old city, watched the changing of the guard at the royal palace and then stumbled upon a Good Friday procession making its way through the streets of the old town. Though I had planned on making Good Friday a day of visiting all the beautiful old churches in the city, almost all of them were closed for work, or just closed, until June. Really need to come back to Scandinavia. It made for an interesting adventure of a day, however, and eventually led to my stumbling into the beginning of a Good Friday evening service in the Catholic Cathedral where I was planning on going to Easter Mass. Later I went on a night-time exploration of the city in a contemplative mood, and loved being able to hear the sounds of the water all around now that the sounds of the day had been quieted. It was a crisp, clear night, and I walked around for a while enjoying the fresh air and peacefulness that had descended on the city.
The next day I headed to Skansen to meet Deborah, the younger sister of my thesis advisor back in Athens, Dr. Weitsman. I was actually kind of nervous, Dr. Weitsman has told me I remind her of her sister a few times and I respect her so much I wasn’t sure what to make of spending the day with her sister and her family. But she got off the bus in a red Indiana University pullover looking quite a bit like her sister but maybe a little smaller, hugged me and introduced me to her husband, Akihiro, and her 5 ½ year old daughter, Hannah. Skansen is an outdoor park full of old-style buildings exhibiting Swedish village life and a zoo of Scandinavian animals, so the plan was to walk around and enjoy the weather, which we certainly did. Though happily interrupted often by Hannah, I had an amazing time getting to know Deborah and Akihiro, who had met in Japan while Debbie was teaching English there and married in the US while getting their graduate degrees. Akihiro holds degrees in Political Science and Anthropology, and has worked as a professor around the world including at the moment in Sweden and Germany two days a week. It was interesting talking about the different university systems around the world in relationship to different cultures. Debbie was very interested in what I had been up to, to be able to study abroad so often and we talked a lot about living abroad and how she ended up in the lifestyle she has found. She was more than willing to share her experiences, and walking around Skansen it felt like we had known each other for longer than just a few hours. In between all of these conversations I was seeing how far I could long jump and climbing on ‘spider webs’ with Hannah, who is a very outgoing five year old to say the least. She taught me a few words in Swedish, which was very entertaining, and reminded me how much fun spending time with children can be, something I don’t get to do much of here in Russia. She has already had some pretty great life experiences, and it was fun seeing them through her eyes as well as her parents.
Skansen itself was quite entertaining as well, from blue herons to seals and wild boars to buffalo lolling about and bears sleeping in trees, there was always something to see. The blue sky was incredible, and the day passed by quickly, running into a few of Hannah’s friends from school along the way and stopping for a pony ride at one point as well – unfortunately, I was too old ☺, but Hannah enjoyed it! At some point early on Hannah asked whether I was coming over after, to which we all responded that no, I had to get back to my hostel, for which we received a pout and a few minutes of protesting before she relented. A little while later, however, Debbie invited me over for dinner – with Akihiro’s laughing caveat that it was Passover, so it wouldn’t be gourmet. I had enjoyed the day immensely, spending time with such a welcoming family after almost a week on the road was an incredible blessing, and I couldn’t have said no to the little hand pulling on my arm begging me to say yes, even if I had wanted to. So I accepted the invitation, and was immediately hugged by Hannah who then requested a piggy back ride to the bus stop. So I carried Hannah to the bus, while Debbie carried my purse, and we piled into the bus where Hannah happily swiped my transit card and told me stories all the way home. We stopped at the store for some ice cream for an after-dinner treat, and Debbie made sure that one of them didn’t have chocolate in it since it was still Lent for me. That small gesture made me feel so welcomed even after spending the day with them that I almost hugged her right there, but was pulled off to look at the very interesting cereal selection by an eager Hannah. We also stopped in a department store for some socks, and Hannah gave her mom permission to go with dad, she was certain I could look after both of us. So we tried on nearly every headband in the store before we were ushered away to walk the final bit home, where I was immediately shown a Disney princess play tent and a book to read before dinner. Sometime during the tour I heard Debbie on the phone saying, “I have someone you know in my house”, which made me laugh and realize she was talking to Dr. Weitsman back in the US. About halfway through the book I was reading to Hannah we called her on skype, which was quite fun. I am incredibly grateful to her for being willing to introduce me to her sister and share her family with me, the day I spent with them was by far the best day of the trip and came at the perfect time when I was coming to realize just how much I missed my family over the Easter holiday. After a wonderful dinner, tea, ice cream, and losing about 10 games of Uno, I headed back to the hostel with a goodie bag for lunch the next day of the delicious lasagna we’d had for dinner and some fresh fruit. I was incredibly touched by their kindness all day, and as you can probably tell by the amount of space in this blog detailing Saturday’s events, I am still incredibly grateful and touched every time I think about it. I sincerely hope that one day I can repay them for their incredible kindness to me. I arrived back at the hostel very happy and exhausted, packed a little and collapsed into bed.
Easter Sunday dawned clear and warm, and I put my bags in a day locker since I was flying out in the late afternoon and walked over to the train station to meet a friend who had worked at the Cleveland Council on World Affairs when I had interned there over winter break. I hadn’t realized she was back in Sweden, but luckily Josie contacted me on facebook and we met for Easter breakfast before parting ways to go to church. It was great to catch up with her, she’s an incredible sweetheart with lots of fun experiences and just very easy to chat with, we had a great time catching up and laughing about AJ Roccos and the quirks of CCWA. It was a real blessing to start off Easter with her, and as she headed to go set up for her church’s Easter celebration I took my place in the Catholic church for Easter Mass in Swedish! The church is a large one, and was more than completely full with what seemed to be a very diverse congregation. Thankfully the only part that was really lost on me was the homily, since I could follow along with the readings in the Bible I brought and know the parts of the Mass pretty much by heart. It was fun to celebrate the holiday among a truly global family of believers! After Mass I did some last minute souvenir shopping since I had planned on doing it Saturday but ended up staying with Debbie’s family all day, and headed to the airport on a bus. Made it home to St. Petersburg without a hitch, and host mom had tea and chocolate and cake waiting for me in my freshly cleaned room, and I caught a few hours of sleep before starting class the next morning. And so, travel week came to an end and the rest of the semester began.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Day of the Great Victory: День Победы!
The 9th of May in Russia is a nearly sacred day, the day of victory in what they name 'The Great Patriotic War', and what we know as the Second World War. Russians view the victory largely as theirs alone, and in many respects it was. A majority of the fighting took place on Soviet Union territory, the battle of Stalingrad and the siege of Leningrad were two of the most important pieces in the horrible puzzle, and Russia lost some 23 million people, according to the more conservative estimates. Even for a country the size of Russia, 23 million people is an incredible number. The banners and flags have been in place for a few weeks, the modern Russian flag hung alongside the red flag of the Soviet Union in most cases, and many buildings are draped with huge posters declaring 65 years of great victory, 1945-2010. War films and documentaries have dominated the television channels for some time, and almost every night on the news some new information or fact is given about the war and its heroes. There are more veterans still alive than I would have thought – given the life expectancy in Russia in general – but it is a pretty fluid number since everyone who survived the blockade in Leningrad is also considered a war veteran, and there are other nuances as well. And the critics always bring up that there would be more but Stalin had all those who had been in enemy prison camps repressed and sent to Siberia, and many say that all the money spent on the parade every year should go instead to making sure that veterans have good apartments and care, since their pensions are good but that’s about it, but on the 9th of May everyone rallies around those veterans cruising down Nevsky Prospect on their own two feet or in jeeps, regardless of all the discussion in the background. Young people buy carnations to present to veterans, veterans wives, and blockade survivors, who are all proudly adorned in their best outfits and absolutely covered in medals and ribbons. Walking up and kissing an old man on the cheek in Russia I'm pretty sure happens on only one day, the 9th of May.
The day begins early – I was in church so missed most of this part but caught it all later when they replayed it on TV – with a military parade simultaneously in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our claim to fame is that the Navy brass is here, as well as the Naval Academy cadets, while the Moscow parade is much more impressive in terms of numbers and military technology, and of course the presence of the President and Prime Minister. Though those poor guys leading the parade in Moscow have to march on the much larger Red Square – and they do the stiff-legged high kick march, Matthew does this have a name? so it must be exhausting by the time they make it all the way across – rather than our Palace Square. It was depressing to see the difference on television, Moscow was sunny and everyone looked almost hot, while we were shrouded in fog and pulling out our gloves in the morning. The day turned out to be by turns beautiful and stormy, thankfully I have lots of experience at umbrella battling after spending 7 hours standing in the rain in Berlin in November. The military parade was at 10 am, and from then until 5 pm when the citizens parade, the one in which the veterans march, we had lunch at a delicious pizza place on Nevsky while listening to the Soviet anthem over the loudspeakers in the restaurant, did a significant amount of people watching and finding free paraphanalia, got the email address of a militia member after we took a picture of a big group of them standing doing absolutely nothing, ate some St. Petersburg fried donuts, said hello to a few veterans with big smiles, and staked out a spot about 4 to wait for the parade to make its way down from Ploshad Vosstania where the train station to Moscow is. This was honestly – as one of the guys from church noted in the morning – the first day when it was clear that 5 million people do live in this city, and they were all out on the street. The funny thing was that many of the people on the street had come in for the weekend, blockade survivors especially, and plenty of Russian and international tourists to witness the festivities in the big city. It led to a rather crazy atmosphere, but we lucked into seats everywhere we went and until the metro at the end of the day it never really felt out of control.
The highlight of the day is the citizens parade, veterans and their families are driven in jeeps or march down the parade route behind the flags of their regiments and fronts, and blockade survivors march with the unions that have been created to unite and remember them. One woman told of how her mother had returned from the dacha to find her husband sent to the western front, in the summer before the beginning of the siege of the city. She only received one letter from him and then the news that he had been killed, and her story is sadly not unique. The celebration of the veterans, and the cries of спасибо, which means thank you, that can be heard more often than anything else, are also really celebrations of all of those who were lost, and on the 9th of May Russia remembers them all. Life here may still be difficult in many respects, but the victory that they celebrate on this day every year rises above all of that, to a level beyond even national pride. It was a wonderful feeling on the streets all day, and during the parade when the rain started pouring down no one was phased, compared to what the veterans have seen rain must be absolutely meaningless, and the city celebrated on. The parade ended in palace square, where a concert started up that saw the veterans dancing up a storm with many young uniformed men and women and their families. At this point, we all headed home to be able to watch it on TV since it was all blocked off, and successfully made it through the metro chaos and all the way home in time to see most of it. Pasha and I watched with huge smiles as the veterans danced to classic victory day songs and more modern ones as well, some with their spouses and others with dashing young service members trying to keep up with the veterans. They all knew all the words to the songs, and the sense of solidarity was tangible even from our apartment.
At 10 pm a military salute takes place in St. Petersburg from the Peter and Paul Fortress, just before the fireworks begin in Moscow. It was really interesting to go from watching the Neva where it was still pretty light outside to Moscow where at 10 pm it was absolutely dark and perfect for fireworks. The fireworks display was magnificent, set to a live orchestra performance of mostly Tschaikovsky, and went on for maybe 15 minutes. It was quite the spectacle, and red square was full of people looking up to the sky. Pasha and I were curled on my bed with tea and ice cream, and when the fireworks ended a concert started in Moscow with some of the most famous names in Russian music singing classic songs of victory and a ten-year-old boy who won a competition singing a new song about the important holiday. There were subtitles with the lyrics which was fun because Pasha knew most of the songs and he made me sing too since I could read the Russian on the screen. So it turned into quite the sing-a-long evening and occasionally we could hear mom laughing at us from the other room when one of us would sing incorrectly or the audio would cut out and suddenly we could hear ourselves and would start laughing. The songs were patriotic and emotional, and absolutely everyone knew all the words in the audience, I'm going to pay more attention to our 4th of July concerts and see if they are comparable. And we're going to have to skype because they want to see what our fireworks are like and apparently they're not shown on TV here. So that should be entertaining! Victory day ended at about midnight, but you could go on forever about the implications and special meanings found in the celebration. I am very grateful that I had the chance to experience this sacred holiday, and will be very sad the day there are no dancing veterans around to bless the bricks of Palace Square with their dancing feet. Thankfully, the importance of their sacrifice is definitely imprinted in the blood of this country and her people, so Victory Day will live on as will their legacy.
The day begins early – I was in church so missed most of this part but caught it all later when they replayed it on TV – with a military parade simultaneously in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Our claim to fame is that the Navy brass is here, as well as the Naval Academy cadets, while the Moscow parade is much more impressive in terms of numbers and military technology, and of course the presence of the President and Prime Minister. Though those poor guys leading the parade in Moscow have to march on the much larger Red Square – and they do the stiff-legged high kick march, Matthew does this have a name? so it must be exhausting by the time they make it all the way across – rather than our Palace Square. It was depressing to see the difference on television, Moscow was sunny and everyone looked almost hot, while we were shrouded in fog and pulling out our gloves in the morning. The day turned out to be by turns beautiful and stormy, thankfully I have lots of experience at umbrella battling after spending 7 hours standing in the rain in Berlin in November. The military parade was at 10 am, and from then until 5 pm when the citizens parade, the one in which the veterans march, we had lunch at a delicious pizza place on Nevsky while listening to the Soviet anthem over the loudspeakers in the restaurant, did a significant amount of people watching and finding free paraphanalia, got the email address of a militia member after we took a picture of a big group of them standing doing absolutely nothing, ate some St. Petersburg fried donuts, said hello to a few veterans with big smiles, and staked out a spot about 4 to wait for the parade to make its way down from Ploshad Vosstania where the train station to Moscow is. This was honestly – as one of the guys from church noted in the morning – the first day when it was clear that 5 million people do live in this city, and they were all out on the street. The funny thing was that many of the people on the street had come in for the weekend, blockade survivors especially, and plenty of Russian and international tourists to witness the festivities in the big city. It led to a rather crazy atmosphere, but we lucked into seats everywhere we went and until the metro at the end of the day it never really felt out of control.
