Today was my last day of actual class (excluding finals) in Russia, and while in America this would normally be an exciting day, today I'm admittedly a little sad. After studying here for 6 months, I've gotten pretty attached to our little, slightly run-down school building. And it's not just the teachers or the classes, but all its little quirks and idiosyncrasies. I'll miss the 20 ruble amaretto cappuccinos from the automatic coffee machine, Masha, the university cat who "really loves men" (according to my teachers), the creepy German who walks past our classroom and stares awkwardly several times per para... Sure, it'd be nice if they'd install some AC, but it's even kind of cute to see the teachers fight over the 2 fans for use in the building. Sigh. Saying goodbye is the greatest woe of a traveler.
Anyhow, now that I've mourned a bit, I'll report a little on this weekend's trip to Pskov! I dragged myself to the metro at 7:30 am so we could board our cozy little bus to Pskov. To be honest, I hadn't actually slept the night before, so the four hour trip went by pretty quickly! When we got to the hotel and had cleaned up a bit, we followed our excursion leader, Olga, around the city for a little while. We went into some really beautiful old churches and saw a super old fortress, on which one student decided would be a good idea to climb (unfortunately he hadn't planned how he was going to get down - not to worry, though, he survived). Then later on we were walking along the river and noticed some men drinking and jumping into the river from the top of a hill. I remember thinking they were nuts until all of a sudden Nathan, our RD, takes off his shirt and dives in after them! It was basically all down hill from there, and I also soon found myself shamelessly stripping down into my underwear to jump into the water, which had been designated as "dangerous for life" by a sign that I had noticed earlier. But boy, did it feel nice. Heat makes you do some crazy things. :)
Later on, we took advantage of the absurdly low priced ice cream and went to a park, where I proceeded to catch up on my ever-increasing sleep deficit. In the evening we went to dinner and observed the craziness going on in the center for Pskov Day. It basically reminded me of our state fairs - there was a concert, rides, cotton candy, face painting, and a bunch of happy, sloppy Pskovian citizens. Best of all, there was a firework show, which we watched from the side of the river and later on from our hotel room windows. The next day we visited an old monastery from the 12th century which had a nice display of old frescos on the inside. At 3 pm we had to say goodbye to Pskov and head back home on the bus, which was a bit less pleasant this time around due to the traffic from all the families coming home from their dachas. But we all made it home in one piece, in spite of a few cases of the grumpy-grumps.
And now it's already Tuesday, and time to take our test to see our summer progress tomorrow. It's gonna be a long one, but at least, I can look forward to a 20 ruble amaretto cappuccino during the break. :)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Peter gets even hotter???
So last time I blogged, I thought that Peter couldn't get any hotter - but this week I was proven very, very wrong. Just today, I read on BBC that this has been one of the most treacherously hot summers in Russian history - not exaggerating even in the slightest - over 200 Russians have apparently already died this year from drowning. Its suspected that they've all been drinking vodka and then going for a dip to cool off. And it wouldn't even be so bad, if they just had AC here. I lived through Peter's coldest winter and its hottest summer - it's been a year of extremes.
Anyhow, besides dealing with the face melting Russian heat, it's been a splendid week. Last Friday I ended up having an unexpectedly fun-filled night. In the beginning, it seemed that no one was in the mood to do anything, but at 10:15 I finally found one other soldier to meet up and join with me on this Friday night of debauchery. We decided to go to Fidel's, the bar/dancing pit that always saves the night when all our options have run out. For about an hour my friend and I just had beers and talked as we waited for our other friend to join us. Just before she arrived, I got acquainted with a Russian who began talking with me by questioning me about the typical demographics of the bar on Friday nights. After about a sentence of my chaotic russian response, he realized that I was a foreigner and asked where I was from. We then continued to talk for another hour until my friends, along with my friend's Russian tutor & Russian friends, decided to move to another new club down the street. My new Russian friend came along with us and there taught me how to take a vodka shot like a proper Russian (apparently you have to exhale before you imbibe...). After the others had danced to their satisfaction, our group, led by the Russians, migrated over to the 24 hour produkti (oh how i will miss you.) to purchase 2 bottles of champagne, rum, coke and plastic cups for our canal party. We then sat along the canal until morning until one of my friends started feeling a little less than healthy. My Russian friend and I got her home in a cab and everything turned out alright. I ended up returning to my apartment at 5:30, but when I got to my door, I found out that my host parents had accidentally locked me out from the inside (I had left so late the night the before, I don't even think they realized that I had been out). I rang the doorbell at 6 o clock and still noone answered. Thus, I walked to the grocery store, bought a bubliki (kind of similar to a Russian bagel), walked around the park and then returned to my apartment around 6:30. I slept on the windowsill in the stairwell until 7:30 and then rang the doorbell again. This time however, my host mother came to the door, obviously surprised that I had been out. I then slept until 11 or so, then got up and met my friend Grace at Krestovskiy Ostrov, where my tutor had taken me earlier in the week. We rented bikes there and enjoyed the scenery - the bikes were a little expensive, but I'm totally glad that we did it - I had forgotten how nice it felt. The next day a small group of us went back to the Gulf of Finland to tan and swim for the day. And thus passed yet another unforgettable weekend in Peter.