18 February 2009

Last night I went to the Hillel for an event they were having called “Yes and No: Both sides of the Arab/Israeli Conflict.” I was nervous about it, because while I was very interested, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to follow what was going on. However, I showed up early, got a good seat, and really enjoyed the discussion. It was four professors from the university, two seemed to lean more towards Palestine, while the other two seemed to be more Pro-Israeli. I’m not sure who the moderator was, but he certainly knew what he was talking about as well. It was really an interesting discussion. One of the pro-Israeli speakers kept discussing America’s influence on the situation, and I enjoyed hearing the foreign interpretation of American politics, though I didn’t agree with everything he said. There were two question and answer periods, and I tried to ask a question during one of them unsuccessfully. I wrote out my question in English, and then started translating (I started with English because I needed to jot down my thoughts before I could phrase it). I wasn’t sure how to say part of it, so I asked a kid there I knew. He told me to give it to Irina (the director) in English and she would translate it…I wasn’t sure that she’d be able to, because while I know her English is good, she’s not completely fluent. Regardless, I wrote it out neatly and passed it to her, asking her to translate and ask the question. I saw her look at it for a few minutes, and show it to the people around her, and then about 5 minutes later passed it back with a note written on it that said “this question has been already, in softer form.” I think she was trying to tell me that someone had already asked the question, but I know it hadn’t, so I think she just didn’t know how to translate it. That’s fine though, it was my own fault for not just taking the chance and asking myself. It was a tough question. Afterwards I saw a girl I knew, and she introduced me to three others, and the five of us went to the metro together, and then one of them lived near me so we rode the next subway together. Because the discussion went much later than I thought it would, I had to walk back from the metro stop, I suppose around a mile or so. Around 11pm the busses stop running, and I didn’t get out of the metro until around quarter after. I didn’t mind the distance, but it was cold.
Today after class my instructor asked me to stay after, and then asked me if I would be interested in working with the philological department helping Russian students study their English. It would be 1-2 days a week, and I would be paid. I told her I would think about it, because I am already doing it with the Hillel. She gave me her cell number, and told me to let her know by Friday. I really don’t want another reason to speak English, but I am volunteering at the Hillel (even though they offered to pay me as well) and it would be nice to make some money while I’m here, make some more friends, and have something to add to my resume. Speaking of, I have to make a resume in Russian for one of my classes. She gave us a sample, and it is very strange. The person lists their marital status and that they have two kids. You would never see that in America…
After I left the university, I went across the river to take a look at a hotel Brittany found for when she comes next month. I had trouble finding it, because the street it was on for whatever reason wasn’t in any map (online either) and I’d never heard of it. It was supposed to be part of the Admiralty complex. When I got to the spot where there should have been an entrance to the street, there was a giant gate and a kid in a military academy uniform standing guard. I realized I had no choice but to ask him, so after about five minutes of collecting myself I went up and asked him about it. He said that the entire building was a military academy, and that he had never heard of the hotel or the street, and suggested I look somewhere up on Nevskii Prospekt. I guess I was lucky- either he was younger than I thought he was and was intimidated by me or he was just unusually personable for a Russian cop-in-training. Nevertheless, I circled the block and found it. It was in a really nice area, but I couldn’t get in. The front door was locked, and after I rang three times and waited ten minutes, nobody came to unlock it, so I left. I will try again later this week. Perhaps the concierge was on a lunch break or something.
Tonight I went to the Laundromat, despite my protests. It wasn’t bad. For 120 rubles you can drop off your laundry and detergent and come back in three hours and pick up your clothes cleaned, dried, and folded. It was funny when I dropped them off- I went with Valentin, and he asked the woman to wash his clothes in colder water because he found that his pants and shirts felt tighter lately. I joked that he had been eating too much, and her answer to him was that he should go for a run once in a while and everything will be fine (Valentin is about 6’2, and I’d be surprised if he’s much more than 120). After that, she said that if we’d like we can tell her what clothing can’t go in the drier, and she returned it to us after it was washed for us to air dry. Its really a pretty convenient system (even though I didn’t want to use it). I think I will probably continue to wash my socks myself, however, because its not particularly difficult and it will save me trips to the Laundromat.