Had a busy weekend. Friday I left class during our half-way break, and took a bus home. On the way, I picked up some flowers, and dropped off my books at the dorm. Then I hopped on the metro and met Vova near his office. I guess he wanted to get a spot close to the metro, so he just put it in a spot marked ‘no parking’ blocking a driveway. He told me to meet him at 1, and I got there about three or four minutes after. As we approached his car, we saw two security guards pushing it down the street. We ran and got in as one of the men yelled at Vova to pay attention to street signs. Apparently they were trying to get a truck out, so they just pushed it out of the spot.
We got to the airport very early, so we sat at a café for a while. Vova drank the biggest cup of coffee I’ve ever seen. The mug was about ¾ of a liter. When Brittany’s plane showed up, I gave her the flowers, chocolates, and chocolate cow I had waiting for her. I went to the chocolate museum a few days ago to pick up the cow. I spent a while looking at different animals, and was deciding between two dogs when I asked a women there for her advice. She suggested instead of a dog, getting a cow. I told her that that was a strange gift to give a woman. Then all the women in the store started arguing with each other about it, but unanimously agreed that a cow was the best gift for me to give a girl. I told them that in my country it is somewhat of an insult to associate giving a woman chocolate with cows… but they didn’t seem to get it…So I bought the cow.
Vova wasn’t able to join us for dinner, so after he dropped us at her hotel to check in, I took her to see my dorm so I could grab some things, and we went out to a light dinner at a café.
Saturday morning we went to the giant mall on Nevskii Prospekt. It was formerly a mansion belonging to a friend of Peter I which has since been turned into a shopping center. They sell pretty much anything anyone could be looking for from countries all over the world, and we went there to walk around and kill some time. After an hour or so, we went to the metro and rode down to the southern outskirts of the city, where I had bought tickets to a circus. I had told Brittany that I had bought tickets to a show that I promised she would like, but wouldn’t tell her where. She got really excited when we walked out of the subway station and saw the giant circus tent.
It was a good show, but the animals looked incredibly abused. They had horses dancing, bears riding motorcycles (and salsa dancing), parrots on tricycles, and dogs jumping rope. It was really something…but you couldn’t ignore the looks on the trainers’ faces as they cracked their whips every time an animal came out. We had a lot of fun though- we ate lots of caramel corn and were probably the only people there who didn’t bring little kids.
Following the circus, it was still too early for dinner, so I took her up to Dostoevskaya to see the ‘women’s’ mall’. She did however find 3 stores (in the five story mall) aimed towards men…but there wasn’t a single person in any of them. We walked around for an hour or so, and then went back to the metro to find dinner.
We went to a restaurant I know near my university, where we had a really great dinner. Shchi (a classic Russian cabbage soup), a salad (made of egg, potatoes, chicken, peas, pine nuts, mayonnaise, cucumbers, and who knows what else), and bacon-wrapped chicken kebobs (we each ate the same thing).
Sunday the weather was miserable, so we decided that it was a good day to go to a museum. We went to the Russian Museum, where we saw a lot of interesting artwork and artifacts. After the Russian Museum, we stopped for a light late lunch at a café, and then went to the Chocolate Museum. I’m not sure which museum Brittany liked more…
Following the Chocolate Museum, we went back to the mall so Brittany could get some ideas for souvenirs to bring home. It had been pouring all day, so after the mall we went to her hotel (right down the street) to dry off, and then went out to eat. I took her to Теремок for another taste of Russian food. I ordered her some Морс (a cranberry/grape juice drink) and a блин filled with chicken and cabbage in some kind of mayonnaise sauce. I had the same but with квас. After dinner, we went back to the dorm (Valentin still isn’t back from Romania yet?) and we tried to watch a Russian movie (with me doing translations) but it didn’t work out very well. It turns out I’m not very good at dubbing both sides of a conversation…movies intended to be comedies turn out very boring.
Today we are going to the hermitage. I’m not sure what else we are doing, but I think I am going to find some borsht for her to try…
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
25 March 2009
So far this week is going well. Sunday I went to Pavlovsk with a friend (small town to the south of the city). We rented Finnish sleighs and rode around the ice for a while. That was fun. Its kind of like a razor scooter with ice skates. There are two long blades that come up in the front to form handles, and little rubber blocks on the bottom for you to put your feet on. You propel yourself with one foot at a time, switching feet to keep going straight. They go really slow, and if you try going downhill you speed up very quickly and fall on your face into the snow…several times.
Monday after class An and I went back to the political history museum. It turns out when I went with Jordan, we missed more than half the museum. It is split into two halves, and we rushed through the smaller half, thinking we had managed to see the whole place. There was a small exhibit on Yuri Gagarin, and I asked one of the women working there if there were any museums in the city with larger exhibits about him, and she told me she didn’t think so. I told her that can’t be true, because he’s a Russian hero. She said that a museum about him would be more likely in his hometown, probably somewhere in Latvia or maybe Moscow. I asked Juris…Gagarin was definitely not Latvian. I’ll ask around or look online.
Yesterday I finally started studying for the standardized test(s) I have to take before I leave. The ТРКИ (Test of the Russian Language as a Foreigner)is the Russian one I am preparing for, and the American version is the TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language). From what I understand, they are basically the exact same test; same format, same sections, just written by different people. I am told that the majority of students here take level 2 (talking about the Russian test) which is the general certification level. I would really love to try level 3. I think it will be hard, but it would be great for my qualifications if I can do it. I started studying testing materials yesterday, and I am going to speak to some of my instructors at the university about it. I started with the reading comprehension section, and I was able to get through and answer all of the questions, but I was going slower than the time allotted. It was encouraging, however.
Before we started studying, we went to the café in the university and had a quick lunch. It was me, my friend Pamela (from Italy), her friend Mirella (also from Italy) and Mirella’s roommate Caroline (from France). I heard people at the next table speaking in American English, and I remarked quietly to Pamela that our neighbors were Americans. She blushed, and said ‘what did you say?’ I repeated it, and she said “oh, ok, I thought you said….” And said something in Italian I didn’t understand, but it sounded like “Belgrade.” Then I was confused, and asked her what she was talking about. She repeated it, and I asked her why she was talking about the capitol of Serbia. Then she was confused again, and told me that she thought I said the Italian word for “beautiful girl.” I said “oh no, I didn’t, I was just talking about the Americans at the next table.” Then it was awkward for a minute or two, because I had just more or less said ‘no of course I wouldn’t say that.’
Caroline mentioned to me that her computer wasn’t working, and asked if I knew anything about computers. I suggested she ask one of the ten million Chinese kids studying at the university, so she put up a sign in the dorm. At the beginning of her roommate’s birthday party (description coming up) this guy Hung showed up. He is Brazilian, but also Chinese (I'm not sure either...). I like him. When we were discussing vegetarianism in my discussion class, he told the professor that its impossible to be a vegetarian in his country, because in Brazil the meat is like rain. Anyway, he started working on her computer, and I had a great time watching. Her Russian isn’t great, and his is better than his, but he was having a really hard time explaining the situation to her. It would go like this: “so, you had a virus. What were you doing when you got the virus? Meaning…imagine today you have a virus. Yesterday you didn’t have a virus. You go the virus today. What were you doing yesterday? How did you get the virus? Today you have it…yesterday you didn’t. what did you do yesterday?” and she would answer “my computer doesn’t work…” She kept asking me how to say things in Russian (she speaks some English) until finally I said “Why are you asking me? He speaks English…” and then they switched languages, and they got along a lot better. It wasn’t funny anymore, though. They must have gone back and forth in Russian for about twenty minutes. It was kind of like a Russian “who’s on first?” routine.
Yesterday was Mirella’s birthday, and the invited Sasha (my block-mate who studies Italian) and I to her birthday party. We went, and it was some experience. there were about 30 people (only four of which were actual Russians) crammed into a two-person bedroom. It was a great time- there was cake, champagne, singing, and I made a lot of new friends, including two other people going on the trip to Moscow. I’m not sure if I mentioned that- Pamela and Mirella invited me to go with them to Moscow for a weekend at the end of April. There is some group that sponsors foreign students to explore the country, and we can get a free train ticket to Moscow. We would take a night train there, spend the day (maybe two) in the city, then take the night train back. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go. I was also invited this week by my friend Marina to take part in a Taglit (program similar to birthright) trip to Poland the week before. For $250 I have my transportation, hotel, insurance, and all other expenses except food paid for (they cover visas too, but as an American I don’t need one) for a week in Poland. It was on my list of places I would like to go, but had taken it off because it was too far. With an opportunity like this, however, I think I will definitely go. It will be a long week though- two days on the train to get there, a week in Poland, two days on the train back, then I have a day and a half rest before I’m back on the train to Moscow. I’m not 100% sure what would be going on in Poland. The theme is ‘European Jewish Catastrophe’ so we would be going to concentration camps and hearing talks on the topic. I would miss a week of class, but I’ll be in a group of Russian students, so I will still be getting practice, and I had planned on travel anyway. This might have to be in place of either my Ukrainian or Belorussian trip, because I found out as an American I need visas for both countries, and they are somewhat expensive. I did however find out that I can go to Latvia without a visa, and that the train ticket is reasonably inexpensive. So perhaps I will get to spend some time with the Pupcenokses after all.
Other than that, Brittany is coming on Friday, so I am still getting everything in order for that. I am lucky that my friend Vova offered to give me a lift to the airport to pick her up. Coming from the university, I was worried that I might get there late via public transportation. I am still trying to figure out what to do getting back there for her flight home, however. Her flight is at 7:20 so she should be there around six am I am assuming, and public transportation doesn’t start until six. I got the number of a 24 hour cab service from a friend, and we might just do that. Its either that, or I am thinking about just offering a friend money to give us a ride.
That’s all for now.