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. On Wednesday we had our excursion to the Baltika Brewery, in which we get to attend a taste testing of all their beers at the end of the tour. A small group had planned to go to the banya afterwards, but I decided not to go because I had a presentation due the next day (today) that I hadn't started yet. Instead a small group of us bought beer and Jaguars and drank under a tree in the Field of Mars for an hour or so. Today after class I went and walked around Aleksandrovskiy Sad for a little while before going home and saw three wedding parties all in the same area. After I got home and had talked with my mom on skype, I sat with my host father for probably a good couple of hours just talking about languages, education, and life. He made me salami and cheese roll and I swear the cheese tasted exactly like the string cheese that I used to eat everyday in elementary school - soo good :) I also finally found out that he is an engineer that makes ships and he actually manages about 100 workers. But right now he is on vacation until the end of the month (which I also didn't know. ). Lastly I found out that my littlest host sister is going to come back home soon! Looks like my days of candyland playing shall return once again!
Anyhow, besides dealing with the face melting Russian heat, it's been a splendid week. Last Friday I ended up having an unexpectedly fun-filled night. In the beginning, it seemed that no one was in the mood to do anything, but at 10:15 I finally found one other soldier to meet up and join with me on this Friday night of debauchery. We decided to go to Fidel's, the bar/dancing pit that always saves the night when all our options have run out. For about an hour my friend and I just had beers and talked as we waited for our other friend to join us. Just before she arrived, I got acquainted with a Russian who began talking with me by questioning me about the typical demographics of the bar on Friday nights. After about a sentence of my chaotic russian response, he realized that I was a foreigner and asked where I was from. We then continued to talk for another hour until my friends, along with my friend's Russian tutor & Russian friends, decided to move to another new club down the street. My new Russian friend came along with us and there taught me how to take a vodka shot like a proper Russian (apparently you have to exhale before you imbibe...). After the others had danced to their satisfaction, our group, led by the Russians, migrated over to the 24 hour produkti (oh how i will miss you.) to purchase 2 bottles of champagne, rum, coke and plastic cups for our canal party. We then sat along the canal until morning until one of my friends started feeling a little less than healthy. My Russian friend and I got her home in a cab and everything turned out alright. I ended up returning to my apartment at 5:30, but when I got to my door, I found out that my host parents had accidentally locked me out from the inside (I had left so late the night the before, I don't even think they realized that I had been out). I rang the doorbell at 6 o clock and still noone answered. Thus, I walked to the grocery store, bought a bubliki (kind of similar to a Russian bagel), walked around the park and then returned to my apartment around 6:30. I slept on the windowsill in the stairwell until 7:30 and then rang the doorbell again. This time however, my host mother came to the door, obviously surprised that I had been out. I then slept until 11 or so, then got up and met my friend Grace at Krestovskiy Ostrov, where my tutor had taken me earlier in the week. We rented bikes there and enjoyed the scenery - the bikes were a little expensive, but I'm totally glad that we did it - I had forgotten how nice it felt. The next day a small group of us went back to the Gulf of Finland to tan and swim for the day. And thus passed yet another unforgettable weekend in Peter.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. On Wednesday we had our excursion to the Baltika Brewery, in which we get to attend a taste testing of all their beers at the end of the tour. A small group had planned to go to the banya afterwards, but I decided not to go because I had a presentation due the next day (today) that I hadn't started yet. Instead a small group of us bought beer and Jaguars and drank under a tree in the Field of Mars for an hour or so. Today after class I went and walked around Aleksandrovskiy Sad for a little while before going home and saw three wedding parties all in the same area. After I got home and had talked with my mom on skype, I sat with my host father for probably a good couple of hours just talking about languages, education, and life. He made me salami and cheese roll and I swear the cheese tasted exactly like the string cheese that I used to eat everyday in elementary school - soo good :) I also finally found out that he is an engineer that makes ships and he actually manages about 100 workers. But right now he is on vacation until the end of the month (which I also didn't know. ). Lastly I found out that my littlest host sister is going to come back home soon! Looks like my days of candyland playing shall return once again!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Peter is hot.
