25.12.2008
This is actually the first Christmas I've spent with my family. Aaaand I don't really like it.
I mean, I suppose all in all the day wasn't that bad. Perhaps a bit of a waste, but not all bad. There are a few things that really bothered me, but I feel tremendously petty complaining about them.
I woke up at 11:30am (which is far, far too late, but I can never get to sleep, anymore, because of the completely screwed up daylight/lackthereof schedule). Well, I couldn't eat breakfast because Dima was working on something in the kitchen, with the door closed, so I felt tremendously awkward going in and getting in the middle of his business. He didn't even finish that until about 1, so I was sitting in here bitterly complaining to myself for an hour and a half. Which is kind of dumb because if I woke up at a decent hour I probably would've eaten breakfast no problem.
When I did eventually get to go into the kitchen, Tatyana left me a gift with a note! That was a nice surprise. The gift was a little candle with Santa in it ... Perhaps a tad tacky, but it's the thought that counts.
I eventually just went to Smolny and wasted a few hours trying to do a little research for my paper and inevitably getting nothing done. Maneka and I went out after that ... Actually, for about five hours. We went to her apartment for about an hour and just talked and tried to figure out what to do, since it was such an awkward hour as most things were closing, it wasn't quite dinner time yet, and there wasn't anywhere to walk (plus it's -5 centigrade). We eventually went to Cheburechnaya (a chebureki restaurant. Chebureki are fried... dough ... things filled with meat). That was dissatisfying. Actually, I liked the atmosphere of the place, because it was sort of a trashy cheap cafeteria type place so there were groups of middle-aged blue collar Russians sitting around chatting and drinking after work. ... I suppose I don't paint the best picture, but there's that.
We weren't sated, so we went to Chainaya Lozhka after that and ate some bliny and talked for hours. I noticed that the guy who took our orders had the nametag of "Vladimir," and the cashier who took our money had the nametag of "Vlad." I thought this was somewhat strange.
Then I just came home and talked on the phone with my parents for a bit.
I really wanted to take a shower, but unfortunately am unable as Tatyana has clothes hanging up and drying in the shower... So... Yeah. That's actually what is making me feel like crap, because I feel gross and kind of ... down, and I'd like to take a nice relaxing shower. HOWEVER. Many others have much less than I do right now, so I AM BLESSED. With a room. And a meal. And opportunities that others do not have. SO I should not complain. BUT, I am human, and understandably will complain no matter how heavenly my situation might be compared to others.
In other news it is actually very cold in my room, and this might be what is contributing to my lack of sleep. Tomorrow, I plan on going to the Russian Museum with Maneka, and then writing my paper. I'm not terribly worried about my paper, now, since I have a target of THREE! WHOLE! PAGES! because I am an underachiever right now, and Vika said she would proofread it and help me on Monday. My main concern is the oral presentation. Apparently, when most Russians present their papers, they just read the paper directly, and that's that. But from what I've heard they expect more out of the American students, so, I don't know ... We'll see. I also realised that I have no idea how to cite a paper Russian-like? To be perfectly honest, though, I never even submitted a works cited page for my presentation on Ukraine (which, in America, would amount to PLAGIARISM and get me EXPELLED), and I didn't cite a ton of things in my final paper. So it's probably not that big of a deal.
WELL, MERRY CHRISTMAS. С РОЖДЕСТВОМ!
26.12.2008
Woke up and took a shower this morning... Then took a nap.. Read a little bit... Then Maneka called me and we headed off to the Russian Museum. Mostly just went for the 20th Century exhibits, since that's really the only part we didn't get to thoroughly see when we went the first time. I spent massive amounts of money in the gift shops for ... gifts ... for people. Actually, I'm pretty much finished with gift shopping as a whole. I still need to buy my dad a thing or two, but other than that, I'm FREEE. Well, I'm not going to really buy much more of anything until I start packing and have an idea of how much room I have. Then, I'm going to go on a massive shopping spree to fill my suitcases. Which might be stupid, BUT HEY, I won't be back for god knows how long.
After the museum we headed over to Shtolle for pirog and tea. That was pleasant. The metro on the way back, however, was quite unpleasant. And the discovery that my heater is not working in my room was also quite unpleasant.
Basically, need to do paper writing, then that's that. Yura invited me to a new years' gathering of his, but Tatyana is saying I should stay in... But she also says that it's up to me ... I'd really like to go to Yura's gathering, because that would be a neat experience. I suppose it would be, here, too, but I feel like I'd feel a little more excluded and awkward, here. So... I don't know. I'm going to call Yura tomorrow and see what he thinks, and what the plans exactly are. We'll see...
27.12.2008
So it's only 5, and I'm bored out of my mind. I kind of want to go out, but that's probably not the best idea. I'm a good ways through my paper, and it's going fast ... Of course, it SHOULD be going 'fast' since my goal is only three pages. Yeah, tiny tiny paper, but not when you're writing in RUSSIAN. In TWO DAYS. And it's an academic paper, clearly, which makes it that much more difficult. At the same time I'm not too terribly worried about it, since Vika agreed to look over it on Monday, with me, so it should be cleaned up then. As of now, it's terrible, of course, but nothing can be done about that.
I called Yura, today, but he didn't answer. Perhaps I'll just end up staying here for New Years.
Speaking of which, I've been seeing people selling light-up horns on the street, here, which confused me. I was thinking that was more of a ... you know ... Halloween thing as opposed to a Christmas thing. But whatever. I just thought it might be due to some strange Pagan tradition or some such. But, Tatyana's younger sister came over with a couple pairs and Tatyana called me in, saying «Look at what we got!» and they were wearing the light-up horns... I was like «Yeah, that's great ... !» not sure what to say, then she said it's the Year of the Bull. SO. Now it makes sense. Kind of. I'm not sure by WHAT calendar it is the Year of the Bull.. Since clearly it isn't the lunar new year ... But whatever. Then she put them on Mysha and she ran around the house.
Alright, so, I just watched the MTV European Music Awards (or at least some of them), and my first WTF is: Why the fuck was that completely dominated by American music acts? Is Europe THAT devoid of any half-decent popular music? Jesus Christ. My second WTF: Katy Perry's voice is SO fucking processed it's kind of sick. I mean, her songs are catchy, I will say, as horrid as the lyrics and even worse the messages are. But her singing LIVE? THAT, friends, is UNBEARABLE. Good lord. Third WTF: I actually like some of Dima Bilan's music, BUT FOR GOD'S SAKES END IT WITH 'BELIEVE.' Actually, most of his songs in English are fairly terrible, but that one just takes the cake. The first time I heard him was in EuroVision, with that song, and I automatically hated him until I came here and heard some of his Russian music. Which isn't half-bad for popsa.
28.12.2008
So last night was basically awful. I couldn't get to sleep until after 4am. At 4am, I heard Tatyana rummaging around and telling Dima to get up because someone was coming. Shortly afterward, his cell phone started to ring and he answered it, then someone opened the door. There were a new pair of shoes at the doorway, today, but I haven't seen anyone in the apartment other than Dima and Tatyana, so either this mysterious person has been sleeping for god knows how long, or the shoes aren't even theirs. Who knows.
Then, I woke up and was BLINDED by some strange light coming through the window. After a moment of confusion, I opened the curtains fully and realised... IT WAS THE SUN! I was so excited. But then I got pissed off because I realised I had to stay in and write my paper, and by the time I finished the sun would probably set. THEN, I turned on the TV and saw that, despite the sun, it was -5 degrees, soo.... I thought it better that I admire the sunrays from inside.
While writing my paper, Mysha decided to jump on the bed and stand on my keyboard, which fucked something up, and I couldn't type my paper up because the keyboard was half broken. After a while of fiddling around I got it to work, though. I threw Mysha off the bed, but she kept coming back and trying to jump up, so I ended up having to chase her out of the room.
THEN. After writing my paper, I realised .... I am finished. This semester is finished. What. The fuck? It's bizarre --- I don't know what to do with myself. I feel like I should be working on SOMETHING, I should be worrying about SOMETHING. Then again, in truth, I'm not really entirely finished. I still have to present my paper tomorrow, which I sorely don't want to do, especially since the last half of it is total shit since I seriously just did not want to write it at that point. Three and a half pages!! Tiny, tiny, I know. Still. It's something.
I called Yura, and uhm... He said he works on the 31st, and that I could go to his house with Sasha and decorate a tree in the morning ... ? Maybe I didn't understand correctly. Sounds mildly strange to me. But he said he's going to call me at 11. I think I'm going to go ahead and spend New Years with them and not here, because to be perfectly honest I don't particularly want to sit around reading the Bible with a family of Russians on New Years. I probably wouldn't understand anything anyway, since I'm not up on my Orthodox Bible vocabulary.
Went to Shtolle with Maneka again, ate pie, then went to Pizza Hut for dinner. ... Again. We need to stop eating there. What the hell? Anyway, we had the same waitress, which was mildly awkward.
... AAAH I GO TO LITHUANIA AND LATVIA THIS WEEK.
Actually, I just realised, that this might be my last entry before I leave Russia. I don't know when I'm going to next have access to the internet. Maybe I'll drop in at MCDONALD'S before I leave to utilise their services. Or something. Or I'll just wait and upload the rest of my journal when I return home.
BY THE WAY. I spoke with my parents today, and my father got my mother a PS3 for Christmas. What in the name of God?
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
In Which Things are Bought
24.12.2008
Wow, it's Christmas eve. Someone actually pointed this out to me and it didn't quite hit me until later. AND MY PARENTS HAVEN'T CALLED ME. Oh well, they'll probably call me tomorrow.
Today was somewhat interesting. I guess. I had to go to Bobrinskij to turn in my paper. Which I did. And then he had each of us go in one at a time and explain to him what our papers were about. Then he told us our grades. Well, he said, 'barring any unforeseen surprises' in the papers. Aaand he said I will probably get an A. Which is nice, since I worked hard in that class all semester. And I loved it. I learned a lot, personally, as well as academically, I suppose. Before I came here, I really didn't have a firm idea about the affairs and relations between Russia and the US. Now I feel like I really know what I'm talking about, and I'm passionate about it. That's always good.
After that I went to Smolny to do research for my Human Rights paper. I got a lot more than I expected that I would. I'm going to shoot for three pages with this paper. Yeah, it's tiny, but it's in Russian. And it actually kind of worries me, because Olga only wrote five pages for her Russia/USA paper, and her English is excellent. I mean, she plans on going to the Central European University in a couple years, so for god's sakes... I don't know. She probably had a lot other stuff going on, though, while I really have nothing to worry about for the next ... Well, until I have to pack up to go home, really. What makes me worried is that I actually have no one to look over my paper before I turn it in, so grammatical mistakes are going to be atrocious. Andrei Vladimirovich is really patient, though, and seems to like me, so, that's good.
Speaking of that particular professor, we're getting together before the oral exam on Monday. I told him I wanted to discuss the state of human rights in relation to gays in Russia today, and he said we could get together for coffee on Monday and discuss. I don't like coffee, but that's beside the point. So I'm really looking forward to that. I hope I understand whatever he happens to say sufficiently. It took a bit of courage for me to even ask him, but I figure since he's a HUMAN RIGHTS professor in Russia's ONLY liberal arts college, he can't be THAT reactionary for god's sakes.
After I finished up at Smolny, I decided to go out and do gift buying because I didn't feel like going straight home and moping around. Clearly I can't say exactly what I bought, BUT ....
IRISHKA AND SARAH - DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW YOUR GIFTS WERE ACQUIRED. I can retell the story to you when I give you said gifts.
So, I went to Indigo, which is the queer-themed store on Nevsky (Amusing note: they have a sign right next to the metro that says "Индиго: Необычный магазин для особенных людей" -- Indigo: Unusual store for specific people). I just kind of looked around at what they had, and wasn''t really sure what to buy. Well, I go up to the front, where the two cashiers were, and asked them what I should buy "for two lesbian friends in America, one of whom can read Russian because she's Ukrainian." While I'm asking my question, they both start grinning, either because they were excited that some foreigner was shopping around in their little store, or because my Russian is terrible and I'm a stupid American. This adorable guy (WHO, by the way, I wish had shown up in my life THREE MONTHS EARLIER) immediately leads me through the store to the lesbian bookshelf and starts giving me book after book after book, talking about each of the authors and saying which city they're from, and so forth. He was completely at a loss as to what to give a non-Russian reading lesbian, however, so, oh well about that. I shopped around a little bit more and came across a book called "69 Russian Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transsexuals" (in Russian, of course) and immediately grabbed that. They tried to pawn off some tremendously expensive gay-themed jewelery to me, and I was like, "uhm, I'll look around a little bit first." Then, when I was making my purchases (which came to 799 rubles), I handed her a 1000, and she gave me too much change. I think she thought I was trying to cheat them when I tried to explain that the change wasn't correct, then I showed her the check and what she had given me and she was tremendously grateful for my honesty. So, that was a very pleasant shopping experience. Actually, probably one of the most pleasant I've had, here.
IRISHKA AND SARAH. You may read now.
In terms of gifts, I only have to buy both mom and dad one more thing each, and then.. Aislyn's ring, a couple small things for a few people, aaaand something else. I'm kind of worried as to suitcase limit, though. I'm not sure if I'll have enough room. I SHOULD ... But who knows. I'm going to wait until I'm packed to make my last shopping trips.
After that, I went to the dorms to say goodbye to people, since half the program is leaving tonight.
Oh, and a button fell off my jacket, today. I think I'm going to go sew that on, now...
Wow, it's Christmas eve. Someone actually pointed this out to me and it didn't quite hit me until later. AND MY PARENTS HAVEN'T CALLED ME. Oh well, they'll probably call me tomorrow.
Today was somewhat interesting. I guess. I had to go to Bobrinskij to turn in my paper. Which I did. And then he had each of us go in one at a time and explain to him what our papers were about. Then he told us our grades. Well, he said, 'barring any unforeseen surprises' in the papers. Aaand he said I will probably get an A. Which is nice, since I worked hard in that class all semester. And I loved it. I learned a lot, personally, as well as academically, I suppose. Before I came here, I really didn't have a firm idea about the affairs and relations between Russia and the US. Now I feel like I really know what I'm talking about, and I'm passionate about it. That's always good.
After that I went to Smolny to do research for my Human Rights paper. I got a lot more than I expected that I would. I'm going to shoot for three pages with this paper. Yeah, it's tiny, but it's in Russian. And it actually kind of worries me, because Olga only wrote five pages for her Russia/USA paper, and her English is excellent. I mean, she plans on going to the Central European University in a couple years, so for god's sakes... I don't know. She probably had a lot other stuff going on, though, while I really have nothing to worry about for the next ... Well, until I have to pack up to go home, really. What makes me worried is that I actually have no one to look over my paper before I turn it in, so grammatical mistakes are going to be atrocious. Andrei Vladimirovich is really patient, though, and seems to like me, so, that's good.
Speaking of that particular professor, we're getting together before the oral exam on Monday. I told him I wanted to discuss the state of human rights in relation to gays in Russia today, and he said we could get together for coffee on Monday and discuss. I don't like coffee, but that's beside the point. So I'm really looking forward to that. I hope I understand whatever he happens to say sufficiently. It took a bit of courage for me to even ask him, but I figure since he's a HUMAN RIGHTS professor in Russia's ONLY liberal arts college, he can't be THAT reactionary for god's sakes.
After I finished up at Smolny, I decided to go out and do gift buying because I didn't feel like going straight home and moping around. Clearly I can't say exactly what I bought, BUT ....
IRISHKA AND SARAH - DO NOT READ THIS PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW HOW YOUR GIFTS WERE ACQUIRED. I can retell the story to you when I give you said gifts.
So, I went to Indigo, which is the queer-themed store on Nevsky (Amusing note: they have a sign right next to the metro that says "Индиго: Необычный магазин для особенных людей" -- Indigo: Unusual store for specific people). I just kind of looked around at what they had, and wasn''t really sure what to buy. Well, I go up to the front, where the two cashiers were, and asked them what I should buy "for two lesbian friends in America, one of whom can read Russian because she's Ukrainian." While I'm asking my question, they both start grinning, either because they were excited that some foreigner was shopping around in their little store, or because my Russian is terrible and I'm a stupid American. This adorable guy (WHO, by the way, I wish had shown up in my life THREE MONTHS EARLIER) immediately leads me through the store to the lesbian bookshelf and starts giving me book after book after book, talking about each of the authors and saying which city they're from, and so forth. He was completely at a loss as to what to give a non-Russian reading lesbian, however, so, oh well about that. I shopped around a little bit more and came across a book called "69 Russian Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transsexuals" (in Russian, of course) and immediately grabbed that. They tried to pawn off some tremendously expensive gay-themed jewelery to me, and I was like, "uhm, I'll look around a little bit first." Then, when I was making my purchases (which came to 799 rubles), I handed her a 1000, and she gave me too much change. I think she thought I was trying to cheat them when I tried to explain that the change wasn't correct, then I showed her the check and what she had given me and she was tremendously grateful for my honesty. So, that was a very pleasant shopping experience. Actually, probably one of the most pleasant I've had, here.
IRISHKA AND SARAH. You may read now.
In terms of gifts, I only have to buy both mom and dad one more thing each, and then.. Aislyn's ring, a couple small things for a few people, aaaand something else. I'm kind of worried as to suitcase limit, though. I'm not sure if I'll have enough room. I SHOULD ... But who knows. I'm going to wait until I'm packed to make my last shopping trips.
After that, I went to the dorms to say goodbye to people, since half the program is leaving tonight.
Oh, and a button fell off my jacket, today. I think I'm going to go sew that on, now...
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
In Which A Song Is Stuck in the Head
23.12.2008
Я назову планету именем твоим! Ты любовь моя, ты любовь мояяяя!!
Song. Stuck in head. For eternity. YARGH.
So I also have a toothache that is bothering me, and I'm chewing gum to satisfy that. Perhaps that's an awful method to treat a toothache, but I care not. I went to Pizza Hut (ПИЦЦА ХАТ!!) for the THIRD TIME, today. Maybe I should try to eat ethnic cuisine while I am abroad? .... Nah.
I woke up at HALF PAST NOON today, which is NOT what I had in mind. Indeed, it is 7pm and I still haven't started on my paper. Well, I mean, I have a little over five pages written so perhaps it is not fair to say that I "haven't started" on it. But I haven't started on FINISHING it. I think it's going to end up being one of those things where I'll go to write the last big chunk, and it'll get out of control and I'll end up writing 20 pages because I didn't get to finish saying what I wanted to say in the 10 page minimum. I think that's happened the last two major papers I've had to write. Which I suppose isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't leave much time for else.
Can I admit something? Every time I read something about cooperation between the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) it instills a *little* terror in me. Because I really think that cooperation is going to spell the death of American hegemony in world politics some time in the not-too-distant future. Especially if the US doesn't get its shit together. And I'm not going to say that the US will get its shit together under Obama, because I have to say that I have a hard time believing that he's going to get half of what he says he's going to do, done. Simply because ... well ... I don't think he CAN. And who knows what the GLOBAL! FINANCIAL! CRISIS! will do. If it's as bad or perhaps worse than what some economists are projecting, then I'm sure it'll be somehow blamed on 'democratic politics' and it'll just start the whole terrible process all over again. But then again, maybe I shouldn't worry about any of this, since the chances of the world becoming completely inhabitable within the next 20 years are more likely than anything else.
After that cheery forecast... Hm. I guess I don't have much else to say other than what I have already said. I'm kind of tired.. hm .... Maneka and I printed out bus tickets and made hotel reservations, so everything in terms of Latvia and Lithuania should be dandyriffic.
Я назову планету именем твоим! Ты любовь моя, ты любовь мояяяя!!
Song. Stuck in head. For eternity. YARGH.
So I also have a toothache that is bothering me, and I'm chewing gum to satisfy that. Perhaps that's an awful method to treat a toothache, but I care not. I went to Pizza Hut (ПИЦЦА ХАТ!!) for the THIRD TIME, today. Maybe I should try to eat ethnic cuisine while I am abroad? .... Nah.
I woke up at HALF PAST NOON today, which is NOT what I had in mind. Indeed, it is 7pm and I still haven't started on my paper. Well, I mean, I have a little over five pages written so perhaps it is not fair to say that I "haven't started" on it. But I haven't started on FINISHING it. I think it's going to end up being one of those things where I'll go to write the last big chunk, and it'll get out of control and I'll end up writing 20 pages because I didn't get to finish saying what I wanted to say in the 10 page minimum. I think that's happened the last two major papers I've had to write. Which I suppose isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't leave much time for else.