Monday after class An and I went back to the political history museum. It turns out when I went with Jordan, we missed more than half the museum. It is split into two halves, and we rushed through the smaller half, thinking we had managed to see the whole place. There was a small exhibit on Yuri Gagarin, and I asked one of the women working there if there were any museums in the city with larger exhibits about him, and she told me she didn’t think so. I told her that can’t be true, because he’s a Russian hero. She said that a museum about him would be more likely in his hometown, probably somewhere in Latvia or maybe Moscow. I asked Juris…Gagarin was definitely not Latvian. I’ll ask around or look online.
Yesterday I finally started studying for the standardized test(s) I have to take before I leave. The ТРКИ (Test of the Russian Language as a Foreigner)is the Russian one I am preparing for, and the American version is the TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language). From what I understand, they are basically the exact same test; same format, same sections, just written by different people. I am told that the majority of students here take level 2 (talking about the Russian test) which is the general certification level. I would really love to try level 3. I think it will be hard, but it would be great for my qualifications if I can do it. I started studying testing materials yesterday, and I am going to speak to some of my instructors at the university about it. I started with the reading comprehension section, and I was able to get through and answer all of the questions, but I was going slower than the time allotted. It was encouraging, however.
Before we started studying, we went to the café in the university and had a quick lunch. It was me, my friend Pamela (from Italy), her friend Mirella (also from Italy) and Mirella’s roommate Caroline (from France). I heard people at the next table speaking in American English, and I remarked quietly to Pamela that our neighbors were Americans. She blushed, and said ‘what did you say?’ I repeated it, and she said “oh, ok, I thought you said….” And said something in Italian I didn’t understand, but it sounded like “Belgrade.” Then I was confused, and asked her what she was talking about. She repeated it, and I asked her why she was talking about the capitol of Serbia. Then she was confused again, and told me that she thought I said the Italian word for “beautiful girl.” I said “oh no, I didn’t, I was just talking about the Americans at the next table.” Then it was awkward for a minute or two, because I had just more or less said ‘no of course I wouldn’t say that.’
Caroline mentioned to me that her computer wasn’t working, and asked if I knew anything about computers. I suggested she ask one of the ten million Chinese kids studying at the university, so she put up a sign in the dorm. At the beginning of her roommate’s birthday party (description coming up) this guy Hung showed up. He is Brazilian, but also Chinese (I'm not sure either...). I like him. When we were discussing vegetarianism in my discussion class, he told the professor that its impossible to be a vegetarian in his country, because in Brazil the meat is like rain. Anyway, he started working on her computer, and I had a great time watching. Her Russian isn’t great, and his is better than his, but he was having a really hard time explaining the situation to her. It would go like this: “so, you had a virus. What were you doing when you got the virus? Meaning…imagine today you have a virus. Yesterday you didn’t have a virus. You go the virus today. What were you doing yesterday? How did you get the virus? Today you have it…yesterday you didn’t. what did you do yesterday?” and she would answer “my computer doesn’t work…” She kept asking me how to say things in Russian (she speaks some English) until finally I said “Why are you asking me? He speaks English…” and then they switched languages, and they got along a lot better. It wasn’t funny anymore, though. They must have gone back and forth in Russian for about twenty minutes. It was kind of like a Russian “who’s on first?” routine.
Yesterday was Mirella’s birthday, and the invited Sasha (my block-mate who studies Italian) and I to her birthday party. We went, and it was some experience. there were about 30 people (only four of which were actual Russians) crammed into a two-person bedroom. It was a great time- there was cake, champagne, singing, and I made a lot of new friends, including two other people going on the trip to Moscow. I’m not sure if I mentioned that- Pamela and Mirella invited me to go with them to Moscow for a weekend at the end of April. There is some group that sponsors foreign students to explore the country, and we can get a free train ticket to Moscow. We would take a night train there, spend the day (maybe two) in the city, then take the night train back. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go. I was also invited this week by my friend Marina to take part in a Taglit (program similar to birthright) trip to Poland the week before. For $250 I have my transportation, hotel, insurance, and all other expenses except food paid for (they cover visas too, but as an American I don’t need one) for a week in Poland. It was on my list of places I would like to go, but had taken it off because it was too far. With an opportunity like this, however, I think I will definitely go. It will be a long week though- two days on the train to get there, a week in Poland, two days on the train back, then I have a day and a half rest before I’m back on the train to Moscow. I’m not 100% sure what would be going on in Poland. The theme is ‘European Jewish Catastrophe’ so we would be going to concentration camps and hearing talks on the topic. I would miss a week of class, but I’ll be in a group of Russian students, so I will still be getting practice, and I had planned on travel anyway. This might have to be in place of either my Ukrainian or Belorussian trip, because I found out as an American I need visas for both countries, and they are somewhat expensive. I did however find out that I can go to Latvia without a visa, and that the train ticket is reasonably inexpensive. So perhaps I will get to spend some time with the Pupcenokses after all.
Other than that, Brittany is coming on Friday, so I am still getting everything in order for that. I am lucky that my friend Vova offered to give me a lift to the airport to pick her up. Coming from the university, I was worried that I might get there late via public transportation. I am still trying to figure out what to do getting back there for her flight home, however. Her flight is at 7:20 so she should be there around six am I am assuming, and public transportation doesn’t start until six. I got the number of a 24 hour cab service from a friend, and we might just do that. Its either that, or I am thinking about just offering a friend money to give us a ride.
That’s all for now.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
21 March 2009
I decided to go to services at the Hillel last night. I wasn’t feeling particularly religious or anything, but I have never been and I had no plans. Originally I was going to go to the gym, but I hadn’t slept well the night before so I took a nap after class that ended up going much later than planned, so it meant I had to do one or the other. I chose services. On my way there, I saw a dead body on the sidewalk…
Walking from the metro to the building, I noticed a gap in the sidewalk where there were no people, and saw something laying on the ground that I assumed was garbage. As I got closer, I realized it was a body, laying face down on the pavement, face-planted and with the legs from the knee down hanging over the curb at a strange angle, rigid and shoeless. There was a small sheet of white plastic covering the back of the head and a portion of the person’s back, and there were two cops standing over the body smoking and talking. While I’m not 100% sure that this was a dead person, I’m fairly certain. When I was on my way back to the metro after services, the body was gone.
I’m not sure whether or not I liked services…it was a strange experience for me. It wasn’t overly religious, and it was very friendly…but for whatever reason I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t think I’ll go back.
I met up with Jordan today. He’s the guy I met at the consulate back in January when I was picking up my visa. He was in the city for a week, and told me he hadn’t done any sightseeing other than one afternoon at the hermitage and walking past the Church on Spilled Blood, so I told him he had to do something else before he left. We had a really full day.
We met up around 11, and planned out our day. First we went to the Naval Museum (Jordan is in the Marines, but he was interested and I didn’t mind). It was alright…not really what I’m into, but they had a lot of artifacts, models, and pieces of boats from a few hundred years ago
After that, we had a quick lunch, and headed up to the Peter and Paul Fortress…but didn’t make it inside. Across the street we saw a big exhibit of artillery cannons and tanks, and Jordan wanted to take a look. We went and walked around, and realized we were at the War-History Museum, so we went inside. That was another really interesting museum. They had armaments and armor dating back to the early 1700s, and as recent as the 1970s. At one point we were in a section showing letters from various presidents and prime ministers around the world to the Soviet Union congratulating them for victory in world war two (interestingly, instead of ‘The Allied Forces’ as we call it, in Russian it is the ‘Anti-Hitler Coalition’). Above the letters, they had a French, British, and American flag from the 1940s. A family walked by as we were looking at the exhibit, and a little kid, probably four or five years old, pointed at the flags and said “is that one ours?” and both parents at the same time quickly snapped back ‘NO!’ and without thinking I said ‘no its ours’. The father looked surprised, and asked which one. I pointed to the American flag. ‘That one’s yours?” “Yes, its ours.” And then he congratulated us, and all of us laughed (except Jordan who I don’t think knew what was going on). It was a fun exchange.
Afterwards, we went to the State Museum of Russian Political History. I enjoyed that one most of all. Unfortunately, because we had already had a relatively full day, we got there with only 45 minutes before closing. We rushed through, and towards the end one of the women told me that if we come back in the next two days with our ticket and tell the cashier that we weren’t able to see the whole museum, they will let us back in for free. I think I will definitely come back on Monday after class, there was a lot more I would like to see.
When we first got there, we ran into two of Jordan’s classmates. They told us they had been there for a while, and were reading some binder that described all the exhibits in English. I took one, and the woman watching the room told me I didn’t need it, and that there were explanations in Russian on all the exhibits (I had already spoken to her briefly when I walked in to find out how much time we had to tour). I put it back, and as we headed to the next room she came after us and told Jordan’s friends that there were different binders for each room. I think if I wasn’t there to translate she would have followed them all over the museum trying to get them back…
In one of the rooms they had two telephones set up, and directions in both English and Russian to pick up the receiver and listen to a ‘funny story’. I picked it up, and listened to the story being told (only in Russian). I asked the woman watching the room why they had instructions printed in English if the man telling the story spoke only in Russian. She told me that they had the translation of the text in the English binder for the room, but I told her that I wasn’t asking for a translation, but I was asking why they would encourage people who don’t speak Russian to pick up the phone. She thought it was amusing and told me to write it in the guestbook. She said I was the first person to ever ask that.
After that, we cut across the Michaelovskii Garden, past the Russian Museum and then down Nevskii Prospekt just to show Jordan the street, and we stopped off in a shopping center (one I never noticed before) and went into a café and had a drink. The cashier seemed particularly interested in Jordan, so we invited her to sit with us. I acted as translator between them as he asked her all kinds of cultural questions, and strangely the only question she asked us was how to say творог in English (a kind of cheese). Apparently they get a lot of foreigners in the cafe, and she never knows how to tell them what is in the pastries.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself today. I had a good time with Jordan, and I had a chance to see a lot of new things. I hadn’t been to a museum in a few weeks, and if I hadn’t made plans with him, I was going to go myself. I doubt I would have gotten to see as much, though. Tomorrow I’m meeting with a friend and going to Pavlosk.
