between white nights are петербург days

best last day/final thoughts

2009-07-27T03:40:00.004+05:00

10-7-09

On the 10th of July I graduated! We had two classes, and afterwards we had a little ceremony/celebration with our teachers. The only one who couldn't make it was Mikhail, which was definitely disappointing - he was absolutely awesome. His newspaper class was definitely one of my favorites, he kept us entertained and involved. Marina gave a little speech about how wonderful we all are and how we give Kansas a great reputation. (Good, because I don't think Kansas even HAS a reputation in Russia).

After the ceremony I didn't really know what to do with myself after class for the last time. I was totally burnt out on museums, and I just had a few left on my list that I wanted to check out - but I never did, because I just had no desire after seeing soo many. I needed to take a lot more photos with my film camera, so I headed to the Souvenir Fair where I'd been once before. It wasn't a place that I particularly enjoyed - it was full of old tourists who didn't know Russian trying to give the sellers US dollars or Swedish kroner. Luckily for them, all of the sellers spoke English and a few other languages, and would gladly accept foreign currency. I couldn't stop to look at one thing without someone coming up to me and trying to start a conversation in English. "This is definitely not Russia," I thought as I walked through the stalls. "This is a separate little non-country in the middle of St. Petersburg, pretending to be full of Russian culture." I was not pleased. But I thought it might be a great place for interesting photos - markets always are. And amazing things happened.

Looking through the thousands upon thousands of options, a lady approached me and started telling me something in Russian, and immediately realized I wasn't a native speaker. She asked if I was a foreigner, and I told her, "Yes, but I speak both English AND Russian." - sticking up for my lacking, but still existent, language skills. We went on to have a conversation about where I was from, why I was here, what she enjoyed about studying abroad, etc... it was by far my longest and most in-depth Russian conversation I'd had with a native since arriving six weeks ago, and I felt like a total champ.

I wandered further along and ended up stumbling upon a huge corner stall in the back, bursting to the seams with piles of original B&W photography, all by one young artist. He spoke flawless English, which I was thankful for, because as much as I wanted to discuss his photos in Russian, it would have been impossible without all the vocab. Most of his photos were mounted on random book covers and cardboard, some of the borders covered with newspaper or written on along the edges with quotes and thoughts. He literally had thousands stacked, boxed, hung up, under tables, etc. He used a lot of the same images in really different ways, and successfully experimented with double exposure. You could tell he could make a hundred in a day, because some were carelessly put together and there were just SO many, it was ridiculous. Everyone wants a piece of cheap original art (aside from the cliche landscape)- he must make a lot of business at that Souvenir Fair. But the way he did it worked. I knew they were just crappy pieces for tourists, but I sort of loved that about them. I bought two, one which was mounted on a page out of a Russian book 'for good studying', and another which was an unmounted 8x10 print of the Church on the Spilled Blood double-exposed with a telephone wire and LOTS of birds. Sounds cliche, but it's beautiful.

There were two other girls my age looking around at the same time, and they were definitely from Britain. They were just as interested in the photos as I was, and they seemed pretty cool. They were wondering to each other about the post office - I could tell they hadn't been in Russia long. I spoke up and told them there were post offices EVERYwhere, and helped them out with what the sign looked like, etc. We got to talking, and we really meshed - they were traveling to every corner of Europe this summer: Finland, Russia, Estonia, Czech Republic, etc...I couldn't remember the whole list they rattled off. They asked if I wanted to be a part of their project - and they explained that they're creating this "Book of Strangers" filled with interesting people they meet along their way. Of course I wanted to be included! I also took a photo of them, and we exchanged emails. They were full of curiosity, excitement, motivation, and style - they gave me so much inspiration for my future travels, and completely made my day.

My previous post may have come off with a bit of bitterness, homesickness, and/or resentment. Let me be honest, and tell you that in the last week and a half or two, I was feeling just a little bit of animosity toward the culture. I was lonely. My to-do and to-see lists weren't filled with excitement anymore, but obligation. I had no one to make comments to in art galleries. I couldn't point out beautiful windows, or share the way the light made great shadows in the alleys. Exploring cities on your own can be full of excitement and pleasure - and it was for me, for a good while. But someone to share it with is crucial. I tried to let this blog be a good outlet for my thoughts and observations, which satisfied for a bit. Due to limited internet time, however, it couldn't be all I wanted it to be.

