I had a very busy weekend. Friday after class, I got back home and it looked like Olga had returned early. Things had been moved around in the apartment, but she wasn’t here. I assumed I would see her later, so I went back out. I met with this girl who had been emailing me for a while now about doing a language exchange, and while I didn’t really want to meet with her, instead of initially saying I couldn’t I just kept saying ‘I’m busy’ and that we’d have to meet later…and it wasn’t really fair to her to keep doing that. We met at some really strange coffee shop…inside it was dark, there were black lights everywhere, and there was techno music playing… at four in the afternoon. We talked for a while, and then left and walked around for a bit until she had to go to class. She took out some work from her English class, and asked me a lot of questions, I assumed she was studying or had some questions from some previous assignment…but as we finished I realized that it was the homework due that evening, and I had essentially just done her homework for her. She was very nice, but talked so much that it really wasn’t useful for me at all. I told her I didn’t know if/when we could meet again, but she was welcome to write me.
When I got back from my meeting, things had been moved around the apartment further, but Olga still wasn’t here. I went out to the grocery store down the street to get a couple things, and when I got back there was a note on the kitchen table that said “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you, I’ve gone to my country house. Call me.”
When I called, she explained that she was only home long enough to change her bags and make some food, because she was worried about her cat who had been alone in her country house for five days. She also invited me to come spend a few days with her, and even suggested I invite a friend or two (I’m sure she was hinting at Valentin). I told her I didn’t know if/when I’d be able to, and she said to give her a call. I’d really like to go visit, but a) I have very little time left and with trying to cram in as much as possible I don’t have that much free time and b) I think it would be extremely boring. I think when she’s there she either gardens or sits and reads all day.
Saturday morning I got up and met An, and the two of us went back down to the souvenir market in the south of the city and we each bought the last of our souvenirs (I only got one thing, he got a few). He told me that he mailed home about a hundred and twenty pounds of books and souvenirs. He also told me that there is no hot water in the dorm right now (every year after winter ends they do routine maintenance on the pipes and for about two weeks or so a different region is without hot water) so they have been taking cold showers. Apparently Kaevan, the new roommate, didn’t want to take a cold shower, so he took the electric kettle that everyone shares, as well as borrowed An’s electric kettle (a total of about 4 liters), turned them on at the same time, and shorted out the electricity in the kitchen. Good job. I’m not really sure what his plan was, anyway… fill up the bathtub four liters at a time?
When I first met with him, he told me he had remembered his promise. Back when I lived in the dorm, I mentioned that I wanted chopsticks, and went out and bought a pair of cheap chopsticks at the Chinese market that had previously been next-door. He told me I didn’t have to buy them, because he would give them to me. Well, he gave me a set (four pairs) of beautiful metal chopsticks engraved with tree-branches and leaves. He also gave me a magazine on Taiwanese sports printed in Russian that he got at his consulate, and a small chain with a design and colorful stones on it. He told me that he had given similar chains to Sasha, Nikita and Valentin as well, but I don’t imagine he brought that many sets of chopsticks with him. I didn’t know what to do because I hadn’t really brought any sort of American symbol or souvenir I could give as a gift, so I gave him my good pen. We also exchanged addresses, so at some point I’ll mail him something American. Maybe a fork.
That evening I met with a friend and saw a play. It was called “The Owl and the Pussycat” and is apparently an American play. I didn’t particularly like it. It was about a poor writer living in California who falls in love with a prostitute who stumbles into his apartment accidentally, thinking that he is someone else. I agree with my friend that went with me: it probably would have been better to read the play. The whole play was performed by two people, and I didn’t think they were right for their roles. All in all, I’m still glad that I made it to a play at some point while I was here, even if it was an American play.
Today Hillel had a big summer picnic just outside of the city. Tickets were free to volunteers, and as I ran the English club for five months, Irina invited me to come for free. It was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of activities planned to help/force people to get acquainted, games, barbecue, a musical performance, a scavenger hunt, and some people went swimming (it was on the side of a lake).
At one point we split into four groups, and the group I was in played a sort of ice-breaker. There was a long sheet of paper with 0-30 written on a number line, and we had to take markers and write our name three times by numbers representing ages when we had significant occurrences in our lives. After everyone had written, Misha went through the list and had everyone tell the group what our event was. My personal favorite was this one guy who said “at three years old I ate my mom’s lipstick and spent a few days in the hospital. I got a whole new outlook on life. Then at twenty five I lost my childhood, and at thirty I lost my mind.”