Whew! Who knew Petersburg summers could be so hot??? This past week has probably been the hottest week that I've experienced since I've been in Russia. Though I'm pretty sure it's even hotter in America right now, I'm also fairly certain that more places have air conditioning than here. Nevertheless, I appreciate it after having to endure the freezing winter here and have been trying to take advantage of the sunny days we've been gifted with.
Last weekend was pretty busy. On Friday, our moped-riding friend from Amsterdam that we met in Warsaw arrived in St. Pete's so we met up with him and took out with us to the bar, SPB, where we celebrated one of the student's birthdays. It ended up being a pretty late night, but I still managed to get myself up at 9:30 the next morning to go with my host parents to visit my host sisters at their summer camp. The summer camp was amazing! It was maybe in hour or so away by car, so it was far enough away from the city that you could actually breathe comfortably. The camp had a pool, basketball court, playground, movie theater, dorms, cafeteria, and discoteka. My host father said it was pretty expensive to send your children there, but his company got him a discount. It was great to see the girls again - I missed them a lot this month! We took them with us to a river near the camp and grilled shashlik and tanned there for the afternoon. Before we went back home, we watched Alina have a swimming lesson and I took some pictures.
The next day was the fourth of July which our group decided to spend on the Gulf of Finland. We were going to set up base at one of the student's dachas, but he ended up getting bit by a dog (like me! but he wasn't wearing pants, so it was a bit more serious) and had to go get a rabies shot. Nevertheless, we took a train there in the morning anyway. I can't imagine a better way to have spent the fourth in Russia. We just tanned, swam, ate, and drank together all day long and then took the train back in the evening.
On Monday we had our weekly meeting and found out for certain that we are going to the north for our big trip! Apparently we will be taking several forms of transportation including boat, bus, and probably train, but we'll spend less time traveling than we did to Sochi. We are going to solovetskiy islands on the White Sea and petrozavodsk in the region of Karelia. Apparently, summer is one of the only times during the year that is even possible to visit there, so lots of Russians haven't even been there. He also said we'd probably get to do some nature-y things like rafting and rowing there, so I'm really excited!
On Tuesday, we went to a bar that we've been going to the past couple of weeks because it gives out free champagne to girls during certain times on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We think they've begun to notice that we come every week though and thus are a little bugged. Free champagne was supposed to start at 10, however, we had to wait an hour for our free bubbly. Nonetheless, we had a good time and we'll probably still go back - free is free.
Wednesday started out great because we finally got our hot water back and I had my first warm shower in two weeks! I don't think that I realized how lovely it was until I had to do without it. Then we had our excursion to the political history museum to which Grace and I had both already been, but had been looking forward to since we had had such a good experience the first time around. This time, however, we had to endure an hour-long "tour" about censuses (censi??), which took us on an expansive journey around a single tiny room (well, perhaps there were two at most). On top of this, I had made the poor decision to take painkillers that next morning, thinking that they would help numb my sore throat. I later found out that they were only muscle relaxers and while one was sufficient to numb the most powerful of headaches and muscle cramps, they wouldn't do a thing to help my throat. This I found out only after having taken three doses that morning. Needless to say, I had some difficulties listening to an hour-long Russian oration on historical censuses. There was, however, a film crew there making a commercial for the exhibition, so maybe we'll at least come away from the situations as Z-list celebrities. After the census tour(ture), we took a brief quick tour of the ACTUAL museum, which is actually pretty awesome. It just would have been better had we not all been exhausted from the previous hour of censuses.
After that, we went to a really great pelmeni restaurant which offered a wide assortment of different types of pelmeni, including mexican pelmeni! I went with one of the lunch specials because it came with beet salad, which I've grown really accustomed to. In the evening I met up with my tutor, Sasha and Anya at Krestovsky Island where the Russian mini-Disney world is located along with a gorgeous park. They arrived on bikes and traded off letting me ride around the park - I didn't realize how much I missed riding my bike! We first went and sat by a lake for a while, then went to a mini-zoo, which had ostriches and reindeer and rabbits. After that, Sasha and I rode up to see the Gulf of Finland and where a new stadium was going to be built. All in all, it was a great evening! We also made plans to get together this weekend to go to a club together, since I told them that I hadn't been to very many since I'd been here.