All in all, I survived, and am bettered. I've lived within a culture I've been learning about and studying for two years. It's an experience that has changed some ways I think, and has expanded my knowledge of the world. My itching curiosity to see the rest of it has only been agitated more.

Now to restore the dignity of Russia's culture from my previous post, here are a few redeeming qualities:

FLOWERS: цветы are a huge tradition in Russian culture. You can find a flower stand on every corner on your walk home, and at least three outside every metro station. This is one of my favorite traditions - the most expected gift for any holiday, for male or female, is flowers. A bit more for females, but boys like them too :) Americans have such a muted appreciation for flowers. I think I've only gotten a few bouquets in my entire life - all from my parents, for birthdays, dance recitals, and the like. Russian boys take a single flower to a girl on their first date. If an American boy tried that gesture, in most cases the girl might be a little freaked. I wish flowers were more commonplace here, because on a long metro ride home after a tiring day, it was wonderful to see old women, fathers, boyfriends, girls carrying bouquets home to their loved ones.

MULLETS: Oh wow. They are so popular and so everywhere, I found myself seeing them as attractive... stop me now. On many occasions, even women could pull them off and look chic. The football (soccer) mullet, the Euro mullet, the Dima Bilan mullet, the loooong mullet...men just won't give them up.

CHEAP NECESSITIES: If you want to live a simple, no-frills life, Russia would be the place to do it. All necessities for basic living are incredibly cheap - food, most of the time. Internet connection. Housewares. You'd only get into financial trouble if you want to go shopping for clothes or spend more than one night a week at a restaurant. Better skip the drinks at the bars as well. But to live simply, it's incredibly easy. Props for that.

spent our last evening on our beach with champagne, vodka, and canned gin&tonic. beautiful sky and sea even if the rocky trashy beach was less than perfect - but it was a fabulous way to say goodbye.

popular habits of Russians I find utterly useless

2009-07-03T20:00:00.002+05:00

- walking down the street with your cell phone blasting music... the 2009 version of an 80's boombox on the shoulder - with much less of a statement.

- the use of monkeys, hawks, and grey foxes as tourist traps near sites. Who really wants a photograph with that absolutely depressed, skinny monkey in dirty old kids' clothes? Give him a good home, in a zoo if he needs it, where he's not tied to a pole on Nevsky Prospect.

- 4-inch heels for grocery shopping. You really don't look that good when you have veins popping out of your ankles and you can barely put one foot in front of the other.

- DILL on every single plate of food you could imagine. sure, it has good enough flavor, and we don't use it in America much so it's nice as a change of pace... but really, no, I don't want spoonfuls of the stuff. thanks.

- not having change!!!! At most any small store, restaurant, vendor, or any sort of sales environment, don't try to give them a few dollars more than your total - Russians don't believe in keeping change in the drawer, and will give you the nastiest, meanest look in your life if you try to pass them a R500 for something that was 250. Getting a 1000 out of a bankomat (ATM) ruins my day. Where the hell am I supposed to use that??

I made the news in Russia.

2009-07-02T20:20:00.008+05:00

This is going to be a long post, because yesterday was my best, most magical day in Russia... and it's going to be nearly impossible to top in the next week and a half.

On Wednesdays we're supposed to have only two classes, finishing at 1, but we had two missed classes from June 12 (Russia Day) to make up. So we stayed in class until 3, and I was little weary by the end of it. I had plans to go to the Hermitage again (have only seen bits and pieces of it, I still have a looong way to go) and took a marshrutka almost all the way there without having to deal with the Metro. A marshrutka is like a small bus - it has a designated route but you can get off wherever you like and you can flag it down. They drive fast and dirty and get you where you need to go.

Saint Petersburg has seen fantastic weather all week, and yesterday was no exception. I was perfectly comfortable in my go-to jeans, t-shirt and cardigan - and of course my life-saving shoes from Ecco. My feet would be an absolute wreck without them, thanks to my impractical packing. Anyway, I walked along the Neva toward the Hermitage, and passed the Marble Palace, an extension of the Russian Museum. I had been wanting to see the new exhibit "Art for Art", which I didn't realize wasn't in the main building. So I scrapped my Hermitage plans and went for the Marble Palace instead - first great choice of the day. With my student ID I got in for $1.

I was absolutely amazed with this collection - all contemporary Russian artists (with a few Lichtensteins, Picassos, and Warhols thrown in for good measure) whose art dealt with the simple idea of art itself. I only got a couple of good pictures before a docent informed me I needed a photo ticket, so unfortunately I didn't get as many as I would have liked.

