Pictures from palaces and museums are now up, featuring Abby.
There was a slight change of plans today. While we did witness portions of the marathon (which is not like the Boston marathon in the least as significantly less people run it and no one in St. Petersburg cares about it unless they are running or know someone who is running -- the only people who cheer on the runners are two or three foreign tourists wearing backpacks), Abby and I never handed Bryan his homemade mixed Gatorade/juice because we were on a walking tour with Olga's friend Lydia. It was quite a walking tour as in there was a ton of walking. We went from our apartment to..... I can't even explain, we just went everywhere. And she showed us a lot of really cool things, such as where Dostoevsky went to school and where Pushkin died and all that kind of stuff..... but I'm tired now and have to do homework (sigh, it is Sunday night) and then, you know, go to school tomorrow. Oy.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
4th Photo Update:
Check the site. You should know it by now.
Pictures from St. Isaac's and Stolle. Still need to add stuff from the palace on Thursday and the Hermitage today. Plus three more self portraits with guests.
Pictures from St. Isaac's and Stolle. Still need to add stuff from the palace on Thursday and the Hermitage today. Plus three more self portraits with guests.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
WELLESLEY IN RUSSIA, etc.
So, Ms. Abigail C. Lees is visiting St. Petersburg this weekend and it is Erin's last weekend in Russia, so basically all the Wellesley stars aligned and we're all here at the same time and it is great.
Abby came to Smolny after I was done with classes on Friday, yesterday, and then the two of us and Grace went to Stolle again for coffee. Sasha and Erika joined up with us and we hung out for a bit, and then Abby got to experience the Metro at rush hour on our way back to the apartment. Also on the way back, we stopped to buy flowers for Abby to give to Olga as a thank you for letting her stay here for two nights. Abby and I don't know that much about flower giving etiquette in general, let alone in Russia, so Abby used her (much-better-than-mine) Russia to ask the sales girl about it. We learned that flowers are usually given in 1, 3, 5 or 7 (I did remember learning during orientation that even numbered bouquets of flowers are bad because they only give those for funerals) and that roses are acceptable and don't just have a romantic connotation like they do in the U.S. So Abby got Olga 3 salmony-pink roses and awkwardly carried them back to the apartment as if she were holding a baby.
Olga and Abby hit it off which was nice, and Olga fed us little blini which have a different name that I forget now with this jam she makes herself from berries from the garden where her mother lives. We ate a lot, but Olga kept encouraging us to eat more, of course, as usual. And then we went out and met up with Erin and Malina and some Smolny people and some Yale people and wandered around and had some Wellesley-in-Russia and liberal-arts-college-students in Russia bonding moments while enjoying being out in St. Petersburg and it still being the white nights.
Today was our cultural excursion to the Hermitage which was frustrating. Not that the Hermitage itself isn't great -- I am planning to go all the time after school on random weekday afternoons and evenings because I can get in for free with my Russian student ID -- but going on a Saturday is hell. First of all, it didn't help that we had to be there at 10am because we were all tired from being up late the night before, and then there were about 50 tour groups there and it was so hot and so stuffy and so crowded and I couldn't hear tour-guide-Olga when she spoke. In general I hate doing museums in group tours; I like to wander on my own and look at some things and not others and move on if I get bored. I didn't even really look at anything because I was tired and out of it and also lazy because I know I will be going back many times on my own. We're allowed to skip one cultural excursion without an excuse and I kind of wish I had skipped this one, but Abby tagged along because she wanted to see the Hermitage as she's only here for the weekend, so that was good.
And after the Hermitage, Abby and I met Erin for lunch and enjoyed the fact that we were once all in Russian tutoring together in the PLTC in the library at Wellesley, and now we are all in St. Petersburg eating Georgian food in a little basement restaurant. We walked around a little bit afterwards with Erin; Abby bought a bag at the same store where I got my new little school bag. And then we came back to the apartment and as I write this Abby is napping on the floor before we go over to Bryan's apartment for dinner at 8.
Bryan is running in a marathon tomorrow all around Petersburg and asked some of us from the program to give him water and Gatorade along the way. Apparently the pit stops at Russian marathons do not have such things as water and Gatorade. Instead they have black bread and salt (?!?) and Russian runners grab a handful of bread and a handful of salt and shove it in their mouths while running. So, Bryan asked us to arm ourselves with apple juice and water and hang out around the city in various strategic locations, and as a thank-you-in-advance he invited us over to his apartment for dinner tonight.
We also might try to go to the Russian Museum tomorrow because it's not on our list of excursions and Abby also really wants to see it this weekend, so the two of us and Grace might go. We'll see.
Abby came to Smolny after I was done with classes on Friday, yesterday, and then the two of us and Grace went to Stolle again for coffee. Sasha and Erika joined up with us and we hung out for a bit, and then Abby got to experience the Metro at rush hour on our way back to the apartment. Also on the way back, we stopped to buy flowers for Abby to give to Olga as a thank you for letting her stay here for two nights. Abby and I don't know that much about flower giving etiquette in general, let alone in Russia, so Abby used her (much-better-than-mine) Russia to ask the sales girl about it. We learned that flowers are usually given in 1, 3, 5 or 7 (I did remember learning during orientation that even numbered bouquets of flowers are bad because they only give those for funerals) and that roses are acceptable and don't just have a romantic connotation like they do in the U.S. So Abby got Olga 3 salmony-pink roses and awkwardly carried them back to the apartment as if she were holding a baby.
Olga and Abby hit it off which was nice, and Olga fed us little blini which have a different name that I forget now with this jam she makes herself from berries from the garden where her mother lives. We ate a lot, but Olga kept encouraging us to eat more, of course, as usual. And then we went out and met up with Erin and Malina and some Smolny people and some Yale people and wandered around and had some Wellesley-in-Russia and liberal-arts-college-students in Russia bonding moments while enjoying being out in St. Petersburg and it still being the white nights.
Today was our cultural excursion to the Hermitage which was frustrating. Not that the Hermitage itself isn't great -- I am planning to go all the time after school on random weekday afternoons and evenings because I can get in for free with my Russian student ID -- but going on a Saturday is hell. First of all, it didn't help that we had to be there at 10am because we were all tired from being up late the night before, and then there were about 50 tour groups there and it was so hot and so stuffy and so crowded and I couldn't hear tour-guide-Olga when she spoke. In general I hate doing museums in group tours; I like to wander on my own and look at some things and not others and move on if I get bored. I didn't even really look at anything because I was tired and out of it and also lazy because I know I will be going back many times on my own. We're allowed to skip one cultural excursion without an excuse and I kind of wish I had skipped this one, but Abby tagged along because she wanted to see the Hermitage as she's only here for the weekend, so that was good.
And after the Hermitage, Abby and I met Erin for lunch and enjoyed the fact that we were once all in Russian tutoring together in the PLTC in the library at Wellesley, and now we are all in St. Petersburg eating Georgian food in a little basement restaurant. We walked around a little bit afterwards with Erin; Abby bought a bag at the same store where I got my new little school bag. And then we came back to the apartment and as I write this Abby is napping on the floor before we go over to Bryan's apartment for dinner at 8.
Bryan is running in a marathon tomorrow all around Petersburg and asked some of us from the program to give him water and Gatorade along the way. Apparently the pit stops at Russian marathons do not have such things as water and Gatorade. Instead they have black bread and salt (?!?) and Russian runners grab a handful of bread and a handful of salt and shove it in their mouths while running. So, Bryan asked us to arm ourselves with apple juice and water and hang out around the city in various strategic locations, and as a thank-you-in-advance he invited us over to his apartment for dinner tonight.
We also might try to go to the Russian Museum tomorrow because it's not on our list of excursions and Abby also really wants to see it this weekend, so the two of us and Grace might go. We'll see.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Another little list.
1. Well, there was school. That was school.
2. In our time before our cultural excursion, Sasha and I looked for insoles for her shoes at a kiosk in an alley near Smolny that Bryan tried to describe to us but we could not find, alas.
3. Our cultural excursion was to the Юсуповский Palace where I had to check my bag and pay 100r (about $4) for the privilege to take photographs. So, naturally, I took a lot of photographs to get my money's worth (because I never usually pay to take photographs. I have mastered the subtle shooting at the hip method to take pictures of church ceilings and such) -- and, at least, they are pictures I think Nunni will enjoy a lot. So those will go up sometime this weekend.
4. On our way to the palace, I saw a Globus bus followed by a large flock of 50 - 70 year old Americans with cameras around their necks and I thought of some of you people.