Walking from the metro to the building, I noticed a gap in the sidewalk where there were no people, and saw something laying on the ground that I assumed was garbage. As I got closer, I realized it was a body, laying face down on the pavement, face-planted and with the legs from the knee down hanging over the curb at a strange angle, rigid and shoeless. There was a small sheet of white plastic covering the back of the head and a portion of the person’s back, and there were two cops standing over the body smoking and talking. While I’m not 100% sure that this was a dead person, I’m fairly certain. When I was on my way back to the metro after services, the body was gone.
I’m not sure whether or not I liked services…it was a strange experience for me. It wasn’t overly religious, and it was very friendly…but for whatever reason I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t think I’ll go back.
I met up with Jordan today. He’s the guy I met at the consulate back in January when I was picking up my visa. He was in the city for a week, and told me he hadn’t done any sightseeing other than one afternoon at the hermitage and walking past the Church on Spilled Blood, so I told him he had to do something else before he left. We had a really full day.
We met up around 11, and planned out our day. First we went to the Naval Museum (Jordan is in the Marines, but he was interested and I didn’t mind). It was alright…not really what I’m into, but they had a lot of artifacts, models, and pieces of boats from a few hundred years ago
After that, we had a quick lunch, and headed up to the Peter and Paul Fortress…but didn’t make it inside. Across the street we saw a big exhibit of artillery cannons and tanks, and Jordan wanted to take a look. We went and walked around, and realized we were at the War-History Museum, so we went inside. That was another really interesting museum. They had armaments and armor dating back to the early 1700s, and as recent as the 1970s. At one point we were in a section showing letters from various presidents and prime ministers around the world to the Soviet Union congratulating them for victory in world war two (interestingly, instead of ‘The Allied Forces’ as we call it, in Russian it is the ‘Anti-Hitler Coalition’). Above the letters, they had a French, British, and American flag from the 1940s. A family walked by as we were looking at the exhibit, and a little kid, probably four or five years old, pointed at the flags and said “is that one ours?” and both parents at the same time quickly snapped back ‘NO!’ and without thinking I said ‘no its ours’. The father looked surprised, and asked which one. I pointed to the American flag. ‘That one’s yours?” “Yes, its ours.” And then he congratulated us, and all of us laughed (except Jordan who I don’t think knew what was going on). It was a fun exchange.
Afterwards, we went to the State Museum of Russian Political History. I enjoyed that one most of all. Unfortunately, because we had already had a relatively full day, we got there with only 45 minutes before closing. We rushed through, and towards the end one of the women told me that if we come back in the next two days with our ticket and tell the cashier that we weren’t able to see the whole museum, they will let us back in for free. I think I will definitely come back on Monday after class, there was a lot more I would like to see.
When we first got there, we ran into two of Jordan’s classmates. They told us they had been there for a while, and were reading some binder that described all the exhibits in English. I took one, and the woman watching the room told me I didn’t need it, and that there were explanations in Russian on all the exhibits (I had already spoken to her briefly when I walked in to find out how much time we had to tour). I put it back, and as we headed to the next room she came after us and told Jordan’s friends that there were different binders for each room. I think if I wasn’t there to translate she would have followed them all over the museum trying to get them back…
In one of the rooms they had two telephones set up, and directions in both English and Russian to pick up the receiver and listen to a ‘funny story’. I picked it up, and listened to the story being told (only in Russian). I asked the woman watching the room why they had instructions printed in English if the man telling the story spoke only in Russian. She told me that they had the translation of the text in the English binder for the room, but I told her that I wasn’t asking for a translation, but I was asking why they would encourage people who don’t speak Russian to pick up the phone. She thought it was amusing and told me to write it in the guestbook. She said I was the first person to ever ask that.
After that, we cut across the Michaelovskii Garden, past the Russian Museum and then down Nevskii Prospekt just to show Jordan the street, and we stopped off in a shopping center (one I never noticed before) and went into a café and had a drink. The cashier seemed particularly interested in Jordan, so we invited her to sit with us. I acted as translator between them as he asked her all kinds of cultural questions, and strangely the only question she asked us was how to say творог in English (a kind of cheese). Apparently they get a lot of foreigners in the cafe, and she never knows how to tell them what is in the pastries.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself today. I had a good time with Jordan, and I had a chance to see a lot of new things. I hadn’t been to a museum in a few weeks, and if I hadn’t made plans with him, I was going to go myself. I doubt I would have gotten to see as much, though. Tomorrow I’m meeting with a friend and going to Pavlosk.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
18 March 2009
Well today started off fun. As soon as I walked into the classroom, Nona asked me if I knew that Gary was leaving on Friday. I said yes, and she asked me why I didn’t tell her. I told her that she was the one who first told me he was leaving soon, so I didn’t understand what she was getting at. She said that she thought he was leaving on the 30th, and didn’t find out until yesterday that he was leaving this week (he hasn’t been in class in about 3 weeks). People started staring so she started class.
The lesson was brutal. Every time I opened a book to look something up or started writing something down, she called on me and asked me if I agreed with whatever was being said, and asked me to repeat it. At one point I asked her what the difference between two forms of the same word were, and she made the girl in front of me start doing an exercise in the book orally, and she wasn’t allowed to stop until Nona felt that I understood. She called on me more than anyone else combined, and any answer I gave she gave me sharp ‘Нет!’ ‘s to every thing I said (no’s) or told me that there were more Russian ways to everything I said. The best part was when she asked how long I’ve been here, and then said its about time I start thinking in Russian and start making sense. It got so bad that during our 15 minute break, three people came up to me and asked me what the deal was between us. I got one shot back at her. At the end of class she gave us a scenario and gave us 15 minutes to write a letter arguing our point. Every week she makes a big deal about how we should write a ‘logical plan’ before we start our writing, so we follow an order and our writing makes sense. Seeing how the rest of the class was going, I knew I could expect her to try to embarrass me again, so the first thing I did was write a fairly detailed plan. About halfway through the time, someone asked a question and she asked if they had made a plan. They said no, and she called on one other person who also hadn’t done it. Then she called on me, of course. I told her that of course I wrote one, because I knew she was planning to ask me. That might not have been the best idea, because the next time I looked up she was looking at me and asked if I was done. I said yes, and she asked me to give her my letter, and she sat and read it while making remarks to herself about spelling errors. I think it was written fairly well, however, so there isn’t too much she can say. After a whole class of being ripped apart, I tried to really put something together.
After class, she told me to follow her, and brought me upstairs where she basically started yelling at me. It seems that aside from not knowing that Gary was leaving Friday, her boss didn’t either, and Gary has already received payment for the full month of March. Also, they had put all their eggs in one basket expecting me to take over his job, so they really have nobody else to take over next week. I told her I’m sorry, but I’m not going to teach. I explained to her all my reasons for not wanting to do it. I feel bad, but I don’t have any sort of obligation to them, I am paying to be here, and I am not going to let her guilt me into taking the job. She asked me to call Gary to ask him if he ever received his payment for December (there had been some kind of misunderstanding, and I guess if he didn’t receive it then it would just balance out), and when he didn’t answer, she asked me to send him a text. It seems he hasn’t been answering her. Finally I told her that I agreed with her, that what he did was wrong, planning to just skip out without telling anyone, but I’m not Gary and she shouldn’t hold me responsible for him. I hardly know him.
When I heard back from him later, I told Nona. He sent me a message later to say he spoke to Natalia Fyodorvna as well as Nona. He said Nona yelled at him and hung up on him, and later sent him a text saying how irresponsible he is and that he should be ashamed of himself. To be honest, it was pretty bad. He told me himself he figured it was just easier to leave and never have to worry about seeing her again. I understand he was upset with how he was treated, but he was leaving his boss, his professor/advisor, and his students hanging out to dry.
Anyway, I hope that most of the issue is dealt with now, and that next week I won’t have the same issues. As I decided yesterday- I really like her class, I feel like I learn a lot there and I feel like its really helping me, so if she is going to be annoyed with me that’s fine, I’m not going to transfer out of her class for that. I think the worst is over.
The lesson was brutal. Every time I opened a book to look something up or started writing something down, she called on me and asked me if I agreed with whatever was being said, and asked me to repeat it. At one point I asked her what the difference between two forms of the same word were, and she made the girl in front of me start doing an exercise in the book orally, and she wasn’t allowed to stop until Nona felt that I understood. She called on me more than anyone else combined, and any answer I gave she gave me sharp ‘Нет!’ ‘s to every thing I said (no’s) or told me that there were more Russian ways to everything I said. The best part was when she asked how long I’ve been here, and then said its about time I start thinking in Russian and start making sense. It got so bad that during our 15 minute break, three people came up to me and asked me what the deal was between us. I got one shot back at her. At the end of class she gave us a scenario and gave us 15 minutes to write a letter arguing our point. Every week she makes a big deal about how we should write a ‘logical plan’ before we start our writing, so we follow an order and our writing makes sense. Seeing how the rest of the class was going, I knew I could expect her to try to embarrass me again, so the first thing I did was write a fairly detailed plan. About halfway through the time, someone asked a question and she asked if they had made a plan. They said no, and she called on one other person who also hadn’t done it. Then she called on me, of course. I told her that of course I wrote one, because I knew she was planning to ask me. That might not have been the best idea, because the next time I looked up she was looking at me and asked if I was done. I said yes, and she asked me to give her my letter, and she sat and read it while making remarks to herself about spelling errors. I think it was written fairly well, however, so there isn’t too much she can say. After a whole class of being ripped apart, I tried to really put something together.