The highlight of the day is the citizens parade, veterans and their families are driven in jeeps or march down the parade route behind the flags of their regiments and fronts, and blockade survivors march with the unions that have been created to unite and remember them. One woman told of how her mother had returned from the dacha to find her husband sent to the western front, in the summer before the beginning of the siege of the city. She only received one letter from him and then the news that he had been killed, and her story is sadly not unique. The celebration of the veterans, and the cries of спасибо, which means thank you, that can be heard more often than anything else, are also really celebrations of all of those who were lost, and on the 9th of May Russia remembers them all. Life here may still be difficult in many respects, but the victory that they celebrate on this day every year rises above all of that, to a level beyond even national pride. It was a wonderful feeling on the streets all day, and during the parade when the rain started pouring down no one was phased, compared to what the veterans have seen rain must be absolutely meaningless, and the city celebrated on. The parade ended in palace square, where a concert started up that saw the veterans dancing up a storm with many young uniformed men and women and their families. At this point, we all headed home to be able to watch it on TV since it was all blocked off, and successfully made it through the metro chaos and all the way home in time to see most of it. Pasha and I watched with huge smiles as the veterans danced to classic victory day songs and more modern ones as well, some with their spouses and others with dashing young service members trying to keep up with the veterans. They all knew all the words to the songs, and the sense of solidarity was tangible even from our apartment.
At 10 pm a military salute takes place in St. Petersburg from the Peter and Paul Fortress, just before the fireworks begin in Moscow. It was really interesting to go from watching the Neva where it was still pretty light outside to Moscow where at 10 pm it was absolutely dark and perfect for fireworks. The fireworks display was magnificent, set to a live orchestra performance of mostly Tschaikovsky, and went on for maybe 15 minutes. It was quite the spectacle, and red square was full of people looking up to the sky. Pasha and I were curled on my bed with tea and ice cream, and when the fireworks ended a concert started in Moscow with some of the most famous names in Russian music singing classic songs of victory and a ten-year-old boy who won a competition singing a new song about the important holiday. There were subtitles with the lyrics which was fun because Pasha knew most of the songs and he made me sing too since I could read the Russian on the screen. So it turned into quite the sing-a-long evening and occasionally we could hear mom laughing at us from the other room when one of us would sing incorrectly or the audio would cut out and suddenly we could hear ourselves and would start laughing. The songs were patriotic and emotional, and absolutely everyone knew all the words in the audience, I'm going to pay more attention to our 4th of July concerts and see if they are comparable. And we're going to have to skype because they want to see what our fireworks are like and apparently they're not shown on TV here. So that should be entertaining! Victory day ended at about midnight, but you could go on forever about the implications and special meanings found in the celebration. I am very grateful that I had the chance to experience this sacred holiday, and will be very sad the day there are no dancing veterans around to bless the bricks of Palace Square with their dancing feet. Thankfully, the importance of their sacrifice is definitely imprinted in the blood of this country and her people, so Victory Day will live on as will their legacy.
Copenhagen II
On my first morning in Copenhagen, I set off with a fully charged camera for a walk around the city. The train station is located not far from city hall square, and I walked from there towards the waterfront to get in some quality time playing with my new camera. The old city feels very classical in style, narrow streets with cobblestones and colorful townhouse style old buildings rising not-too-high. Apparently the city was largely spared the massive destruction suffered by other large European cities during the Second World War, so many of the buildings are original, and many others have been rebuilt to match the originals. As you walk towards the inner harbor, however, Copenhagen’s reputation for being the northern capital of architecture and design begins to manifest itself in geometric glass buildings and secretive new construction projects shrouded in white plastic. It was a very interesting progression from old to new. Between the train station and the waterfront are also a few small green spaces, and the inner harbor is lined on one side, and sometimes both, with park space, walking paths, and cafes. The water is supposedly very clean and in summer plenty of people take advantage of the swimming areas that have been officially set up, one of which has stairs to climb up and jump into the water from. After spending my travel week in Scandinavia I do definitely want to come back in the summer, maybe then I’ll take a leap into the inner harbor. Unfortunately it was a little too chilly for that, but plenty of people were out walking their children in strollers on the nicely laid out stroller-wide smooth stones.
From the waterfront and its modern buildings – one of which was a Marriott, note to self – I walked a little farther to the area of the city known as Christianshavn. Criss-crossed by a series of canals, this is absolutely where I would want to live in Copenhagen. And I would want a boat. Some of the houses lining the water are old-style townhouses with beautiful windows and antique chimneys, while others are modern apartment buildings with glass balconies and contemporary architecture. Regardless, they all enjoy beautiful views of the tree-lined canals and quick access to their boats – which I hope they all have. It felt like stepping into a different world, different from the canals of St. Petersburg and Italy, quiet but still very much alive. I headed back towards the center a different way, after stopping to look at a beautiful church with a spiral spire and noting once again that I needed to come back in the summer when the stairs to the top would be open. I walked past the old royal exchange, the parliament building, plenty of monuments, and the small square that used to be the center square of the city, a small street just off the water and on a canal that is absolutely beautiful and lined with cafes. The cafes were prepared for the weather, since it wasn’t raining plenty of people were sitting outside near space heaters and wrapped up in fleece blankets that had been draped over their chairs, St. Petersburg could learn a few lessons here. If only the Danish kroner hadn’t been so ridiculous, I might have stopped for a coffee, instead I headed up one of the world’s longest shopping streets in the heart of the old city. Paved with cobblestones and open to pedestrians only, it reminded me very much of the Getreidegasse in Salzburg, which always makes me smile. Past the square where the gallows used to stand, and on to more shops where I found some souvenirs and, yes, guilty, bought a gorgeous leather purse for my own souvenir. On the way back to the hostel, by this point it was early evening and the weather was clearing a little so I wanted to take advantage of the relative warmth and clean air and go for a run, I walked past some IKEA electric cars all plugged in and ready for rent, a typical Danish family complete with bike, stroller, and dog, and a couple more parks showing serious signs that spring was knocking at the door. I got pizza with some of the guys who had arrived in my room during the day, one from Costa Rica and two from Switzerland, though the French speaking part. Fun guys, a little older than me and with very interesting stories to tell. I like that just because you have a steady job in Europe doesn’t mean that you don’t continue to travel often when you have a few days, just another part of the lifestyle I appreciate.
The next morning dawned sunny and warmer, with perfect timing since I had planned on making my way to the old fortress in the north of the city via the botanical gardens and the King’s park. The botanical gardens was my favorite, with a beautiful and huge gazebo that I’m sure was in full swing at the end of March, and flowers beginning to poke through the soil. I caught a glimpse of some of the buildings of the University, and made an impromptu stop in the national gallery. The royals have quite the collection, and there were also several special exhibitions of modern art that were quite refreshing if strange, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg is beautiful but usually a little lacking in shockingly modern art. So giant spheres filled with plant life and suspended from strings to create the shape of atoms in the atrium of the national gallery of Denmark were a breath of fresh air. The old fortress is very well preserved, with the layers of earthen ramparts and water, then walls – though not particularly impressive ones – surrounding the collection of buildings in the center. It is like a little enclosed city, with only two points of entry. Walking around the top of the ramparts with the sun on your face and the wind coming in from the sea was an amazing feeling, I think I would visit that place every week if I lived in Copenhagen. It was apparent that many did, plenty of people were jogging or walking their dogs. Just around the corner from the fortress is where the Little Mermaid statue sits, looking out to sea. Unfortunately, a few days before I arrived in Copenhagen this memorial to Hans Christian Anderson’s story had shipped off for the World’s Fair in China. Luckily I hadn’t had my heart set on taking my own picture of the statue, but I was disappointed not to be able to tag Brittany in the photo ☺ Just means I’ll have to go back, what a disappointment ☺. A gorgeous Anglican church sits next to the fortress, all grey stone and looking as though it was dropped in from London, and there is a solemn memorial to all those who fought in the Second World War. There was a wreath of poppies placed at the bottom of it, which brought back memories, and as I headed in towards the Danish Royal Palace I wondered whether it could possibly have been a year and a half since I was standing in front of the Foreign Office in London for the Remembrance Day Parade. Someone is pushing the hand of time forward much too fast.
On the way to the Palace I saw the Catholic church with its façade right on the street, a Russian Orthodox church complete with golden onion domes, and the Marble church. A relatively small church with a massive dome, it is a beautiful piece of architecture and also a peaceful spot in the middle of the city. Walking back into the sunlight and across the street, I was just in time to see the changing of the guard at the royal residence. The usual marching soldiers, with children on their parents’ shoulders speaking in lots of different languages. I couldn’t quite figure out why so many tourists from Mediterranean countries had chosen to vacation in Scandinavia at the end of March since they were always talking about how cold it was, but I’m still jealous of their ability to pick up and go to another part of Europe for their week off. Since it was Holy Week, there were more people around then would probably be typical for a week in March, which made the people watching more entertaining of course. On the way to the national museum I walked through yet another part of the city with a large square, this one featuring a majestic shopping complex and the royal opera house, though the whole square was extensively under construction so didn’t do too much poking around. The national museum was very interesting and well done, I am always amazed by the many similarities between cultures around the world, and learning about ancient Scandinavia proved to be quite a pleasant afternoon. There was also a special exhibit on coinage which always is fascinating to me, seeing coins someone used in Greece 1500 years ago or in England during the Blitz is somehow just as meaningful to me as the clothes that they wore, all different aspects of a different life I suppose. Also some incredible centuries old altarpieces very similar to those of northern Germany, just a little to the south. I spent the early part of the evening in the gardens by the government buildings, and treated myself to a late showing of A Single Man since in Scandinavia movies are shown in their original language with subtitles, rather than the awful dubbing that takes place in Russia. My feet were tired and I knew I had days of walking ahead of me in Stockholm, so I thoroughly enjoyed being entertained for two hours while drinking a Snapple and seeing if I could pronounce any of the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. I walked back to the hostel along what had become my usual route past the pavilion on the little lake, and realized I had gotten to know another delightful city.
Unfortunately, it was already time for me to leave. Wednesday morning I got my things together and set out for the train station, snapping some last minute pictures of the Tivoli Garden amusement park and the many bike stands on my way. I got some croissants for the road, found my seat, and chatted with a couple of Americans who were also traveling through Northern Europe for a vacation. The husband was a teacher in an international school in Berlin, and the wife is still living in the US but comes over to Europe relatively often so they can travel together. They had been able to see a fair amount of Europe, and were curious about my time in Russia. It was a nice train ride, sometimes chatting other times looking at the small towns passing by outside the window. There really is nothing like traveling by train, and 5 hours was a perfect amount of time to see the countryside, meet some nice people, and catch a quick nap. Before I knew it, I was getting off in the center of a fog-enshrouded Stockholm, ready for the next adventure.
From the waterfront and its modern buildings – one of which was a Marriott, note to self – I walked a little farther to the area of the city known as Christianshavn. Criss-crossed by a series of canals, this is absolutely where I would want to live in Copenhagen. And I would want a boat. Some of the houses lining the water are old-style townhouses with beautiful windows and antique chimneys, while others are modern apartment buildings with glass balconies and contemporary architecture. Regardless, they all enjoy beautiful views of the tree-lined canals and quick access to their boats – which I hope they all have. It felt like stepping into a different world, different from the canals of St. Petersburg and Italy, quiet but still very much alive. I headed back towards the center a different way, after stopping to look at a beautiful church with a spiral spire and noting once again that I needed to come back in the summer when the stairs to the top would be open. I walked past the old royal exchange, the parliament building, plenty of monuments, and the small square that used to be the center square of the city, a small street just off the water and on a canal that is absolutely beautiful and lined with cafes. The cafes were prepared for the weather, since it wasn’t raining plenty of people were sitting outside near space heaters and wrapped up in fleece blankets that had been draped over their chairs, St. Petersburg could learn a few lessons here. If only the Danish kroner hadn’t been so ridiculous, I might have stopped for a coffee, instead I headed up one of the world’s longest shopping streets in the heart of the old city. Paved with cobblestones and open to pedestrians only, it reminded me very much of the Getreidegasse in Salzburg, which always makes me smile. Past the square where the gallows used to stand, and on to more shops where I found some souvenirs and, yes, guilty, bought a gorgeous leather purse for my own souvenir. On the way back to the hostel, by this point it was early evening and the weather was clearing a little so I wanted to take advantage of the relative warmth and clean air and go for a run, I walked past some IKEA electric cars all plugged in and ready for rent, a typical Danish family complete with bike, stroller, and dog, and a couple more parks showing serious signs that spring was knocking at the door. I got pizza with some of the guys who had arrived in my room during the day, one from Costa Rica and two from Switzerland, though the French speaking part. Fun guys, a little older than me and with very interesting stories to tell. I like that just because you have a steady job in Europe doesn’t mean that you don’t continue to travel often when you have a few days, just another part of the lifestyle I appreciate.
The next morning dawned sunny and warmer, with perfect timing since I had planned on making my way to the old fortress in the north of the city via the botanical gardens and the King’s park. The botanical gardens was my favorite, with a beautiful and huge gazebo that I’m sure was in full swing at the end of March, and flowers beginning to poke through the soil. I caught a glimpse of some of the buildings of the University, and made an impromptu stop in the national gallery. The royals have quite the collection, and there were also several special exhibitions of modern art that were quite refreshing if strange, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg is beautiful but usually a little lacking in shockingly modern art. So giant spheres filled with plant life and suspended from strings to create the shape of atoms in the atrium of the national gallery of Denmark were a breath of fresh air. The old fortress is very well preserved, with the layers of earthen ramparts and water, then walls – though not particularly impressive ones – surrounding the collection of buildings in the center. It is like a little enclosed city, with only two points of entry. Walking around the top of the ramparts with the sun on your face and the wind coming in from the sea was an amazing feeling, I think I would visit that place every week if I lived in Copenhagen. It was apparent that many did, plenty of people were jogging or walking their dogs. Just around the corner from the fortress is where the Little Mermaid statue sits, looking out to sea. Unfortunately, a few days before I arrived in Copenhagen this memorial to Hans Christian Anderson’s story had shipped off for the World’s Fair in China. Luckily I hadn’t had my heart set on taking my own picture of the statue, but I was disappointed not to be able to tag Brittany in the photo ☺ Just means I’ll have to go back, what a disappointment ☺. A gorgeous Anglican church sits next to the fortress, all grey stone and looking as though it was dropped in from London, and there is a solemn memorial to all those who fought in the Second World War. There was a wreath of poppies placed at the bottom of it, which brought back memories, and as I headed in towards the Danish Royal Palace I wondered whether it could possibly have been a year and a half since I was standing in front of the Foreign Office in London for the Remembrance Day Parade. Someone is pushing the hand of time forward much too fast.