Can I admit something? Every time I read something about cooperation between the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) it instills a *little* terror in me. Because I really think that cooperation is going to spell the death of American hegemony in world politics some time in the not-too-distant future. Especially if the US doesn't get its shit together. And I'm not going to say that the US will get its shit together under Obama, because I have to say that I have a hard time believing that he's going to get half of what he says he's going to do, done. Simply because ... well ... I don't think he CAN. And who knows what the GLOBAL! FINANCIAL! CRISIS! will do. If it's as bad or perhaps worse than what some economists are projecting, then I'm sure it'll be somehow blamed on 'democratic politics' and it'll just start the whole terrible process all over again. But then again, maybe I shouldn't worry about any of this, since the chances of the world becoming completely inhabitable within the next 20 years are more likely than anything else.
After that cheery forecast... Hm. I guess I don't have much else to say other than what I have already said. I'm kind of tired.. hm .... Maneka and I printed out bus tickets and made hotel reservations, so everything in terms of Latvia and Lithuania should be dandyriffic.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
In Which I am Too lazy and don't want to title
22.12.2008
Today wasn't quite as productive as I wanted it to be, but it started well. I woke up, and after breakfast I was feeling in a “productive” mood so I immediately got my laptop out to write a bit before running off to Bobrinskij to do computing things and preparation for the seminar tonight. Cranked out a page and a half in no time at all, then went out.
Took a few pictures of the Neva this afternoon, and I'm hoping they turned out well. I also realised that the HOMOSEXUAL ART EXHIBITION in Bobrinskij is also loaded onto the internet, so I'll provide a link to that sometime soon. (maybe with this entry?!)
I fell once on 8th line today, on my way to the palace, and then almost fell five more times after the bridge. I realised why I stopped wearing my combat boots in the ice – THEY HAVE NO TREAD. Later in the evening, when coming back, I fell at the EXACT same place on 8th line, even though I was being careful aand thinking to myself, “I fell here earlier today... I need to watch my STEEEEP -fall-” Mildly humiliating.
By the time I got to Bobrinskij I actually felt like crap and had a light head. I think these mid-day dizzy spells and feeling-like-shit-ness are all due to me not eating lunch. WHAT A REVELATION. I don't really ever have the time, though. Nor is it ever convenient to try and run off to lunch somewhere, since Bobrinskij has nothing but vending machines. I did as much 'preparing' as I could have, which wasn't very much. Then I contemplated asking Andrei Vladimirovich if I could skip out on the final paper since I am the ONLY STUDENT WHO DID ANY WORK IN THE ENTIRE CLASS THE ENTIRE SEMESTER, NO EXAGGERATION, NO JOKE. NOT TO MENTION THE ONLY STUDENT WHO WAS NEVER LATE AND AT EVERY CLASS. AND WAS THERE SINCE THE BEGINNING (Since Anya joined three weeks in and Anzor joined NINE weeks into the class). Absolutely ridiculous. But then apparently he said we're MEETING NEXT WEEK to turn in our papers and PRESENT THEM ORALLY. Oh my GOD what an AWFUL set of circumstances that is. But I'll survive. I JUST HAPPEN TO KNOW WHAT I'LL BE DOING THIS weekend. The bad thing is is that I'll be writing a raw paper and won't be able to have anyone look over it before I turn it in. No good at all. We'll see what happens.
So, today, no one really seemed to know anything about the Vologda and Novgorod regions (our assignment was of course to research these two regions and write a little on the 'economic openness' and such), except for me, since I had prepared junk on them, so he forced me to explain everything. Again. Which was awful. I don't know how I can say ANYTHING. Argh. Whatever. Done.
After that went to the end of semester dinner. That was good because Maneka and I just kind of sat in the corner and made fun of everyone. I was perhaps a bit more loud about it than I usually am, and apparently E.B. (YES, I KNOW YOU SOMETIMES MIGHT READ THIS) and Matt were saying that I am INSECURE. I don't really know where that one came from.
And now here I am, home, tired, full of food ... Oh well shit, I planned on writing aa bit on my paper, and I was wondering why the hell I am so tired. It's 12:30am. I was going to nap then write a couple pages. WELP. That's not going to happen. Guess I'll have to cram the last five pages in tomorrow. No big deal, though. ALMOST FINISHED!!
Today wasn't quite as productive as I wanted it to be, but it started well. I woke up, and after breakfast I was feeling in a “productive” mood so I immediately got my laptop out to write a bit before running off to Bobrinskij to do computing things and preparation for the seminar tonight. Cranked out a page and a half in no time at all, then went out.
Took a few pictures of the Neva this afternoon, and I'm hoping they turned out well. I also realised that the HOMOSEXUAL ART EXHIBITION in Bobrinskij is also loaded onto the internet, so I'll provide a link to that sometime soon. (maybe with this entry?!)
I fell once on 8th line today, on my way to the palace, and then almost fell five more times after the bridge. I realised why I stopped wearing my combat boots in the ice – THEY HAVE NO TREAD. Later in the evening, when coming back, I fell at the EXACT same place on 8th line, even though I was being careful aand thinking to myself, “I fell here earlier today... I need to watch my STEEEEP -fall-” Mildly humiliating.
By the time I got to Bobrinskij I actually felt like crap and had a light head. I think these mid-day dizzy spells and feeling-like-shit-ness are all due to me not eating lunch. WHAT A REVELATION. I don't really ever have the time, though. Nor is it ever convenient to try and run off to lunch somewhere, since Bobrinskij has nothing but vending machines. I did as much 'preparing' as I could have, which wasn't very much. Then I contemplated asking Andrei Vladimirovich if I could skip out on the final paper since I am the ONLY STUDENT WHO DID ANY WORK IN THE ENTIRE CLASS THE ENTIRE SEMESTER, NO EXAGGERATION, NO JOKE. NOT TO MENTION THE ONLY STUDENT WHO WAS NEVER LATE AND AT EVERY CLASS. AND WAS THERE SINCE THE BEGINNING (Since Anya joined three weeks in and Anzor joined NINE weeks into the class). Absolutely ridiculous. But then apparently he said we're MEETING NEXT WEEK to turn in our papers and PRESENT THEM ORALLY. Oh my GOD what an AWFUL set of circumstances that is. But I'll survive. I JUST HAPPEN TO KNOW WHAT I'LL BE DOING THIS weekend. The bad thing is is that I'll be writing a raw paper and won't be able to have anyone look over it before I turn it in. No good at all. We'll see what happens.
So, today, no one really seemed to know anything about the Vologda and Novgorod regions (our assignment was of course to research these two regions and write a little on the 'economic openness' and such), except for me, since I had prepared junk on them, so he forced me to explain everything. Again. Which was awful. I don't know how I can say ANYTHING. Argh. Whatever. Done.
After that went to the end of semester dinner. That was good because Maneka and I just kind of sat in the corner and made fun of everyone. I was perhaps a bit more loud about it than I usually am, and apparently E.B. (YES, I KNOW YOU SOMETIMES MIGHT READ THIS) and Matt were saying that I am INSECURE. I don't really know where that one came from.
And now here I am, home, tired, full of food ... Oh well shit, I planned on writing aa bit on my paper, and I was wondering why the hell I am so tired. It's 12:30am. I was going to nap then write a couple pages. WELP. That's not going to happen. Guess I'll have to cram the last five pages in tomorrow. No big deal, though. ALMOST FINISHED!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
In Which the Opera is Attended, Again
18.12.2008
Today I realised that I have never so much as LOOKED at the Bronze Horseman. Which is quite sad, since it is one of the most famous statues in all of Petersburg.
Well, that's a lie. I have glanced at it, before. But I didn't know it was the Bronze Horseman. I saw it, and all I could think was "Ew, that is a hideous statue" and just walked on. Today, I received a farewell postcard from the program managers that featured the Bronze Horseman on the front, and I was like, "OMG, THAT'S the Bronze horseman?" Yeah, alright, call me uncultured. I don't care.
I had my final two exams, today -- SMI and Phonetics (EVERY TIME I GO TO SPELL THAT FUCKING WORD I START WRITING 'FONETIKS' BECAUSE OF HOW IT IS SPELLED IN RUSSIAN. AAAAAH!!). Both had oral portions, and both teachers said that I did well, so, I suppose I did well. I got an A on the mid-terms for those classes, plus did well in them, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about. The thing is, I was completely out of it all day and certainly didn't do my best.
After that we had our final 'awards' lunch. Not sure why it was called an 'awards' lunch. We were all given ... a posterbook. From the same collection I've been buying from. So, uh, now I have .... 62 Soviet posters.... Know what that means? DON'T HAVE TO BUY GIFTS ANYMORE!! WHOOO. Well, either I could WALLPAPER my room with Soviet posters, or I could give out a bunch of them as gifts. YOU ALL KNOW WHAT YOOOU'RE GETTING! Bahaha.
I have to say, I'll really miss Lyudmila Petrovna and Olga Valentinovna. Best personalities ever, and they were almost always late to class. Well, Olga Valentinovna was, anyway.
So, Tatyana gave me black bread with crushed garlic smeared atop for dinner, tonight. Yum. One thing I've also noticed, here: French fries are considered to be a legitimate side to a meal. Hmm.
Tomorrow, Maneka and I are going out to buy train and bus tickets to Lithuania and back. Then we're going to book hotel rooms. This is actually pretty exciting since it's the first time I get to take a vacation like this. I am displeased that I never made it to Finland, though -- I wish I went towards the beginning of the semester when I had less to do. But I figured after the 25th I would be free. LITTLE DID I KNOW. Little did I know... Anyway, if anyone is BORED out of their MINDS and has some freetime, find strange and interesting things to do in Vilnius and Riga. Because Maneka and I are just kind of going to ... drop ourselves off in the cities and walk around trying to find things to do. Of course, we can't speak Lithuanian or Latvian so we're hoping knowing English and Russian will be enough to get us by.
And, from now to the 10th, my posts will probably be very sporadic. And long. Since the days will accumulate. After next week I don't really have ANY access to the internet, unless I go to the cafe, which requires me to lug my laptop around, and pay, neither of which I'm particularly willing to do. There will be a MASSIVE photo update, though, when I return home, as I plan on taking photos around Petersburg and of course in Lithuania and Latvia. SO, LOOK FORWARD TO THAT, KIDDIES.
For now, however, I am going to write a massive paper.
19.12.2008
Today, Maneka and I went to buy train tickets, which was successful. Then, we wanted to buy bus tickets ASAP, so at least our transportation is guaranteed for the trip. So we stopped into McDonalds, which, by the way, seems to be where ALL Russian youth congregate, as the place was FILLED with young college aged-high school types. Except for some poor smiling man in the corner, seeming to live vicariously through everyone around him ... Or scoping out the young dainties. I couldn't tell which. Maneka suggested, “Maybe he just loved гамбургеры(gamburgery!!).” Unfortunately, some sort of failure occurred on the internet (surprise surprise) so we got no bus tickets.
After that we went to the Nord shopping centre, and after searching forever and a day I bought a jacket. So now I look like a basic Russian sleazy-jackass. I mean, I like the jacket. And it looks good on me. But, uhm, at the same time, it doesn't exactly fit my 'style.' That is to say, it's a goose down puff polyester jacket with a large fur collar.
Then I came home and wasted the entire day by not even glancing at anything having to do with my paper, instead watching bad shows and movies all evening and night. But tomorrow I definitely plan on spending most all of the day writing the paper. In the evening, I'll be going to “La Traviata” at the St. Petersburg Opera. So. There's that. My CULTURAL REQUIREMENT for the week.
Aaaand so I just watched a horrifying tragic romance film, Московский Жигило (Muscovite Giggolo). And by horrifying I mean it involved blood and beatings and those sorts of things. It was actually a really good movie, however.
21.12.2008
Yesterday basically wasted the entire day sitting around and feeling like shit. Wrote a little over a page of my paper so now I'm at ... almost two pages. I'm going to try to get at least up to five, today. I'm not that worried about actually writing it, anymore, I'm just worried about it turning into a pile of crap. Well, it already is that, since basically I just ranted on for two pages about the pointlessness of NATO, and I'm about to rant for another couple pages on the pointlessness of ties to Georgia and the West's total misconception of the whole affair. Oh, I think I threw a paragraph about the hopeless political situation in Ukraine, too. Maybe I should expand on that one. But then again I already ranted on for 50 minutes on that very topic, in class, so maybe I shouldn't.
Oh, and I seem to have sidestepped illness for the third time since being here. This past Friday I woke up with a mild sore throat that persisted through most of the day, so I drank a lot of water and tea, and ate some lemon and honey (plus took a nice strong dose of vitamin C, but that usually just prevents sickness before it happens as opposed to actually 'curing' you) and the sore throat was completely gone by yesterday. Which was a relief, because I just sorely did not want to be ill in my last weeks here.
So, I went to La Traviata at the St. Petersburg Opera last night. Vika told me to go, a long time ago, because she said it was cheap, good quality, and a good break from the Mariinskij and Mikhailovsky. She also said it was beautiful. So I took my camera.
AND OH MY GOD IT WAS FUCKING GORGEOUS. Very very small, and surprisingly few people were there. Basically I can't even describe it, but the place is a restored palace (small palace) with its own private theatre. Easily THE most beautiful theatre I've ever seen. Even beats the Mariinskij. I took photos, but they don't do it justice. Especially since the lighting was really soft, so a lot of the photos turned out too blurry, and I used flash for a couple, which made everything look like shit. EXCEPT, ONE OF THE PHOTOS I TOOK WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, IF THERE WASN'T A GIGANTIC LIGHTING FIXTURE IN THE WAY. ARGH. Oh, and the room right before the theatre itself was decorated like a... cave. Yes. Apparently this was fashionable in the 19th century or something. It was kind of ugly. But I took photos anyway because it was really weird.
As for the opera itself, I realised after I bought the tickets that the opera was probably translated from the Italian into Russian, which would have ruined the entire point of me going to see a non-Russian play, but for some reason they translate them all, here (I thank GOD they don't do that in America, usually). HOWEVER, it turned out that they DIDN'T translate it, so it was in Italian, and that was good. But, then, I walked in ... aand ... based on the way the stage was set up, it was a contemporary take on the opera. Which made me really apprehensive. But they actually did a really good job of it, and it was still absolutely beautiful regardless. AND, they had classical masquerade ball costumes on during the second act, so that was good. The only thing that annoyed me was that in the second scene it was like ... tropical. So Alfretto (is that his name...?) had a ... hawaiian shirt on? And there was an umbrella. And at one point they were singing to a gigantic plush crab. But I looked past that since the singers were fantastic, and they came down into the audience a few times which was unsual, since I never see them do that in operas. But I guess since the theatre was so tiny, they did it.
Oh, and another strange thing was that Alfretto (or is it Alfredo? Wait, no, that's a pasta sauce...) was wearing this absolutely hideous outfit during the ball scene, when everyone else was in matching gold and black costumes. I don't know what it was, but it looked like a football under-jersey with a big “1” on the back, black slacks, and sneakers? Violetta was wearing a classy cocktail dress, which was different but at least acceptable, but what the hell? It makes me think that something technical happened, like he couldn't get dressed in time or someone forgot his costume. I don't know, but it was terrible.
Basically, that's that. I don't plan on doing much of anything, tonight. Just going to write my paper, today, and see if I can hit the 5 page mark. Oh, and it's snowing. Not that that's news.
Today I realised that I have never so much as LOOKED at the Bronze Horseman. Which is quite sad, since it is one of the most famous statues in all of Petersburg.
Well, that's a lie. I have glanced at it, before. But I didn't know it was the Bronze Horseman. I saw it, and all I could think was "Ew, that is a hideous statue" and just walked on. Today, I received a farewell postcard from the program managers that featured the Bronze Horseman on the front, and I was like, "OMG, THAT'S the Bronze horseman?" Yeah, alright, call me uncultured. I don't care.
I had my final two exams, today -- SMI and Phonetics (EVERY TIME I GO TO SPELL THAT FUCKING WORD I START WRITING 'FONETIKS' BECAUSE OF HOW IT IS SPELLED IN RUSSIAN. AAAAAH!!). Both had oral portions, and both teachers said that I did well, so, I suppose I did well. I got an A on the mid-terms for those classes, plus did well in them, so I shouldn't have anything to worry about. The thing is, I was completely out of it all day and certainly didn't do my best.
After that we had our final 'awards' lunch. Not sure why it was called an 'awards' lunch. We were all given ... a posterbook. From the same collection I've been buying from. So, uh, now I have .... 62 Soviet posters.... Know what that means? DON'T HAVE TO BUY GIFTS ANYMORE!! WHOOO. Well, either I could WALLPAPER my room with Soviet posters, or I could give out a bunch of them as gifts. YOU ALL KNOW WHAT YOOOU'RE GETTING! Bahaha.
I have to say, I'll really miss Lyudmila Petrovna and Olga Valentinovna. Best personalities ever, and they were almost always late to class. Well, Olga Valentinovna was, anyway.
So, Tatyana gave me black bread with crushed garlic smeared atop for dinner, tonight. Yum. One thing I've also noticed, here: French fries are considered to be a legitimate side to a meal. Hmm.
Tomorrow, Maneka and I are going out to buy train and bus tickets to Lithuania and back. Then we're going to book hotel rooms. This is actually pretty exciting since it's the first time I get to take a vacation like this. I am displeased that I never made it to Finland, though -- I wish I went towards the beginning of the semester when I had less to do. But I figured after the 25th I would be free. LITTLE DID I KNOW. Little did I know... Anyway, if anyone is BORED out of their MINDS and has some freetime, find strange and interesting things to do in Vilnius and Riga. Because Maneka and I are just kind of going to ... drop ourselves off in the cities and walk around trying to find things to do. Of course, we can't speak Lithuanian or Latvian so we're hoping knowing English and Russian will be enough to get us by.
And, from now to the 10th, my posts will probably be very sporadic. And long. Since the days will accumulate. After next week I don't really have ANY access to the internet, unless I go to the cafe, which requires me to lug my laptop around, and pay, neither of which I'm particularly willing to do. There will be a MASSIVE photo update, though, when I return home, as I plan on taking photos around Petersburg and of course in Lithuania and Latvia. SO, LOOK FORWARD TO THAT, KIDDIES.
For now, however, I am going to write a massive paper.
19.12.2008
Today, Maneka and I went to buy train tickets, which was successful. Then, we wanted to buy bus tickets ASAP, so at least our transportation is guaranteed for the trip. So we stopped into McDonalds, which, by the way, seems to be where ALL Russian youth congregate, as the place was FILLED with young college aged-high school types. Except for some poor smiling man in the corner, seeming to live vicariously through everyone around him ... Or scoping out the young dainties. I couldn't tell which. Maneka suggested, “Maybe he just loved гамбургеры(gamburgery!!).” Unfortunately, some sort of failure occurred on the internet (surprise surprise) so we got no bus tickets.
After that we went to the Nord shopping centre, and after searching forever and a day I bought a jacket. So now I look like a basic Russian sleazy-jackass. I mean, I like the jacket. And it looks good on me. But, uhm, at the same time, it doesn't exactly fit my 'style.' That is to say, it's a goose down puff polyester jacket with a large fur collar.
Then I came home and wasted the entire day by not even glancing at anything having to do with my paper, instead watching bad shows and movies all evening and night. But tomorrow I definitely plan on spending most all of the day writing the paper. In the evening, I'll be going to “La Traviata” at the St. Petersburg Opera. So. There's that. My CULTURAL REQUIREMENT for the week.
Aaaand so I just watched a horrifying tragic romance film, Московский Жигило (Muscovite Giggolo). And by horrifying I mean it involved blood and beatings and those sorts of things. It was actually a really good movie, however.
21.12.2008
Yesterday basically wasted the entire day sitting around and feeling like shit. Wrote a little over a page of my paper so now I'm at ... almost two pages. I'm going to try to get at least up to five, today. I'm not that worried about actually writing it, anymore, I'm just worried about it turning into a pile of crap. Well, it already is that, since basically I just ranted on for two pages about the pointlessness of NATO, and I'm about to rant for another couple pages on the pointlessness of ties to Georgia and the West's total misconception of the whole affair. Oh, I think I threw a paragraph about the hopeless political situation in Ukraine, too. Maybe I should expand on that one. But then again I already ranted on for 50 minutes on that very topic, in class, so maybe I shouldn't.
