I got my tickets on Monday, and went yesterday to the Belorussian consulate about my visa. I filled out the application, presented my tickets (the woman had told me that I needed to show my tickets as proof that I was only requesting a transit visa), and she collected all the documents. Then asked me for the $36 fee…and said “oh wait, I made a mistake!” leaved through a binder, and asked me for $177. I couldn’t believe my ears. I asked her what she was talking about and she told me that the fee for Americans for a dual entry transit visa is $177. I asked her why all the prices on the wall were a third of that. Her answer was “those are the prices for citizens of other countries. It’s different for Americans.” I told her that that was more than I paid for the tickets, and more than my two Russian visas put together, and her answer was “Your visa is cheaper than an American visa for anyone from one of the countries on that wall.” I had already registered for the exam and bought my tickets, so I had no other choice. I had to dig into my my monthly money, but I was able to scrape together all of it. As I had to leave my passport with her until Monday when I can pick it up with the visa, I went home with 100 rubles (about $3) and no original documents. A great feeling. I could have skipped the visa altogether and flown overhead for the same amount, and it would take me 20 less hours to get to Kiev.
On a lighter note, I think the trip will be a lot of fun. I’m going alone…because after telling everyone I know about the trip, I had about five or six people at different times express interest and then cancel on me. For about eight dollars, I was able to change the route around so I will be able to see Minsk. I leave on June fourth, on an overnight train directly to Kiev. I arrive on the fifth, have the day to sightsee and relax. On the sixth I have my exam, and then I can be a tourist until that Monday, the eighth when I have an overnight train to Minsk. I arrive sometime in the morning, and I have until about eleven thirty at night until my night train back to St. Petersburg. The way it works out, I’ll get to see both Kiev and Minsk on a 7 day/6 night trip, and only have to be in a hotel for three nights.
I was trying to figure out what amount of money I should bring with me, and I asked a few different people for advice and nobody had any idea. I planned on bringing my money in cash, in dollars. My one friend asked me why not bring rubles, and I told her I don’t want to have to pay the international fee to exchange to rubles via the ATM and then an additional fee and commission to exchange to Ukrainian and Belorussian money. I mentioned this to Vova, and his answer was so simple I was dumbfounded: bring money for dinner on the train, and use an ATM when you get there. I don’t know why I thought I would have to exchange myself in both locations, I’m not going to the backwoods of some little village in Africa, I’m going to two capital cities in Europe.
Tonight I finally had my first trip to a movie theatre here. I’m not sure why it was a big deal for me, but I really wanted to go. I met up with Vova, and we saw the new X-Men movie. The special effects were unbelievable, but the story was really dumb…like all the other X-Men movies. It’s an interesting system here. The ticketing is set up like in a concert hall, where you pay different ticket-prices based on the location of the seats. Also, a tub of popcorn is included in the cost.
The other day I received a message from some girl telling me that she’s an English tutor, and her student is in the journalism department at St. Petersburg State, and would like to interview me. At the time I received the email, I thought it would be a boring week so I agreed. Well…despite the fact that this week ended up being rather busy, I met with both of them this afternoon- the girl who emailed me came along as a ‘translator’ as the second girl wanted to interview me in English. It was strange, really. I wasn’t sure what language she wanted to talk in, but she started off in Russian and told me she wanted to ask me the questions and have me answer in Russian first, and then she would switch to English. She wanted me to answer in Russian first so that she would understand everything that I would be saying. I was expecting a formal interview, it ended up being five simple questions about how I ended up in St. Petersburg and my impressions of the city. Afterwards, the girl who conducted the interview sent me an email saying that her recorder didn’t work, and she missed the entire interview. She asked me if I would mind typing up the answers to my questions and sending them to her. I didn’t really feel like it, so I told her that the interview had been very brief and I could meet with her quickly tomorrow. She said repeatedly she didn’t want to bother me…so I just quickly typed up what I could remember and sent it to her. She asked if we could do a language exchange for conversational practice, and I told her yes but I have limited free time until mid-June, but she could feel free to write me. Well, when I got home from the movies I had about five messages from her, including the text to some old religious song about the mother of god, and her asking me questions to test my understanding. I’m not sure what she things I agreed to, but my Russian is a lot better than her English and I’m not looking for another teacher.
I experimented with making some salads this week. I bought fresh vegetables, and tried two different variations- one vegetarian, one with chicken. Olga liked them, and asked me why I bought a cookbook on Russian salads when I was here two years ago if I am figuring them out on my own. I like trying out a new style of preparation, and I’d really like to take a swing at making some soup.
Tonight when I got back from the movies, Olga asked me for my help. A friend gave her a letter from a girl in America looking for a place to live when she comes here to study. I translated the letter for her, and she asked me to translate her letter back to the girl and I emailed it to her. It was a little strange. While I know my letter was aimed at finding a Jewish family to live with, I didn’t discriminate. This girl’s letter said she specifically wants a Christian single woman (either young or old, she wrote both) with whom she can continue to practice and strengthen her faith. I looked her up on facebook, and she’s a student at Southwest Baptist University. For someone preparing to come to study in Russia, you would think she would know that the Russian Orthodoxy is a completely different religion from whatever she grew up with. It would be like if I went to Poland to study Russian. Yeah, it’s a Slavic language, but it’s a COMPLETETLY different interpretation.
I was invited to go this Friday to some sort of super-special Shabbat ceremony at a different synagogue (I always thought there was only one?). I agreed to go, because other than the barbecue and English Club I haven’t really done anything with Hillel in a few months, and as I have my TORFL (Test of Russian as a Foreign Language) next week, I think it will be very helpful. I think I am going to avoid online contact, read only Russian newspapers, and try not to have any English at all between the end of this week and the exam.
No comments:
Post a Comment