5. Post-excursion, Grace and Emma and I decided to get a little coffee because we were exhausted and then head over to the metro.... after caffeine we were looking at a map and realized that there was a Юсуповский Palace and a Юсуповский Garden, nowhere near each other really and we had thought we were in the garden which is must closer to the metro than the palace is.... so we unsuccessfully tried to hail a cab for 20 minutes then decided what the hell and walked but then we, well, we weren't lost as we knew where we were the whole time, well, most of the time.... we just were heading in the opposite direction we wanted to go.... multiple times. Well, let's just say that we now know Садовая Street very intimately and we bonded a lot along the way and decided that our 2 hours of wandering was karma for none of us getting lost or confused so far in terms of navigating.
6. And then, when I returned home, thoroughly exhausted, Olga said that Elena (program direction assistant lady) called today and asked if she and Misha and Katya would be interested in keeping me for the fall and she said of course, but only if I want to stay. So, she asked me: Do you want to stay? ............... do I want to stay??? What kind of a question is THAT? Mom, no need to send along more salt water taffy and books about Massachusetts for other phantom host families. Oh my god, I'm so excited, you have no idea. So, until January 12th, I will officially be living here, on Dostoevskovo Street. (!!!!!!!!) I guess now I really can start referring to this apartment as my home when in Russia (don't worry, I haven't forgotten Massachusetts.... yet).
7. Oh, and Russia lost to Spain tonight. 0-3. As we like to say here, ужас! Кошмар! Oh well.
GOOD NIGHT.
2. In our time before our cultural excursion, Sasha and I looked for insoles for her shoes at a kiosk in an alley near Smolny that Bryan tried to describe to us but we could not find, alas.
3. Our cultural excursion was to the Юсуповский Palace where I had to check my bag and pay 100r (about $4) for the privilege to take photographs. So, naturally, I took a lot of photographs to get my money's worth (because I never usually pay to take photographs. I have mastered the subtle shooting at the hip method to take pictures of church ceilings and such) -- and, at least, they are pictures I think Nunni will enjoy a lot. So those will go up sometime this weekend.
4. On our way to the palace, I saw a Globus bus followed by a large flock of 50 - 70 year old Americans with cameras around their necks and I thought of some of you people.
5. Post-excursion, Grace and Emma and I decided to get a little coffee because we were exhausted and then head over to the metro.... after caffeine we were looking at a map and realized that there was a Юсуповский Palace and a Юсуповский Garden, nowhere near each other really and we had thought we were in the garden which is must closer to the metro than the palace is.... so we unsuccessfully tried to hail a cab for 20 minutes then decided what the hell and walked but then we, well, we weren't lost as we knew where we were the whole time, well, most of the time.... we just were heading in the opposite direction we wanted to go.... multiple times. Well, let's just say that we now know Садовая Street very intimately and we bonded a lot along the way and decided that our 2 hours of wandering was karma for none of us getting lost or confused so far in terms of navigating.
6. And then, when I returned home, thoroughly exhausted, Olga said that Elena (program direction assistant lady) called today and asked if she and Misha and Katya would be interested in keeping me for the fall and she said of course, but only if I want to stay. So, she asked me: Do you want to stay? ............... do I want to stay??? What kind of a question is THAT? Mom, no need to send along more salt water taffy and books about Massachusetts for other phantom host families. Oh my god, I'm so excited, you have no idea. So, until January 12th, I will officially be living here, on Dostoevskovo Street. (!!!!!!!!) I guess now I really can start referring to this apartment as my home when in Russia (don't worry, I haven't forgotten Massachusetts.... yet).
7. Oh, and Russia lost to Spain tonight. 0-3. As we like to say here, ужас! Кошмар! Oh well.
GOOD NIGHT.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Umbrellas and pie.
Today was one of those days full of little Russian learning experiences... you know, like every day. The kind of day that Hodge said would be the real challenge of living in Russia -- not my language classes. After class today, Grace and I decided to try to accomplish two very simple (in our minds) tasks:
1. Find me a cheap umbrella.
2. Locate this café that Grace's host sister told her about and do homework there.
Well.
Well.
First of all, stores in Russia are still how things used to be back in the day before Walmart and all that stuff. You know, when Walgreen's was just a drugstore that sold drugs, not Lexington, MA shotglasses and flip flops. So, first off, all drugstore places were ruled out because you go in and, surprise surprise, they actually just sell drugstore stuff -- bandages, advil, moisture cream. The next place we tried was a mall with a bookstore and clothing store that Bryan said might have umbrellas but, much to our astonishment, the bookstore sold books and the clothing store sold clothing. We then found a store called "Assecorize" (okay, I just had to keep the mis-spelling of that because that just shows how not-used-to speaking English I am now. that sentence is also further proof of that) -- I mean, "Accessorize" -- that had little cute umbrellas for..... drumroll please, 900r. That is almost $40. WTF. The cheapest one was 700r, ooh, a real bargain at $28. So that wasn't happening, especially after Olga told me this morning that I should be able to find one for 50r. So Grace and I kept looking but no other accessory stores seemed to carry umbrellas.... I could not comprehend where all these Russians walking around with their umbrellas had found them. I was beginning to think there must be a store that just sells umbrellas, but it must be underground. We even tried a kiosk because our textbooks had once mentioned that you could buy umbrellas there (LIES). Just when were were about to give up, as if fate, we walked past a window and there in it was one red and black umbrella on display. This was the window of a small store that didn't even have a name -- it was kind of a dollar store atmosphere, full of everything and anything..... tea cups, hair dye, t-shirts, sponges, nail polish AND..... umbrellas for 100r. Perfect.
Though, ten minutes after I purchased it, the string on the handle already broke. Of course.
So that took about 40 minutes, and by then we were really in the mood for coffee and Sasha was done using the internet at school and ready to meet up with us. Anyway, this part of the story is less interesting to tell..... it just involved us walking back and forth up along the first line (street) on the island where Smolny is, looking for this café called Stolle. We finally found it after much confusion and, at least, it was so worth it. Much cheaper than the "Coffee-House" chains that are everywhere, and significantly better atmosphere -- plus the most amazing perog (Russian pie) ever. Sasha and I both had the strawberry pie and, oh my god, I almost died. Dad, when you visit me here, I am taking you to this place. You are going to lose your mind over how good this pie is. So we hung out there for a bit, doing some homework and also reading David Sedaris (oops, not homework) and that was that.
1. Find me a cheap umbrella.
2. Locate this café that Grace's host sister told her about and do homework there.
Well.
Well.
First of all, stores in Russia are still how things used to be back in the day before Walmart and all that stuff. You know, when Walgreen's was just a drugstore that sold drugs, not Lexington, MA shotglasses and flip flops. So, first off, all drugstore places were ruled out because you go in and, surprise surprise, they actually just sell drugstore stuff -- bandages, advil, moisture cream. The next place we tried was a mall with a bookstore and clothing store that Bryan said might have umbrellas but, much to our astonishment, the bookstore sold books and the clothing store sold clothing. We then found a store called "Assecorize" (okay, I just had to keep the mis-spelling of that because that just shows how not-used-to speaking English I am now. that sentence is also further proof of that) -- I mean, "Accessorize" -- that had little cute umbrellas for..... drumroll please, 900r. That is almost $40. WTF. The cheapest one was 700r, ooh, a real bargain at $28. So that wasn't happening, especially after Olga told me this morning that I should be able to find one for 50r. So Grace and I kept looking but no other accessory stores seemed to carry umbrellas.... I could not comprehend where all these Russians walking around with their umbrellas had found them. I was beginning to think there must be a store that just sells umbrellas, but it must be underground. We even tried a kiosk because our textbooks had once mentioned that you could buy umbrellas there (LIES). Just when were were about to give up, as if fate, we walked past a window and there in it was one red and black umbrella on display. This was the window of a small store that didn't even have a name -- it was kind of a dollar store atmosphere, full of everything and anything..... tea cups, hair dye, t-shirts, sponges, nail polish AND..... umbrellas for 100r. Perfect.
Though, ten minutes after I purchased it, the string on the handle already broke. Of course.
So that took about 40 minutes, and by then we were really in the mood for coffee and Sasha was done using the internet at school and ready to meet up with us. Anyway, this part of the story is less interesting to tell..... it just involved us walking back and forth up along the first line (street) on the island where Smolny is, looking for this café called Stolle. We finally found it after much confusion and, at least, it was so worth it. Much cheaper than the "Coffee-House" chains that are everywhere, and significantly better atmosphere -- plus the most amazing perog (Russian pie) ever. Sasha and I both had the strawberry pie and, oh my god, I almost died. Dad, when you visit me here, I am taking you to this place. You are going to lose your mind over how good this pie is. So we hung out there for a bit, doing some homework and also reading David Sedaris (oops, not homework) and that was that.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Still raining.