After class, she told me to follow her, and brought me upstairs where she basically started yelling at me. It seems that aside from not knowing that Gary was leaving Friday, her boss didn’t either, and Gary has already received payment for the full month of March. Also, they had put all their eggs in one basket expecting me to take over his job, so they really have nobody else to take over next week. I told her I’m sorry, but I’m not going to teach. I explained to her all my reasons for not wanting to do it. I feel bad, but I don’t have any sort of obligation to them, I am paying to be here, and I am not going to let her guilt me into taking the job. She asked me to call Gary to ask him if he ever received his payment for December (there had been some kind of misunderstanding, and I guess if he didn’t receive it then it would just balance out), and when he didn’t answer, she asked me to send him a text. It seems he hasn’t been answering her. Finally I told her that I agreed with her, that what he did was wrong, planning to just skip out without telling anyone, but I’m not Gary and she shouldn’t hold me responsible for him. I hardly know him.
When I heard back from him later, I told Nona. He sent me a message later to say he spoke to Natalia Fyodorvna as well as Nona. He said Nona yelled at him and hung up on him, and later sent him a text saying how irresponsible he is and that he should be ashamed of himself. To be honest, it was pretty bad. He told me himself he figured it was just easier to leave and never have to worry about seeing her again. I understand he was upset with how he was treated, but he was leaving his boss, his professor/advisor, and his students hanging out to dry.
Anyway, I hope that most of the issue is dealt with now, and that next week I won’t have the same issues. As I decided yesterday- I really like her class, I feel like I learn a lot there and I feel like its really helping me, so if she is going to be annoyed with me that’s fine, I’m not going to transfer out of her class for that. I think the worst is over.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
17 March 2009
I turned down the job offer. Last night I met with Gary…just Gary. None of his students showed up for the second class. he told me that he's never received as much as a class roster, and he has been working without a curriculum, without a text, without a syllabus, and completely making all of his lessons from scratch. He has a rotating list of students, and they almost never do their homework. He said he’s paid $10 an hour, and they often forget to pay him. He also told me that we are taxed 25%, which is ridiculous. As students, we are not technically allowed to work, so any “tax” is either going into someone’s pocket, or they are just paying us less and claiming taxes to make the offer sound better.
Today I had my meeting with Natalia Fyodorvna, the woman who would have been my boss. She started off explaining to me in Russian, then switched to English, and told me that she was about to go on sabbatical, and that her replacement was only going to be in the office once a week. The woman came in, and they showed me a syllabus and curriculum with a list of texts the students had. I told them that Gary told me he had no such information, and they said that it was just his “style” and that I must have misunderstood him. Natalia didn’t speak English very well, and repeatedly asked the other woman, Elena, how to say words and phrases. I told her three times that I spoke and understood Russian, and each time she would say “oh, ok!” and then return to broken English. It was very condescending. She told me that I would receive 300 rubles per hour, for four hours a week. That comes to about 8$ and change. I asked her ‘after tax?’ and she said before. So that means that I would be paid around 6$ an hour to teach a graduate level course. If you consider that I would likely need as much preparation time as my actual lecture time, I’m making around 3$ an hour. That is not a serious offer.
I grew tired of her refusing to speak with me in Russian, so I decided that if she wanted to talk business with her prospective American employee in English, I would stop speaking with her in simple slow English, like I use when I speak with people who I know don’t speak the language fluently. I started speaking formally and quickly, and she just kind of stared at me blankly. I know I speak fast, and I know from working with friends in the ELI that when I speak normally, it is hard for non-native speakers to understand me. She told me that they let me say that I’m teaching lectures instead of smaller lessons, because then I would be paid better, and that that was their way of helping out the foreigners who received such high taxes. My response was “In America, I could make more money washing cars.” She said that that in Russia, that is what I would receive. I told her “well, I’m an American, so when I think about a paycheck, I think in dollars.” And she told me that it wasn’t about the money, and that I should consider the great experience it would be and the great letter of recommendation I would receive. I told her that I wasn’t interested in the experience, as I am already teaching and tutoring, and I didn’t even acknowledge her offer of a glowing recommendation from someone who was looking to make some kind of teaching sweatshop. I told her thank you, but I wasn’t interested.
After that, I went and signed my new contract for my studies, so pending a signature from the dean, I am now covered (I also paid) until July 4th (I don’t have to pay for the extra days, but I needed to be covered for my visa). When I was walking out of the office, I ran into Nona. She asked me how the meeting went, and I told her that I wouldn’t be teaching. She asked why, and I didn’t feel like getting into it so I told her simply that I didn’t want any more English in my week. I said it would be a lot of work, and that if I was in America I would certainly be happy to do it, but here I don’t want to put that many hours of English work in. She said that’s fine, and she would see me tomorrow. Later I got an email from Gary that said “what happened with your meeting? I got a storm of angry text messages from Nona tonight!” He told me that he’s had problems with her for a while. Hopefully I won’t, because I really enjoy her class and feel that it is very useful. If she says anything tomorrow, I will just tell her the truth. I think I can deal with her not liking me if I will still be able to learn from her. I haven’t known her that long, but she really doesn’t seem like the kind of person to be petty.
After all that, I went to the gym to work out. On my way out, I tried calling Jordan again (he emailed me his room number this morning and I wrote down the hotel phone #). I finally got him, and I walked up to his hotel, which was a few blocks away from the gym. I took him to get a phone card (he still had been unable to find one, and the woman that worked in his hotel told him that she didn’t know where they sold them, even though they are in pretty much every single store). After that, he told me I should go with him for a drink, and we went to this bar to meet with some of his classmates. It was an Irish-American pub, and almost everyone there was American. I told him that that definitely meant it would be very expensive, and he said he didn’t think it would be that bad. He said he wanted to buy me a drink, and ordered himself a Guinness. I didn’t want a beer, so I ordered a Квас, which they didn’t have…(I didn’t know bars in Russia existed that didn’t sell Квас) so I ordered морс instead. He gave me about a third of a liter of juice (and most of the glass was ice), and it cost about $8. Unbelievable.
After dropping Jordan off at his hotel, I stopped off at a Теремок on my way home for a quick bite to eat (I didn’t think to suggest it when I was with Jordan, but I was hungry). I was still craving Квас which I’ve really developed a taste for, and had some with my блин.
I hope I don’t have any awkward confrontations with Nona tomorrow…
Today I had my meeting with Natalia Fyodorvna, the woman who would have been my boss. She started off explaining to me in Russian, then switched to English, and told me that she was about to go on sabbatical, and that her replacement was only going to be in the office once a week. The woman came in, and they showed me a syllabus and curriculum with a list of texts the students had. I told them that Gary told me he had no such information, and they said that it was just his “style” and that I must have misunderstood him. Natalia didn’t speak English very well, and repeatedly asked the other woman, Elena, how to say words and phrases. I told her three times that I spoke and understood Russian, and each time she would say “oh, ok!” and then return to broken English. It was very condescending. She told me that I would receive 300 rubles per hour, for four hours a week. That comes to about 8$ and change. I asked her ‘after tax?’ and she said before. So that means that I would be paid around 6$ an hour to teach a graduate level course. If you consider that I would likely need as much preparation time as my actual lecture time, I’m making around 3$ an hour. That is not a serious offer.
I grew tired of her refusing to speak with me in Russian, so I decided that if she wanted to talk business with her prospective American employee in English, I would stop speaking with her in simple slow English, like I use when I speak with people who I know don’t speak the language fluently. I started speaking formally and quickly, and she just kind of stared at me blankly. I know I speak fast, and I know from working with friends in the ELI that when I speak normally, it is hard for non-native speakers to understand me. She told me that they let me say that I’m teaching lectures instead of smaller lessons, because then I would be paid better, and that that was their way of helping out the foreigners who received such high taxes. My response was “In America, I could make more money washing cars.” She said that that in Russia, that is what I would receive. I told her “well, I’m an American, so when I think about a paycheck, I think in dollars.” And she told me that it wasn’t about the money, and that I should consider the great experience it would be and the great letter of recommendation I would receive. I told her that I wasn’t interested in the experience, as I am already teaching and tutoring, and I didn’t even acknowledge her offer of a glowing recommendation from someone who was looking to make some kind of teaching sweatshop. I told her thank you, but I wasn’t interested.
After that, I went and signed my new contract for my studies, so pending a signature from the dean, I am now covered (I also paid) until July 4th (I don’t have to pay for the extra days, but I needed to be covered for my visa). When I was walking out of the office, I ran into Nona. She asked me how the meeting went, and I told her that I wouldn’t be teaching. She asked why, and I didn’t feel like getting into it so I told her simply that I didn’t want any more English in my week. I said it would be a lot of work, and that if I was in America I would certainly be happy to do it, but here I don’t want to put that many hours of English work in. She said that’s fine, and she would see me tomorrow. Later I got an email from Gary that said “what happened with your meeting? I got a storm of angry text messages from Nona tonight!” He told me that he’s had problems with her for a while. Hopefully I won’t, because I really enjoy her class and feel that it is very useful. If she says anything tomorrow, I will just tell her the truth. I think I can deal with her not liking me if I will still be able to learn from her. I haven’t known her that long, but she really doesn’t seem like the kind of person to be petty.
After all that, I went to the gym to work out. On my way out, I tried calling Jordan again (he emailed me his room number this morning and I wrote down the hotel phone #). I finally got him, and I walked up to his hotel, which was a few blocks away from the gym. I took him to get a phone card (he still had been unable to find one, and the woman that worked in his hotel told him that she didn’t know where they sold them, even though they are in pretty much every single store). After that, he told me I should go with him for a drink, and we went to this bar to meet with some of his classmates. It was an Irish-American pub, and almost everyone there was American. I told him that that definitely meant it would be very expensive, and he said he didn’t think it would be that bad. He said he wanted to buy me a drink, and ordered himself a Guinness. I didn’t want a beer, so I ordered a Квас, which they didn’t have…(I didn’t know bars in Russia existed that didn’t sell Квас) so I ordered морс instead. He gave me about a third of a liter of juice (and most of the glass was ice), and it cost about $8. Unbelievable.