Oh, and I seem to have sidestepped illness for the third time since being here. This past Friday I woke up with a mild sore throat that persisted through most of the day, so I drank a lot of water and tea, and ate some lemon and honey (plus took a nice strong dose of vitamin C, but that usually just prevents sickness before it happens as opposed to actually 'curing' you) and the sore throat was completely gone by yesterday. Which was a relief, because I just sorely did not want to be ill in my last weeks here.
So, I went to La Traviata at the St. Petersburg Opera last night. Vika told me to go, a long time ago, because she said it was cheap, good quality, and a good break from the Mariinskij and Mikhailovsky. She also said it was beautiful. So I took my camera.
AND OH MY GOD IT WAS FUCKING GORGEOUS. Very very small, and surprisingly few people were there. Basically I can't even describe it, but the place is a restored palace (small palace) with its own private theatre. Easily THE most beautiful theatre I've ever seen. Even beats the Mariinskij. I took photos, but they don't do it justice. Especially since the lighting was really soft, so a lot of the photos turned out too blurry, and I used flash for a couple, which made everything look like shit. EXCEPT, ONE OF THE PHOTOS I TOOK WOULD BE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, IF THERE WASN'T A GIGANTIC LIGHTING FIXTURE IN THE WAY. ARGH. Oh, and the room right before the theatre itself was decorated like a... cave. Yes. Apparently this was fashionable in the 19th century or something. It was kind of ugly. But I took photos anyway because it was really weird.
As for the opera itself, I realised after I bought the tickets that the opera was probably translated from the Italian into Russian, which would have ruined the entire point of me going to see a non-Russian play, but for some reason they translate them all, here (I thank GOD they don't do that in America, usually). HOWEVER, it turned out that they DIDN'T translate it, so it was in Italian, and that was good. But, then, I walked in ... aand ... based on the way the stage was set up, it was a contemporary take on the opera. Which made me really apprehensive. But they actually did a really good job of it, and it was still absolutely beautiful regardless. AND, they had classical masquerade ball costumes on during the second act, so that was good. The only thing that annoyed me was that in the second scene it was like ... tropical. So Alfretto (is that his name...?) had a ... hawaiian shirt on? And there was an umbrella. And at one point they were singing to a gigantic plush crab. But I looked past that since the singers were fantastic, and they came down into the audience a few times which was unsual, since I never see them do that in operas. But I guess since the theatre was so tiny, they did it.
Oh, and another strange thing was that Alfretto (or is it Alfredo? Wait, no, that's a pasta sauce...) was wearing this absolutely hideous outfit during the ball scene, when everyone else was in matching gold and black costumes. I don't know what it was, but it looked like a football under-jersey with a big “1” on the back, black slacks, and sneakers? Violetta was wearing a classy cocktail dress, which was different but at least acceptable, but what the hell? It makes me think that something technical happened, like he couldn't get dressed in time or someone forgot his costume. I don't know, but it was terrible.
Basically, that's that. I don't plan on doing much of anything, tonight. Just going to write my paper, today, and see if I can hit the 5 page mark. Oh, and it's snowing. Not that that's news.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
In Which I am in a rush and can't do a name for this entry
17.12.2008
So I'm sitting here not doing my work when I should, which is unsurprising. But, the fact is, like last night and the night before and the WEEK before, I couldn't get to sleep, so I shouldn't even try to get to sleep at a decent hour, tonight. I have plenty enough to do that I don't need to waste time lying in bed staring at ... blackness.
Speaking of which, I think I just realised that I don't remember the last time I saw sunlight. I mean, sure, there's "daylight" here... for a couple hours... every now and then. But it can hardly be called daylight. More like ... GREYLIGHT! Oh look at me make ... puns? That's not a pun. A RHYMING JOKE! That's beside the point. THE POINT IS. There is no light. And it is depressing. I'm kind of glad I'm not so far north that there are WEEKS without light.
Professor Vertkin gave us our paper topic, today. "Russia and the US - The Future." Yep. Broad. I'm going to at least form an outline, tonight. The good thing is that, after a little begging, he reduced the paper size from 10 pages 1.5 spaced to 10 pages double spaced. So, uhm, yeah. And he said it's not a research paper (clearly), so ... it's ... What we think. I guess I do a good enough job of rattling on, here, that I shouldn't worry about length, but I'm not sure I can write 10 pages of what I think is going to happen in US-Russian relations in the future. Maybe, "Right now they're as bad as they've been since the Cold War. They will improve with the coming presidency. Human civilisation is wiped out in the next few years anyway because of environmental abuse, so what's the point?" I saved over 20 pages of news articles from the BBC, Euronews, Time Magazine and Kommersant before leaving Bobrinskij, so maybe that'll shake up some ideas for LENGTH.
Augh. I feel really sluggish, today. Or perhaps, as I told Tatyana, I HAVE A LOT OF OATMEAL IN MY HEAD. I have to say, that is actually one one of the most useful phrases Annalisa Iosefovna taught us.
Tomorrow I have two exams, then the awards ... lunch ... for the RSL program. So, woohoo for that. RSL ending before everything else has made me tremendously lazy, though, and I feel like I don't have to/shouldn't do my work for my Human Rights course.
Alright, some jackass in the building put their TV/radio right next to their heater, so that's all I can hear coming through the pipes, and it's driving me up the wall. I think I preferred the screaming baby.
I feel like I had more to add... OH, RIGHT. IT'S FUCKING COLD. The temperature has been decreasing by one degree centigrade every day for the past five days. So right now it's at about -6. WHICH IS FUCKING COLD. However, I have to say, going by Celcius makes things seem all the colder, because I think -6 is something like the low 20's in Fahrenheit? Which, to me, doesn't seem THAT cold. I mean, cold, yes, but not FACE-RIPPING cold like it feels here. Of course, this all depends on the wind chill factor, and walking across that bridge is QUITE WINDY. QUITE WINDY INDEED. I made the mistake of NOT wearing my hat, today, because I feel like a fool wandering around with a big fur hat here since no one under the age of 50 seems to wear them, but at this point I CARE NOT about being perceived as a fool. I'd rather my ears not fall off.
In addition, it snows all the time, now. Which I guess makes sense, since it rained all the time, before, and now it's too cold to rain ... so ... it snows. Or something. Right, I am procrastinating, now. Time to work.
So I'm sitting here not doing my work when I should, which is unsurprising. But, the fact is, like last night and the night before and the WEEK before, I couldn't get to sleep, so I shouldn't even try to get to sleep at a decent hour, tonight. I have plenty enough to do that I don't need to waste time lying in bed staring at ... blackness.
Speaking of which, I think I just realised that I don't remember the last time I saw sunlight. I mean, sure, there's "daylight" here... for a couple hours... every now and then. But it can hardly be called daylight. More like ... GREYLIGHT! Oh look at me make ... puns? That's not a pun. A RHYMING JOKE! That's beside the point. THE POINT IS. There is no light. And it is depressing. I'm kind of glad I'm not so far north that there are WEEKS without light.
Professor Vertkin gave us our paper topic, today. "Russia and the US - The Future." Yep. Broad. I'm going to at least form an outline, tonight. The good thing is that, after a little begging, he reduced the paper size from 10 pages 1.5 spaced to 10 pages double spaced. So, uhm, yeah. And he said it's not a research paper (clearly), so ... it's ... What we think. I guess I do a good enough job of rattling on, here, that I shouldn't worry about length, but I'm not sure I can write 10 pages of what I think is going to happen in US-Russian relations in the future. Maybe, "Right now they're as bad as they've been since the Cold War. They will improve with the coming presidency. Human civilisation is wiped out in the next few years anyway because of environmental abuse, so what's the point?" I saved over 20 pages of news articles from the BBC, Euronews, Time Magazine and Kommersant before leaving Bobrinskij, so maybe that'll shake up some ideas for LENGTH.
Augh. I feel really sluggish, today. Or perhaps, as I told Tatyana, I HAVE A LOT OF OATMEAL IN MY HEAD. I have to say, that is actually one one of the most useful phrases Annalisa Iosefovna taught us.
Tomorrow I have two exams, then the awards ... lunch ... for the RSL program. So, woohoo for that. RSL ending before everything else has made me tremendously lazy, though, and I feel like I don't have to/shouldn't do my work for my Human Rights course.
Alright, some jackass in the building put their TV/radio right next to their heater, so that's all I can hear coming through the pipes, and it's driving me up the wall. I think I preferred the screaming baby.
I feel like I had more to add... OH, RIGHT. IT'S FUCKING COLD. The temperature has been decreasing by one degree centigrade every day for the past five days. So right now it's at about -6. WHICH IS FUCKING COLD. However, I have to say, going by Celcius makes things seem all the colder, because I think -6 is something like the low 20's in Fahrenheit? Which, to me, doesn't seem THAT cold. I mean, cold, yes, but not FACE-RIPPING cold like it feels here. Of course, this all depends on the wind chill factor, and walking across that bridge is QUITE WINDY. QUITE WINDY INDEED. I made the mistake of NOT wearing my hat, today, because I feel like a fool wandering around with a big fur hat here since no one under the age of 50 seems to wear them, but at this point I CARE NOT about being perceived as a fool. I'd rather my ears not fall off.
In addition, it snows all the time, now. Which I guess makes sense, since it rained all the time, before, and now it's too cold to rain ... so ... it snows. Or something. Right, I am procrastinating, now. Time to work.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
In Which the Banya is Visited
16.12.2008
Today was interesting .... Had my test for Conversation, and that didn't go too well. I think I got the same grade as I did last time, which was disappointing.
Other than that I sat around most all day and did nothing, as I had to wait until 4:15 to go to the BANYA. Which was an ... interesting experience. Basically, the set up is like this:
-Take a short shower, basically just rinsing the self off.
-Enter a sauna, which can range anywhere from 80-100-something Celcius. Ours was at a little over 80 most of the time.
-While in the sauna, beat self with a bundle of leaves and sticks... Or have someone else do it for you.
-Exit sauna, immediately dump a bucket of ice cold water on self (by means of pulling a string connected to said bucket, which hangs from above)
-Jump into a pool of cold water.
-Repeat process three times, then take a break, and start all over again.
Right, so, to me, that sounds like a fantastic way to get ill. But that's just me. Usually you do this in a public bath house, with all sorts of naked old men wandering around. We had a private complex, though, so it was just me plus the other guys in the program. Which was awkward for a short while, but then was fine. Even when we ... beat eachother ... with bundles of leaves. This sounds really strange, but oh well.
Originally I wanted to go with Russian guys, but Yura had no desire, claiming only peasants went to the banya, so, there you have it.
It's supposed to be relaxing, but my head just kind of hurts right now. Maybe if I can sleep, tonight, it was worth it, though.
That's really all... Two more RSL exams, then two more papers, and I'm finished. except, one of the papers... so, Vertkin is giving us a week to write a paper, like he did for the mid-term. This time, however, the paper is to be SIXTEEN pages. Well, ten pages 1.5 spaced, which is effectively 15-16 double spaced. I ... don't think I can physically manage that. Last time, I spent two days researching, four days analyzing said research and coming up with an effective outline, then ONE day writing the paper. By the end of writing, I was nearly DEAD, and the paper wasn't even the full length. He said he's giving us a broader topic this time, too, which makes it harder (especially since the last topic was pretty damned broad -- "what, in your opinion, was the turning point of the Cold War?")
One thing I thought about, today, however, upon receiving a letter from dear Sarah ... So. I think Anndal's returned from France, and Jen should be back from the UK. Sarah is leaving Italy tomorrow. Kate's Shangai program is over and she's returning to America I think next week. I ... Am still in Russia. And I'm still here for a little less than a MONTH. And while that may be soon, it sure doesn't FEEL soon... And at the same time it almost seems like I was never here? I don't know. It's difficult to explain I suppose. Returning to America seems terrifying and exciting all at the same time. But maybe I'm just thinking like that because I'm listening to dramatic Russian romance music, which INTENSIFIES THE EMOTIONS like a good wine. Or something. I don't know. I've lost my mind. Я СХОЖУ С УМА. That means, I AM WALKING DOWN FROM MY MIND. Anyway. I'm not sure where I was going with that. To sum, I suppose, all my friends have nearly finished their international excursions, and for some reason that makes me feel alone. Despite the fact that I've had little contact with any of them the entire semester
Alright, well, I'm finished for tonight.
Today was interesting .... Had my test for Conversation, and that didn't go too well. I think I got the same grade as I did last time, which was disappointing.
Other than that I sat around most all day and did nothing, as I had to wait until 4:15 to go to the BANYA. Which was an ... interesting experience. Basically, the set up is like this:
-Take a short shower, basically just rinsing the self off.
-Enter a sauna, which can range anywhere from 80-100-something Celcius. Ours was at a little over 80 most of the time.
-While in the sauna, beat self with a bundle of leaves and sticks... Or have someone else do it for you.
-Exit sauna, immediately dump a bucket of ice cold water on self (by means of pulling a string connected to said bucket, which hangs from above)
-Jump into a pool of cold water.
-Repeat process three times, then take a break, and start all over again.
Right, so, to me, that sounds like a fantastic way to get ill. But that's just me. Usually you do this in a public bath house, with all sorts of naked old men wandering around. We had a private complex, though, so it was just me plus the other guys in the program. Which was awkward for a short while, but then was fine. Even when we ... beat eachother ... with bundles of leaves. This sounds really strange, but oh well.
Originally I wanted to go with Russian guys, but Yura had no desire, claiming only peasants went to the banya, so, there you have it.
It's supposed to be relaxing, but my head just kind of hurts right now. Maybe if I can sleep, tonight, it was worth it, though.
That's really all... Two more RSL exams, then two more papers, and I'm finished. except, one of the papers... so, Vertkin is giving us a week to write a paper, like he did for the mid-term. This time, however, the paper is to be SIXTEEN pages. Well, ten pages 1.5 spaced, which is effectively 15-16 double spaced. I ... don't think I can physically manage that. Last time, I spent two days researching, four days analyzing said research and coming up with an effective outline, then ONE day writing the paper. By the end of writing, I was nearly DEAD, and the paper wasn't even the full length. He said he's giving us a broader topic this time, too, which makes it harder (especially since the last topic was pretty damned broad -- "what, in your opinion, was the turning point of the Cold War?")
One thing I thought about, today, however, upon receiving a letter from dear Sarah ... So. I think Anndal's returned from France, and Jen should be back from the UK. Sarah is leaving Italy tomorrow. Kate's Shangai program is over and she's returning to America I think next week. I ... Am still in Russia. And I'm still here for a little less than a MONTH. And while that may be soon, it sure doesn't FEEL soon... And at the same time it almost seems like I was never here? I don't know. It's difficult to explain I suppose. Returning to America seems terrifying and exciting all at the same time. But maybe I'm just thinking like that because I'm listening to dramatic Russian romance music, which INTENSIFIES THE EMOTIONS like a good wine. Or something. I don't know. I've lost my mind. Я СХОЖУ С УМА. That means, I AM WALKING DOWN FROM MY MIND. Anyway. I'm not sure where I was going with that. To sum, I suppose, all my friends have nearly finished their international excursions, and for some reason that makes me feel alone. Despite the fact that I've had little contact with any of them the entire semester
Alright, well, I'm finished for tonight.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
In Which Time is Wasted
15.12.2008
So Georgie Porgie getting shoes thrown at him has been on loop on all the news channels, here. The Russians are having a riot. I saw it on the news on the internet while at the university, then again on a TV on my way home, and when I got home Tatyana immediately exclaimed in excitement, "HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?! YOUR PRESIDENT HAD SHOOOOES THROWN AT HIM!" After a short exchange on that, I went to my room, and she called me back in to the room because it came up on the news again, and no less than 30 minutes later while eating dinner it was shown AGAIN. I mean, I know news channels go on a loop anyway, but this is just absurd. If not amusing, anyway.
In our exchange, Tatyana was saying "I bet these protests (the ones for the journalist who threw the shoes) aren't being shown on the American news, are they?!" and I responded, "Well, maybe, but probably shorter and in a different light..." to which SHE responded, "Yeah, the media isn't open. It's better to talk, and have media open, like this!" and she gestured towards the television, which of course was turned to the Pervyj Kanal... the main state-owned news network in Russia. I didn't argue the point.
In other news, I had my Grammar exam this morning. For some reason I was really stressed about it. But, it was easy. WELL. The first half was easy, and made sense. That half was written by Lyudmila Petrovna. The second half, however, was stupid as hell and many of the questions made little to no sense. That half was written by the American professor. He was not present at the exam, so I called Lyudmila Petrovna over and she was like "Eric, I read these questions over and over last night. I do not understand them at all, either. I wrote him a letter, but, I don't know what to do about that right now." and then basically told me to put down whatever. So, there's that.
After that I went to Bobrinskij, which was kind of annoying, since my exam was earlier than class usually is, so I was finished with that by 12:30, and didn't have class until 6:30. Well, then, at about 5, Andrei Vladimirovich sent me an e-mail saying class was cancelled. THANKS. WASTED FIVE HOURS IN BOBRINSKIJ. I could have gone ... shopping, or something. Actually, the most annoying thing is that, with class tonight, I supposedly had ZERO time to do anything other than what was already planned, until Friday. And even Friday and this weekend are very very constricted because I have an exam paper I need to write for Dmitri Markovich starting on Wednesday. Maneka and I are supposed to buy train tickets to Lithuania, but we basically can't find any damned time to do so. AND WE COULD HAVE TODAY, IF I HAD KNOWN CLASS WERE CANCELLED. But ah, such is life.
As for a couple things that happened in Bobrinskij.... There's a corridor on the way to the library that is called the "Open Studio Gallery," and they always have an exhbition of student works, put up by students, in there, which they change every now and then. Well, they recently started changing the expositions... and in one of the little alcoves, I did a double-take. VERY clearly gay-oriented photography. I mean, I know Smolny's the most liberal institute in the country, but that isn't very difficult to claim. In any case, as for what the photography actually consisted of, they were all self-portraits... But one in particular was like .... narcissistic artistic orgy. That's the only thing I can think of, to describe it. If you just glanced at it, it looks like ten or so naked guys sitting on a bed together. But if you look closer, you'll notice that all the guys are the same person, who I think is the photographer. So it's a photomanipulated photo montage. I think I'm going to try to take a picture of the exhibit on Wednesday, just because.
Seeing 'visible homosexuality' here was exciting, but at the same time kind of made me sad. Makes me regret not getting more involved in the 'artistic crowd,' so to speak. But then again I can't really do crap with the visual arts anyway.
Then, while sitting in the library, Vika pointed at some guy who was reading a book and... he was... SCANNING the book, I think. He had this long... stick... object that he was running over each page, and both Vika and I were like "What in the name of God?" Apparently, these Russian students are ahead of us in technology.
And to end my day's journey, when I got to the metro, it was of course rush hour so there was a massive crowd of people trying to get in. I got stuck behind a guy who had a furry hood on his coat, so I was suffocating from that for about three minutes until there was enough room to move away from him. Actually, his coat was cool -- it's the kind of coat that I want that seems really popular amongst Russian jackass male specimens, here --- a sort of shiny patent leather puff (usually quilted) coat with a fur-lined hood. I'm going to try and shop for one on Friday.
So Georgie Porgie getting shoes thrown at him has been on loop on all the news channels, here. The Russians are having a riot. I saw it on the news on the internet while at the university, then again on a TV on my way home, and when I got home Tatyana immediately exclaimed in excitement, "HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEWS?! YOUR PRESIDENT HAD SHOOOOES THROWN AT HIM!" After a short exchange on that, I went to my room, and she called me back in to the room because it came up on the news again, and no less than 30 minutes later while eating dinner it was shown AGAIN. I mean, I know news channels go on a loop anyway, but this is just absurd. If not amusing, anyway.
In our exchange, Tatyana was saying "I bet these protests (the ones for the journalist who threw the shoes) aren't being shown on the American news, are they?!" and I responded, "Well, maybe, but probably shorter and in a different light..." to which SHE responded, "Yeah, the media isn't open. It's better to talk, and have media open, like this!" and she gestured towards the television, which of course was turned to the Pervyj Kanal... the main state-owned news network in Russia. I didn't argue the point.
In other news, I had my Grammar exam this morning. For some reason I was really stressed about it. But, it was easy. WELL. The first half was easy, and made sense. That half was written by Lyudmila Petrovna. The second half, however, was stupid as hell and many of the questions made little to no sense. That half was written by the American professor. He was not present at the exam, so I called Lyudmila Petrovna over and she was like "Eric, I read these questions over and over last night. I do not understand them at all, either. I wrote him a letter, but, I don't know what to do about that right now." and then basically told me to put down whatever. So, there's that.
