30.10.2008
So, this is my last entry before I go to Moscow -- Next time I'll update is ... Wednesday or Thursday. Not sure. Which is ... exactly a week. Hm..
Sadly, this may be a scant entry. SO YOU'LL ALL HAVE TO SAVOUR EVERY LAST WORD OF THIS ONE BEFORE I DISAPPEAR FOR A WEEK.
I didn't bother updating yesterday because there really wasn't much to say. I've stayed in most all week, reading, watching TV, and studying. Recuperating from dealing with people. Nice and relaxed, really -- I don't regret not doing anything all week. It's what I needed.
Last night I was watching a Russian historical document on the leaders of the Cheka/KGB/etc throughout the Russian history, and it had a lot of video clips, which was neat. At one point they were showing Finnish soldiers during World War I skiing in formation! It was fantastic. I had read about the skiing Finnish soldiers in my contemporary Russian history class a year ago, and couldn't believe it. BUT NOW I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.
Also, from this video, I have discerned that the Russian military has not changed its uniform for about sixty or seventy years. Since I've been here I've been trying to distinguish the different military and paramilitary divisions, but it's difficult, and now I'm all confused because they've changed into their winter uniforms. Which is to say, they've traded in their saucer caps for USHANKI! So now I see columns of Russian military men (by "men" I mean "16 year old boys"...) marching down the street in long double-breasted black coats and fur hats.
I had planned on going shopping today but I forgot my debit card and didn't have much money, so I'm going to go, tomorrow... If I can't find a suitable jacket and hat for Moscow I guess I'm going to wear my heavy fur coat and my new ushanka. If I do that I'm going to get a lot of photos of me being a stereotypical Russian on Red Square, or something. I don't know.
I'm fairly excited for Moscow. Well, except the weather is supposed to be absolutely miserable, and we're taking a WALKING TOUR OF THE CITY. Which will probably be HELL. I couldn't load the itinerary, so, I'm not entirely sure what'll be going on. We're staying in a HOSTEL, which will be weird... Hmm.. Tatyana's birthday is on Tuesday, I think, and I'll be gone, so I'm going to buy her a gift in Moscow, and I think I'm going to buy her chocolates or something before I leave. II'm also going to try and shop for gifts for other people while in Moscow. And so on.
I've started trying to sort out my schedule for Goucher, next semester, and it's already hell. I left my entire written out plan on what I was going to do to fulfill the rest of my Gen Eds, so I'm kind of lost. I already know that my usual practise of cramming up on classes on MWF and leaving TuTh open and free is ... not going to happen -- All the Russian classes are MW and MWF, and all the Poli. Sci. courses are TuTh. Which I guess is good from the perspective that basically nothing I want to take conflicts, but not good from the fact that everything is SPREAD OUT AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY so my productivity may be at an all-time low.
What I am most terrified about going back to Goucher is the living situation, though, which is apparently more hellish than it's ever been. If I don't get a single I'm going to be mad as hell. I know that sounds terribly bratty, but for God's sakes I've already had to deal with two years of awkward and obnoxious living situations, and on top of that I'm a Junior, so I should have SOME seniority. I'm sure there are a massive amount of UNDESERVING FRESHMEN who have singles in some of the best halls. I've already told Brendan that I'm going to go live in his room if they try to put me in a double. He thought it was a joke. LITTLE DOES HE KNOW. So basically my living situation depends on how many people DROP OUT this semester and how many go abroad next semester. We'll see what happens. I need to shoot an e-mail over to Community Living to make sure everything is at least in order, document-wise...
I really should get to bed, since I'm waking up earlier than I need to in order to receive vocabulary tutoring, tomorrow morning. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping, lately, though, and I'm not sure why that is. maybe all the TEA I'm drinking. the MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TEA. Despite this, I'm in a good mood. Good mood, indeed. My shopping trip tomorrow might elevate or depress that. We shall see.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
In Which Ukraine is Discussed... But not really.
28.10.2008
Another fairly unexciting day. Phonetics (which, for some reason I keep spelling as "fonetics") was particularly painful because we had a substitute (again) today, and I don't like her. Mostly because she's tremendously awkward, and not in a good way. I feel more comfortable with the other teacher, who apparently is returning next week. After that I had my Razgovornaya exam, which was much easier than I thought it would be. After we finished she made us sit as she went through and marked our mistakes on the paper... then she turned it back to us to give us a second chance to correct it. Which was strange. But, I had few mistakes, and most of the mistakes I made I knew how to remedy. So, whoo.
After that I went to Bobrinskij palace in order to discuss my presentation topic with Professor Vertkin. After a lengthy discussion, I think I'm going to do my presentation on the position of Ukraine in the relations between Russia and the U.S. It's really bizarre because basically all of my research is going to have to be on the internet, and I haven't used GOOGLE for god's sakes to research something for an ACADEMIC PAPER since I entered college. But, we simply don't have the resources for anything else. So, there's that..
I stopped by the bookstore to try and find pens and pencil lead... I failed. For some reason writing utensils are absurdly difficult to come by in this country. I'm down to three sticks of lead in my pencil, and a blue pen. I think I'm going to start saving my pencil for exams and such.. so the rest of my notes and my homework is going to be in BLOO. exciting.
That was basically MY day... hm...
Oh, alright, so. There's this guy who's started waving to me when he sees me. But, uh, I don't really know him. I mean, I saw him at a lecture on the U.S. elections. That's been the full extent of our ... interaction. Which is to say, none. So perhaps I shall introduce myself to him next time I see him. So that I may make friends. Or something.
Well, luckily, I have very little homework tonight, so I'm going to read a bit then... I don't know. I''m so tired, but when I try to go to sleep I can't. Maybe it's just pure exhaustion. But it's not like I'm DOING much., right now. Maybe it's the tea dependence, or something. Hell if I know.
Oh, so, while I was talking with Professor Vertkin today he said that the Philological Faculty bookstore is actually one of the better bookstores in the city, and if I want to find anything halfway interesting I should go there instead of Dom Knigi. So, I'm going to do that, sometime... soon... maybe. before the weather gets so godawful that I'd rather stay inside all the time. Speaking of shopping, I think I need to go out and buy a hat and a jacket before going to Moscow. Yes, one would think I should wait and maybe try to buy said things in Moscow, but... Apparently it might SNOW while we're there. So I need to be prepared. I don't really want to take my gigantic fur coat, because I can't MOVE while wearing it, and I don't want to take my ushanka because I kind of feel like a jackass wearing it. Of course, it's not like it even gets cold enough in the U.S. (Or, at least, in Maryland/California) that I would need to wear it there. Plus, someone at Goucher might try to douse me with paint, since it's made of FOX FUR (I think). But at the same time I have had a hard time trying to find a hat that looks halfway decent, here. Everyone wears those knitted caps, which (in my opinion) look like hell on ANYONE and EVERYONE. So I'd like to avoid getting one of those. We'll see what happens.
I've run out of junk to say. So... yep
Another fairly unexciting day. Phonetics (which, for some reason I keep spelling as "fonetics") was particularly painful because we had a substitute (again) today, and I don't like her. Mostly because she's tremendously awkward, and not in a good way. I feel more comfortable with the other teacher, who apparently is returning next week. After that I had my Razgovornaya exam, which was much easier than I thought it would be. After we finished she made us sit as she went through and marked our mistakes on the paper... then she turned it back to us to give us a second chance to correct it. Which was strange. But, I had few mistakes, and most of the mistakes I made I knew how to remedy. So, whoo.
After that I went to Bobrinskij palace in order to discuss my presentation topic with Professor Vertkin. After a lengthy discussion, I think I'm going to do my presentation on the position of Ukraine in the relations between Russia and the U.S. It's really bizarre because basically all of my research is going to have to be on the internet, and I haven't used GOOGLE for god's sakes to research something for an ACADEMIC PAPER since I entered college. But, we simply don't have the resources for anything else. So, there's that..
I stopped by the bookstore to try and find pens and pencil lead... I failed. For some reason writing utensils are absurdly difficult to come by in this country. I'm down to three sticks of lead in my pencil, and a blue pen. I think I'm going to start saving my pencil for exams and such.. so the rest of my notes and my homework is going to be in BLOO. exciting.
That was basically MY day... hm...
Oh, alright, so. There's this guy who's started waving to me when he sees me. But, uh, I don't really know him. I mean, I saw him at a lecture on the U.S. elections. That's been the full extent of our ... interaction. Which is to say, none. So perhaps I shall introduce myself to him next time I see him. So that I may make friends. Or something.
Well, luckily, I have very little homework tonight, so I'm going to read a bit then... I don't know. I''m so tired, but when I try to go to sleep I can't. Maybe it's just pure exhaustion. But it's not like I'm DOING much., right now. Maybe it's the tea dependence, or something. Hell if I know.
Oh, so, while I was talking with Professor Vertkin today he said that the Philological Faculty bookstore is actually one of the better bookstores in the city, and if I want to find anything halfway interesting I should go there instead of Dom Knigi. So, I'm going to do that, sometime... soon... maybe. before the weather gets so godawful that I'd rather stay inside all the time. Speaking of shopping, I think I need to go out and buy a hat and a jacket before going to Moscow. Yes, one would think I should wait and maybe try to buy said things in Moscow, but... Apparently it might SNOW while we're there. So I need to be prepared. I don't really want to take my gigantic fur coat, because I can't MOVE while wearing it, and I don't want to take my ushanka because I kind of feel like a jackass wearing it. Of course, it's not like it even gets cold enough in the U.S. (Or, at least, in Maryland/California) that I would need to wear it there. Plus, someone at Goucher might try to douse me with paint, since it's made of FOX FUR (I think). But at the same time I have had a hard time trying to find a hat that looks halfway decent, here. Everyone wears those knitted caps, which (in my opinion) look like hell on ANYONE and EVERYONE. So I'd like to avoid getting one of those. We'll see what happens.
I've run out of junk to say. So... yep
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
In Which ... I don't know, I'm tired
27.10.2008
Today wasn't particularly exciting, as most Mondays aren't. I had my mid-term exam for my grammar course, which seemed fairly easy, so I hope I did well on that. I have my mid-term for my speaking practice class tomorrow (which, ironically, has no speaking section!)
Aaand I spoke with Andrei Vladimirovich (my Human Rights teacher) about my mid-term for THAT class.. I didn't entirely understand THAT discussion. I understand that he wants me to write an 8000 character paper (which I think is about five pages) about ... something. He said we would 'think about it' and he'd give me a topic shortly. I think he wants me to do something connecting a Human Rights issue in America with one in the U.S., or contrasting them or something. Or maybe he wanted me to do that for my FINAL paper? I don't know, he was jumping around a bit. Does anyone know of any major human rights issues in America about which I could write? I could think of a few, but the thing is, it's not a 'huge thing' in IR to criticise the U.S. for human rights abuses or anything... Despite what a stroll through Baltimore could reveal.
Oh, another amusing thing -- A guy joined our class, today ... ? It's, what, eight weeks into the semester, and someone joins the class? What the hell is up with that? I couldn't really understand anything he was saying throughout class because the acoustics in that room are terrible and he was speaking quietly. I hope that doesn't continue. He seems like an average Russian guy, which is to say, a terrible person. But, here I am, judging people again. But then again, it's fairly rare that I meet a guy my age who ISN'T a terrible person, so that doesn't extend just to Russia.
BUT THAT DOESN'T NEGATE THE FACT THAT HE JOINED THE CLASS EIGHT WEEKS IN. And the first question he asked Andrei Vladimirovich was how old he was. Andrei responded,
How old do you THINK I am?
New guy (whose name I don't know): Hmm.. 20.
Andrei: *sigh, rolling of the eyes* 25.
I feel sorry for him -- it's clear that no one takes him seriously, but he seems much more ... together, stable, and enthuastic than most of the other professors. Ah well. Oh, right, and, amusingly, I didn't understand half the lecture, which I told him after class, and I told him I'd just read up on the conflict he was talking aabout and he was like, "Oh, no, don't bother, it's fine!" Which I find mildly strange. Of course, he's done that a few times -- if I didn't finish a reading he tells me I don't need to do any more, and so on... If I were in America, I'd be EXPECTED to go that extra mile. Maybe he's just thankful that I come to every class (Anya didn't come, today) and that I have been in the class since the beginning...?
So, going to Romeo and Juliet on Friday, then leaving for Moscow on Saturday night and not coming back until Tuesday morning. Oh, and this is the Russian idea of a holiday: Monday is a holiday, right? So, we have no classes on Monday. You'd think, "whoo, three day weekend!", right? Wrong. We have our Monday classes the previous SATUDAY instead. Yep. Which is why we're leaving for Moscow on Saturday NIGHT. Good job, Russia. (Actually, that's probably a Soviet holdover, like everything else in this damned country that doesn't make any sense)
The course list for next semester will be available in a couple of days, which is mildly terrifying, because it's the THIRD TO LAST TIME I WILL BE MAKING COURSE SELECTIONS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDY!! AAAAAH. I was actually confused earlier today and thought it was already up, so I was looking at the fall '08 course selection, which was really sad and uninteresting. But when I realised that it WASN'T the spring '08 course selection, I was happy that I missed such a shitty semester in the first place. In any case, I looked over all the gen. ed. requirements, and it seems to me that I only have a couple more to fulfill? I don't know, it doesn't seem right to me because I thought that I still needed to take four more gen. ed. classes. Who knows.
I'm sure that little blurb was interesting to read... right. At this point I'm just blathering on because I don't want to do my homework. But, I better get to it...
Today wasn't particularly exciting, as most Mondays aren't. I had my mid-term exam for my grammar course, which seemed fairly easy, so I hope I did well on that. I have my mid-term for my speaking practice class tomorrow (which, ironically, has no speaking section!)
Aaand I spoke with Andrei Vladimirovich (my Human Rights teacher) about my mid-term for THAT class.. I didn't entirely understand THAT discussion. I understand that he wants me to write an 8000 character paper (which I think is about five pages) about ... something. He said we would 'think about it' and he'd give me a topic shortly. I think he wants me to do something connecting a Human Rights issue in America with one in the U.S., or contrasting them or something. Or maybe he wanted me to do that for my FINAL paper? I don't know, he was jumping around a bit. Does anyone know of any major human rights issues in America about which I could write? I could think of a few, but the thing is, it's not a 'huge thing' in IR to criticise the U.S. for human rights abuses or anything... Despite what a stroll through Baltimore could reveal.
Oh, another amusing thing -- A guy joined our class, today ... ? It's, what, eight weeks into the semester, and someone joins the class? What the hell is up with that? I couldn't really understand anything he was saying throughout class because the acoustics in that room are terrible and he was speaking quietly. I hope that doesn't continue. He seems like an average Russian guy, which is to say, a terrible person. But, here I am, judging people again. But then again, it's fairly rare that I meet a guy my age who ISN'T a terrible person, so that doesn't extend just to Russia.
BUT THAT DOESN'T NEGATE THE FACT THAT HE JOINED THE CLASS EIGHT WEEKS IN. And the first question he asked Andrei Vladimirovich was how old he was. Andrei responded,
How old do you THINK I am?
New guy (whose name I don't know): Hmm.. 20.
Andrei: *sigh, rolling of the eyes* 25.
I feel sorry for him -- it's clear that no one takes him seriously, but he seems much more ... together, stable, and enthuastic than most of the other professors. Ah well. Oh, right, and, amusingly, I didn't understand half the lecture, which I told him after class, and I told him I'd just read up on the conflict he was talking aabout and he was like, "Oh, no, don't bother, it's fine!" Which I find mildly strange. Of course, he's done that a few times -- if I didn't finish a reading he tells me I don't need to do any more, and so on... If I were in America, I'd be EXPECTED to go that extra mile. Maybe he's just thankful that I come to every class (Anya didn't come, today) and that I have been in the class since the beginning...?
So, going to Romeo and Juliet on Friday, then leaving for Moscow on Saturday night and not coming back until Tuesday morning. Oh, and this is the Russian idea of a holiday: Monday is a holiday, right? So, we have no classes on Monday. You'd think, "whoo, three day weekend!", right? Wrong. We have our Monday classes the previous SATUDAY instead. Yep. Which is why we're leaving for Moscow on Saturday NIGHT. Good job, Russia. (Actually, that's probably a Soviet holdover, like everything else in this damned country that doesn't make any sense)
The course list for next semester will be available in a couple of days, which is mildly terrifying, because it's the THIRD TO LAST TIME I WILL BE MAKING COURSE SELECTIONS FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDY!! AAAAAH. I was actually confused earlier today and thought it was already up, so I was looking at the fall '08 course selection, which was really sad and uninteresting. But when I realised that it WASN'T the spring '08 course selection, I was happy that I missed such a shitty semester in the first place. In any case, I looked over all the gen. ed. requirements, and it seems to me that I only have a couple more to fulfill? I don't know, it doesn't seem right to me because I thought that I still needed to take four more gen. ed. classes. Who knows.
I'm sure that little blurb was interesting to read... right. At this point I'm just blathering on because I don't want to do my homework. But, I better get to it...
Monday, October 27, 2008
In Which Two Dinners and Desert are Eaten
24.10.2008 - Weekend Entry
The cat won't leave me alone. She kept meowing at my door while I was changing, then ZOOMED into the room when I finally opened it. Now she's lying in my lap purring and won't go away. Oh well.