After dropping Jordan off at his hotel, I stopped off at a Теремок on my way home for a quick bite to eat (I didn’t think to suggest it when I was with Jordan, but I was hungry). I was still craving Квас which I’ve really developed a taste for, and had some with my блин.
I hope I don’t have any awkward confrontations with Nona tomorrow…
16 March 2009
Last night my friend invited me out to a club called the “BubbleBar” off Невский Проспект. It was kind of disappointing, but at one point I did get to see a guy rapping along with a tuba and a drummer.
The way the busses work, is when you get on there is a conductor who goes around and either collects money or uses a hand-held scanner to see if you have a valid transit pass. On the occasions where there is no conductor, the driver will only open the door closest to him, and through a little window in the thick glass separating the driving cabin from the rest of the bus he will accept payment and check passes. This morning was one of the days when there was no conductor, and the bus was packed. I started worming my way through the crowd to get to the front as we approached the stop, and an old woman that was in front of me said “Metro?” and I told her it was best to get off at the next stop. It turns out she was asking me if I was going to the metro, and as the bus slowed down she said “don’t be shy, push!” and shoved me forward through a group of people. She had some power behind her…I made it through about seven people and got off the bus before anyone else.
I had my new conversation class this morning. I really liked it. It was an actual class, where we had actual discussions and actually learned, unlike my previous lesson where we would go around the room saying how we spent our weekend (unless the person sitting next to you had a long boring story, in which case you were skipped) and then spent the next two and a half hours watching cartoons.
Today I got my first Russian haircut. There’s nothing wrong with it, I suppose, but I feel like it makes me look very young. I suppose it will grow in and look better.
Right now I’m in the study lounge in the university. I’m observing Gary tonight teaching the class I’m supposed to be taking over for. To be honest, I’m having second thoughts. They expect me to start a week from today, and as of now the only thing I know is the schedule. I don’t know who I’m teaching, what the format is, what level the students are, if there is a textbook, and most importantly how much I’m being paid. I talked to Dad about it today, and if I feel that it isn’t a reasonable amount for the hours I’ll be working, I’m going to reject the offer. I know its going to be a mess for them, but that’s not really my problem. They asked me about the job almost a month ago, and I’ve been asking every week for details and they keep telling me to relax. When I tried to ask my professor about the payment, her response was that I was a typical American, only thinking about money. Tonight after the lesson I am meeting with Gary to discuss the class, and tomorrow I am meeting with the person who is supposed to be my boss. We’ll see how tonight and tomorrow go…
The way the busses work, is when you get on there is a conductor who goes around and either collects money or uses a hand-held scanner to see if you have a valid transit pass. On the occasions where there is no conductor, the driver will only open the door closest to him, and through a little window in the thick glass separating the driving cabin from the rest of the bus he will accept payment and check passes. This morning was one of the days when there was no conductor, and the bus was packed. I started worming my way through the crowd to get to the front as we approached the stop, and an old woman that was in front of me said “Metro?” and I told her it was best to get off at the next stop. It turns out she was asking me if I was going to the metro, and as the bus slowed down she said “don’t be shy, push!” and shoved me forward through a group of people. She had some power behind her…I made it through about seven people and got off the bus before anyone else.
I had my new conversation class this morning. I really liked it. It was an actual class, where we had actual discussions and actually learned, unlike my previous lesson where we would go around the room saying how we spent our weekend (unless the person sitting next to you had a long boring story, in which case you were skipped) and then spent the next two and a half hours watching cartoons.
Today I got my first Russian haircut. There’s nothing wrong with it, I suppose, but I feel like it makes me look very young. I suppose it will grow in and look better.
Right now I’m in the study lounge in the university. I’m observing Gary tonight teaching the class I’m supposed to be taking over for. To be honest, I’m having second thoughts. They expect me to start a week from today, and as of now the only thing I know is the schedule. I don’t know who I’m teaching, what the format is, what level the students are, if there is a textbook, and most importantly how much I’m being paid. I talked to Dad about it today, and if I feel that it isn’t a reasonable amount for the hours I’ll be working, I’m going to reject the offer. I know its going to be a mess for them, but that’s not really my problem. They asked me about the job almost a month ago, and I’ve been asking every week for details and they keep telling me to relax. When I tried to ask my professor about the payment, her response was that I was a typical American, only thinking about money. Tonight after the lesson I am meeting with Gary to discuss the class, and tomorrow I am meeting with the person who is supposed to be my boss. We’ll see how tonight and tomorrow go…
Sunday, March 15, 2009
15 March 2009
Even though this was only a four day week, it really felt like it was dragging. I changed my class schedule around, though so it should be much better from now on. I really didn’t like my conversation class, and I really wanted to take a phonetics course. So, I mixed things up a little. Now I have three classes with a different group, and two with my original group. I had to drop literature in order to make it work, but I think that is ok. As much as I much as I was enjoying it, I was studying it as an interest, whereas I think I should be studying things more practical. Phonetics and business language are more useful to me after I go home than Gogol and Solzhenitsyn. I met friday with Natalia, the girl who asked me to tutor her that I made the arrangements with to help each other out instead of accepting payment. I think this will be a very useful trade, because I need to be in more one-on-one situations where I can have someone correcting me and I don’t have to feel socially awkward having someone repeat a word so I can stare at how they move their tongue.
I finally gathered all the documents to apply for my multi-entry visa. All I have left to do is sign a renewal contract for my studies and pay the rest of my tuition through July. At the ‘family day’ event last week, I was talking with someone who told me he went to Minsk last year and if he remembers correctly the train tickets were only around 40-50$ each way. Much less than I was expecting, if he’s right. Also, there is a trip to Novgorod next week, and I think I am going to sign up. Its another city I wanted to visit, and when I saw the flier for it I a friend told me that she had gone on the trip a few months ago and it was a good time.
I wrote a new letter looking for a home-stay and posted it on the wall for the Hillel’s Russian vkontakte site. I asked Irina if she could help me look, and she said that she had very limited response last time but would try. I found that the only posting was made on the site for the English club, which explains why nobody responded…I specifically asked for people that didn’t speak any English. So I wrote it myself and posted it. Hopefully I’ll start getting responses soon.
Yesterday I went exploring again. My Russian block-mates thought it was very strange when they asked where I was going, and I told them I didn’t know. I told them that when I have a free afternoon, I just go to the metro and get off at a stop I’ve never been to and walk around, and they didn’t understand. They wanted to know if I was meeting someone, or if I walked around listening to music, or what… but I told them I just go by myself, walk into shops, go into parks, see monuments, and listen to people on the street. I think they thought I was crazy. Regardless, I went to Парк Победы (The Park of Victory), and walked around. Right outside the station are two enormous parks, Парк Победы (aforementioned) and Парк Авиаторов (The Park of Aviators). They were both very big, very relaxing, and I saw a lot of statues of soldiers, nurses and important figures in the soviet union in the last 60 years. They also had a stadium there (currently hosting an Economic Forum on Industrial Style (what could be more exciting?) and a children’s carnival, named for Yuri Gagarin (first human in space, Russian national hero). It was really something- I walked around for a while and found that the bulk of the equipment was foreign, with German, British, and American labels on everything. Of all of the attractions, my personal favorite was a mechanical bull… with the safety instructions printed in English. They had one game where there were 20 cans set up on shelves along a wall, and they gave you a small pellet gun with 22 bullets for 100 rubles, and you had to try to shoot all of them to win a prize from about five meters away. I (along with about 10 other people) watched a kid who couldn’t have been older than eight or nine years old knock down every single can without missing a single shot, then when he went after the last can (which was smaller than all the others, maybe a quarter of the size) he hit it dead on three times and it didn’t fall… so I guess there are no cultural differences between carnies in America and in Russia…they will cheat you everywhere.
On my way back to the dorm, I stopped off at an internet café with my laptop to make some calls, and then walked around near the university a bit. There was a man that I had seen a few days in a row on the promenade by the metro nearest to the university who stands with a guitar, a small amp, and an open guitar case hoping for money. As I walked by at night, I saw him kneeling next to the amp, and for whatever reason I noticed that there were two wires coming out of his amp, with one going into the guitar, and with nowhere to plug it in it must have been a battery powered amp, so I began to wonder what the second wire was for. He was playing with something, I assumed a cell phone, and then I started to hear guitar playing, and he stood up and started playing… I realized he had an IPod nano plugged into his amp. Good for him, he figured out a more creative way to make some money than the beggars in the subway.
On a side note- on my way to a Purim party last weekend, I needed to make change in order to pay for my ticket (I had asked a friend to get one for me in advance, because they sold out) so I stopped into a small market. While I was looking for something cheap to buy, I heard the DJ on the radio say “and now we’re going to play some classic music from the past!” and he put on Весёлые Ребята, and I instantly recognized Dr. Lehrman’s voice singing lead.
I finally gathered all the documents to apply for my multi-entry visa. All I have left to do is sign a renewal contract for my studies and pay the rest of my tuition through July. At the ‘family day’ event last week, I was talking with someone who told me he went to Minsk last year and if he remembers correctly the train tickets were only around 40-50$ each way. Much less than I was expecting, if he’s right. Also, there is a trip to Novgorod next week, and I think I am going to sign up. Its another city I wanted to visit, and when I saw the flier for it I a friend told me that she had gone on the trip a few months ago and it was a good time.
I wrote a new letter looking for a home-stay and posted it on the wall for the Hillel’s Russian vkontakte site. I asked Irina if she could help me look, and she said that she had very limited response last time but would try. I found that the only posting was made on the site for the English club, which explains why nobody responded…I specifically asked for people that didn’t speak any English. So I wrote it myself and posted it. Hopefully I’ll start getting responses soon.