But it was sunny for the important part -- when I was 101 meters in the air on the roof of St. Isaac's cathedral taking photos of the panoramic view of St. Petersburg. Yeah, that was pretty cool. The rest of St. Isaac's was.... not how I remembered it being in 2005, because I think I mixed up Kazan and St. Isaac's because I was expecting St. Isaac's to be a dark, smoky cathedral full of incense and still in operation -- Nunni, you know the one where you bought a little wooden icon and we lit candles? -- but St. Isaac's is the one that, yes, is right across from the Angleterre Hotel, but inside it is just full of tourists in groups and has a lot of bright mosaics and there is a dove at the very top of the highest dome that looks like it is a life sized dove but because of the perspective or whatnot is actually 2 meters large. Anyway, that was cool.
And then after that Grace, Sasha and I went for a little wander in the sunshine and rain (yes, at the same time) along Gorohovaya St. where we found a little blini and tea place called "Samovar" and we sat there for two hours, drinking chai ("tea") and piva ("beer") and snacking on a few little blini ("pancakes with various things like honey or apples or sour cream") and talking instead of working on our homework like we said we would. Malina called and wanted to meet up with us, but got a little mixed up on her way over, so Grace and I found her on our way back home to the Dostoevskovo/Marata Street area.
Malina then came back to my apartment and got to meet Olga, and we sat and drank more chai while Olga fed me dinner. It was so awesome and kind of bizarre to have this person who is so familiar to me and part of my life in Massachusetts be sitting there, in the kitchen where I've been sitting for a week, in the middle of St. Petersburg, in the middle of Russia, so far from our lives at Wellesley and such. It was nice though. Kind of comforting after so many new things in the past twelve days. Olga, Malina and I talked about the actor who lives upstairs and what Malina wants to do after she graduates and how Malina's name means "raspberry" in Russian and how I'm going to use the phone card to call Nunni tonight because it's her birthday. Which reminds me......
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
TERI ANDERSEN!
I love you and miss you and hope your birthday is going very well! (I'll call soon!)
So, once again it's one of those nights where it is 10:30pm and I've only barely started my homework. Oh well, I went to bed early last night. Every other night is sufficient, right? And, come on. I'm in St. Petersburg. Why do I want to spend all my time sleeping? Pshhh.
Oh, and a couple of observations:
1. On the Metro this morning I saw a white, Russian girl with the craziest hair. She had white and light purple yarn braided into her hair so it was kind of like dreadlocks but lots of tiny braids but by the time her "hair" reached its ponytail it was just all yarn and then she had maybe a foot of yarn hanging down to her shoulders. It was intensely and intricately done and kind of beautiful in a Raggedy-Ann kind of way.
2. The other night when I was having coffee with Sasha we saw a chihuahua wearing a little black and silver track suit with a Mercedes symbol on the back of the sweatshirt that even had a little hood. I need to get Gwen one of those. Maybe one for Gen's baby too -- then they can match.
3. Olga is watching TV now and I was looking down at my computer and I heard "doo--nuuuu--doooo--dooo-dooooo I'm no superman" and I look up and there is the beginning of Scrubs, dubbed in Russian of course. Except that in Russia, Scrubs is called "Клиника" ("Clinic"). I can't get away from it even 8 time zones away.
And then after that Grace, Sasha and I went for a little wander in the sunshine and rain (yes, at the same time) along Gorohovaya St. where we found a little blini and tea place called "Samovar" and we sat there for two hours, drinking chai ("tea") and piva ("beer") and snacking on a few little blini ("pancakes with various things like honey or apples or sour cream") and talking instead of working on our homework like we said we would. Malina called and wanted to meet up with us, but got a little mixed up on her way over, so Grace and I found her on our way back home to the Dostoevskovo/Marata Street area.
Malina then came back to my apartment and got to meet Olga, and we sat and drank more chai while Olga fed me dinner. It was so awesome and kind of bizarre to have this person who is so familiar to me and part of my life in Massachusetts be sitting there, in the kitchen where I've been sitting for a week, in the middle of St. Petersburg, in the middle of Russia, so far from our lives at Wellesley and such. It was nice though. Kind of comforting after so many new things in the past twelve days. Olga, Malina and I talked about the actor who lives upstairs and what Malina wants to do after she graduates and how Malina's name means "raspberry" in Russian and how I'm going to use the phone card to call Nunni tonight because it's her birthday. Which reminds me......
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
TERI ANDERSEN!
I love you and miss you and hope your birthday is going very well! (I'll call soon!)
So, once again it's one of those nights where it is 10:30pm and I've only barely started my homework. Oh well, I went to bed early last night. Every other night is sufficient, right? And, come on. I'm in St. Petersburg. Why do I want to spend all my time sleeping? Pshhh.
Oh, and a couple of observations:
1. On the Metro this morning I saw a white, Russian girl with the craziest hair. She had white and light purple yarn braided into her hair so it was kind of like dreadlocks but lots of tiny braids but by the time her "hair" reached its ponytail it was just all yarn and then she had maybe a foot of yarn hanging down to her shoulders. It was intensely and intricately done and kind of beautiful in a Raggedy-Ann kind of way.
2. The other night when I was having coffee with Sasha we saw a chihuahua wearing a little black and silver track suit with a Mercedes symbol on the back of the sweatshirt that even had a little hood. I need to get Gwen one of those. Maybe one for Gen's baby too -- then they can match.
3. Olga is watching TV now and I was looking down at my computer and I heard "doo--nuuuu--doooo--dooo-dooooo I'm no superman" and I look up and there is the beginning of Scrubs, dubbed in Russian of course. Except that in Russia, Scrubs is called "Клиника" ("Clinic"). I can't get away from it even 8 time zones away.
Monday, June 23, 2008
It's Monday. It's raining.
I'm uninspired.
Not a bad day -- pretty good as Mondays go -- just generic.
Got my second HIV test results and once again am AIDS-free, wooohoo, now I can extend my visa to a multi-entry good until July 1, 2009.
Did my homework. Hung out with Misha while Katya, who dyed her hair earlier today to red and didn't like it, redyed her hair to brown, with Olga's help. Watched the news for the piece Misha worked on where he got to interview the Sex Pistols (that's a band for you older folks reading this). Now I might, actually.... go to bed early? How is this possible?
Tomorrow we go to St. Isaac's for our cultural excursion. I hope we get to go up to the place on the top where you can look out over the whole city.
OH! And last night! I saw Malina! We met up for coffee and I met her roommate/friend/partner in crime from Yale, Molly. We've already made epic plans to merge the cool people from each of our programs into one awesome group of friends. Plus, Abby Lees is visiting this weekend so it's going to be epic.
Not a bad day -- pretty good as Mondays go -- just generic.
Got my second HIV test results and once again am AIDS-free, wooohoo, now I can extend my visa to a multi-entry good until July 1, 2009.
Did my homework. Hung out with Misha while Katya, who dyed her hair earlier today to red and didn't like it, redyed her hair to brown, with Olga's help. Watched the news for the piece Misha worked on where he got to interview the Sex Pistols (that's a band for you older folks reading this). Now I might, actually.... go to bed early? How is this possible?
Tomorrow we go to St. Isaac's for our cultural excursion. I hope we get to go up to the place on the top where you can look out over the whole city.
OH! And last night! I saw Malina! We met up for coffee and I met her roommate/friend/partner in crime from Yale, Molly. We've already made epic plans to merge the cool people from each of our programs into one awesome group of friends. Plus, Abby Lees is visiting this weekend so it's going to be epic.
THIRD photo update:
While sitting up and talking with Olga and Katya about Katya's weekend at her friend's dacha near Finland, I uploaded the photos from Petergof today.
Also, a couple more self portraits.
Это всё. Good night.
Also, a couple more self portraits.
Это всё. Good night.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Well, well, well.
First off, Russia won its match last night against the Netherlands (3 to 1) and so now they will be playing either Spain or Italy in the semi-finals. That means things are only going to get crazier around here. I can't wait.
Today we had a cultural excursion all day, starting at the ungodly hour of 9:30am. We met by the Neva across from the Hermitage and then all (well, not all, some people valued sleep more) of us boarded a hydrofoil to Petergof.
If you want to know a bit more about Petergof, check out what Wikipedia has to say about the place. Basically though, it was the residence of the czarist dynasty, founded by Peter the Great. The place is a huge series of gardens with small (ha "small") palaces. Today we saw the official royal kitchen and bathouses/banyas and just walked around the grounds. There is something like 200+ different fountains that all run without any pumps or electricity -- they all work simply because of gravity and all that "physics" nonsense. The morning started off kind of overcast and chilly, but then turned into a hot, sunny, gorgeous day. I might have even gotten a minor sunburn on the right side of my face at lunch. Anyway, it's a beautiful place, though kind of disturbing in the way of how it so vividly shows the class divide between the czars and everyone else back in the day. But we surpressed those thoughts and just wandered and enjoyed being outside in Russia. Sasha, Grace and I got ice cream and sat in the grass and looked out at the Gulf of Finland.
