26.11.2008
I remembered something I wanted to say on Monday. I was recently informed that the bridge I cross like six times a week to go to Bobrinskij is the bridge off of which Sonya jumps, in "Crime and Punishment." I thought about this as I traversed its icy surface on Monday, nearly SLIPPING and FALLING into the river, myself. WELL, AT LEAST I WOULD BE IN GOOD COMPANY.
Today was somewhat halfway decent, I suppose. Nothing out of the ordinary. Professor Vertkin invited us to his house on Saturday for a Thanksgiving dinner. Which is kind of strange, I guess. He was talking about how he remembers what professors would do for the international students when he was abroad and such, so I guess he wanted to do similar. But I'm not sure how he's going to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner by himself... We'll see how that goes.
Oh, and I asked him about the Russian cultural perception of being polite to those you hate, and he said it's not as universal as it is in the US, and entirely depends on the person... That is, some people act overly friendly and polite to those they hate, others act indifferent, and still others react violently towards said individuals. So I basically have no way of knowing if Andrei Vladimirovich doesn't like me.
He also had something interesting to say about the unsmiling nature of Russia. He has a theory that it's a Soviet holdover (much like everything else that is entirely unpleasant in this country), from when basically everyone was miserable and no one had much of a reason to smile. He said the rising middle class and the changes Russia is undergoing is changing this cultural phenomenon. That is to say, those who are doing better off than before are smiling more often, while those who are still miserable don't smile. OR MAYBE IT'S JUST THE PROLIFERATION OF AMERICAN CULTURE THAT IS FORCING A REGIMEN OF DAILY SMILES ON THE LOCAL POPULATION?!
Something that I find particularly ddisturbing... I have heard nothing about the car explosion in St. Petersburg in the news, here. I just happened to stumble across it on the BBC today, and then heard a few of the Americans say that their friends had contacted them to see if they were doing alright... And none of the Americans knew about it before they were contacted, either. I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. I know if something like that happened in America, the news would be all over it, and that would be the only damned headline for over a week. I don't know if the government just doesn't want people to know about it, or if it's .. just ... not a big thing for St. Petersburg? I mean, nothing like that really happens here very often. Granted, it's thought that it was a mistake, and not a terrorist attack or anything, but again, MISTAKES like that don't seem to happen very often, here.
I spoke with Yura, today, and I'm trying to convince him to go with me to Finland and the Baltic states. He seemed interested, so, there we go.
I was watching MTV Russia, just now, and they have a bunch of strange specials going on before the Russian Music awards... Well, the one I just watched was juxtaposing a few of Russia's major top hits with really old American (and I think one French) songs, showing that these new Russian artists basically ripped off old songs tune for tune, and wrote their own songs to fit them. And then this Russian music producer went on a rant about how these artists were horribly unoriginal, and how they shouldn't be popular and junk. Which is bizarre, because I can't imagine a music producer saying this, on MTV nevertheless. But maybe they're trying to sway the music awards vote. Somewhat interesting.
Plans for the next week:
-Thursday: Thanksgiving Dinner at Bryan's
-Friday: Hermitage for MAYBE the last time, then a walk down Nevsky
-Saturday: Thankgiving Dinner, Take Two, at Dmitry Vertkin's, then Central Station
...
-NEXT Thursday: Shopping Trip! I would go this Sunday, but Christmas sales are popping up everywhere and that means absurd amounts of people everywhere.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
In Which Procrastination KILLS ME
25.11.2008
So I promised myself last night that as soon as I got home, today, I would start on my paper. Period. Because otherwise there'd be no way that I'd finish it.
And what am I doing? SURE AS HELL AIN'T MAH PAPER.
Six weeks left. Still so much to do, but I'm not lamenting. I'll have to fill each weekend with fun things, however. I'm going to try and see if I can get tickets to the "St Petersburg Opera," about which Vika told me today. She said it's small and cheap, especially compared to the Mikhailovskij and the Mariinskij. So I'll have to see what's playing.
We started a chapter in Razgovor today about ... ordering food and shopping. This would have been useful about, oh, I don't know, THREE MONTHS AGO? I've realised that I've been using terribly incorrect terms and structures when I go out to restaurants or shopping. So that's just fantastic.
Damn it, I know there were a couple other things I wanted to talk about, today, but I forgot what they were...
Well, one was about something in Razgovor. We were going over a list of things one would buy in a cosmetics store, and one of them was "туалетная вода." Which literally translates to "toilet water." Of course, I, being the mature individual that I am, burst out laughing. I think two of the girls in the class were genuinely confused as to why "toilet water" was on this list, and the teacher didn't find it very funny. So, I had to go into an explanation about how in America, we don't translate "eau de toilette" on perfume, because "toilet" in English solely means ... well, the toilet. Apparently the Russian "туалет" is taken directly from the French in meaning. This just further proves my theory that English is a horribly crass language.
On the downside, I have almost finished my last jar of peanut butter. My mom said she sent me another jar a couple weeks ago, so we'll see if that gets here. I wish I hadn't eaten so much of the first jar when I lived in the dorms...
Edit: Alright, so, I was reading BBC, and there were several news stories about terrorist incidents in southern Russia -- Around the Caucasus and such. Well, then there was one about a car exploding, and I figured that was almost in the Caucasus, and almost didn't read it ... But...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7747369.stm
So I promised myself last night that as soon as I got home, today, I would start on my paper. Period. Because otherwise there'd be no way that I'd finish it.
And what am I doing? SURE AS HELL AIN'T MAH PAPER.
Six weeks left. Still so much to do, but I'm not lamenting. I'll have to fill each weekend with fun things, however. I'm going to try and see if I can get tickets to the "St Petersburg Opera," about which Vika told me today. She said it's small and cheap, especially compared to the Mikhailovskij and the Mariinskij. So I'll have to see what's playing.
We started a chapter in Razgovor today about ... ordering food and shopping. This would have been useful about, oh, I don't know, THREE MONTHS AGO? I've realised that I've been using terribly incorrect terms and structures when I go out to restaurants or shopping. So that's just fantastic.
Damn it, I know there were a couple other things I wanted to talk about, today, but I forgot what they were...
Well, one was about something in Razgovor. We were going over a list of things one would buy in a cosmetics store, and one of them was "туалетная вода." Which literally translates to "toilet water." Of course, I, being the mature individual that I am, burst out laughing. I think two of the girls in the class were genuinely confused as to why "toilet water" was on this list, and the teacher didn't find it very funny. So, I had to go into an explanation about how in America, we don't translate "eau de toilette" on perfume, because "toilet" in English solely means ... well, the toilet. Apparently the Russian "туалет" is taken directly from the French in meaning. This just further proves my theory that English is a horribly crass language.
On the downside, I have almost finished my last jar of peanut butter. My mom said she sent me another jar a couple weeks ago, so we'll see if that gets here. I wish I hadn't eaten so much of the first jar when I lived in the dorms...
Edit: Alright, so, I was reading BBC, and there were several news stories about terrorist incidents in southern Russia -- Around the Caucasus and such. Well, then there was one about a car exploding, and I figured that was almost in the Caucasus, and almost didn't read it ... But...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7747369.stm
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
In Which Human Rights Are Painful
24.11.2008
On the way home from class, I saw a cafe I had never noticed, before... It was called "Де-Факто / Кафе Учёта Событий" (De-Fakto - Kafe Uchyota Sobytij). De Facto - Cafe Calculation of Events. What in the name of God? That's probably the worst cafe in Petersburg. I kind of want to go, now.
Other than that, the day was kind of painful. I wore my fur hat for the first time, and looked like an arctic explorer doing so (photos soon). Because... IT WAS SNOWING. AGAIN. Basically I fell twice today and looked like a jackass doing so. It's not like you can ANTICIPATE the fall. The first time was no more than two minutes after leaving the apartment, and I was being CAREFUL. The second time, I was just walking along the sidewalk, fine and dandy, thinking about homework, on the way back from class, when suddenly, "Wait, why the hell am I on the ground?"
Some jackass left the windows open in our room for grammar, ALL WEEKEND, so the room was COLD AS FUCK despite heating being on and leaving the door open. As a result, I couldn't think in class, and so on.