Yesterday I went exploring again. My Russian block-mates thought it was very strange when they asked where I was going, and I told them I didn’t know. I told them that when I have a free afternoon, I just go to the metro and get off at a stop I’ve never been to and walk around, and they didn’t understand. They wanted to know if I was meeting someone, or if I walked around listening to music, or what… but I told them I just go by myself, walk into shops, go into parks, see monuments, and listen to people on the street. I think they thought I was crazy. Regardless, I went to Парк Победы (The Park of Victory), and walked around. Right outside the station are two enormous parks, Парк Победы (aforementioned) and Парк Авиаторов (The Park of Aviators). They were both very big, very relaxing, and I saw a lot of statues of soldiers, nurses and important figures in the soviet union in the last 60 years. They also had a stadium there (currently hosting an Economic Forum on Industrial Style (what could be more exciting?) and a children’s carnival, named for Yuri Gagarin (first human in space, Russian national hero). It was really something- I walked around for a while and found that the bulk of the equipment was foreign, with German, British, and American labels on everything. Of all of the attractions, my personal favorite was a mechanical bull… with the safety instructions printed in English. They had one game where there were 20 cans set up on shelves along a wall, and they gave you a small pellet gun with 22 bullets for 100 rubles, and you had to try to shoot all of them to win a prize from about five meters away. I (along with about 10 other people) watched a kid who couldn’t have been older than eight or nine years old knock down every single can without missing a single shot, then when he went after the last can (which was smaller than all the others, maybe a quarter of the size) he hit it dead on three times and it didn’t fall… so I guess there are no cultural differences between carnies in America and in Russia…they will cheat you everywhere.
On my way back to the dorm, I stopped off at an internet café with my laptop to make some calls, and then walked around near the university a bit. There was a man that I had seen a few days in a row on the promenade by the metro nearest to the university who stands with a guitar, a small amp, and an open guitar case hoping for money. As I walked by at night, I saw him kneeling next to the amp, and for whatever reason I noticed that there were two wires coming out of his amp, with one going into the guitar, and with nowhere to plug it in it must have been a battery powered amp, so I began to wonder what the second wire was for. He was playing with something, I assumed a cell phone, and then I started to hear guitar playing, and he stood up and started playing… I realized he had an IPod nano plugged into his amp. Good for him, he figured out a more creative way to make some money than the beggars in the subway.
On a side note- on my way to a Purim party last weekend, I needed to make change in order to pay for my ticket (I had asked a friend to get one for me in advance, because they sold out) so I stopped into a small market. While I was looking for something cheap to buy, I heard the DJ on the radio say “and now we’re going to play some classic music from the past!” and he put on Весёлые Ребята, and I instantly recognized Dr. Lehrman’s voice singing lead.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
10 March 2009
I went last night to the synagogue for a youth Purim party. I guess I had an alright time. I definitely prefer going to events at the Hillel. I have friends in both places, but I feel that the Hillel is a much warmer and more welcoming environment, where it is easy to just show up and make friends. The youth programs at the synagogue remind me of Temple Emanuel, where if you don’t go every week to every single event you don’t belong. I always feel like such a stranger there.
It was a costume party (the theme was come as your favorite movie or cartoon character) and with no material and not wanting to go out and spend a lot of money, I decided to go as a stereotypical American tourist. I wore my bright yellow swim trunks with orange flowers, knee-high blue socks, sneakers, sunglasses on my head, a t-shirt that had some pictures of famous St. Petersburg sights (the only thing I bought, it cost about 6$. I figured what could be more American than going to a foreign country and buying souvenirs in your own language?), and I carried my backpack with my camera and giant map hanging from the sides. I only knew about four people there, though, and there were easily over a hundred. I squeezed into a seat between two people I didn’t know, and basically spent the first two hours by myself. I had a nice dinner though… afterwards I was able to meet up with Roma and had a good time.
One thing I couldn’t believe though…when they were setting up the tables they brought in box after box of liquor…and it ALL went. They must have gone through, I don’t know, forty to fifty bottles of whiskey (and there was also two different kinds of vodka). The liquor went faster than a fraternity party, but unlike a frat party, the Russians actually hold their liquor…a LOT of liquor. I don’t think he was actually drunk, but Roma put his arm around me and led me around telling people in English in a really thick Russian accent (he doesn’t usually have a Russian accent…he certainly speaks with one, but its not the typical Russian accent. It sounds more Israeli really) that we were twin brothers (he’s about 6’4, skinny, very white, and has long black curly hair) separated at birth and that we were headed back to America as soon as I learned English and got him an American visa.
Yesterday afternoon (before the party) I went out for a bit, and when I got back to the dorm An was standing in the middle of the room, and he told me he had very sad news, and his voice was cracking like he was on the verge of tears. I assumed the worst, and expected to hear that Valentin was hit by a bus or something…but it turned out that the power cord to his laptop had torn and his computer ran out of battery… I asked him why he didn’t just go buy a new one, and he told me that he couldn’t because it was specifically for his computer. I guess he thought they only make Sony Vaios in a few places. I gave him the address of the store where I bought my Ethernet cable and told him to bring his cord with him. When I got home today, he had a new one and was in a great mood.
Today I went for a blood test at the university clinic, because in order to apply for my extended multi-entry visa I need proof of an HIV test within 2 months of application, and the one I took to get my first visa was back in November. When I was in the examining room, the nurse stood on my right side and with her left hand demonstrated making a fist while telling me to do so. Without thinking, I started clenching my left fist, and she just laughed and told me wrong hand. When she started swabbing my arm with the alcohol, I turned away because I don’t like to watch people stick needles in me, and I think she thought I was scared because she told me in the diminutive like I was a little kid that everything would be ok in just another moment, and then sang to me while she put the needle in and walked me out.
I read in the news yesterday that an American science ship was traveling through international waters off the coast of China, and some Chinese boats started harassing the Americans by throwing blocks of wood at the ship’s engine, trying to detach the equipment being towed by the ship and cutting off their path, forcing the boat to come to an emergency stop. The American press claims they were being severely harassed in international waters, the Chinese claim the Americans were trespassing in Chinese territory. During our break today I turned to Tana, this girl in our group from China and asked her if she knew anything about it because I was curious what the Chinese news would say. She hadn’t heard about it, and I explained it to her. She told me she didn’t believe it was true, and said that the American news is not dependable. I couldn’t believe I was hearing that from someone from China! I basically said that to her, and she asked what I meant, so I told her about the American journalists denied internet access at the 2008 Olympic games (she hadn’t heard about it). She also didn’t know about all of the American protests against participating in the Olympic games in China. It was very interesting to me to hear someone from a country that has such heavy restrictions on their media tell me that I shouldn’t trust my news. I discussed it with Sarah Chehab, and she said that likely the citizenry aren’t even aware of it, and even if my country places bias on our news at least as in America I can seek alternative news sources.
It was a costume party (the theme was come as your favorite movie or cartoon character) and with no material and not wanting to go out and spend a lot of money, I decided to go as a stereotypical American tourist. I wore my bright yellow swim trunks with orange flowers, knee-high blue socks, sneakers, sunglasses on my head, a t-shirt that had some pictures of famous St. Petersburg sights (the only thing I bought, it cost about 6$. I figured what could be more American than going to a foreign country and buying souvenirs in your own language?), and I carried my backpack with my camera and giant map hanging from the sides. I only knew about four people there, though, and there were easily over a hundred. I squeezed into a seat between two people I didn’t know, and basically spent the first two hours by myself. I had a nice dinner though… afterwards I was able to meet up with Roma and had a good time.
One thing I couldn’t believe though…when they were setting up the tables they brought in box after box of liquor…and it ALL went. They must have gone through, I don’t know, forty to fifty bottles of whiskey (and there was also two different kinds of vodka). The liquor went faster than a fraternity party, but unlike a frat party, the Russians actually hold their liquor…a LOT of liquor. I don’t think he was actually drunk, but Roma put his arm around me and led me around telling people in English in a really thick Russian accent (he doesn’t usually have a Russian accent…he certainly speaks with one, but its not the typical Russian accent. It sounds more Israeli really) that we were twin brothers (he’s about 6’4, skinny, very white, and has long black curly hair) separated at birth and that we were headed back to America as soon as I learned English and got him an American visa.
Yesterday afternoon (before the party) I went out for a bit, and when I got back to the dorm An was standing in the middle of the room, and he told me he had very sad news, and his voice was cracking like he was on the verge of tears. I assumed the worst, and expected to hear that Valentin was hit by a bus or something…but it turned out that the power cord to his laptop had torn and his computer ran out of battery… I asked him why he didn’t just go buy a new one, and he told me that he couldn’t because it was specifically for his computer. I guess he thought they only make Sony Vaios in a few places. I gave him the address of the store where I bought my Ethernet cable and told him to bring his cord with him. When I got home today, he had a new one and was in a great mood.
Today I went for a blood test at the university clinic, because in order to apply for my extended multi-entry visa I need proof of an HIV test within 2 months of application, and the one I took to get my first visa was back in November. When I was in the examining room, the nurse stood on my right side and with her left hand demonstrated making a fist while telling me to do so. Without thinking, I started clenching my left fist, and she just laughed and told me wrong hand. When she started swabbing my arm with the alcohol, I turned away because I don’t like to watch people stick needles in me, and I think she thought I was scared because she told me in the diminutive like I was a little kid that everything would be ok in just another moment, and then sang to me while she put the needle in and walked me out.