On the way to the Palace I saw the Catholic church with its façade right on the street, a Russian Orthodox church complete with golden onion domes, and the Marble church. A relatively small church with a massive dome, it is a beautiful piece of architecture and also a peaceful spot in the middle of the city. Walking back into the sunlight and across the street, I was just in time to see the changing of the guard at the royal residence. The usual marching soldiers, with children on their parents’ shoulders speaking in lots of different languages. I couldn’t quite figure out why so many tourists from Mediterranean countries had chosen to vacation in Scandinavia at the end of March since they were always talking about how cold it was, but I’m still jealous of their ability to pick up and go to another part of Europe for their week off. Since it was Holy Week, there were more people around then would probably be typical for a week in March, which made the people watching more entertaining of course. On the way to the national museum I walked through yet another part of the city with a large square, this one featuring a majestic shopping complex and the royal opera house, though the whole square was extensively under construction so didn’t do too much poking around. The national museum was very interesting and well done, I am always amazed by the many similarities between cultures around the world, and learning about ancient Scandinavia proved to be quite a pleasant afternoon. There was also a special exhibit on coinage which always is fascinating to me, seeing coins someone used in Greece 1500 years ago or in England during the Blitz is somehow just as meaningful to me as the clothes that they wore, all different aspects of a different life I suppose. Also some incredible centuries old altarpieces very similar to those of northern Germany, just a little to the south. I spent the early part of the evening in the gardens by the government buildings, and treated myself to a late showing of A Single Man since in Scandinavia movies are shown in their original language with subtitles, rather than the awful dubbing that takes place in Russia. My feet were tired and I knew I had days of walking ahead of me in Stockholm, so I thoroughly enjoyed being entertained for two hours while drinking a Snapple and seeing if I could pronounce any of the words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. I walked back to the hostel along what had become my usual route past the pavilion on the little lake, and realized I had gotten to know another delightful city.
Unfortunately, it was already time for me to leave. Wednesday morning I got my things together and set out for the train station, snapping some last minute pictures of the Tivoli Garden amusement park and the many bike stands on my way. I got some croissants for the road, found my seat, and chatted with a couple of Americans who were also traveling through Northern Europe for a vacation. The husband was a teacher in an international school in Berlin, and the wife is still living in the US but comes over to Europe relatively often so they can travel together. They had been able to see a fair amount of Europe, and were curious about my time in Russia. It was a nice train ride, sometimes chatting other times looking at the small towns passing by outside the window. There really is nothing like traveling by train, and 5 hours was a perfect amount of time to see the countryside, meet some nice people, and catch a quick nap. Before I knew it, I was getting off in the center of a fog-enshrouded Stockholm, ready for the next adventure.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Many, Many Hours in a Bus
It is almost disturbing to add up the number of hours that I have spent in a bus over the last week. A week ago, nice and early on a Friday morning, the CIEE group boarded our double-decker bus and headed south to the Pskov region. Thankfully, new roads had been laid during the past twelve months so the seven-hour drive was reduced to about five. Very close to Estonia (so close that at one point over the weekend we were all getting text messages from our phone company welcoming us to Estonia), Pskov was once on the Russian border. Foundations have been found in the Kremlin (word for fortress, not just the one in Moscow) from the 10th century, and though there was a fire a mere two days before we arrived for our tour, it is an incredibly well-preserved structure as a whole. I think the guide said that the fortress we see is from the 17th century. The fire that occurred just before we got to Pskov was only in two of the towers, destroying the wooden roofs but not causing any serious damage that we could see from our tour. The weather was beautiful, and as we listened to the military and commercial history of the fortress – it played an important role in many battles with the Swedes and the Germans as well as served as the main trading center – we enjoyed the opportunity to walk around in the sunshine and the considerable warmth since Pskov is to the south. With high walls, a moat some 15 meters deep, and a position at the meeting point of two rivers, it was certainly a well-protected location. The church within the fortress walls was also incredibly beautiful, like nearly all churches of its age white on the outside and covered with icons on the inside. This one was particularly unusual because the iconostasis has seven levels of icons and stretches all the way to the ceiling of the cathedral. A very awesome sight. After our tour we had lunch – though we first had to jaywalk across quite the intersection, trusting the Russian drivers to notice us on the crosswalk – and then got back on the bus for a tour of the surrounding area, the highlight of which was a giant monument to Alexander Nevsky, a Russian Prince from some 500 years ago who defeated foreign armies not far from Pskov. The monument was quite impressive, a horseman and soldiers towering above one of the highest hills in the region. After an appropriately ridiculous amount of photography, we headed back to the bus and on towards the Pushkin Hills, to find our hotel.
Pskov is a small city, somewhere around 200,000 people call it home, but Pushkin Hills is a small town, famous for its beautiful landscapes and because Russia’s most famous literary figure spent much time there. Driving through the forest we realized how grateful we were for a weekend away from the city, a chance to relax in a quiet place where spring had come a little more than in St. Petersburg, and where we could see the stars at night and breathe the fresh air. Our hotel was adorable, a very new collection of buildings with a main lodge, small cottages, sauna building, playground, and lots of places to sit outside. The experience was made even more wonderful by the fact that the four group one girls – Megan, Sveta, Irina, and I – had been given our own cottage because there wasn’t enough space in the main lodge. Upon arrival, four of the group one guys – Jay, Brian, Jeremy, and Brent – were also given a cottage much to our delight. So we essentially had our own space for the whole weekend, could put our feet up on the furniture, speak English, watch the BBC on the satellite TV, eat chocolate and drink wine at one in the morning on our porch, and relax and enjoy each others company. We were very grateful to have been so spoiled.
Saturday began with breakfast (at which Megan and I were nearly giddy about the presence of a toaster) and a walk to Pushkin’s family estate about a half an hour down the road and through the forest. It is now situated in what is the equivalent of a national park, and I lost count of the number of times people said ‘its so nice to be outside like this’ over the course of the day. Pushkin, as the Russian saying goes, is ‘everything’ to the Russian people. Russian schoolchildren all know poems by heart (so, it should be noted, did our tour guide), and he is regarded as the country’s true literary genius. Seeing his family’s country property, you could almost imagine how he thought up some of the incredible things he did. We also got to see a working mill, as part of an example property of a wealthier peasant in the nineteenth century Russian countryside. Later in the day we went to the place that inspired his most famous work, Evgenii Ongegin, which was another beautiful property. Some of the scenes from the novel take place in the woods there, and in addition there is an absolutely gorgeous 24-hour sundial on the property, which was very impressive. Then we headed to the monastery where Pushkin is buried, though he died in St. Petersburg after a duel his body was moved to the monastery where he spent quite a bit of time. There was a service going on in the church, which is always a beautiful experience, to step into the dark and incense from the sunshine and fresh air is a unique sensation.
After that it was back to the hotel for dinner, relaxing, banya, and grilling sashlik (essentially shish-ka-bobs, many thanks to grill master Jay who put his expierence working at Chilis to good use) at about midnight. The dark sky and the smoke from the charcoal grill made me almost wish we were in tents – almost. Our beds were pretty comfortable, though we didn’t spend too much time in them.
Sunday we checked out and headed out on a series of excursions before turning towards St. Petersburg. First we went to a medieval fortress where mineral springs pour out the side of a canyon and into a lake where white swans live, the springs and the waterfalls they create each are said to give something to the people who drink the water, one gives youth, another love, another riches. Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly labeled so we’ll just have to wait and see! In my rain boots I filled up some water bottles for people, the water was so cold I could feel it through my boots, but no water got in. Then we hiked up and around some hills, got some snacks in the form of peroshki from the local baking grandmothers, and headed to a monastery where we were treated to a trip into the catacombs. I have been in some of the catacombs in Rome, and in Salzburg too, but this was unlike anything I have experienced. People were lined up outside the entrance, the monks (about 60 live in the monastery) don’t always let people in to the catacombs and so plenty of people were trying to blend into our group when they saw we were being let in. We were handed candles and told to light them immediately, and when we turned the corner it became immediately obvious that it was not just for dramatic effect. There is absolutely no electric lighting in the catacomb, and no outside light makes it inside when the door is shut. I ended up being right behind the monk who was leading us, and so other than his candle in front of me and the faint light it cast in combination with my own, I could see nothing but blackness. It was honestly a different darkness than I had ever experienced, and when you would occasionally hold your candle up to one of the walls and see the gravestones lining them the intensity would only increase. It was definitely an awesome 20 minutes, there in the darkness with only candles and the former leaders of the monastery. Outside the sun was shining, and we headed back to St. Petersburg with some incredible memories and feeling much more relaxed thanks to the beauty of the Pushkin hills.
We returned early enough for some of us to grab a beer at our local café at Primorskaya, and then I headed home to prepare for Finland the next day. Russians travel across the border to Finland for a couple of reasons. Mainly, to shop for fish. Secondly, to shop for other things. It was a fun experience to watch the Russians – I was the only foreigner on the bus which everyone realized when it took me about three times as long to get through passport control – struggling to carry bags full of whole fish and grabbing western brands of shampoo and toothpaste on their way to the checkout. After stopping at the fish stores on the other side of the border, we headed to Umatran (no idea how to spell in English since I only ever saw it in Finnish and Russian) for the next five hours, to walk around in the forest, do some more shopping, eat some delicious pizza, and get back on the bus for the long journey back to St. Petersburg. The city – which is just barely that, some 28,000 people live there – is situated on a canyon created by a man-made dam that is quite beautiful. Our guide explained that in June they open the dam a few times and its quite a sight, all of the water roaring down the canyon to the lake at the bottom. Might be worth a return visit! The ride back was even more entertaining, since the guide left people behind (after spending a weekend with CIEE where Katya and Jarlath count us literally every 20 minutes or so and twice before we head anywhere on the bus this was especially unbelievable) and we wasted multiple hours driving through seemingly backroads at breakneck speed to find them, picked up a couple of bike riders along the way, and then sped towards St. Petersburg but missed the metro. Which was fine, we caught a car from the drop-off spot and were dropped right at our door which was actually better, but unfortunately no one had gotten much sleep due to the rather crazy driving and I was already running on empty in terms of sleep. Regardless, I just closed my eyes and tried to drown out the running commentary and complaints being shouted by the passengers at the driver and guide. Whoever said Russians accept their lot hasn’t met these people. I understand that it was extremely inconvenient and that the guide could have worked a little harder at making sure we got back all together and on time, but I’m really not convinced that yelling and complaining is going to help you at all, or make you feel any better. Luckily my host mom is of the same opinion as I am, so we just curled up in our corner of the bus and waited until we saw the lights of the city. Quite an entertaining experience, not really one that I would wish on anyone but alls well that ends well.
So those are my hours on a bus, and the hours in between, over the past week. Luckily I don’t plan on any more long term bus trips, just plane trips in two weeks when I’m on my way home! All the best from – unfortunately – still chilly St. Petersburg – beth
Pskov is a small city, somewhere around 200,000 people call it home, but Pushkin Hills is a small town, famous for its beautiful landscapes and because Russia’s most famous literary figure spent much time there. Driving through the forest we realized how grateful we were for a weekend away from the city, a chance to relax in a quiet place where spring had come a little more than in St. Petersburg, and where we could see the stars at night and breathe the fresh air. Our hotel was adorable, a very new collection of buildings with a main lodge, small cottages, sauna building, playground, and lots of places to sit outside. The experience was made even more wonderful by the fact that the four group one girls – Megan, Sveta, Irina, and I – had been given our own cottage because there wasn’t enough space in the main lodge. Upon arrival, four of the group one guys – Jay, Brian, Jeremy, and Brent – were also given a cottage much to our delight. So we essentially had our own space for the whole weekend, could put our feet up on the furniture, speak English, watch the BBC on the satellite TV, eat chocolate and drink wine at one in the morning on our porch, and relax and enjoy each others company. We were very grateful to have been so spoiled.
Saturday began with breakfast (at which Megan and I were nearly giddy about the presence of a toaster) and a walk to Pushkin’s family estate about a half an hour down the road and through the forest. It is now situated in what is the equivalent of a national park, and I lost count of the number of times people said ‘its so nice to be outside like this’ over the course of the day. Pushkin, as the Russian saying goes, is ‘everything’ to the Russian people. Russian schoolchildren all know poems by heart (so, it should be noted, did our tour guide), and he is regarded as the country’s true literary genius. Seeing his family’s country property, you could almost imagine how he thought up some of the incredible things he did. We also got to see a working mill, as part of an example property of a wealthier peasant in the nineteenth century Russian countryside. Later in the day we went to the place that inspired his most famous work, Evgenii Ongegin, which was another beautiful property. Some of the scenes from the novel take place in the woods there, and in addition there is an absolutely gorgeous 24-hour sundial on the property, which was very impressive. Then we headed to the monastery where Pushkin is buried, though he died in St. Petersburg after a duel his body was moved to the monastery where he spent quite a bit of time. There was a service going on in the church, which is always a beautiful experience, to step into the dark and incense from the sunshine and fresh air is a unique sensation.
After that it was back to the hotel for dinner, relaxing, banya, and grilling sashlik (essentially shish-ka-bobs, many thanks to grill master Jay who put his expierence working at Chilis to good use) at about midnight. The dark sky and the smoke from the charcoal grill made me almost wish we were in tents – almost. Our beds were pretty comfortable, though we didn’t spend too much time in them.