Other than that the day was fairly uneventful. I finished and sent one paper for human rights, and Andrei Vladimirovich immediately asked for my OTHER paper as well. I told him I hadn't finished it yet, then asked if I could turn it in on Wednesday, but that is 'too late.' I haven't even started on it. I really wanted to write both papers in Russian, but I simply don't have the time. So, damn. I think he's getting tired of me, but I can't tell. He dragged Anya into his office today and yelled at her, I think -- at least, she came out and said he was getting after her about something. Then, guess what.... ANOTHER GIRL JOINED OUR CLASS, TODAY. What the hell? I think she might be a prospective, or something.
He basically used today just to recap what he's taught semester, probably because I HAVE BEEN THE ONLY STUDENT WHO'S BEEN IN THE CLASS SINCE THE BEGINNING. So he kept calling on me to explain things, and I clearly don't know how to express myself, and he was getting impatient.
Speaking of which, I better go WRITE THAT PAPER.
Actually, one cultural enigma I haven't unwrapped, yet. I know that in America, when you don't like someone, it is culturally polite to be perfectly pleasant and friendly to that someone. I am wondering if it's the same here? Because he's fairly nice to me whenever he sees me, and smiles and says hi when we see each other. But when the other guy in the class showed up late, today, as per usual, Andrei just kind of grimaced and said hello. I think I may ask Dr. Vertkin on Wednesday, since he seems more interested in discussing the fine points of Russian and American culture than other professors.
On the way home from class, I saw a cafe I had never noticed, before... It was called "Де-Факто / Кафе Учёта Событий" (De-Fakto - Kafe Uchyota Sobytij). De Facto - Cafe Calculation of Events. What in the name of God? That's probably the worst cafe in Petersburg. I kind of want to go, now.
Other than that, the day was kind of painful. I wore my fur hat for the first time, and looked like an arctic explorer doing so (photos soon). Because... IT WAS SNOWING. AGAIN. Basically I fell twice today and looked like a jackass doing so. It's not like you can ANTICIPATE the fall. The first time was no more than two minutes after leaving the apartment, and I was being CAREFUL. The second time, I was just walking along the sidewalk, fine and dandy, thinking about homework, on the way back from class, when suddenly, "Wait, why the hell am I on the ground?"
Some jackass left the windows open in our room for grammar, ALL WEEKEND, so the room was COLD AS FUCK despite heating being on and leaving the door open. As a result, I couldn't think in class, and so on.
Other than that the day was fairly uneventful. I finished and sent one paper for human rights, and Andrei Vladimirovich immediately asked for my OTHER paper as well. I told him I hadn't finished it yet, then asked if I could turn it in on Wednesday, but that is 'too late.' I haven't even started on it. I really wanted to write both papers in Russian, but I simply don't have the time. So, damn. I think he's getting tired of me, but I can't tell. He dragged Anya into his office today and yelled at her, I think -- at least, she came out and said he was getting after her about something. Then, guess what.... ANOTHER GIRL JOINED OUR CLASS, TODAY. What the hell? I think she might be a prospective, or something.
He basically used today just to recap what he's taught semester, probably because I HAVE BEEN THE ONLY STUDENT WHO'S BEEN IN THE CLASS SINCE THE BEGINNING. So he kept calling on me to explain things, and I clearly don't know how to express myself, and he was getting impatient.
Speaking of which, I better go WRITE THAT PAPER.
Actually, one cultural enigma I haven't unwrapped, yet. I know that in America, when you don't like someone, it is culturally polite to be perfectly pleasant and friendly to that someone. I am wondering if it's the same here? Because he's fairly nice to me whenever he sees me, and smiles and says hi when we see each other. But when the other guy in the class showed up late, today, as per usual, Andrei just kind of grimaced and said hello. I think I may ask Dr. Vertkin on Wednesday, since he seems more interested in discussing the fine points of Russian and American culture than other professors.
Monday, November 24, 2008
In Which A MASSIVE UPDATE Is Made
19.11.2008
It snowed today. That was pretty for about three seconds, until the day actually started and all the snow turned into black and brown slush. Except for that snow on the sidewalk which was trampled into ice by the throngs of pedestrians, left for me to SLIP ON at least FIVE TIMES throughout the day.
So, I actually woke up at 8 this morning, and realised I never set my alarm. That was convenient. Then, when I woke up for the day, I wasn't that terribly tired. I felt quite refreshed and good. You'd think that'd be the start to a good day, right? WRONG.
I got on the bus, and the conductor said something to me that I didn't understand. Well, halfway through the ride they stopped letting people on, so I had a terrible image flashed through my mind that they were going to kick me off at some stop I didn't know and I was going to be stuck in the snow in the middle of the city and not know how to get to school. SO, I got off at a stop I was familiar with, and took a different bus. Which was mildly obnoxious because I was already running late, plus that killed 16 more rubles.
And then my Central Asian class ended on a heated debate over Kyrgyz bride kidnapping.
20.11.2008
This cat won't leave me alone. I came in here and sat on my bed to write an entry, and she jumped up and sat in my lap. I postponed the journal writing for about 20 minutes, then decided enough was enough, and picked her up and set her on the floor. She didn't get the hint, and just jumped right back up on the bed and walked into my lap. So I guess I'll just have to write over her.
...Oh ew, Brittany Spears is still making music? Her video "Womanizer" just came on TV. This is awful. Amusingly, her hair changes colour, shape, and length about four times throughout the entire course of the video.
I'm in an annoying cycle, right now. When I'm out and about, with people, or even just at school, I feel "fine," I guess. "Fine" in the sense that I don't really have much of a sense of homesickness while I'm out. But while I'm at home, sitting around, I just want to go BACK. I guess my most defining symptoms are strong desires to do things that I just can't do here. Other than that, I just feel TIRED all the time, and I don't want to do ANYTHING. ANYTHING, as in, I don't even really want to go out. I just want to sit in bed and stare at the walls all day. Which is basically what I do when I get back from classes, anymore. It's possible that the weather is having more of an effect than I thought it originally would... It's just barely light out when I go to classes, and it's almost always dark by the time I get out of them. Plus it's cold.
Speaking of coldness, I'm seeing the fur hats emerging. An old woman and an old man on the bus today were wearing ushanki, and this other old woman wearing a different kind of fur hat. I haven't worn mine, yet, though. But I don't think it's so cold that I need one ... I never really wear a fur hat for warmth in the U.S., even as cold as it gets in Maryland, and it's just barely under freezing, here. Sooo I'm going to wait a bit, I suppose, and continue to just wrap my head with my scarf.
Also, on the way to the metro from class today there was a Russian man singing and playing on the side of the pedestrian street (as there usually are). This one, however, was singing "Stairway to Heaven." I thought it was mildly amusing, but I think others might appreciate it more.
I've recently come upon a word that I think sounds stupid. Yes. This word is " девчонка." (devchonka... I guess the translation would be 'gal' or something - the female version of 'guy'). DevCHONKa? Ew. Well, I suppose 'gal' is kind of gross, too. Whatever.
I think what I really need to do is just FIND SOMETHING TO DO. Something new, and interesting. Or just something simple that I haven't done, yet. I've been to the Hermitage more times than I can count. I've been to ballets, to operas (not to mention they're all SO DAMNED EXPENSIVE this month for some reason). I'm going to the Russian museum in a group on Sunday. I don't know what to do? It's getting too cold to just go out and around, and everything here is just so damned expensive, so I don't know.
At the same time, I just want to sleep away the next two months. I don't want to go out. I don't want to work. I don't want to do any damned thing. But clearly that's not going to happen. But in a way it is, since I just sit in my room and do the bare minimum to get by in classes, after returning from the university every day. I don't know what the hell to do to get out of this slump. Forcing myself to do work or read or anything isn't going to do it -- Something else needs to change. Something to change my attitude, my mood. I don't know.
