8 May 2009

It was a busy week. Despite a number of emails I received after my last entry regarding my going into an underground cave with a complete stranger in a part of town I didn’t know in a market that was probably selling a lot of illegal things…I went back. The shoes I bought didn’t fit. When I tried them on, I didn’t really walk around because I wasn’t comfortable leaving anything in the room to try them out, so I basically stood up and said they were fine. The next day I wore them, and they were really painful. I don’t know European sizing… I checked a pair of shoes when I got home, and they are two-three sizes too small. Well…I thought maybe I could just wear them in, so I walked all over the city again. After a full day, it was really hard to move, so I decided to go back. I spent about forty minutes walking around the market, because I couldn’t find the shop where I bought them. It turns out it’s a lot less scary than I thought it was the first time. I’m sure the majority of the goods being sold ‘fell off trucks’ and such, but its not quite as bad as I thought. Eventually, I found the shop…but there was nobody working. I waited for a few minutes, and a woman came upstairs that I recognized from last time, and I told her why I was there. She said that the guy who sold me the shoes had run out, and to just wait a few minutes. While I was waiting, two guys came up to me and kept asking me if I was looking for shoes. I told them I already had shoes, and I was waiting for someone. They started getting really annoyed with me and kept asking me how much I paid for the shoes. I didn’t know who they were, and even though they said that they worked at the same shop I had no reason to believe them so I just kept pretending I didn’t understand them, and they kept getting more and more frustrated with me. Eventually one of them went downstairs and brought the woman back up to confirm that they work together, and we all went downstairs. I showed them the shoes, and they laughed and the one guy got in an argument with me. It seems that after walking about ten kilometers in the shoes, they couldn’t take them back…and as hard as I tried to convince them that I had only worn them to walk around the market, they told me that there was no way they could take them back. In the end, the guy told me that for 300 rubles he could take them across the market to the leather shop and they would stretch the leather so that they would fit. As I had argued every point I could think of, I agreed. I waited for about 15 minutes, and he came back and gave me the shoes. They are still a little off, but much better and can probably be worn in now. I’m not quite sure how they stretched them so much. While I was waiting, the man who sold me the shoes originally came back, and turned out to be a very nice guy. He invited me to have lunch with him and the other woman (I declined) and I learned that the majority of the people there are Azerbaijani. After that was all settled, I walked around a little more to see if I could find anything else of interest, but the majority of the market was clothing and I didn’t want to buy any.

Living here has been great. Today Valentin came over with his friend (from Romania) Irina to interview Olga. When he first met her when he helped me move in, he was really interested by her stories about old Leningrad, and wanted to hear more. He brought a tape recorder, and Irina was his translator for whatever Russian he didn’t know. I had heard most of the stories already (every night we have tea and she tells me about the evacuation of Leningrad and growing up during the war) but it was very interesting. After they left, she opened up her record collection (she told me this week that she loves jazz, especially Ella Fitzgerald) and put on some music while we went in the kitchen and had tea. She actually gave me one of her records. She was showing me the American music she had, and it turned out she had two copies of a Glenn Miller record. She said she didn’t need two, and handed me one. When I get back to America I want to find some good records to mail her. The other night I showed her the clip of Mom singing. The first thing she said was “oh she’s so young!” and then said that she was beautiful, as was her voice.

I registered today for the TORFL/ТРКИ. It turns out despite what the woman who does class scheduling told me; they are actually the exact same test. I was under the impression that there as a difference, but there isn’t… which makes things easier for me, I suppose. It was a big decision for me which level to take, two or three…but in the end I decided on level two. Carl, the vice-consul, told me that whatever test I take will just be padding on my resume, and that the state department will administer its own tests after the Foreign Officer Service Test (FSOT). As much as I want to take level three, I recognize that it would just be pride, and I’d rather receive a higher score on level two then struggle to make certification on level three, especially if I will have to redo testing at a higher level in a few months anyway. I signed up to take the exam on May 27th/28th (it is a five part exam administered over the course of two days). It’s a lot earlier than I intended, but I figure if I pass the exam then I can receive my certification and get it out of the way. After that, I will be learning just to learn and I can focus more on my conversational skills and prepare for the FSOT.

Speaking of the FSOT… when I received the approval from my background check to register, the date of the exam was in June. I had previously been under the impression that the exam was in July, about a week after I got back. I thought- well…this is inconvenient, but I know I can take the exam abroad. Well…I looked at the list of international testing sites, and the only site in Russia is in Vladivostok. Vladivostok is the south-easternmost city in the country…basically Washington DC is a closer testing facility then the one actually in Russia. I emailed the company that does scheduling, and they said that whatever is on the site is all that is available, and the next exam is in October. I don’t understand it. Even in Mexico there are three locations…but in the biggest country in the world there is only one and it’s as far away from the embassy as you can possibly get. The closest site to here is Helsinki which is about six hours away by bus…but in all honesty I have no interest in going to Finland. The next closest site is Kiev, which is about 16 hours by train. I had really wanted to go there anyway, so I decided that that is what I will do. I am going to register for the test, get a Belorussian transit visa (I spoke with the Vice-Consul here and he gave me some information online, and it turns out I don’t need a Ukrainian visa, but the train travels through Belarus and they are very strict about transit visas. Even if the train has no stops in Belarus, they check everyone’s documents and they will physically remove you from the train at the border) and go to the Ukraine…probably for about a week. I think it will be a fun trip aside from the stress of the exam. I am trying to find other people to go with me, because I think it would be more fun if I wasn’t alone. I started talking about it with my friends in class, but nobody is really sure.

Tomorrow is the 9th of May, the Day of Victory…the day when Russia celebrates the end of WWII. From what I understand, it’s the only holiday in Russia that has nothing to do with religion, isn’t a carry-over from soviet ideology, and is considered the only Russian holiday that really unifies the Russian people. It’s going to be huge. There are flags and posters and signs all over the city, they have been giving out ribbons at the metro stops (they pass out orange and black striped ribbons that EVERYONE wears- the colors represent smoke and fire and are similar to the soviet military medals), and tomorrow will be parades, demonstrations and a firework salute.

I also decided that tomorrow I will try doing some real cooking for the first time since I got here. My friend that taught me how to make sushi is coming over, and I am going to teach them how to make chicken and eggplant parmesan. I have been having problems gathering ingredients, because it’s hard to find the vegetables I’m used to. Fresh spinach is almost impossible to find, asparagus doesn’t grow around here, bell peppers are expensive, and they have completely different varieties of mushrooms. Olga gave me some advice (she’s very interested in the differences in American and Russian cuisine, and brought out a cookbook and asked me lots of questions), and I think the meal will still turn out well. I’m feeling pretty confident about it.