I went to Nevsky on Friday to walk down the street and take a video, very INCONSPICUOUSLY, but it kind of failed. Apparently I didn't hold the camera steady enough while I was walking, so it's kind of dizzying, but I guess I'll keep it anyway. I had planned on going to Sennaya Ploshchad' and shopping for clothes, but instead I just ended up going to Dom Knigi (huge bookstore on Nevsky). Originally, I was just going to walk around the bookstore to see what they had, then leave. But, instead, I bought a new dictionary and a collection of short stories by Tatyana Tolstaya (Tolstoi's great granddaughter or something like that) - Ночь (Noch' - Night). I figured I'd get something to read for recreation in Russian to build vocabulary, since all the texts I read have to do with International Relations, and that kind of limits my vocabulary acquisition. I don't really want to go around sounding like a politician, personally.
In any case, I decided to just come home and do work, since I was in the mood for reading Russian things and such, as a contrast to my earlier feelings... I figure I may as well exploit the change in mood.
Then I went to Central Station in the evening, and it was ... Disappointing, to say the least. I'm not really going to get in to it, but, yeah. Strangely, very very few people were there. Not sure why that was. In any case, I would have like five dates now if I were into creepy older men who fail even harder when they try to speak English than when I speak Russian. The first one kept trying to buy me drinks, and he kept putting his arm around me. At least he got the picture when I forcefully shoved the offending appendage away.
Oh, and, while wandering around on the 3rd floor I came across something interesting. It was tremendously dark around the side staircase, and normally, I just feel my way through the corridor but I almost tripped and DIED so I decided to use my cell phone to light the way. Well, when I did that, I noticed two side corriders wiith a bunch of little plastic signs on the wall next to them. Intrigued, I shined my cell phone on them, and they were all signs of icons with red lines through them (like “No Smoking”); one was a martini glass, another a cigarette, a camera, and a cell phone. Next to these were signs of icons without a red line through them – one I couldn't identify that looked like a tea pot, and the other a ... condom? Apparently Andrei wasn't kidding when he said the “dark rooms” were on the third floor. Anyway, I walked by, but my cell phone light was still on so it shined into one of the corridors, and I saw someone in there. For some reason that freaked me out and I ran off.
And one more amusing anecdote. There were these two straight guys there, with the clear purpose of preying on the girls who come to the club to ESCAPE people like them. Well, they started dancing with these two girls on the second floor dancefloor, and after the song ended one of the girls walked out to find one of her friends or something, and the straight guy she was dancing with followed her out. Her and her friend converged in the other room and she turned around – at this point, she saw the guy, and I guess realised he was straight and not gay. He was in her way, so she just kind of shoved him out of her way, when he was clearly trying to make conversation or something. I lawl'd. Because those guys were jackasses, basically.
Aaand all Saturday I basically just lied around inside. But I don't regret it. I got a lot of vocabulary study done, and I really just had zero desire to go out, today. Tatyana went to the museum and shopping, so I was basically alone all day, and it was nice. I also got a lot of reading done. Unfortunately, I didn't really do any homework. BUT! I went through all the words I have been writing down, and checked off all the ones I've already memorised through useage and glancing over them every now and then, and I've memorised about five pages of ten. Which isn't terrible, I guess. But I think I've only really half memorised them – in that I can recognise them when I see them in writing and when I hear them, but I can't recall them. But, oh well.
The good news is that I think I have a good grasp of all case adjectival and noun endings. Knowing them is one thing – I've known them all for over a year now. But, having them memorised and being able to recall them in speech is entirely another. I bet this sounds terribly exciting, doesn't it?
ACTUALLY. I have a complaint I would like to submit. Alright:
To turn off – выключать / выключить (vykluchat' / vykluchit')
To turn on – включать / включить (vkluchat' / vkluchit')
What, the fuck? I actually just got this sorted out – I used to just get completely confused and think it was one word, and that I just didn't know its antonym. But now I know I am not just going insane, because I would always look them up and not understand why I didn't get them. I mean, the prefixes в- and вы- are opposite, so that's fairly regular through the verbal system, but usually it's easy to tell which useage it is through context. NOT IN THIS CASE. It sounds almost the same in speech. And it's annoying. (P.s.: вход, vkhod – entrance; выход, vykhod – exit. Yep.)
Sunday also sat around doing a little work. Got more actual homework finished, and studied for a test. In the evening, I went to dinner – but before that, I told Tatyana that I was going to dinner, and she didn't need to worry about fixing dinner for me... To which she asked,
Tatyana: When are you leaving?
Me: Around six.
Tatyana: Well, you can eat around four, then.
Me: ... (silence, not sure what to say)
Tatyana: Didn't understand?
Me: Uhm, I understood, but, why would I eat before, if I'm going to eat at a restaurant?
Tatyana: So that you don't need to eat much at the restaurant! It's expensive!
Me: I think it's free...
Tatyana: Ooooh, well then... But you THINK! You don't KNOW!
Me: .... (silence.)
I figured she was just joking, but around four she called me in to eat dinner, much to my chagrin. So, dinner at the cafe wasn't that great, because I was already full. DESPITE THIS, desert was DELICIOUS.
The cat won't leave me alone. She kept meowing at my door while I was changing, then ZOOMED into the room when I finally opened it. Now she's lying in my lap purring and won't go away. Oh well.
I went to Nevsky on Friday to walk down the street and take a video, very INCONSPICUOUSLY, but it kind of failed. Apparently I didn't hold the camera steady enough while I was walking, so it's kind of dizzying, but I guess I'll keep it anyway. I had planned on going to Sennaya Ploshchad' and shopping for clothes, but instead I just ended up going to Dom Knigi (huge bookstore on Nevsky). Originally, I was just going to walk around the bookstore to see what they had, then leave. But, instead, I bought a new dictionary and a collection of short stories by Tatyana Tolstaya (Tolstoi's great granddaughter or something like that) - Ночь (Noch' - Night). I figured I'd get something to read for recreation in Russian to build vocabulary, since all the texts I read have to do with International Relations, and that kind of limits my vocabulary acquisition. I don't really want to go around sounding like a politician, personally.
In any case, I decided to just come home and do work, since I was in the mood for reading Russian things and such, as a contrast to my earlier feelings... I figure I may as well exploit the change in mood.
Then I went to Central Station in the evening, and it was ... Disappointing, to say the least. I'm not really going to get in to it, but, yeah. Strangely, very very few people were there. Not sure why that was. In any case, I would have like five dates now if I were into creepy older men who fail even harder when they try to speak English than when I speak Russian. The first one kept trying to buy me drinks, and he kept putting his arm around me. At least he got the picture when I forcefully shoved the offending appendage away.
Oh, and, while wandering around on the 3rd floor I came across something interesting. It was tremendously dark around the side staircase, and normally, I just feel my way through the corridor but I almost tripped and DIED so I decided to use my cell phone to light the way. Well, when I did that, I noticed two side corriders wiith a bunch of little plastic signs on the wall next to them. Intrigued, I shined my cell phone on them, and they were all signs of icons with red lines through them (like “No Smoking”); one was a martini glass, another a cigarette, a camera, and a cell phone. Next to these were signs of icons without a red line through them – one I couldn't identify that looked like a tea pot, and the other a ... condom? Apparently Andrei wasn't kidding when he said the “dark rooms” were on the third floor. Anyway, I walked by, but my cell phone light was still on so it shined into one of the corridors, and I saw someone in there. For some reason that freaked me out and I ran off.
And one more amusing anecdote. There were these two straight guys there, with the clear purpose of preying on the girls who come to the club to ESCAPE people like them. Well, they started dancing with these two girls on the second floor dancefloor, and after the song ended one of the girls walked out to find one of her friends or something, and the straight guy she was dancing with followed her out. Her and her friend converged in the other room and she turned around – at this point, she saw the guy, and I guess realised he was straight and not gay. He was in her way, so she just kind of shoved him out of her way, when he was clearly trying to make conversation or something. I lawl'd. Because those guys were jackasses, basically.
Aaand all Saturday I basically just lied around inside. But I don't regret it. I got a lot of vocabulary study done, and I really just had zero desire to go out, today. Tatyana went to the museum and shopping, so I was basically alone all day, and it was nice. I also got a lot of reading done. Unfortunately, I didn't really do any homework. BUT! I went through all the words I have been writing down, and checked off all the ones I've already memorised through useage and glancing over them every now and then, and I've memorised about five pages of ten. Which isn't terrible, I guess. But I think I've only really half memorised them – in that I can recognise them when I see them in writing and when I hear them, but I can't recall them. But, oh well.
The good news is that I think I have a good grasp of all case adjectival and noun endings. Knowing them is one thing – I've known them all for over a year now. But, having them memorised and being able to recall them in speech is entirely another. I bet this sounds terribly exciting, doesn't it?
ACTUALLY. I have a complaint I would like to submit. Alright:
To turn off – выключать / выключить (vykluchat' / vykluchit')
To turn on – включать / включить (vkluchat' / vkluchit')
What, the fuck? I actually just got this sorted out – I used to just get completely confused and think it was one word, and that I just didn't know its antonym. But now I know I am not just going insane, because I would always look them up and not understand why I didn't get them. I mean, the prefixes в- and вы- are opposite, so that's fairly regular through the verbal system, but usually it's easy to tell which useage it is through context. NOT IN THIS CASE. It sounds almost the same in speech. And it's annoying. (P.s.: вход, vkhod – entrance; выход, vykhod – exit. Yep.)
Sunday also sat around doing a little work. Got more actual homework finished, and studied for a test. In the evening, I went to dinner – but before that, I told Tatyana that I was going to dinner, and she didn't need to worry about fixing dinner for me... To which she asked,
Tatyana: When are you leaving?
Me: Around six.
Tatyana: Well, you can eat around four, then.
Me: ... (silence, not sure what to say)
Tatyana: Didn't understand?
Me: Uhm, I understood, but, why would I eat before, if I'm going to eat at a restaurant?
Tatyana: So that you don't need to eat much at the restaurant! It's expensive!
Me: I think it's free...
Tatyana: Ooooh, well then... But you THINK! You don't KNOW!
Me: .... (silence.)
I figured she was just joking, but around four she called me in to eat dinner, much to my chagrin. So, dinner at the cafe wasn't that great, because I was already full. DESPITE THIS, desert was DELICIOUS.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
In Which a Movie is Watched
21.10.2008
Alright, so, before I write about anything else... I just watched the movie "Mongol," which I was anticipating for a while because I even saw it advertised in the U.S. And, I'm PRETTY sure it's a Russian film... I'm going to check IMDB tomorrow... but, I was a bit surprised when it was in a language other than Russian (I'm going to assume Mongolian, or whatever language it is that they speak in Mongolia -- excuse my ignorance), DUBBED OVER in Russian. Like, maybe that just doesn't make sense to ME... but... I don't know. I know there has been a trend in American films to film the movie in the original language of the setting or whatever (if that makes sense) and then subtitle it ... but what the fuck? You could HEAR the Mongolian language under the dubber, who, as I've noted before, is ONE voice actor doing ALL the dubbing for the entire movie -- female characters, male characters, narrator. Without any emotion. But in any case, luckily I could understand him, but the dialogue wasn't exactly that profound. Indeed, I was overall disappointed by the movie, but ah well.
And unfortunately I had to change the regional settings on my laptop to even PLAY the movie, WHICH I CAN ONLY DO FIVE TIMES!!! So I guess I'll keep my laptop at region 5 for my stay here, and try to only buy DVDs that have no regional setting. Which shouldn't be difficult since most are pirated anyhow.
Oh, I think I've mentioned this before, but the stray dogs here are SO ADORABLE. I would totally take them all in if I could. There are usually a lot laying around outside the metro when I come home from the university, and a lot of the time I'll see two of them playing out in front of one of the stores -- Well, like, one is lying down trying to sleep, and another is pawing and nipping at the one lying down, trying to get him to play. From afar it kind of looks like they're mauling eachother, but when you get close it's obvious they're just playing. IT'S SO CUTE. I want to feed them, but then I'll have a pack of stray dogs following me home. So I'll leave the feeding to the old ladies.
I spent another absurdly long day at Smolny, so I don't really have anything exciting to impart. I took two exams this week, two classes were cancelled... blah blah... I finally feel like I'm really improving in my language, but at the same time I feel as though my RSL classes aren't contributing to that in the least. DEFINITELY not in dialogue. Maybe a TAD bit in grammar. But that's about it. Indeed, that's my only real complaint about the program -- I sorely dislike the RSL program itself. Ah well.
Yura called me today to discuss going to the ballet. I told him I was going to buy the tickets, and he didn't need to worry about it, etc, and we got into an argument about that. Thankfully, I could understand most everything he was saying, but I got flustered because he started to tell me HE was going to buy the tickets because I don't have money or something (I don't know where he got that idea), and I just started speaking really fast... and by "speaking" I mean I spewed out a string of Russian words that were neither declined nor conjugated, so I can't imagine what it would've sounded like to him. Probably entirely incompehensible. In any case, it's still unresolved, but I'm buying tickets tomorrrow, regardless. He said he's going to send me a message or something. We'll see what happens.
Tatyana said that I needed to get warmer pants for the winter... I'm not sure what that means ... ? What exactly are 'warmer pants'? Ah well. I guess my legs will freeze, or something.
Update on 22.10.2008:
For some reason, right now, I'm just feeling completely and totally anti-Russian in every sense. I hate everything, right now. I think a great deal of it is frustration. I'm really just wanting to drop everything, give up, and go home (though clearly, I can't). I don't know... It's probably temporary, but for now, I just want to stab something.
Of course, and this starts at a rather inconvenient time. It's still fairly early and my homework is complete, so I have plenty of time to go over vocabulary or read Russian articles for recreation, or watch TV or something. But I really just want to withdraw from that. Yeck.
Of course, and it doesn't make much sense... Two classes (including my LEAST FAVORITE) were cancelled this week, I had a very easy exam in one class.. I don't know. It should have been a good week (indeed, it went by ULTRA FUCKING QUICK), but it was not. Truly, it was awful. And I go to Moscow next weekend.
Last night it really hit me that I only have two more months, really... Which at one relieves and terrifies me. Mostly it terrifies me because this experience has pissed me off so much that I feel like I really need to come out on top by the end, and I'm not sure I can do that within the next two months. Despite my doing more goings-out every WEEK than I would be doing in MONTHS while in the U.S., I still feel like I'm not doing ENOUGH. I don't know.
Alright, so, before I write about anything else... I just watched the movie "Mongol," which I was anticipating for a while because I even saw it advertised in the U.S. And, I'm PRETTY sure it's a Russian film... I'm going to check IMDB tomorrow... but, I was a bit surprised when it was in a language other than Russian (I'm going to assume Mongolian, or whatever language it is that they speak in Mongolia -- excuse my ignorance), DUBBED OVER in Russian. Like, maybe that just doesn't make sense to ME... but... I don't know. I know there has been a trend in American films to film the movie in the original language of the setting or whatever (if that makes sense) and then subtitle it ... but what the fuck? You could HEAR the Mongolian language under the dubber, who, as I've noted before, is ONE voice actor doing ALL the dubbing for the entire movie -- female characters, male characters, narrator. Without any emotion. But in any case, luckily I could understand him, but the dialogue wasn't exactly that profound. Indeed, I was overall disappointed by the movie, but ah well.
And unfortunately I had to change the regional settings on my laptop to even PLAY the movie, WHICH I CAN ONLY DO FIVE TIMES!!! So I guess I'll keep my laptop at region 5 for my stay here, and try to only buy DVDs that have no regional setting. Which shouldn't be difficult since most are pirated anyhow.
Oh, I think I've mentioned this before, but the stray dogs here are SO ADORABLE. I would totally take them all in if I could. There are usually a lot laying around outside the metro when I come home from the university, and a lot of the time I'll see two of them playing out in front of one of the stores -- Well, like, one is lying down trying to sleep, and another is pawing and nipping at the one lying down, trying to get him to play. From afar it kind of looks like they're mauling eachother, but when you get close it's obvious they're just playing. IT'S SO CUTE. I want to feed them, but then I'll have a pack of stray dogs following me home. So I'll leave the feeding to the old ladies.
I spent another absurdly long day at Smolny, so I don't really have anything exciting to impart. I took two exams this week, two classes were cancelled... blah blah... I finally feel like I'm really improving in my language, but at the same time I feel as though my RSL classes aren't contributing to that in the least. DEFINITELY not in dialogue. Maybe a TAD bit in grammar. But that's about it. Indeed, that's my only real complaint about the program -- I sorely dislike the RSL program itself. Ah well.
Yura called me today to discuss going to the ballet. I told him I was going to buy the tickets, and he didn't need to worry about it, etc, and we got into an argument about that. Thankfully, I could understand most everything he was saying, but I got flustered because he started to tell me HE was going to buy the tickets because I don't have money or something (I don't know where he got that idea), and I just started speaking really fast... and by "speaking" I mean I spewed out a string of Russian words that were neither declined nor conjugated, so I can't imagine what it would've sounded like to him. Probably entirely incompehensible. In any case, it's still unresolved, but I'm buying tickets tomorrrow, regardless. He said he's going to send me a message or something. We'll see what happens.