Sometimes the English translations are more entertaining than the exhibit itself - but this one sums it up pretty well.

I did manage to get a snap of this Warhol/Basquiat piece from my purse...very sneaky. It's only about 3/4 of the whole thing, but you get the idea. My mind was a little blown.

As I was wandering through this exhibit, I wondered why it was so quiet. Maybe Wednesdays aren't a popular museum day? Maybe the rest of the art-goers were more interested in the collections at the Hermitage? Wrong. One floor down, through a door that was closed when I had passed it previously, a new exhibit had just opened. I accidentally attended my second art opening in Saint Petersburg. A-Sun Wu is an artist from Taiwan who spent a lot of time living with tribes in Africa, learning from their way of life to create an entirely new style of African tribal motifs mixed with contemporary Asian art. It must have been a big-deal opening, because there were multiple news cameras, countless journalists and photographers, and a humble, smiling Asian man - A-Sun Wu himself.

I hung around until most people left, finding more rooms in the museum and finally stopping to read a history of the palace. One of the last photo-journalists to leave came up to me and asked if he could take a few photos of me with the art - and for a good 30 seconds or so he didn't realize I was a foreigner! He didn't speak much English, but I managed to tell him that I was studying Russian at Smolny - and after he learned that I'm sure he understood why the only words tumbling out of my mouth were a mumbling mess. However, he took a good 10 or so photographs, I understood what he asked me to do, he took my e-mail address and gave me the website that they would be used on. I got the impression that he was a photographer for the equivalent of the Associated Press - he said they would choose certain photos that would then go to different newspapers and websites that were covering news from the opening.

check out my Russian debut:

http://interpress.ru/index.php?page=photo&id=181168

After my head was soaked in great art, I still had about an hour and a half to make it to The Idiot where we were meeting for a group dinner. (nothing like an expensive restaurant paid for by KU :) ) I decided to walk to the neighborhood and find a nice spot to sit, relax, and write.

Lo and behold, there was an art gallery across the street from the restaurant, and I decided to give it a try. They were closing in 45 minutes, and I had to buzz the door to get in. They had already turned the lights out, but a lady turned them on for me, told me to pick up a guide to the art (there weren't labels on the walls) and let me to wander through the two-roomed gallery. She seemed really glad to have a visitor. I found a couple paintings I enjoyed, but most of them didn't really grab me.

When I was about to leave, the same lady came back out and asked what my impressions were. I didn't understand her question, and told her that I was still studying Russian. She spoke very good English, and we talked a little about learning languages, and she decided it would be best to converse with me in English. I agreed. I told her which painting was my favorite, just to make small talk, and she told me all about it and it's painter. She then proceeded to take me on an informal tour of the whole gallery (around 50 paintings) explaining bits and pieces about the artists, the works, etc. Many of them started to make more sense and look better to me, after she talked so knowledgeably about them all. After a good 40ish minutes of discussing the art with her, another visitor came in and it was time for me to get to The Idiot.

It was so incredible to have these people interested in me, and my interest in art. That's one reason I'm so in love with it - art can cross boundaries that are otherwise impenetrable. It can bring people from different countries, languages and cultures to an understanding of one another that would have been impossible. I feel like such an outsider here when I can't talk with the people I'd like to, and I can't let people know my intentions or thoughts. I'm getting much better at expressing this, but it's still incredibly difficult.

Yesterday was a day that reminded me why I'm here, and why I love to reach outside of my own boundaries.

I found a great spot to hide away and write in this stairwell by the Moika river - I could hear the people passing on the sidewalk above, but I was in my own little peaceful place.

Белые Ночи

2009-06-27T20:18:00.008+05:00

Last night our group took a "White Nights tour", where we were taken to significant parts of town from 11pm-2am. Kerry, our director, is on the left. On the right is Joelle, a woman from France who joined us on our tour and was really fun to talk to. I told her I took French for 2 years a long time ago, and she tried to speak with me in French...thaaat was interesting. In the pink pants and striped shirt is Sara, our roommate from Finland who stayed with us for a month. She left this morning after a long night out, and our new roommate from Switzerland just arrived about an hour ago.

An incredibly fun college-aged girl named Olga led our tour, and also helped me with my Russian - she was great! She gave me her email, and I think we might go out for tea sometime. My camera died halfway through the tour, so some of the cooler pictures are on my disposable red-flash camera. Can't wait to get those developed!