I also think my research habits have just gone down the drain since I've been here. I have three different research projects going on right now (two of them rather small, but still) and I tried to work on two of them, today. Basically I just sat staring at the computer because I didn't know what to do. I've just completely forgotten HOW to research. I think mostly in terms of contemporary issues, though, since I did just fine on my research for the Hungarian war... But that in itself was an easier topic to research. Today I was trying to research on whether or not Russia was a plural or consocial (?) society in the 90's or today. I went about it by first trying to figure out specifically what the conditions for the above two concepts were, and then looking at brief descriptions of the 90's and contemporary Russia... and basically the brief descriptions did me no good. Mostly because the 90's were such a crazy ass fucking time that descriptions of that particular decade in Russia do not focus on the topics I need. So I'm stuck. I don't know.
22.11.2008
Alright, so, the past couple of days have changed my mood, for now. I hope it's not an entirely temporary change. BUT, first off:
My hair always looks awesome right after I dry/straighten it after a shower. But, as soon as I:
-Sleep
-Step outside
-Try to style it
it immediately looks like SHIT. I don't know why. Actually, all in all, I feel like I have zero skill in controlling my hair or making it look half-decent. I don't know -- Maybe I'm just too lazy, or I just don't know how to do it. It wouldn't be half as bad except for some reason every guy here seems to be able to keep their hair PERFECTLY ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT AND STYLED in RAINSTORMS AND BLIZZARDS. Women, I expect this. But men? Not so much. Don't know what the hell that's about. BUT IN ANY CASE.
Yesterday was Friday, so I spent most of the day DOING RESEARCH, OF COURSE. I had planned on going to the Hermitage or something, but then decided I should do RESEARCH. Because I am an INTELLIGENT INDIVIDUAL, OF COURSE. After that I went out to eat with Emma, EB and her three friends who are visiting from Moscow (Americans). We spent forever and a day deliberating on where to go (We were originally going to go to a Georgian restaurant, but one of the friends vetoed it), and finally chose a not-too-fantastic Italian restaurant on Nevsky, which wasn't too terribly priced. So I can't really complain. After that we went out for icecream. (And, no offence to EB, but these three girls were just about the most boring people I have ever met) Eventually, Emma and I departed to go home, when we noticed that Dom Knigi (bookstore) was open. We went inside, and it was a HELL of a lot more pleasant than it is during the day -- Real quiet, not busy at all. I found a book on Russian folk belief, plus Emma showed me these SOVIET POLITICAL POSTER BOOKS that are ULTRA CHEAP for what they are. They have a bunch of different poster books, each with a different theme (Political posters, Cold War posters, revolutionary posters, anti-vice, etc), each with 20 posters at about maybe 24x12 or some other quite large size for less than 20 dollars a book. And she said they have them at the Political Museum, even CHEAPER. So I plan on going there, sometime. I hope they don't randomly disappear.
Today we went on a shopping spree (We being EB, Emma, Bryan). Bryan said there was a clothing store near his apartment that had stuff he said "I might like." We went there and everything was like hundreds of dollars. I found a nice belt I thought about buying, because I thought it said 360 rubles... which is even cheap in America... but then I looked again and it was 7360 rubles. Which is well over 200 dollars. For a very simple belt. Then I saw a really neat jacket I really wanted... but it was 63,000 rubles. which according to my calculator is over 2000 dollars. I MIGHT HAVE bought it for 150 dollars. MIGHT. HAVE. Because it was really neat, and 150 dollars is a lot. But ... 2000 dollars? No thank you. Bryan said their dressing room had a stocked bar. That place was kind of ridiculous. I don't know how they stay open. I guess every time they sell one thing it's like selling... ten things. I don't know. Who the fuck shops at those places? Absurd.
To top it all off, as we left the store, I heard an "Excuse me" behind me, and one of the salespeople came out of the store and handed me ... a button. That had fallen off my coat. So, yes, THE BUTTON FELL OFF MY COAT in this ultra flashy store. How embarassing. Remind me to return to them in ten years when I'm a multi billionaire, and buy them out. Kthx.
After that we went to a few other overpriced stores, and then I discovered where most Russians probably buy their clothes. We went to a hole-in-the-wall packed clothing store that had pants for like 20 dollars and such, and fake Armani shirts. But I didn't see anything that I liked.
We went to another store called 'Interactive' which sold Russian-designed stuff, and was decently priced. But unfortunately had very loud music with the bass turned up absurdly high, so I had a headache after sitting in there for a while and literally couldn't hear what the salesperson was saying to me. I was determined to buy something, but none of the men's pants appealed to me, and I found a couple other things I might've bought had they been cheaper... THEN! Emma pointed out a pair of BRIGHT YELLOW PANTS to me. Of course, I was immediately drawn to them, and had to try them on ... These are. The TIGHTEST pants I have ever worn. And I'm sure many of you can't understand how that is even possible. They are bright bright yellow, with bright lime and hot pink stitching on the back pockets. When I tried them on, just about everyone in the store was staring at me. On top of that, I was wearing a deep purple button-up shirt, which, strangely, complemented the pants perfectly. And so, they were bought. I may return to this store. I was half tempted to buy a HIPSTER scarf because a lot of Russians wear them, but Russians seem to wear them better than Americans. However, I did not.
Then we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and I just realised this is the first time I've eaten Chinese food in Russia. This was a pretty neat place, with its decorations and such. Each booth was actually in its own little room, with a bead curtain and wooden latticework and such. And the food was fantastic. I ordered something that I couldn't translate... all that I could tell was that it was chicken something. And it, ws aactually... Fantastic. It was a really spicy chicken dish with carrots, cucumbers (gross), hot peppers and some nut that I couldn't identify. I've actually been trying to order spicy spicy dishes every time I go out anymore, because the Russian idea of "spice" is ... salt and pepper. and sometimes, MAYBE, if you're lucky, garlic.
... And now it's already time to go to sleep. And I haven't done a damn thing that was productive, today. Good Christ, my work ethic has gone out the damned window.
23.11.2008
So, in spite of what I said yesterday, I woke up today and my hair actually looked perfect for the first time since I came to this country. Then... I looked out the window... And it was a SNOW BLIZZARD. Yarghle.
But it actually wasn't that cold. THANK GOD. Otherwise the day would've been even more miserable than it was. I went outside and had to walk all the way to the metro AGAINST the wind, so I couldn't see the entire time, and I kept stumbling off the sidewalk into two feet of snow. I tried to use my umbrella, but that busted COMPLETELY as SOON as I opened it, so, so much for that. Now I need a new one. I saw some poor guy walking through the piled up black mud-slush on the side of the crosswalk in WHITE sneakers. That would be awful.
When I got to Ploshchad' Iskusstv (Square of the Arts), the weather was actually a lot more pleasant. Not as much wind, since it was in the centre of the city, and that square is a park with a big statue of Pushkin in the centre, so it was really pretty and white. I waited with Elena for a while, then others showed up. While waiting, a busload of children was let loose in the park and they all started a snowball fight. At some point they started to just throw snowballs at Pushkin. Which was amusing. Then after about ten minutes they all piled back onto the bus. Shortly after, we went into the Russian museum.
Nothing terribly exciting in the museum. OH, except, when I went to the bathroom, I heard some old woman yelling “Мужской, мужской! Men!” When I came out, Maneka said she was yelling at me because she thought I was a girl. This seems to happen to me a lot.
I wish I had more time in the museum, though – I broke away from the tour to explore on my own. Good art, and that was about it. I wanted to search through the gift shops a bit more but didn't get the chance. I stumbled upon the portrait of NONE OTHER THAN PRINCE FELIKS YUSUPOV, HOWEVER. Which was BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE IMAGINED. Strangely it was entitled “Count Feliks Samarkov-El'ston,” however (YES, RYAN, YOUR LAST NAME). I guess that was before he became prince or somesuch.
After that we went to some sort of cafe and ate 'lunch.' The trip home was an awful trudging through sludge-slush and snow, which was even deeper than before. The worst was trying to cross through the crosswalks, because where there are normally visible LAKES of water during rain, there were TRAPS of nasty black slush-water surrounded by other slush, and I slipped into a few of these. I'm sure I looked like an idiot trying to hop from shallow spot to shallow spot, but I don't care.