Tatyana said that I needed to get warmer pants for the winter... I'm not sure what that means ... ? What exactly are 'warmer pants'? Ah well. I guess my legs will freeze, or something.
Update on 22.10.2008:
For some reason, right now, I'm just feeling completely and totally anti-Russian in every sense. I hate everything, right now. I think a great deal of it is frustration. I'm really just wanting to drop everything, give up, and go home (though clearly, I can't). I don't know... It's probably temporary, but for now, I just want to stab something.
Of course, and this starts at a rather inconvenient time. It's still fairly early and my homework is complete, so I have plenty of time to go over vocabulary or read Russian articles for recreation, or watch TV or something. But I really just want to withdraw from that. Yeck.
Of course, and it doesn't make much sense... Two classes (including my LEAST FAVORITE) were cancelled this week, I had a very easy exam in one class.. I don't know. It should have been a good week (indeed, it went by ULTRA FUCKING QUICK), but it was not. Truly, it was awful. And I go to Moscow next weekend.
Last night it really hit me that I only have two more months, really... Which at one relieves and terrifies me. Mostly it terrifies me because this experience has pissed me off so much that I feel like I really need to come out on top by the end, and I'm not sure I can do that within the next two months. Despite my doing more goings-out every WEEK than I would be doing in MONTHS while in the U.S., I still feel like I'm not doing ENOUGH. I don't know.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
In Which a Day is Wasted
20.10.2008
Today was needlessly long. But it was mostly my own fault. I already want this week to be over, in either case.
So, I have this stupid habit of going to the Philological faculty at 10 in the morning every morning even when I don't have class until 1. Because I have some absurd idea in my mind that I must use the internet for hours every morning, but then I get to the computer and entirely forget about what I planned on doing.
In any case, went to class, had a test at about 4, then found out that I didn't have Human Rights today after I had already walked to Bobrinskij. Which was annoying, and I COULD HAVE just gone home but I decided to go to a lecture (by an American) on the U.S. elections and its impact on IR with Russia. Which was actually tremendously boring because, unfortunately, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know.
But... in the middle of this lecture, I realised something that actually took me off guard. I am an Obama voter. (Oh, yeah, by the way, I voted yesterday) Normally I find myself entirely detached from the American political goings on... I'm not really sure why. But, while thinking of the PROPOSITIONS!! on which I voted, I have a sense of pride. Since I voted AGAINST banning gay marriage in California, FOR several energy saving propositions, and FOR the rehabilitation of non-violent drug offenders (in stead of imprisonment). However, when thinking of the voting I did for the federal elections, I don't feel pride... I just feel kind of strange and uncomfortable. I don't know if this is due to for WHOM I voted, the fact that the American electoral system is absurd and fucked up and therefore my vote counts for very little to none, or a mix of the two.
Well, anyway, other than that, I really have no cultural observations for today. I have a lot of homework that needs to be done, but that's about it. Oh, and I'm planning to go to either Swan Lake or Romeo and Juliet at the end of the month (next week...? HOLY SHIT.) ... MAYBE I'LL GO TO BOTH. Actually, that's not an awful idea. They're on the 30th and the 31st, which are a Thursday and a Friday. I want to see Romeo and Juliet mostly because of the music, and I want to see Swan Lake because ... well, I'm in St. Petersburg, so I kind of need to see Swan Lake while I'm here. I sent a text to Yura asking if he'd like to go, but if he doesn't, then I think I'll just go alone. Or something. Maybe I'll find a boyfriend in the Marinskij theatre bathrooms.
Today was needlessly long. But it was mostly my own fault. I already want this week to be over, in either case.
So, I have this stupid habit of going to the Philological faculty at 10 in the morning every morning even when I don't have class until 1. Because I have some absurd idea in my mind that I must use the internet for hours every morning, but then I get to the computer and entirely forget about what I planned on doing.
In any case, went to class, had a test at about 4, then found out that I didn't have Human Rights today after I had already walked to Bobrinskij. Which was annoying, and I COULD HAVE just gone home but I decided to go to a lecture (by an American) on the U.S. elections and its impact on IR with Russia. Which was actually tremendously boring because, unfortunately, I didn't learn anything I didn't already know.
But... in the middle of this lecture, I realised something that actually took me off guard. I am an Obama voter. (Oh, yeah, by the way, I voted yesterday) Normally I find myself entirely detached from the American political goings on... I'm not really sure why. But, while thinking of the PROPOSITIONS!! on which I voted, I have a sense of pride. Since I voted AGAINST banning gay marriage in California, FOR several energy saving propositions, and FOR the rehabilitation of non-violent drug offenders (in stead of imprisonment). However, when thinking of the voting I did for the federal elections, I don't feel pride... I just feel kind of strange and uncomfortable. I don't know if this is due to for WHOM I voted, the fact that the American electoral system is absurd and fucked up and therefore my vote counts for very little to none, or a mix of the two.
Well, anyway, other than that, I really have no cultural observations for today. I have a lot of homework that needs to be done, but that's about it. Oh, and I'm planning to go to either Swan Lake or Romeo and Juliet at the end of the month (next week...? HOLY SHIT.) ... MAYBE I'LL GO TO BOTH. Actually, that's not an awful idea. They're on the 30th and the 31st, which are a Thursday and a Friday. I want to see Romeo and Juliet mostly because of the music, and I want to see Swan Lake because ... well, I'm in St. Petersburg, so I kind of need to see Swan Lake while I'm here. I sent a text to Yura asking if he'd like to go, but if he doesn't, then I think I'll just go alone. Or something. Maybe I'll find a boyfriend in the Marinskij theatre bathrooms.
Monday, October 20, 2008
In Which Rain Drops Fall Upon My Head
Weekend of 18.10.2008
Basically I didn't get a damned thing done, yesterday, which is distressing because it was my day of work for the weekend. Well, and I'm supposed to do a bunch today, too, but instead I'm writing my journal and recuperating from last night.
When I left for the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand & the Moon concert, it was pouring down. Weather was absolutely awful. Thankfully I didn't forget my umbrella, and somehow my hair kept its shape despite the extreme wetness. I found the club ("Club Revolution") fairly easily, but got lost once I got IN the club, because it was so damned huge. I went up to a room with a bunch of ... youngsters standing around listening to hip hop, and some strange blonde white Russian guy in ghetto clothes trying to dance in front of a gigantic mirror. I literally exclaimed aloud to myself, "Wrong room!" and flounced back down stairs, where I found the area in which the concert was to be held.
I just sat around until the concert started, after that. Of the Wand & the Moon was first... It was just two people -- a singer with an acoustic guitar, then a guy doing sound effects + tribal drumming and other various things. Now, I have never seen either of these bands because they don't have photos of themselves anywhere. From what I've seen. Of course, I didn't look too hard. But in any case, the singer looked as I would have expected... tall, mildly heavyset and bald with a long scraggly red beard. They were pretty damn good. I was pleased. I've never been that big on them in particular, but this changed my opinion.
Sonne Hagal was next, and .. well, the singer from Of the Wand & the Moon was doing the background synths and special effects, here, while the guy doing the special effects for Of the Wand & the Moon was the SINGER/acoustic guitarist for Sonne Hagal... Plus they had a keyboardist and a bassist. The singer... looked MUCH different than I thought he would... as he was small and unassuming. I don't know. It was strange.
Anyway, they were FANTASTIC. I was THOROUGHLY pleased. The crowd loved them, too, and we got them to come out and play a few more songs. The last song they played is one of my favorites, too! And the Runes Are Still Alive.
A note about the crowd. It was ...kind of strange; I was expecting a very eclectic looking crowd, but I guess that's what I get for expecting anything. Everyone was pretty average looking. As the band was finishing up, this middle aged Russian woman was going around trying to collect their autographs on her disc before they left the stage. I mean, there were SOME of what you would expect -- guys with long hair wearing all black. But they were the definite minority. Oh, and there was some crazy ass guy right up next to the stage who 'danced' to both bands' entire sets. And when I say he 'danced,' I mean, he waved his arms around in shamanistic ecstasy. After Sonne Hagal left the stage, he crawled up on stage and started kissing the frontman's guitar. That was interesting.
After that, I left to meet Maneka + others at Tri El', aaand... that was a nightmare. I didn't know how to get there, so when I got off the metro station I asked someone how to get to that particular street -- Unfortunately, I scared the hell out of her when I asked, when I came up to her... I think she was quite bitter, because the directions she gave me sent me the EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WHERE I WANTED TO GO. AND I ENDED UP WALKING IN THE POURING FUCKING RAIN IN UNLIT AREAS OF ST. PETERSBURG FOR THE WORST PART OF 40 MINUTES. Eventually I stopped by in a 24 hour produkty to look at my atlas, and found my way to the club. With very wet feet. And somewhere along the way I lost a bobby pin. The tragedy.
I'm not going to even bother explaining the rest of the nights' events. They're not that exciting.
Ballet was tonight – My first time in the Marinskij Theatre. It was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. The theatre, that is. Well, the ballet was, too. But to be honest I enjoyed the music more than I enjoyed the dancing – Prokofiev's Zolushka. The dance was contemporary, though. Most all the main dancers were great, but I didn't like most of the guys in the performance. To show the passage of time, they had four guys playing the four seasons, and their costumes were ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS. It really detracted a lot for me. But in any case, my favorite favorite dances were the huge group dances for the ballroom scenes, in which there were pairs of males and pairs of females dancing with eachother in the back and periphery – scandalous!! Oh, and when I went into the bathroom I recalled how many articles and book I've read that mentioned the Marinskij theatre bathrooms as a common meeting place for homosexuals in Russia. So, I was wary of them thar pederasts.
Sunday:
It wasn't too windy or cold, today, so I went to the Udel'naya market as planned. And I am glad that I did – It was a nice break to myself (not that the past couple of days haven't been breaks), and I bought things. Unfortunately, I bought expensive things, so I have very little money right now.
Basically, I went in with the intention of buying:
-Gifts for people
-A jacket and a hat for myself
-A passport holder, and a student card holder
I ended up buying one gift, a hat, and the document holders. I saw a jacket I liked, but it was way too large. I was going to ask the guy if he had a smaller one but he was busy with other people and I just arrived, so I decided to shop around a bit. Unfortunately, when I was walking through the huge back yard flea market area, it started to rain, so everyone was packing up their stuff to leave, except for a few stubborn people left behind. I was seeing a lot of Orthodox stuff, so I was like “OH! I'll buy a gift for Ben!” Every time I asked for a price on something, it was absurdly expensive. I almost bought this one thing that was 20 dollars, but it was a huge gaudy metal Orthodox cross plate thing... and I realised Ben probably wouldn't even want that. So there that went.
I also saw a REALLY awesome ring, that had a latch where you could adjust its size and whatnot. I was going to buy that for Aislyn, but it was fucking 2500 rubles (100 dollars). No. Fucking. Way. On that note, I was having an absurdly difficult time trying to find a ring for her, despite the massive amount of ring vendors at the market. Ah well.
On my way out, I had bought a gift, and the holders, so I figured I'd buy a hat, and stop by the jacket vendor if I had money after that. Well, I saw a nice looking woman selling ushanki, and she was pleasant... (Ushanki, for those who don't know, are those classic fur hats with the ear flaps). Well, it was ... very expensive. I know they're expensive, but I thought since I was at a market it would be less expensive. Maybe she ripped me off. Maybe not. Either way, I'm glad that I bought it, though it is a TAD small. Also, it's not black... I thought it was black when I bought it. I might end up buying a second one and giving this one to my mom.
I'm still determined to buy a jacket, and I still need to buy more gifts, so I'm going to go back next week, depending on the weather. I saw something I wanted to get for Brendan, but the vendor had put plastic over it to protect it from the rain when I came back through a second time, and I didn't want to bother with that, so I'll probably see it next week. Who knows. I also saw a pair of underwear coloured as the Russian flag with РОССИЯ printed across the waistband, and I wanted to be ultra tacky and get those, but they too were covered by plastic on my way back.
All in all, it was a good trip. Basically, I really just wanted to go and shop at least ONCE before it got too cold – and now, even if I never get to go again I won't really regret it. But, again, I'll probably be able to go next week, and I think I'll be more prepared this time.
That was my Sunday. Well, really, my weekend. Now to spend the rest of my day and night doing homework.
Basically I didn't get a damned thing done, yesterday, which is distressing because it was my day of work for the weekend. Well, and I'm supposed to do a bunch today, too, but instead I'm writing my journal and recuperating from last night.
When I left for the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand & the Moon concert, it was pouring down. Weather was absolutely awful. Thankfully I didn't forget my umbrella, and somehow my hair kept its shape despite the extreme wetness. I found the club ("Club Revolution") fairly easily, but got lost once I got IN the club, because it was so damned huge. I went up to a room with a bunch of ... youngsters standing around listening to hip hop, and some strange blonde white Russian guy in ghetto clothes trying to dance in front of a gigantic mirror. I literally exclaimed aloud to myself, "Wrong room!" and flounced back down stairs, where I found the area in which the concert was to be held.
I just sat around until the concert started, after that. Of the Wand & the Moon was first... It was just two people -- a singer with an acoustic guitar, then a guy doing sound effects + tribal drumming and other various things. Now, I have never seen either of these bands because they don't have photos of themselves anywhere. From what I've seen. Of course, I didn't look too hard. But in any case, the singer looked as I would have expected... tall, mildly heavyset and bald with a long scraggly red beard. They were pretty damn good. I was pleased. I've never been that big on them in particular, but this changed my opinion.
Sonne Hagal was next, and .. well, the singer from Of the Wand & the Moon was doing the background synths and special effects, here, while the guy doing the special effects for Of the Wand & the Moon was the SINGER/acoustic guitarist for Sonne Hagal... Plus they had a keyboardist and a bassist. The singer... looked MUCH different than I thought he would... as he was small and unassuming. I don't know. It was strange.
Anyway, they were FANTASTIC. I was THOROUGHLY pleased. The crowd loved them, too, and we got them to come out and play a few more songs. The last song they played is one of my favorites, too! And the Runes Are Still Alive.
A note about the crowd. It was ...kind of strange; I was expecting a very eclectic looking crowd, but I guess that's what I get for expecting anything. Everyone was pretty average looking. As the band was finishing up, this middle aged Russian woman was going around trying to collect their autographs on her disc before they left the stage. I mean, there were SOME of what you would expect -- guys with long hair wearing all black. But they were the definite minority. Oh, and there was some crazy ass guy right up next to the stage who 'danced' to both bands' entire sets. And when I say he 'danced,' I mean, he waved his arms around in shamanistic ecstasy. After Sonne Hagal left the stage, he crawled up on stage and started kissing the frontman's guitar. That was interesting.
After that, I left to meet Maneka + others at Tri El', aaand... that was a nightmare. I didn't know how to get there, so when I got off the metro station I asked someone how to get to that particular street -- Unfortunately, I scared the hell out of her when I asked, when I came up to her... I think she was quite bitter, because the directions she gave me sent me the EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF WHERE I WANTED TO GO. AND I ENDED UP WALKING IN THE POURING FUCKING RAIN IN UNLIT AREAS OF ST. PETERSBURG FOR THE WORST PART OF 40 MINUTES. Eventually I stopped by in a 24 hour produkty to look at my atlas, and found my way to the club. With very wet feet. And somewhere along the way I lost a bobby pin. The tragedy.
I'm not going to even bother explaining the rest of the nights' events. They're not that exciting.
Ballet was tonight – My first time in the Marinskij Theatre. It was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. The theatre, that is. Well, the ballet was, too. But to be honest I enjoyed the music more than I enjoyed the dancing – Prokofiev's Zolushka. The dance was contemporary, though. Most all the main dancers were great, but I didn't like most of the guys in the performance. To show the passage of time, they had four guys playing the four seasons, and their costumes were ABSOLUTELY HIDEOUS. It really detracted a lot for me. But in any case, my favorite favorite dances were the huge group dances for the ballroom scenes, in which there were pairs of males and pairs of females dancing with eachother in the back and periphery – scandalous!! Oh, and when I went into the bathroom I recalled how many articles and book I've read that mentioned the Marinskij theatre bathrooms as a common meeting place for homosexuals in Russia. So, I was wary of them thar pederasts.
Sunday:
It wasn't too windy or cold, today, so I went to the Udel'naya market as planned. And I am glad that I did – It was a nice break to myself (not that the past couple of days haven't been breaks), and I bought things. Unfortunately, I bought expensive things, so I have very little money right now.
Basically, I went in with the intention of buying:
-Gifts for people
-A jacket and a hat for myself
-A passport holder, and a student card holder
I ended up buying one gift, a hat, and the document holders. I saw a jacket I liked, but it was way too large. I was going to ask the guy if he had a smaller one but he was busy with other people and I just arrived, so I decided to shop around a bit. Unfortunately, when I was walking through the huge back yard flea market area, it started to rain, so everyone was packing up their stuff to leave, except for a few stubborn people left behind. I was seeing a lot of Orthodox stuff, so I was like “OH! I'll buy a gift for Ben!” Every time I asked for a price on something, it was absurdly expensive. I almost bought this one thing that was 20 dollars, but it was a huge gaudy metal Orthodox cross plate thing... and I realised Ben probably wouldn't even want that. So there that went.