After that I went to Bobrinskij, which was kind of annoying, since my exam was earlier than class usually is, so I was finished with that by 12:30, and didn't have class until 6:30. Well, then, at about 5, Andrei Vladimirovich sent me an e-mail saying class was cancelled. THANKS. WASTED FIVE HOURS IN BOBRINSKIJ. I could have gone ... shopping, or something. Actually, the most annoying thing is that, with class tonight, I supposedly had ZERO time to do anything other than what was already planned, until Friday. And even Friday and this weekend are very very constricted because I have an exam paper I need to write for Dmitri Markovich starting on Wednesday. Maneka and I are supposed to buy train tickets to Lithuania, but we basically can't find any damned time to do so. AND WE COULD HAVE TODAY, IF I HAD KNOWN CLASS WERE CANCELLED. But ah, such is life.
As for a couple things that happened in Bobrinskij.... There's a corridor on the way to the library that is called the "Open Studio Gallery," and they always have an exhbition of student works, put up by students, in there, which they change every now and then. Well, they recently started changing the expositions... and in one of the little alcoves, I did a double-take. VERY clearly gay-oriented photography. I mean, I know Smolny's the most liberal institute in the country, but that isn't very difficult to claim. In any case, as for what the photography actually consisted of, they were all self-portraits... But one in particular was like .... narcissistic artistic orgy. That's the only thing I can think of, to describe it. If you just glanced at it, it looks like ten or so naked guys sitting on a bed together. But if you look closer, you'll notice that all the guys are the same person, who I think is the photographer. So it's a photomanipulated photo montage. I think I'm going to try to take a picture of the exhibit on Wednesday, just because.
Seeing 'visible homosexuality' here was exciting, but at the same time kind of made me sad. Makes me regret not getting more involved in the 'artistic crowd,' so to speak. But then again I can't really do crap with the visual arts anyway.
Then, while sitting in the library, Vika pointed at some guy who was reading a book and... he was... SCANNING the book, I think. He had this long... stick... object that he was running over each page, and both Vika and I were like "What in the name of God?" Apparently, these Russian students are ahead of us in technology.
And to end my day's journey, when I got to the metro, it was of course rush hour so there was a massive crowd of people trying to get in. I got stuck behind a guy who had a furry hood on his coat, so I was suffocating from that for about three minutes until there was enough room to move away from him. Actually, his coat was cool -- it's the kind of coat that I want that seems really popular amongst Russian jackass male specimens, here --- a sort of shiny patent leather puff (usually quilted) coat with a fur-lined hood. I'm going to try and shop for one on Friday.
Monday, December 15, 2008
In Which The Elderly Are Discussed
12.12.2008
So basically I'm just a jackass.
I went out to buy gifts for people and ended up just buying two CDs for myself. Damn it.
In addition, I am a dumbass. I've been trying to get myself to go out and search for Russian music for a while, just because ... well, I'm in Russia. So I figure buying CDs of Russian music would be a good idea. Well, the program office has a small 'library,' and some CDs which students can check out and such. It didn't occur to me until last night that I could check these CDs out, save them to my computer, then turn them back in ... ? But now I only have a week left to access the office, and I can only check out two CDs at a time. I checked out two, today, and won't be able to check out two until Monday. So. Yeah. Today I checked out "Мумий Тролль" (Mummy Troll! I actually thought they were some new indie-hipster sort of band, but the CD says they've been making music since 1983... I don't know, I've seen some of their music videos and I like the lead vocal's singing style. So yeah), and Владимир Высоцкий. I can't really describe Vysotskij, so I won't. I'll... send songs to people who are interested, when I get back. WHICH I AM SURE NONE ARE INTERESTED, SINCE I BOUGHT NONE OF YOU GIFTS TODAY. =(
And, today has been the Day of Crazy Old People. It started in the morning ... or, well, afternoon, when I got on the bus to go to smolny and do some studying. At one point during the commute, an elderly couple got up because we were nearing their stop. The older man was taking a while gathering his stuff, so the woman just walked a little bit ahead and waited in the aisle. All of a sudden, I hear this SCREECHING other old HAG, saying something like "MOVE ON! I NEED TO GET TO WORK!" who then SHOVED this other patiently waiting woman violently, and charged through the bus to get to the front. The affronted woman was horrified, and retreated, glaring angrily at her husband for his inactivity, I suppose. That was strange.
Then, I went to the front of the bus because my stop was nearing, and there was this other elderly couple who were CLEARLY not in the right state of mind. The woman was just repeating "ДАЙ! ДАЙ! ДАЙ!' (which means "give! give! give!", but sounds like "die! die! die!" so it was CREEPY AS HELL), and the man was just rambling on about something else. Then, to my right, there was this other old man who was like... arguing with himself. He was hurriedly and raspily whispering to himself, occasionally nodding and shaking his head, staring at one of the... pole things in front of him.
Finally, on the way home, on the metro, there was a man sitting by himself, seeming to ... lecture someone. But there ... was no one else there. He was gesturing around and almost .. giving a speech, I guess? I don't know. He talked the whole ride, then talked all the way up the escalator, too.
It's ... quite sad. I don't know. Something I recently realised, though, is that most of the people I see... anywhere, really, are really old. Probably the majority are in their 50's, 60's, some older than that. And it hit me that all of these people lived through ... The majority of Soviet history. I don't know, perhaps I'm kind of overblowing the significance in that. What made me realise it is that I saw an older man in the metro who seemed pretty dignified, with a neatly trimmed beard, good posture, well dressed, what have you. He was probably in his 70's, maybe late 60's. When I thought about that, it occurred to me that he could have been born during Stalin's reign. And for some reason that floored me. I don't know, perhaps my own half-disinterest in ... anything Soviet is magnifying this.
I went to Nevskij for the first time in a few weeks, and its all lit up with Christmas decorations, JUST LIKE AMERICA! Didn't make me too terribly homesick, though. Louisville and Baltimore seem a little more low-key than having ... massive flashy public Christmas decorations. Well, that, and they probably can't afford it as much.
Oh, one thing I've realised that kind of surprises me, here. With the way that people drive in this country, I figured that people would be fairly adept in crossing the street, and that Americans/other foreigners would be more likely to get crushed by an oncoming vehicle due to their own stupidity in trusting traffic. NOT SO. When going by my own instincts, I cross roads safely. When I decide to trust other people and go when the Russians go, I almost get KILLED. And I've seen people inches from death nearly every day I've been here -- I saw someone get hit the other day, but they just got up and walked away, so I guess they were fine. Whatever.
And: One thing that IS cheap, here: CDs. I don't think I've seen a CD (not imported, of course) over 200 rubles (8 dollars) here.
Hm.. I'm going to the banya on Tuesday. That's mildly horrifying.
13.12.2008
Well, today I decided to stay inside and 'study' to avoid going out and doing anything with my life. I was successful, I suppose. Studied for my grammar test nearly all day, and I've covered almost all the material. Which is ... a lot. A hell of a lot more than what I originally thought, and definitely my largest test. Of course, it's one test combined from two teachers, but the thing is ... There was really more “material” for Lyudmila Petrovna, but I got through it quicker and understood it more easily than the JUNK that the American professor has us do. Which is basically just memorising specific words and phrases and bullshit without any specific construction. Ridiculous.
However, I did run down to Pyatyorichka to pick up some water, and that was actually .. mildly bizarre. Because, while yesterday was the day of Crazy Old People, today was the day of ... Tremendously Nice Old People. Well, kind of. Maybe not to the same extent. I opened the door for some elderly individuals on my way in and out, and they all smiled real big and thanked me. Then, when I got back to the apartment building, a woman kept the door open for me, then kept talking to me when we got to the elevator, and then on the ride up... So I had a short random conversation with her, and that NEVER happens. Usually people are dead silent and emotionless. So, that was quite pleasant.
Other than that, I watched a movie and a half. First was “Брат” (Brat; Brother) which ... well, I didn't quite understand it, but it was about some militsia-turned-killer in Petersburg. I don't know. Everyone I know has been ranting and raving about how fantastic it was. I was disappointed. Probably because I understood so little about it. Anyway, I just watched a bit of a movie on TV, “Своя Правда” (Svoya Pravda... not sure how to translate it without an antecedent; I guess “One's Own Truth” is the best way to put it). It was pretty interesting but kept dragging on so I turned it off. It was about a single Russian woman living in Azerbaijan and having to raise two children. Had a lot of racial commentary, which were interesting but I'm not entirely sure how true they were.
Guess I should go back to studying and do a bit more before going to bed... Shopping, tomorrow. I hope to get at least 2/3 finished with Conversation final studying before Monday.
14.12.2008
Today... Today was a good day. Well, it's still going on, since it's only 5, but it's pitch black outside so it feels like the day is already over.
First I went to the Teatralnaya Kassa to buy a ticket to La Traviata for this coming week, which was only THREEEE HUNDRED RUBLES! Whoo. Funny enough, while buying my tickets, the woman accidentally closed the window on her computer that prints the tickets, and exclaimed “Oops!” (or, should I say, “Упс!”) when she did so. I was unaware until then that Russians used that exclamation. I'm used to hearing “Oi!” and “Blin!” (yes, they say “pancake!” as an expletive.. don't ask). And, the other day some woman responded with an “Mmmhmm” to me, which was nice, because every time I say “mmmhmm” instead of “da,” I feel like a moron because I thought that wasn't understandable in this ... cultural context. But I guess that it is.
Then, I went to Udelnaya market to buy gifts for people. I bought a hat for my dad, three gifts that I can't describe because they are for people who either read this or at least have access to it, and then one thing for myself. I had promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything until I went through the entire market, but I forgot about the SUN GOING DOWN AT TWO THIRTY IN THE AFTERNOON, and was rushed toward the end because people were already taking down their booths. I planned on buying a jacket and maybe a hat for myself, but only after buying stuff for other people... Buut I ran out of time. So, there's that.
Oh, and the back half of the market was a GIGANTIC SHEET OF ICE because it snowed last week and then froze after that, I guess. So I and other people kept stumbling around. At one point I accidentally hit a Turkish man in the face, but we just exchanged smiles and laughs and walked on (strange?). And then I almost fell another time and exchanged more smiles and laughs with a couple of nearby elderly women merchants (... also strange?). THAT WARMED MY SOUL.
Finally, on the way back, while waiting for the metro, some elderly gentleman came up to me, and we had a short conversation..:
Elderly Russian - “Excuse me, sir, don't you think that is such an умный (wise? Mindful? Knowledgable? The formal translation is “wise,” but it's a bit more general in Russian, I think) saying there? -pointing to a large poster on the wall of the metro, which said something along the lines of “The most important thing about a person is if they have a good heart,” but it sounds better in Russian)-
Me - -reads, thinks for a moment, then nods in agreement-
Russian – Such a wise saying, yeah? -emphasis-
Me – Yeah, I agree.
Russian – Do you happen to remember/know what book it's from?
Me - -thinks for a moment- Hmm.. No. I'm not sure.
Russian – Ahh, don't remember/know? Alright, well, goodbye.
Me – All the best.
Alright, well, recounting that conversation makes it seem tremendously boring, but it's the first time someone's approached me politely just wanting to exchange words, and not asking for money or cigarettes or something else. And he seemed in his right mind, so that's fantastic.
Aaaand I should go study. Exams begin tomorrow.
Oh, I ran across a few other good grammar bits that sound odd when translated (аs I said with “Подходите!” Approach!, before). Well, first off, (I don't remember if I mentioned this before), but when you address someone you don't know, you address them by age and gender:
Девочка (girl!), молодой человек (young man!), мужчина (man!), женшчина (woman!). All except “Young man” sound really rude or just odd in English... If it's a waiter or a salesperson, you always refer to them by “girl” or “young man,” no matter their age. Older women also get kind of excited when you refer to them as “girl,” and are being polite. DESPITE this not being culturally rude, I always feel really awkward when I'm in a situation and trying to get someone's attention. I don't know. Just by anglicisms, I guess. I usually just say “excuse me,” or something.
And then, something else I just remembered: When you're asking for something in a restaurant (the example here is a fork/spoon), you would say “Будьте добры, принесите еще один прибор.” Which, directly translated, means “Be good, bring one more set.” The “Be good” just seems so demeaning to me, buuut it apparently isn't. On the bright side, I've never actually heard someone say this, so it might be a textbookism or something older people say. I'm thinking the latter, because I think this textbook is written by a Russian, judging on some really awkward English translations... That, and I think I asked the professor about this construction, before, and she said it was used. But she's older. So.
So, I watched a bit of “Imya Rossiya” (The Name of Russia, for those who have been following in the news), and right now they're discussing Ivan the Terrible's eligibility for the title. This guy is defending him, saying he created the first political party that “solved the problem of boyar opposition,” and that he was a man far ahead in his time... Amusingly enough, everyone else on the panel was snickering in derision while he went on.
I kind of wish I had been watching this the entire time I was here. This is the first one I've seen, and it's tremendously interesting. Most strange of all is that I seem to COMPLETELY understand it? What in the name of God? I'm FINALLY improving and I'm ALMOST ABOUT TO LEAVE?!
Edit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7782414.stm
Sad, but not unexpected. I believe these are the results of the advertised protests I mentioned in an earlier post.
So basically I'm just a jackass.
I went out to buy gifts for people and ended up just buying two CDs for myself. Damn it.
In addition, I am a dumbass. I've been trying to get myself to go out and search for Russian music for a while, just because ... well, I'm in Russia. So I figure buying CDs of Russian music would be a good idea. Well, the program office has a small 'library,' and some CDs which students can check out and such. It didn't occur to me until last night that I could check these CDs out, save them to my computer, then turn them back in ... ? But now I only have a week left to access the office, and I can only check out two CDs at a time. I checked out two, today, and won't be able to check out two until Monday. So. Yeah. Today I checked out "Мумий Тролль" (Mummy Troll! I actually thought they were some new indie-hipster sort of band, but the CD says they've been making music since 1983... I don't know, I've seen some of their music videos and I like the lead vocal's singing style. So yeah), and Владимир Высоцкий. I can't really describe Vysotskij, so I won't. I'll... send songs to people who are interested, when I get back. WHICH I AM SURE NONE ARE INTERESTED, SINCE I BOUGHT NONE OF YOU GIFTS TODAY. =(
And, today has been the Day of Crazy Old People. It started in the morning ... or, well, afternoon, when I got on the bus to go to smolny and do some studying. At one point during the commute, an elderly couple got up because we were nearing their stop. The older man was taking a while gathering his stuff, so the woman just walked a little bit ahead and waited in the aisle. All of a sudden, I hear this SCREECHING other old HAG, saying something like "MOVE ON! I NEED TO GET TO WORK!" who then SHOVED this other patiently waiting woman violently, and charged through the bus to get to the front. The affronted woman was horrified, and retreated, glaring angrily at her husband for his inactivity, I suppose. That was strange.
Then, I went to the front of the bus because my stop was nearing, and there was this other elderly couple who were CLEARLY not in the right state of mind. The woman was just repeating "ДАЙ! ДАЙ! ДАЙ!' (which means "give! give! give!", but sounds like "die! die! die!" so it was CREEPY AS HELL), and the man was just rambling on about something else. Then, to my right, there was this other old man who was like... arguing with himself. He was hurriedly and raspily whispering to himself, occasionally nodding and shaking his head, staring at one of the... pole things in front of him.
Finally, on the way home, on the metro, there was a man sitting by himself, seeming to ... lecture someone. But there ... was no one else there. He was gesturing around and almost .. giving a speech, I guess? I don't know. He talked the whole ride, then talked all the way up the escalator, too.
It's ... quite sad. I don't know. Something I recently realised, though, is that most of the people I see... anywhere, really, are really old. Probably the majority are in their 50's, 60's, some older than that. And it hit me that all of these people lived through ... The majority of Soviet history. I don't know, perhaps I'm kind of overblowing the significance in that. What made me realise it is that I saw an older man in the metro who seemed pretty dignified, with a neatly trimmed beard, good posture, well dressed, what have you. He was probably in his 70's, maybe late 60's. When I thought about that, it occurred to me that he could have been born during Stalin's reign. And for some reason that floored me. I don't know, perhaps my own half-disinterest in ... anything Soviet is magnifying this.
I went to Nevskij for the first time in a few weeks, and its all lit up with Christmas decorations, JUST LIKE AMERICA! Didn't make me too terribly homesick, though. Louisville and Baltimore seem a little more low-key than having ... massive flashy public Christmas decorations. Well, that, and they probably can't afford it as much.
Oh, one thing I've realised that kind of surprises me, here. With the way that people drive in this country, I figured that people would be fairly adept in crossing the street, and that Americans/other foreigners would be more likely to get crushed by an oncoming vehicle due to their own stupidity in trusting traffic. NOT SO. When going by my own instincts, I cross roads safely. When I decide to trust other people and go when the Russians go, I almost get KILLED. And I've seen people inches from death nearly every day I've been here -- I saw someone get hit the other day, but they just got up and walked away, so I guess they were fine. Whatever.
And: One thing that IS cheap, here: CDs. I don't think I've seen a CD (not imported, of course) over 200 rubles (8 dollars) here.
Hm.. I'm going to the banya on Tuesday. That's mildly horrifying.
13.12.2008
Well, today I decided to stay inside and 'study' to avoid going out and doing anything with my life. I was successful, I suppose. Studied for my grammar test nearly all day, and I've covered almost all the material. Which is ... a lot. A hell of a lot more than what I originally thought, and definitely my largest test. Of course, it's one test combined from two teachers, but the thing is ... There was really more “material” for Lyudmila Petrovna, but I got through it quicker and understood it more easily than the JUNK that the American professor has us do. Which is basically just memorising specific words and phrases and bullshit without any specific construction. Ridiculous.
However, I did run down to Pyatyorichka to pick up some water, and that was actually .. mildly bizarre. Because, while yesterday was the day of Crazy Old People, today was the day of ... Tremendously Nice Old People. Well, kind of. Maybe not to the same extent. I opened the door for some elderly individuals on my way in and out, and they all smiled real big and thanked me. Then, when I got back to the apartment building, a woman kept the door open for me, then kept talking to me when we got to the elevator, and then on the ride up... So I had a short random conversation with her, and that NEVER happens. Usually people are dead silent and emotionless. So, that was quite pleasant.
Other than that, I watched a movie and a half. First was “Брат” (Brat; Brother) which ... well, I didn't quite understand it, but it was about some militsia-turned-killer in Petersburg. I don't know. Everyone I know has been ranting and raving about how fantastic it was. I was disappointed. Probably because I understood so little about it. Anyway, I just watched a bit of a movie on TV, “Своя Правда” (Svoya Pravda... not sure how to translate it without an antecedent; I guess “One's Own Truth” is the best way to put it). It was pretty interesting but kept dragging on so I turned it off. It was about a single Russian woman living in Azerbaijan and having to raise two children. Had a lot of racial commentary, which were interesting but I'm not entirely sure how true they were.
Guess I should go back to studying and do a bit more before going to bed... Shopping, tomorrow. I hope to get at least 2/3 finished with Conversation final studying before Monday.
14.12.2008
Today... Today was a good day. Well, it's still going on, since it's only 5, but it's pitch black outside so it feels like the day is already over.
First I went to the Teatralnaya Kassa to buy a ticket to La Traviata for this coming week, which was only THREEEE HUNDRED RUBLES! Whoo. Funny enough, while buying my tickets, the woman accidentally closed the window on her computer that prints the tickets, and exclaimed “Oops!” (or, should I say, “Упс!”) when she did so. I was unaware until then that Russians used that exclamation. I'm used to hearing “Oi!” and “Blin!” (yes, they say “pancake!” as an expletive.. don't ask). And, the other day some woman responded with an “Mmmhmm” to me, which was nice, because every time I say “mmmhmm” instead of “da,” I feel like a moron because I thought that wasn't understandable in this ... cultural context. But I guess that it is.
Then, I went to Udelnaya market to buy gifts for people. I bought a hat for my dad, three gifts that I can't describe because they are for people who either read this or at least have access to it, and then one thing for myself. I had promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything until I went through the entire market, but I forgot about the SUN GOING DOWN AT TWO THIRTY IN THE AFTERNOON, and was rushed toward the end because people were already taking down their booths. I planned on buying a jacket and maybe a hat for myself, but only after buying stuff for other people... Buut I ran out of time. So, there's that.
Oh, and the back half of the market was a GIGANTIC SHEET OF ICE because it snowed last week and then froze after that, I guess. So I and other people kept stumbling around. At one point I accidentally hit a Turkish man in the face, but we just exchanged smiles and laughs and walked on (strange?). And then I almost fell another time and exchanged more smiles and laughs with a couple of nearby elderly women merchants (... also strange?). THAT WARMED MY SOUL.