Now...... I have to do homework. Because I have school tomorrow. Morning. Oy. It's so hard taking classes in the summer -- my brain has been programmed to turn off this time of year. And, not only that, I have to memorize a poem for tomorrow..... in Russian. Of course. It's by Pushkin, about St. Petersburg, and I really like it just memorizing (especially in a foreign language) is a bitch. The poem is called "Медный всадник" or "The Bronze Horseman" (that statue of Peter the Great in the middle of St. Petersburg).
Люблю тебя, Петра творенье,
Люблю твой строгий, стройный вид,
Невы державное теченье,
Береговой ее гранит,
Твоих оград узор чугунный,
Твоих задумчивых ночей
Прозрачный сумрак, блеск безлунный,
Когда я в комнате моей
Пишу, читаю без лампады,
И ясны спящие громады
Пустынных улиц, и светла
Адмиралтейская игла,
И, не пуская тьму ночную
На золотые небеса,
Одна заря сменить другую
Спешит, дав ночи полчаса.
(poem from this site.)
And here's an English translation from this site:
I love you, Peter’s great creation,
I love your view of stern and grace,
The Neva wave’s regal procession,
The grayish granite – her bank’s dress,
The airy iron-casting fences,
The gentle transparent twilight,
The moonless gleam of your nights restless,
When I so easy read and write
Without a lamp in my room lone,
And seen is each huge buildings’ stone
Of the left streets, and is so bright
The Admiralty spire’s flight,
And when, not letting the night’s darkness
To reach the golden heaven’s height,
The dawn after the sunset hastens –
And a half-hour’s for the night.
So that's what I'll be doing tonight. Though.... I might take one quick break for a minor little social engagement because, you know, MALINA DUMAS IS IN ST. PETERSBURG NOW TOO WOOHOO. And the most amazing thing is that her host family lives two streets over. Seriously.
See???Anyway, now time to go do that stuff. Or maybe upload pictures from Petergof.
P.S. Can't you tell I just figured out how to add links into my posts?
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Second photo update:
So, when I got home, Misha had spent an hour fixing the internet.
Here is round # 1 of photos from my first week in Russia.
Also, GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #3: Do not worry, when I go to things like "bars" or out at "night" I am very careful. Okay? Okay.
Tomorrow I have our third cultural excursion to Petergof. I'll let you know how it is.
Here is round # 1 of photos from my first week in Russia.
Also, GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #3: Do not worry, when I go to things like "bars" or out at "night" I am very careful. Okay? Okay.
Tomorrow I have our third cultural excursion to Petergof. I'll let you know how it is.
ALSO, first photo update:
I'm still at Erin's and I started putting up some pictures on my pbase site. This is all I have so far, which is not very many, but I'll work on it.
GUESS WHERE I AM?
In Erin's apartment! Using her internet because ours has still been down!
And I just Skyped with Mom and Dad and Gwen even. Gwen was not very interested.
Anyway, I've also been crazybusy with things so even if the internet was working I wouldn't have had time to write much.
On Thursday we had another Cultural Excursion after class -- we went to Peter & Paul's Fortress and then wandered around the park that is near it. My friends and I got some coffee afterwards and began talking to some German psychologists who were doing an experiment that involved team work. So that was interesting.
And then yesterday, well, yesterday was crazy. All the schools in Russia end on the same day, which was yesterday, so there is a big holiday celebrating the students who just graduated from high school. So there are all these kids running around the city wearing red, blue and white sashes. There were also boys who looked like they were 13 drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. I met up with Erin last night and met two of her friends -- Masha and Alexis -- and we walked around the city in the chaos. They shut down all of the major streets, so Nevskii Prospect is just full of people and broken beer bottles. It's total madness and typical Russian chaos. They had fireworks later and this ship with red sails, something patriotic or something, but Erin and I missed that because by that point we had met up with my Smolny friends at a bar near the Church on Spilled Blood. We then just hung out for a bit and watched the end of the Turkey vs. Croatia football (sorry, soccer) match, and then even when I was walking home with Grace (who leaves right near me on Marata) it was bright out. I witnessed the "night" briefly -- when it gets kind of dusky but at the same time looks like it is getting light out again, like very early in the morning. It's like 7pm and 7am in one moment.
So that was all good and fun and then today Erin and I had coffee again and met up and just walked around Nevskii and such. She's given me a list of places to check out.
Also, Malina arrives today with the Yale program, which will be good. And Abby is going to visit from Moscow next weekend, so the three of us and Erin are going to have a little Wellesley-in-Russia outing.
That is all. Keep sending me updates of life at home. I love hearing what is going on even if I can't respond right away.
And I just Skyped with Mom and Dad and Gwen even. Gwen was not very interested.
Anyway, I've also been crazybusy with things so even if the internet was working I wouldn't have had time to write much.
On Thursday we had another Cultural Excursion after class -- we went to Peter & Paul's Fortress and then wandered around the park that is near it. My friends and I got some coffee afterwards and began talking to some German psychologists who were doing an experiment that involved team work. So that was interesting.
And then yesterday, well, yesterday was crazy. All the schools in Russia end on the same day, which was yesterday, so there is a big holiday celebrating the students who just graduated from high school. So there are all these kids running around the city wearing red, blue and white sashes. There were also boys who looked like they were 13 drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. I met up with Erin last night and met two of her friends -- Masha and Alexis -- and we walked around the city in the chaos. They shut down all of the major streets, so Nevskii Prospect is just full of people and broken beer bottles. It's total madness and typical Russian chaos. They had fireworks later and this ship with red sails, something patriotic or something, but Erin and I missed that because by that point we had met up with my Smolny friends at a bar near the Church on Spilled Blood. We then just hung out for a bit and watched the end of the Turkey vs. Croatia football (sorry, soccer) match, and then even when I was walking home with Grace (who leaves right near me on Marata) it was bright out. I witnessed the "night" briefly -- when it gets kind of dusky but at the same time looks like it is getting light out again, like very early in the morning. It's like 7pm and 7am in one moment.
So that was all good and fun and then today Erin and I had coffee again and met up and just walked around Nevskii and such. She's given me a list of places to check out.
Also, Malina arrives today with the Yale program, which will be good. And Abby is going to visit from Moscow next weekend, so the three of us and Erin are going to have a little Wellesley-in-Russia outing.
That is all. Keep sending me updates of life at home. I love hearing what is going on even if I can't respond right away.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Once again...
... it is really late. So this is going to be short. First, two general announcements:
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #1: Yes, I have wireless in the apartment. Yes, that means I am in contact much more than I thought I would be able to be. BUT, this wireless does frequently go down (it never works in the morning before I go to school and it was out all day today until just now) and the only person who can fix it is Misha and sometimes he doesn't get home from work until 12:30/1am my time, so that doesn't give me a lot of time to update this blog + reply to e-mails + check facebook, etc. So, in summary, do not PANIC if you do not hear from me every day.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #2: Don't forget that I am 8 hours ahead. That's all. No, no one has called me in the middle of the night yet or during class, but just thought I'd remind you all so, you know, you actually have a chance to talk to me if you're making the effort to call me. Which is nice of you. Anyway, the best window of time would be between 6pm and 12am my time.... so..... 10am to 4pm in Boston. Yes? Yes.
TODAY: Was rainy. And long. On Wednesdays I have my usual two Russian classes -- Grammar & Conversation -- plus Phonetics. Phonetics is actually really really interesting to me.... it's the linguistics class I always wanted to take.... just.... in Russian..... today we talked about the four different ways English speakers ask questions and the one way that Russians ask questions, you know, the intonation and stuff. I can't demonstrate on here, obviously, but take my word for it that it was interesting. And really hard. I had a difficult time making my voice do the right intonation. But it's something new and interesting and challenging while everything else in 300-level Russian is just review..... that's basically what all upper level language classes are after 101.... review and exceptions, review and exceptions.
GOODNIGHTI'MTIREDLOVEYOUALL.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #1: Yes, I have wireless in the apartment. Yes, that means I am in contact much more than I thought I would be able to be. BUT, this wireless does frequently go down (it never works in the morning before I go to school and it was out all day today until just now) and the only person who can fix it is Misha and sometimes he doesn't get home from work until 12:30/1am my time, so that doesn't give me a lot of time to update this blog + reply to e-mails + check facebook, etc. So, in summary, do not PANIC if you do not hear from me every day.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT #2: Don't forget that I am 8 hours ahead. That's all. No, no one has called me in the middle of the night yet or during class, but just thought I'd remind you all so, you know, you actually have a chance to talk to me if you're making the effort to call me. Which is nice of you. Anyway, the best window of time would be between 6pm and 12am my time.... so..... 10am to 4pm in Boston. Yes? Yes.
