23 June 2009

Last night I spoke with Maria, the girl who I met with last week for a language exchange. I told her I was very busy this week, but I could squeeze in two hours between class and my trip to the airport to help An. We agreed to meet at the metro near the university. I went to the metro, stood outside, and at about five after I sent her a text message asking where exactly we were meeting, thinking perhaps she was in the area. About five more minutes went by, and she wrote back saying that her plans had changed and she wasn’t able to meet. I didn’t bother responding, and when I got home tonight I had a message from her saying that she hoped it wasn’t a problem that she didn’t show up, and asked about when I had more free time. I don’t know her that well and she stood me up when I tried to do her a favor, so I didn’t feel I had to go out of my way. I told her I don’t think I’ll have any more free time before I leave, and any further contact will have to be via internet.

I was walking down the street today, and I heard four people walking next to me speaking English in American accents. They were all younger than me and wearing college t-shirts, and were in two pairs. All four were talking about souvenirs. The pair in front was talking about amber figures that they had bought, and were saying how much they love buying gifts for people and couldn’t wait to get back. The pair in back was talking about fur hats, and I heard one kid say “yeah, I thought about getting a fur hat. Yours is awesome…I guess if I find one I like I’ll get it. I’m thinking about getting one for my uncle. He’s going through chemo right now, so it would be like a gag gift. Well, sort of a gag gift, sort of not. He gets really cold.” Wow.

I had my farewell dinner last night…with just An. When I got to the restaurant, he was standing by himself, and when I asked where Valentin was he showed me a text message where Valentin apologized and said that he realized that he only has 700 rubles (about $20) to last him the last ten days until he goes home. I understand, but I wish he had said something earlier so we could have changed our plans and done something else that wouldn’t cost anything. Either way, An and I had a nice dinner.

I had agreed to help An to the airport, and as Maria had cancelled on me, I walked around the city for a while and then went to the dorm early so I could see Valentin as well. On the way, I stopped at the grocery store across from the dorm an picked up a $2 bottle of champagne so we could have the classy farewell we missed out on last night. It was a great time. I got to meet the other two new roommates (Americans) and finally got to see Valentin for the first time in a long time. I asked him how the new roommates are, and he said that the two Americans are great, but the Canadian is trouble. He said that apparently he had some friends over last week for a party and Kaevan got mad and yelled at him “what!? Are you trying to make me move out?” The whole time the three of us were sitting and talking, Kaevan sat at his computer and every now and then turned around and asked us a random word in Russian, like “vomit”, “prank”, and “first-aid kit”.

After an hour or so, we got everything together and the three of us went downstairs to meet the rest of the Taiwanese kids going home. All of us went together to the bus, to the metro, and then down to the next bus stop, where Valentin said he had to leave. He had plans, and he said if he went all the way to the airport he would be late. I was really surprised by how cold he was. They lived together for ten months, and Valentin shook An’s hand, said “Have a good flight and let me know that you made it home without any problems,” and left. That was it. An looked like he has more to say, but Valentin was already leaving. I guess they had really had enough of each other…

I stayed with An until about nine, when he had to go check-in. It was weird in the airport. It’s very small, so you can more or less tell who’s going where. An’s flight was going to Korea (he has a three hour stopover), and there were loads of Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean people there. I think I was the only non-Asian there who wasn’t an employee of the airport.

Olga (the woman I live with) called me twice today to tell me that she put aside fresh bed linens but forgot to give them to me. The second time she said she forgot whether or not she mentioned them, but I think she just figured I didn’t understand her the first time. She also suggested that I invited a group of friends to her country house and have a barbecue for my birthday. It was really sweet of her to offer, but I told her I didn’t know that I could. It’s not terribly expensive to travel there, but it’s not cheap, and with the limited time I have left I don’t want to go spend two or three days in the country. If it was a few months ago I would have been happy to…but now just isn’t a good time. I feel bad because I think she really wants company out there.

Tomorrow I have class then at night I am going to Moscow. I bought my tickets yesterday. I had asked a lot of friends about pricing, but it never occurred to me that prices would be higher in the summer when there was a lot of tourism. The tickets ended up costing almost twice as much as I was expecting…but either way I am going to Moscow. I spoke with my friend Olga (that was studying at Delaware), and she will meet us in the morning and walk around the city with us until she has to go to the train station to catch her train to St. Petersburg.