Oh, on the metro I witnessed something that could have turned into ... horror, basically. I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, and some guy had flicked his lighter... I looked over, and these two guys were gesturing with the lighter at this other guy who had his back turned to them, about ten feet away, and he had fairly long really puffy hair (probably from the moisture). Well, one of the guys walks up behind the third guy, and it seems like he's going to SET THIS GUY'S HAIR ON FIRE. The other guy motions like, 'Nah, don't do it.” The guy with the lighter is clearly like “Come on! It'll be funny!” but doesn't do it, and walks back to his friend... I think I'm the only one who noticed this exchange, and I honestly didn't know what the hell I would do if they had ACTUALLY set this guy's hair on fire. I was pretty horrified that anyone would even THINK about doing that. What the fuck is wrong with people? This is why I always try to avoid groups of younger guys on the metro.
I hate to end the entry on that note, but there you have it.
Basically, I didn't do a damned bit of work this weekend. I'm going to do that tonight, + talk with parents as per every Sunday. So, there we go.
It snowed today. That was pretty for about three seconds, until the day actually started and all the snow turned into black and brown slush. Except for that snow on the sidewalk which was trampled into ice by the throngs of pedestrians, left for me to SLIP ON at least FIVE TIMES throughout the day.
So, I actually woke up at 8 this morning, and realised I never set my alarm. That was convenient. Then, when I woke up for the day, I wasn't that terribly tired. I felt quite refreshed and good. You'd think that'd be the start to a good day, right? WRONG.
I got on the bus, and the conductor said something to me that I didn't understand. Well, halfway through the ride they stopped letting people on, so I had a terrible image flashed through my mind that they were going to kick me off at some stop I didn't know and I was going to be stuck in the snow in the middle of the city and not know how to get to school. SO, I got off at a stop I was familiar with, and took a different bus. Which was mildly obnoxious because I was already running late, plus that killed 16 more rubles.
And then my Central Asian class ended on a heated debate over Kyrgyz bride kidnapping.
20.11.2008
This cat won't leave me alone. I came in here and sat on my bed to write an entry, and she jumped up and sat in my lap. I postponed the journal writing for about 20 minutes, then decided enough was enough, and picked her up and set her on the floor. She didn't get the hint, and just jumped right back up on the bed and walked into my lap. So I guess I'll just have to write over her.
...Oh ew, Brittany Spears is still making music? Her video "Womanizer" just came on TV. This is awful. Amusingly, her hair changes colour, shape, and length about four times throughout the entire course of the video.
I'm in an annoying cycle, right now. When I'm out and about, with people, or even just at school, I feel "fine," I guess. "Fine" in the sense that I don't really have much of a sense of homesickness while I'm out. But while I'm at home, sitting around, I just want to go BACK. I guess my most defining symptoms are strong desires to do things that I just can't do here. Other than that, I just feel TIRED all the time, and I don't want to do ANYTHING. ANYTHING, as in, I don't even really want to go out. I just want to sit in bed and stare at the walls all day. Which is basically what I do when I get back from classes, anymore. It's possible that the weather is having more of an effect than I thought it originally would... It's just barely light out when I go to classes, and it's almost always dark by the time I get out of them. Plus it's cold.
Speaking of coldness, I'm seeing the fur hats emerging. An old woman and an old man on the bus today were wearing ushanki, and this other old woman wearing a different kind of fur hat. I haven't worn mine, yet, though. But I don't think it's so cold that I need one ... I never really wear a fur hat for warmth in the U.S., even as cold as it gets in Maryland, and it's just barely under freezing, here. Sooo I'm going to wait a bit, I suppose, and continue to just wrap my head with my scarf.
Also, on the way to the metro from class today there was a Russian man singing and playing on the side of the pedestrian street (as there usually are). This one, however, was singing "Stairway to Heaven." I thought it was mildly amusing, but I think others might appreciate it more.
I've recently come upon a word that I think sounds stupid. Yes. This word is " девчонка." (devchonka... I guess the translation would be 'gal' or something - the female version of 'guy'). DevCHONKa? Ew. Well, I suppose 'gal' is kind of gross, too. Whatever.
I think what I really need to do is just FIND SOMETHING TO DO. Something new, and interesting. Or just something simple that I haven't done, yet. I've been to the Hermitage more times than I can count. I've been to ballets, to operas (not to mention they're all SO DAMNED EXPENSIVE this month for some reason). I'm going to the Russian museum in a group on Sunday. I don't know what to do? It's getting too cold to just go out and around, and everything here is just so damned expensive, so I don't know.
At the same time, I just want to sleep away the next two months. I don't want to go out. I don't want to work. I don't want to do any damned thing. But clearly that's not going to happen. But in a way it is, since I just sit in my room and do the bare minimum to get by in classes, after returning from the university every day. I don't know what the hell to do to get out of this slump. Forcing myself to do work or read or anything isn't going to do it -- Something else needs to change. Something to change my attitude, my mood. I don't know.
I also think my research habits have just gone down the drain since I've been here. I have three different research projects going on right now (two of them rather small, but still) and I tried to work on two of them, today. Basically I just sat staring at the computer because I didn't know what to do. I've just completely forgotten HOW to research. I think mostly in terms of contemporary issues, though, since I did just fine on my research for the Hungarian war... But that in itself was an easier topic to research. Today I was trying to research on whether or not Russia was a plural or consocial (?) society in the 90's or today. I went about it by first trying to figure out specifically what the conditions for the above two concepts were, and then looking at brief descriptions of the 90's and contemporary Russia... and basically the brief descriptions did me no good. Mostly because the 90's were such a crazy ass fucking time that descriptions of that particular decade in Russia do not focus on the topics I need. So I'm stuck. I don't know.
22.11.2008
Alright, so, the past couple of days have changed my mood, for now. I hope it's not an entirely temporary change. BUT, first off:
My hair always looks awesome right after I dry/straighten it after a shower. But, as soon as I:
-Sleep
-Step outside
-Try to style it
it immediately looks like SHIT. I don't know why. Actually, all in all, I feel like I have zero skill in controlling my hair or making it look half-decent. I don't know -- Maybe I'm just too lazy, or I just don't know how to do it. It wouldn't be half as bad except for some reason every guy here seems to be able to keep their hair PERFECTLY ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT AND STYLED in RAINSTORMS AND BLIZZARDS. Women, I expect this. But men? Not so much. Don't know what the hell that's about. BUT IN ANY CASE.
Yesterday was Friday, so I spent most of the day DOING RESEARCH, OF COURSE. I had planned on going to the Hermitage or something, but then decided I should do RESEARCH. Because I am an INTELLIGENT INDIVIDUAL, OF COURSE. After that I went out to eat with Emma, EB and her three friends who are visiting from Moscow (Americans). We spent forever and a day deliberating on where to go (We were originally going to go to a Georgian restaurant, but one of the friends vetoed it), and finally chose a not-too-fantastic Italian restaurant on Nevsky, which wasn't too terribly priced. So I can't really complain. After that we went out for icecream. (And, no offence to EB, but these three girls were just about the most boring people I have ever met) Eventually, Emma and I departed to go home, when we noticed that Dom Knigi (bookstore) was open. We went inside, and it was a HELL of a lot more pleasant than it is during the day -- Real quiet, not busy at all. I found a book on Russian folk belief, plus Emma showed me these SOVIET POLITICAL POSTER BOOKS that are ULTRA CHEAP for what they are. They have a bunch of different poster books, each with a different theme (Political posters, Cold War posters, revolutionary posters, anti-vice, etc), each with 20 posters at about maybe 24x12 or some other quite large size for less than 20 dollars a book. And she said they have them at the Political Museum, even CHEAPER. So I plan on going there, sometime. I hope they don't randomly disappear.
Today we went on a shopping spree (We being EB, Emma, Bryan). Bryan said there was a clothing store near his apartment that had stuff he said "I might like." We went there and everything was like hundreds of dollars. I found a nice belt I thought about buying, because I thought it said 360 rubles... which is even cheap in America... but then I looked again and it was 7360 rubles. Which is well over 200 dollars. For a very simple belt. Then I saw a really neat jacket I really wanted... but it was 63,000 rubles. which according to my calculator is over 2000 dollars. I MIGHT HAVE bought it for 150 dollars. MIGHT. HAVE. Because it was really neat, and 150 dollars is a lot. But ... 2000 dollars? No thank you. Bryan said their dressing room had a stocked bar. That place was kind of ridiculous. I don't know how they stay open. I guess every time they sell one thing it's like selling... ten things. I don't know. Who the fuck shops at those places? Absurd.