I like the way this one accidentally turned out...

And here's our old & new theme again... stretch Hummers are everywhere, and the Church on Spilled Blood is no exception!

night-time canal, approx. 1-2 am?

from our kitchen window at 3am

this is my city

2009-06-27T19:55:00.005+05:00

from the colonnade atop St. Isaac's Cathedral, the best view of St. Petersburg

The trees are in the way, but this is the square where the Bronze Horseman stands, right next to the Neva on the left:

Эрмитаж

This city is constantly juxtaposed with old and new. The beautiful pieces of the past right next to the booming development industry is a most common sight.

love the wire mesh signs

I'm still mastering the phrase 'would you please take a photo of me', so this is my temporary solution.... :)

between rests

2009-06-24T18:56:00.004+05:00

Getting a little exhausted after all of the constant travelling every day. I've been spending a bit more time taking it easy instead of trying to see each and every street corner. However, a couple nights ago Joel and I went out on the longest night of the year to watch the sun not set.

This was at about 12:30 am.

This is the Peter & Paul Fortress from across the Neva, at the same time.

This entire week has been 70-80 degrees F, cloudless, beautiful. You'd think it would be the perfect time to run around the city as much as possible, but it's actually been even better for finding little nooks to people-watch and rest my feet.

I've fallen in love with the Vasiliostrovskaya metro station, which is the only other one on our island. Right outside is a pedestrian-only street with good cafes and shopping, and a generally chill attitude. It doesn't feel as hectic as Nevsky or the other busy metro stations, and it's a bit more welcoming. I found a cafe with good coffee (!) and perfect outside seating for people-watching. I really believe Russia has some of the most entertaining people for this activity.

I also bought a copy of The Master and Margarita (in English) and spent some time here reading.

across the water

2009-06-24T18:39:00.007+05:00

the Gulf of Finland from Peterhof - Peter's summer playground with fountains galore. This is a huge public park now on the other side of the Gulf from St. Petersburg, about 45 minutes away.

The whole place was swarming with tourists, which wasn't ideal. Whenever I'm at a historical residence or place of personal importance to somebody, I always like to wander around it as if I live there. (The Russian Museum was particularly good for that, because there weren't as many people and many of the rooms were still furnished and decorated like it was when it was lived in.) I couldn't picture this place as private grounds though because (besides Nevsky Prospect) it was easily the most crowded place I've been.

I did find a few areas on the edges that were lovely and less occupied, and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

This is my favorite wall I've found. The color is so rich, and so time worn in the best way possible.

ohh look at those colors. mmm.

don kixot

2009-06-24T18:28:00.005+05:00

A couple weeks ago I saw Don Quixote at the Mariinsky Theater - breathtaking!!!

They were a GREAT leading couple - she had so much energy and made the stage shine

And this guy stole my heart - he was one of the most charismatic dancers I've seen. He could also leap like 6 feet straight into the air.

In the main lobby they had this miniature version of the theater. Even the ceiling was painted like the real one!

It was incredible to see a ballet in a city that's known for it. I was supposed to see Sleeping Beauty this coming Sunday, but we scheduled a trip to Novgorod (first city in Russia) instead. I guess it's an okay trade-off, but the ballet here is absolutely magical.

peter the green

2009-06-16T19:53:00.007+05:00

For such a rapidly growing metropolis of a city, St. Petersburg really retains its charm with extensive green space scattered liberally between the exhaust-filled streets.

This weekend I went with Joel and his friend Jordan (who's been studying/working here since March) to the "Central Park of Culture and Relaxation" which is a separate island accessible only to pedestrians. We spent a great afternoon walking between the many rollerbladers and baby strollers, feeling as if were were miles away from the city. Really only a short metro ride.

The next day I continued my outdoor theme (you simply cannot spend a sunny day here inside, as they're so rare) and headed to the State Botanical Gardens. It's really just a huuuge overgrown park with great paths for wandering and purposely getting lost. This little path leads up to a hidden gazebo which overlooks a quiet pond.

I wrote my postcards (I hope you all get them) on a bench which I shared with this couple. They must have spent over an hour here, chatting some, enjoying each other's company, eating lunch, and with plenty of liquor for them both...

I'd like to be this content when I'm their age.

My favorite part of the Gardens:

Some run-down building which only held fallen walls and rubble open to the sky. The paths around it hadn't been used in ages, and I felt as if I had stepped back in time. The color painted on the stone had aged beautifully. Wish I could have stayed for much longer.