I read in the news yesterday that an American science ship was traveling through international waters off the coast of China, and some Chinese boats started harassing the Americans by throwing blocks of wood at the ship’s engine, trying to detach the equipment being towed by the ship and cutting off their path, forcing the boat to come to an emergency stop. The American press claims they were being severely harassed in international waters, the Chinese claim the Americans were trespassing in Chinese territory. During our break today I turned to Tana, this girl in our group from China and asked her if she knew anything about it because I was curious what the Chinese news would say. She hadn’t heard about it, and I explained it to her. She told me she didn’t believe it was true, and said that the American news is not dependable. I couldn’t believe I was hearing that from someone from China! I basically said that to her, and she asked what I meant, so I told her about the American journalists denied internet access at the 2008 Olympic games (she hadn’t heard about it). She also didn’t know about all of the American protests against participating in the Olympic games in China. It was very interesting to me to hear someone from a country that has such heavy restrictions on their media tell me that I shouldn’t trust my news. I discussed it with Sarah Chehab, and she said that likely the citizenry aren’t even aware of it, and even if my country places bias on our news at least as in America I can seek alternative news sources.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
8 March 2009
Just got home from an all day event, well, two events really, at the Hillel. I got up early this morning and went over to volunteer at the YESOD (the abbreviation translates to Jewish Family Community Home) family day. It was aimed at little kids, but it was fun. I did simple jobs like hand out fliers and greet people at the door for most of the day. at one point I was given the job of giving out flowers to all the women as they came in (this weekend is the Russian holiday “international women’s day” where you are supposed to celebrate women). I had a lot of older women give me looks like I must have made their day…and by older I mean women that were mom’s age and older were winking at me and blushing. After a while, one of the directors came over to me and asked me to help out at the food station. She put an apron on me, and I got in the assembly line making falafels. It was tough work…they were giving out one free falafel to every person that bought a ticket, and there were four of us trying to supply a few hundred people that came in huge waves as the shows finished. At one point we took a break and I was able to try my first falafel. It was really good. I’m glad I tried it then, because we ended up running out of everything except pitas and the actual falafel mixture. As time went on we ran out of both the sweet and spicy sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus, and then eventually we just started putting falafel on plates and giving those out; pitas optional.
After the event ended, they had a mock Jewish wedding. With all of the restrictions in the Soviet Union and the current confusing marriage system here (I had it explained to me the other night…it is several stages and very bureaucratic) most of the people there had never seen a Jewish wedding before. They had a real couple that was engaged act as the bride and groom, and they had someone act as the rabbi and go through the whole ceremony explaining each step, and then afterwards was a big party. THAT was a lot of fun. I had my first Russian vodka of the trip. All the men were drinking loads and loads of it, and one of the guys I met today came up to me and said he wanted to have a drink with his “new American friend.” I had another person I met photograph the event. It was funny, after he found out I was American he spent the rest of the day trying to speak English with me (he pretty much only knew American curses, and didn’t know what any of them meant). It was funny…at one point I saw a guy chugging Fanta straight from the bottle, and as he put it down he grinned at me and put it down next to an almost empty bottle of vodka. The guy next to him smiled at me and said “be careful drinking the Fanta” and laughed and walked away. Basically the Russian wedding was exactly what I would have expected.
I really had a good time. I made a lot of new friends, and I have been invited to a Purim party tomorrow night (I don’t have classes because of the holiday…the Russian holiday, not the Jewish one). I was actually invited last week, but I just found out tonight that it’s a costume party… I told them I don’t have a costume, I brought very limited clothing with me. I decided I am going to go as a stereotypical American. I am going to wear really bright shorts (my yellow and orange swim trunks), a bright t-shirt, sneakers, a camera, and I am going to smile and point at everything. It should be a lot of fun, and I bet I'll get some really good hamentaschen (although from what i was told by several people today, purim (like every other russian holiday) is celebrated by all the men drinking massive amounts of vodka))
After the event ended, they had a mock Jewish wedding. With all of the restrictions in the Soviet Union and the current confusing marriage system here (I had it explained to me the other night…it is several stages and very bureaucratic) most of the people there had never seen a Jewish wedding before. They had a real couple that was engaged act as the bride and groom, and they had someone act as the rabbi and go through the whole ceremony explaining each step, and then afterwards was a big party. THAT was a lot of fun. I had my first Russian vodka of the trip. All the men were drinking loads and loads of it, and one of the guys I met today came up to me and said he wanted to have a drink with his “new American friend.” I had another person I met photograph the event. It was funny, after he found out I was American he spent the rest of the day trying to speak English with me (he pretty much only knew American curses, and didn’t know what any of them meant). It was funny…at one point I saw a guy chugging Fanta straight from the bottle, and as he put it down he grinned at me and put it down next to an almost empty bottle of vodka. The guy next to him smiled at me and said “be careful drinking the Fanta” and laughed and walked away. Basically the Russian wedding was exactly what I would have expected.
I really had a good time. I made a lot of new friends, and I have been invited to a Purim party tomorrow night (I don’t have classes because of the holiday…the Russian holiday, not the Jewish one). I was actually invited last week, but I just found out tonight that it’s a costume party… I told them I don’t have a costume, I brought very limited clothing with me. I decided I am going to go as a stereotypical American. I am going to wear really bright shorts (my yellow and orange swim trunks), a bright t-shirt, sneakers, a camera, and I am going to smile and point at everything. It should be a lot of fun, and I bet I'll get some really good hamentaschen (although from what i was told by several people today, purim (like every other russian holiday) is celebrated by all the men drinking massive amounts of vodka))
Saturday, March 7, 2009
7 March 2009
Yesterday I met with a girl who sent me a message looking for an English tutor. I told her rather than paying me, I would prefer if we just reached an agreement where for every hour I help her with her conversational English, she helps me with my conversational Russian. She agreed. She seemed very nice and her English is very good, but kind of strange. She is studying journalism, and while she can read and write fluently and even teaches English to adults interested in learning, she has had almost no conversational practice and therefore listening to her speak is like reading a bank contract. She speaks very formally and matter-of-factly.
This week I went to the woman who does scheduling for the department, and I dropped the culture class and my conversation class. Aside from the fact that the class seems to be a watered down version of the class I took with Dr. Lehrman last semester, when I start teaching it will be the same night and I don’t really want to have 9 consecutive hours of class every Monday. I added a phonetics class in place of my conversation class. The girl in front of me in line to speak with the woman who does scheduling is in my group, and she made the same change. The woman asked me why everyone was dropping the class and what the problem was. I didn’t want to tell her that the class is a waste of time (its called ‘Conversation’ but really she goes around the room and asks each person to tell the class one interesting thing we’ve done since the last class, and then she turns on a cartoon and narrates) so I just told her I didn’t like the format. She asked what that meant and if I would prefer just having a different professor, and I said that I can get conversational practice in all my other classes, on the street, in the dorm, in a lot of other settings- I don’t need a class for it, especially if we aren’t actually conversing, and phonetics is something that is important to me that I specifically want to study. So starting this week I’m with a different group on Thursdays.
Today I slept in until about 11 (I really needed it) and then decided to go out exploring again. I found a great old used bookstore not too far from the university. I wish I had thought to check used bookstores when I first got here, because the first week I was in the city I went to Дом Книги (the Russian equivalent of Barnes and Noble) and bought a Russian dictionary for about 30$. Today I was able to buy a book with everything that’s been published by Lermontov, a book with all of Pushkin’s poetry, and a Russian entomology dictionary of foreign words incorporated into the language…for a combined total of about 3$. I paid more than that for a bowl of soup yesterday.
I was walking down the street and passed a grille cart, and decided to try the Russian interpretation of street burgers and hot dogs. The burger, which was about the size of a silver dollar, was maybe the worst quality beef I’ve ever eaten and had a very strange sweet taste, like they added sugar to the meat…but I guess I shouldn’t really complain considering it cost about 80 cents. The hot-dog was another story altogether. I took one bite and threw it out. It was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It was basically a sausage casing filled with some kind of meat-paste (still in paste form, it had not solidified on the grill)…I know it’s a different take on the food, but I would think it would at least taste somewhat like a hot dog...
Tomorrow I’m going to a Purim festival at the Hillel. Irina offered me a free ticket, and asked if I would help out cooking schwarma. I told her I have no idea how to make it, and that I’ve never even eaten it, but she said it’s easy and they will teach me when I get there. It should be a good time. I’ve also been invited to a Purim party Monday night, which I think I will go to.
I was walking around today, and started to think about how I’m the only one in the family missing the first Bat Mitzvah of the next generation, and started to get a little homesick for the first time since I got here… Its strange, but until today, I haven’t missed home at all. I’ve missed people, but at no point have I felt homesick. I guess its natural, and it will pass as soon as long as I keep finding ways to stay busy.
This week I went to the woman who does scheduling for the department, and I dropped the culture class and my conversation class. Aside from the fact that the class seems to be a watered down version of the class I took with Dr. Lehrman last semester, when I start teaching it will be the same night and I don’t really want to have 9 consecutive hours of class every Monday. I added a phonetics class in place of my conversation class. The girl in front of me in line to speak with the woman who does scheduling is in my group, and she made the same change. The woman asked me why everyone was dropping the class and what the problem was. I didn’t want to tell her that the class is a waste of time (its called ‘Conversation’ but really she goes around the room and asks each person to tell the class one interesting thing we’ve done since the last class, and then she turns on a cartoon and narrates) so I just told her I didn’t like the format. She asked what that meant and if I would prefer just having a different professor, and I said that I can get conversational practice in all my other classes, on the street, in the dorm, in a lot of other settings- I don’t need a class for it, especially if we aren’t actually conversing, and phonetics is something that is important to me that I specifically want to study. So starting this week I’m with a different group on Thursdays.
Today I slept in until about 11 (I really needed it) and then decided to go out exploring again. I found a great old used bookstore not too far from the university. I wish I had thought to check used bookstores when I first got here, because the first week I was in the city I went to Дом Книги (the Russian equivalent of Barnes and Noble) and bought a Russian dictionary for about 30$. Today I was able to buy a book with everything that’s been published by Lermontov, a book with all of Pushkin’s poetry, and a Russian entomology dictionary of foreign words incorporated into the language…for a combined total of about 3$. I paid more than that for a bowl of soup yesterday.