Later a guy came up to me and said “are you David?” in English, and when I answered he explained to me that he was a graduate student from Brown in the Journalism department, and would be in Russia for six weeks studying Russian, but didn’t know anyone there and as he had only been studying the language for two weeks, was having a lot of trouble communicating. He seemed like he had some very strong opinions already about Russia, and asked me some questions about my background. He seemed very condescending, but I chalked it up to him spending the day at a picnic where he doesn’t understand the language or know anyone. I helped him by translating with the two guys he had been sitting with, and shortly after the trivial game started. I was trying to help my team, but after asking me to translate for him, he kept talking to me while they were reading the questions, and then got frustrated when I couldn’t tell him what they were.
There was an old man there who I had never seen before (kind of strange at a picnic for the Jewish youth organization, but random people show up from time to time) and out of nowhere Adam (the American) said he wanted to speak to him about his life. I told him he was probably more interested in playing the trivia game, so he agreed to wait until the man went and sat down. I walked over with him, and he immediately got to business. I tried to make his questions less aggressive, but he really had no tact at all. It was basically “hi, how are you, nice to meet you… so how has Jewish life changed in the time you have been living in St. Petersburg?” to which he said “I don’t know. I went to synagogue when I was younger, I go to synagogue now.” Adam kept trying to ask the same question in different ways, but he kept getting the same kinds of simple answers. Adam asked what kind of changes he’s felt in his Jewish identity since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the old man got frustrated and said “why such questions? We’re sitting here relaxing. It’s a nice day. Why don’t you ask him why the sky is blue? See if he can answer that one, and I’ll answer his.” I translated, and Adam asked him what an old man was doing at a party for youth. I wasn’t going to say that…so I just asked him what his affiliation was with Hillel. He explained that it was his first time at a Hillel function, but had heard about it and wanted to see what it would be. When I relayed to Adam, he said “oh, so he’s a bum. He really has no place here at all. I guess that’s cool. Ask him if he feels weird being the oldest one here. Do you think we can ask him how old he is?” and I told Adam that we’re at a picnic, he wasn’t going to get any answers he wanted out of him, and that his questions were really rude. While I was saying this to Adam, the old man said he was done with the interview, got up, and walked away.
Adam told me that Russian is his fourth foreign language, and started explaining to me how he doesn’t understand why Russians are so ignorant. He told me that it’s beyond him why Russians are incapable of having intellectual conversations and reflecting on the past. As he was saying this I saw my friend Sveta not too far away, and decided to introduce them, thinking perhaps she could change his mind. Sveta is Russian, speaks French and English fluently, has been to about two dozen countries, and teaches Russian and English to diplomats and businessmen/women from all over the world. I immediately felt bad that I had subjected her to him. After trying to hit on her, he started explaining to her how he thinks Russian is fairly easy (after two weeks of study…) and that he doesn’t understand why the Russian education system is so bad. He said that the current system in Russia is like the American system back in the 1960s. I told him that I didn’t agree, and he said that if he was to teach in America the way Russian’s teach, he would be fired. I told him that he hasn’t been here long enough to make that kind of elitist judgment, and that I’m sure if he tried to teach in Russia he would have a lot of problems as well. I said that I’ve been here for five months, and I don’t think that the system here is better or worse, just different because it’s a different culture. I also said that I don’t agree that the Russian method for foreign language study is so terrible, because in my experience with Russians studying English, while they tend to have a lot of problems with conversational English they usually read and write exceptionally well. I don’t think he liked being called an elitist, and he said “well, I never thought of it like that, but I have a master’s degree in…” and at that point I stopped paying attention. As soon as he started quoting his qualifications to prove to me why he knows so much more than everyone else there, I had no more interest in listening to him. I think Sveta noticed the look on my face, and suggested we get on line for food.
While we were on line, he started trying to talk to the people around him. He (asking me for help every other sentence) met Ilya, a guy who had come to English club once in the past. He’s very nice, and speaks English about as well as Adam speaks Russian. They went back and forth asking where each was from, and when Ilya asked Adam why he was in Russia, he explained that he was in the city to study Russian for six weeks. I don’t know if it was just a reflex or if he didn’t realize it was a weird question, but he asked Ilya what he was doing in St. Petersburg. Ilya looked confused and asked him what he meant, and Adam repeated the question. Ilya said “well…I live and work in St. Petersburg…” and slowly walked away awkwardly. I started laughing, and after that Adam didn’t talk to me much.
Tomorrow Valentin, An and I are meeting for our farewell dinner. As An is the first to leave, he has the choice of restaurant, and for some reason he chose a Japanese restaurant. I would think he would want Russian food for his last night in the country… but it’s his choice. We invited Sasha and Nikita to join us, but Nikita has moved out of the city for the summer, and as for Sasha, as a student in the military academy he has some sort of responsibilities or drills outside of the city this week and last.