I can see why this city is home to nearly 5 million people. Even if the majority of the population lives in extremely small apartments (by American standards), there are plenty of ways to keep your fresh air quota at a reasonable level.

detail-oriented.

2009-06-16T19:47:00.004+05:00

on the walk home from the Botanical Gardens, happened upon this great clock! Have seen a few around the city since, I love them.

At the Borey Gallery. Great basement space a block off of Nevsky with the most intriguing art & architecture book shop - my main reason for visiting. Will go back again when I have the willpower to tote a bag of books home on the metro...

in the entrance hallway to the gallery

let's eat. maybe.

2009-06-11T20:05:00.011+05:00

Food is definitely proving to be the biggest adventure and challenge for me in Russia (as I expected). Meat and milk are the biggest part of any diet or menu here, and vegetables are rarely seen as more than a "garnish". Fortunately, I've found some luck here and there with good restaurants and I've tried to get creative with my grocery shopping - where there are entire aisles devoted to crackers, bread, alcohol, chocolate, and tea. Not exactly the easiest to build a good meal from.

For our first group dinner last week we went to a Dagestani restaurant, which is in South Russia - I think someone said it was near the Chechen border? Close to Georgia and those countries. We were going for Georgian food but the metro stop was closed near the restaurant we had planned on.

I got a carrot/garlic salad which was literally a bowl full of carrots, dressing, and garlic. But it was easily one of my favorite dishes so far. delicious!

I ordered chubu (I don't know how to spell it in english?) for my main dish, which is a specialty of the area. It's a huge flat piece of thin dough stuffed with different fillings - their options were meat, pumpkin, and potato with tvorog. Tvorog is this cottage cheese/cream cheese sort of creation that's popular in many foods. As a meal though, the chubu was pretty unsatisfying. I felt like I had eaten a bunch of greasy, cheesy bread. Which I did. I wouldn't recommend it.

I found this cafe (Zerno Istiny) which had free wi-fi and a pretty good veggie menu, but it's too far away to become a regular there. I had some great miso soup and a veggie roll - Japanese cuisine is so incredibly popular here, that many restaurants have added a separate Japanese menu to the back of theirs. Kind of weird when you're in a Russian cafe, Italian restaurant, etc. But it's totally the norm. You can get sushi ANYWHERE.

Also fun: canned cocktails. I've have gin&tonic in a can, which is surprisingly good. Just stay away from the fruity ones, you can feel the headache with just a whiff of it. I'm still looking for canned champagne, which I hear you can get anywhere...

ahhh, hummus. can't go wrong.

And the biggest success in my Russian cuisine thus far (and probably will remain the most important discovery): BOTANICA.

A completely vegetarian restaurant with such a huge menu (which is also available in English, for when my brain is too tired) I wanted to cry I was so happy. Not to mention they have a deck in the cutest little square, and they provide you with blankets when it's chilly. (!)

Asian stir-fry! A dish with tofu that DOESN'T have meat! (At a Chinese restaurant we tried, I found a tofu dish but it also had pork?)

It was a little heavy on the sauce, but was honestly the best meal I can remember. fresh, flavorful, and a combination of ingredients that is so unbeatable. and so impossible to find here.

Joel had ratatouille - all vegetables, only vegetables, as a MAIN DISH! unthinkable.

Today I went to the huge Russian version of Wal-Mart or Costco, called O'Kei (how they spell OK) because my conversation teacher told me I could find peanut butter and soy milk there. Found peanut butter, but still no soy milk. There are 3 other locations of O'Kei, and I will scour all of them until I find it! This is such a mission now, I just can't give up.

We have a 3-day weekend because tomorrow is Den Rossii - Russia Day! No one is really sure how people celebrate it. It's still a pretty young holiday, and I don't think it's become full of tradition or any specific form of celebration. But we don't have class, and I hope it's as beautiful as today. The sun finally showed up! I'm planning on the Hermitage on Saturday (yeeeessssss!!!) and Hannah and I have tickets for Don Quixote at the Mariinksi Theater on Sunday evening. I can't wait to see the ballet, I haven't been in years - and what better place to attend than in St. Petersburg???

some observations

2009-06-09T18:18:00.006+05:00

soy milk is impossible to find

(although my newspaper teacher told me that it IS around...you just have to hunt. and he doesn't know where it is or how long my hunt will take. but the hunt is on.)