Finally, on the way back, while waiting for the metro, some elderly gentleman came up to me, and we had a short conversation..:
Elderly Russian - “Excuse me, sir, don't you think that is such an умный (wise? Mindful? Knowledgable? The formal translation is “wise,” but it's a bit more general in Russian, I think) saying there? -pointing to a large poster on the wall of the metro, which said something along the lines of “The most important thing about a person is if they have a good heart,” but it sounds better in Russian)-
Me - -reads, thinks for a moment, then nods in agreement-
Russian – Such a wise saying, yeah? -emphasis-
Me – Yeah, I agree.
Russian – Do you happen to remember/know what book it's from?
Me - -thinks for a moment- Hmm.. No. I'm not sure.
Russian – Ahh, don't remember/know? Alright, well, goodbye.
Me – All the best.
Alright, well, recounting that conversation makes it seem tremendously boring, but it's the first time someone's approached me politely just wanting to exchange words, and not asking for money or cigarettes or something else. And he seemed in his right mind, so that's fantastic.
Aaaand I should go study. Exams begin tomorrow.
Oh, I ran across a few other good grammar bits that sound odd when translated (аs I said with “Подходите!” Approach!, before). Well, first off, (I don't remember if I mentioned this before), but when you address someone you don't know, you address them by age and gender:
Девочка (girl!), молодой человек (young man!), мужчина (man!), женшчина (woman!). All except “Young man” sound really rude or just odd in English... If it's a waiter or a salesperson, you always refer to them by “girl” or “young man,” no matter their age. Older women also get kind of excited when you refer to them as “girl,” and are being polite. DESPITE this not being culturally rude, I always feel really awkward when I'm in a situation and trying to get someone's attention. I don't know. Just by anglicisms, I guess. I usually just say “excuse me,” or something.
And then, something else I just remembered: When you're asking for something in a restaurant (the example here is a fork/spoon), you would say “Будьте добры, принесите еще один прибор.” Which, directly translated, means “Be good, bring one more set.” The “Be good” just seems so demeaning to me, buuut it apparently isn't. On the bright side, I've never actually heard someone say this, so it might be a textbookism or something older people say. I'm thinking the latter, because I think this textbook is written by a Russian, judging on some really awkward English translations... That, and I think I asked the professor about this construction, before, and she said it was used. But she's older. So.
So, I watched a bit of “Imya Rossiya” (The Name of Russia, for those who have been following in the news), and right now they're discussing Ivan the Terrible's eligibility for the title. This guy is defending him, saying he created the first political party that “solved the problem of boyar opposition,” and that he was a man far ahead in his time... Amusingly enough, everyone else on the panel was snickering in derision while he went on.
I kind of wish I had been watching this the entire time I was here. This is the first one I've seen, and it's tremendously interesting. Most strange of all is that I seem to COMPLETELY understand it? What in the name of God? I'm FINALLY improving and I'm ALMOST ABOUT TO LEAVE?!
Edit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7782414.stm
Sad, but not unexpected. I believe these are the results of the advertised protests I mentioned in an earlier post.
Friday, December 12, 2008
In Which the Classes have Ended...? Kind of..?
11.12.2008
All I could think on the way home, on the bus, was, "I am wearing two pairs of socks and fur lined shoes. Why the hell are my feet FREEZING?"
My last RSL classes were today, but it feels like I still have so much to do, and so much longer until I return home. Really, though, all I have left to do is:
-Coursework for Human Rights
-Human Rights Final
-International Relations Final
... and, that's it. Well, I have finals for RSL next week, but those shouldn't be too terribly difficult. The main thing I'm mourning is that I won't be forced to speak Russian every day, now. Except to Tatyana, but we basically just say the same damned things all the time.
I successfully picked up my package, today. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. Well, it kind of was. I got in line, and there weren't that many people there. Apparently, the post office has its own pet cat, which was playing with the woman in front of me. So the cat and this woman were laughing and playing and having a great time. I have realised that the only time you're allowed to be happy in public is if you're insane, or with an animal.
So, as soon as they get to me in line they decide to have a break, and say that they'll start again in 15 minutes. Of course, "fifteen minutes" turned out to be "half an hour." In the meantime, the line grew exponentially behind me, as did my terror. I just knew this woman was going to yell at me about someething, and I wouldn't know what to do about it. Well, she comes back, says "Подходите" (which means APPROACH!, and I found to be amusing about ten minutes later). I hand her my package slip, she hands me my package, and done. Simple.
You know, I always have a bunch of fantastic observations throughout the day, and every time I think to myself "Oh! That would make a great journal entry! I should write that down ... nah, I'll remember it." And then, I don't remember it. Every time. Damn it.
One thing I DO remember, however, is that, since coming here, I have realised how much of a slob I am. By "slob," I mean I don't take care of my things. Well, didn't. And that's really only in comparison to Russians. Before I came here, I thought I took fantastic care of my things. But I didn't. This doesn't make much of any sense, does it? Well, for example, how many Americans take care of their shoes? None that I know of, outside my parents, in any case. Russians take a shoe brush to their shoes/boots immediately after stepping in the door, and then apply polish if necessary. I've actually started to get into the habit of this. Usually, I'll just give all my (leather) shoes a good cleaning about twice a year, when I'm home. NO LONGER.
Of course, this extends past shoes. Far past shoes. There was this woman on the metro not long ago who spent FIVE. MINUTES. Folding a plastic shopping bag. FIVE. MINUTES. Smoothing it, making sure it was folded evenly... Jesus effing christ. It drove me INSANE. Then, of course, she spent another minute or two carefully placing it in her purse. Actually, I would have died if she just stuffed it away, but she didn't, unfortunately.
I am mildly terrified of my Russia/USA final. The mid-term was pretty horrifying -- one week to write a full seven page paper. I spent two days researching, four days analyzing said research and coming up with an outline, and one page writing. By the end of the 'writing' part I was DYING. But the FINAL? Same time frame -- one week. For a TEN page paper, on a much broader topic. I suppose that the topic is broader is good, but not necessarily ... research is going to be even more of a pain, and coming up with a decent response just as much. The good thing is is that I don't have to worry about ANYTHING else during that time frame, so I don''t need to worry about getting anything else done. But still... ten pages in ONE week, research and all? Seems a tad maniacal to me.
Well, amusingly enough, I had planned on studying for exams tonight... since, you know, no classes tomorrow, and I'm finished early enough on Thursdays... It's already 9 and all I've done since I've returned home is watch a movie, take a nap and eat dinner.
Speaking of the movie -- I started watching it last night. Soviet film from the early 80's -- "Будьте Моем Мужем" (Be my husband). I actually have very little to say about it... Just a romantic comedy. It was fairly good -- What I found amusing is that it was set during the summer at a beach setting, and I didn't notice until a later scene when NO ONE was on the beach that the beach was just ROCKS. No sand. ROCKS. Not like, small bits of gravel, but big ROCKS. I can't imagine enjoying a beach like that. Not that I enjoy beaches at all, but still.
All I could think on the way home, on the bus, was, "I am wearing two pairs of socks and fur lined shoes. Why the hell are my feet FREEZING?"
My last RSL classes were today, but it feels like I still have so much to do, and so much longer until I return home. Really, though, all I have left to do is:
-Coursework for Human Rights
-Human Rights Final
-International Relations Final
... and, that's it. Well, I have finals for RSL next week, but those shouldn't be too terribly difficult. The main thing I'm mourning is that I won't be forced to speak Russian every day, now. Except to Tatyana, but we basically just say the same damned things all the time.
I successfully picked up my package, today. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. Well, it kind of was. I got in line, and there weren't that many people there. Apparently, the post office has its own pet cat, which was playing with the woman in front of me. So the cat and this woman were laughing and playing and having a great time. I have realised that the only time you're allowed to be happy in public is if you're insane, or with an animal.
So, as soon as they get to me in line they decide to have a break, and say that they'll start again in 15 minutes. Of course, "fifteen minutes" turned out to be "half an hour." In the meantime, the line grew exponentially behind me, as did my terror. I just knew this woman was going to yell at me about someething, and I wouldn't know what to do about it. Well, she comes back, says "Подходите" (which means APPROACH!, and I found to be amusing about ten minutes later). I hand her my package slip, she hands me my package, and done. Simple.
You know, I always have a bunch of fantastic observations throughout the day, and every time I think to myself "Oh! That would make a great journal entry! I should write that down ... nah, I'll remember it." And then, I don't remember it. Every time. Damn it.
One thing I DO remember, however, is that, since coming here, I have realised how much of a slob I am. By "slob," I mean I don't take care of my things. Well, didn't. And that's really only in comparison to Russians. Before I came here, I thought I took fantastic care of my things. But I didn't. This doesn't make much of any sense, does it? Well, for example, how many Americans take care of their shoes? None that I know of, outside my parents, in any case. Russians take a shoe brush to their shoes/boots immediately after stepping in the door, and then apply polish if necessary. I've actually started to get into the habit of this. Usually, I'll just give all my (leather) shoes a good cleaning about twice a year, when I'm home. NO LONGER.
Of course, this extends past shoes. Far past shoes. There was this woman on the metro not long ago who spent FIVE. MINUTES. Folding a plastic shopping bag. FIVE. MINUTES. Smoothing it, making sure it was folded evenly... Jesus effing christ. It drove me INSANE. Then, of course, she spent another minute or two carefully placing it in her purse. Actually, I would have died if she just stuffed it away, but she didn't, unfortunately.
I am mildly terrified of my Russia/USA final. The mid-term was pretty horrifying -- one week to write a full seven page paper. I spent two days researching, four days analyzing said research and coming up with an outline, and one page writing. By the end of the 'writing' part I was DYING. But the FINAL? Same time frame -- one week. For a TEN page paper, on a much broader topic. I suppose that the topic is broader is good, but not necessarily ... research is going to be even more of a pain, and coming up with a decent response just as much. The good thing is is that I don't have to worry about ANYTHING else during that time frame, so I don''t need to worry about getting anything else done. But still... ten pages in ONE week, research and all? Seems a tad maniacal to me.
Well, amusingly enough, I had planned on studying for exams tonight... since, you know, no classes tomorrow, and I'm finished early enough on Thursdays... It's already 9 and all I've done since I've returned home is watch a movie, take a nap and eat dinner.
Speaking of the movie -- I started watching it last night. Soviet film from the early 80's -- "Будьте Моем Мужем" (Be my husband). I actually have very little to say about it... Just a romantic comedy. It was fairly good -- What I found amusing is that it was set during the summer at a beach setting, and I didn't notice until a later scene when NO ONE was on the beach that the beach was just ROCKS. No sand. ROCKS. Not like, small bits of gravel, but big ROCKS. I can't imagine enjoying a beach like that. Not that I enjoy beaches at all, but still.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
In Which Theatre Things Are Discussed, kind of but not really
10.12.2008
I feel like I'm a broken record, here, but I just felt AWFUL, today. I was fine until about halfway through my IR course, and then I felt like my head was swimming and I just felt all around gross. I skipped by Central Asian class and came home, took a shower, and I feel a tad better, now. I thought this was probably dehydration, but I've been buying litres of water the past few days and drinking those, so I don't know. I would say it's my diet, but, I've been eating this stuff for a while, now, so I don't know.
For some reason, trying to decide what I want to do this weekend is bothering me. On one hand, my classes will be over, so I feel like I should go out and do a lot -- On top of that, I only have one month left. But at the same time, I have exams next week, so perhaps I should ... study? Hmm.
Since another BUTTON fell off my coat, I feel like it's a good excuse to buy a new jacket. I wanted to buy a new jacket, anyway, but they're so expensive. I see guys wearing really neat jackets all the time that I would buy in a heartbeat, but then I go shopping and find next to nothing. For example, I saw a guy who just had an all-around nice ensemble going, yesterday, in the post-office. He was wearing black pants with tall black boots, and a black puff jacket that was tight around the waist. It was just sleek. Then I noticed the Armani insignia on his pants, and was like "well, nevermind." Of course, they could have easily been fake, but still.
At the same time, I feel like I've bought a lot for myself, already. Two pairs of shoes, a pair of pants, a hat, a couple DVDs... Of course, I've bought some stuff for others, too, but I'm not going to enumerate them here since said individuals will be receiving said items when I return. I know I'm going to Udel'naya this weekend in either case to buy some more stuff for other people, weather permitting. There are two things I know I'll be able to find (both for the same person), then one other thing I hope I'll be able to find, for another person. There are 18 people on my gift list, and I've finished buying things for five (maybe six) of them. Of course, I've bought a few things for other people, too, but SOME PEOPLE ARE GETTING MULTIPLE GIFTS. So, there's that. Thankfully all the gifts are either flat or small so I guess I shouldn't worry about room for them.
Alright, I'm wasting all my time talking about things people don't care about.
So I'll keep on.
I'm determined to go to at least two more ballet/opera things while I'm here, and I'm determined to see an opera that is NOT Russian. So, I feel like I HAVE to see Swan Lake, specifically, at the Mariinskij. Because ... well, it's Swan Lake, at the Mariinskij, and I'm in St. Petersburg. That's a world-famous play by world-famous dancers, with a world-famous orchestra. I looked up the schedule, earlier, and there are a couple more Swan Lakes this month, but all the seats left are THOUSANDS of rubles... then I looked in January, and there are like 500 Nutcrackers, and ONE Swan Lake, on the 7th of January. The tickets are still pricey, but not that bad, so I think I might buy that ticket and hope to God nothing comes up, since I leave three days after that.
As for the opera, I wanted to see something NOT in the Mariinskij or the Mikhailovskij, since those are the two huge ones, and I figured I should go somewhere smaller and more personal. Vika suggested the Saint Petersburg Opera, and I WAS going to go to two one-act operas there, on Friday, but I didn't buy tickets because I didn't have any time, so that just failed. La Traviata is playing there on the 20th, though, so I'm going to buy tickets for that tomorrow.
So... as for theatre performances this entire trip, I've seen:
-The Magic Flute, Mariinskij Theatre Concert Hall
-Muzhkoj Balet, Dvorets Kultury
-Zolushka, Mariinskij Theatre
-Romeo and Juliet, Marinskij Theatre
-Pikovaya Dama, Mikhailovskij Theatre
-Journal of a Scoundrel, Theatre Ostrov
I kind of wish I went to the ballet a little more this semester, but if I go to La Traviata and Swan Lake... that will make a total of three operas, four ballets, and one play. Which is much more than I NORMALLY see, but it's not like Baltimore has world class performances.
Oh, right, and I went to see two concerts, too. Marc Almond, and "Of the Wand and the Moon" with "Sonne Hagal." Why the hell am I whining? I did a lot.
In addition, I finally got a hold of Yura. He said we couldn't go to Finland the last week of this month... because ... I don't know, his reasoning didn't make sense. Something about the border of Finland and a lot of people ... doing things. Then he was telling me I had to contact the US embassy in Finland to go there ... ? Which I'm pretty sure is ... not true. Since everyone else I know has gone there before no problem. Anyway, I'm supposed to meet him Friday for tea and planning. And then Maneka and I need to plan our trip to the Baltic states.
Alright, can I say something? Or, rather, promise something, to everyone witness and myself. If I ever move here, or, hell, even return just for study and whatnot, I will NOT be one of those ex-pats who hangs out with no one but Americans. Period. Actually, I had more to add on to that but it's mildly offensive, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself for right now.
I feel like I'm a broken record, here, but I just felt AWFUL, today. I was fine until about halfway through my IR course, and then I felt like my head was swimming and I just felt all around gross. I skipped by Central Asian class and came home, took a shower, and I feel a tad better, now. I thought this was probably dehydration, but I've been buying litres of water the past few days and drinking those, so I don't know. I would say it's my diet, but, I've been eating this stuff for a while, now, so I don't know.
For some reason, trying to decide what I want to do this weekend is bothering me. On one hand, my classes will be over, so I feel like I should go out and do a lot -- On top of that, I only have one month left. But at the same time, I have exams next week, so perhaps I should ... study? Hmm.
Since another BUTTON fell off my coat, I feel like it's a good excuse to buy a new jacket. I wanted to buy a new jacket, anyway, but they're so expensive. I see guys wearing really neat jackets all the time that I would buy in a heartbeat, but then I go shopping and find next to nothing. For example, I saw a guy who just had an all-around nice ensemble going, yesterday, in the post-office. He was wearing black pants with tall black boots, and a black puff jacket that was tight around the waist. It was just sleek. Then I noticed the Armani insignia on his pants, and was like "well, nevermind." Of course, they could have easily been fake, but still.
At the same time, I feel like I've bought a lot for myself, already. Two pairs of shoes, a pair of pants, a hat, a couple DVDs... Of course, I've bought some stuff for others, too, but I'm not going to enumerate them here since said individuals will be receiving said items when I return. I know I'm going to Udel'naya this weekend in either case to buy some more stuff for other people, weather permitting. There are two things I know I'll be able to find (both for the same person), then one other thing I hope I'll be able to find, for another person. There are 18 people on my gift list, and I've finished buying things for five (maybe six) of them. Of course, I've bought a few things for other people, too, but SOME PEOPLE ARE GETTING MULTIPLE GIFTS. So, there's that. Thankfully all the gifts are either flat or small so I guess I shouldn't worry about room for them.
Alright, I'm wasting all my time talking about things people don't care about.
So I'll keep on.
I'm determined to go to at least two more ballet/opera things while I'm here, and I'm determined to see an opera that is NOT Russian. So, I feel like I HAVE to see Swan Lake, specifically, at the Mariinskij. Because ... well, it's Swan Lake, at the Mariinskij, and I'm in St. Petersburg. That's a world-famous play by world-famous dancers, with a world-famous orchestra. I looked up the schedule, earlier, and there are a couple more Swan Lakes this month, but all the seats left are THOUSANDS of rubles... then I looked in January, and there are like 500 Nutcrackers, and ONE Swan Lake, on the 7th of January. The tickets are still pricey, but not that bad, so I think I might buy that ticket and hope to God nothing comes up, since I leave three days after that.
As for the opera, I wanted to see something NOT in the Mariinskij or the Mikhailovskij, since those are the two huge ones, and I figured I should go somewhere smaller and more personal. Vika suggested the Saint Petersburg Opera, and I WAS going to go to two one-act operas there, on Friday, but I didn't buy tickets because I didn't have any time, so that just failed. La Traviata is playing there on the 20th, though, so I'm going to buy tickets for that tomorrow.
So... as for theatre performances this entire trip, I've seen:
-The Magic Flute, Mariinskij Theatre Concert Hall
-Muzhkoj Balet, Dvorets Kultury
-Zolushka, Mariinskij Theatre
-Romeo and Juliet, Marinskij Theatre
-Pikovaya Dama, Mikhailovskij Theatre
-Journal of a Scoundrel, Theatre Ostrov
I kind of wish I went to the ballet a little more this semester, but if I go to La Traviata and Swan Lake... that will make a total of three operas, four ballets, and one play. Which is much more than I NORMALLY see, but it's not like Baltimore has world class performances.
Oh, right, and I went to see two concerts, too. Marc Almond, and "Of the Wand and the Moon" with "Sonne Hagal." Why the hell am I whining? I did a lot.
In addition, I finally got a hold of Yura. He said we couldn't go to Finland the last week of this month... because ... I don't know, his reasoning didn't make sense. Something about the border of Finland and a lot of people ... doing things. Then he was telling me I had to contact the US embassy in Finland to go there ... ? Which I'm pretty sure is ... not true. Since everyone else I know has gone there before no problem. Anyway, I'm supposed to meet him Friday for tea and planning. And then Maneka and I need to plan our trip to the Baltic states.
Alright, can I say something? Or, rather, promise something, to everyone witness and myself. If I ever move here, or, hell, even return just for study and whatnot, I will NOT be one of those ex-pats who hangs out with no one but Americans. Period. Actually, I had more to add on to that but it's mildly offensive, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself for right now.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
In Which Two Posts Are Uploaded
08.12.2008
First thing that happens, today? I arrive at Smolny and go to take my coat off when the bottom button pops off. Fuck. That's two out of three. Needless to say, I can't button that coat up anymore. And it is getting quite cold. Quite cold, indeed.
I had my last Grammar class, today. That was kind of sad, since it was my favorite. So now I have to put up with all my other RSL classes for one more week. Then ... exams. That's somewhat horrifying.