To top it all off, as we left the store, I heard an "Excuse me" behind me, and one of the salespeople came out of the store and handed me ... a button. That had fallen off my coat. So, yes, THE BUTTON FELL OFF MY COAT in this ultra flashy store. How embarassing. Remind me to return to them in ten years when I'm a multi billionaire, and buy them out. Kthx.
After that we went to a few other overpriced stores, and then I discovered where most Russians probably buy their clothes. We went to a hole-in-the-wall packed clothing store that had pants for like 20 dollars and such, and fake Armani shirts. But I didn't see anything that I liked.
We went to another store called 'Interactive' which sold Russian-designed stuff, and was decently priced. But unfortunately had very loud music with the bass turned up absurdly high, so I had a headache after sitting in there for a while and literally couldn't hear what the salesperson was saying to me. I was determined to buy something, but none of the men's pants appealed to me, and I found a couple other things I might've bought had they been cheaper... THEN! Emma pointed out a pair of BRIGHT YELLOW PANTS to me. Of course, I was immediately drawn to them, and had to try them on ... These are. The TIGHTEST pants I have ever worn. And I'm sure many of you can't understand how that is even possible. They are bright bright yellow, with bright lime and hot pink stitching on the back pockets. When I tried them on, just about everyone in the store was staring at me. On top of that, I was wearing a deep purple button-up shirt, which, strangely, complemented the pants perfectly. And so, they were bought. I may return to this store. I was half tempted to buy a HIPSTER scarf because a lot of Russians wear them, but Russians seem to wear them better than Americans. However, I did not.
Then we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and I just realised this is the first time I've eaten Chinese food in Russia. This was a pretty neat place, with its decorations and such. Each booth was actually in its own little room, with a bead curtain and wooden latticework and such. And the food was fantastic. I ordered something that I couldn't translate... all that I could tell was that it was chicken something. And it, ws aactually... Fantastic. It was a really spicy chicken dish with carrots, cucumbers (gross), hot peppers and some nut that I couldn't identify. I've actually been trying to order spicy spicy dishes every time I go out anymore, because the Russian idea of "spice" is ... salt and pepper. and sometimes, MAYBE, if you're lucky, garlic.
... And now it's already time to go to sleep. And I haven't done a damn thing that was productive, today. Good Christ, my work ethic has gone out the damned window.
23.11.2008
So, in spite of what I said yesterday, I woke up today and my hair actually looked perfect for the first time since I came to this country. Then... I looked out the window... And it was a SNOW BLIZZARD. Yarghle.
But it actually wasn't that cold. THANK GOD. Otherwise the day would've been even more miserable than it was. I went outside and had to walk all the way to the metro AGAINST the wind, so I couldn't see the entire time, and I kept stumbling off the sidewalk into two feet of snow. I tried to use my umbrella, but that busted COMPLETELY as SOON as I opened it, so, so much for that. Now I need a new one. I saw some poor guy walking through the piled up black mud-slush on the side of the crosswalk in WHITE sneakers. That would be awful.
When I got to Ploshchad' Iskusstv (Square of the Arts), the weather was actually a lot more pleasant. Not as much wind, since it was in the centre of the city, and that square is a park with a big statue of Pushkin in the centre, so it was really pretty and white. I waited with Elena for a while, then others showed up. While waiting, a busload of children was let loose in the park and they all started a snowball fight. At some point they started to just throw snowballs at Pushkin. Which was amusing. Then after about ten minutes they all piled back onto the bus. Shortly after, we went into the Russian museum.
Nothing terribly exciting in the museum. OH, except, when I went to the bathroom, I heard some old woman yelling “Мужской, мужской! Men!” When I came out, Maneka said she was yelling at me because she thought I was a girl. This seems to happen to me a lot.
I wish I had more time in the museum, though – I broke away from the tour to explore on my own. Good art, and that was about it. I wanted to search through the gift shops a bit more but didn't get the chance. I stumbled upon the portrait of NONE OTHER THAN PRINCE FELIKS YUSUPOV, HOWEVER. Which was BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE IMAGINED. Strangely it was entitled “Count Feliks Samarkov-El'ston,” however (YES, RYAN, YOUR LAST NAME). I guess that was before he became prince or somesuch.
After that we went to some sort of cafe and ate 'lunch.' The trip home was an awful trudging through sludge-slush and snow, which was even deeper than before. The worst was trying to cross through the crosswalks, because where there are normally visible LAKES of water during rain, there were TRAPS of nasty black slush-water surrounded by other slush, and I slipped into a few of these. I'm sure I looked like an idiot trying to hop from shallow spot to shallow spot, but I don't care.
Oh, on the metro I witnessed something that could have turned into ... horror, basically. I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, and some guy had flicked his lighter... I looked over, and these two guys were gesturing with the lighter at this other guy who had his back turned to them, about ten feet away, and he had fairly long really puffy hair (probably from the moisture). Well, one of the guys walks up behind the third guy, and it seems like he's going to SET THIS GUY'S HAIR ON FIRE. The other guy motions like, 'Nah, don't do it.” The guy with the lighter is clearly like “Come on! It'll be funny!” but doesn't do it, and walks back to his friend... I think I'm the only one who noticed this exchange, and I honestly didn't know what the hell I would do if they had ACTUALLY set this guy's hair on fire. I was pretty horrified that anyone would even THINK about doing that. What the fuck is wrong with people? This is why I always try to avoid groups of younger guys on the metro.
I hate to end the entry on that note, but there you have it.
Basically, I didn't do a damned bit of work this weekend. I'm going to do that tonight, + talk with parents as per every Sunday. So, there we go.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
In Which .... I don't know.
18.11.2008
Alright, so, JEN called me as I was sitting down to write my entry for tonight, and therefore I have forgotten everything about which I was going to write. THANKS A LOT, JEN. =P
Basically, I have a ton of work and zero desire to do it. Indeed, I'm going to make a list here just for my own personal perspective:
-6,000 word essay on Russia as a plural society (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean)
-8,000 word essay on a regional Human Rights situation.
-Presentation in SMI on Thursday
-Readings for Russia/USA International Politics Course
-Readings for Central Asian State Formation Course
-Current Issues in Kyrgyzstan
-Presentation on Ukraine for Russia/USA Course
-All Other RSL Coursework
-Registering for Classes at Goucher (AKA: What A Fucking Mess)
That's really about it. Well, that, and I want to purge myself of my host mother's food right now.
Other than that, today was actually pretty boring... I'm getting ready to watch "Черный Ворон" (Chyornyj Voron; Black Raven) which is some strange Russian supernatural/occult show. I haven't seen it yet, but I saw an advertisement for it a few days ago and thought it might be interesting to watch.
Actually, I have a question for those who are from Goucher and read this -- Do classes taken while studying abroad count towards our GPA?
Uhm, I think that's it... I've just developed a new hatred for lugging my laptop across the city to no end, and I've realised I actually hate the newer models of busses here because they have fewer seats so I'm forced to stand unless I want to move to the back of the bus. Which I never do, because the back of the bus is generally an AWFUL place.
Oh, and I'm not sure I can learn this language. It's just gotten to the point where I feel like I can't memorise ANY damned words... I need to USE them, or HEAR them, repeatedly, or I just lose them. That being said, this SHOULD be the perfect environment for that, so I fear my return to America, when everything will just LEAK OUT OF MY SKULL. I don't know. I'm drowning.
So now I'm going to go watch TV instead of doing work.
Alright, so, JEN called me as I was sitting down to write my entry for tonight, and therefore I have forgotten everything about which I was going to write. THANKS A LOT, JEN. =P
Basically, I have a ton of work and zero desire to do it. Indeed, I'm going to make a list here just for my own personal perspective:
-6,000 word essay on Russia as a plural society (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean)
-8,000 word essay on a regional Human Rights situation.