As I'm finishing up this entry, we are finally getting some much need rain here = hopefully it'll cool down the city a little bit! :)
Last weekend was pretty busy. On Friday, our moped-riding friend from Amsterdam that we met in Warsaw arrived in St. Pete's so we met up with him and took out with us to the bar, SPB, where we celebrated one of the student's birthdays. It ended up being a pretty late night, but I still managed to get myself up at 9:30 the next morning to go with my host parents to visit my host sisters at their summer camp. The summer camp was amazing! It was maybe in hour or so away by car, so it was far enough away from the city that you could actually breathe comfortably. The camp had a pool, basketball court, playground, movie theater, dorms, cafeteria, and discoteka. My host father said it was pretty expensive to send your children there, but his company got him a discount. It was great to see the girls again - I missed them a lot this month! We took them with us to a river near the camp and grilled shashlik and tanned there for the afternoon. Before we went back home, we watched Alina have a swimming lesson and I took some pictures.
The next day was the fourth of July which our group decided to spend on the Gulf of Finland. We were going to set up base at one of the student's dachas, but he ended up getting bit by a dog (like me! but he wasn't wearing pants, so it was a bit more serious) and had to go get a rabies shot. Nevertheless, we took a train there in the morning anyway. I can't imagine a better way to have spent the fourth in Russia. We just tanned, swam, ate, and drank together all day long and then took the train back in the evening.
On Monday we had our weekly meeting and found out for certain that we are going to the north for our big trip! Apparently we will be taking several forms of transportation including boat, bus, and probably train, but we'll spend less time traveling than we did to Sochi. We are going to solovetskiy islands on the White Sea and petrozavodsk in the region of Karelia. Apparently, summer is one of the only times during the year that is even possible to visit there, so lots of Russians haven't even been there. He also said we'd probably get to do some nature-y things like rafting and rowing there, so I'm really excited!
On Tuesday, we went to a bar that we've been going to the past couple of weeks because it gives out free champagne to girls during certain times on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We think they've begun to notice that we come every week though and thus are a little bugged. Free champagne was supposed to start at 10, however, we had to wait an hour for our free bubbly. Nonetheless, we had a good time and we'll probably still go back - free is free.
Wednesday started out great because we finally got our hot water back and I had my first warm shower in two weeks! I don't think that I realized how lovely it was until I had to do without it. Then we had our excursion to the political history museum to which Grace and I had both already been, but had been looking forward to since we had had such a good experience the first time around. This time, however, we had to endure an hour-long "tour" about censuses (censi??), which took us on an expansive journey around a single tiny room (well, perhaps there were two at most). On top of this, I had made the poor decision to take painkillers that next morning, thinking that they would help numb my sore throat. I later found out that they were only muscle relaxers and while one was sufficient to numb the most powerful of headaches and muscle cramps, they wouldn't do a thing to help my throat. This I found out only after having taken three doses that morning. Needless to say, I had some difficulties listening to an hour-long Russian oration on historical censuses. There was, however, a film crew there making a commercial for the exhibition, so maybe we'll at least come away from the situations as Z-list celebrities. After the census tour(ture), we took a brief quick tour of the ACTUAL museum, which is actually pretty awesome. It just would have been better had we not all been exhausted from the previous hour of censuses.
After that, we went to a really great pelmeni restaurant which offered a wide assortment of different types of pelmeni, including mexican pelmeni! I went with one of the lunch specials because it came with beet salad, which I've grown really accustomed to. In the evening I met up with my tutor, Sasha and Anya at Krestovsky Island where the Russian mini-Disney world is located along with a gorgeous park. They arrived on bikes and traded off letting me ride around the park - I didn't realize how much I missed riding my bike! We first went and sat by a lake for a while, then went to a mini-zoo, which had ostriches and reindeer and rabbits. After that, Sasha and I rode up to see the Gulf of Finland and where a new stadium was going to be built. All in all, it was a great evening! We also made plans to get together this weekend to go to a club together, since I told them that I hadn't been to very many since I'd been here.
As I'm finishing up this entry, we are finally getting some much need rain here = hopefully it'll cool down the city a little bit! :)
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