And then in Human Rights, I didn't understand much of anything. Then he gave us an assignment I didn't really understand. And finally, he assigned me my final, which I didn't really understand. But it's no different than previous classes, and somehow I received an A for the first half of the semester (probably for effort... Hell, I deserve a fucking A+++ for effort), so I'm not going to stress out about that class too much. More importantly, I realised that I have become quite skilled at walking on SOLID SHEETS OF ICE since I've been here. I don't know how the Russians zoom along like they do, especially the women wearing stiletto heels. I haven't seen a damned person even come CLOSE to slipping ever since the freezing started, but I've fallen twice and come close to it nearly every day, now, damn it.
The host brother, Dima, is sick again. Every time he gets sick, he just lies in his room for days on end watching bad anime on the children's channels. That includes, Pokemon. Ash's voice is as annoying as ever in Russian as it is in English.
Speaking of annoying voices, there is little else that is more painful to listen to than a Russian couple argue. Or complain, in general. I was going to say women specifically, but then I realised the men are as bad. The intonation is just so RELENTLESS and METHODICAL that I am convinced it could take down walls. I don't know, that doesn't make any sense. I'll have to post a video some time or something.
So, Kate's entry inspired me, somewhat. I'm not going to write a "WHAT A LEARNED" essay (as she called it), of course, since it's still a bit early for me to do that, but one thing struck me in particular.
If someone asked me, or hell, whenever I ask myself, if I could see myself living in Russia in the future, my initial response would definitely be "Yes, why not?" But then, I ask the "Why not," to myself, and I remember the reasons as to why I just want to go back to the U.S., specifically. For one, I just can't EXPRESS myself as I'd like, here. And I don't mean through language. I can't dress how I like when I'm inspired, and so forth. Hell, I can't TALK how I'd like, I can't be as FREE with thought and word, much less dress. I have to hide who I am, here, and in some ways live a double life. Of course, my position is not as half as bad as it would be if I were Russian, but that's an entirely different story. In any case, the fact of the matter is, I AM confined here, and that's plain as day (Well, a CLEAR day, in any case, but the St Petersburg winter days are grey and we only have a few hours of sunlight at this point, so).
But then, really -- How much longer am I going to be as free as I am right now? Not much longer. After college, I will get a job. This job will most likely be connected with something political. Perhaps I'll fill another useless bureaucratic position in the UN (WHOOPS! Did I just downtalk a liberal internationalist construction?). Оf course, the creative aspect of me recoils in horror at the prospect of me working anything political, or, for that matter, working in any job in which I have to wear a SUIT, but I guess the alternative is being POOR and JOBLESS. But in any case, perhaps if I did end up doing something in Russia, I would end up carving my own space out, here, anyway. I mean, I am in a ... very specific situation. That is to say, I am a student, dropped here for six months, living with a family I hadn't known before coming here. And that's that.
So perhaps my answer is, I don't know if I'd live here or not. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I don't even want to think about that, right now. I'm in college. I'm going to enjoy myself now, and that's that. I have really good feelings about this coming semester (Minus my possible living situation, or LACK THEREOF). But I'll save those for a later date -- I don't want to get too excited right now, when I still have a month and two days left in this country.
Вот и все.
09.12.2008
I have been having a lot of trouble with sleep, recently. More than usual, anyway. I'm not entirely sure what's going on -- I'm not particularly stressed about finals or anything, and I'm keeping a fairly regular sleep schedule. Despite this, it takes me hours to get to sleep at night, then when I finally fall asleep, I can't wake up. I've almost been late for my Tuesday and Thursday classes this past week and a half. Not that that's a huge deal since I'm never late and I've gone to almost every class. The funny thing is is that I'll wake up before my alarm, at like seven in the morning, feeling pretty much awake and fine, but clearly just go back to sleep since I have a couple hours before I have to do anything. But then my alarm goes off at 9 and I'll hit the Snooze button like fifty times until I have barely any time to eat breakfast and do the half hour commute. But, it doesn't actually even matter after this Thursday, because I'll only have three classes a week after this week, and they're all after 1pm.
... Wait, it does matter, because I have exams next week. Fuck. Well, nevermind that.
I felt sick half the day, which was no good, and I was completely out of it during Phonetics. I felt like I was back in Russian 110 when reading junk out aloud. Every time we'd come to a word people didn't know, I'd be all "OH, I KNOW THIS WORD. (totally incorrect explanation)." "Uh, no, it is (complete opposite of what I said)" (e.g.: I thought a particular word meant imagination. it meant armaments) That happened about three times before I decided to just shut up.
Second class was much better.
I tried to pick up a package from the post office, today. I failed and ended up running away in terror. For one, the line was huge and in the 15 minutes I was there they had given a single person their package and started processing someone's pension pick up or something. Secondly, they were yelling at everyone for doing everything wrong, and three navy guys came up in line behind me, and I didn't particularly want to suffer the humiliation of being yelled at as a stupid American in such a situation.
Actually, that brings me to another topic. I feel like I've discussed this before, but perhaps it bears repeating. It is just tremendously unpleasant to have to do much of anything, here. That is to say, shopping, picking up a package, going to a restaurant, and so on. Some of it stems from the horrific bureaucracy, while the rest of it stems from the absolute lack of customer service, or what an American (or, for that matter, ANYONE FROM WESTERN CIVILISATION) would call "common courtesy," or "civility." Alright, yes, cultural differences, whatever. The thing is, from what I've seen even here is that civility seems universal amongst everyone except RUSSIANS. And by that, I mean ethnic Russians. Those of Central Asian ethnicity, Caucasian ethnicity, and hell even Belorussians and Ukrainians display some level of friendliness, especially in comparison to the Russians. Now, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care. For the most part. Because, since it IS the cultural norm here to be entirely offput at having to actually get up and do work during your shitty job, then it really isn't "rude," persay. That, and it makes for some good stories, at least. And clearly it could be argued that the "civility" that most Americans display is completely superficial and sterile. So, which is worse? Perhaps it just depends on the situation. Whatever. That's that.
Actually, one thing I WILL say straightforward, that I know I've said in the past: Men are total jackasses, especially if they're my age. But that, too, seems universal.
In other news, I seem to have forgotten how to write a correct capital N. Every time I try, it comes out looking like И. That's mildly frustrating.
Later:
So, I decided to plug in the TV, and that was a terrible mistake. As a result, I have gotten nothing done in the past three hours.
First thing that happens, today? I arrive at Smolny and go to take my coat off when the bottom button pops off. Fuck. That's two out of three. Needless to say, I can't button that coat up anymore. And it is getting quite cold. Quite cold, indeed.
I had my last Grammar class, today. That was kind of sad, since it was my favorite. So now I have to put up with all my other RSL classes for one more week. Then ... exams. That's somewhat horrifying.
And then in Human Rights, I didn't understand much of anything. Then he gave us an assignment I didn't really understand. And finally, he assigned me my final, which I didn't really understand. But it's no different than previous classes, and somehow I received an A for the first half of the semester (probably for effort... Hell, I deserve a fucking A+++ for effort), so I'm not going to stress out about that class too much. More importantly, I realised that I have become quite skilled at walking on SOLID SHEETS OF ICE since I've been here. I don't know how the Russians zoom along like they do, especially the women wearing stiletto heels. I haven't seen a damned person even come CLOSE to slipping ever since the freezing started, but I've fallen twice and come close to it nearly every day, now, damn it.
The host brother, Dima, is sick again. Every time he gets sick, he just lies in his room for days on end watching bad anime on the children's channels. That includes, Pokemon. Ash's voice is as annoying as ever in Russian as it is in English.
Speaking of annoying voices, there is little else that is more painful to listen to than a Russian couple argue. Or complain, in general. I was going to say women specifically, but then I realised the men are as bad. The intonation is just so RELENTLESS and METHODICAL that I am convinced it could take down walls. I don't know, that doesn't make any sense. I'll have to post a video some time or something.
So, Kate's entry inspired me, somewhat. I'm not going to write a "WHAT A LEARNED" essay (as she called it), of course, since it's still a bit early for me to do that, but one thing struck me in particular.
If someone asked me, or hell, whenever I ask myself, if I could see myself living in Russia in the future, my initial response would definitely be "Yes, why not?" But then, I ask the "Why not," to myself, and I remember the reasons as to why I just want to go back to the U.S., specifically. For one, I just can't EXPRESS myself as I'd like, here. And I don't mean through language. I can't dress how I like when I'm inspired, and so forth. Hell, I can't TALK how I'd like, I can't be as FREE with thought and word, much less dress. I have to hide who I am, here, and in some ways live a double life. Of course, my position is not as half as bad as it would be if I were Russian, but that's an entirely different story. In any case, the fact of the matter is, I AM confined here, and that's plain as day (Well, a CLEAR day, in any case, but the St Petersburg winter days are grey and we only have a few hours of sunlight at this point, so).
But then, really -- How much longer am I going to be as free as I am right now? Not much longer. After college, I will get a job. This job will most likely be connected with something political. Perhaps I'll fill another useless bureaucratic position in the UN (WHOOPS! Did I just downtalk a liberal internationalist construction?). Оf course, the creative aspect of me recoils in horror at the prospect of me working anything political, or, for that matter, working in any job in which I have to wear a SUIT, but I guess the alternative is being POOR and JOBLESS. But in any case, perhaps if I did end up doing something in Russia, I would end up carving my own space out, here, anyway. I mean, I am in a ... very specific situation. That is to say, I am a student, dropped here for six months, living with a family I hadn't known before coming here. And that's that.
So perhaps my answer is, I don't know if I'd live here or not. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I don't even want to think about that, right now. I'm in college. I'm going to enjoy myself now, and that's that. I have really good feelings about this coming semester (Minus my possible living situation, or LACK THEREOF). But I'll save those for a later date -- I don't want to get too excited right now, when I still have a month and two days left in this country.
Вот и все.
09.12.2008
I have been having a lot of trouble with sleep, recently. More than usual, anyway. I'm not entirely sure what's going on -- I'm not particularly stressed about finals or anything, and I'm keeping a fairly regular sleep schedule. Despite this, it takes me hours to get to sleep at night, then when I finally fall asleep, I can't wake up. I've almost been late for my Tuesday and Thursday classes this past week and a half. Not that that's a huge deal since I'm never late and I've gone to almost every class. The funny thing is is that I'll wake up before my alarm, at like seven in the morning, feeling pretty much awake and fine, but clearly just go back to sleep since I have a couple hours before I have to do anything. But then my alarm goes off at 9 and I'll hit the Snooze button like fifty times until I have barely any time to eat breakfast and do the half hour commute. But, it doesn't actually even matter after this Thursday, because I'll only have three classes a week after this week, and they're all after 1pm.
... Wait, it does matter, because I have exams next week. Fuck. Well, nevermind that.
I felt sick half the day, which was no good, and I was completely out of it during Phonetics. I felt like I was back in Russian 110 when reading junk out aloud. Every time we'd come to a word people didn't know, I'd be all "OH, I KNOW THIS WORD. (totally incorrect explanation)." "Uh, no, it is (complete opposite of what I said)" (e.g.: I thought a particular word meant imagination. it meant armaments) That happened about three times before I decided to just shut up.
Second class was much better.
I tried to pick up a package from the post office, today. I failed and ended up running away in terror. For one, the line was huge and in the 15 minutes I was there they had given a single person their package and started processing someone's pension pick up or something. Secondly, they were yelling at everyone for doing everything wrong, and three navy guys came up in line behind me, and I didn't particularly want to suffer the humiliation of being yelled at as a stupid American in such a situation.
Actually, that brings me to another topic. I feel like I've discussed this before, but perhaps it bears repeating. It is just tremendously unpleasant to have to do much of anything, here. That is to say, shopping, picking up a package, going to a restaurant, and so on. Some of it stems from the horrific bureaucracy, while the rest of it stems from the absolute lack of customer service, or what an American (or, for that matter, ANYONE FROM WESTERN CIVILISATION) would call "common courtesy," or "civility." Alright, yes, cultural differences, whatever. The thing is, from what I've seen even here is that civility seems universal amongst everyone except RUSSIANS. And by that, I mean ethnic Russians. Those of Central Asian ethnicity, Caucasian ethnicity, and hell even Belorussians and Ukrainians display some level of friendliness, especially in comparison to the Russians. Now, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care. For the most part. Because, since it IS the cultural norm here to be entirely offput at having to actually get up and do work during your shitty job, then it really isn't "rude," persay. That, and it makes for some good stories, at least. And clearly it could be argued that the "civility" that most Americans display is completely superficial and sterile. So, which is worse? Perhaps it just depends on the situation. Whatever. That's that.
Actually, one thing I WILL say straightforward, that I know I've said in the past: Men are total jackasses, especially if they're my age. But that, too, seems universal.
In other news, I seem to have forgotten how to write a correct capital N. Every time I try, it comes out looking like И. That's mildly frustrating.
Later:
So, I decided to plug in the TV, and that was a terrible mistake. As a result, I have gotten nothing done in the past three hours.
Monday, December 8, 2008
In Which ... Whatever.
06.12.2008
Alright, so, Thursday was interesting ... well "Interesting" in that Tatyana turned off the power in my ROOM at night. So I just decided to go to bed after that. Thankfully, it's back on today.
Yesterday was somewhat uneventful. I had a short meeting with Lyudmila Petrovna to get her help in translating the letter my mom sent for Tatyana, since I wasn't sure HOW to translate it.I'll give that to her soon enough.
Oh, and apparently I'm going to the banya with Bryan next week... That'll be an interesting experience.
On the bus home, yesterday, there was a TV. That was bizarre. It was just showing news, from the Pervyj Kanal (the main state-owned media station). From what I've been hearing, the state transport system is having a lot of trouble with employment and funding, so I'm not sure why they're installing TVs on their new busses? Then again, that makes sense, since nothing here makes sense. I've heard that the autobus/trolleybus sector has a 50% need of bus drivers, which means almost every driver has to work double shifts in order to just keep the city running. On top of that, they're changing the metro system by the end of next year, which also doesn't make any sense. Right now, you pay 17 rubles, flat, to get to any station in the city. They're trying to make it so that it costs more the farther you go... I don't know how they do that. I know the DC system is the same, but I completely forgot how that worked when I was there. I just put money on my card and went through. I guess you have to go through checkpoints at every station? Who knows.
I've also decided that I actually hate the new busses, because they make me seasick. Indeed, so far, my favorite ride on public transport has been the trolleybusses, which were nice and smooth and quiet. Mmm.
Today, I went to the political museum with Maneka. That was really interesting. On the WAY to the museum, however, some babushka came up and asked for a cigarette. Well, I happened to have a pack on me, and figured I'd just give it to her and walk on. Of course, as soon as I give it to her, she LATCHES on to my arm and BEGS for money to buy bread for her child. I'm like, DRAGGING this woman along with me, until I PRY her hand off my jacket. I was pissed off. If she wanted money for her CHILD, she should have asked for that BEFORE asking for CIGARETTES. And of course, I'm sure this “bread” for her “child” meant VODKA. FOR HERSELF. But anyway.
The museum was neat. And COMPLETELY deserted. Which was surprising, since it's ... a Saturday. In the middle of the day. You'd think it'd be a lot more busy at that time of the week. Actually, it was very ... Soviet. Or what I'd think Soviet would be. Which makes sense, since 90% of the museum was ... Soviet. politics. And such. In any case, it was clearly a museum which the government doesn't care very much about. The kassa and the gift shop were all in one very small partitioned office, run by a very bureaucratic woman who clearly didn't want to do her job. At first she said she didn't have any change, when Maneka pulled out a 100 to pay for a 20 ruble ticket. Then when I said I'd pay, since I thought I had 40 rubles in 10's, the woman asked for 100 .. and gave us change ... She didn't even have a proper register or even a cash box, either. She pulled the money out of a COOKIE tin.
Anyway, the set up of the museum was really interesting. The first room was completely dedicated to Stalin's times, and it was a labyrinth. Literally. There was a description at the beginning that said something like it was the "labyrinth of madness, where you have no freedom and end where you begin." Or something just tremendously bizarre. The lady who took our tickets told us how to follow the exhibits, but we got lost and did it out of order, but whatever. What I found interesting was ... there was very little bias. It was all very factual and systematic, not leaving out details of Stalin's rise to power, his overzealous purging of the party, the horrors of collectivisation, the absurdity of the bureaucracy and propaganda... Of course, at the same time, it didn't condemn it, either. Except, at the transition to the next exhibit, it did state that the end of Stalin's reign was a total mess and left a lot of problems for his successors.
What I also found tremendously interesting was all of the party documentation, student cards, workers cards, etc. Official documentation and whatnot. BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT?! IT HASN'T CHANGED SINCE THE 20'S. AT ALL. My student card could, ignoring the dates, pass for a Soviet student card in the 1920's. Same with my Russian visa. It all. Looks. The same. A lot of other similar things in the museum really just kind of jarred my brain... Like, there was an exhibit with a sewing machine from the 30's, and it is the EXACT same sewing machine that my host mother uses.
This all made me realise something. Well, not really realise, so much as put some of my feelings into context. Sometimes, when I am here, I feel like I was sent back a hundred years. The bureaucracy, the atmosphere ... the elevators in my apartment building ... None of it has really changed at all. At the same time, a LOT HAS changed. Hell, a lot has changed in the past TEN years. In any case, sometimes, I also feel like I'm thrown back to the 80's. Bad mullets, a lot of the music (actually, that's more early-mid 90's trash than 80's), advertisements, bad television. And then, I feel like some aspects are even further AHEAD in time than America. Or, at least, what I'm used to, in America. A lot of the fashion, many restaurants, many of the more recently renovated parts of the cities, shopping complexes, and so on. It's all very pristine, new, and modern.
In any case, that's enough on that subject. Afterward, we went to the gift shop, and I bought a posterbook of TWENTY ultra-high quality, decently sized posters for 14 dollars. I'm really excited. They're all Soviet political posters from the 30's to the 50's, centred around the theme of spies all around and not giving secrets away to the "Enemy." I've actually seen these posters at Dom Knigi, but they were over 100 rubles more expensive, there. So I'm glad I got the good deal.
After that, Maneka and I went to Pizza Hut. Yes. Pizza Hut. We were hungry, and couldn't find anything, so we went around the Petrogradskij metro ... which ... our choices were: Chainaya Lozhka (always ultra busy), McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut ... yep. Well, apparently, here, Pizza Hut is a nice, clean, sit-down restaurant with decent food and FRIENDLY SERVICE?! I was amazed. We were seated by a waitress who SMILED, and asked us if we wanted to sit in a smoking or non-smoking section (also baffled me). In addition, the food was good. And I got a HUGE glass of seven-up, with NO ICE! WHICH MEANS, MORE SEVEN-UP! For very cheap, comparatively!
In other news, I am leaving the television unplugged until classes are finished. It just destroys my productivity. Tomorrow I'm going to try to do work for most of the day until the play, which is in the evening. I hope I'll be able to understand it.
07.12.2008
I'm in one of those moods again where I feel like I've learned nothing, and perhaps have regressed, in my language capabilities. Well, I was this morning, but perhaps less so now, after the play. I think Tatyana's food might be doing something, too. I really wish I could just cook my own food for a week or something, but I'm pretty sure she'd have none of it.
Today, I did do work for most of the day... and I suppose I was productive. I did my grammar homework for tomorrow, but... As far as the other work I tried to do... It took me two hours to get through like two pages of my textbook, today. I was (or so I thought) ploughing on through, understanding pretty much everything, then I suddenly looked up at the clock and an hour and a half had passed and I hadn't even gotten through the INTRODUCTION to the chapter, and it was just hideously demoralising. I'm supposed to read 10 pages by Wednesday, which, when it was ASSIGNED last Wednesday, I was happy for the very light assignment. But now? Whaaat the hell.
Anyway, this is my last week of Russian classes (thank god). I'm not sure how work-heavy it will be. Actually, not at all, since none of the classes will have homework. I know I have a good deal of homework for SMI, but that's about it. Then, I have studying for finals, which I am going to do КАК СЛЕДУЕТ, so that all these new constructions will at least get a foundation in my BRAIN before all my classes end and I'm no longer forced to speak Russian in a classroom setting on a daily basis. I'll have to sit with Tatyana and afternoon tea on a daily basis, or something. Or maybe I'll start dating a girl just so I have someone with whom to converse for a few weeks.