-Presentation in SMI on Thursday
-Readings for Russia/USA International Politics Course
-Readings for Central Asian State Formation Course
-Current Issues in Kyrgyzstan
-Presentation on Ukraine for Russia/USA Course
-All Other RSL Coursework
-Registering for Classes at Goucher (AKA: What A Fucking Mess)
That's really about it. Well, that, and I want to purge myself of my host mother's food right now.
Other than that, today was actually pretty boring... I'm getting ready to watch "Черный Ворон" (Chyornyj Voron; Black Raven) which is some strange Russian supernatural/occult show. I haven't seen it yet, but I saw an advertisement for it a few days ago and thought it might be interesting to watch.
Actually, I have a question for those who are from Goucher and read this -- Do classes taken while studying abroad count towards our GPA?
Uhm, I think that's it... I've just developed a new hatred for lugging my laptop across the city to no end, and I've realised I actually hate the newer models of busses here because they have fewer seats so I'm forced to stand unless I want to move to the back of the bus. Which I never do, because the back of the bus is generally an AWFUL place.
Oh, and I'm not sure I can learn this language. It's just gotten to the point where I feel like I can't memorise ANY damned words... I need to USE them, or HEAR them, repeatedly, or I just lose them. That being said, this SHOULD be the perfect environment for that, so I fear my return to America, when everything will just LEAK OUT OF MY SKULL. I don't know. I'm drowning.
So now I'm going to go watch TV instead of doing work.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
In Which Heads Explode
17.11.2008
Today was fairly uneventful. I took a test I probably failed, and I didn't understand anything going on in my Grammar class for some reason. Ironically, I understood my Human Rights class more than I usually do. For the first time, ALL THREE STUDENTS WERE IN ATTENDANCE! Well, kind of. The Russian guy, whose name I do not know because the teacher says it and I'm all "What the hell?" because it's a bizarre name, was just sitting there looking bored and texting people on his phone the whole class. Which is apparently a very Russian thing to do. Hell if I know. I think the teacher is convinced I don't know anything, though.
OH. OH. RIGHT. I got my pay for tutoring. Which made me feel like shit. Because I got 1,500 rubles. For ... what, exactly? Every Thursday I sit in Bobrinskij for less than 40 minutes, waiting for people to come and they never do. About five times, now. And that's more than a lot of Russians make in like ... hell if I know. But yeah. Basically it's a flawed system? I guess I shouldn't complain since I got a decent amount of money out of the deal and shouldn't have to withdraw anything for a few more weeks at the VERY least.
Well, unless I actually buy things other than PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, ACTIVIA and SNICKERS.
So basically my woes are thus: I have two things I need to write for my Human Rights class, and the problem is mostly my comprehension of what I need to write. The one that was assigned today is that I need to explain if a 'plural society' existed in Russia in the 90's, if it exists today, and if so under what model. Then I need to PROPOSE a model for today's Russia ... ? In 6,000 characters. Which isn't very long. So, uhm, we'll see what happens.
OH, and in class today, the teacher said "в Украине," (in Ukraine) and the girl in the class interrupted him and said "НА Украине." (in THE Ukraine) He just kind of paused for a moment and said "Как вы хотите." (As you wish) I thought this was interesting because I was told, even by my UKRAINIAN Russian language professor, that it's "на Украине," period. I proposed that "в Украине" would be more correct NOW since Ukraine is a COUNTRY and not a TERRITORY. She disagreed. BUT NOW I have leverage!
So, like Jen, I am all of a sudden wanting to burn Goucher to the ground. I still have a block on my account, meaning I can't register for classes tomorrow unless it's magically removed from my account while I'm sleeping. Which means that once it's removed I will be THE LAST PERSON TO REGISTER. BEHIND ALL THE FUCKING FRESHMEN. The block is because of my enrollment deposit, WHICH WAS SENT IN TWO FUCKING WEEKS AGO. I sent an e-mail to them today, so hopefully something happens. I have a nice orderly schedule set out, and I really hope it isn't FUCKED UP. On top of that, there's little chance of me getting a single next semester. Which, I suppose, isn't surprising. I'll again have to room with someone I DON'T FUCKING KNOW. And inevitably it will be an AWFUL PERSON. I wouldn't mourn all that much, except the system is so fucked up because SO MANY FRESHMEN get singles for NO APPARENT REASON except for the fact that the college admits so many people then so many more are shuffled out because they hate the college, and somehow freshmen are the first people on the queue for singles. Or some shit. OR, LIKE BRENDAN AND HIS FUCKING SOPHOMORE FRIENDS, they make up some BULLSHIT "special house" and choose their rooms before anyone else, COMPLETELY UNDESERVEDLY. I'm not as angry at Brendan for this, because he's a Junior and deserves the single I'd say, BUT NOT HIS SOPHOMORE FRIENDS.
Alright, I'm going to go do my homework WHILE I'M STILL IN A GOOD MOOD.
Today was fairly uneventful. I took a test I probably failed, and I didn't understand anything going on in my Grammar class for some reason. Ironically, I understood my Human Rights class more than I usually do. For the first time, ALL THREE STUDENTS WERE IN ATTENDANCE! Well, kind of. The Russian guy, whose name I do not know because the teacher says it and I'm all "What the hell?" because it's a bizarre name, was just sitting there looking bored and texting people on his phone the whole class. Which is apparently a very Russian thing to do. Hell if I know. I think the teacher is convinced I don't know anything, though.
OH. OH. RIGHT. I got my pay for tutoring. Which made me feel like shit. Because I got 1,500 rubles. For ... what, exactly? Every Thursday I sit in Bobrinskij for less than 40 minutes, waiting for people to come and they never do. About five times, now. And that's more than a lot of Russians make in like ... hell if I know. But yeah. Basically it's a flawed system? I guess I shouldn't complain since I got a decent amount of money out of the deal and shouldn't have to withdraw anything for a few more weeks at the VERY least.
Well, unless I actually buy things other than PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, ACTIVIA and SNICKERS.
So basically my woes are thus: I have two things I need to write for my Human Rights class, and the problem is mostly my comprehension of what I need to write. The one that was assigned today is that I need to explain if a 'plural society' existed in Russia in the 90's, if it exists today, and if so under what model. Then I need to PROPOSE a model for today's Russia ... ? In 6,000 characters. Which isn't very long. So, uhm, we'll see what happens.
OH, and in class today, the teacher said "в Украине," (in Ukraine) and the girl in the class interrupted him and said "НА Украине." (in THE Ukraine) He just kind of paused for a moment and said "Как вы хотите." (As you wish) I thought this was interesting because I was told, even by my UKRAINIAN Russian language professor, that it's "на Украине," period. I proposed that "в Украине" would be more correct NOW since Ukraine is a COUNTRY and not a TERRITORY. She disagreed. BUT NOW I have leverage!
So, like Jen, I am all of a sudden wanting to burn Goucher to the ground. I still have a block on my account, meaning I can't register for classes tomorrow unless it's magically removed from my account while I'm sleeping. Which means that once it's removed I will be THE LAST PERSON TO REGISTER. BEHIND ALL THE FUCKING FRESHMEN. The block is because of my enrollment deposit, WHICH WAS SENT IN TWO FUCKING WEEKS AGO. I sent an e-mail to them today, so hopefully something happens. I have a nice orderly schedule set out, and I really hope it isn't FUCKED UP. On top of that, there's little chance of me getting a single next semester. Which, I suppose, isn't surprising. I'll again have to room with someone I DON'T FUCKING KNOW. And inevitably it will be an AWFUL PERSON. I wouldn't mourn all that much, except the system is so fucked up because SO MANY FRESHMEN get singles for NO APPARENT REASON except for the fact that the college admits so many people then so many more are shuffled out because they hate the college, and somehow freshmen are the first people on the queue for singles. Or some shit. OR, LIKE BRENDAN AND HIS FUCKING SOPHOMORE FRIENDS, they make up some BULLSHIT "special house" and choose their rooms before anyone else, COMPLETELY UNDESERVEDLY. I'm not as angry at Brendan for this, because he's a Junior and deserves the single I'd say, BUT NOT HIS SOPHOMORE FRIENDS.