nobody smiles

(extremely difficult to deal with having grown up in the midwest)

women wear 4-inch heels ALL the time. no exceptions.

parking in Russia is more a state of mind than a rule-abiding activity

(look for a photo post about this soon...)

it rains more than I think it does in London

it is required to walk at least 2 hours per day

peanut butter is in the same family as soy milk: unpopular and practically nonexistent

restaurant service is averagely awful

coffee from crystals is terribly popular

food is cheap but anything else is ridiculously overpriced

most storefronts always look closed, and windows are covered 90% of the time

people drive fast and pedestrians are disposable

there aren't nearly as many obviously drunk people as one might assume

...but there ARE plenty of stray dogs, and a few cats. On the way to our metro I've seen a pack of 6 stray dogs a couple times.

Kazan kittens! A whole family of kitties next to the Kazan Cathedral. Their mom was hanging out a few feet away while they played.

All in all, I've been pleasantly surprised by some things and disappointed with others. A typical experience in a new country. One week down, five to go - it can only go up! once the sun comes out and I find some soy milk...

пушкинская 10

2009-06-06T21:40:00.013+05:00

click the title to see where I went today :)

First I spent the afternoon in the Russian Museum, wandering through the palace of some noble of time past, and marveling at the ceilings as well as the renowned Russian art.

I ate lunch in a fabulous Indonesian restaurant behind the Kazan Cathedral.

But then I went to a place that was almost more incredible than the both of those. Pushinskaya 10 (which is both the address and the name of the building) is like a mecca for contemporary art in Russia, and has become an amazing gallery/studio/club space. I went exploring and the building is basically like the Crossroads District in KC, but more dynamic and MUCH more student artist/less commercial. All of the art was so approachable. Here's the entrance to the stairs which take you up to 6 floors of galleries and studios.

My favorite gallery held an exhibit by a single artist. All of his paintings were on cardboard, and most were so beautifully rich and detailed, but there was still such a sense of street life and roughness to them. On the floor was a masking-tape map which had corresponding numbers for each painting, showing where the location of each was. love it.

I was afraid to use flash and mark myself as a total tourist, so my photos of the work didn't come out so well. Luckily, I found one of my favorites on the website.

The galleries were pretty quiet (I think I was on the 4th floor?) but I could hear more people upstairs on the 6th. I went up and found the Art-Liga gallery, one of the better-known galleries of the building. Happened to walk into the opening of the exhibit, with the artist there and plenty of champagne and gin to go around. Lovely! Wish I could have spoken to the artist, but I seriously don't have the vocab to discuss art...

The pieces were all simple black/white/red collages made from treated newspaper confetti. The first image above is a detail shot. They were so minimal, but intriguing.

I still can't believe I found myself at an art opening by accident. I looked at the program and there's another one on the 27th, I can't wait :)

getting my feet wet

2009-06-04T20:03:00.003+05:00

The past two days have been horribly cold, windy, and rainy. I realized too late that 4 pairs of shoes is just not enough - especially when none of them are waterproof. The children's uniform throughout the city today has been raincoat, rainpants, and wellies. I have not seen one kid without it. On the walk back from the metro, one little tyke was running through the neighborhood pathway jumping in puddles and yelling whatever it is that russian kids yell. An older boy started to puddlejump with him, but his mother called him back. Even though I was uncomfortably windblown and cold and not sure how to spend my time in this weather, it made me feel more at home to see such an adorable, everyday scene.

Today at the institute we had two back-to-back "grammatika" classes. We have three classes a day (two on Wed & Fri), 1.5 hours each. So I had 3 hours straight of Russian grammar. I definitely did not realize what I was getting myself into with this program! Every Thursday we'll have 2 grammar classes - which consists of endless worksheets, providing answers out loud, and occasionally some entertaining antecdotes from Marina Oleevna. She's really a great teacher, and speaks English very well - so when needed, she can give us the meaning of words we don't know. Today she commented that we were all very tired (true, it was the first night I stayed up past 11pm) and went on to explain why SHE was tired as well. She spent a good ten minutes telling us in the most entertaining Russian/English-mixed way that she took a sleeping pill last night but didn't take it early enough, and she was struggling to stay awake this morning. The only reason she didn't fall asleep on the metro is because a girl with very curly hair stood in front of her, so if she began to nod off and let her head fall forward, the girl's hair would wake her up! It makes class a lot more fun when your teacher is a good story teller.