TODAY: Was rainy. And long. On Wednesdays I have my usual two Russian classes -- Grammar & Conversation -- plus Phonetics. Phonetics is actually really really interesting to me.... it's the linguistics class I always wanted to take.... just.... in Russian..... today we talked about the four different ways English speakers ask questions and the one way that Russians ask questions, you know, the intonation and stuff. I can't demonstrate on here, obviously, but take my word for it that it was interesting. And really hard. I had a difficult time making my voice do the right intonation. But it's something new and interesting and challenging while everything else in 300-level Russian is just review..... that's basically what all upper level language classes are after 101.... review and exceptions, review and exceptions.
GOODNIGHTI'MTIREDLOVEYOUALL.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Some how it is...
... almost 3am? And I have school at 10am? Oops?
So all I am going to say about today is:
1. The Summer Garden is an awesome place full of really old trees.
2. Being able to drink beer legally is great.
3. I watched South Park dubbed in Russian (CARLY!!!!!!).
4. I had more homework tonight than anticipated. Oops.
5. I am now very tired.
So all I am going to say about today is:
1. The Summer Garden is an awesome place full of really old trees.
2. Being able to drink beer legally is great.
3. I watched South Park dubbed in Russian (CARLY!!!!!!).
4. I had more homework tonight than anticipated. Oops.
5. I am now very tired.
Monday, June 16, 2008
First day of school, etc.
I don't think I ever thought I would spend my 20.5th birthday in St. Petersburg, but that's what I did today.
Even though Olga does not like mornings, she was awake before I was to make sure I was up for school, and she made me an omlet before I set off at 9:15am for my commute (Sheesh, Mom, way to go handing me a piece of bread for the road when I commuted to Nobles). It's a fairly straight forward route: I walk to the Vladimirskaya metro stop, take the red line to Mayakovskaya station where I switch to the green line, and then I ride the green line to Vacileostrovskaya where I walk to Smolny. Pretty simple except for the about a million people who are also following their simple little commuter routes. When Bryan told us we would have to be aggressive and pushy to get on and off the metro, I had no idea exactly HOW aggressive and pushy. When I got myself onto the train on the red line, I didn't even have to hold onto a bar because everyone else packed into the train around me kept me standing upright, and then on the green line I barely had to even try to get on the train because everyone else pushed me on. Well, one thing is for sure, Mom's complaint about me never being assertive enough in life will definitely disappear after my time in Russia.
So then there was that whole "school" aspect of my time here. It was actually pretty good. Both of my professors are young, friendly women who are quite approachable. One studied in Seattle and when she speaks English she has a little Midwestern twang going on. I'm in the 202/301 class, group #2 out of 4 (there's also 201, 303 and 401.... I don't really understand who is in 303.... I think they all have also only 2 years of Russian but are better at it than I am). Anyway, I'm definitely in the right section for my level (I might even know some things over other people.... maybe I'll look better at Russian than I actually am in comparison? At least for the beginning?) and my class is fun. The group is: Noah (UChiago), Louis & Emma (Oberlin), Kalinda (Barnard), and three Bard girls -- Erica, Rebecca and Hannah.
I must say though that only speaking Russian, while being extremely useful in terms of my learning curve and all that jazz, basically made my head explode by 4pm when I could leave. After class I just walked by myself in the sunshine slowly back to the apartment, letting my mind recover before I went home to attempt more poor Russian speech. While walking I saw my first pair of Russian lesbians, nuzzling on a bridge. Of course they were nuzzling on a bridge, that is all couples do here -- make out in parks or nuzzle on bridges. Every time I see such PDA I want to shout "NO TOUCHING" and I think of Meri. I also stopped at Дом Книги ("House of Books") to buy some paper and notebooks for class. During all this, I practiced trying not to look American. Right now I am going for German since I definitely can't pull off Russian. Tactics I tried:
1. Not smiling at people I do not know.
2. Being assertively pushy, aggressive and impatient, passing old women who are walking too slowly on the sidewalk.
3. Looking disinterested, or just ignoring everyone and everything. Also I looked at tourists with disgust (but I'm used to doing that from living in Lexington).
4. Wearing sunglasses so people can't tell when I was looking around at buildings and such.
5. Being aware of where my bag was, but not too aware. Not clutching it to my stomach like someone who is certain they will be robbed at every corner. Only foreigners do that.
That's all I have for now, but I'll be sure to add as I discover more things.
And my evening was low key. Mom called as surprise and my brain freaked out at suddenly speaking so much English all at once. I felt like Bryan Billings or Jonathan Platt was going to come out of the wardrobe and yell "REMEMBER THE LANGUAGE PLEDGE! STOP!" I then had dinner with Olga, during which we watched the Russian version of Law & Order: SVU (Rosie!! I thought of you!!), followed by..... homework (?!?!??!)..... and then looking through all of the family's photos with Katya explaining things to me. Olga also made these little pastries filled with chocolate (she just told me the name and now it's gone. of course) and I drank my 5th cup of tea for the day and then showed Olga, Misha & Katya pictures of ALL OF YOU PEOPLE READING THIS BLOG. Well, the people I know who are reading this blog. Dave Santos, if you are reading all this, who are you? Anyway, they enjoyed the pictures (MOM, should have squished in the photo albums..... OOPS. It's okay. I had the ones from Nunni's 70th birthday slideshow). And then we watched "Without a Paddle" dubbed in Russian. So, this is my life. Oh, and Misha helped me sign up for Russian Facebook which is called "vkontakte" and looks identical to Facebook but all in Russian.
Oy, I still just can't believe I'm actually here, living here and being here. It was such a massive effort to get here, from the decision to come in the first place to packing to getting on the Lufthansa plane to Germany, that it feels like I shouldn't be here yet.
Two last things:
1. My favorite moment of the night was when I was doing homework in my room and I suddenly heard music coming from the room next door. I knocked and went in and said to Katya, "Я тоже люблю.... Radiohead" ("I also love Radiohead") and she laughed.
2. COMING SOON: first round of pictures will be up on pbase. But give me time.
Even though Olga does not like mornings, she was awake before I was to make sure I was up for school, and she made me an omlet before I set off at 9:15am for my commute (Sheesh, Mom, way to go handing me a piece of bread for the road when I commuted to Nobles). It's a fairly straight forward route: I walk to the Vladimirskaya metro stop, take the red line to Mayakovskaya station where I switch to the green line, and then I ride the green line to Vacileostrovskaya where I walk to Smolny. Pretty simple except for the about a million people who are also following their simple little commuter routes. When Bryan told us we would have to be aggressive and pushy to get on and off the metro, I had no idea exactly HOW aggressive and pushy. When I got myself onto the train on the red line, I didn't even have to hold onto a bar because everyone else packed into the train around me kept me standing upright, and then on the green line I barely had to even try to get on the train because everyone else pushed me on. Well, one thing is for sure, Mom's complaint about me never being assertive enough in life will definitely disappear after my time in Russia.
So then there was that whole "school" aspect of my time here. It was actually pretty good. Both of my professors are young, friendly women who are quite approachable. One studied in Seattle and when she speaks English she has a little Midwestern twang going on. I'm in the 202/301 class, group #2 out of 4 (there's also 201, 303 and 401.... I don't really understand who is in 303.... I think they all have also only 2 years of Russian but are better at it than I am). Anyway, I'm definitely in the right section for my level (I might even know some things over other people.... maybe I'll look better at Russian than I actually am in comparison? At least for the beginning?) and my class is fun. The group is: Noah (UChiago), Louis & Emma (Oberlin), Kalinda (Barnard), and three Bard girls -- Erica, Rebecca and Hannah.
I must say though that only speaking Russian, while being extremely useful in terms of my learning curve and all that jazz, basically made my head explode by 4pm when I could leave. After class I just walked by myself in the sunshine slowly back to the apartment, letting my mind recover before I went home to attempt more poor Russian speech. While walking I saw my first pair of Russian lesbians, nuzzling on a bridge. Of course they were nuzzling on a bridge, that is all couples do here -- make out in parks or nuzzle on bridges. Every time I see such PDA I want to shout "NO TOUCHING" and I think of Meri. I also stopped at Дом Книги ("House of Books") to buy some paper and notebooks for class. During all this, I practiced trying not to look American. Right now I am going for German since I definitely can't pull off Russian. Tactics I tried:
1. Not smiling at people I do not know.
2. Being assertively pushy, aggressive and impatient, passing old women who are walking too slowly on the sidewalk.
3. Looking disinterested, or just ignoring everyone and everything. Also I looked at tourists with disgust (but I'm used to doing that from living in Lexington).