I was walking down the street and passed a grille cart, and decided to try the Russian interpretation of street burgers and hot dogs. The burger, which was about the size of a silver dollar, was maybe the worst quality beef I’ve ever eaten and had a very strange sweet taste, like they added sugar to the meat…but I guess I shouldn’t really complain considering it cost about 80 cents. The hot-dog was another story altogether. I took one bite and threw it out. It was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. It was basically a sausage casing filled with some kind of meat-paste (still in paste form, it had not solidified on the grill)…I know it’s a different take on the food, but I would think it would at least taste somewhat like a hot dog...
Tomorrow I’m going to a Purim festival at the Hillel. Irina offered me a free ticket, and asked if I would help out cooking schwarma. I told her I have no idea how to make it, and that I’ve never even eaten it, but she said it’s easy and they will teach me when I get there. It should be a good time. I’ve also been invited to a Purim party Monday night, which I think I will go to.
I was walking around today, and started to think about how I’m the only one in the family missing the first Bat Mitzvah of the next generation, and started to get a little homesick for the first time since I got here… Its strange, but until today, I haven’t missed home at all. I’ve missed people, but at no point have I felt homesick. I guess its natural, and it will pass as soon as long as I keep finding ways to stay busy.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
4 March 2009
I just got home from my trip to the Баня (bathhouse) with Вова and Ваня…That was unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relaxed in my life, and I’m glad I didn’t try going alone because there’s no way I could have figured out everything on my own. It was definitely a bonding experience, a cultural experience, and a spiritual experience.
On the way in, we bought some beer and Квас (the kvas was for me, because they know I’m not a drinker) and then changed into our towels. I cant even begin to describe the rest of the things we did. Going from a scorching, dry sauna into an ice cold bath, then into a Turkish style steam room and then into a warm pool, then relaxing and drinking, then repeating. We went into the steam room three times, and the sauna five or six. The last three times we went in the sauna, they used these branches (I’m not sure what kind of tree they were from) and while one person laid down on a bench, the other would whip the person’s back, arms, legs, feet, and chest, as well as lean down and apply pressure and swirl them around to direct the heat at your body. It got all of the stress out of my body and felt incredible. Going from the intense heat into the intense cold was a little intense, but it felt very refreshing. We used two different methods- there was a big bath where we took turns jumping into and then climbing out, and there were also big buckets hanging from the wall about 10 feet off the ground, and when you pulled a rope they emptied down on you. In between each set, we stopped in the little compartment they gave us, sat, drank, and talked. At the end, we showered off, got dressed, finished off the kvas together and headed out. I cant remember the last time I felt this good.
I wish I could describe it more clearly, but it was just such an intense experience, and I feel so drained.
Afterwards we went out to get a bite to eat, but everywhere we stopped was closing, so they just dropped me off. I definitely have to go back there sometime.
On the way in, we bought some beer and Квас (the kvas was for me, because they know I’m not a drinker) and then changed into our towels. I cant even begin to describe the rest of the things we did. Going from a scorching, dry sauna into an ice cold bath, then into a Turkish style steam room and then into a warm pool, then relaxing and drinking, then repeating. We went into the steam room three times, and the sauna five or six. The last three times we went in the sauna, they used these branches (I’m not sure what kind of tree they were from) and while one person laid down on a bench, the other would whip the person’s back, arms, legs, feet, and chest, as well as lean down and apply pressure and swirl them around to direct the heat at your body. It got all of the stress out of my body and felt incredible. Going from the intense heat into the intense cold was a little intense, but it felt very refreshing. We used two different methods- there was a big bath where we took turns jumping into and then climbing out, and there were also big buckets hanging from the wall about 10 feet off the ground, and when you pulled a rope they emptied down on you. In between each set, we stopped in the little compartment they gave us, sat, drank, and talked. At the end, we showered off, got dressed, finished off the kvas together and headed out. I cant remember the last time I felt this good.
I wish I could describe it more clearly, but it was just such an intense experience, and I feel so drained.
Afterwards we went out to get a bite to eat, but everywhere we stopped was closing, so they just dropped me off. I definitely have to go back there sometime.
Monday, March 2, 2009
2 March 2009
Today was my first day of my new class. I only slept about three or four hours last night, so it was a long day. Between classes, I had about two free hours which wasn’t enough time to go back to the dorm, so I stayed around the university. I went with my friend Joanna to the post office to mail Dad my check for my taxes, and while we were there the woman behind the counter asked me if the letter was going air mail. I didn’t realize she was asking me a question, I thought she was just sorting letters, so I just gave her a blank stare. She asked me twice more, and I realized it was a question so I answered her. She gave me a strange look, and then said something I didn’t understand and walked into the back room. Joanna burst out laughing, and when I said “what, I didn’t understand, what did she say?” she told me that the woman had just told me to wait a moment…in German. I guess she figured I was having trouble understanding her and tried to place my accent.
After that she told me she had found a good place for me to get a hat (she was the one who took me last time I went looking), but lead me to a souvenir shop. As soon as we walked in and I saw signs in English, I started getting a bad feeling about it. we walked around, and was able to find hats made out of fake fur and a plastic lining for between thirteen and fourteen thousand rubles (almost five hundred dollars). They also had loads of fake amber jewelry, fake Faberge eggs, and a lot of other overpriced junk. We walked around for a while, and then I headed back to the university while Joanna went home (she had just accompanied me because she had nothing else to do either). I went back inside and found Pamela, the new girl in my group from Italy, and sat down with her in the study hall and we talked about Russian literature until it was time to go to class (she was in it as well). With new students arriving in the last couple weeks, there’s finally a few people in my group that don’t speak Chinese as soon as they leave the classroom. Now we have people from Italy, Holland, and Turkey.
The class was hard to stay awake through. Not that it was boring, but it was all information I had learned before. She talked about the origins of Русь, which we studied fairly extensively in Dr. Selimov’s culture class, Dr. Lehrman’s culture class, and to some extent in Dr. Kaufman’s course. The professor also went on for three and a half hours, with only a ten minute break in the middle. That was rough. Pamela sat next to me and told me a few times she thought I was asleep…which I feel bad about, but I very well may have been. For the last 30 minutes of class she showed us this video about Vikings with really bad sound quality, so every 2-3 minutes she paused it to repeat what the narrator was saying. At one point I recognized a clip from the movie “The Thirteenth Warrior” where Antonio Banderas joins up with a band of Vikings to fight mythical creatures in the forests of Scandinavia (based on a Michael Crichton novel). That really added a lot to the presentation, I think.
I didn’t make it to the bath house. Вова called me yesterday and said that nobody could make it, so we would be going either Tuesday or Wednesday night. I have plans to meet Олег Tuesday to work out, so I’m just going to go. If I get a call about the bath house, I’ll ask him to come pick me up, but I can’t spend the night sitting around the dorm like I did Sunday, just waiting for him to call.
This weekend I went and checked out the hotels for Brittany. Of the ones on the list she gave me, I think I found her a really nice one that was very inexpensive and in a good area. While I was walking around checking out hotels, I passed a hunting shop, and thought I would stop in to see if I could find any good camping supplies. It was a little scary, but I actually had enough money on me that I could have bought a rather large shotgun and/or a knife that looked like it was meant to gut an elephant. What a magical country.
Gary asked me if I was interested in taking over his apartment after he leaves, but I told him no thank you. Aside from my wanting to live with a family at the end of April, I just paid my rent for the month of March (he is leaving next week I think) and when I looked at a map, I realized it must take him well over an hour to get to the university every day.
After that she told me she had found a good place for me to get a hat (she was the one who took me last time I went looking), but lead me to a souvenir shop. As soon as we walked in and I saw signs in English, I started getting a bad feeling about it. we walked around, and was able to find hats made out of fake fur and a plastic lining for between thirteen and fourteen thousand rubles (almost five hundred dollars). They also had loads of fake amber jewelry, fake Faberge eggs, and a lot of other overpriced junk. We walked around for a while, and then I headed back to the university while Joanna went home (she had just accompanied me because she had nothing else to do either). I went back inside and found Pamela, the new girl in my group from Italy, and sat down with her in the study hall and we talked about Russian literature until it was time to go to class (she was in it as well). With new students arriving in the last couple weeks, there’s finally a few people in my group that don’t speak Chinese as soon as they leave the classroom. Now we have people from Italy, Holland, and Turkey.
The class was hard to stay awake through. Not that it was boring, but it was all information I had learned before. She talked about the origins of Русь, which we studied fairly extensively in Dr. Selimov’s culture class, Dr. Lehrman’s culture class, and to some extent in Dr. Kaufman’s course. The professor also went on for three and a half hours, with only a ten minute break in the middle. That was rough. Pamela sat next to me and told me a few times she thought I was asleep…which I feel bad about, but I very well may have been. For the last 30 minutes of class she showed us this video about Vikings with really bad sound quality, so every 2-3 minutes she paused it to repeat what the narrator was saying. At one point I recognized a clip from the movie “The Thirteenth Warrior” where Antonio Banderas joins up with a band of Vikings to fight mythical creatures in the forests of Scandinavia (based on a Michael Crichton novel). That really added a lot to the presentation, I think.
I didn’t make it to the bath house. Вова called me yesterday and said that nobody could make it, so we would be going either Tuesday or Wednesday night. I have plans to meet Олег Tuesday to work out, so I’m just going to go. If I get a call about the bath house, I’ll ask him to come pick me up, but I can’t spend the night sitting around the dorm like I did Sunday, just waiting for him to call.
This weekend I went and checked out the hotels for Brittany. Of the ones on the list she gave me, I think I found her a really nice one that was very inexpensive and in a good area. While I was walking around checking out hotels, I passed a hunting shop, and thought I would stop in to see if I could find any good camping supplies. It was a little scary, but I actually had enough money on me that I could have bought a rather large shotgun and/or a knife that looked like it was meant to gut an elephant. What a magical country.
Gary asked me if I was interested in taking over his apartment after he leaves, but I told him no thank you. Aside from my wanting to live with a family at the end of April, I just paid my rent for the month of March (he is leaving next week I think) and when I looked at a map, I realized it must take him well over an hour to get to the university every day.
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