Alright, I'm going to go do my homework WHILE I'M STILL IN A GOOD MOOD.
Monday, November 17, 2008
In Which the Militsia Stop an American
14.11.2008
So today was ... interesting. Last night after writing my entry about having no friends I contacted Yura and we decided to get together, today. But, for most of the day I sat in the Smolny office and did research for a presentation I have in a few weeks. Yura called me at around 5, and we met up in front of the Petrogradskij metro. He had with him a friend, whose name was Sasha. (COINCIDENCE?! Yeah, probably, since EVERYONE HERE IS NAMED SASHA. Or, at least, everyone named "Aleksandr" or "Aleksandra") I couldn't tell if they were TOGETHER (as in dating) or not -- But that doesn't mean anything because I'm in Russia and I'm sure people try to mask it. Of course, I wasn't able to tell if he and Andrei were together when I first met then, too, until Andrei told me they were, and that was in a gay club. I think he and Andrei broke up, though -- I haven't asked. I know they got into a fight that night. BUT IN ANY CASE. This Sasha fellow was quite attractive. A красавец, if you will.
But in any case, we basically walked a circle around the Petrogradskij island and talked, which was thoroughly enjoyable. Apparently, this is a very Russian thing to do, even in bad weather, because it doesn't cost any money. Going out to eat is really expensive here. Actually, pretty much everything except public transportation is really expensive here. Really, not much of anything to say about that. We walked, we talked, and that was that. He's supposed to call me to go out tomorrow or Sunday, again, so we'll see what happens.
But, while we were approaching the metro, we were stopped by two militsia, and asked for our documents... I didn't say anything, so they didn't know I was American until they looked at my passport. He didn't even really look at my documents -- I think he was surprised and taken offguard. He just looked at the top of my (folded) multi-pass visa, which only says my name, date of birth, and country... he didn't look at the bottom part, which shows what dates I'm allowed to be here, and my photo, or anything else. He handed it back and saluted, then turned and whispered something to the other officer, who was checking Yura's and Sasha's documents. That officer handed back their documents, saluted, then they walked off. Apparently they usually try to extort money, but I guess I was lucky... Sasha and Yura whispered something to eachother, then Sasha asked to see my passport. I'm assuming just to see what a US passport looks like (except, I just carry a copy with me). He was surprised about something, but I'm not sure. After that, they went off, and I went to meet Elizabeth and Bryan for dinner.
And that was pretty much it for today. Bryan told me of a few clothing stores here that sell Russian-designed stuff, so I want to stop by those sometime and see if there's anything decently interesting. I think the idea of Russian fashion just kind of passed me by completely -- I figured they just went off the French and Italian trends or something, like the rest of Europe. Who knows. We'll see. Going to an Indian restaurant with Maneka + others, tomorrow, then the BLACK PARTY at Central Station! So tomorrow should be great.
EXCEPT I HAVE A TEST ON FUCKING MONDAY. I fucking hate my Grammar in Situations class. It's absolutely absurd. Mostly because of the professor. I can't stand that professor. Yargh.
One cultural note: I feel like the Russian "group of friends" is a really powerful social unit, here... Usually they're in pairs, but I notice higher frequencies of threes and fours on the evenings and weekends. I don't know, I just feel such a level of closeness when passing or just seeing these groups of people that isn't normally attained in America. It's strange. I'm not sure how to describe it, really.
16.11.2008
Yesterday I had planned on shopping, then going out to eat for Maneka's birthday, and staying out all night at Central Station. Also possibly planned on going out with Yura if he ended up calling me. Very little of this actually happened, but FIRST, something I forgot to mention on Friday's entry.
When I was out walking with Yura and Sasha, we stopped in a little gift shop because I guess Sasha needed to buy a Christmas/New Year's gift for someone. I mentioned off-hand that I, too, needed to buy gifts for friends and family in America. Well, the store didn't have what Sasha was looking for (I think), so they forced me to look around... There really wasn't anything interesting in the least, except some neat stuff that I would buy if I didn't have to CAREFULLY PACK IT AND LUG IT HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD, NO EXAGGERATION. Fancy glass hourglasses and such. There were some neat opera glasses I almost bought, but I didn't know to whom I would give them, plus I didn't have enough money on me. But in any case, Yura saw a chess board IN WHICH ALL THE PIECES WERE SHOTGLASSES, and suggested I take that to America. And he wasn't joking. It was like, the tackiest, trashiest thing I've ever seen, but apparently to a Russian this is a good idea for a gift. I could imagine being in the mall with Brendan, Jen, and Sarah, seeing this in like Spencer's Gifts or something and joke about buying it for about five seconds and moving on.
But anyway, back to Saturday. I ended up staying in almost all day, on and off doing work and taking naps (I have been sickeningly tired all the time this past week). I didn't really feel like shopping, so I didn't call Emma, and decided we could go if she called me, which she didn't. And Yura never called. So, in I stayed. I did go with Maneka and friends, though, to dinner, AND IT TOOK SOME CONVINCING TO TATYANA TO NOT FEED ME BEFORE I WENT. Good lord.
Dinner was fantastic – We went to an Indian restaurant, which was entirely EMPTY when we got there. It was a really nice place, though. We ordered a bunch of different food and shared it all amongst ourselves. And it was delicious. An older American couple who had very heavy Minnesota accents came and sat a table over from us, and I was the only one who was able to tell that they were speaking English, which was kind of sad. Illana ordered a birthday icecream surprise for Maneka, in which they gave the rest of us normal icecream, then turned the lights down and brought out a plate of icecream for Maneka, along with a ladle of ALCOHOL, which they SET ON FIRE and POURED IN A CIRCLE around the icecream. It was class. Blue flames were racing a circle around the icecream for like ten seconds.
After that we were going to go to a bar or something but instead we all got lazy and dispersed to our respective homes. I actually walked halfway to Central Station, first, but then decided I'd rather just go home and turned around. It was a good decision. I had a hard enough time waking up at 11:30 after getting home and going to bed. I'd have been asleep all day if I went out.
And I had perfect timing when I got home, too! Kill Bill was on, and I've been wanting to rewatch that movie for a while now. It had pretty damn good dubbing, too. In that the English audio track was not present, and the voice actors actually acted. Quite melodramatically, but the actual actors are melodramatic in that movie anyway. The only annoying part is that the Japanese audio track was there, and one stupid man was doing ALL the dubbing for the Japanese, in a MONOTONE voice. But oh well, can't win everything. Oh, and Bill had a CREEPY ass voice.
... So, my plans for today? Lay around and do work and nap on and off. Yep.
... And apparently find a weird as HELL show. Or, well, it's not a show, but some sort of ... games... reporting thing. Like, I don't know what the hell it is, but this is the second time I've seen it on TV. Some sort of games series in which Russia, China, Kazakhstan and the U.S.A compete. Yes, America. What the hell? The games are like one big joke; everything is all cartoony and strange. But it's all also pretty dangerous and difficult. When I turned the TV on they had a ring with a tree and fake bananas in the centre, and a wild bull running around... Teams of two had to get the most amount of bananas out of the ring. Alright, simple so far. So, both members of each team are dressed up in APE SUITS and one had to WHEELBARROW HIS PARTNER to the centre, without getting GORED BY THIS BULL, and his partner has to climb up the tree, fetch a banana, then drop back down into the wheelbarrow to take the banana back to the edge of the ring. And this continued for a while, with a few near-deaths.
The second game... racers had to HOP ON A CONVEYOUR BELT that was GOING BACKWARDS, while CLOWNS popped out of a CARTOON HOUSE and HIT THEM IN THE FACE WITH PIES.
The third game, another ring with a bull. This time, two people had to race... while wearing PEA TIN CAN costumes, go to the centre, gather as many PEAS as they can (which were big fluffy green balls), and return to the edge of the ring WITHOUT GETTING GORED BY THIS BULL.
And then people had to race on this gigantic cartoony colorful obstacle course dressed up as GIGANTIC ROOSTERS and do something I didn't quite understand.