Sunday we checked out and headed out on a series of excursions before turning towards St. Petersburg. First we went to a medieval fortress where mineral springs pour out the side of a canyon and into a lake where white swans live, the springs and the waterfalls they create each are said to give something to the people who drink the water, one gives youth, another love, another riches. Unfortunately, they weren’t exactly labeled so we’ll just have to wait and see! In my rain boots I filled up some water bottles for people, the water was so cold I could feel it through my boots, but no water got in. Then we hiked up and around some hills, got some snacks in the form of peroshki from the local baking grandmothers, and headed to a monastery where we were treated to a trip into the catacombs. I have been in some of the catacombs in Rome, and in Salzburg too, but this was unlike anything I have experienced. People were lined up outside the entrance, the monks (about 60 live in the monastery) don’t always let people in to the catacombs and so plenty of people were trying to blend into our group when they saw we were being let in. We were handed candles and told to light them immediately, and when we turned the corner it became immediately obvious that it was not just for dramatic effect. There is absolutely no electric lighting in the catacomb, and no outside light makes it inside when the door is shut. I ended up being right behind the monk who was leading us, and so other than his candle in front of me and the faint light it cast in combination with my own, I could see nothing but blackness. It was honestly a different darkness than I had ever experienced, and when you would occasionally hold your candle up to one of the walls and see the gravestones lining them the intensity would only increase. It was definitely an awesome 20 minutes, there in the darkness with only candles and the former leaders of the monastery. Outside the sun was shining, and we headed back to St. Petersburg with some incredible memories and feeling much more relaxed thanks to the beauty of the Pushkin hills.
We returned early enough for some of us to grab a beer at our local café at Primorskaya, and then I headed home to prepare for Finland the next day. Russians travel across the border to Finland for a couple of reasons. Mainly, to shop for fish. Secondly, to shop for other things. It was a fun experience to watch the Russians – I was the only foreigner on the bus which everyone realized when it took me about three times as long to get through passport control – struggling to carry bags full of whole fish and grabbing western brands of shampoo and toothpaste on their way to the checkout. After stopping at the fish stores on the other side of the border, we headed to Umatran (no idea how to spell in English since I only ever saw it in Finnish and Russian) for the next five hours, to walk around in the forest, do some more shopping, eat some delicious pizza, and get back on the bus for the long journey back to St. Petersburg. The city – which is just barely that, some 28,000 people live there – is situated on a canyon created by a man-made dam that is quite beautiful. Our guide explained that in June they open the dam a few times and its quite a sight, all of the water roaring down the canyon to the lake at the bottom. Might be worth a return visit! The ride back was even more entertaining, since the guide left people behind (after spending a weekend with CIEE where Katya and Jarlath count us literally every 20 minutes or so and twice before we head anywhere on the bus this was especially unbelievable) and we wasted multiple hours driving through seemingly backroads at breakneck speed to find them, picked up a couple of bike riders along the way, and then sped towards St. Petersburg but missed the metro. Which was fine, we caught a car from the drop-off spot and were dropped right at our door which was actually better, but unfortunately no one had gotten much sleep due to the rather crazy driving and I was already running on empty in terms of sleep. Regardless, I just closed my eyes and tried to drown out the running commentary and complaints being shouted by the passengers at the driver and guide. Whoever said Russians accept their lot hasn’t met these people. I understand that it was extremely inconvenient and that the guide could have worked a little harder at making sure we got back all together and on time, but I’m really not convinced that yelling and complaining is going to help you at all, or make you feel any better. Luckily my host mom is of the same opinion as I am, so we just curled up in our corner of the bus and waited until we saw the lights of the city. Quite an entertaining experience, not really one that I would wish on anyone but alls well that ends well.
So those are my hours on a bus, and the hours in between, over the past week. Luckily I don’t plan on any more long term bus trips, just plane trips in two weeks when I’m on my way home! All the best from – unfortunately – still chilly St. Petersburg – beth
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Eyjafjallajokull Blog
No, that wasn’t me just typing in a bunch of random letters, if you haven’t memorized it by now that’s the name of the volcano in Iceland that stranded millions of people, including my parents (luckily they were stranded at home rather than somewhere en route) over the past week and a half. Europe’s air space is now open again, and flights are at close to 100%, but unfortunately its too little too late, and my parents back in the US and my mom here in Russia will have to wait to meet each other in person – which neither of them are happy about. But there’s no controlling mother nature, and I am grateful that it wasn’t my wedding or something of the sort that they had to miss. We made the most of the week as best we could, and though we’re definitely all disappointed, I know now I’ll definitely be back in Russia, because I think either my host mom or my biological mom would be really irritated if they don’t get to meet each other soon. And Ira is convinced that if we come as a family we’ll have to bring grandma too, so Grandma Jan looks like you’re coming to Russia with us soon ☺.
The week started off with a concert by a cello – ensemble, (well after I took a test in grammar) an evening of chamber music that turned out to be one of the most fun concerts I have attended in St. Petersburg. The young men (I believe there were 12 cellos) looked at each other and at the cellist in the middle who served as their director to make sure they stayed together, and the looks they gave each other were more often hysterical or hysterically serious than simple glances. They played a great mix of music, from classical pieces by Shostakovich to jazz and ragtime and even the theme from Jesus Christ Superstar. I think they played at least five encores. It was a great evening, and Jeremy and Ira, who were standing in for madre and padre, had a wonderful time too and were grateful for the surprise chance to spend another cultural evening in this incredible city.
Classes are still going well, I was unfortunately hit by some lovely springtime sinuses and allergies this week so I missed a couple but since I was planning on missing many more as the result of my parents being here its all worked out just fine. I was also glad I hadn’t bought tickets to Swan Lake yet – the traditional ballet we were going to see – as there were plenty of seats, which left Wednesday night open to attend a Russian rap concert that one of my Russian friends had been talking about. It was a fairly famous group – and turns out most white rappers look the same everywhere. It was a good concert, they played some rock music too, and it was maybe the loudest concert I have ever been at. Our ears were ringing for the rest of the night and for most of the next day too. That night, Irina, Eric, and I headed to the Mariinsky Theater for a performance of Giselle by a French ballet company. This was going to be our modern ballet night, and I enjoyed recognizing some of the techniques that I have seen many times in Mary’s choreography and at shows/on videos I’ve watched with her. Modern ballet isn’t for everyone – including small children, as I’m pretty sure that the guy at the end was completely naked though it was pretty dark and well camouflaged – but I’ve definitely gained an appreciation for it and the variations it brings to the stage beyond that of traditional ballet. It was great to be back in the Mariinsky, and I can’t wait until I get to show it off to my family whenever we all make it over here together.
Friday evening was occupied by the CIEE/CMOO (CMOO is the acronym for CIEE when its written in Russian, so that’s what my host mom, for example, knows the program as) Spring Ball 2010. Last year someone had the idea for a traditional ball – 18th/19th century – to be held at Smolny, our campus, which is from that period, complete with costumes, dance lessons, a swordfight, and other craziness. They’ve decided to turn it into an annual tradition, and it really turned out to be a lot of fun. Over the past few weeks we have gone to a woman’s apartment that functions as her costume studio and tried on and picked out traditional ball gowns and cavalier costumes. Her reaction to me walking through the door was ‘oh you’re too tall’, which I found rather funny since in reality I’m really not very tall…the result was that my dress wasn’t floor length but a little shorter, meaning I just had to wear my cute Irish ankle boots (yes Kate that we bought in the pouring rain just before explaining the American Constitution to that crazy guy in the park) since they look slightly period. Anyway, after classes on Friday we all crammed into a couple of the classrooms to curl hair, add layers of mascara, and get dressed in our gowns, hoop skirts and all. A couple of our professors were also attending, and we ran into our St. Petersburg State academic director in a white wig and a dress reminiscent of Catherine the Great in an upstairs hallway, which was quite entertaining. Andrey came as well, and had a great time enjoying the fact that he wasn’t in costumes and all his guy friends from the program looked rather like drunken pirates. He brought me beautiful flowers that magically matched my dress perfectly, there are plenty of pictures on facebook and I will post the link to the professional photos from the photographer on here when we get it. There was also a professional videographer running around all night so we’ll see what comes of that. We danced the waltz, polonaise, and polka, played some ball games, and listened to a few people sing and play instruments – and then watched some of the guys swordfight in the yard with real rapiers. There was a room full of finger sandwiches and small treats as well as champagne, water, and juice, and we had a great time waving our fans and giggling behind them and taking pictures of each others hair and laughing about sitting on each others hoop skirts. The last little bit we were allowed to dance to modern music, which was quite a sight, and everyone headed out smiling but rather exhausted about 10 pm. I only wish we could have taken pictures outside, unfortunately it was threatening to rain and we didn’t want to risk ruining the costumes in a deluge. The weather all week had been beautiful until Thursday when it turned gloomy and gray – though there are green buds on the trees in front of my building which gives me considerable hope that I will see spring before the end of May (it was 32 degrees here today).
So that is a quick recap of what some of the highlights would have been had my parents been able to make it through the ash cloud. Of course there would have been incredible amounts of sightseeing on top of all of that, I really only mentioned the evenings, but as you can see there are always plenty of things going on in this city outside of classes, meetings, and general sightseeing. The week passed quickly, even without goldfish and Cheez Its, and I know that the next month is going to fly. Next weekend we head to Pskov – a town southwest of St. Petersburg where Pushkin wrote some of the most beautiful and famous poetry in the Russian language – and then the following Monday I am going to Finland for the day with my host family! The weekend after that is ‘Victory Day’, celebrating the great Russian victory in WWII, and then the weekend after that is our last weekend as my flight home is Saturday, May 22nd. Not sure where the time goes. I’m finishing up another travel week blog, but wanted to post this one first. Thanks for reading, much love from this beautiful city!
The week started off with a concert by a cello – ensemble, (well after I took a test in grammar) an evening of chamber music that turned out to be one of the most fun concerts I have attended in St. Petersburg. The young men (I believe there were 12 cellos) looked at each other and at the cellist in the middle who served as their director to make sure they stayed together, and the looks they gave each other were more often hysterical or hysterically serious than simple glances. They played a great mix of music, from classical pieces by Shostakovich to jazz and ragtime and even the theme from Jesus Christ Superstar. I think they played at least five encores. It was a great evening, and Jeremy and Ira, who were standing in for madre and padre, had a wonderful time too and were grateful for the surprise chance to spend another cultural evening in this incredible city.
Classes are still going well, I was unfortunately hit by some lovely springtime sinuses and allergies this week so I missed a couple but since I was planning on missing many more as the result of my parents being here its all worked out just fine. I was also glad I hadn’t bought tickets to Swan Lake yet – the traditional ballet we were going to see – as there were plenty of seats, which left Wednesday night open to attend a Russian rap concert that one of my Russian friends had been talking about. It was a fairly famous group – and turns out most white rappers look the same everywhere. It was a good concert, they played some rock music too, and it was maybe the loudest concert I have ever been at. Our ears were ringing for the rest of the night and for most of the next day too. That night, Irina, Eric, and I headed to the Mariinsky Theater for a performance of Giselle by a French ballet company. This was going to be our modern ballet night, and I enjoyed recognizing some of the techniques that I have seen many times in Mary’s choreography and at shows/on videos I’ve watched with her. Modern ballet isn’t for everyone – including small children, as I’m pretty sure that the guy at the end was completely naked though it was pretty dark and well camouflaged – but I’ve definitely gained an appreciation for it and the variations it brings to the stage beyond that of traditional ballet. It was great to be back in the Mariinsky, and I can’t wait until I get to show it off to my family whenever we all make it over here together.
Friday evening was occupied by the CIEE/CMOO (CMOO is the acronym for CIEE when its written in Russian, so that’s what my host mom, for example, knows the program as) Spring Ball 2010. Last year someone had the idea for a traditional ball – 18th/19th century – to be held at Smolny, our campus, which is from that period, complete with costumes, dance lessons, a swordfight, and other craziness. They’ve decided to turn it into an annual tradition, and it really turned out to be a lot of fun. Over the past few weeks we have gone to a woman’s apartment that functions as her costume studio and tried on and picked out traditional ball gowns and cavalier costumes. Her reaction to me walking through the door was ‘oh you’re too tall’, which I found rather funny since in reality I’m really not very tall…the result was that my dress wasn’t floor length but a little shorter, meaning I just had to wear my cute Irish ankle boots (yes Kate that we bought in the pouring rain just before explaining the American Constitution to that crazy guy in the park) since they look slightly period. Anyway, after classes on Friday we all crammed into a couple of the classrooms to curl hair, add layers of mascara, and get dressed in our gowns, hoop skirts and all. A couple of our professors were also attending, and we ran into our St. Petersburg State academic director in a white wig and a dress reminiscent of Catherine the Great in an upstairs hallway, which was quite entertaining. Andrey came as well, and had a great time enjoying the fact that he wasn’t in costumes and all his guy friends from the program looked rather like drunken pirates. He brought me beautiful flowers that magically matched my dress perfectly, there are plenty of pictures on facebook and I will post the link to the professional photos from the photographer on here when we get it. There was also a professional videographer running around all night so we’ll see what comes of that. We danced the waltz, polonaise, and polka, played some ball games, and listened to a few people sing and play instruments – and then watched some of the guys swordfight in the yard with real rapiers. There was a room full of finger sandwiches and small treats as well as champagne, water, and juice, and we had a great time waving our fans and giggling behind them and taking pictures of each others hair and laughing about sitting on each others hoop skirts. The last little bit we were allowed to dance to modern music, which was quite a sight, and everyone headed out smiling but rather exhausted about 10 pm. I only wish we could have taken pictures outside, unfortunately it was threatening to rain and we didn’t want to risk ruining the costumes in a deluge. The weather all week had been beautiful until Thursday when it turned gloomy and gray – though there are green buds on the trees in front of my building which gives me considerable hope that I will see spring before the end of May (it was 32 degrees here today).
So that is a quick recap of what some of the highlights would have been had my parents been able to make it through the ash cloud. Of course there would have been incredible amounts of sightseeing on top of all of that, I really only mentioned the evenings, but as you can see there are always plenty of things going on in this city outside of classes, meetings, and general sightseeing. The week passed quickly, even without goldfish and Cheez Its, and I know that the next month is going to fly. Next weekend we head to Pskov – a town southwest of St. Petersburg where Pushkin wrote some of the most beautiful and famous poetry in the Russian language – and then the following Monday I am going to Finland for the day with my host family! The weekend after that is ‘Victory Day’, celebrating the great Russian victory in WWII, and then the weekend after that is our last weekend as my flight home is Saturday, May 22nd. Not sure where the time goes. I’m finishing up another travel week blog, but wanted to post this one first. Thanks for reading, much love from this beautiful city!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Happy End of Passover/Beginning of Easter Season :)
Привет from St. Petersburg! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Passover, Easter, or whatever holiday you and yours celebrate this time of the year. I had a wonderful Easter with friends in Stockholm, Sweden – but that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves. Thank you to everyone who checked in to make sure I was okay following the tragedy in Moscow last weekend, I had safely left the city Sunday afternoon on a flight to Copenhagen, and only heard about the terrorist bombing in the metro after a few people posted on my facebook wall to make sure I was really out of the country. Both my study abroad organization (CIEE) and scholarship organization (Boren) also checked in to make sure we were all out of harms way, which thankfully we all were. All of the OU students currently studying on our study abroad program in Moscow are also safe and sound. Needless to say, it was an interesting way to start our vacation week.