4. Wearing sunglasses so people can't tell when I was looking around at buildings and such.
5. Being aware of where my bag was, but not too aware. Not clutching it to my stomach like someone who is certain they will be robbed at every corner. Only foreigners do that.
That's all I have for now, but I'll be sure to add as I discover more things.
And my evening was low key. Mom called as surprise and my brain freaked out at suddenly speaking so much English all at once. I felt like Bryan Billings or Jonathan Platt was going to come out of the wardrobe and yell "REMEMBER THE LANGUAGE PLEDGE! STOP!" I then had dinner with Olga, during which we watched the Russian version of Law & Order: SVU (Rosie!! I thought of you!!), followed by..... homework (?!?!??!)..... and then looking through all of the family's photos with Katya explaining things to me. Olga also made these little pastries filled with chocolate (she just told me the name and now it's gone. of course) and I drank my 5th cup of tea for the day and then showed Olga, Misha & Katya pictures of ALL OF YOU PEOPLE READING THIS BLOG. Well, the people I know who are reading this blog. Dave Santos, if you are reading all this, who are you? Anyway, they enjoyed the pictures (MOM, should have squished in the photo albums..... OOPS. It's okay. I had the ones from Nunni's 70th birthday slideshow). And then we watched "Without a Paddle" dubbed in Russian. So, this is my life. Oh, and Misha helped me sign up for Russian Facebook which is called "vkontakte" and looks identical to Facebook but all in Russian.
Oy, I still just can't believe I'm actually here, living here and being here. It was such a massive effort to get here, from the decision to come in the first place to packing to getting on the Lufthansa plane to Germany, that it feels like I shouldn't be here yet.
Two last things:
1. My favorite moment of the night was when I was doing homework in my room and I suddenly heard music coming from the room next door. I knocked and went in and said to Katya, "Я тоже люблю.... Radiohead" ("I also love Radiohead") and she laughed.
2. COMING SOON: first round of pictures will be up on pbase. But give me time.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Things still going well.
Last night after I posted, Olga's friend Lydia came over. She is ten years older than Olga and when Olga was 13, Lydia was 23 and taught Olga about Russian literature in school, and then when Misha was 13, Lydia was also his teacher. We sat and watched this Russian modern retelling of Cinderella and talked about Lydia's German Shepard. They offered me a little white wine that comes in a carton that looks much like an over-sized juice box. It was pretty good. And then around 12:30 I finally went to bed, even though it was still as bright out as about 3pm.
This morning I was worried about sleeping in too late, but at 10am I was the first one up. Olga said she prefers to stay up until 2 or 3 and sleep in later, so I don't think she will be seeing me off to school at 8:30am tomorrow. The weather was rainy and overcast and the Smolny picnic and "sports event" was postponed from 2pm until 4pm and then at 4pm still looked like it wasn't going to happen. So I spent most of the morning sitting around with Olga again, eating the kasha (oatmeal) she made me for breakfast while she showed me the paintings she likes to do on Misha's computer using MS Paint and an electronic drawing pad. But around 4pm, Sasha -- the senior from Columbia -- called and asked what I was up to, so I met up with her and two other kids -- Noah from U Chicago and Kaitlyn from Bard -- on Nevsky Prospect and we walked around a bit and got cappuchinos from a little gourmet café. While we were drinking our coffee and discussing the annoying qualities of our home institutions, we found out from Olga -- the director of the cultural program part of the summer language intensive -- that the picnic/sporting was indeed happening, so Sasha, Noah & I went to check out Tavrecheskii Park.
We took the Metro to the park -- my first time on the St. Petersburg metro. It has to be the simplest, most straight forward metro system I have ever ridden on. It's not crazy like New York or London or Moscow, and it's way cheaper than the T: one 17r token (17r is less than a dollar, about 75 cents) and you can ride the whole line all day if you want. Plus, there are only four lines: red, yellow, blue and green. Very primary.
By the time we got to the park the sun was out and the place was full of dogs dressed in clothing (we saw one wearing a yellow t-shirt and matching black track pants with yellow stripes down the sides) and little kids playing with tennis balls in the mud. We couldn't find the group at first, not even sure they were still there as we were two and a half hours late, so we sat on a bench to call some people up. While we were doing this, a pigeon dive bombed over us and pooped on Noah's leg. Too bad those jeans probably won't be washed for two weeks.
We finally called Bryan and he said they were just packing up but would stick around for a bit. We located them in plain sight in a field we had walked past. Oops. So we ate some pretzel sticks and apple juice (the remains of the picnic) and hung out with Bryan, Phillip (the student intern), Vanessa (an American, former Smolny student, I think) and a Russian guy whose name I forget (Vanessa's boyfriend, I think). We threw a frisbee around for a bit and tried horribly to play lacrosse with these small primary colored sticks designed for children, and then all of a sudden it was 8pm. It's easy to lose track of time when it stays light until 1am.
So I headed back to Dostoyevskovo Street, where Olga had prepared a fish and rice pie of sorts. It was very good, and Olga told me that she used a little mayonaise to season the fish and, Dad, of course I thought of you and your blue fish recipe. And then we watched a dramatic Russian film full of guns and money starring an actor who apparently lives in the apartment upstairs.
And that was my second full day in Russia. I can't believe that I have to go to school tomorrow. That's going to put a damper on things. Three hours of homework won't be as much fun as watching the Simpsons dubbed in Russian and wandering around the city. But we'll see. Olga told me about this big park on one of the islands where you can rent canoes and go around this little pond, so maybe if it's nice this weekend I'll check it out with some Smolny kids or Erin Doherty (Hi! Thanks for reading my blog!) if she is free.
P.S. Guess who Sasha, Noah and I might go see on Saturday? THE GO! TEAM.
21 June 2008 - Stereoleto Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia.
This would be so awesome as I had to miss their Boston show due to an Amadeus dress rehearsal.
This morning I was worried about sleeping in too late, but at 10am I was the first one up. Olga said she prefers to stay up until 2 or 3 and sleep in later, so I don't think she will be seeing me off to school at 8:30am tomorrow. The weather was rainy and overcast and the Smolny picnic and "sports event" was postponed from 2pm until 4pm and then at 4pm still looked like it wasn't going to happen. So I spent most of the morning sitting around with Olga again, eating the kasha (oatmeal) she made me for breakfast while she showed me the paintings she likes to do on Misha's computer using MS Paint and an electronic drawing pad. But around 4pm, Sasha -- the senior from Columbia -- called and asked what I was up to, so I met up with her and two other kids -- Noah from U Chicago and Kaitlyn from Bard -- on Nevsky Prospect and we walked around a bit and got cappuchinos from a little gourmet café. While we were drinking our coffee and discussing the annoying qualities of our home institutions, we found out from Olga -- the director of the cultural program part of the summer language intensive -- that the picnic/sporting was indeed happening, so Sasha, Noah & I went to check out Tavrecheskii Park.
We took the Metro to the park -- my first time on the St. Petersburg metro. It has to be the simplest, most straight forward metro system I have ever ridden on. It's not crazy like New York or London or Moscow, and it's way cheaper than the T: one 17r token (17r is less than a dollar, about 75 cents) and you can ride the whole line all day if you want. Plus, there are only four lines: red, yellow, blue and green. Very primary.
By the time we got to the park the sun was out and the place was full of dogs dressed in clothing (we saw one wearing a yellow t-shirt and matching black track pants with yellow stripes down the sides) and little kids playing with tennis balls in the mud. We couldn't find the group at first, not even sure they were still there as we were two and a half hours late, so we sat on a bench to call some people up. While we were doing this, a pigeon dive bombed over us and pooped on Noah's leg. Too bad those jeans probably won't be washed for two weeks.
We finally called Bryan and he said they were just packing up but would stick around for a bit. We located them in plain sight in a field we had walked past. Oops. So we ate some pretzel sticks and apple juice (the remains of the picnic) and hung out with Bryan, Phillip (the student intern), Vanessa (an American, former Smolny student, I think) and a Russian guy whose name I forget (Vanessa's boyfriend, I think). We threw a frisbee around for a bit and tried horribly to play lacrosse with these small primary colored sticks designed for children, and then all of a sudden it was 8pm. It's easy to lose track of time when it stays light until 1am.
So I headed back to Dostoyevskovo Street, where Olga had prepared a fish and rice pie of sorts. It was very good, and Olga told me that she used a little mayonaise to season the fish and, Dad, of course I thought of you and your blue fish recipe. And then we watched a dramatic Russian film full of guns and money starring an actor who apparently lives in the apartment upstairs.
