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.