I also saw a REALLY awesome ring, that had a latch where you could adjust its size and whatnot. I was going to buy that for Aislyn, but it was fucking 2500 rubles (100 dollars). No. Fucking. Way. On that note, I was having an absurdly difficult time trying to find a ring for her, despite the massive amount of ring vendors at the market. Ah well.
On my way out, I had bought a gift, and the holders, so I figured I'd buy a hat, and stop by the jacket vendor if I had money after that. Well, I saw a nice looking woman selling ushanki, and she was pleasant... (Ushanki, for those who don't know, are those classic fur hats with the ear flaps). Well, it was ... very expensive. I know they're expensive, but I thought since I was at a market it would be less expensive. Maybe she ripped me off. Maybe not. Either way, I'm glad that I bought it, though it is a TAD small. Also, it's not black... I thought it was black when I bought it. I might end up buying a second one and giving this one to my mom.
I'm still determined to buy a jacket, and I still need to buy more gifts, so I'm going to go back next week, depending on the weather. I saw something I wanted to get for Brendan, but the vendor had put plastic over it to protect it from the rain when I came back through a second time, and I didn't want to bother with that, so I'll probably see it next week. Who knows. I also saw a pair of underwear coloured as the Russian flag with РОССИЯ printed across the waistband, and I wanted to be ultra tacky and get those, but they too were covered by plastic on my way back.
All in all, it was a good trip. Basically, I really just wanted to go and shop at least ONCE before it got too cold – and now, even if I never get to go again I won't really regret it. But, again, I'll probably be able to go next week, and I think I'll be more prepared this time.
That was my Sunday. Well, really, my weekend. Now to spend the rest of my day and night doing homework.
Friday, October 17, 2008
In Which the Televizor is Smottretted
16.10.2008
So, while flipping through the channels, I've noticed another phenomenon. As I've said before, Russians dub movies. All movies. Subbing is unheard of unless it's a REALLY big movie, and on an 'official' DVD. However, their concept of "dubbing" is a bit different than ours. They just have one or two voice 'actors' talk over the movie. So basically it's just all garbled sound because you hear the actual actors talking under the Russian. BUT, it seems that they PROPERLY DUB cartoons. And the voice actors ACTUALLY VOICE ACT. As in, they have EMOTION. And INTONATION. I was watching Pinky and the Brain (Пинки и Брейн!), earlier, in Russian. This is how I know. It's kind of annoying because there were a few movies on I would have loved to watch but the dubbing was just so awful I couldn't stand it for more than 30 seconds. I also found a channel that has a woman in the corner doing sign language translation, which is neat.
I also realised that everything from this country in general is just low quality. There is very little Russian that is GOOD. Literature and orchestral music excepted. Well, I also think the pop music is EXCELLENT, but that's a different sort of excellent.
Or perhaps I'm just a cultural elitist. Whatever.
Oh, wait, no, I'm wrong. Their drag performance is fantastic.
Basically, I did nothing today except go to class. I re-took a quiz, and uh, I feel like I put all the same answers as I did last time. But I don't particularly care for my RSL classes, right now -- It feels like a swarming mass of grammar and none of it is sticking for some reason. I feel like my main source of knowledge right now should be coming from me TALKING with people. But that seems to be rare. We'll see.
I think I'm going to start talking to people more, in general. Asya stopped me on the way back to Smolny, yesterday (She kissed my cheek, too, which surprised me -- I didn't know she even liked me) and we had a short conversation. She was listening to Noise Unit, which surprised me, because I thought she was more into metal. But in any case, after that encounter, I realised that it might actually be rude here to just wave and say "Hi" to a friend when you pass them -- you should at least stop and inquire about their wellbeing or something, unless you're in a hurry. Which no one here is. If this is the case, then it might explain why everyone here is late all the damn time. But in any case, I know enough people with whom I'm comfortable, now, that I COULD do this. So, There's a goal.
Luckily, I have a full weekend. I need to release stress. Tomorrow I'm going to do some work, then I'm going to the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand & the Moon concert, then right after that I'll be going to Central Station. Saturday, I'm going to ... sleep, then in the evening I'll be going to Золушка(Zolushka, Cinderella) at the Marinskij Theatre. Sunday, I am determined to go to Udel'naya (market), because it's getting colder by the day here and there's no way I'm going in the winter.
So, this entry has no continuity, but oh well. In any case, the past week or two I've been really ... inspired. In general. Mostly in fashion, a bit in art (photography, especially), but in general aesthetics. Also in what I want to read, what I want to write, and so forth. What is annoying is that I can't realise this at all while I'm here. Photography, yes, but in personal aesthetics or anything else, not at all. I simply don't have anything I need. Time included. What's more annoying is that this inspiration is going to dissipate when I'm back in the U.S. I don't know -- I'm a strange individual. Occasionally I'll see or experience something in the U.S. that really drives me to do something, but unfortunately it doesn't last very long; I get bored and I move on. Here, I've been constantly on edge, wanting to release some sort of creativity, but I haven't had much of any outlet. America just doesn't inspire me much. Maybe that will change when I go back. But, Russia inspires me much more, even as much as I hate being here, sometimes.
Morning update (Friday, 17.10.2008):
So, these past couple of days I've had to RUN from the apartment building to the bus stop as the number 7 rumbles down the street. That's been an adventure, but at least I haven't had to wait at the bus stop for any amount of time.
I came to Smolny this morning in order to receive some tutoring, which turned out better than I thought it would. Vika helped me with my problems, then we talked for a while, and she said I spoke Russian well. Which was nice. It was a very comfortable conversation, and I could actually speak with relative ease and speed. I wish I could speak with Tatyana that easily, but I can't understand half of what she says anyhow.
I also came to Smolny in order to use the internet. Of course, the wireless is not working, as usual, so I'm hogging the computer in the office. Later tonight, it seems I will be going to Tri El' after the concert, which is actually mildly annoying... I was hoping to go to Central Station tonight in order to develop relations with young Russian men, which is an unlikely thing to happen at a lesbian bar, but Tri El' actually has better dance music and I should spend time with friends, anyway -- Going to CS might've been a toss-up, as if I didn't meet ANYONE, I'd be there for like seven hours, alone, and bored. So, there's that. Instead, I'll be going to a lesbian bar where everyone there will give me angry glares because I am a man. But that is life.
So, while flipping through the channels, I've noticed another phenomenon. As I've said before, Russians dub movies. All movies. Subbing is unheard of unless it's a REALLY big movie, and on an 'official' DVD. However, their concept of "dubbing" is a bit different than ours. They just have one or two voice 'actors' talk over the movie. So basically it's just all garbled sound because you hear the actual actors talking under the Russian. BUT, it seems that they PROPERLY DUB cartoons. And the voice actors ACTUALLY VOICE ACT. As in, they have EMOTION. And INTONATION. I was watching Pinky and the Brain (Пинки и Брейн!), earlier, in Russian. This is how I know. It's kind of annoying because there were a few movies on I would have loved to watch but the dubbing was just so awful I couldn't stand it for more than 30 seconds. I also found a channel that has a woman in the corner doing sign language translation, which is neat.
I also realised that everything from this country in general is just low quality. There is very little Russian that is GOOD. Literature and orchestral music excepted. Well, I also think the pop music is EXCELLENT, but that's a different sort of excellent.
Or perhaps I'm just a cultural elitist. Whatever.
Oh, wait, no, I'm wrong. Their drag performance is fantastic.
Basically, I did nothing today except go to class. I re-took a quiz, and uh, I feel like I put all the same answers as I did last time. But I don't particularly care for my RSL classes, right now -- It feels like a swarming mass of grammar and none of it is sticking for some reason. I feel like my main source of knowledge right now should be coming from me TALKING with people. But that seems to be rare. We'll see.
I think I'm going to start talking to people more, in general. Asya stopped me on the way back to Smolny, yesterday (She kissed my cheek, too, which surprised me -- I didn't know she even liked me) and we had a short conversation. She was listening to Noise Unit, which surprised me, because I thought she was more into metal. But in any case, after that encounter, I realised that it might actually be rude here to just wave and say "Hi" to a friend when you pass them -- you should at least stop and inquire about their wellbeing or something, unless you're in a hurry. Which no one here is. If this is the case, then it might explain why everyone here is late all the damn time. But in any case, I know enough people with whom I'm comfortable, now, that I COULD do this. So, There's a goal.
Luckily, I have a full weekend. I need to release stress. Tomorrow I'm going to do some work, then I'm going to the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand & the Moon concert, then right after that I'll be going to Central Station. Saturday, I'm going to ... sleep, then in the evening I'll be going to Золушка(Zolushka, Cinderella) at the Marinskij Theatre. Sunday, I am determined to go to Udel'naya (market), because it's getting colder by the day here and there's no way I'm going in the winter.
So, this entry has no continuity, but oh well. In any case, the past week or two I've been really ... inspired. In general. Mostly in fashion, a bit in art (photography, especially), but in general aesthetics. Also in what I want to read, what I want to write, and so forth. What is annoying is that I can't realise this at all while I'm here. Photography, yes, but in personal aesthetics or anything else, not at all. I simply don't have anything I need. Time included. What's more annoying is that this inspiration is going to dissipate when I'm back in the U.S. I don't know -- I'm a strange individual. Occasionally I'll see or experience something in the U.S. that really drives me to do something, but unfortunately it doesn't last very long; I get bored and I move on. Here, I've been constantly on edge, wanting to release some sort of creativity, but I haven't had much of any outlet. America just doesn't inspire me much. Maybe that will change when I go back. But, Russia inspires me much more, even as much as I hate being here, sometimes.
Morning update (Friday, 17.10.2008):
So, these past couple of days I've had to RUN from the apartment building to the bus stop as the number 7 rumbles down the street. That's been an adventure, but at least I haven't had to wait at the bus stop for any amount of time.
I came to Smolny this morning in order to receive some tutoring, which turned out better than I thought it would. Vika helped me with my problems, then we talked for a while, and she said I spoke Russian well. Which was nice. It was a very comfortable conversation, and I could actually speak with relative ease and speed. I wish I could speak with Tatyana that easily, but I can't understand half of what she says anyhow.
I also came to Smolny in order to use the internet. Of course, the wireless is not working, as usual, so I'm hogging the computer in the office. Later tonight, it seems I will be going to Tri El' after the concert, which is actually mildly annoying... I was hoping to go to Central Station tonight in order to develop relations with young Russian men, which is an unlikely thing to happen at a lesbian bar, but Tri El' actually has better dance music and I should spend time with friends, anyway -- Going to CS might've been a toss-up, as if I didn't meet ANYONE, I'd be there for like seven hours, alone, and bored. So, there's that. Instead, I'll be going to a lesbian bar where everyone there will give me angry glares because I am a man. But that is life.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
15.10.2008
So I was at Smolny from 11.00am - 8.30pm, today, which was pretty awful. I spent the morning doing internet things, though, so that was pleasant. Then I had four and a half hours of class. Which was unpleasant. When I got to my Central Asian class, the professor said that we were going to Bobrinskij Palace (FROM WHICH I HAD JUST COME, AND IT'S A DAMNED 15 MINUTE WALK) for the second half of class in order to attend a short lecture and discussion on ... well, I'm not quite sure what it was about. And it was in English. It was entitled, "Where is Human Rights?" and it was focused around the killing of an Iraqi human rights activist by militants three years ago, and the militants left a note about human rights, so 'we' were dissecting what exactly they meant by human rights and from where they are getting their ideas and discourse and what have you. SOUNDS interesting, but it was overall tremendously painful. I actually left early. Usually I'd stick around because I hate leaving in the middle of something, but...
There was one amusing point during the lecture, though. The lecturer, an American professor, was going on about some French ...article or book or something, and after he said the absurdly long French title, he translated it into English, and it was something aalong the lines of "Vietnamese boat people being attacked by pirates." Well, at this point, I wasn't quite paying attention, and when I heard this sentence I chortled a little, then caught myself, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to hold back laughter. I'm sitting there in pain, because I can't laugh, because that's tremendously unprofessional, and tears are rolling down my cheeks because I'm thinking about Vietnamese BOAT PEOPLE being attacked by PIRATES. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Perhaps I am a terrible person.
My walk home was much more entertaining. After getting off the metro, I'm walking through the square around the station when I see this section blocked off by a couple cement blocks and tape, and I'm like "wonder what happened.." So, I walk by it, and there's a hole in the pavement. Not like someone had DUG a hole, but like it had been MELTED THROUGH from under ground. And steam was rising from it. I was like, "What the hell?" So, now I feel really safe walking around on the pavement sidewalks, here. Because apparently they are really thick and sturdy. (This is also definitely a new development, because I walked right by that place last night and it was perfectly fine).
Then, while walking across the street, this guy in front of me KICKS a moving bus, for some reason, and then is surprised when he loses balance and falls over... That was mildly bizarre.
In other news, I've had bliny for breakfast TWICE in two days. This makes me thoroughly pleased. Mmm, bliny.
Unfortunately, tomorrow is Thursday. I hate Thursdays. I have SMI and Grammar in Situations on Thursdays. It's a struggle for me to decide whether or not to skip these classes, every damned week. I hate them. I hate them so much. I have a quiz re-take in Grammar tomorrow because apparently we did THAT poorly. Of course, I haven't studied. But I don't care. I kind of hate the teacher. He's an American. And a pretentious jackass. I guess I should LOVE Thursdays, though, since I don't have class on Fridays and that's kind of my week end starter. Though I rarely have anything to do on Thursday nights. Maybe I should go to clubs on Thursday instead of the weekend.. Since I always have trouble figuring out if Friday or Saturday is better.
Tomorrow I'm tutoring English. It's a really ... strange program. The person who is organising it, an English teacher (who speaks very broken English, ironically enough), wants us to come up with a "theme" for each section, and she wants there to be some sort of product at the end of the semester to show that the 'students' had improved... I don't know, it seems mildly bizarre, and more work than it should be. So I guess I'm just going to have everyone discuss their interests tomorrow so we can come up with a theme for the section. Assuming anyone shows up. Which, they should, since apparently all the Smolny girls think I'm a fine specimen of a man. Or something. I don't know. I think people tell me stories to get on my good side.
Alright, I've procrastinated for half an hour. That's enough.
So I was at Smolny from 11.00am - 8.30pm, today, which was pretty awful. I spent the morning doing internet things, though, so that was pleasant. Then I had four and a half hours of class. Which was unpleasant. When I got to my Central Asian class, the professor said that we were going to Bobrinskij Palace (FROM WHICH I HAD JUST COME, AND IT'S A DAMNED 15 MINUTE WALK) for the second half of class in order to attend a short lecture and discussion on ... well, I'm not quite sure what it was about. And it was in English. It was entitled, "Where is Human Rights?" and it was focused around the killing of an Iraqi human rights activist by militants three years ago, and the militants left a note about human rights, so 'we' were dissecting what exactly they meant by human rights and from where they are getting their ideas and discourse and what have you. SOUNDS interesting, but it was overall tremendously painful. I actually left early. Usually I'd stick around because I hate leaving in the middle of something, but...
There was one amusing point during the lecture, though. The lecturer, an American professor, was going on about some French ...article or book or something, and after he said the absurdly long French title, he translated it into English, and it was something aalong the lines of "Vietnamese boat people being attacked by pirates." Well, at this point, I wasn't quite paying attention, and when I heard this sentence I chortled a little, then caught myself, and the more I thought about it, the more I had to hold back laughter. I'm sitting there in pain, because I can't laugh, because that's tremendously unprofessional, and tears are rolling down my cheeks because I'm thinking about Vietnamese BOAT PEOPLE being attacked by PIRATES. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Perhaps I am a terrible person.
My walk home was much more entertaining. After getting off the metro, I'm walking through the square around the station when I see this section blocked off by a couple cement blocks and tape, and I'm like "wonder what happened.." So, I walk by it, and there's a hole in the pavement. Not like someone had DUG a hole, but like it had been MELTED THROUGH from under ground. And steam was rising from it. I was like, "What the hell?" So, now I feel really safe walking around on the pavement sidewalks, here. Because apparently they are really thick and sturdy. (This is also definitely a new development, because I walked right by that place last night and it was perfectly fine).
Then, while walking across the street, this guy in front of me KICKS a moving bus, for some reason, and then is surprised when he loses balance and falls over... That was mildly bizarre.
In other news, I've had bliny for breakfast TWICE in two days. This makes me thoroughly pleased. Mmm, bliny.
Unfortunately, tomorrow is Thursday. I hate Thursdays. I have SMI and Grammar in Situations on Thursdays. It's a struggle for me to decide whether or not to skip these classes, every damned week. I hate them. I hate them so much. I have a quiz re-take in Grammar tomorrow because apparently we did THAT poorly. Of course, I haven't studied. But I don't care. I kind of hate the teacher. He's an American. And a pretentious jackass. I guess I should LOVE Thursdays, though, since I don't have class on Fridays and that's kind of my week end starter. Though I rarely have anything to do on Thursday nights. Maybe I should go to clubs on Thursday instead of the weekend.. Since I always have trouble figuring out if Friday or Saturday is better.