And that was my second full day in Russia. I can't believe that I have to go to school tomorrow. That's going to put a damper on things. Three hours of homework won't be as much fun as watching the Simpsons dubbed in Russian and wandering around the city. But we'll see. Olga told me about this big park on one of the islands where you can rent canoes and go around this little pond, so maybe if it's nice this weekend I'll check it out with some Smolny kids or Erin Doherty (Hi! Thanks for reading my blog!) if she is free.
P.S. Guess who Sasha, Noah and I might go see on Saturday? THE GO! TEAM.
21 June 2008 - Stereoleto Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia.
This would be so awesome as I had to miss their Boston show due to an Amadeus dress rehearsal.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A few more things.
These are mostly things I think Mom will appreciate:
1. Olga is also a 1959-er. Her birthday is 08/08.
2. Olga does not smoke. Or drink really.
3. Olga does not have reading glasses but instead uses a magnify glass to read everything.
4. Also, tomorrow I am going to start my photo project where I take a self-portrait every day for a year.
1. Olga is also a 1959-er. Her birthday is 08/08.
2. Olga does not smoke. Or drink really.
3. Olga does not have reading glasses but instead uses a magnify glass to read everything.
4. Also, tomorrow I am going to start my photo project where I take a self-portrait every day for a year.
ALIVE IN RUSSIA.
YES I AM!
Finally, after what felt like a week of traveling. Oh my god, I feel like I am so behind on this blog because it seems like it was months ago that I did that last post. Though it has been..... two days? Not even?
Orientation was kind of crazy. There are 30 of us in the summer program, I'm still figuring out everyone's names and colleges. 9 of the kids are from Bard, 3 are from Oberlin, and everyone else is scattered..... 1 from Columbia, 1 from Barnard, 2 from Reed, 1 from Cornell, 1 from Princeton, etc..... an eclectic mix of students, but also typical Russian majors nonetheless..... artsy or hipster or smokers or nerdy, you know, the usual. And so far it looks like three other girls will also be staying for the fall -- Amanda, Ilanna, and Emma -- and another one or two might come back for the spring semester. I also really like everyone I have met so far who works for Smolny; Bryan Billings and I are going to be friends, I am sure, thanks to Carly's influence. He's already calling me "BARTELS!" and said he was referring to me as that even before I arrived, though he was saying "BARTLES!" and Carly had to correct him. Thanks, Carly.
So Orientation consisted of a bus tour yesterday of the main sights of the city, and then it was just a lot of going over what was already mentioned in the Summer Language Intensive Handbook -- how not to get robbed, where skinheads hang out, don't get caught with drugs, STDs are rampant, etc, etc, etc, etc. It was basically just three hours of Bryan talking really fast about anything and everything because he'd drank a lot of coffee. I took notes in my journal. My favorite tidbit from Orientation was how in the Soviet Union the government wasn't supposed to do business with foreign companies, so when McDonalds opened in the 80's, since they couldn't pay them in money, they took furs and caviar instead. Ha.
And now I am already moved into my host family and oh my god, I so lucked out. They live right in the middle of the City, on Dostoyevskovo St. and their apartment building was built in 1805 and my host mother, Olga, and I already had a conversation about how we prefer old buildings with character to new buildings. My family consists of Olga and her two children -- her son, Misha, who is 22 (PUPPY, IF YOU ARE READING THIS I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING) and works for a TV news program in St. Petersburg, and her daughter, Katya, who is 19 and also a student. They instantly made me feel comfortable and showed me to my room which used to be Misha's and still has his old Queen poster on the wall. Also, it helps that they all lived in Toronto for a year ("Only one year!" Olga was saying. "It's not interesting! Not like here! Boring! Blah!") so Olga speaks a little English -- she can understand when I speak slowly -- and Misha knows more English than I know Russian, which is comforting for when I really panic and get confused, though we've been speaking Russian together all afternoon with only occasional English phrases. This feels vaguely like cheating, but I had to sign a pledge to speak only Russian when doing Smolny activities, so my life is going to be so full of Russian anyway I don't think it will matter. I already feel myself getting better and it's only been two days and classes haven't even started yet.
So, yeah, I've just been sitting and talking with Olga and Misha (Katya went to go study with a friend for her history exam on Monday). They're really nice and understanding about speaking slowly, and really interesting. Olga teaches art and was interested to hear about my photography and my painting class. They're also really into music. Olga said that Misha and Katya's father is a violinist -- though they never mentioned where he is or why he doesn't live with them -- and Misha also plays violin and electric guitar. We then, of course, had an extended conversation about how I play cello and my mom plays piano and Puppy plays trumpet and how great Russian composers are. We also talked about movies -- Mom, Olga also can't wait to see "Sex & the City" -- and have been watching some Russian TV, and when a dubbed version of "Murder She Wrote" came on I said that my babushka and I always used to watch that show together, Olga said her mother also loves it.
And I gave them my host family gifts from Massachusetts -- Mom, we did good. Misha and Olga loved the taffy, and we've been trying to figure out what flavor each one is. The only one Olga doesn't like is the liqourish flavor. Nunni, the Rockport candy was such a great idea. And then Olga was very excited to look all through the Images of Massachusetts book and was surprised with all the pictures of the ocean because she said she's "not very good with geography" so wasn't exactly sure where Boston was. Also, Olga immediately wanted to know what I do and don't like to eat and was very relieved to learn I am a "normal" eater (her word) and that I wasn't a vegetarian. She made me dinner tonight, and I actually really liked all of it -- chicken, rice, salad of cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes -- NO DILL or BEETS. But we'll see, the honeymoon with the food might not last. In summary, I really like my host family so far and am really sad that I won't be living with them into the fall (I asked the assistant program manager, Elena, today if I would be staying with them in the fall too and she said no, it didn't work out, but I'm glad that I'll get the summer with them at least).
I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight. Maybe meet up with some Smolny kids, maybe hang out with Olga more and bond. Tomorrow we have a picnic and "sporting activity" (a.k.a. Bryan trying to get everyone to play wiffle ball).
Oh, and did I mention that my host family has wireless internet? Who would have thought? Where is the Russia I thought I was coming to? What the hell? This is fucking great so far. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know this is the euphoric stage of culture shock, but it's pretty nice while it lasts.
So yeah. All is good. And since I have internet in the apartment, internet is definitely going to be the best way to keep in touch. All the phone stuff is really complicated. Smolny gave me a Russian cell phone -- Dad, I think I'm just going to use their loner phone, at least for the summer, because it has things like Cyrillic character keys and is all set up for the pay-as-you-go system of adding money to your phone to make calls. See, in St. Petersburg, cell phones and land lines have different area codes, so calling a cell phone to a land line is technically a long distance call and not as cheap as calling cell to cell or land line to land line. Phone cards all have land line area codes, so therefore using a phone card to call the U.S. should only be done with a Russian land line, while using your cell phone to call a phone card to call the U.S. is long distance and not that much cheaper than just calling the U.S. directly. So when I do want to make calls out, I will either use Skype (as I have wireless here and don't have to worry now about dragging my computer on the Metro to Smolny every day where there is wireless but I can't use it to Skype in English because it's against the language pledge) or ask Olga to borrow her land line phone and use a phone card to call home. But that won't happen too frequently.... probably only to Mom to calm her nerves. JUST KIDDING, love you, you nervous little thing. BUT BUT BUT, all incoming phone calls and text messages (! yes you can text me in Russia if your carrier allows it.... Verizon doesn't, but T Mobile does..... maybe AT&T? it's probably expensive though) are free for me, so you can call my Russian cell phone if you really want/need to get it touch or my SkypeIn number which I am going to momentarily forward to my phone.... ask Karen or Rich for those numbers if you want them, as I don't want to post them on here since this is a public blog that anyone in the world can read.
Anyway, that's it for now.... that was a lot.
Finally, after what felt like a week of traveling. Oh my god, I feel like I am so behind on this blog because it seems like it was months ago that I did that last post. Though it has been..... two days? Not even?
Orientation was kind of crazy. There are 30 of us in the summer program, I'm still figuring out everyone's names and colleges. 9 of the kids are from Bard, 3 are from Oberlin, and everyone else is scattered..... 1 from Columbia, 1 from Barnard, 2 from Reed, 1 from Cornell, 1 from Princeton, etc..... an eclectic mix of students, but also typical Russian majors nonetheless..... artsy or hipster or smokers or nerdy, you know, the usual. And so far it looks like three other girls will also be staying for the fall -- Amanda, Ilanna, and Emma -- and another one or two might come back for the spring semester. I also really like everyone I have met so far who works for Smolny; Bryan Billings and I are going to be friends, I am sure, thanks to Carly's influence. He's already calling me "BARTELS!" and said he was referring to me as that even before I arrived, though he was saying "BARTLES!" and Carly had to correct him. Thanks, Carly.