Our other classes should be rather painless as well - we have phonetics, which is a lot of repeating words until we get the awkward vowels right. Reading/literature is with a fun young teacher who gauges our comprehension level well. We haven't had gazeta (newspaper) class yet, but I assume it's reading the newspaper and talking about current events. Conversation is the most practical, which addresses everyday language problems we might have throughout the city in the metro, at restaurants, in shops, etc. And finally we have a Russian film class, which is a nice break. Right now we're watching Piter FM, which I spent all last semester studying in my Russian class, so I've got a bit of a head start.

All in all, it's going to be an excellent summer. I haven't even been here a full week yet, but there's so much to do and to think about and to see that it feels like I've been here for much longer. I've pretty much settled in and figured out how to spend my time, and I cannot wait for this weekend! We get out early on Fridays (1 instead of 3) which gives us much more time to get around the city. We're going as a group to a Georgian restaurant Friday night, which is supposed to be amazing cuisine. We don't have Georgian anywhere near home. After that I hope to check out a show or a club, there are lots of things going on on a Friday night. Then I'm going to see either Romeo and Juliet or Swan Lake at the Mariinsky Theater! I hope to begin my exploration of the Hermitage Saturday afternoon.

But for now, I'm headed off to the Dvortsovaya Ploshad (Palace Square) to see a free Duran Duran show right outside of the Hermitage. I don't care how cold it is, who could give up the opportunity to see Duran Duran in the same proximity as one of the greatest art museums in the world??

университет - Смольный Институт

2009-06-02T20:26:00.009+05:00

here is my school life.

oh you know, this is just the walk to the metro after class. through Tavrisheski park.

hallway of my classroom

THIS IS WHERE I GO TO SCHOOL. pause.

and here's my lovely little classroom. a little old fashioned perhaps, but it has its charm...especially the grated window.

соседство

2009-06-02T19:53:00.004+05:00

this is where I live! somewhere in the top left, I live on the 9th floor.

found a tennis club in my neighborhood - "tennis for children and adults!"

my room! my bed's on the left, the one in the back is empty, and my roommate Hannah's is behind me on the left.

literally a two minute walk from our front door - the Gulf of Finland! not the prettiest beach, but hey, how can you complain about a seaside residence?

view from my window. there are ALWAYS kids playing soccer out there!

I'm uploading these from a great кафе which has FREE wi-fi. It's a 30 minute metro trek from my apartment, which is on the EDGE of the city, and a 10 minute walk to the nearest metro station. We're really out of the way. But getting into the busier areas is so worth it, and this cafe is perfect. I'm still finding my way around and learning the streets and areas, but I'm definitely getting better. I've stopped smiling at strangers, because I've learned that if you smile at someone, you're considered pretty stupid. I'm going to have to become a much more serious soul to fit in here... but I'm working on it ;)

vooow!!!

2009-05-31T12:19:00.003+05:00

I'm living the next six weeks in a crumbling Soviet-era communal apartment! I sort of expected that, but it only became real when I saw it. It looks like no one lives there, but it's a huge busy apartment with plenty of people in it. The inside is much nicer than the exterior suggests, and we actually have a fully stocked, completely working full kitchen. Amazing.

Spending today exploring our neighborhood and wandering into the city, looking for basic necessities such as internet, mobile sim cards, food, etc. I'm immediately realizing that classroom Russian does nothing for real-life interactions. It's going to take baby steps, but I'm so excited to learn more and get better at this. I haven't gotten to the main center streets yet (our neighborhood is right on the Gulf of Finland, which is somewhat far from the busy part of the city) but we're on our way this afternoon.

Pictures to come when I find a spot with wi-fi, and not just a computer lab...

in transit...

2009-05-30T01:22:00.000+05:00

People watching never fails to amuse me. After circling the terminal a few times to kill a bit of my 4 hour layover at o'hare, I chose a prime location to sketch, eavesdrop, and watch. Two young business professionals are sitting about two feet from me, consistently getting and placing calls, checking the laptops, and figuring out where their company is sending them next week (ring a bell, corey?). The next hour should bring plenty of crying kids, impractically dressed women, and men in suits.

pre-dreaming

2009-05-26T03:50:00.006+05:00

this may not be the best map to use to get around the city these days... but I love these colors! cannot wait to get there and explore these islands, streets, parks, canals, twists, nooks, sights and smells.