I arrived at the Copenhagen airport and easily found my metro train – Copenhagen's metro is very new and only has two lines – and followed the directions to my hostel, 'Sleep in Heaven'. It was a very cute hostel in the more multi-ethnic area of Copenhagen, where there are plenty of bars and little restaurants as well as fun grocery stores serving specific nationalities such as Polish and Turkish. I immediately noticed the number of people riding bikes, even though the sky was darkening and rain was threatening much of the city finds its destination via two wheels, rather than four. Got all set up in the hostel and met the German guy, Hungarian guy, and German girl who were also in my room for the night. The room had two triple-bunk-beds, which I had never seen before!! I was in the middle, not sure I would have been able to sleep on the very top, chatted with the guys for a bit and then headed out for a walk to the old town. It was a gorgeous 25 minute walk between my hostel and the train station/main part of the city, through residential area and across a bridge next to a pavilion on the water and then through a park. Lots of people were out running and were carefully avoiding strolling couples pushing baby carriages. They seem to prefer the old school pram type carriages in Denmark, which I found to be a very picturesque trend. That first night I found the train station, where I would be leaving from three days later for Sweden, and wandered through the alley-like streets of the old town window-shopping and people watching. I also found an electronics store since the first matter of business was to buy a camera to replace the one somewhere in a snowbank in Pavlovsk. I was very tired, so it was a pretty early night at the hostel after chatting some more with the guys in the room.
Monday morning I bought a new camera – Canon Ixus 951S based on recommendations of a good friend and techie and glad to be rid of Kodak – from a very helpful salesman in the electronics store. He spoke English well and helped me find a compatible memory card as well and explained the basics of setting it all up to me since the instruction book is in Danish. The software is in English, though, so from now on everything is fine since I have my computer. The only problem was that I had to fully charge the battery before I could use the camera, and I was more than a good half hour walk from my hostel. I thought I'd see if I could find a café on the way instead of walking all the way back, and tried the train station too. Score another point for good old McDonalds, the restaurant in the train station had electrical outlets for some of its tables. I ordered lunch in thanks and plugged in the camera before using the WiFi to find out about the craziness that had just occurred in Moscow. It was a strange feeling, knowing that it was a real possibility that someone I knew had been affected, sitting in another country and time zone with vivid memories of one of the metro stations from just the day before. Before the day was out, though, the news was in that everyone from our group was safe, though it was of course still an incredibly sad day for Russia.
Unfortunately I have to write a paper for literature so to be continued…
I arrived at the Copenhagen airport and easily found my metro train – Copenhagen's metro is very new and only has two lines – and followed the directions to my hostel, 'Sleep in Heaven'. It was a very cute hostel in the more multi-ethnic area of Copenhagen, where there are plenty of bars and little restaurants as well as fun grocery stores serving specific nationalities such as Polish and Turkish. I immediately noticed the number of people riding bikes, even though the sky was darkening and rain was threatening much of the city finds its destination via two wheels, rather than four. Got all set up in the hostel and met the German guy, Hungarian guy, and German girl who were also in my room for the night. The room had two triple-bunk-beds, which I had never seen before!! I was in the middle, not sure I would have been able to sleep on the very top, chatted with the guys for a bit and then headed out for a walk to the old town. It was a gorgeous 25 minute walk between my hostel and the train station/main part of the city, through residential area and across a bridge next to a pavilion on the water and then through a park. Lots of people were out running and were carefully avoiding strolling couples pushing baby carriages. They seem to prefer the old school pram type carriages in Denmark, which I found to be a very picturesque trend. That first night I found the train station, where I would be leaving from three days later for Sweden, and wandered through the alley-like streets of the old town window-shopping and people watching. I also found an electronics store since the first matter of business was to buy a camera to replace the one somewhere in a snowbank in Pavlovsk. I was very tired, so it was a pretty early night at the hostel after chatting some more with the guys in the room.
Monday morning I bought a new camera – Canon Ixus 951S based on recommendations of a good friend and techie and glad to be rid of Kodak – from a very helpful salesman in the electronics store. He spoke English well and helped me find a compatible memory card as well and explained the basics of setting it all up to me since the instruction book is in Danish. The software is in English, though, so from now on everything is fine since I have my computer. The only problem was that I had to fully charge the battery before I could use the camera, and I was more than a good half hour walk from my hostel. I thought I'd see if I could find a café on the way instead of walking all the way back, and tried the train station too. Score another point for good old McDonalds, the restaurant in the train station had electrical outlets for some of its tables. I ordered lunch in thanks and plugged in the camera before using the WiFi to find out about the craziness that had just occurred in Moscow. It was a strange feeling, knowing that it was a real possibility that someone I knew had been affected, sitting in another country and time zone with vivid memories of one of the metro stations from just the day before. Before the day was out, though, the news was in that everyone from our group was safe, though it was of course still an incredibly sad day for Russia.
Unfortunately I have to write a paper for literature so to be continued…
Thursday, March 25, 2010
And we're off!
Well, dearest readers, somehow it is already that time in the semester when we head to Moscow and then off into the blue yonder. In anticipation, the past few days have gone by even faster than usual - which is saying something. We went to the opera at the concert hall of the Mariinsky Theater Wednesday night, Mozart's The Magic Flute. It was very well done, in a slightly modern style and in Russian (the latter rather unfortunately, in my opinion), the music was wonderful and they made it almost an interactive experience with some of the performers singing while walking through the audience and even surprising one woman so much that she screamed quite hysterically, which then threw the rest of the audience into a nice fit of laughter. It was a fun evening, and afterwards I met up with Jay and Brian at a cafe closer to home before heading home to pack and finish up some pre-vacation work. And now in just a few hours we'll be on the train, we're meeting up to get some snacks before hand and then heading to the train station. Tomorrow morning at first light we'll be in Moscow! I'm not sure whether I'll be able to post from my iPod - we are staying in a Holiday Inn and hoping that that means we'll actually have internet this time. I head to Copenhagen on Sunday, and will then buy a ticket to get to Stockholm on Wednesday, returning to Piter on Easter Sunday!
I hope all is well back home, and would appreciate you keeping me and all of us traveling this week in your prayers! I will be in touch as much as I can! Much love - b
I hope all is well back home, and would appreciate you keeping me and all of us traveling this week in your prayers! I will be in touch as much as I can! Much love - b
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Winter and Spring are Duking it Out...
Where did that phrase come from? Did dukes used to fight all the time? Why was it the first thing that came into my head when I thought of the current craziness that’s occurring here in the weather department? Interesting. Anyway…
There is an old Russian saying, so my host mom tells me, that Winter and Spring always fight for a while before Spring finally wins out. Well, there is a first-class battle going on in this city. Even right this minute, through the gorgeous sunshine that has been shining since 9 AM this morning, snow has just started to come down rather strongly and the clouds are blowing in off of the Gulf of Finland and will soon block out the sun. Every day is an adventure, it can be sunny and freezing, sunny and warm (we had 2 of those this week and threw ourselves a celebration), cloudy wet and snowy, or cloudy freezing and snowing what feel like ice pellets. Its quite ridiculous – add to all of that that regardless of the weather, the area around our metro does not emerge from its ice-rink state and you’ve got quite the commute! But it makes the mornings fun, if a little stressful for your knees and stilettos as they try to prevent you from falling, and I feel slightly less Vitamin D deficient as a result of the sunny days.
Last weekend started early, with the cover show by Jarlath’s band (featuring ‘Special Guest from Flint, Brent’) on Thursday night about 11. As with most things in Russia, we weren’t sure where the bar was and ended up in a courtyard and heading through a door marked only by printouts done on Microsoft Word. Turned out to be a pretty chill bar, and their band (‘The Dudes’) played some great covers, mostly American music but also a Russian song or two and the crowd loved it all, Jarlath is a master at picking the slightly outdated songs that are more popular here than in the US, and also some classics including ‘Beat It’ and ‘Black or White’. We hung out for a while, then Brent and I went to take one of the girls home in a cab and returned to the bar after a half hour of incredibly interesting conversation with our cab driver who seemed very smart and was talking about how the opportunities in Russia are so much more difficult to come by, etc., and how he really wanted to improve his English because it gives you so many better opportunities. Got home nice and late, before up for classes on Friday morning. The weekend passed quickly, without excursions but with enough sunny weather for plenty of walking and lots of time spent with friends.
Classes are still going well, still teaching myself out of the second year book to try and fill in the gaps. The Ohio University study abroad program in Moscow starts this week, just one day before we arrive there for the start of our vacations. We’ll see if I can meet up with them that soon after their arrival.
This weekend started Thursday night with a trip to the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater for a concert of Mozart’s Requiem. The hall is only a few years old, is absolutely beautiful and has been a topic of some discussion in the music world because of its superb acoustics. We were in the cheap seats, directly above the choir and behind the orchestra, but the sound quality was still incredible. The piece was beautiful, an hour and a half of the genius of Mozart made real by some of the best performers in Russia. This coming week we are going to an opera in the same hall, more Mozart, this time the Magic Flute. After the opera we met up with some of the guys in the center for a few drinks and to meet Jeremy’s friend who is visiting from Southern California. Headed home on the last metro to catch some sleep before our excursion to Pushkin on Saturday. Pushkin, so named in the 20th century after Russia’s favorite son who studied at an exclusive school for six years of his short life, is the town outside of St. Petersburg where the summer residence of the tsars was located. The palace there is magnificent, as are the gardens of both French and English style when there isn’t a foot of snow covering the, despite the fact that it was heavily damaged during the Second World War. The town was occupied by the Nazis, (interesting to note that in Russian they are always referred to as ‘the fascists’ rather than ‘the Germans’ as they often are in English), and the palace was sacked of almost every valuable treasure that had not been removed by the caretakers. Many of the restored rooms include photo displays of the rooms in the late 19th/early 20th centuries contrasted with photos of the rooms after the conclusion of the occupation of the region in the 1940s. The Nazis must have known that they had hit the motherload, almost everything was removed from the rooms and some parts of the palace that hadn’t been destroyed during the siege were destroyed when the approaching Russian army forced them out. Apparently, if there is one thing Russians are truly incredible at, it is restoring imperial palaces. The Catherine Palace in Pushkin has been absolutely stunningly restored, from the ethereal paintings on the ceilings to the parquet floors and the ridiculous amounts of gold and porcelain decorations. The amber room, the only one like it in the world, has also been brilliantly restored with almost 1 ton of amber from Kaliningrad, the Russian territory separated from the mainland by the Baltic States. Interestingly, in the original amber room there wasn’t enough for the very top of the walls or the fourth wall of the room, which is largely windows, and just so has it been restored. It is incredibly impressive, as are the rest of the rooms which have been restored, from the peacock room to the golden arcade. They are preparing for the celebration of the 300th birthday of the original part of the palace this summer, I can only imagine the utter opulence.
Meanwhile us regular citizens headed back to the city after the tour of the palace – it had started to do what Jarlath affectionately calls ‘slush from the sky’ so we weren’t exactly thrilled about wandering around the barren parks – but got stuck in traffic so we were starving when we finally made it back. Sveta, Irina, and I met up with Megan and proceed to eat and talk for the next 5 hours, at which point we were all wishing for a teleportation device to deposit us directly into our beds.
Today was the last time I’ll be in church until after Easter, I’m kind of disappointed that I’ll miss Easter Mass, one of the consulate couples are trying to organize a get-together afterwards which would be fun, but I’ll be in Stockholm until the mid-afternoon. Today after Mass we went to what has become the regular post-Mass café, where they always draw designs on top of the whipped cream on our cappuccinos. Had a great conversation with one of the couples that I haven’t talked to as much, they are leaving St. Petersburg in May just like I am. He is headed to Afghanistan for a year ‘tour unaccompanied.’ We talked about the incredible benefits of living abroad and about the differences that have taken place in St. Petersburg over the years, Mike was here in 1989, and then a few times in the 1990s as well before coming back two years ago. It is really incredible to think about the incredible changes that have taken place here in just 20 years, the incredible commercialization and privatization are just one noticeable part of it. They’ve gone through so much, maybe we should give them a break on the fact that they are a little behind on their snow removal skills. Just maybe. Though the ice is thinning on the Neva, and if this warm weather keeps up maybe it will all melt while we’re gone next week.
I’ll try to post once more before heading for Moscow Thursday evening, hope all is well over there where spring has already come!
There is an old Russian saying, so my host mom tells me, that Winter and Spring always fight for a while before Spring finally wins out. Well, there is a first-class battle going on in this city. Even right this minute, through the gorgeous sunshine that has been shining since 9 AM this morning, snow has just started to come down rather strongly and the clouds are blowing in off of the Gulf of Finland and will soon block out the sun. Every day is an adventure, it can be sunny and freezing, sunny and warm (we had 2 of those this week and threw ourselves a celebration), cloudy wet and snowy, or cloudy freezing and snowing what feel like ice pellets. Its quite ridiculous – add to all of that that regardless of the weather, the area around our metro does not emerge from its ice-rink state and you’ve got quite the commute! But it makes the mornings fun, if a little stressful for your knees and stilettos as they try to prevent you from falling, and I feel slightly less Vitamin D deficient as a result of the sunny days.
Last weekend started early, with the cover show by Jarlath’s band (featuring ‘Special Guest from Flint, Brent’) on Thursday night about 11. As with most things in Russia, we weren’t sure where the bar was and ended up in a courtyard and heading through a door marked only by printouts done on Microsoft Word. Turned out to be a pretty chill bar, and their band (‘The Dudes’) played some great covers, mostly American music but also a Russian song or two and the crowd loved it all, Jarlath is a master at picking the slightly outdated songs that are more popular here than in the US, and also some classics including ‘Beat It’ and ‘Black or White’. We hung out for a while, then Brent and I went to take one of the girls home in a cab and returned to the bar after a half hour of incredibly interesting conversation with our cab driver who seemed very smart and was talking about how the opportunities in Russia are so much more difficult to come by, etc., and how he really wanted to improve his English because it gives you so many better opportunities. Got home nice and late, before up for classes on Friday morning. The weekend passed quickly, without excursions but with enough sunny weather for plenty of walking and lots of time spent with friends.