So Orientation consisted of a bus tour yesterday of the main sights of the city, and then it was just a lot of going over what was already mentioned in the Summer Language Intensive Handbook -- how not to get robbed, where skinheads hang out, don't get caught with drugs, STDs are rampant, etc, etc, etc, etc. It was basically just three hours of Bryan talking really fast about anything and everything because he'd drank a lot of coffee. I took notes in my journal. My favorite tidbit from Orientation was how in the Soviet Union the government wasn't supposed to do business with foreign companies, so when McDonalds opened in the 80's, since they couldn't pay them in money, they took furs and caviar instead. Ha.
And now I am already moved into my host family and oh my god, I so lucked out. They live right in the middle of the City, on Dostoyevskovo St. and their apartment building was built in 1805 and my host mother, Olga, and I already had a conversation about how we prefer old buildings with character to new buildings. My family consists of Olga and her two children -- her son, Misha, who is 22 (PUPPY, IF YOU ARE READING THIS I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING) and works for a TV news program in St. Petersburg, and her daughter, Katya, who is 19 and also a student. They instantly made me feel comfortable and showed me to my room which used to be Misha's and still has his old Queen poster on the wall. Also, it helps that they all lived in Toronto for a year ("Only one year!" Olga was saying. "It's not interesting! Not like here! Boring! Blah!") so Olga speaks a little English -- she can understand when I speak slowly -- and Misha knows more English than I know Russian, which is comforting for when I really panic and get confused, though we've been speaking Russian together all afternoon with only occasional English phrases. This feels vaguely like cheating, but I had to sign a pledge to speak only Russian when doing Smolny activities, so my life is going to be so full of Russian anyway I don't think it will matter. I already feel myself getting better and it's only been two days and classes haven't even started yet.
So, yeah, I've just been sitting and talking with Olga and Misha (Katya went to go study with a friend for her history exam on Monday). They're really nice and understanding about speaking slowly, and really interesting. Olga teaches art and was interested to hear about my photography and my painting class. They're also really into music. Olga said that Misha and Katya's father is a violinist -- though they never mentioned where he is or why he doesn't live with them -- and Misha also plays violin and electric guitar. We then, of course, had an extended conversation about how I play cello and my mom plays piano and Puppy plays trumpet and how great Russian composers are. We also talked about movies -- Mom, Olga also can't wait to see "Sex & the City" -- and have been watching some Russian TV, and when a dubbed version of "Murder She Wrote" came on I said that my babushka and I always used to watch that show together, Olga said her mother also loves it.
And I gave them my host family gifts from Massachusetts -- Mom, we did good. Misha and Olga loved the taffy, and we've been trying to figure out what flavor each one is. The only one Olga doesn't like is the liqourish flavor. Nunni, the Rockport candy was such a great idea. And then Olga was very excited to look all through the Images of Massachusetts book and was surprised with all the pictures of the ocean because she said she's "not very good with geography" so wasn't exactly sure where Boston was. Also, Olga immediately wanted to know what I do and don't like to eat and was very relieved to learn I am a "normal" eater (her word) and that I wasn't a vegetarian. She made me dinner tonight, and I actually really liked all of it -- chicken, rice, salad of cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes -- NO DILL or BEETS. But we'll see, the honeymoon with the food might not last. In summary, I really like my host family so far and am really sad that I won't be living with them into the fall (I asked the assistant program manager, Elena, today if I would be staying with them in the fall too and she said no, it didn't work out, but I'm glad that I'll get the summer with them at least).
I'm not sure what I'm going to do tonight. Maybe meet up with some Smolny kids, maybe hang out with Olga more and bond. Tomorrow we have a picnic and "sporting activity" (a.k.a. Bryan trying to get everyone to play wiffle ball).
Oh, and did I mention that my host family has wireless internet? Who would have thought? Where is the Russia I thought I was coming to? What the hell? This is fucking great so far. Yeah, yeah, yeah I know this is the euphoric stage of culture shock, but it's pretty nice while it lasts.
So yeah. All is good. And since I have internet in the apartment, internet is definitely going to be the best way to keep in touch. All the phone stuff is really complicated. Smolny gave me a Russian cell phone -- Dad, I think I'm just going to use their loner phone, at least for the summer, because it has things like Cyrillic character keys and is all set up for the pay-as-you-go system of adding money to your phone to make calls. See, in St. Petersburg, cell phones and land lines have different area codes, so calling a cell phone to a land line is technically a long distance call and not as cheap as calling cell to cell or land line to land line. Phone cards all have land line area codes, so therefore using a phone card to call the U.S. should only be done with a Russian land line, while using your cell phone to call a phone card to call the U.S. is long distance and not that much cheaper than just calling the U.S. directly. So when I do want to make calls out, I will either use Skype (as I have wireless here and don't have to worry now about dragging my computer on the Metro to Smolny every day where there is wireless but I can't use it to Skype in English because it's against the language pledge) or ask Olga to borrow her land line phone and use a phone card to call home. But that won't happen too frequently.... probably only to Mom to calm her nerves. JUST KIDDING, love you, you nervous little thing. BUT BUT BUT, all incoming phone calls and text messages (! yes you can text me in Russia if your carrier allows it.... Verizon doesn't, but T Mobile does..... maybe AT&T? it's probably expensive though) are free for me, so you can call my Russian cell phone if you really want/need to get it touch or my SkypeIn number which I am going to momentarily forward to my phone.... ask Karen or Rich for those numbers if you want them, as I don't want to post them on here since this is a public blog that anyone in the world can read.
Anyway, that's it for now.... that was a lot.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
My last night...
... was kind of crazy.... as you can see by these packing pictures taken by Dad....
Meri called from Zanzibar to say bye before I left....
This is Dad trying to get all the air of out of my squish bag things to smoosh down my towels & sweaters, etc..... very resourceful guy.
VICTORY.
And now it is 5:45AM which is also kind of crazy, and I am getting into Dad's car and we are going to JFK.
Meri called from Zanzibar to say bye before I left....
This is Dad trying to get all the air of out of my squish bag things to smoosh down my towels & sweaters, etc..... very resourceful guy.
VICTORY.And now it is 5:45AM which is also kind of crazy, and I am getting into Dad's car and we are going to JFK.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
Important information!
I just sent out one of those mass e-mails I promised never to send.
It had important information in it though about keeping in touch, and so I thought I would repost it on here just in case you lost all of it except the URL of this blog.
WAYS TO CONTACT ME IN RUSSIA:
#1. Reading this blog: http://ebinpetersburg.blogspot.com/
#2. Looking at my photo site: http://www.pbase.com/theeeebster
#3. Talking to me on my Skype name: ebandersenbartels
#4. E-mailing me at any of my e-mail addresses:
a. ebandersenbartels@gmail.com
b. ebartels@wellesley.edu
c. eabmouse@aol.com
#5. Sending me real, live mail via the real, live postal service:
a. for super speedy delivery send letters (ONLY letters) to Finland (????):
Elizabeth A. Bartels
c/o American Express, St. Petersburg
PO Box 87
SF--53501 Lappeenranta
FINLAND
b. for generic, 3 - 6 week, whenever fun letters, send to:
Elizabeth A. Bartels
Smolny College c/o Bryan Billings
St. Petersburg State University
Lt. Schmidt Embankment 11, Office 416
199034, St. Petersburg, Russia
c. for packages, use the same address as #b but leave off the "c/o Bryan Billings."
Get it? Got it? GOOD.
Next post I write I promise I'll actually be in Russia.
It had important information in it though about keeping in touch, and so I thought I would repost it on here just in case you lost all of it except the URL of this blog.
WAYS TO CONTACT ME IN RUSSIA:
#1. Reading this blog: http://ebinpetersburg.blogspot.com/
#2. Looking at my photo site: http://www.pbase.com/theeeebster
#3. Talking to me on my Skype name: ebandersenbartels
#4. E-mailing me at any of my e-mail addresses:
a. ebandersenbartels@gmail.com
b. ebartels@wellesley.edu
c. eabmouse@aol.com
#5. Sending me real, live mail via the real, live postal service:
a. for super speedy delivery send letters (ONLY letters) to Finland (????):
Elizabeth A. Bartels
c/o American Express, St. Petersburg
PO Box 87
SF--53501 Lappeenranta
FINLAND
b. for generic, 3 - 6 week, whenever fun letters, send to:
Elizabeth A. Bartels
Smolny College c/o Bryan Billings
St. Petersburg State University
Lt. Schmidt Embankment 11, Office 416
199034, St. Petersburg, Russia
c. for packages, use the same address as #b but leave off the "c/o Bryan Billings."
Get it? Got it? GOOD.
Next post I write I promise I'll actually be in Russia.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)