13 February 2009

I went last night to the Hillel’s “English club.” That was an interesting experience. I was the ‘guest of honor’ to some extent, as the only native speaker. It was an interesting experience. They asked me a lot of questions about America. They wanted to know about the politics, the culture, our relations with Russia, our impressions on Russian politics, and what my impressions of the city were. They asked me if I had been to Moscow, and what I thought of it. They told me that relations between Moscow and St. Petersburg are similar to that of Los Angeles and New York; stiff competition. It was an interesting night. This one guy there was asking me some really weird questions. For example, he said that he has heard that America is preparing to split into several smaller countries… I told him that if anything, we would be adding states. Most of the conversation was between Irina, these three people who spoke very good English, and me. The other eight or nine people hardly said anything. I felt uncomfortable when they asked for the American perspective on Russian politics, but they told me, which was true, that they had been honest with me when I asked about the Russian perspective on American politics, so I was honest with them. At the end of the night, I noticed that money was changing hands. Irina had asked me to stay after to talk, so when everyone left I asked her what that was about. She said people paid 150 rubles each for the English Club, because they had a very limited budget and she preferred to use Hillel money on strictly Jewish events. When I pulled out my wallet to give her money, however, she seemed surprised and said that I didn’t have to pay, and was actually planning on giving me money for helping out. I told her that wasn’t necessary and that if she would simply not insist on speaking in English with me every time we talked, I would call it even. She agreed, and told me about some other events coming up. They are having a debate on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict next week that sounded interesting, so I think I will go to that.
I’ve been trying to experience new tastes while I’m here. Today I went to a café and tried a soup called Щи that I had heard of, which has a cabbage base. It was delicious. I am really enjoying Russian soups. I don’t think I’ve gone into the Philological department main building a single time without stopping in their café for a bowl or two of whatever they are serving. I drank Кисель the other night, as well. I had read about it in a fairy tale in Dr. Lehrman’s class, and when I saw it in a café I had to try it. It was weird…the people I was with didn’t know all the ingredients, but they said they knew it had cranberry juice and potato powder in it. It had a very tart taste, and along the top of the glass was a filmy skin with the consistency of glue. It tasted alright, but the gluey surface made it a little tough to drink…so of course I stopped after the second glass.
Today in class, my instructor assigned us to go to the bookstore and buy a copy of Gogol’s short story ‘Nose.” It was funny when she gave the assignment, because she basically told us to go this weekend to the nearest bookstore and buy Gogol’s nose. She started laughing and had to tell us that if we need any help from a salesperson, make sure to phrase it differently. I’m going to go tomorrow at some point. I’m also meeting up with Вова tomorrow. We are going to meet around 11 to walk around the city a bit and tour a museum. I am looking forward to it, because I haven’t been to any museums yet. I’ve been mentally putting together a list of places I want to see, and started memorizing bus and metro stops where I can find them.