Tomorrow I'm tutoring English. It's a really ... strange program. The person who is organising it, an English teacher (who speaks very broken English, ironically enough), wants us to come up with a "theme" for each section, and she wants there to be some sort of product at the end of the semester to show that the 'students' had improved... I don't know, it seems mildly bizarre, and more work than it should be. So I guess I'm just going to have everyone discuss their interests tomorrow so we can come up with a theme for the section. Assuming anyone shows up. Which, they should, since apparently all the Smolny girls think I'm a fine specimen of a man. Or something. I don't know. I think people tell me stories to get on my good side.
Alright, I've procrastinated for half an hour. That's enough.
In Which Rest is to be Had
14.10.2008
Music: Sonne Hagal - The Three Ravens
Today was fairly tolerable. Classes went well, though I hate my speaking practise class because of how the professor teaches it, plus I don't think she likes me very much. Afterwards, I did a little research for my human rights class, blah blah.
Basically just resting for the rest of the night -- Uploading photos from my camera, reading, doing some homework, listening to music... I don't get to listen to music as much as I'd like. Sometimes, I wish I had a small MP3 player or something. But, ah well.
Unfortunately, I am breaking out like hell, for some reason. I mean, my skin isn't that great in the first place, but that's mostly because I'm lazy as hell and rarely wash my face. I normally don't care -- when I do break out, I just blast my face with an acid treatment and everything goes away in a couple days. But now, I think I'm going to have to wash my face on a daily basis, because it's starting to get ridiculous.
On that note, I went to the аптека(basically, a small pharmacy) today to pick up some face wash, shower gel, and earplugs. I seemed to be an attraction (probably because they thought I was going to steal something), and even moreso when they realised I was American. I asked if they had any "пробки для ухов" (translation: plugs for the ears), and when I was buying my stuff, a few of the workers were like surrounding me, and I overheard them talking about me..
Girl 1 - ..What did he call them?
Girl 2 - Plugs for the ears (snicker).
Me - (Turns around to let them know he UNDERSTANDS WHAT THEY ARE SAYING) ... What are they ACTUALLY called?
Girl 2 - (Unphased) Беруши. (Berushi)
Me - Thanks. (Smiles wide like an American)
All in all, it wasn't unpleasant, but mildly amusing. Of course, I know I'd laugh a little if I worked at a pharmacy and a foreigner came in and asked for "plugs for the ears." That being SAID, I actually thought that's what they were called. I mean, come on -- they call adhesive lint brushes "roller for the cleaning of clothing," and curtains are called "clothing for the window." So, to avoid any embarassment, ask for BERUSHI if you want earplugs in Russia, not "probki dlya ukhov." Oh, and, to top it all off, they were 33 rubles for A PAIR of ear plugs. That's about $1.30.
I actually don't have that much to write, today... I'm feeling fairly well, I suppose. I've decided I'm going to go see Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon on Friday. It's 500 rubles at the door -- I can buy tickets in advance for 400 rubles, but they only sell them at the club and at some other store that I don't know. So, I'm just going to pay at the door. Then, either Friday night or Saturday night I'm going to stay out until the morning at either Tri El' or Central Station, depending on if Maneka is going to Tri El' this week or not. And, finally, Sunday, I am DETERMINED to go to Udel'naya, so that I can check it out WHILE NOT DEATHLY ILL before it gets absurdly cold. I'm going to check out their jackets and hats, then the massive mud-rug sale out back in order to buy gifts for people back home.
I uploaded photos from Pskov/Staryj Izborsk/Pechory. Check facebook, or something. Too many to put here! And I'm too lazy.
Music: Sonne Hagal - The Three Ravens
Today was fairly tolerable. Classes went well, though I hate my speaking practise class because of how the professor teaches it, plus I don't think she likes me very much. Afterwards, I did a little research for my human rights class, blah blah.
Basically just resting for the rest of the night -- Uploading photos from my camera, reading, doing some homework, listening to music... I don't get to listen to music as much as I'd like. Sometimes, I wish I had a small MP3 player or something. But, ah well.
Unfortunately, I am breaking out like hell, for some reason. I mean, my skin isn't that great in the first place, but that's mostly because I'm lazy as hell and rarely wash my face. I normally don't care -- when I do break out, I just blast my face with an acid treatment and everything goes away in a couple days. But now, I think I'm going to have to wash my face on a daily basis, because it's starting to get ridiculous.
On that note, I went to the аптека(basically, a small pharmacy) today to pick up some face wash, shower gel, and earplugs. I seemed to be an attraction (probably because they thought I was going to steal something), and even moreso when they realised I was American. I asked if they had any "пробки для ухов" (translation: plugs for the ears), and when I was buying my stuff, a few of the workers were like surrounding me, and I overheard them talking about me..
Girl 1 - ..What did he call them?
Girl 2 - Plugs for the ears (snicker).
Me - (Turns around to let them know he UNDERSTANDS WHAT THEY ARE SAYING) ... What are they ACTUALLY called?
Girl 2 - (Unphased) Беруши. (Berushi)
Me - Thanks. (Smiles wide like an American)
All in all, it wasn't unpleasant, but mildly amusing. Of course, I know I'd laugh a little if I worked at a pharmacy and a foreigner came in and asked for "plugs for the ears." That being SAID, I actually thought that's what they were called. I mean, come on -- they call adhesive lint brushes "roller for the cleaning of clothing," and curtains are called "clothing for the window." So, to avoid any embarassment, ask for BERUSHI if you want earplugs in Russia, not "probki dlya ukhov." Oh, and, to top it all off, they were 33 rubles for A PAIR of ear plugs. That's about $1.30.
I actually don't have that much to write, today... I'm feeling fairly well, I suppose. I've decided I'm going to go see Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon on Friday. It's 500 rubles at the door -- I can buy tickets in advance for 400 rubles, but they only sell them at the club and at some other store that I don't know. So, I'm just going to pay at the door. Then, either Friday night or Saturday night I'm going to stay out until the morning at either Tri El' or Central Station, depending on if Maneka is going to Tri El' this week or not. And, finally, Sunday, I am DETERMINED to go to Udel'naya, so that I can check it out WHILE NOT DEATHLY ILL before it gets absurdly cold. I'm going to check out their jackets and hats, then the massive mud-rug sale out back in order to buy gifts for people back home.
I uploaded photos from Pskov/Staryj Izborsk/Pechory. Check facebook, or something. Too many to put here! And I'm too lazy.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
In Which Male-Female Relations Are Awkward
13.10.2008
I'm not sure how to start this entry. The day wasn't particularly exciting, but a lot of thoughts have been rattling around in my skull, recently. Well, clearly, but ... I don't know. I don't really even want to splurge them out in the journal because I don't feel like whining. Right now, though, I'm writing IN ORDER TO BE cathartic... I really just don't want to do my homework right now. Or anything, for that matter. I guess if my biggest problem is my academics, then I'm doing pretty well, right? Not particularly.
But, in any case, for anecdotes. I'm not sure if I've written about our lovely barrista in the Philological Faculty cafe. She's a wonderful blonde Russian woman with massive amounts of make-up and massive breasts further accentuated by her small tops. She also always wears a matching short skirt, and you can always see her underwear. Many times, her belly is exposed, showing her belly button. I'm sure everyone has a nice picture in their head -- Now, add about 30 pounds of weight to that picture, and it'll probably be a bit more accurate. I mean, she's not FAT, but she is definitely plump. In a very pleasant way. I love her to death. She is fantastic. And rude as all hell. In any case, today, while sitting in the cafe, I heard this ... camera noise. I didn't know what it was, then I realised it was coming from behind me, BEHIND THE COUNTER. I happened to be at the perfect angle to see Alla (the barrista) in the reflection of the plastic ... candy ... thing, and she was TAKING PHOTOS OF HERSELF WITH HER PHONE. It was fantastic. Some day, I will have to sneak pictures of her to fully expose her glory.
In other news, I have Russian girls attacking me from all sides, and it's kind of annoying. I mean, I feel more comfortable with girls, but I want to be their FRIEND. I was talking with this girl, Olga, who is in my Russia and the U.S.A class, and she was telling me she saw the photos I put up on V Kontakte, and she said "Супер! Мне ОЧЕНЬ понравилось!" (trans: I REALLY liked them!) And then she started talking about the Russian countryside and about how I should visit Vyborg and Pushkin, and about how beautiful they were. And that I should go some time when I don't have anything to do. And I think she was hinting that I should ask her to come with me ...? Or something. I don't know. It was kind of awkward.
Then, later, I was talking with this other girl in my Human Rights class [P.S.: Apparently she was sick -- So, I'm not alone in that class] named Anya, and she asked me if I were emo... and I'm like, "No?" Anyway, so we're just conversing, then she asks if I have a "girl" back in America. Of course, that was awkward, so I basically just said that I live in California, and study in Maryland, so I'm always travelling back and forth, and don't have time, whatever.
And then there was this other girl, Alina, on the Pskov trip. She's from Turkmenistan, and she kept trying to buddy up and talk to me. I probably should've been more outgoing, but I'm a dumb person. She smiled at me a lot. Which was suspicious. And Liza, who came up and talked to me last week -- I mentioned this to a couple people, and they were amazed, because apparently she never does this.
I don't know. Whatever. I guess I shouldn't complain ssince I'm getting language practise, but it's just a big ball of awkward, because I can't invite them anywhere or it's automatically assumed that it's a date.
Speaking of which, I've decided I'm going to try and go to the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon concert. Which is THIS Friday so I need to figure out how to get tickets. We'll see what happens.
Oh, and I made a deviantart page for my photography. Someone favorited one of my photos within an hour of me making my account, so, I guess that's something. I do have to say that it's nice to actually have a tangible 'hobby' (as much as I hate that term/concept) outside of ... collecting music? Being pretentious? I don't know.
I'm not sure how to start this entry. The day wasn't particularly exciting, but a lot of thoughts have been rattling around in my skull, recently. Well, clearly, but ... I don't know. I don't really even want to splurge them out in the journal because I don't feel like whining. Right now, though, I'm writing IN ORDER TO BE cathartic... I really just don't want to do my homework right now. Or anything, for that matter. I guess if my biggest problem is my academics, then I'm doing pretty well, right? Not particularly.
But, in any case, for anecdotes. I'm not sure if I've written about our lovely barrista in the Philological Faculty cafe. She's a wonderful blonde Russian woman with massive amounts of make-up and massive breasts further accentuated by her small tops. She also always wears a matching short skirt, and you can always see her underwear. Many times, her belly is exposed, showing her belly button. I'm sure everyone has a nice picture in their head -- Now, add about 30 pounds of weight to that picture, and it'll probably be a bit more accurate. I mean, she's not FAT, but she is definitely plump. In a very pleasant way. I love her to death. She is fantastic. And rude as all hell. In any case, today, while sitting in the cafe, I heard this ... camera noise. I didn't know what it was, then I realised it was coming from behind me, BEHIND THE COUNTER. I happened to be at the perfect angle to see Alla (the barrista) in the reflection of the plastic ... candy ... thing, and she was TAKING PHOTOS OF HERSELF WITH HER PHONE. It was fantastic. Some day, I will have to sneak pictures of her to fully expose her glory.
In other news, I have Russian girls attacking me from all sides, and it's kind of annoying. I mean, I feel more comfortable with girls, but I want to be their FRIEND. I was talking with this girl, Olga, who is in my Russia and the U.S.A class, and she was telling me she saw the photos I put up on V Kontakte, and she said "Супер! Мне ОЧЕНЬ понравилось!" (trans: I REALLY liked them!) And then she started talking about the Russian countryside and about how I should visit Vyborg and Pushkin, and about how beautiful they were. And that I should go some time when I don't have anything to do. And I think she was hinting that I should ask her to come with me ...? Or something. I don't know. It was kind of awkward.
Then, later, I was talking with this other girl in my Human Rights class [P.S.: Apparently she was sick -- So, I'm not alone in that class] named Anya, and she asked me if I were emo... and I'm like, "No?" Anyway, so we're just conversing, then she asks if I have a "girl" back in America. Of course, that was awkward, so I basically just said that I live in California, and study in Maryland, so I'm always travelling back and forth, and don't have time, whatever.
And then there was this other girl, Alina, on the Pskov trip. She's from Turkmenistan, and she kept trying to buddy up and talk to me. I probably should've been more outgoing, but I'm a dumb person. She smiled at me a lot. Which was suspicious. And Liza, who came up and talked to me last week -- I mentioned this to a couple people, and they were amazed, because apparently she never does this.
I don't know. Whatever. I guess I shouldn't complain ssince I'm getting language practise, but it's just a big ball of awkward, because I can't invite them anywhere or it's automatically assumed that it's a date.
Speaking of which, I've decided I'm going to try and go to the Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon concert. Which is THIS Friday so I need to figure out how to get tickets. We'll see what happens.
Oh, and I made a deviantart page for my photography. Someone favorited one of my photos within an hour of me making my account, so, I guess that's something. I do have to say that it's nice to actually have a tangible 'hobby' (as much as I hate that term/concept) outside of ... collecting music? Being pretentious? I don't know.
Monday, October 13, 2008
10.10.2008
Friday:
So, Tatyana fixed the TV in my room for me. Which may have been a horrid mistake -- I might end up just sitting and brooding in my room with the TV for the rest of my time here than doing anything else. Which is exactly what I am doing this FRIDAY EVENING. But, I have to get up at 6:20am tomorrrow to go to Pskov, so I hadn't planned on doing anything tonight, anyway.
I've found a couple TV shows I like to watch, of similar vein to what I watch in the U.S. I think I've already written about Звездный Лед/Zvezdnyj Lyod, so I won't bother getting into that. Right now I'm watching ... uh ... Супер Стар 2008... which is ... Super Star 2008. It's another performance show, with various people singing pop songs and being voted on. I can't tell from where they get their contestants, though -- Some of them are old washed up Russian pop stars (which is kind of a small pool, because usually once they're a star in Russia, they stay a star and continue making and selling music successfully until they DIE) singing new pop songs and others are... not? I don't know. It's strange.
The first song was "Два косичики колбаски," which I think means "two small sausages" or something like that. In any case, the singer came on stage wearing a full leopard print outfit, a hot pink KISS shirt, and a fox stole, singing this song, and two people dressed up as sausages come out and dance on the stage. It was quite ridiculous.
All in all, Russian TV is pretty bad. I tried to watch some CSI sort of show the other day, and it was intolerable. The drama shows are even more unbearable. And there's something about Russian intonation that makes everything anyone says sound exactly the same, and sound very very important. I don't know.
Today I dragged myself out to the Hermitage. Last night I was feeling awful, and this morning, too -- I considered just staying in and doing nothing today, but that would've just made me feel worse, so I went out. And got lost. A few times. Which wasn't all that bad, to be honest. It was a lot more busy this time than last. And some strange foreign girl asked to have her picture taken with me. I think she thought I was Russian. So now she's going to go home and show her friends this photo, saying, "OMG look at the hot Russian guy I found at the Hermitage! I asked him for a photo!" Too bad she doesn't know that I'm NOT RUSSIAN!! AAHAHAHAHAHA.
Then I came home and had the treat of PEL'MENI for dinner. Thank God I haven't seen stuffed cabbage for a week. However, I'm getting to the point where I actually like the greasy soup, pizza, and strange meat pies. Which might be good or bad, I haven't decided yet.
Oh, so, I'm reading my textbook for my Russia and the U.S.A class (the text is in Russian even though the class is in English), and the beginning of the section I'm on is describing the situation in America during the 70's. Well, it's going through Watergate, (P.S.: It took me forever to figure out what the hell “Уотергейт” was supposed to be – transliterated, that's Uotergejt. Yep), when it says “By American law, this was a serious infringement of the law.” For some reason, this struck me – Does it have such a statement in any AMERICAN descriptions of Watergate? Does it need to be SAID that this is a serious infringement of the law? I mean, maybe not in the Russian context, but, anyway.
So, I go to Pskov, tomorrow. Tatyana asked me when I was waking up, and when I told her 6:30, she was like “Wow, that's early... Uh, here.” then pulls out a litre of orange juice and three bananas and tells me it's my breakfast, because she's not waking up that early to make me breakfast. I thought that was a little amusing.
Post-Pskov:
This weekend was good, I'd say. It felt good to get out of the city. I guess I went to Pavlovsk last week, which was out of the city, but this was ... REALLY out of the city. Pskov itself was pretty small, but nice. Lots of cultural goings. Five hour bus ride, then we get to the city and have a short bus-tour before getting to the hotel (I HAD AN ENTIRE ROOM TO MYSELF BECAUSE ONE OF THE PEOPLE DIDN'T SHOW UP YAAAAY). After that we went to a cafe, then the Pskov kremlin (For those who don't know, a “kremlin” is actually a Russian walled fort with a church or a monastery). We were free to go after the tour, so several of us just took a walk through the city and its parks. Beautiful day – I got a couple of shots of me sitting on the ancient Pskov wall! Which was, as its name indicates, quite crumbling and decrepit. I was excited to go to Pskov because of its history; during the middle ages, it was captured and traded between Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and Russia on many different occasions.
Today (Sunday), we went to Старый Изборск/Staryj Izborsk, which was basically.... another old fort. The walk TO the fort, however, was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I absolutely CANNOT describe it with words. I took a MASSIVE amounts of photos, which I will upload at some point in the near future. After Izborsk, we went to some monastery (which is still working, and had many a sketchy Orthodox monk wandering about) in a town called Печоры/Pechory. I didn't take many photos here because I was so broken down, but, I saw dead saints. I felt kind of awkward... Being a tourist in a working monastery... I don't know.