Classes are still going well, still teaching myself out of the second year book to try and fill in the gaps. The Ohio University study abroad program in Moscow starts this week, just one day before we arrive there for the start of our vacations. We’ll see if I can meet up with them that soon after their arrival.
This weekend started Thursday night with a trip to the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theater for a concert of Mozart’s Requiem. The hall is only a few years old, is absolutely beautiful and has been a topic of some discussion in the music world because of its superb acoustics. We were in the cheap seats, directly above the choir and behind the orchestra, but the sound quality was still incredible. The piece was beautiful, an hour and a half of the genius of Mozart made real by some of the best performers in Russia. This coming week we are going to an opera in the same hall, more Mozart, this time the Magic Flute. After the opera we met up with some of the guys in the center for a few drinks and to meet Jeremy’s friend who is visiting from Southern California. Headed home on the last metro to catch some sleep before our excursion to Pushkin on Saturday. Pushkin, so named in the 20th century after Russia’s favorite son who studied at an exclusive school for six years of his short life, is the town outside of St. Petersburg where the summer residence of the tsars was located. The palace there is magnificent, as are the gardens of both French and English style when there isn’t a foot of snow covering the, despite the fact that it was heavily damaged during the Second World War. The town was occupied by the Nazis, (interesting to note that in Russian they are always referred to as ‘the fascists’ rather than ‘the Germans’ as they often are in English), and the palace was sacked of almost every valuable treasure that had not been removed by the caretakers. Many of the restored rooms include photo displays of the rooms in the late 19th/early 20th centuries contrasted with photos of the rooms after the conclusion of the occupation of the region in the 1940s. The Nazis must have known that they had hit the motherload, almost everything was removed from the rooms and some parts of the palace that hadn’t been destroyed during the siege were destroyed when the approaching Russian army forced them out. Apparently, if there is one thing Russians are truly incredible at, it is restoring imperial palaces. The Catherine Palace in Pushkin has been absolutely stunningly restored, from the ethereal paintings on the ceilings to the parquet floors and the ridiculous amounts of gold and porcelain decorations. The amber room, the only one like it in the world, has also been brilliantly restored with almost 1 ton of amber from Kaliningrad, the Russian territory separated from the mainland by the Baltic States. Interestingly, in the original amber room there wasn’t enough for the very top of the walls or the fourth wall of the room, which is largely windows, and just so has it been restored. It is incredibly impressive, as are the rest of the rooms which have been restored, from the peacock room to the golden arcade. They are preparing for the celebration of the 300th birthday of the original part of the palace this summer, I can only imagine the utter opulence.
Meanwhile us regular citizens headed back to the city after the tour of the palace – it had started to do what Jarlath affectionately calls ‘slush from the sky’ so we weren’t exactly thrilled about wandering around the barren parks – but got stuck in traffic so we were starving when we finally made it back. Sveta, Irina, and I met up with Megan and proceed to eat and talk for the next 5 hours, at which point we were all wishing for a teleportation device to deposit us directly into our beds.
Today was the last time I’ll be in church until after Easter, I’m kind of disappointed that I’ll miss Easter Mass, one of the consulate couples are trying to organize a get-together afterwards which would be fun, but I’ll be in Stockholm until the mid-afternoon. Today after Mass we went to what has become the regular post-Mass café, where they always draw designs on top of the whipped cream on our cappuccinos. Had a great conversation with one of the couples that I haven’t talked to as much, they are leaving St. Petersburg in May just like I am. He is headed to Afghanistan for a year ‘tour unaccompanied.’ We talked about the incredible benefits of living abroad and about the differences that have taken place in St. Petersburg over the years, Mike was here in 1989, and then a few times in the 1990s as well before coming back two years ago. It is really incredible to think about the incredible changes that have taken place here in just 20 years, the incredible commercialization and privatization are just one noticeable part of it. They’ve gone through so much, maybe we should give them a break on the fact that they are a little behind on their snow removal skills. Just maybe. Though the ice is thinning on the Neva, and if this warm weather keeps up maybe it will all melt while we’re gone next week.
I’ll try to post once more before heading for Moscow Thursday evening, hope all is well over there where spring has already come!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Happy Women's Day, and Happy Birthday Padre!!
March 8th is International Women’s Day, a holiday which manifests itself largely in a day off and incredible amounts of flower purchasing by the men of Russia. We celebrated at my host grandmothers with plenty of champagne and food, and a friend of my host grandmothers was there as well. She is from Siberia, her family was aristocratic and was sent there at the time of the revolution. She taught us how to drink cognac in the Russian aristocratic tradition; a drink followed by a lemon with salt and coffee. Quite interesting, not exactly delicious but definitely not bad either. The guys also took us out last night (Sunday night), paid for our bill at the café that we went to the night before Men’s Day a few weeks ago. It turned out to be quite a late night, and Monday was a day full of more champagne and trying to start studying for our grammar test on Wednesday.
As always, Ira wanted to know what was going to be on the test so that she could help explain things or use them repetitively so they would be easier to remember. Half of the test had to do with the million different ways to tell time and the specific prepositions for various units of time and time relationships and time periods and sequences and… you get the idea. Somehow in the middle of all of that we got to talking again about the comparisons between the Soviet Union and Russia today. She gave her now typical spiel about how everyone had a job and there was enough food and space and everything (though by this time we had had not only champagne but also some home-made wine that someone had brought her at work for women’s day that was pretty strong so she was a little more animated than usual), and then we started talking about the nineties when everything changed. She’s not yet 40, but she talks about the seventies as though she remembers how great the life was, so I’m not sure whether its propaganda that’s informing her thought processes or whether that was how her parents explained life to her when she was young. In the eighties and nineties she said life became almost unbearable. There was nothing to be found in any of the stores and no one knew where the country was heading. The ideology had broken down and no one knew quite what to believe. It was then she explained that the change in the censorship policy took effect.
Under the Soviet Union, no one knew what was going on in the ‘West’ or the outside world in general, and they didn’t worry about it because life was good (provided your great-grandparents hadn’t been ‘enemies of the people’ and that you were ethnically Russian). In the last years, that started to change and people in Russia began to be interested in what life was like elsewhere. In the Soviet Union, news was censored so many tragedies didn’t make it to the evening news. (In conversation class one day a few weeks ago we talked about how the average person in Russia didn’t know about the real disaster at Chernobyl until days after the fact because of the censorship. Our conversation teacher knew about it earlier because his neighbors at his dacha had relatives in Finland who had been warned about the radiation.) Their lack of knowledge led to a feeling of comfort, Ira explained, that quickly evaporated as soon as people began to see both what life was like on the other side of the Iron Curtain and that terrible things were happening all around them. We had an interesting discussion about whether it is better to not know and feel safe and secure and comfortable, or to know and be always on edge and unhappy. What she said rings true about the Russian people, there are so many struggles in their daily lives – how many 70-year-olds do you know who work as conductors on busses because the pension from the government they have served their whole life is only about $50 a month – that I can see how it would be hard to additionally be constantly on edge and worried. So I took her argument with a grain of salt – I’m still in favor of ‘knowing’ but understand better now where she is coming from – and we moved on to talking about other wonderful things like the difference between the prepositions за & на and when not to use a preposition at all with time periods. Oh my.
And now its already Wednesday, and the grammar test is history! I studied quite a bit more than I have for any other test during my time in Russia, guess that’s what happens when you’re in a group a little over your head! But the time has been filled with much more than studying! One day last week I went with some friends to a vegetarian café not far from Sennaya ploschad and situated on a little side street. It reminded me so much of my roommate Mary that I immediately wanted to call her, unfortunately I had about 30 cents on my phone so I just gushed to my Russian friends about her and how much it felt like a place she would love. That got us on to a conversation about youth culture, where more things are similar than different between our two countries, and then on to music. Turns out that quite a few Russian guys like Bob Dylan, some even Neil Young. Most haven’t heard of Jackson Browne, but I had a pretty lengthy discussion about the differences between some of Bruce Springsteen songs and albums with a couple of the guys, in a combination of English and Russian which is usually what happens when we get together. Afterwards, we got in a snowball fight on Nevsky which ended with me in a snowbank and the old men on the park bench next to us laughing at us as they took a break from their chess match – yes, it was snowing, and -10, but they were playing chess. I also fell a few times walking around that night on the ice, so my streak of not falling is officially ended. Andrey caught me by the arm both times so I never totally ended up on the ground, except when I was in the snowbank of course.
Then this past Friday we went to a ‘folk show’ at the same palace where we had our end of the year party at the end of last semester with our host families. Our host moms were once again invited, and as usual my diva mama spent longer than I did ensuring that ‘we were again the most beautiful ones there’. I can’t even tell you how many times that phrase was repeated. In any event, she at least was the most beautiful of the host moms, helped by the fact that she is the youngest but also by the fact that she is legitimately very beautiful (hence the guys in the group want to learn pelmenni in the hopes that she’ll let them in the house and they get to talk to her for an hour or two). We had champagne and snacks at the break, and whispered about which of the young Russian dancers we liked best during the performances. A quartet sang beautiful Russian folk songs, and dance troupes performed traditional Russian dances both individually and as a group. Yes, the dance where the guy squats low to the ground and does various kicks was performed many times, and no, I still cannot do it. At one point Brian – at 6’8” – was pulled on stage to dance with the shortest dancer, after which much hilarity ensued. Luckily plenty of people didn’t lose their cameras while sledding, so there are lots of pictures and video of the event. It was a fun evening with my host mom, and afterwards we walked out arm in arm as she got in a marshutka and I headed to Brent’s hockey game with some of the group. It was a great game – with the exception of the 30 seconds in which the other team scored 3 goals – but we were wiped out from rushing around after school and the folk show so most of us headed home. The next night Jarlath was DJing at a new bar, which turned out to be a great time – the first and only time I will hear ACDC in a bar in Russia, I am almost positive – though another late night. And then Sunday night the guys took us out for women’s day, and now it is already Wednesday! Two weeks from tomorrow we head to Moscow – which means I really need to buy tickets! Tomorrow night. No, tomorrow night Brent is playing a show with Jarlath’s band. So Friday. I’m planning on Denmark and Sweden, but if you have any amazing suggestions I’ll take them into consideration until Friday ☺ I’m ready to take a little break from Russia, though I kind of wish I could take my host family with me! We are planning on Finland just after the holidays.
All the best to all of you, and if you are one of the lucky ones who gets to see my dad today, give him a hug and a happy birthday from me! Love - b
As always, Ira wanted to know what was going to be on the test so that she could help explain things or use them repetitively so they would be easier to remember. Half of the test had to do with the million different ways to tell time and the specific prepositions for various units of time and time relationships and time periods and sequences and… you get the idea. Somehow in the middle of all of that we got to talking again about the comparisons between the Soviet Union and Russia today. She gave her now typical spiel about how everyone had a job and there was enough food and space and everything (though by this time we had had not only champagne but also some home-made wine that someone had brought her at work for women’s day that was pretty strong so she was a little more animated than usual), and then we started talking about the nineties when everything changed. She’s not yet 40, but she talks about the seventies as though she remembers how great the life was, so I’m not sure whether its propaganda that’s informing her thought processes or whether that was how her parents explained life to her when she was young. In the eighties and nineties she said life became almost unbearable. There was nothing to be found in any of the stores and no one knew where the country was heading. The ideology had broken down and no one knew quite what to believe. It was then she explained that the change in the censorship policy took effect.
Under the Soviet Union, no one knew what was going on in the ‘West’ or the outside world in general, and they didn’t worry about it because life was good (provided your great-grandparents hadn’t been ‘enemies of the people’ and that you were ethnically Russian). In the last years, that started to change and people in Russia began to be interested in what life was like elsewhere. In the Soviet Union, news was censored so many tragedies didn’t make it to the evening news. (In conversation class one day a few weeks ago we talked about how the average person in Russia didn’t know about the real disaster at Chernobyl until days after the fact because of the censorship. Our conversation teacher knew about it earlier because his neighbors at his dacha had relatives in Finland who had been warned about the radiation.) Their lack of knowledge led to a feeling of comfort, Ira explained, that quickly evaporated as soon as people began to see both what life was like on the other side of the Iron Curtain and that terrible things were happening all around them. We had an interesting discussion about whether it is better to not know and feel safe and secure and comfortable, or to know and be always on edge and unhappy. What she said rings true about the Russian people, there are so many struggles in their daily lives – how many 70-year-olds do you know who work as conductors on busses because the pension from the government they have served their whole life is only about $50 a month – that I can see how it would be hard to additionally be constantly on edge and worried. So I took her argument with a grain of salt – I’m still in favor of ‘knowing’ but understand better now where she is coming from – and we moved on to talking about other wonderful things like the difference between the prepositions за & на and when not to use a preposition at all with time periods. Oh my.
And now its already Wednesday, and the grammar test is history! I studied quite a bit more than I have for any other test during my time in Russia, guess that’s what happens when you’re in a group a little over your head! But the time has been filled with much more than studying! One day last week I went with some friends to a vegetarian café not far from Sennaya ploschad and situated on a little side street. It reminded me so much of my roommate Mary that I immediately wanted to call her, unfortunately I had about 30 cents on my phone so I just gushed to my Russian friends about her and how much it felt like a place she would love. That got us on to a conversation about youth culture, where more things are similar than different between our two countries, and then on to music. Turns out that quite a few Russian guys like Bob Dylan, some even Neil Young. Most haven’t heard of Jackson Browne, but I had a pretty lengthy discussion about the differences between some of Bruce Springsteen songs and albums with a couple of the guys, in a combination of English and Russian which is usually what happens when we get together. Afterwards, we got in a snowball fight on Nevsky which ended with me in a snowbank and the old men on the park bench next to us laughing at us as they took a break from their chess match – yes, it was snowing, and -10, but they were playing chess. I also fell a few times walking around that night on the ice, so my streak of not falling is officially ended. Andrey caught me by the arm both times so I never totally ended up on the ground, except when I was in the snowbank of course.