Alright, so, I went to a play, today, which was interesting. We had a choice between a huge professional play based on a Gogol' story, about marriage... and uhm... well... As much as I love Gogol', I'm 90% sure I wouldn't have been able to understand a damn thing, and since it's Gogol' + marriage I'm 99.9% sure that it would be a horrifying tragedy, which I don't need. So I went to a small, more personal contemporary comedy. Which, really, was tremendously uncreative and a compact soap opera, but! It was very enjoyable. I didn't understand anything that was really going on in the beginning, but towards the end I actually understood everything they were saying. And the acting was good, so that was a plus.
Alright, so, Thursday was interesting ... well "Interesting" in that Tatyana turned off the power in my ROOM at night. So I just decided to go to bed after that. Thankfully, it's back on today.
Yesterday was somewhat uneventful. I had a short meeting with Lyudmila Petrovna to get her help in translating the letter my mom sent for Tatyana, since I wasn't sure HOW to translate it.I'll give that to her soon enough.
Oh, and apparently I'm going to the banya with Bryan next week... That'll be an interesting experience.
On the bus home, yesterday, there was a TV. That was bizarre. It was just showing news, from the Pervyj Kanal (the main state-owned media station). From what I've been hearing, the state transport system is having a lot of trouble with employment and funding, so I'm not sure why they're installing TVs on their new busses? Then again, that makes sense, since nothing here makes sense. I've heard that the autobus/trolleybus sector has a 50% need of bus drivers, which means almost every driver has to work double shifts in order to just keep the city running. On top of that, they're changing the metro system by the end of next year, which also doesn't make any sense. Right now, you pay 17 rubles, flat, to get to any station in the city. They're trying to make it so that it costs more the farther you go... I don't know how they do that. I know the DC system is the same, but I completely forgot how that worked when I was there. I just put money on my card and went through. I guess you have to go through checkpoints at every station? Who knows.
I've also decided that I actually hate the new busses, because they make me seasick. Indeed, so far, my favorite ride on public transport has been the trolleybusses, which were nice and smooth and quiet. Mmm.
Today, I went to the political museum with Maneka. That was really interesting. On the WAY to the museum, however, some babushka came up and asked for a cigarette. Well, I happened to have a pack on me, and figured I'd just give it to her and walk on. Of course, as soon as I give it to her, she LATCHES on to my arm and BEGS for money to buy bread for her child. I'm like, DRAGGING this woman along with me, until I PRY her hand off my jacket. I was pissed off. If she wanted money for her CHILD, she should have asked for that BEFORE asking for CIGARETTES. And of course, I'm sure this “bread” for her “child” meant VODKA. FOR HERSELF. But anyway.
The museum was neat. And COMPLETELY deserted. Which was surprising, since it's ... a Saturday. In the middle of the day. You'd think it'd be a lot more busy at that time of the week. Actually, it was very ... Soviet. Or what I'd think Soviet would be. Which makes sense, since 90% of the museum was ... Soviet. politics. And such. In any case, it was clearly a museum which the government doesn't care very much about. The kassa and the gift shop were all in one very small partitioned office, run by a very bureaucratic woman who clearly didn't want to do her job. At first she said she didn't have any change, when Maneka pulled out a 100 to pay for a 20 ruble ticket. Then when I said I'd pay, since I thought I had 40 rubles in 10's, the woman asked for 100 .. and gave us change ... She didn't even have a proper register or even a cash box, either. She pulled the money out of a COOKIE tin.
Anyway, the set up of the museum was really interesting. The first room was completely dedicated to Stalin's times, and it was a labyrinth. Literally. There was a description at the beginning that said something like it was the "labyrinth of madness, where you have no freedom and end where you begin." Or something just tremendously bizarre. The lady who took our tickets told us how to follow the exhibits, but we got lost and did it out of order, but whatever. What I found interesting was ... there was very little bias. It was all very factual and systematic, not leaving out details of Stalin's rise to power, his overzealous purging of the party, the horrors of collectivisation, the absurdity of the bureaucracy and propaganda... Of course, at the same time, it didn't condemn it, either. Except, at the transition to the next exhibit, it did state that the end of Stalin's reign was a total mess and left a lot of problems for his successors.
What I also found tremendously interesting was all of the party documentation, student cards, workers cards, etc. Official documentation and whatnot. BECAUSE, GUESS WHAT?! IT HASN'T CHANGED SINCE THE 20'S. AT ALL. My student card could, ignoring the dates, pass for a Soviet student card in the 1920's. Same with my Russian visa. It all. Looks. The same. A lot of other similar things in the museum really just kind of jarred my brain... Like, there was an exhibit with a sewing machine from the 30's, and it is the EXACT same sewing machine that my host mother uses.
This all made me realise something. Well, not really realise, so much as put some of my feelings into context. Sometimes, when I am here, I feel like I was sent back a hundred years. The bureaucracy, the atmosphere ... the elevators in my apartment building ... None of it has really changed at all. At the same time, a LOT HAS changed. Hell, a lot has changed in the past TEN years. In any case, sometimes, I also feel like I'm thrown back to the 80's. Bad mullets, a lot of the music (actually, that's more early-mid 90's trash than 80's), advertisements, bad television. And then, I feel like some aspects are even further AHEAD in time than America. Or, at least, what I'm used to, in America. A lot of the fashion, many restaurants, many of the more recently renovated parts of the cities, shopping complexes, and so on. It's all very pristine, new, and modern.
In any case, that's enough on that subject. Afterward, we went to the gift shop, and I bought a posterbook of TWENTY ultra-high quality, decently sized posters for 14 dollars. I'm really excited. They're all Soviet political posters from the 30's to the 50's, centred around the theme of spies all around and not giving secrets away to the "Enemy." I've actually seen these posters at Dom Knigi, but they were over 100 rubles more expensive, there. So I'm glad I got the good deal.
After that, Maneka and I went to Pizza Hut. Yes. Pizza Hut. We were hungry, and couldn't find anything, so we went around the Petrogradskij metro ... which ... our choices were: Chainaya Lozhka (always ultra busy), McDonalds, KFC, and Pizza Hut ... yep. Well, apparently, here, Pizza Hut is a nice, clean, sit-down restaurant with decent food and FRIENDLY SERVICE?! I was amazed. We were seated by a waitress who SMILED, and asked us if we wanted to sit in a smoking or non-smoking section (also baffled me). In addition, the food was good. And I got a HUGE glass of seven-up, with NO ICE! WHICH MEANS, MORE SEVEN-UP! For very cheap, comparatively!
In other news, I am leaving the television unplugged until classes are finished. It just destroys my productivity. Tomorrow I'm going to try to do work for most of the day until the play, which is in the evening. I hope I'll be able to understand it.
07.12.2008
I'm in one of those moods again where I feel like I've learned nothing, and perhaps have regressed, in my language capabilities. Well, I was this morning, but perhaps less so now, after the play. I think Tatyana's food might be doing something, too. I really wish I could just cook my own food for a week or something, but I'm pretty sure she'd have none of it.
Today, I did do work for most of the day... and I suppose I was productive. I did my grammar homework for tomorrow, but... As far as the other work I tried to do... It took me two hours to get through like two pages of my textbook, today. I was (or so I thought) ploughing on through, understanding pretty much everything, then I suddenly looked up at the clock and an hour and a half had passed and I hadn't even gotten through the INTRODUCTION to the chapter, and it was just hideously demoralising. I'm supposed to read 10 pages by Wednesday, which, when it was ASSIGNED last Wednesday, I was happy for the very light assignment. But now? Whaaat the hell.
Anyway, this is my last week of Russian classes (thank god). I'm not sure how work-heavy it will be. Actually, not at all, since none of the classes will have homework. I know I have a good deal of homework for SMI, but that's about it. Then, I have studying for finals, which I am going to do КАК СЛЕДУЕТ, so that all these new constructions will at least get a foundation in my BRAIN before all my classes end and I'm no longer forced to speak Russian in a classroom setting on a daily basis. I'll have to sit with Tatyana and afternoon tea on a daily basis, or something. Or maybe I'll start dating a girl just so I have someone with whom to converse for a few weeks.
Alright, so, I went to a play, today, which was interesting. We had a choice between a huge professional play based on a Gogol' story, about marriage... and uhm... well... As much as I love Gogol', I'm 90% sure I wouldn't have been able to understand a damn thing, and since it's Gogol' + marriage I'm 99.9% sure that it would be a horrifying tragedy, which I don't need. So I went to a small, more personal contemporary comedy. Which, really, was tremendously uncreative and a compact soap opera, but! It was very enjoyable. I didn't understand anything that was really going on in the beginning, but towards the end I actually understood everything they were saying. And the acting was good, so that was a plus.
Friday, December 5, 2008
In Which Shoe Stores are Visited
04.12.2008
Well, today was halfway interesting.
First, I'll begin with my GUILT. I feel terrible about thiss. Maneka and I went to a Georgian cafe to eat dinner, and it was fantastic -- the waitess was really friendly and nice, the food was fantastic, and it wasn't expensive at all. Well, after paying, while we're getting ready to leave, and I knocked over a glass. It cracked a little bit, and the waitress asked if it broke... Well, we kind of panicked and said no, then gathered all our stuff and almost RAN out. I realised right after I stepped out the door that I could've just apologised profusely and offered to pay for it, and I really should have done that. But now we can NEVER RETURN. Damn it. I am so stupid.
On that note, Georgian food is delicious. Nice and spicy, which is something completely absent from Russian food, which is bland and kind of bad.
As for classes today, they went fairly well. Had two blocks of Grammar because my SMI teacher is ill, and the Grammar teacher was ill on Monday so they just moved the class ahead so we wouldn't miss a full week. I hate SMI and enjoy Grammar, so this was fine by me. That was a good class because we got on a topic I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND, but THEN UNDERSTOOD! Difficulty is good sometimes.
After classes, Maneka and I went out to go SHOE SHOPPING! We were looking to buy some boots. On the metro there, these two teenaged guys were like, playing footsy and kicking eachother. Well, this old woman turned and SLAPPED one of them and told them to stop. That, was fantastic. I don't think that's something you'dd often ssee in America.
Anyway, we went to probably 10-15 different shoe stores... aand ... found basically nothing. Most of the stores, all the men's shoes and boots were awful, and all the women's shoes and boots were the same and nothing Maneka really wanted. I did end up buying a really nice pair of shoes, though -- Real leather (suede) with a natural fur lining, and a zipper on the side. They're ... more ... masculine than what I'd normally buy, but they look really good on me and they ZIP so I don't have to worry about falling and dying while trying to tie shoes at the door. Plus they were tremendously cheap for what they are.
UNFORTUNATELY. I really wanted to buy a pair of BOOTS. like, calf-high BOOTS. Not SHOES. But I can't find BOOTS for some reason. Everyone else and their mother owns boots, of course, but not I. We also stopped by this supposedly Russian-designed clothing store, and it was all overpriced and tremendously boring, so that was disappointing.
I also want to buy a jacket... and a bunch of other stuff... BUT I NEED TO STOP. I need to buy things for OTHER people. In fact, I'm not buying a single damned thing for myself again until I buy three more people gifts.
I think I might run out of room in my suitcase, though... hmm.. Not sure. I know a couple things I'm leaving behind, regardless. Like the shitty shoulderbag I brought with me, and I might actually sell a pair of the shoes I brought from America that I've decided I no longer like because they're boring.
Speaking of money, I have spent absurd amounts since I've been here. And I've kept track of every cent (OR SHOULD I SAY, KOPECK?!) since I've been here. I just glanced over my balance... thing... and I think altogether, with credit card purchases included, I've spent almost if not exceeding 3000 dollars. Which is absurd. Of course, this doesn't include program costs, but those don't count. When I'm at Goucher, I MIGHT spend about 200 dollars a semester. Maybe. At most. Except, around my birthday I tend to splurge. But that's beside the point. I've nearly spent all my savings. Which, I guess the original point of saving was so that I wouldn't have to worry about my funds while I'm here. Of course, at the same time, I've stayed away from frivilous purches ... well .... kind of ... Sometimes I get out of hand with chocolate. BUT. That's beside the point. Most everything I've bought I will use, and most everything I've bought I wouldn't be able to buy in America, and if I could, it would be even more expensive. So there's that.
THAT BEING SAID. I am determined to go to the Санк Петербургская Опера this month, and I need to see SWAN LAKE before I leave, but that looks a bit harder than it should be. I think I'm going to try to purchase tickets to some one-act opera, for next week... We'll see. Shouldn't be expensive; the St. Petersburg Opera is small. So. La Traviata is also playing at the Mikhailovskij, and I'm tempted to go to that, too, but that's going to be much more expensive, nott to mention I don't think I could stand two operas within a day of each other.
On top of that, I'm going to the Political Museum on Saturday, so hurrah for that.
Well, today was halfway interesting.
First, I'll begin with my GUILT. I feel terrible about thiss. Maneka and I went to a Georgian cafe to eat dinner, and it was fantastic -- the waitess was really friendly and nice, the food was fantastic, and it wasn't expensive at all. Well, after paying, while we're getting ready to leave, and I knocked over a glass. It cracked a little bit, and the waitress asked if it broke... Well, we kind of panicked and said no, then gathered all our stuff and almost RAN out. I realised right after I stepped out the door that I could've just apologised profusely and offered to pay for it, and I really should have done that. But now we can NEVER RETURN. Damn it. I am so stupid.
On that note, Georgian food is delicious. Nice and spicy, which is something completely absent from Russian food, which is bland and kind of bad.
As for classes today, they went fairly well. Had two blocks of Grammar because my SMI teacher is ill, and the Grammar teacher was ill on Monday so they just moved the class ahead so we wouldn't miss a full week. I hate SMI and enjoy Grammar, so this was fine by me. That was a good class because we got on a topic I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND, but THEN UNDERSTOOD! Difficulty is good sometimes.
After classes, Maneka and I went out to go SHOE SHOPPING! We were looking to buy some boots. On the metro there, these two teenaged guys were like, playing footsy and kicking eachother. Well, this old woman turned and SLAPPED one of them and told them to stop. That, was fantastic. I don't think that's something you'dd often ssee in America.
Anyway, we went to probably 10-15 different shoe stores... aand ... found basically nothing. Most of the stores, all the men's shoes and boots were awful, and all the women's shoes and boots were the same and nothing Maneka really wanted. I did end up buying a really nice pair of shoes, though -- Real leather (suede) with a natural fur lining, and a zipper on the side. They're ... more ... masculine than what I'd normally buy, but they look really good on me and they ZIP so I don't have to worry about falling and dying while trying to tie shoes at the door. Plus they were tremendously cheap for what they are.
UNFORTUNATELY. I really wanted to buy a pair of BOOTS. like, calf-high BOOTS. Not SHOES. But I can't find BOOTS for some reason. Everyone else and their mother owns boots, of course, but not I. We also stopped by this supposedly Russian-designed clothing store, and it was all overpriced and tremendously boring, so that was disappointing.
I also want to buy a jacket... and a bunch of other stuff... BUT I NEED TO STOP. I need to buy things for OTHER people. In fact, I'm not buying a single damned thing for myself again until I buy three more people gifts.
I think I might run out of room in my suitcase, though... hmm.. Not sure. I know a couple things I'm leaving behind, regardless. Like the shitty shoulderbag I brought with me, and I might actually sell a pair of the shoes I brought from America that I've decided I no longer like because they're boring.
Speaking of money, I have spent absurd amounts since I've been here. And I've kept track of every cent (OR SHOULD I SAY, KOPECK?!) since I've been here. I just glanced over my balance... thing... and I think altogether, with credit card purchases included, I've spent almost if not exceeding 3000 dollars. Which is absurd. Of course, this doesn't include program costs, but those don't count. When I'm at Goucher, I MIGHT spend about 200 dollars a semester. Maybe. At most. Except, around my birthday I tend to splurge. But that's beside the point. I've nearly spent all my savings. Which, I guess the original point of saving was so that I wouldn't have to worry about my funds while I'm here. Of course, at the same time, I've stayed away from frivilous purches ... well .... kind of ... Sometimes I get out of hand with chocolate. BUT. That's beside the point. Most everything I've bought I will use, and most everything I've bought I wouldn't be able to buy in America, and if I could, it would be even more expensive. So there's that.
THAT BEING SAID. I am determined to go to the Санк Петербургская Опера this month, and I need to see SWAN LAKE before I leave, but that looks a bit harder than it should be. I think I'm going to try to purchase tickets to some one-act opera, for next week... We'll see. Shouldn't be expensive; the St. Petersburg Opera is small. So. La Traviata is also playing at the Mikhailovskij, and I'm tempted to go to that, too, but that's going to be much more expensive, nott to mention I don't think I could stand two operas within a day of each other.
On top of that, I'm going to the Political Museum on Saturday, so hurrah for that.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
In Which Homework is Offensive
03.12.2008
Finished my presentation last night at about 1am, then couldn't fall asleep. Despite this, today was not terrible.
Olga did her presentation in class before me, and she did well. Topic was on Iran's nuclear aspirations. So I learned a bit, since I hadn't known much before. After that, I did my presentation, which I thought was probably terribly boring for everyone, and I kept stumbling over myself and saying "Yakunovych" instead of "Yanukovych."
But, professor said it was a good presentation, afterwards. We'll see what this "good" translates to, grade-wise.
Can I just say something? I hate NATO. And I'm not sure if it's because everything I read is about NATO, or if it's just because everything I'm reading is from the Russian perspective on NATO. Perhaps it's a bit of both. Either way, I wouldn't mind if NATO were dissolved, personally. Big headache gone right there.
BUT INSTEAD, THE UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT KEEPS GETTING DISSOLVED. WHAT THE HELL?
I think there might be some sort of feud between ... two of my professors. I won't say their names, for fear they might discover my blog. But yeah. It's somewhat disappointing, since I really like both of them. But, it happens.
I don't really have much more to say ... ? Uhm... I'm going shopping tomorrow (maybe), and to the political museum on Saturday... Not yet sure what I'll be doing on Friday. Maybe I'll start studying for my finals. we'll see.
But for now I must do grammar homework. Which I sorely do not want to touch.
Actually, after looking at said grammar homework, I do want to say something:
I have to read a poem and answer a bunch of dumb questions about it – The poem is by Maria Tsvetaeva, who was a LESBIAN poet in the early 1900's in Russia, who chased after other women poets and wrote love poems to AMAZONIAN WARRIORS and whatnot. Well, the description of the poem says that the poem is directed towards a MAN. There is NO indication in this particular poem that the object of love is a MAN, since she uses the PLURAL/FORMAL to refer to the object of love, and there is no DISTINCTION between GENDER in the PLURAL. In ADDITION, she says they will never be MARRIED in a CHURCH and that all their strolls were at NIGHT and not UNDER THE SUN (ADD LINE HERE: SO THAT WE AREN'T KILLED BY MISOGYNIST PIGS). I'm going to try and translate this paragraph and put it into my homework.
Alright, finished.
Finished my presentation last night at about 1am, then couldn't fall asleep. Despite this, today was not terrible.
Olga did her presentation in class before me, and she did well. Topic was on Iran's nuclear aspirations. So I learned a bit, since I hadn't known much before. After that, I did my presentation, which I thought was probably terribly boring for everyone, and I kept stumbling over myself and saying "Yakunovych" instead of "Yanukovych."
But, professor said it was a good presentation, afterwards. We'll see what this "good" translates to, grade-wise.
Can I just say something? I hate NATO. And I'm not sure if it's because everything I read is about NATO, or if it's just because everything I'm reading is from the Russian perspective on NATO. Perhaps it's a bit of both. Either way, I wouldn't mind if NATO were dissolved, personally. Big headache gone right there.
BUT INSTEAD, THE UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT KEEPS GETTING DISSOLVED. WHAT THE HELL?
I think there might be some sort of feud between ... two of my professors. I won't say their names, for fear they might discover my blog. But yeah. It's somewhat disappointing, since I really like both of them. But, it happens.
I don't really have much more to say ... ? Uhm... I'm going shopping tomorrow (maybe), and to the political museum on Saturday... Not yet sure what I'll be doing on Friday. Maybe I'll start studying for my finals. we'll see.
But for now I must do grammar homework. Which I sorely do not want to touch.
Actually, after looking at said grammar homework, I do want to say something:
I have to read a poem and answer a bunch of dumb questions about it – The poem is by Maria Tsvetaeva, who was a LESBIAN poet in the early 1900's in Russia, who chased after other women poets and wrote love poems to AMAZONIAN WARRIORS and whatnot. Well, the description of the poem says that the poem is directed towards a MAN. There is NO indication in this particular poem that the object of love is a MAN, since she uses the PLURAL/FORMAL to refer to the object of love, and there is no DISTINCTION between GENDER in the PLURAL. In ADDITION, she says they will never be MARRIED in a CHURCH and that all their strolls were at NIGHT and not UNDER THE SUN (ADD LINE HERE: SO THAT WE AREN'T KILLED BY MISOGYNIST PIGS). I'm going to try and translate this paragraph and put it into my homework.