Last night I had my first encounter with Russians forcing alcohol on me, and I now don't understand why ANYONE drinks vodka. It tastes like rubbing alcohol. I had three shots, and it didn't do anything to me, so, whatever. I just drank juice after that. Then watched the World Fashion Channel, and now want to go shopping.
I really want to describe the walk to the Izborsk fort, but I really ... can't. It was seriously just so beautiful. It's fall (clearly), so all the leaves are turning, and just... I don't know.
I'm going to make this short since it's midnight and I'm tired and still want to look at some of the photos I took.
The following photographs are from Pavlovsk, not Pskov. (Click to view full image)
Also some of the Botanical Gardens:
Friday:
So, Tatyana fixed the TV in my room for me. Which may have been a horrid mistake -- I might end up just sitting and brooding in my room with the TV for the rest of my time here than doing anything else. Which is exactly what I am doing this FRIDAY EVENING. But, I have to get up at 6:20am tomorrrow to go to Pskov, so I hadn't planned on doing anything tonight, anyway.
I've found a couple TV shows I like to watch, of similar vein to what I watch in the U.S. I think I've already written about Звездный Лед/Zvezdnyj Lyod, so I won't bother getting into that. Right now I'm watching ... uh ... Супер Стар 2008... which is ... Super Star 2008. It's another performance show, with various people singing pop songs and being voted on. I can't tell from where they get their contestants, though -- Some of them are old washed up Russian pop stars (which is kind of a small pool, because usually once they're a star in Russia, they stay a star and continue making and selling music successfully until they DIE) singing new pop songs and others are... not? I don't know. It's strange.
The first song was "Два косичики колбаски," which I think means "two small sausages" or something like that. In any case, the singer came on stage wearing a full leopard print outfit, a hot pink KISS shirt, and a fox stole, singing this song, and two people dressed up as sausages come out and dance on the stage. It was quite ridiculous.
All in all, Russian TV is pretty bad. I tried to watch some CSI sort of show the other day, and it was intolerable. The drama shows are even more unbearable. And there's something about Russian intonation that makes everything anyone says sound exactly the same, and sound very very important. I don't know.
Today I dragged myself out to the Hermitage. Last night I was feeling awful, and this morning, too -- I considered just staying in and doing nothing today, but that would've just made me feel worse, so I went out. And got lost. A few times. Which wasn't all that bad, to be honest. It was a lot more busy this time than last. And some strange foreign girl asked to have her picture taken with me. I think she thought I was Russian. So now she's going to go home and show her friends this photo, saying, "OMG look at the hot Russian guy I found at the Hermitage! I asked him for a photo!" Too bad she doesn't know that I'm NOT RUSSIAN!! AAHAHAHAHAHA.
Then I came home and had the treat of PEL'MENI for dinner. Thank God I haven't seen stuffed cabbage for a week. However, I'm getting to the point where I actually like the greasy soup, pizza, and strange meat pies. Which might be good or bad, I haven't decided yet.
Oh, so, I'm reading my textbook for my Russia and the U.S.A class (the text is in Russian even though the class is in English), and the beginning of the section I'm on is describing the situation in America during the 70's. Well, it's going through Watergate, (P.S.: It took me forever to figure out what the hell “Уотергейт” was supposed to be – transliterated, that's Uotergejt. Yep), when it says “By American law, this was a serious infringement of the law.” For some reason, this struck me – Does it have such a statement in any AMERICAN descriptions of Watergate? Does it need to be SAID that this is a serious infringement of the law? I mean, maybe not in the Russian context, but, anyway.
So, I go to Pskov, tomorrow. Tatyana asked me when I was waking up, and when I told her 6:30, she was like “Wow, that's early... Uh, here.” then pulls out a litre of orange juice and three bananas and tells me it's my breakfast, because she's not waking up that early to make me breakfast. I thought that was a little amusing.
Post-Pskov:
This weekend was good, I'd say. It felt good to get out of the city. I guess I went to Pavlovsk last week, which was out of the city, but this was ... REALLY out of the city. Pskov itself was pretty small, but nice. Lots of cultural goings. Five hour bus ride, then we get to the city and have a short bus-tour before getting to the hotel (I HAD AN ENTIRE ROOM TO MYSELF BECAUSE ONE OF THE PEOPLE DIDN'T SHOW UP YAAAAY). After that we went to a cafe, then the Pskov kremlin (For those who don't know, a “kremlin” is actually a Russian walled fort with a church or a monastery). We were free to go after the tour, so several of us just took a walk through the city and its parks. Beautiful day – I got a couple of shots of me sitting on the ancient Pskov wall! Which was, as its name indicates, quite crumbling and decrepit. I was excited to go to Pskov because of its history; during the middle ages, it was captured and traded between Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and Russia on many different occasions.
Today (Sunday), we went to Старый Изборск/Staryj Izborsk, which was basically.... another old fort. The walk TO the fort, however, was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. I absolutely CANNOT describe it with words. I took a MASSIVE amounts of photos, which I will upload at some point in the near future. After Izborsk, we went to some monastery (which is still working, and had many a sketchy Orthodox monk wandering about) in a town called Печоры/Pechory. I didn't take many photos here because I was so broken down, but, I saw dead saints. I felt kind of awkward... Being a tourist in a working monastery... I don't know.
Last night I had my first encounter with Russians forcing alcohol on me, and I now don't understand why ANYONE drinks vodka. It tastes like rubbing alcohol. I had three shots, and it didn't do anything to me, so, whatever. I just drank juice after that. Then watched the World Fashion Channel, and now want to go shopping.
I really want to describe the walk to the Izborsk fort, but I really ... can't. It was seriously just so beautiful. It's fall (clearly), so all the leaves are turning, and just... I don't know.
I'm going to make this short since it's midnight and I'm tired and still want to look at some of the photos I took.
The following photographs are from Pavlovsk, not Pskov. (Click to view full image)
Also some of the Botanical Gardens:
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
In Which Everything Gets OUT! OF! CONTROL!
08.10.2008
Today was fairly unexciting in the subject of events, so the entry should be short. Comparative to most of my other entries, anyway. Perhaps my insight will get OUT! OF! HAND!
In any case, I didn't try to fit in, today. And I actually felt a lot more comfortable that way. I didn't dress OUT! OF! CONTROL! but I did my hair a little and wore a neckerchief. So I didn't feel paranoid and confused when people looked at me strangely, since I WASN'T trying to fit in. Does that make any sense? Probably not.
I went to Bobrinskij Palace (where I have some of my classes -- don't let the name confuse you; they renovated the palace so on the inside it looks nothing like a palace. Indeed, it looks like a very... boring ... office building. Or something. I don't know) and did computer things, then worked on the article I was having trouble reading. Which was a joke, since we DIDN'T EVEN DISCUSS IT. I've been getting all riled up over all my Russian readings the whole damned time I've been here, and time and time again I've seen that it doesn't really matter.
The Russian girl in my class, Olga, sat next to me, today, and talked with me a little. I don't know -- I feel kind of awkward; making friends is hard in general, but I feel like it's particularly hard for me. I feel overly uncomfortable with guys, but male-female relations in Russia are almost strictly 'more than' friendship. So, when a male and female talk, or go out to eat, or basically ANYTHING, it's considered flirting/a date. And apparently I register as a very masculine and desirable male specimen on the Russian scale. Keeping that in mind, I'm trying to be careful to not find myself suddenly with a girlfriend. A few girls have stopped to talk with me, and a lot look at me -- though, I always figured it was because they thought I was weird. I have been informed otherwise. Whatever.
So, uh, I've 'formulated' plans for this week. Which, since it is Wednesday (Thursday when I post this, I suppose), can't be that much... Tomorrow I may be doing something with Yura, and Friday I plan on going to the Hermitage museum. Oh, tomorrow I also have a meeting about tutoring in English.
And then, this weekend, PSKOV! Which should be exciting. I suppose. Cultural, if nothing else.
I don't know if I mentioned this in an earlier entry, but, I think that I might have a fear of developing relationships. That is, more than friendships. When classes first started, and I didn't know Pavel but kept seeing him in the halls and such, I thought he was cute, and wanted to get to know him -- Once that absurdity started, though, any potential desire for that kind of failed. It was similar with Sasha. About whom I don't think I spoke, actually. And I'm not going to. Because that was just kind of dumb, and not particularly interesting.
Ooone last thing: I GET TO VOTE! My absentee ballot arrived at my house (in California) just recently, and my parents are going to fill it out and send it in, for me. As per my instructions, of course. Not that my vote MATTERS, since California will inevitably go to Obama, anyhow. But, whatever, I suppose it's the principle of the matter. And I get to vote for local junk, if there is any. Of which I will, of course, be entirely uneducated in. Ah, well.
P.S.: If anyone happens to run across a McCain speech which includes his plans for foreign policy, I would be most appreciative if you send those along to me. I've found Obama's, but not McCain's, yet. Hm.
Today was fairly unexciting in the subject of events, so the entry should be short. Comparative to most of my other entries, anyway. Perhaps my insight will get OUT! OF! HAND!
In any case, I didn't try to fit in, today. And I actually felt a lot more comfortable that way. I didn't dress OUT! OF! CONTROL! but I did my hair a little and wore a neckerchief. So I didn't feel paranoid and confused when people looked at me strangely, since I WASN'T trying to fit in. Does that make any sense? Probably not.
I went to Bobrinskij Palace (where I have some of my classes -- don't let the name confuse you; they renovated the palace so on the inside it looks nothing like a palace. Indeed, it looks like a very... boring ... office building. Or something. I don't know) and did computer things, then worked on the article I was having trouble reading. Which was a joke, since we DIDN'T EVEN DISCUSS IT. I've been getting all riled up over all my Russian readings the whole damned time I've been here, and time and time again I've seen that it doesn't really matter.
The Russian girl in my class, Olga, sat next to me, today, and talked with me a little. I don't know -- I feel kind of awkward; making friends is hard in general, but I feel like it's particularly hard for me. I feel overly uncomfortable with guys, but male-female relations in Russia are almost strictly 'more than' friendship. So, when a male and female talk, or go out to eat, or basically ANYTHING, it's considered flirting/a date. And apparently I register as a very masculine and desirable male specimen on the Russian scale. Keeping that in mind, I'm trying to be careful to not find myself suddenly with a girlfriend. A few girls have stopped to talk with me, and a lot look at me -- though, I always figured it was because they thought I was weird. I have been informed otherwise. Whatever.
So, uh, I've 'formulated' plans for this week. Which, since it is Wednesday (Thursday when I post this, I suppose), can't be that much... Tomorrow I may be doing something with Yura, and Friday I plan on going to the Hermitage museum. Oh, tomorrow I also have a meeting about tutoring in English.
And then, this weekend, PSKOV! Which should be exciting. I suppose. Cultural, if nothing else.
I don't know if I mentioned this in an earlier entry, but, I think that I might have a fear of developing relationships. That is, more than friendships. When classes first started, and I didn't know Pavel but kept seeing him in the halls and such, I thought he was cute, and wanted to get to know him -- Once that absurdity started, though, any potential desire for that kind of failed. It was similar with Sasha. About whom I don't think I spoke, actually. And I'm not going to. Because that was just kind of dumb, and not particularly interesting.
Ooone last thing: I GET TO VOTE! My absentee ballot arrived at my house (in California) just recently, and my parents are going to fill it out and send it in, for me. As per my instructions, of course. Not that my vote MATTERS, since California will inevitably go to Obama, anyhow. But, whatever, I suppose it's the principle of the matter. And I get to vote for local junk, if there is any. Of which I will, of course, be entirely uneducated in. Ah, well.
P.S.: If anyone happens to run across a McCain speech which includes his plans for foreign policy, I would be most appreciative if you send those along to me. I've found Obama's, but not McCain's, yet. Hm.
In Which Frustrations Abound
07.10.2008
So, I look up the word "подкинуть," in my dictionary and it says "perfective of подкидывать." I'm like, alright, well, whatever, and look for "подкидывать." Next to this word it says "imperfective of подкинуть." ..... Thank you, dictionary. How tremendously helpful of you. Thankfully my host mother has a few dictionaries lying about, so it means "to toss up, to throw up."
What I was kind of originally afraid about this trip is happening. I am speaking far, far too much English. I wish I realised this was happening sooner, but in my total discomfort of an alien world I had to have some sort of connection, some sort of friendship, and at the time the only thing available to me was English-speaking. I wish I could kind of just disconnect myself from everyone else in the program, but clearly that's not going to happen. The people with whom I DO speak, I DO like, and I wish to be friends with them. So, I don't know.
I suppose I could just start speaking Russian with them, but I tend to get impatient with myself and switch to English when I can't say exactly what I want to say in Russian. If I'm speaking with someone I know who speaks English, that is. Which is why I am glad I met Yura and Andrei, since they don't speak English at all (well, Yura speaks a little, but Andrei none at all). Unfortunately I haven't heard from Yura for a week. So basically it's just a stupid cycle of me wasting my time. I'm going to try to contact him this week to see if he's free before the weekend (since I'm going to Pskov this weekend). So, there's that.
Class yesterday, Human Rights, was good. The fact that I only read 11 pages of the 50 didn't seem to be a problem -- and he said I didn't have to finish it unless it were interesting (which it wasn't). I think the Russian girl dropped it, though... which means ... it's just me. and Andrei, the teacher. So, uh, yeah, that's kind of strange. But yesterday I talked a lot, and I answered almost all of his questions correctly (sometimes in English because I simply didn't know how to say it in Russian -- I think he wants some practise in English anyway, so I don't feel bad about this since it's a trade off). He got really excited every time I said something correct. So that was good. And he didn't cut class off too short like he did last week, which is good -- I feel sorry for him because this is his first ever taught class, and no one signed up except a stupid American who doesn't understand anything. But he doesn't seem to mind. Aaaand I have no work for that class this week -- it's a lecture next week.
That being said, I have a damned article I'm reading for my U.S.A and Russia I.R. course tomorrow, and it's only like three pages... and I don't understand a damned bit of it. It's frustrating as hell, and written very strangely. I don't know. A couple people in that class are at a lower level of Russian than I, then the other two are a little better than I am, so we'll see what happens. Oh, and then there's the Russian girl, but she never says anything.
There was a stunningly beautiful girl on the bus, today. I don't really know how to describe her -- It wasn't really a model sort of beauty (though she could definitely be a model) -- it was more a natural, classical beauty. I almost stood up and gave her my seat, but I decided not to reinforce heterosexist norms of behavior.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like I've hit a plateau in my learning. I feel like there's a barrier in my mind not allowing me to learn any more Russian, or improve in either comprehension or communication. When I listen to the T.V., or listen in on peoples' conversations, I can only understand the structure of the sentences and half of what they're saying -- like, "He understands that we .... and then at that moment .... on Saturday there is a .... I saw that, as well, but when they ...." and so on, so I just get a skeleton of a conversation but the meat of it is entirely not understood. And when I speak, I feel like I speak barely comprehensible broken strings of Russian. I don't know. Yura and Andrei (my teacher, not Yura's boyfriend) said that I speak Russian well. So did some other girl whose name I've forgotten, a while back. But I think that's entirely based on their low standards, thinking that no one except Russians know how to speak Russian. And, neither Yura nor the girl know how to speak English at all, so, I don't know.
Oh, and Pavel hasn't spoken with me for a week. He's also apparently decided he's not going to Pskov. Sooo, who knows what happened there. I wanted to be his friend, but as Liza said "he wanted more, and I just wasn't into that." Or something along those lines. Whatever, I'm not going to lament.
I have a meeting on Thursday, about tutoring in English. So I might get a job, which is good. I won't feel so bad about spending 50 rubles a day on German chocolate that I don't need.
Well, I had planned on ending my evening with a bit of recreational reading and watching of documentary goodness, but it seems that my acacemics are going to consume my life for the time being. My time management has flown out the window. I need to go catch it.
So, I look up the word "подкинуть," in my dictionary and it says "perfective of подкидывать." I'm like, alright, well, whatever, and look for "подкидывать." Next to this word it says "imperfective of подкинуть." ..... Thank you, dictionary. How tremendously helpful of you. Thankfully my host mother has a few dictionaries lying about, so it means "to toss up, to throw up."
What I was kind of originally afraid about this trip is happening. I am speaking far, far too much English. I wish I realised this was happening sooner, but in my total discomfort of an alien world I had to have some sort of connection, some sort of friendship, and at the time the only thing available to me was English-speaking. I wish I could kind of just disconnect myself from everyone else in the program, but clearly that's not going to happen. The people with whom I DO speak, I DO like, and I wish to be friends with them. So, I don't know.
I suppose I could just start speaking Russian with them, but I tend to get impatient with myself and switch to English when I can't say exactly what I want to say in Russian. If I'm speaking with someone I know who speaks English, that is. Which is why I am glad I met Yura and Andrei, since they don't speak English at all (well, Yura speaks a little, but Andrei none at all). Unfortunately I haven't heard from Yura for a week. So basically it's just a stupid cycle of me wasting my time. I'm going to try to contact him this week to see if he's free before the weekend (since I'm going to Pskov this weekend). So, there's that.