Then this past Friday we went to a ‘folk show’ at the same palace where we had our end of the year party at the end of last semester with our host families. Our host moms were once again invited, and as usual my diva mama spent longer than I did ensuring that ‘we were again the most beautiful ones there’. I can’t even tell you how many times that phrase was repeated. In any event, she at least was the most beautiful of the host moms, helped by the fact that she is the youngest but also by the fact that she is legitimately very beautiful (hence the guys in the group want to learn pelmenni in the hopes that she’ll let them in the house and they get to talk to her for an hour or two). We had champagne and snacks at the break, and whispered about which of the young Russian dancers we liked best during the performances. A quartet sang beautiful Russian folk songs, and dance troupes performed traditional Russian dances both individually and as a group. Yes, the dance where the guy squats low to the ground and does various kicks was performed many times, and no, I still cannot do it. At one point Brian – at 6’8” – was pulled on stage to dance with the shortest dancer, after which much hilarity ensued. Luckily plenty of people didn’t lose their cameras while sledding, so there are lots of pictures and video of the event. It was a fun evening with my host mom, and afterwards we walked out arm in arm as she got in a marshutka and I headed to Brent’s hockey game with some of the group. It was a great game – with the exception of the 30 seconds in which the other team scored 3 goals – but we were wiped out from rushing around after school and the folk show so most of us headed home. The next night Jarlath was DJing at a new bar, which turned out to be a great time – the first and only time I will hear ACDC in a bar in Russia, I am almost positive – though another late night. And then Sunday night the guys took us out for women’s day, and now it is already Wednesday! Two weeks from tomorrow we head to Moscow – which means I really need to buy tickets! Tomorrow night. No, tomorrow night Brent is playing a show with Jarlath’s band. So Friday. I’m planning on Denmark and Sweden, but if you have any amazing suggestions I’ll take them into consideration until Friday ☺ I’m ready to take a little break from Russia, though I kind of wish I could take my host family with me! We are planning on Finland just after the holidays.
All the best to all of you, and if you are one of the lucky ones who gets to see my dad today, give him a hug and a happy birthday from me! Love - b
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Getting Tired of Witty Snow Titles, and Snow Itself
And, apparently, so is St. Petersburg. Because for the last few days, we have all been running around without our long underwear and three scarves that we have become accustomed to needing. It has been +1 Celcius here and we are treating it like a serious heat wave, I cannot wait to see what +10 feels like, if we ever get there before its time to head home in May. The warmner temperatures have, however, also turned the streets to absolute slush and sent icicles and piles of snow plummeting off of buildings toward the ground. It is a change from the ice rinks that have occupied most of the streets in the city, and makes me grateful once again for my rain boots – but I'm not entirely sure it’s a positive change. We certainly don't have any control over it, though, so we'll take the positive temperatures while they last.
The past few weeks have been full of studying, volunteering, and spending lots of time with friends. This past Tuesday, February 23rd, was 'Men's Day' in Russia, as it is commonly known, it is officially a holiday to commemorate the mens' 'service to the Fatherland' during the Great Patriotic War but it is extended to honor all men in the country, including young boys and foreign students who use the excuse to receive gifts of chocolate, vodka, and a night out on the town from the girls they hang out with. Russians had a four day holiday weekend, but had to work the following Saturday to make up for the free Monday they were given (a very interesting concept in a country where so many don't really seem to value work very much), whereas we studied on Monday the 22nd and so didn't have to yesterday. My host mom says she almost wishes that was how their work week had gone, she's not very happy that she worked all day yesterday and has to again tomorrow, after only one day off. I'm not at all sure how the students here manage with only one day off every week, as I've said before. We made good use of the holiday, going to one of Brent's hockey games and then out afterwards with some Russian friends, coming home on the metro the next morning and sleeping the holiday away – after catching up with Mary in San Francisco which made the day even better! Women's Day is coming up on March 8th, I'll be sure to let you know if the boys make good on their promise to treat us to a night out and other goodies. I dragged Jay and Irina to Kolobok (my favorite perozhki place that I think I have mentioned before, not far from school) before buying concert tickets on Thursday, and while Jay is used to me dragging him there Irina had never been there before. She raved about it for about the next hour, and we are hoping Jay brings in a box of our favorites to class on Tuesday in honor of Women's Day…but we'll have to see.
The concert tickets were for a solo piano performance of Rachmaninoff on Friday evening, an incredible 2 hours of beautiful music and incredible talent on the part of the artist. Irina, Jay, Jeremy, and I had an incredible time bearing witness to the genius of one of Russia's favorite composers, and it felt great to be immersed in the theater culture of St. Petersburg again. (I'll be going to Mozart's Requiem and The Magic Flute before the month is out, we found good deals on the tickets but I'm still sacrificing a few nights on the town for…well, a different type of night on the town ☺ ) After the concert we headed to a student bar for a beer and were treated to a spontaneous eruption of opera from a few of the students in the bar who apparently just decided to break into song. They were harmonizing and everything, it was incredible and the whole bar broke out in applause when they finished.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been as much for Russians to applaud coming out of Vancouver as they had hoped. The Olympics have been a disappointment for nearly everyone in Russia, those who take it very seriously and those who watch very casually. My host mom, who doesn't really watch the Games at all, was going on about it a few nights ago, how before (in the Soviet Union) the team was so much stronger because of the number of eligible athletes and the strength of the training, and how all these little countries competing is just so silly and makes Russia look even worse against the countries leading the medal count. She's not sure why its so bad, just that the team is not like it used to be. Her hopes for the next Winter Olympics when Russia is the host nation are not very high. She knows that the Russia that is shown in Sochi in 2014 will not look anything like the Russia most people live in everyday, and that the illusion that 'everything is great' will only be perpetuated, while most people are struggling through the economic crisis with no help from their government. The people making the money off of the boom in Sochi are the oligarchs and the mafia, she says (and she's right, from all appearances), and the Russian citizens are not feeling any substantial benefits. I remember when we were studying in Salzburg, which was the candidate city competing with Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games, and they announced that Sochi, Russia would host the 2014 Games and how disappointed we all were. At that moment, I had no idea that I would be studying in Russia, and while my heart still belongs to Salzburg I am definitely very interested to see how an Olympics in Russia is carried off. And how the Russia shown by the Games is the same as or differs from the Russia that I lived in and talked about while studying here. Надо посмотреть…We'll have to see.
The studying is going very well, we have a test and an essay due next week so this week there will be a lot of work going on – a nice coincidence since my play money has been directed to theater tickets! I am surviving in grammar, working very hard to make sure I don't sound like too much of a bumbling idiot, but the teacher continues to be very helpful and make sure I understand the things that are new for me but review for the others. Our group is so much fun I would much rather work harder on my own outside of class than change groups. Our literature class also continues to be very rewarding, my host mom and I have been working on reading Russian poetry out loud to get the right rythym and intonation and accents, I can tell she enjoys it and it’s a pretty typical doing-the-dishes or cleaning up activity. She usually reads the poem out loud while sipping tea and then I try and duplicate her intonation and rythym, sometimes we end up laughing when I butcher a 30 letter word, other times she gets very excited when I get it perfect. I'm very grateful for all the support I get from her, she's always checking on new grammar concepts and making sure I'm understanding and using them as much as possible. Its largely thanks to her that I was able to make the jump all the way to group one, which I try and tell her as often as possible even though she always waves it off.
Tonight is the gold medal game in hockey, USA and Canada. Will probably be at a friends to watch it, after a skype date with my twin and eating dinner at host grandma's. Thank you for sticking around and reading, sorry it has been a little while but I should be back to posting more often now that I've realized going out every day after class is absolutely not a good idea, except for the fact that its fun to spend time with friends outside of class. I hear there's even more snow in Cleveland now, while ours is melting, but hopefully winter will be gone from both continents when my parents head this way in April, if all goes according to plan! Comment so I know you're out there ☺ Much love from the land of falling icicles and endless amounts of blini – beth
The past few weeks have been full of studying, volunteering, and spending lots of time with friends. This past Tuesday, February 23rd, was 'Men's Day' in Russia, as it is commonly known, it is officially a holiday to commemorate the mens' 'service to the Fatherland' during the Great Patriotic War but it is extended to honor all men in the country, including young boys and foreign students who use the excuse to receive gifts of chocolate, vodka, and a night out on the town from the girls they hang out with. Russians had a four day holiday weekend, but had to work the following Saturday to make up for the free Monday they were given (a very interesting concept in a country where so many don't really seem to value work very much), whereas we studied on Monday the 22nd and so didn't have to yesterday. My host mom says she almost wishes that was how their work week had gone, she's not very happy that she worked all day yesterday and has to again tomorrow, after only one day off. I'm not at all sure how the students here manage with only one day off every week, as I've said before. We made good use of the holiday, going to one of Brent's hockey games and then out afterwards with some Russian friends, coming home on the metro the next morning and sleeping the holiday away – after catching up with Mary in San Francisco which made the day even better! Women's Day is coming up on March 8th, I'll be sure to let you know if the boys make good on their promise to treat us to a night out and other goodies. I dragged Jay and Irina to Kolobok (my favorite perozhki place that I think I have mentioned before, not far from school) before buying concert tickets on Thursday, and while Jay is used to me dragging him there Irina had never been there before. She raved about it for about the next hour, and we are hoping Jay brings in a box of our favorites to class on Tuesday in honor of Women's Day…but we'll have to see.
The concert tickets were for a solo piano performance of Rachmaninoff on Friday evening, an incredible 2 hours of beautiful music and incredible talent on the part of the artist. Irina, Jay, Jeremy, and I had an incredible time bearing witness to the genius of one of Russia's favorite composers, and it felt great to be immersed in the theater culture of St. Petersburg again. (I'll be going to Mozart's Requiem and The Magic Flute before the month is out, we found good deals on the tickets but I'm still sacrificing a few nights on the town for…well, a different type of night on the town ☺ ) After the concert we headed to a student bar for a beer and were treated to a spontaneous eruption of opera from a few of the students in the bar who apparently just decided to break into song. They were harmonizing and everything, it was incredible and the whole bar broke out in applause when they finished.
Unfortunately, there hasn't been as much for Russians to applaud coming out of Vancouver as they had hoped. The Olympics have been a disappointment for nearly everyone in Russia, those who take it very seriously and those who watch very casually. My host mom, who doesn't really watch the Games at all, was going on about it a few nights ago, how before (in the Soviet Union) the team was so much stronger because of the number of eligible athletes and the strength of the training, and how all these little countries competing is just so silly and makes Russia look even worse against the countries leading the medal count. She's not sure why its so bad, just that the team is not like it used to be. Her hopes for the next Winter Olympics when Russia is the host nation are not very high. She knows that the Russia that is shown in Sochi in 2014 will not look anything like the Russia most people live in everyday, and that the illusion that 'everything is great' will only be perpetuated, while most people are struggling through the economic crisis with no help from their government. The people making the money off of the boom in Sochi are the oligarchs and the mafia, she says (and she's right, from all appearances), and the Russian citizens are not feeling any substantial benefits. I remember when we were studying in Salzburg, which was the candidate city competing with Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games, and they announced that Sochi, Russia would host the 2014 Games and how disappointed we all were. At that moment, I had no idea that I would be studying in Russia, and while my heart still belongs to Salzburg I am definitely very interested to see how an Olympics in Russia is carried off. And how the Russia shown by the Games is the same as or differs from the Russia that I lived in and talked about while studying here. Надо посмотреть…We'll have to see.
The studying is going very well, we have a test and an essay due next week so this week there will be a lot of work going on – a nice coincidence since my play money has been directed to theater tickets! I am surviving in grammar, working very hard to make sure I don't sound like too much of a bumbling idiot, but the teacher continues to be very helpful and make sure I understand the things that are new for me but review for the others. Our group is so much fun I would much rather work harder on my own outside of class than change groups. Our literature class also continues to be very rewarding, my host mom and I have been working on reading Russian poetry out loud to get the right rythym and intonation and accents, I can tell she enjoys it and it’s a pretty typical doing-the-dishes or cleaning up activity. She usually reads the poem out loud while sipping tea and then I try and duplicate her intonation and rythym, sometimes we end up laughing when I butcher a 30 letter word, other times she gets very excited when I get it perfect. I'm very grateful for all the support I get from her, she's always checking on new grammar concepts and making sure I'm understanding and using them as much as possible. Its largely thanks to her that I was able to make the jump all the way to group one, which I try and tell her as often as possible even though she always waves it off.
Tonight is the gold medal game in hockey, USA and Canada. Will probably be at a friends to watch it, after a skype date with my twin and eating dinner at host grandma's. Thank you for sticking around and reading, sorry it has been a little while but I should be back to posting more often now that I've realized going out every day after class is absolutely not a good idea, except for the fact that its fun to spend time with friends outside of class. I hear there's even more snow in Cleveland now, while ours is melting, but hopefully winter will be gone from both continents when my parents head this way in April, if all goes according to plan! Comment so I know you're out there ☺ Much love from the land of falling icicles and endless amounts of blini – beth
Monday, February 15, 2010
Novgorod the Great, Freezing, and Sick-Making
Our second trip to Novgorod was somewhat different than our first. We took a nice double decker bus since we all fit easily – there were 20 more students last semester so we took two buses most places, keeping the language and area studies programs totally separate. The year-long students claimed the bottom of the bus for the most part, we wanted the tables so we could play cards and watch movies on peoples laptops, and it was a pretty typical drive. Brent and I tried to teach Jeremy and Jay how to play Euchre…they almost got it. Lunch at the hotel was alright, at least the fish was fresh and the soup was hot. I roomed with Irina, she was actually born in Russia and moved to the US when she was maybe 8, so she speaks Russian almost fluently and she's in almost all of my classes. We get along really well and she's really fun, we did the scavenger hunt together too and had an absolute blast. After lunch she headed out with the group for the excursion while most of us year-longers relaxed and napped rather than spend three hours in the cold hearing things we had already heard. If I hadn't lost my camera I probably would have gone to take pictures of the gorgeous little town all covered in snow, but as it was I was exhausted from getting up so early and feeling a serious cold coming on so it made more sense to sleep. The group came back about an hour early anyway, everyone was frozen so they decided to cut it a little short and give them the time to warm up before dinner. I ate with Megan and a bunch of different new students, it was fun to have casual conversation and get to know everyone a little better still. After dinner we walked over to the banya – where I had my first banya experience the semester before – but it was very very crowded so only a few people could go in. Since I had already been I helped the girls set up and translated while the little babyshka explained things to some of the area studies students, and then I walked back to the hotel. We watched some of the Olympics and hung out, glad to have a night to relax and be on our own.