Alright, finished.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
In Which Culture is No Longer Exciting
02.12.2008
So, uhm, I was just notified today that next week is the last week of classes, and then we have a week of exams and we're finished...?
Whoops. Seems I'm behind on the times.
Of course, I still have my non-RSL classes after that. So. All is NOT finished, but yeah.
Today was overall just frustrating, because I couldn't form a damned sentence, and couldn't understand anything. Completely off. I feel like I've been writing that more frequently every week, though, so I don't know what that is...
Oh, this morning I saw an interesting commercial. Very short, only about five seconds. All it was was the Iranian flag, and the text "IRAN: Land of Business Opportunity," with a phone number at the bottom. The most odd part, though, was that it was in English ... ? Strange.
On that note, I've noticed that I''ve been writing less and less in terms of cultural comparisons and notations. But I think it's because I've gotten accustomed to nearly everything, here. I mean, I see and hear new and strange things every day, even while going about my normal routine, but they don't seem as new or strange anymore because I've come to expect them. There are only so many times one can describe men wearing flashy gold shoes or rocking curly mullets, or the aggressive behavior of the elderly. But then again, these aren't exactly the "core" of the culture. Not that I'm necessarily TOUCHING the "core" of the culture or anything, but.
And I also learned today that December 1st is the first day of winter, in Russia. So, I have officially lived through two days of the so-called "Russian winter." The funny thing is, it's been warmer the past few days than it has in a couple of weeks. So... Damn.
I've been hearing a baby SCREAMING at the top of his/her lungs EVERY NIGHT for about a week, now. I don't know what the hell is going on, but it's somewhat disturbing. It could be from anywhere in the building, too, because I'm hearing it through the pipes. What the hell?
So, uhm, I was just notified today that next week is the last week of classes, and then we have a week of exams and we're finished...?
Whoops. Seems I'm behind on the times.
Of course, I still have my non-RSL classes after that. So. All is NOT finished, but yeah.
Today was overall just frustrating, because I couldn't form a damned sentence, and couldn't understand anything. Completely off. I feel like I've been writing that more frequently every week, though, so I don't know what that is...
Oh, this morning I saw an interesting commercial. Very short, only about five seconds. All it was was the Iranian flag, and the text "IRAN: Land of Business Opportunity," with a phone number at the bottom. The most odd part, though, was that it was in English ... ? Strange.
On that note, I've noticed that I''ve been writing less and less in terms of cultural comparisons and notations. But I think it's because I've gotten accustomed to nearly everything, here. I mean, I see and hear new and strange things every day, even while going about my normal routine, but they don't seem as new or strange anymore because I've come to expect them. There are only so many times one can describe men wearing flashy gold shoes or rocking curly mullets, or the aggressive behavior of the elderly. But then again, these aren't exactly the "core" of the culture. Not that I'm necessarily TOUCHING the "core" of the culture or anything, but.
And I also learned today that December 1st is the first day of winter, in Russia. So, I have officially lived through two days of the so-called "Russian winter." The funny thing is, it's been warmer the past few days than it has in a couple of weeks. So... Damn.
I've been hearing a baby SCREAMING at the top of his/her lungs EVERY NIGHT for about a week, now. I don't know what the hell is going on, but it's somewhat disturbing. It could be from anywhere in the building, too, because I'm hearing it through the pipes. What the hell?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
In Which Amurrica Isn't a Plural Society
01.12.2008
Today is the beginning of a new month. The last month of the year. I have a full month and ten days more before I return home.
I think it just actually hit me that I will be spending Christmas here. More that I will be spending New Years' (the Russian time for Christmas) with another family. THAT is bizarre. I have no idea what's going to happen, in terms of me celebrating with them or anything. I'll definitely get Tatyana something, but I have no idea how the rest of it will work.
Last night's plan of going to bed early and getting up to be productive didn't work as well as planned. I went to bed at about 10:40, completely exhausted, but didn't fall asleep until about 2 in the morning. Which was TERRIBLY frustrating. Then, when I woke up this morning, it turned out I didn't have Grammar class ANYWAY, so I slept in an hour then got up and did a bit of work. So it wasn't a TOTAL waste, I suppose.
Human Rights today was a riot. I go in, and ... I'm the only student. Oh, and Andrei Vladimirovich gave me an A for the first half of the semester, which was a pleasant surprise. I guess he DOESN'T hate me. But in any case, we started class, and I was able to talk a lot more freely when no one was there. Then the other guy in the class showed up (I am fairly sure his name is Anzor... or something ... like that). But Andrei Vladimirovich forced me to talk for most of the time, which was pretty awful. Though, it's funny, since I just realised that the Russian students don't really understand any of the concepts in class ... but ... I do? Maybe it's because it has to do with HUMAN RIGHTS, WHICH THEY DON'T HAVE?! I kid, of course.
While Andrei Vladimirovich was preparing something on the computer, Anzor asked me if I thought America was a plural society. To which I replied yes. And then he said he didn't think it was. To which I responded "uhm, alright..." To be perfectly honest, I can't see ANY country in our day NOT having a plural society... But, who knows.
Then, while travelling down the escalator in the metro I saw several stickers for a protest that's going on this month. They were pretty vague; there were only two variations of protest slogans that I saw: “State, answer for the crisis!” and “Change the authority, not the constitution!” Clearly, I am going to stay away from said marches. But I'm interested in seeing the media reaction.
That's it for today. NEED TO DO THAT PRESENTATION, DONTCHA KNOW.
Today is the beginning of a new month. The last month of the year. I have a full month and ten days more before I return home.
I think it just actually hit me that I will be spending Christmas here. More that I will be spending New Years' (the Russian time for Christmas) with another family. THAT is bizarre. I have no idea what's going to happen, in terms of me celebrating with them or anything. I'll definitely get Tatyana something, but I have no idea how the rest of it will work.
Last night's plan of going to bed early and getting up to be productive didn't work as well as planned. I went to bed at about 10:40, completely exhausted, but didn't fall asleep until about 2 in the morning. Which was TERRIBLY frustrating. Then, when I woke up this morning, it turned out I didn't have Grammar class ANYWAY, so I slept in an hour then got up and did a bit of work. So it wasn't a TOTAL waste, I suppose.
Human Rights today was a riot. I go in, and ... I'm the only student. Oh, and Andrei Vladimirovich gave me an A for the first half of the semester, which was a pleasant surprise. I guess he DOESN'T hate me. But in any case, we started class, and I was able to talk a lot more freely when no one was there. Then the other guy in the class showed up (I am fairly sure his name is Anzor... or something ... like that). But Andrei Vladimirovich forced me to talk for most of the time, which was pretty awful. Though, it's funny, since I just realised that the Russian students don't really understand any of the concepts in class ... but ... I do? Maybe it's because it has to do with HUMAN RIGHTS, WHICH THEY DON'T HAVE?! I kid, of course.
While Andrei Vladimirovich was preparing something on the computer, Anzor asked me if I thought America was a plural society. To which I replied yes. And then he said he didn't think it was. To which I responded "uhm, alright..." To be perfectly honest, I can't see ANY country in our day NOT having a plural society... But, who knows.
Then, while travelling down the escalator in the metro I saw several stickers for a protest that's going on this month. They were pretty vague; there were only two variations of protest slogans that I saw: “State, answer for the crisis!” and “Change the authority, not the constitution!” Clearly, I am going to stay away from said marches. But I'm interested in seeing the media reaction.
That's it for today. NEED TO DO THAT PRESENTATION, DONTCHA KNOW.
Monday, December 1, 2008
In Which Thanksgiving is Celebrated
27.11.2008
Today was actually fairly interesting. ДЕНЬ БЛАДОДАРЕНИЯ!! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Today was the first day we've had a SMI class where everyone was in attendance. It's gotten to the point where I actually like all of my classes except for Grammar in Situations, and I hate that class mostly because of the professor. More on that later.
The teacher in SMI made a comment today about how they were taught in school that Thanksgiving wwas an important holiday to the Americans, and the main dish was turkey, etc etc. It kind of struck me that we... really ... Don't learn anything like that in school, about other cultures, and such. Even something as simple as that. Unless you're in a foreign language class, of course. Then again, the irony is that Thanksgiving doesn't seem to be THAT important in American culture, since we lump it in with Halloween as far as commercialism goes, and jump straight to Christmas before Thanksgiving has even happened. On the other hand, that might make it more integral to our CULTURE, since it DOES seem to be more important on a personal level. I know a lot of people hate to miss Thanksgiving, and families congregate and such. It was always a big day when I lived alone with my mom, because we very rarely sat at the table to eat, and she'd even fix a plate for Missy (our dog, for those who don't know) and let HER eat at the table ... Which is actually kind of odd now that I think about it, but it didn't seem odd at the time.
AND THEN, OF COURSE, I SPENT THE LAST THANKSGIVING WITH THE FABULOUS DAYGLO. Which was great.
And then tonight, I spent the Thanksgiving with 30+ Americans and Russians. I cooked green beans, which were FANTASTIC. But my host mother unfortunately SCOFFED at them. Which makes me feel much less guilty about hating on her food sometimes. Four cans of green beans, aalmost completely gone by the end of the dinner. Mmm.
And during said dinner, Emma and EB dared me to take shots of HONEY, which Claire had laid out for people to use with their bread and so forth. For some reason everyone was amazed that I could chug honey..? Diabetes, here I come. Photos on facebook, soon.
Something interesting in my grammar class, today. We were going over different phrases with the word "health" in them (Which, in Russian, makes for a pretty long list). Many of these were different greetings, wishes, or exclamations. One was a sort of "Long live (so and so)," in translation. Well, the example used was "Long live comrade Stalin." Now, think about this for a second. Can anyone even IMAGINE what would happen if someone used this sort of example in a German class, only, with Hitler? In America, in Germany, doesn't matter where. Completely and entirely unacceptable. But Stalin? Acceptable, and even encouraged by some.
It makes sense. There are many reasons, and many CLEAR reasons as to why this is more "acceptable." Not that I AGREE with these reasons. It's scary, is what it is. It SHOULD be horribly offensive, to Russians most of all. But it isn't. Quite the opposite, Russians are Stalin's biggest apologists. The only thing that doesn't make sense is this -- Russians are very ... "ethnically conscious," I guess one could say. I suppose this comes from decades of having your "nationality" on your mandatory domestic passport. Even in Russian language, there is a difference between Russian as a nationality (русский) and being a citizen of the Russian Federation (российский). Russians even rag on Khrushchev for being Ukrainian. But Stalin? As we all, including Russians, know, Stalin was Georgian. This ... doesn't seem to matter. I don't know. My head hurts and I'm tired, so I'm not making much sense right now.
Can I make a confession? I kind of wish I could stay, next semester. Actually, I take that back. Here's what I want: Three months break, adjustment, and preparation for return, in the US. Then, come back for a semester or longer. But that simply can't happen. So, alas.
Oh, and an interesting pop-culture reference to my "smiling" thing I posted a couple entries back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcPt7cbMJ0
(I hope that's the right video -- I can't view it on this computer.)
28.11.2008
Went to the Hermitage again, today. I think by this point I've seen everything I'm going to see, there. I stumbled across the 20th century gallery, today, and that was great. Also find an expansive exhibit of the ancient Slavic tribes and the Golden Horde, which was also great, ESPECIALLY when I stumbled across a preserved skeleton. All three were pretty much free of people. The bad thing is, I actually came out from the OPPOSITE side, so I didn't get to go to the gift shop like I had planned. I'll have to go one more time just for that if nothing else. It's free to get in, so it's not that big of a deal.
After that went to Bryan's to clean up from last night's festivities, but I didn't do much cleaning. Didn't seem like they needed me, anyway. Maneka contacted me and wanted to go to dinner after her byon lesson, so we went to a Chinese restaurant and it was delicious.
That was basically my day... Which isn't that much, but for some reason every time I go into the Hermitage I get lost and spend hours wandering in circles trying to find new exhibits. I waited in the golden peacock clock room today for like twenty minutes so I could see it go off, but it didn't seem to be working, today, so that was frustrating.
Tomorrow I am to go to Professor Vertkin's apartment for dinner. I'm meeting with Olga before then, so that we could go together and not get lost. Then, Sunday, I'm supposed to get together with Yura and “drink vine.” Hehe.
And all before Wednesday I am to be ready for a presentation that I haven't started yet. Damn it.
Here we go again.
30.11.2008
So yesterday was a mess. Spent the morning doing a bit of research for my presentation, then I had to get ready to meet Olga so we could head over to Professor Vertkin's. Well, I left, and got a text from her saying she wasn't going ... So I ended up being about 40 minutes early to metro Elektrosila, and just wandered around that area, which was boring as hell. Eventually I boarded the trolleybus to make my way to Vertkin's apartment building. And it was my first experience on a trolleybus!
I felt so environmentally conscious.
AND, the seats were nice and cushioned, the conductor was more amicable, it was less crowded and a smoother ride. However, it was slower, alas. But that didn't matter in this case, considering how early I was.
So, when I got to his door, I rang the bell... rang again... knocked ... After about 10 minutes a girl answers the door wearing nothing but a shirt and a towel. Which was quite embarassing. Especially since I thought I had the wrong apartment. But she invited me in and said that Dima will be in soon. That turned out to be his neice. So when Vertkin came in, he was somewhat surprised that I was already there. Theeen he offered me beer... which I declined... And forced me to drink wine. I chose white.
His apartment was SO nice. Brand brand new, and he had someone come in and design it... New wallpaper, matching furniture. Kind of empty, but that's to be expected. Very simple, huge kitchen. But anyway. We had dinner, fantastic dinner, fantastic conversation. Overall great time. Discussed POLITICS most of the time. It was good.
And then today I spent all day doing work, basically, but I feel like I haven't done much. Wrote 8 pages of notes (For my presentation) and my PEN ran out. AGAIN. And this was Tatyana's pen, so I guess I better buy her a new one when I go out to buy a pen for MYSELF tomorrow.
Today was actually fairly interesting. ДЕНЬ БЛАДОДАРЕНИЯ!! Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Today was the first day we've had a SMI class where everyone was in attendance. It's gotten to the point where I actually like all of my classes except for Grammar in Situations, and I hate that class mostly because of the professor. More on that later.
The teacher in SMI made a comment today about how they were taught in school that Thanksgiving wwas an important holiday to the Americans, and the main dish was turkey, etc etc. It kind of struck me that we... really ... Don't learn anything like that in school, about other cultures, and such. Even something as simple as that. Unless you're in a foreign language class, of course. Then again, the irony is that Thanksgiving doesn't seem to be THAT important in American culture, since we lump it in with Halloween as far as commercialism goes, and jump straight to Christmas before Thanksgiving has even happened. On the other hand, that might make it more integral to our CULTURE, since it DOES seem to be more important on a personal level. I know a lot of people hate to miss Thanksgiving, and families congregate and such. It was always a big day when I lived alone with my mom, because we very rarely sat at the table to eat, and she'd even fix a plate for Missy (our dog, for those who don't know) and let HER eat at the table ... Which is actually kind of odd now that I think about it, but it didn't seem odd at the time.
AND THEN, OF COURSE, I SPENT THE LAST THANKSGIVING WITH THE FABULOUS DAYGLO. Which was great.
And then tonight, I spent the Thanksgiving with 30+ Americans and Russians. I cooked green beans, which were FANTASTIC. But my host mother unfortunately SCOFFED at them. Which makes me feel much less guilty about hating on her food sometimes. Four cans of green beans, aalmost completely gone by the end of the dinner. Mmm.
And during said dinner, Emma and EB dared me to take shots of HONEY, which Claire had laid out for people to use with their bread and so forth. For some reason everyone was amazed that I could chug honey..? Diabetes, here I come. Photos on facebook, soon.
Something interesting in my grammar class, today. We were going over different phrases with the word "health" in them (Which, in Russian, makes for a pretty long list). Many of these were different greetings, wishes, or exclamations. One was a sort of "Long live (so and so)," in translation. Well, the example used was "Long live comrade Stalin." Now, think about this for a second. Can anyone even IMAGINE what would happen if someone used this sort of example in a German class, only, with Hitler? In America, in Germany, doesn't matter where. Completely and entirely unacceptable. But Stalin? Acceptable, and even encouraged by some.
It makes sense. There are many reasons, and many CLEAR reasons as to why this is more "acceptable." Not that I AGREE with these reasons. It's scary, is what it is. It SHOULD be horribly offensive, to Russians most of all. But it isn't. Quite the opposite, Russians are Stalin's biggest apologists. The only thing that doesn't make sense is this -- Russians are very ... "ethnically conscious," I guess one could say. I suppose this comes from decades of having your "nationality" on your mandatory domestic passport. Even in Russian language, there is a difference between Russian as a nationality (русский) and being a citizen of the Russian Federation (российский). Russians even rag on Khrushchev for being Ukrainian. But Stalin? As we all, including Russians, know, Stalin was Georgian. This ... doesn't seem to matter. I don't know. My head hurts and I'm tired, so I'm not making much sense right now.
Can I make a confession? I kind of wish I could stay, next semester. Actually, I take that back. Here's what I want: Three months break, adjustment, and preparation for return, in the US. Then, come back for a semester or longer. But that simply can't happen. So, alas.
Oh, and an interesting pop-culture reference to my "smiling" thing I posted a couple entries back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCcPt7cbMJ0
(I hope that's the right video -- I can't view it on this computer.)
28.11.2008
Went to the Hermitage again, today. I think by this point I've seen everything I'm going to see, there. I stumbled across the 20th century gallery, today, and that was great. Also find an expansive exhibit of the ancient Slavic tribes and the Golden Horde, which was also great, ESPECIALLY when I stumbled across a preserved skeleton. All three were pretty much free of people. The bad thing is, I actually came out from the OPPOSITE side, so I didn't get to go to the gift shop like I had planned. I'll have to go one more time just for that if nothing else. It's free to get in, so it's not that big of a deal.
After that went to Bryan's to clean up from last night's festivities, but I didn't do much cleaning. Didn't seem like they needed me, anyway. Maneka contacted me and wanted to go to dinner after her byon lesson, so we went to a Chinese restaurant and it was delicious.
That was basically my day... Which isn't that much, but for some reason every time I go into the Hermitage I get lost and spend hours wandering in circles trying to find new exhibits. I waited in the golden peacock clock room today for like twenty minutes so I could see it go off, but it didn't seem to be working, today, so that was frustrating.
Tomorrow I am to go to Professor Vertkin's apartment for dinner. I'm meeting with Olga before then, so that we could go together and not get lost. Then, Sunday, I'm supposed to get together with Yura and “drink vine.” Hehe.
And all before Wednesday I am to be ready for a presentation that I haven't started yet. Damn it.
Here we go again.
30.11.2008
So yesterday was a mess. Spent the morning doing a bit of research for my presentation, then I had to get ready to meet Olga so we could head over to Professor Vertkin's. Well, I left, and got a text from her saying she wasn't going ... So I ended up being about 40 minutes early to metro Elektrosila, and just wandered around that area, which was boring as hell. Eventually I boarded the trolleybus to make my way to Vertkin's apartment building. And it was my first experience on a trolleybus!
I felt so environmentally conscious.
AND, the seats were nice and cushioned, the conductor was more amicable, it was less crowded and a smoother ride. However, it was slower, alas. But that didn't matter in this case, considering how early I was.
So, when I got to his door, I rang the bell... rang again... knocked ... After about 10 minutes a girl answers the door wearing nothing but a shirt and a towel. Which was quite embarassing. Especially since I thought I had the wrong apartment. But she invited me in and said that Dima will be in soon. That turned out to be his neice. So when Vertkin came in, he was somewhat surprised that I was already there. Theeen he offered me beer... which I declined... And forced me to drink wine. I chose white.
His apartment was SO nice. Brand brand new, and he had someone come in and design it... New wallpaper, matching furniture. Kind of empty, but that's to be expected. Very simple, huge kitchen. But anyway. We had dinner, fantastic dinner, fantastic conversation. Overall great time. Discussed POLITICS most of the time. It was good.
And then today I spent all day doing work, basically, but I feel like I haven't done much. Wrote 8 pages of notes (For my presentation) and my PEN ran out. AGAIN. And this was Tatyana's pen, so I guess I better buy her a new one when I go out to buy a pen for MYSELF tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)