Class yesterday, Human Rights, was good. The fact that I only read 11 pages of the 50 didn't seem to be a problem -- and he said I didn't have to finish it unless it were interesting (which it wasn't). I think the Russian girl dropped it, though... which means ... it's just me. and Andrei, the teacher. So, uh, yeah, that's kind of strange. But yesterday I talked a lot, and I answered almost all of his questions correctly (sometimes in English because I simply didn't know how to say it in Russian -- I think he wants some practise in English anyway, so I don't feel bad about this since it's a trade off). He got really excited every time I said something correct. So that was good. And he didn't cut class off too short like he did last week, which is good -- I feel sorry for him because this is his first ever taught class, and no one signed up except a stupid American who doesn't understand anything. But he doesn't seem to mind. Aaaand I have no work for that class this week -- it's a lecture next week.
That being said, I have a damned article I'm reading for my U.S.A and Russia I.R. course tomorrow, and it's only like three pages... and I don't understand a damned bit of it. It's frustrating as hell, and written very strangely. I don't know. A couple people in that class are at a lower level of Russian than I, then the other two are a little better than I am, so we'll see what happens. Oh, and then there's the Russian girl, but she never says anything.
There was a stunningly beautiful girl on the bus, today. I don't really know how to describe her -- It wasn't really a model sort of beauty (though she could definitely be a model) -- it was more a natural, classical beauty. I almost stood up and gave her my seat, but I decided not to reinforce heterosexist norms of behavior.
I think I've mentioned this before, but I feel like I've hit a plateau in my learning. I feel like there's a barrier in my mind not allowing me to learn any more Russian, or improve in either comprehension or communication. When I listen to the T.V., or listen in on peoples' conversations, I can only understand the structure of the sentences and half of what they're saying -- like, "He understands that we .... and then at that moment .... on Saturday there is a .... I saw that, as well, but when they ...." and so on, so I just get a skeleton of a conversation but the meat of it is entirely not understood. And when I speak, I feel like I speak barely comprehensible broken strings of Russian. I don't know. Yura and Andrei (my teacher, not Yura's boyfriend) said that I speak Russian well. So did some other girl whose name I've forgotten, a while back. But I think that's entirely based on their low standards, thinking that no one except Russians know how to speak Russian. And, neither Yura nor the girl know how to speak English at all, so, I don't know.
Oh, and Pavel hasn't spoken with me for a week. He's also apparently decided he's not going to Pskov. Sooo, who knows what happened there. I wanted to be his friend, but as Liza said "he wanted more, and I just wasn't into that." Or something along those lines. Whatever, I'm not going to lament.
I have a meeting on Thursday, about tutoring in English. So I might get a job, which is good. I won't feel so bad about spending 50 rubles a day on German chocolate that I don't need.
Well, I had planned on ending my evening with a bit of recreational reading and watching of documentary goodness, but it seems that my acacemics are going to consume my life for the time being. My time management has flown out the window. I need to go catch it.
Monday, October 6, 2008
05.10.2008
I should be doing my homework right now, but I really just don't want to do a damned thing, so I figure I might as well do something minorly productive and write an overall entry for the weekend.
As I mentioned in my last entry, Saturday was just damned stupid. The only thing worth mentioning is that I decided to go ahead and eat lunch at one of the cafes I stopped at to use internet (unfortunately, this particular cafe's wi-fi had "ended" not long ago... they probably just wanted me to leave or something. They were kind of swanky). Well. I was dumb, and ordered a damned FISH dish. I HATE fish. HATE HATE HATE fish. It was quite expensive, so I figure I may as well eat it all to save myself the embarassment. It had a couple pieces of shrimp, a clam of some sort, and then other various fish parts, but it was mostly comprised of pasta and sauce. I ate the pasta and sauce fairly well, with very little fishy taste. I ate both shrimps, just barely, and wanted to die in the process, chugging a cup of tea to choke it down. I couldn't eat the rest of it, and I almost DIED when I realised I had eaten a small tentacle. So I just gathered the rest of the fish on the side of my plate, and inconspicuously wrapped it all in a tissue and stuffed it in my bag so the waiter wouldn't see. That was awful.
Today was half decent -- Was going to Pavlovsk, as the leaves had turned, so, yeah. Tatyana fed me ... hot dog pirozhki this morning. Which was ... interesting. Then I left for the train station (last time, I went to Pavlovsk by bus) and had my first Russian train experience. Which was about as terrible as it sounds. Truly, the metro is luxury compared. But, it only cost 28 rubles, which is a little over one dollar, so, whatever.
Pavlovsk was beautiful, fun was had, whatever. The only exciting thing was that there were a lot of people there, which isn't all that exciting. I have, however, noticed that women were wearing HIGH HEELS. Which is bizarre, because Pavlovsk is mostly one big 700 hectare park forest thing. At one point I saw this woman walking around with a bunch of leaves IMPALED on her heels, just walking around like she didn't care. Luckily, she kept walking back and forth around this cafe, so I got a photo, AND a video. YES, A VIDEO. While the group was getting food, I was food watching and got the idea to video the scenes around me. Because my mom wants to see Russian people, or something. I don't know.
In any case, when we got back into St. Petersburg, Bryan wanted to show us this neat DVD and music store ... when we got there, I stopped dead. I heard fucking TONY WAKEFORD'S VOICE playing. I was like, 'what the hell is this?' and wanted to kill Bryan for not showing me this place before. So, somehow, I gravitate to the DVDs and land in front of the music DVD section and find ... Fad Gadget? And Death in June? What the FUCK? Some other good stuff, too, and a huge rack of Soviet classics and whatnot, but I was more interested in Fad Gadget and Death in June at this point. There were three different Death in June DVDs, so I bought a skeezy looking documentary, "Death in June: Behind the Mask" and "Fad Gadget By Frank Tovey," which has two discs of live performances, TV appearances, and a documentary. The documentary cost about six dollars, the Fad Gadget 12. I think they're both pirated, but Frank Tovey is dead and I doubt Douglas Pearce cares.
Then ... when I was buying the DVDs, I saw a poster saying that Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon are both playing in St. Petersburg on October 17th. I almost had a stroke right there. But, despite my initial excitement, I'm not sure I'm going to go... Not because of the artists, but because of the possible crowd. I mean, I know (am fairly sure?) that the musicians do not espouse fascist ideas and are not fascists themselves, they are just ... very ... ambiguous about it and twist it around in a very provocative fashion. Of course, if I remember correctly at least one member of Sonne Hagal is openly gay, but whatever. In any case, St. Petersburg is home to a very large and continually growing neo-fascist population, and Russians seem to have a problem grasping artistic ambiguity and irony, SO, even if the groups themselves are not fascists, the audience might be FILLED with them. I'm going to ask around about the venue (The "Revolution Club") and make my decision based around that, I guess.
Oh, speaking of Revoltions... Pyaterochka, the major super market chain here, is advertising a month long sale... of "October Revolution Revolutionary Prices!" The flier is read, and features a picture of the Potemkin. And ends with something like, "Shop at Pyaterochka, comrade!" So, it's nice to know that the U.S. does not have a monopoly on commercialising our history and national holidays.
I should be doing my homework right now, but I really just don't want to do a damned thing, so I figure I might as well do something minorly productive and write an overall entry for the weekend.
As I mentioned in my last entry, Saturday was just damned stupid. The only thing worth mentioning is that I decided to go ahead and eat lunch at one of the cafes I stopped at to use internet (unfortunately, this particular cafe's wi-fi had "ended" not long ago... they probably just wanted me to leave or something. They were kind of swanky). Well. I was dumb, and ordered a damned FISH dish. I HATE fish. HATE HATE HATE fish. It was quite expensive, so I figure I may as well eat it all to save myself the embarassment. It had a couple pieces of shrimp, a clam of some sort, and then other various fish parts, but it was mostly comprised of pasta and sauce. I ate the pasta and sauce fairly well, with very little fishy taste. I ate both shrimps, just barely, and wanted to die in the process, chugging a cup of tea to choke it down. I couldn't eat the rest of it, and I almost DIED when I realised I had eaten a small tentacle. So I just gathered the rest of the fish on the side of my plate, and inconspicuously wrapped it all in a tissue and stuffed it in my bag so the waiter wouldn't see. That was awful.
Today was half decent -- Was going to Pavlovsk, as the leaves had turned, so, yeah. Tatyana fed me ... hot dog pirozhki this morning. Which was ... interesting. Then I left for the train station (last time, I went to Pavlovsk by bus) and had my first Russian train experience. Which was about as terrible as it sounds. Truly, the metro is luxury compared. But, it only cost 28 rubles, which is a little over one dollar, so, whatever.
Pavlovsk was beautiful, fun was had, whatever. The only exciting thing was that there were a lot of people there, which isn't all that exciting. I have, however, noticed that women were wearing HIGH HEELS. Which is bizarre, because Pavlovsk is mostly one big 700 hectare park forest thing. At one point I saw this woman walking around with a bunch of leaves IMPALED on her heels, just walking around like she didn't care. Luckily, she kept walking back and forth around this cafe, so I got a photo, AND a video. YES, A VIDEO. While the group was getting food, I was food watching and got the idea to video the scenes around me. Because my mom wants to see Russian people, or something. I don't know.
In any case, when we got back into St. Petersburg, Bryan wanted to show us this neat DVD and music store ... when we got there, I stopped dead. I heard fucking TONY WAKEFORD'S VOICE playing. I was like, 'what the hell is this?' and wanted to kill Bryan for not showing me this place before. So, somehow, I gravitate to the DVDs and land in front of the music DVD section and find ... Fad Gadget? And Death in June? What the FUCK? Some other good stuff, too, and a huge rack of Soviet classics and whatnot, but I was more interested in Fad Gadget and Death in June at this point. There were three different Death in June DVDs, so I bought a skeezy looking documentary, "Death in June: Behind the Mask" and "Fad Gadget By Frank Tovey," which has two discs of live performances, TV appearances, and a documentary. The documentary cost about six dollars, the Fad Gadget 12. I think they're both pirated, but Frank Tovey is dead and I doubt Douglas Pearce cares.
Then ... when I was buying the DVDs, I saw a poster saying that Sonne Hagal and Of the Wand and the Moon are both playing in St. Petersburg on October 17th. I almost had a stroke right there. But, despite my initial excitement, I'm not sure I'm going to go... Not because of the artists, but because of the possible crowd. I mean, I know (am fairly sure?) that the musicians do not espouse fascist ideas and are not fascists themselves, they are just ... very ... ambiguous about it and twist it around in a very provocative fashion. Of course, if I remember correctly at least one member of Sonne Hagal is openly gay, but whatever. In any case, St. Petersburg is home to a very large and continually growing neo-fascist population, and Russians seem to have a problem grasping artistic ambiguity and irony, SO, even if the groups themselves are not fascists, the audience might be FILLED with them. I'm going to ask around about the venue (The "Revolution Club") and make my decision based around that, I guess.
Oh, speaking of Revoltions... Pyaterochka, the major super market chain here, is advertising a month long sale... of "October Revolution Revolutionary Prices!" The flier is read, and features a picture of the Potemkin. And ends with something like, "Shop at Pyaterochka, comrade!" So, it's nice to know that the U.S. does not have a monopoly on commercialising our history and national holidays.
In Which a Stripshow is Attended
04.10.2008
Alright, so, most of yesterday was just stupid, so I'm only going to devote a couple sentences to the stupidity since the description of nighttime activities will be fairly long. Basically, I decided it was going to be a productive day, so I went around to buy things that I needed. I got success in all except the most important: Abbyy Lingvo. After consistent failures and realising how difficult my life is going to be if I don't get that damned electronic dictionary THIS WEEKEND, I was in a terrible mood.
HOWEVER.
Maneka and I went to Tri El' last night, which is St. Petersburg's only lesbian night club (and, sadly, is closing in November). Ilana and Vika were going to go with us, but they decided to go hom when we reached the metro station, because they were too drunk. Sad. Anyway, Maneka and I pushed onwards, with plans of going there and only spending a couple hours, heading home before the metro closes.
Well, when we got there, they asked for 100 rubles from each of us. Then the doorperson gave me a look, and asked for our documents, which we showed to her, then she charged me 400 rubles. I guess she thought I was a woman when I first entered. I'm glad I haven't broken my track record for gender ambiguity in crowds which should be well tuned to such things. In any case, Maneka felt bad and paid part of my cover (their website said they only charge 150 for men on Fridays; they only ever even let men in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). So we went in.
All of the tables had "reserved" signs on them, and the club was actually pretty empty. Which was unsurprising, since it was only like 10:30. Maneka was disappointed, and I told her Central Station was the same, and people don't really start rolling in until midnight. So we wandered around a little bit, got a bunch of odd looks, then went out onto the dancefloor, where there were more tables that were "reserved." We sat down for a bit, then saw this one woman dancing by herself and figured we'd get some dancing in, too.
By this point we decided to stay for the rest of the night, since it cost so damn much to get me in, and Maneka really wanted to stay. So I just sent a text to my host mom, and at around midnight the place started to get really busy (except, there were only like 3-4 guys, myself included, in the club at any one time).
I... really just kind of prefer lesbian crowds to gay crowds, in general. I also like watching them dance, more -- There was a lot more pairing up, and it was very clear that most of these people were couples. In a gay club, any pairing up is mostly just a one-night hook-up, and it's kind of depressing.
In any case, I was just there to have fun, so I didn't have any sort of expectations. And a lot of girls were giving me obvious looks trying to figure out if I were a guy or a girl. Unfortunately, no one talked to us. HOWEVER, there was this crazy girl on the dance floor -- she had long black hair, and she was wearing grey skinny jeans, a striped white button-up shirt, a tie, and a pair of heels. Overall, she was very Russian. And she kept bumping into us even though there were only like five people total on the dance floor. At one point she bumped into Maneka and freaked out, exclaiming "Простите, простите!" (Forgive me, forgive me! Very formal..) and kissed her hand. I so wanted to be friends with this girl.
It was also interesting to see the Russian lesbian culture. Mullets were abound, but mullets are abound in Russia altogether, so that was unsurprising. The crowd was actually pretty evenly split between your 'average looking' stereotyped lesbians, the contemporary sort of punkish lesbians, and the very Russian women who were all dressed up and so forth.
The bar had a fairly large nonalcoholic section... so I drank two "молочный коктель" (molochnij koktel', milk cocktail) which was ... three scoops of ice cream and some milk in a blender. It was delicious. I'm going to start making that shit when I get home.
When we were getting ready to leave at like 3 in the morning, some announcement came on over the dance floor that we couldn't understand, and it was clear that some sort of show was about to start. Well, a drag queen emcee came on stage, and I was ... expecting the worst. She was saying weird things, and like, we could understand most everything except the last line, and she would always rhyme the last line. I don't know, it's hard to explain. Anyway, they were clearly jokes, as everyone was laughing and clapping after she finished.
So, alright. I'm going to explain as much as I can, but, what ensued turned out to be THE BEST DRAG SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY FUCKING LIFE. PERIOD. There were four performers total, including the emcee -- one was a woman, the other three were men dressed as women. There was only one instance of drag kinging, unfortunately, when they dragged a poor audience member up on the stage and forced her to lipsync the male part of a soviet pop song. The first act was a strange orientalist pseudo-bellydancing sort of thing with techno in the back. It was well done for what it was, but the SECOND act... was just... I was blown away. The premise was this: Two "girls" came on stage with a little handheld radio, and they keep changing stations and dancing around to the music on the radio -- The sound was clearly done in one track, so they had to have PERFECT timing for each time they switched radio stations. And they did. Two particular portions of this piece stand out -- At one point it switches to this Russian artist whose name currently escapes me -- he's sort of an icon here; he has a really gravelly voice and sings bizarre songs very folkishly. He's dead now, but in any case, during this song they pull out a flask and act very Russian. I can't even explain it, really. Then they turn on a hip hop song and a third performer comes on stage wearing tremendously baggy clothing and a hood, and they act all thuggish, when suddenly one of them pulls up his pants and he's wearing ... red leather high heeled boots? The two girls freak out and start ripping off his clothes, and the song changes to Alla Pugacheva (Russia's Cher, only 2837492375 times better), and underneath the thug clothing (s)he's wearing a rainbow wig, a gold glitter dress, and all other sorts of draggish things.
Overall, I was just so damned impressed because they had so much emotion, their timing and performance was just so damned flawless, and it was so damned Russian and creative. Their other performances were all entirely different, all very unique, and all very well done. Only at one point did they do a solo-diva-drag-bullshit thing, but that was because the other performers needed to get ready, I'm assuming (having had to deal with that before).
About an hour after that, Maneka and I are sitting in the (very pleasantly well-lit) bar area, when another announcement comes on that we can't understand and everyone flocks into the bar area... Music starts and ... It's a strip show? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my first strip show was at a lesbian bar, it seems. Anyway, this girl who had been walking around in her underwear all night comes in in a long black dress and super high platformed heels (Her hair was also really cool - it was sort of a really short deathhawk). She danced around and eventually folded her dress down, leaving her top half bare, blah blah blah. In any case, she was a good dancer.