The next morning we headed out to one of the oldest monestaries in the area, which was absolutely covered in snow and ice and incredibly picturesque until you slipped and fell because you could no longer feel your feet. It was colder inside the main church than outside, and the guides explained that they only held services there starting in May. The path which was lined in beautiful late-blooming rose bushes last semester was this time almost a tunnel through the high snow, and the lake that had been framed with the changing colors of the leaves this time seemed to strech into frozen nothingness. It adds great perspective to see things such as these under different circumstances, and as we headed to the 'open-air museum' I remembered my chat with the German tourists last semester with a smile. This time I found my way to the exhibition halls, partly for the heat and partly because I hadn't realized they existed last semester, and was happy to find a substantial collection of artifacts uncovered from the original village site. The wood carving work is truly incredible, tiny detailed patterns of flours and other designs repeated over and over again, alongside gorgeous beaded costumes that sometimes reminded me of Guatie and other times looked like nothing I had ever seen. Lunch was in the restaurant just across the way, the blini were good but the borsch tasted funny. Behind the restaurant there was a cross country ski race going on, dad you could have done great ☺ Wish I could have video taped some of it for you! The school aged kids were the best, on straight-line rather than skate skiis and trying not to trip all over themselves getting to the starting line. From lunch we headed back into town to watch the 'maslanitsa' festivities. Maslanitsa is the week before the Russian Orthodox version of Lent, like a week-long carnival. There are all kinds of traditions, including eating lots of blini, burning large scarecrows, and watching groups of naked men fight each other, plus lots of food, games, and dancing. Novgorod put on quite the carnival, and we walked around laughing at the slightly drunk babyshki and little kids with balloons tied to their hats. Then it was time to get back on the bus and head home, after getting the feeling back in our feet and arranging ourselves as comfortably as possible to try and sleep. Didn't work all that well, but we made good time back to the city and went home to crash (and do all the homework we had neglected all weekend).
Today began another week, and unfortunately the cold I've felt coming on hit full force this morning. I made it through my language classes but came home and medicated after that, took a nice long nap, and am now headed back to bed after skyping with my dad and Grandpa Doc from Antigua. Chatted with mom last night too, got to see the gorgeous newly-painted bedroom and incredibly bummed I'm not there to go shopping for all the fun things to finish up the bedroom. Got some sad news today as well, dearest neighbor dog in the world has passed away, I miss Libby already and can't believe I won't see her lounging on our deck like its her own or bounding through the snow to come say hello. All my love to the Kilbanes, she was such a blessing. My love to all of you as well, thanks for being interested in my little piece of the universe, more to come soon. Now its time for one more visit with my friends sudafed and guanifanysin! Good night!
The next morning we headed out to one of the oldest monestaries in the area, which was absolutely covered in snow and ice and incredibly picturesque until you slipped and fell because you could no longer feel your feet. It was colder inside the main church than outside, and the guides explained that they only held services there starting in May. The path which was lined in beautiful late-blooming rose bushes last semester was this time almost a tunnel through the high snow, and the lake that had been framed with the changing colors of the leaves this time seemed to strech into frozen nothingness. It adds great perspective to see things such as these under different circumstances, and as we headed to the 'open-air museum' I remembered my chat with the German tourists last semester with a smile. This time I found my way to the exhibition halls, partly for the heat and partly because I hadn't realized they existed last semester, and was happy to find a substantial collection of artifacts uncovered from the original village site. The wood carving work is truly incredible, tiny detailed patterns of flours and other designs repeated over and over again, alongside gorgeous beaded costumes that sometimes reminded me of Guatie and other times looked like nothing I had ever seen. Lunch was in the restaurant just across the way, the blini were good but the borsch tasted funny. Behind the restaurant there was a cross country ski race going on, dad you could have done great ☺ Wish I could have video taped some of it for you! The school aged kids were the best, on straight-line rather than skate skiis and trying not to trip all over themselves getting to the starting line. From lunch we headed back into town to watch the 'maslanitsa' festivities. Maslanitsa is the week before the Russian Orthodox version of Lent, like a week-long carnival. There are all kinds of traditions, including eating lots of blini, burning large scarecrows, and watching groups of naked men fight each other, plus lots of food, games, and dancing. Novgorod put on quite the carnival, and we walked around laughing at the slightly drunk babyshki and little kids with balloons tied to their hats. Then it was time to get back on the bus and head home, after getting the feeling back in our feet and arranging ourselves as comfortably as possible to try and sleep. Didn't work all that well, but we made good time back to the city and went home to crash (and do all the homework we had neglected all weekend).
Today began another week, and unfortunately the cold I've felt coming on hit full force this morning. I made it through my language classes but came home and medicated after that, took a nice long nap, and am now headed back to bed after skyping with my dad and Grandpa Doc from Antigua. Chatted with mom last night too, got to see the gorgeous newly-painted bedroom and incredibly bummed I'm not there to go shopping for all the fun things to finish up the bedroom. Got some sad news today as well, dearest neighbor dog in the world has passed away, I miss Libby already and can't believe I won't see her lounging on our deck like its her own or bounding through the snow to come say hello. All my love to the Kilbanes, she was such a blessing. My love to all of you as well, thanks for being interested in my little piece of the universe, more to come soon. Now its time for one more visit with my friends sudafed and guanifanysin! Good night!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Slippery Slip Slip
So much for getting to wear fun heeled boots in Russia…I'm just grateful for being able to stay on my feet in flats! As I have lamented already, they're not really sure what to do with all the snow currently hanging around St. Petersburg – they have pushed some of it into the Gulf of Finland and some more of it in front of the gateway to our university – and this weekend we are headed to Novgorod, a very small city where they hopefully have less snow. The snow brings out interesting characteristics. I will give you two examples, and allow your imaginations to run wild from there. First, young American men are seemingly perfectly content to watch you flounder and slide around on the ice. They don't mind if you take their arm, but aside from if you actually fall they in all likelihood will continue on their way alongside you without offering an elbow. Young Russian men, on the other hand, instinctively seem to know that we appreciate it when an elbow is offered to help us get across a particularly slippery spot. This goes for both those you don't know on the street and any friend you happen to be walking with. I like to think of myself as independent, even by American standards (which labels me a crazy feminist by comparison in Russia), but I must say that I love how the men are attentive on the dangerous streets. Of course this is an almost crass generalization, and true I would exchange their helpfulness for their paying a little more attention to their wives and drinking less, but it is an interesting cultural distinction. Second, the most organized (and the happiest) I have ever seen a large group of Russian people was this past Saturday – on a sledding hill. They would have none of the American style chaos of throwing yourself wherever down the hill, they stood in line for self-made shoots through the snow with the biggest smiles on their faces. We (Brian, Jeremy, and I were sledding while the new students toured the palace) were so surprised we kept commenting on it during the afternoon. All girls scream rather, well, girly, when they go down on a sled, regardless of their nationality, and guys still find something macho in going over a ramp of crumbling snow. It was a beautiful day for sledding, and apparently so beautiful that it made my camera not want to leave, so it decided to detach itself from my wrist and is currently a resident of a Pavlovsk snowbank. I was disappointed, of course, not least because I had a great video of Brian wiping out, but things can be replaced and my family has had enough terrible experiences sledding that I was just grateful we all walked out – frozen, but fine. One of my Russian friends says that my camera was just tired (he loves to make fun of the fact that I have so many albums on facebook) of taking ridiculous amounts of pictures for me so it decided to stay behind. I will survive until I can find a new one, probably in Western Europe since they are so expensive here. And until then, there are plenty of camera-happy new students from whom to steal photos, so not to worry.
I have almost found a comfortable routine, some nights my body still doesn't want to go to bed until a ridiculous hour, and I still have to get up at 7:30 regardless. Classes are more difficult but still going well, and at home Pasha is teaching me incredibly long and random words to help with phonetics, and Ira asks everyday what my new grammar is and then works it into literally every other sentence so that I can practice. They are incredible. Ira heads for Italy tomorrow with her sister, and will be back late on Monday. Babushka (grandma) will be here, and I'm hoping that Pasha and I can go out for sushi maybe on Monday, I kind of wish we weren't going to Novgorod this weekend so Pasha and I could watch movies and make pizza all weekend. I'm sure we'll squeeze it in. I've been going out with friends in the afternoons much more this semester – probably because it’s the beginning and I want to catch up with old friends and continue to get to know the new students I suppose. Went to an amazing little café last night, Tuesdays Ira has Finnish lessons so I don't feel as bad being out later, we usually get soup and tea somewhere and I loved this little café, will definitely be going back. Bookshelves, couches, newspapers, games, felt very homey and really cheap too! Reminded me a little of donkey coffee back in Athens, without the wonderful coffee smell.
I will fill you in next week about Novgorod, we'll see how initiating a new group of banya-ers goes, and whether we find the one dance club that supposedly exists or just take the weekend to relax and sleep a little extra. In the Russian Orthodox tradition this week is the week before the equivalent of Lent, so all week we've been eating blini and Sunday there will be a big festival to mark the last day of celebrations, so that should be very interesting to say the least. Much love from the other side of the world – b.
I have almost found a comfortable routine, some nights my body still doesn't want to go to bed until a ridiculous hour, and I still have to get up at 7:30 regardless. Classes are more difficult but still going well, and at home Pasha is teaching me incredibly long and random words to help with phonetics, and Ira asks everyday what my new grammar is and then works it into literally every other sentence so that I can practice. They are incredible. Ira heads for Italy tomorrow with her sister, and will be back late on Monday. Babushka (grandma) will be here, and I'm hoping that Pasha and I can go out for sushi maybe on Monday, I kind of wish we weren't going to Novgorod this weekend so Pasha and I could watch movies and make pizza all weekend. I'm sure we'll squeeze it in. I've been going out with friends in the afternoons much more this semester – probably because it’s the beginning and I want to catch up with old friends and continue to get to know the new students I suppose. Went to an amazing little café last night, Tuesdays Ira has Finnish lessons so I don't feel as bad being out later, we usually get soup and tea somewhere and I loved this little café, will definitely be going back. Bookshelves, couches, newspapers, games, felt very homey and really cheap too! Reminded me a little of donkey coffee back in Athens, without the wonderful coffee smell.
I will fill you in next week about Novgorod, we'll see how initiating a new group of banya-ers goes, and whether we find the one dance club that supposedly exists or just take the weekend to relax and sleep a little extra. In the Russian Orthodox tradition this week is the week before the equivalent of Lent, so all week we've been eating blini and Sunday there will be a big festival to mark the last day of celebrations, so that should be very interesting to say the least. Much love from the other side of the world – b.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Snow Wars
Well the first week is almost over, and we’re just a little bit more accustomed to what everyone is telling us is the first true Russian winter in more than a decade. Classes have been interesting, I was placed in the highest group after the test on Monday, with students who have been taking Russian for years longer than I have. It was more complicated than last semester to split up the language groups because there are fewer students this semester, so there are only 4 groups as opposed to 6. There are also a couple of students who were born in Russia and immigrated later with their families, so they speak almost perfectly but have never really been taught the grammar or some of the trickier parts of the language. Apart from those issues, apparently it is a weaker group overall than it was last semester, and that is how I am able to be not 100% in over my head in the first group. Its going to definitely be a tough semester, but I think I will come out at the end of it with an even stronger grasp of the knowledge than I thought I would obtain.
It has been interesting settling into the routine again, and while I am glad that there is so much to do and see that is new to me in this city, it is definitely a different experience coming back as opposed to arriving for the first time. The relationship of the year-long students to the new students is not the same as among our group last semester, and its just a little tricky figuring out the balance. They are all trying to establish relationships with their host families and with each other, while we feel absolutely at home with our host families and so don’t talk about the same sorts of issues and aren’t surprised by the same sorts of things. Of course we remember when we were, but experiencing and remembering an experience are two very different things. I have definitely enjoyed getting to know new people and listening to their experiences, but I have also very much enjoyed getting to know all of the year long students much better, since all of us did not necessarily spend a lot of time together last semester. Last night we went to a microbrewery after class and spent hours talking about anything and reminiscing. I’ve also enjoyed catching up with Russian friends, some of them aren’t around yet because they won’t be back in school until next Wednesday, but I’ve been excited to hang out with the ones who are here. Andrey, the boyfriend of one of my best friends from last semester, took me out to dinner at a delicious Chinese restaurant to thank me for bringing him some things from America, and we’re going to try to meet once a week to work on his English and my Russian. My days have been busy and my evenings almost more so, and I can only imaging how fast this semester is going to fly. We are going to Pavlovsk tomorrow, where we are hoping to go sledding, and next weekend is already time for our trip to Novgorod!
It is cold, but this week has been warmer and we have walked to the metro a few days through the beautiful park which will no doubt become one large lake when all of this snow melts. Between trying not to fall on the mountains of snow that the dumptrucks have put in your way and trying to look above you to make sure no icicles are about to fall on your head, any ordinary walk into town becomes quite entertaining. But the Smolny cathedral is beautiful against the snow and the trolleybus ride on Palace Bridge over the Neva is something out of a painting, so you can almost forgive the snow for inconveniencing you. Plus, it gives you a new spectator sport; joining the crowd of Russians watching men on roofs push snow of the tops of buildings onto the sidewalk to prevent the roofs from collapsing. A few overhangs have collapsed, and we’ve seen cars buried in so much snow that they’re probably not coming out anytime soon. But that’s winter in Russia for you, and while I am already looking forward to spring I will take the amusements that winter here provides with as much salt as they throw on the roads to melt the snow and trash your boots.
Hopefully the sun will decide to show its face soon, and I can take some new pictures of Smolny in the snow! Until then, I’ll keep taking Vitamin D and bringing my camera just in case. All my best to you all back home! Much love - b
authors note: we did go sledding today, but i lost my camera in the process, so unfortunately no new pictures will be up anytime soon. sorry!
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