I am in awe. Does anyone know if these games are covered in the U.S., too? It's kind of a strange mix of countries... the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and ... the U.S.? What the hell?
So today was ... interesting. Last night after writing my entry about having no friends I contacted Yura and we decided to get together, today. But, for most of the day I sat in the Smolny office and did research for a presentation I have in a few weeks. Yura called me at around 5, and we met up in front of the Petrogradskij metro. He had with him a friend, whose name was Sasha. (COINCIDENCE?! Yeah, probably, since EVERYONE HERE IS NAMED SASHA. Or, at least, everyone named "Aleksandr" or "Aleksandra") I couldn't tell if they were TOGETHER (as in dating) or not -- But that doesn't mean anything because I'm in Russia and I'm sure people try to mask it. Of course, I wasn't able to tell if he and Andrei were together when I first met then, too, until Andrei told me they were, and that was in a gay club. I think he and Andrei broke up, though -- I haven't asked. I know they got into a fight that night. BUT IN ANY CASE. This Sasha fellow was quite attractive. A красавец, if you will.
But in any case, we basically walked a circle around the Petrogradskij island and talked, which was thoroughly enjoyable. Apparently, this is a very Russian thing to do, even in bad weather, because it doesn't cost any money. Going out to eat is really expensive here. Actually, pretty much everything except public transportation is really expensive here. Really, not much of anything to say about that. We walked, we talked, and that was that. He's supposed to call me to go out tomorrow or Sunday, again, so we'll see what happens.
But, while we were approaching the metro, we were stopped by two militsia, and asked for our documents... I didn't say anything, so they didn't know I was American until they looked at my passport. He didn't even really look at my documents -- I think he was surprised and taken offguard. He just looked at the top of my (folded) multi-pass visa, which only says my name, date of birth, and country... he didn't look at the bottom part, which shows what dates I'm allowed to be here, and my photo, or anything else. He handed it back and saluted, then turned and whispered something to the other officer, who was checking Yura's and Sasha's documents. That officer handed back their documents, saluted, then they walked off. Apparently they usually try to extort money, but I guess I was lucky... Sasha and Yura whispered something to eachother, then Sasha asked to see my passport. I'm assuming just to see what a US passport looks like (except, I just carry a copy with me). He was surprised about something, but I'm not sure. After that, they went off, and I went to meet Elizabeth and Bryan for dinner.
And that was pretty much it for today. Bryan told me of a few clothing stores here that sell Russian-designed stuff, so I want to stop by those sometime and see if there's anything decently interesting. I think the idea of Russian fashion just kind of passed me by completely -- I figured they just went off the French and Italian trends or something, like the rest of Europe. Who knows. We'll see. Going to an Indian restaurant with Maneka + others, tomorrow, then the BLACK PARTY at Central Station! So tomorrow should be great.
EXCEPT I HAVE A TEST ON FUCKING MONDAY. I fucking hate my Grammar in Situations class. It's absolutely absurd. Mostly because of the professor. I can't stand that professor. Yargh.
One cultural note: I feel like the Russian "group of friends" is a really powerful social unit, here... Usually they're in pairs, but I notice higher frequencies of threes and fours on the evenings and weekends. I don't know, I just feel such a level of closeness when passing or just seeing these groups of people that isn't normally attained in America. It's strange. I'm not sure how to describe it, really.
16.11.2008
Yesterday I had planned on shopping, then going out to eat for Maneka's birthday, and staying out all night at Central Station. Also possibly planned on going out with Yura if he ended up calling me. Very little of this actually happened, but FIRST, something I forgot to mention on Friday's entry.
When I was out walking with Yura and Sasha, we stopped in a little gift shop because I guess Sasha needed to buy a Christmas/New Year's gift for someone. I mentioned off-hand that I, too, needed to buy gifts for friends and family in America. Well, the store didn't have what Sasha was looking for (I think), so they forced me to look around... There really wasn't anything interesting in the least, except some neat stuff that I would buy if I didn't have to CAREFULLY PACK IT AND LUG IT HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD, NO EXAGGERATION. Fancy glass hourglasses and such. There were some neat opera glasses I almost bought, but I didn't know to whom I would give them, plus I didn't have enough money on me. But in any case, Yura saw a chess board IN WHICH ALL THE PIECES WERE SHOTGLASSES, and suggested I take that to America. And he wasn't joking. It was like, the tackiest, trashiest thing I've ever seen, but apparently to a Russian this is a good idea for a gift. I could imagine being in the mall with Brendan, Jen, and Sarah, seeing this in like Spencer's Gifts or something and joke about buying it for about five seconds and moving on.
But anyway, back to Saturday. I ended up staying in almost all day, on and off doing work and taking naps (I have been sickeningly tired all the time this past week). I didn't really feel like shopping, so I didn't call Emma, and decided we could go if she called me, which she didn't. And Yura never called. So, in I stayed. I did go with Maneka and friends, though, to dinner, AND IT TOOK SOME CONVINCING TO TATYANA TO NOT FEED ME BEFORE I WENT. Good lord.
Dinner was fantastic – We went to an Indian restaurant, which was entirely EMPTY when we got there. It was a really nice place, though. We ordered a bunch of different food and shared it all amongst ourselves. And it was delicious. An older American couple who had very heavy Minnesota accents came and sat a table over from us, and I was the only one who was able to tell that they were speaking English, which was kind of sad. Illana ordered a birthday icecream surprise for Maneka, in which they gave the rest of us normal icecream, then turned the lights down and brought out a plate of icecream for Maneka, along with a ladle of ALCOHOL, which they SET ON FIRE and POURED IN A CIRCLE around the icecream. It was class. Blue flames were racing a circle around the icecream for like ten seconds.
After that we were going to go to a bar or something but instead we all got lazy and dispersed to our respective homes. I actually walked halfway to Central Station, first, but then decided I'd rather just go home and turned around. It was a good decision. I had a hard enough time waking up at 11:30 after getting home and going to bed. I'd have been asleep all day if I went out.
And I had perfect timing when I got home, too! Kill Bill was on, and I've been wanting to rewatch that movie for a while now. It had pretty damn good dubbing, too. In that the English audio track was not present, and the voice actors actually acted. Quite melodramatically, but the actual actors are melodramatic in that movie anyway. The only annoying part is that the Japanese audio track was there, and one stupid man was doing ALL the dubbing for the Japanese, in a MONOTONE voice. But oh well, can't win everything. Oh, and Bill had a CREEPY ass voice.
... So, my plans for today? Lay around and do work and nap on and off. Yep.
... And apparently find a weird as HELL show. Or, well, it's not a show, but some sort of ... games... reporting thing. Like, I don't know what the hell it is, but this is the second time I've seen it on TV. Some sort of games series in which Russia, China, Kazakhstan and the U.S.A compete. Yes, America. What the hell? The games are like one big joke; everything is all cartoony and strange. But it's all also pretty dangerous and difficult. When I turned the TV on they had a ring with a tree and fake bananas in the centre, and a wild bull running around... Teams of two had to get the most amount of bananas out of the ring. Alright, simple so far. So, both members of each team are dressed up in APE SUITS and one had to WHEELBARROW HIS PARTNER to the centre, without getting GORED BY THIS BULL, and his partner has to climb up the tree, fetch a banana, then drop back down into the wheelbarrow to take the banana back to the edge of the ring. And this continued for a while, with a few near-deaths.
The second game... racers had to HOP ON A CONVEYOUR BELT that was GOING BACKWARDS, while CLOWNS popped out of a CARTOON HOUSE and HIT THEM IN THE FACE WITH PIES.
The third game, another ring with a bull. This time, two people had to race... while wearing PEA TIN CAN costumes, go to the centre, gather as many PEAS as they can (which were big fluffy green balls), and return to the edge of the ring WITHOUT GETTING GORED BY THIS BULL.
And then people had to race on this gigantic cartoony colorful obstacle course dressed up as GIGANTIC ROOSTERS and do something I didn't quite understand.
I am in awe. Does anyone know if these games are covered in the U.S., too? It's kind of a strange mix of countries... the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and ... the U.S.? What the hell?
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