Then she leaves, and another beautiful woman comes out and does a fantastic but oversexed bellydance routine on the bar -- no stripping, though. Her hair was also beautiful; it was pulled back in a topknot, perfectly straight, and went down to her waist. After this, she leaves and the other girl comes back wearing little, and dances around, comes very dangerously close to me several times, and by the end is just wearing a thong and a small bra... whatever. The second girl comes back and they both do a routine in which they are wearing even less. I didn't feel particularly awkward, because it was in a lesbian bar, and when they were dancing up on people, the people were being very sheepish and such. So, from a feminist standpoint, it wasn't sickeningly degrading to women for the fact that everyone was respectful, and it was performed by women for women. Of course, I'm sure some would argue that the very act of stripping is inherently degrading to women, but go to hell.
Anyway, at about 5:30am we went to the metro station and parted ways. It was a night well spent.
Today is another stupid day, however, as it has taken me 40 minutes to post this entry. I have been looking for internets all day so I could download an electronic dictionary to get through these FIFTY PAGES OF READING IN RUSSIAN ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA'S REGIONS, but I have entirely failed. But LJ is working fairly well so I'm catching up on Ben's and Jen's entries. Since their journals are the only ones working (P.S., Jen, yes, I do read your journal, but I never comment because I have to read fast, as to not piss off people behind me in the daily computer queue)
Alright, so, most of yesterday was just stupid, so I'm only going to devote a couple sentences to the stupidity since the description of nighttime activities will be fairly long. Basically, I decided it was going to be a productive day, so I went around to buy things that I needed. I got success in all except the most important: Abbyy Lingvo. After consistent failures and realising how difficult my life is going to be if I don't get that damned electronic dictionary THIS WEEKEND, I was in a terrible mood.
HOWEVER.
Maneka and I went to Tri El' last night, which is St. Petersburg's only lesbian night club (and, sadly, is closing in November). Ilana and Vika were going to go with us, but they decided to go hom when we reached the metro station, because they were too drunk. Sad. Anyway, Maneka and I pushed onwards, with plans of going there and only spending a couple hours, heading home before the metro closes.
Well, when we got there, they asked for 100 rubles from each of us. Then the doorperson gave me a look, and asked for our documents, which we showed to her, then she charged me 400 rubles. I guess she thought I was a woman when I first entered. I'm glad I haven't broken my track record for gender ambiguity in crowds which should be well tuned to such things. In any case, Maneka felt bad and paid part of my cover (their website said they only charge 150 for men on Fridays; they only ever even let men in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). So we went in.
All of the tables had "reserved" signs on them, and the club was actually pretty empty. Which was unsurprising, since it was only like 10:30. Maneka was disappointed, and I told her Central Station was the same, and people don't really start rolling in until midnight. So we wandered around a little bit, got a bunch of odd looks, then went out onto the dancefloor, where there were more tables that were "reserved." We sat down for a bit, then saw this one woman dancing by herself and figured we'd get some dancing in, too.
By this point we decided to stay for the rest of the night, since it cost so damn much to get me in, and Maneka really wanted to stay. So I just sent a text to my host mom, and at around midnight the place started to get really busy (except, there were only like 3-4 guys, myself included, in the club at any one time).
I... really just kind of prefer lesbian crowds to gay crowds, in general. I also like watching them dance, more -- There was a lot more pairing up, and it was very clear that most of these people were couples. In a gay club, any pairing up is mostly just a one-night hook-up, and it's kind of depressing.
In any case, I was just there to have fun, so I didn't have any sort of expectations. And a lot of girls were giving me obvious looks trying to figure out if I were a guy or a girl. Unfortunately, no one talked to us. HOWEVER, there was this crazy girl on the dance floor -- she had long black hair, and she was wearing grey skinny jeans, a striped white button-up shirt, a tie, and a pair of heels. Overall, she was very Russian. And she kept bumping into us even though there were only like five people total on the dance floor. At one point she bumped into Maneka and freaked out, exclaiming "Простите, простите!" (Forgive me, forgive me! Very formal..) and kissed her hand. I so wanted to be friends with this girl.
It was also interesting to see the Russian lesbian culture. Mullets were abound, but mullets are abound in Russia altogether, so that was unsurprising. The crowd was actually pretty evenly split between your 'average looking' stereotyped lesbians, the contemporary sort of punkish lesbians, and the very Russian women who were all dressed up and so forth.
The bar had a fairly large nonalcoholic section... so I drank two "молочный коктель" (molochnij koktel', milk cocktail) which was ... three scoops of ice cream and some milk in a blender. It was delicious. I'm going to start making that shit when I get home.
When we were getting ready to leave at like 3 in the morning, some announcement came on over the dance floor that we couldn't understand, and it was clear that some sort of show was about to start. Well, a drag queen emcee came on stage, and I was ... expecting the worst. She was saying weird things, and like, we could understand most everything except the last line, and she would always rhyme the last line. I don't know, it's hard to explain. Anyway, they were clearly jokes, as everyone was laughing and clapping after she finished.
So, alright. I'm going to explain as much as I can, but, what ensued turned out to be THE BEST DRAG SHOW I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY FUCKING LIFE. PERIOD. There were four performers total, including the emcee -- one was a woman, the other three were men dressed as women. There was only one instance of drag kinging, unfortunately, when they dragged a poor audience member up on the stage and forced her to lipsync the male part of a soviet pop song. The first act was a strange orientalist pseudo-bellydancing sort of thing with techno in the back. It was well done for what it was, but the SECOND act... was just... I was blown away. The premise was this: Two "girls" came on stage with a little handheld radio, and they keep changing stations and dancing around to the music on the radio -- The sound was clearly done in one track, so they had to have PERFECT timing for each time they switched radio stations. And they did. Two particular portions of this piece stand out -- At one point it switches to this Russian artist whose name currently escapes me -- he's sort of an icon here; he has a really gravelly voice and sings bizarre songs very folkishly. He's dead now, but in any case, during this song they pull out a flask and act very Russian. I can't even explain it, really. Then they turn on a hip hop song and a third performer comes on stage wearing tremendously baggy clothing and a hood, and they act all thuggish, when suddenly one of them pulls up his pants and he's wearing ... red leather high heeled boots? The two girls freak out and start ripping off his clothes, and the song changes to Alla Pugacheva (Russia's Cher, only 2837492375 times better), and underneath the thug clothing (s)he's wearing a rainbow wig, a gold glitter dress, and all other sorts of draggish things.
Overall, I was just so damned impressed because they had so much emotion, their timing and performance was just so damned flawless, and it was so damned Russian and creative. Their other performances were all entirely different, all very unique, and all very well done. Only at one point did they do a solo-diva-drag-bullshit thing, but that was because the other performers needed to get ready, I'm assuming (having had to deal with that before).
About an hour after that, Maneka and I are sitting in the (very pleasantly well-lit) bar area, when another announcement comes on that we can't understand and everyone flocks into the bar area... Music starts and ... It's a strip show? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my first strip show was at a lesbian bar, it seems. Anyway, this girl who had been walking around in her underwear all night comes in in a long black dress and super high platformed heels (Her hair was also really cool - it was sort of a really short deathhawk). She danced around and eventually folded her dress down, leaving her top half bare, blah blah blah. In any case, she was a good dancer.
Then she leaves, and another beautiful woman comes out and does a fantastic but oversexed bellydance routine on the bar -- no stripping, though. Her hair was also beautiful; it was pulled back in a topknot, perfectly straight, and went down to her waist. After this, she leaves and the other girl comes back wearing little, and dances around, comes very dangerously close to me several times, and by the end is just wearing a thong and a small bra... whatever. The second girl comes back and they both do a routine in which they are wearing even less. I didn't feel particularly awkward, because it was in a lesbian bar, and when they were dancing up on people, the people were being very sheepish and such. So, from a feminist standpoint, it wasn't sickeningly degrading to women for the fact that everyone was respectful, and it was performed by women for women. Of course, I'm sure some would argue that the very act of stripping is inherently degrading to women, but go to hell.
Anyway, at about 5:30am we went to the metro station and parted ways. It was a night well spent.
Today is another stupid day, however, as it has taken me 40 minutes to post this entry. I have been looking for internets all day so I could download an electronic dictionary to get through these FIFTY PAGES OF READING IN RUSSIAN ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA'S REGIONS, but I have entirely failed. But LJ is working fairly well so I'm catching up on Ben's and Jen's entries. Since their journals are the only ones working (P.S., Jen, yes, I do read your journal, but I never comment because I have to read fast, as to not piss off people behind me in the daily computer queue)
Friday, October 3, 2008
In Which The Masculine Ballet is Attended
02.10.2008
Today was just kind of stupid. But I'll get to that later -- First I'll talk about yesterday.
Class went well enough. I feel like we have really good discussions in my Russia and the U.S. class. And I participate a lot, which is unusual -- But I think it's because it's in English, so I get to exercise my tongue a little. Speaking of which, when I go back to the U.S., I am going to be so sickeningly talkative. Which is good - at least, for my classes. That's one thing I'm excited about, actually.
Then, last night... Marc Almond concert! It was absolutely fantastic -- though, I think Marc Almond might've been wearing a grill... I don't know. His teeth were unnaturally golden and shiny. In any case, I took some photos, but they didn't turn out very well, as concert photos never do. Pavel went, too, but I was kind of avoiding him. He kept calling, but I didn't want to answer, and Bryan (who went with me) saw him and said he was running around looking for me.
OH! So, MTV Russia interviewed me, in English. Which was kind of dumb. And I gave absurd answers. Because they'll dub over with whatever they want to, anyway, so it doesn't matter... So, I might end up on MTV Russia. Apparently, while they were interviewing me, Pavel saw (according to Bryan), so I thought he was going to bound up afterwards or something, but he didn't. After the concert, I sent him a text message telling him I had my cell off, and asked him how he liked it -- He just responded with one word ["Very"], which was kind of odd, so I think he might have the impression that Bryan and I are together. Which is amusing.
ANYWAY, SO, MARC ALMOND. He sings GREAT live, but ... his newest songs are AWFUL. AWFUL. AWFUL. Terrible, terrible songwriting. I mean, his older songs definitely have a strange STYLE, but they actually flow, even if the word structure is a bit awkward. And they're not GLARINGLY BAD. Thankfully, he mostly performed old material, INCLUDING a few Soft Cell songs (Including Tainted Love, of course... I was actually kind of surprised that he did that one; I thought he would be completely and totally sick of it by now). It was a really long concert, and every time he would start to leave the stage, the crowd would be going INSANE for another song, and he would be like "Oh, alright!" and come back and do another. That happened about four times. Somewhat absurd.
The crowd was actually fairly boring. Apparently, Marc Almond is tremendously popular in Russia, so everyone likes him, including boring people. Which were the majority -- Typical Russians. Of course, absolutely none of them had any idea what he was singing about. If they did they probably would've stormed the stage and killed him for being a pederast. But Russians seem overall blind to homosexuality -- There was a big Central Station poster (I'm assuming they were sponsors) in the hall, which includes an insignia of a bunch of interlocking Mars symbols, and no one seemed to notice. HOWEVER, one exciting crowd member showed up right behind me during "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye." His name HAD to be Igor. If his name weren't Igor, by God I'll shoot myself in the foot. He was really large and strange looking, and he kept trying to sing along, and it was awful. Absolutely awful. Thank God he was only there for that song, so it was funny -- If he were there for more than that song, it would've lost its funniness. Oh, and listening to an entire Russian crowd try to sing the chorus to Say Hello, Wave Goodbye was worth the 1000 rubles spent. Of course, I sung along, too, but I think I was the only onee who knew the actual words.
After that, I walked to the metro, and walked home... Which was not unpleasant. I think I'm already over my mugging victimisation. I felt safe enough, but I was being cautious. I didn't freeze up every time I passed someone, and I didn't feel paranoid on the metro. Speaking of which, the apartment buildings are creepy as hell, and have a thousand million ambush spots. See, they're held up by a bunch of concrete pillars (called "chicken legs," apparently) through which you have to walk to get to the door. Needless to say, it's mildly unnerving.
So, today. Right. Just stupidity. I brought my laptop in order to do a bunch of stuff like update the journal properly, upload photos, etc. I didn't want to use the office computer because it was going to take me a while, and I hate hogging it. In any case, the INTERNET WASN'T WORKING. For anyone. So that was a waste. And I had a test. Which was dumb. But, while I was working on my homework for my class, Liza, one of the Russian tutors, came up and talked to me. Which was neat. Because normally people don't do that. Or something. I don't know.
But, tonight, I went to the Мужкой Балет [Muzhkoj Balet (“Masculine ballet”)] with Ilana. When she first invited me, I didn't think much of it – I just thought of it as something to fill my time with and experience. As far as I know, all-male ballet troupes tend to be centred around farce and such. I don't know, I'm not huge into ballet, and never have been. But, holy hell. I am SO damned glad she invited me, and SO damned glad I didn't miss it.
Alright, so – The first half were contemporary ballet acts. The troupe only had five guys in it, so it was a pretty small cast. The first two dances were ... disappointing, and pretty sloppy. I liked the music, I liked the costuming, and the idea, but they weren't doing very well. After that, though, it just got better. I don't really want to go through each dance, but my favorite was the third, in which you could only see the dancers' feet, and they were doing the tango in two pairs. Of course, in each pair, there was a pair of slacks and dress shoes, then the other set of legs were in high heels – It was somewhat cliché, but the fact that they were all men and this was a Russian ballet troupe just made it absolutely fantastic. Plus, they did a very good job, and it made up for their first routine. Overall, the performance was surprisingly sexual and very ... gay. Their LAST contemporary act was done to the diva's opera from the 5th Element. That, was just fantastic.
The second half of the performance were different scenes from classical ballets. All of these were just fantastic and awesome. Of course, some of the guys were dancing women's roles, and it was kind of amusing because they did one scene from the Pharaoh's Daughter, in which two dancers represent the river (and they are female roles), and one dancer is Neptune... Well, the two dancers who were the river were much taller and more masculine than Neptune. So that was mildly awkward, especially when Neptune had to do lifts and such, but it was still done very well. Their final act was done by the main dancer – I don't know the ballet, but Ilana was excited about it .. I think it was the “Dying Swan” or something like that? Something about swans. In any case, I'm really glad I got to see this. Oh, and there were so few people at the showing that we got to move down from the balcony to the best seating in the house. And, the place itself was gorgeous.
One cultural note before I end the entry. When clapping at the end of a performance, Russians clap in unison... It's ... somewhat bizarre. I mean, at first, they clap normally, then at some point everyone starts clapping in unison. Without music or anything. It's like a hive mind, because it happens all at once (or at least it seems like it, to me). I don't know. I think it's strange. Interesting, but strange.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
In Which Cabbage is Hated Upon
30.09.2008
I don't know how much more stuffed cabbage I can take. I almost started vomiting during the last bites of my dinner, tonight, because the texture of the cabbage was making me gag. But there's no real easy way to tell someone you're going to vomit if you keep eating their food.
I think the pirozhki I ate this morning was also filled with cabbage. Jesus Christ...
In any case, today was interesting. I don't know, my mood is a roller coaster. I was feeling fine until I got into my Razgovornaya Praktika course, in which the professor, Elena Nikolayevna, was not too terribly nice. I don't think she likes me. Or Americans in general. And she's the head of the Russian as a Second Language program... Anyway, she ruined my mood. After that class I just kind of wanted to go home and go to bed, and cancel the plans with Yura. But I didn't, because I knew I regret it,
Bryan wants to go to the Marc Almond concert with me, tomorrow, so he gave me money to buy him a ticket since he had to be in work all day. Well, the Teatralnaya Kassa closes from 3-4, so I was waiting around Smolny for a couple hours, and Ilana asked me to go to the Muzhskoj Balet wiith her (which is an all-male ballet? I don't know, it sounds strange). So, now I am basically doing/have done something every day of the week! Well, except yesterday.
Yura, his friend Masha and I went to the Botanicheskij Sad (Botanical Gardens) today. Which was kind of sad -- All the plants were dead or in just some sad state. But it was thoroughly enjoyable and an uplifting time because I was conversing and being conversed to in Russian. We joked, we laughed, we enjoyed ourselves. They called me a "suspicious American" because I don't drink whiskey.
When I got home and was telling Tatyana where I had gone and such, she asked me about these friends, and was worried when I said they weren't students from the University. She was like, "They're not Ukrainian, Moldovan, or otherwise...?" and I was like "Uh, no, I think they're Russian..." and she nodded in approval. Sooo, there you go. She also told me to not walk around this district at night because there were a lot of "Ukrainians, Uzbeks, and Kazakhs living in the area." I wasn't aware of this particular suspicion of Ukrainians -- I thought it was more of a patronising demeanour than anything else between the rest of the Slavs and Russians.
Oh, and I finally got around to asking her where she works... and... she just gestured out the window and said “There.” I was ultra confused, and said, “...Where..?” and she was like, “There!” and then said something else that I didn't understand. So there's that.
So, Marc Almond tomorrow, ballet on Thursday, Hermitage and Tri El' on Friday, Central Station on Saturday, and Pavlovsk on Sunday. Masha and Yura were saying they wanted to go to Pavlovsk and have a picnic and whatnot, as well, so we'll see what happens there. I didn't entirely understand, but, Russians seem to not have a grand concept of time so I'm sure they'll call/text me on Sunday MORNING with the plans.
Busybusy week. I actually better get started on my homework...
I'll upload photos on Thursday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)