Wednesday, May 9, 2007
5-9-07
5-9-07
Okay I need to type this puppy up quickly quickly so I can get back to my Grammar work in preparation for the final tomorrow. I’ll try not to abridge it too much, though.
So, today is Victory Day! Happy Victory Day! Everyone’s wearing orange and black ribbons (including yours truly). I’m not really why they chose orange and black. Anyway, it’s a big holiday, lots of posters everywhere, a parade (I’ll get back to that), and fireworks later tonight.
First things first, though. Today we went to Peterhoff, aka Peterhof, aka Petergof, aka Petrodvorets. For the past week everyone’s been saying, “Oh, the weather will get better on May 9th, don’t worry.” I’m pretty sure they just wanted to believe that because of the holiday. But nope, the weather today was just plain gloomy. Temperatures in the 40s and rain that hasn’t let up since about 9 o’clock last night. So it was in this weather we set out for Peterhoff, whose main attraction is a large outdoor park and fountain cascade. Add to this the fact that, yes, I am actually sick, and it was not the best activity I could have chosen for the day. I also left my umbrella at school yesterday, so I just wore my raincoat with the hood up. Marina made me put on another layer before I could leave this morning, and I’m pretty grateful. Anyway, back to Peterhoff.
The cascade is simply incredible. What make it even more amazing is that it’s not powered by a single motor or pump—it’s all done with gravity and a natural spring. I’ll post a picture so you can realize what an accomplishment this actually is. Unfortunately, it’s also pretty windy, so included in with the rain, water from the fountains would just blow right in your face. So overall, pretty, but unpleasant. The inside of the palace was pretty decadent, but as I said like a month ago, I’m palaced-out.
Then we came back and had lunch and hung out near Nevsky until about 5 o’clock for the parade. There were no floats, but there were at least 3 military bands. The Russians know how to do their parades. I’ll post some pictures. But for now, it’s back to Grammar. 3 finals to go. Less than 100 hours. Eep.
Okay I need to type this puppy up quickly quickly so I can get back to my Grammar work in preparation for the final tomorrow. I’ll try not to abridge it too much, though.
So, today is Victory Day! Happy Victory Day! Everyone’s wearing orange and black ribbons (including yours truly). I’m not really why they chose orange and black. Anyway, it’s a big holiday, lots of posters everywhere, a parade (I’ll get back to that), and fireworks later tonight.
First things first, though. Today we went to Peterhoff, aka Peterhof, aka Petergof, aka Petrodvorets. For the past week everyone’s been saying, “Oh, the weather will get better on May 9th, don’t worry.” I’m pretty sure they just wanted to believe that because of the holiday. But nope, the weather today was just plain gloomy. Temperatures in the 40s and rain that hasn’t let up since about 9 o’clock last night. So it was in this weather we set out for Peterhoff, whose main attraction is a large outdoor park and fountain cascade. Add to this the fact that, yes, I am actually sick, and it was not the best activity I could have chosen for the day. I also left my umbrella at school yesterday, so I just wore my raincoat with the hood up. Marina made me put on another layer before I could leave this morning, and I’m pretty grateful. Anyway, back to Peterhoff.
The cascade is simply incredible. What make it even more amazing is that it’s not powered by a single motor or pump—it’s all done with gravity and a natural spring. I’ll post a picture so you can realize what an accomplishment this actually is. Unfortunately, it’s also pretty windy, so included in with the rain, water from the fountains would just blow right in your face. So overall, pretty, but unpleasant. The inside of the palace was pretty decadent, but as I said like a month ago, I’m palaced-out.
Then we came back and had lunch and hung out near Nevsky until about 5 o’clock for the parade. There were no floats, but there were at least 3 military bands. The Russians know how to do their parades. I’ll post some pictures. But for now, it’s back to Grammar. 3 finals to go. Less than 100 hours. Eep.
5-8-07
5-8-07
The past hour has confirmed my fears—I’m getting sick. Dangit. My colds usually start by waking up one day with a sore throat. But about an hour ago my nose suddenly started running and I got a headache in the general sinus area. Wonderful. Maybe that means the cold’s progressing at a faster speed than usual? I hope so. Flying while sick is pretty much the crappiest thing ever. Thank goodness it’s flying home, though. It’s worse to fly while sick knowing that you won’t even be in your own bed at the end of it. I’ve got 4 1/2 days to try and get this sucker out of my system. Yeah, I’ll let you know how that goes.
So today I found out that I got a 5 on the written part of my Conversation exam. Yay! The only grade I’m worried about is Grammar, which as I said (Probably a little too much) in my last post, is lame. There are so many other things I want or need to do before I leave that it’s just kind of hard to even think about finals.
That said, I got a big To Do done today. I shipped stuff home. I consolidated it into two packages: My freaking awesome Russian Postal Service box with random heavy crap, and the bag I bought at Apraksin Dvor with my big coat, two pairs of boots, and my books in it. The Russian postal system is pretty much what you’d expect. I filled out a total of 13 forms today. 4 customs declarations for each, 2 of some other form for each, and for the box a sticker to put on it. The box is being sent back to the states via airmail so it might actually get home before I do. The bag is going by boat and who knows when it’ll get there.
But it’s traveling in style. It, like every large bag people sent today, is in its own custom-made burlap sack sewn by a woman at the post office while we watched. Over the stitches at one end, there are like six gigantic brown wax Russian Post Office seals. The address was written by yours truly with a blue marker on the burlap sack. Oh yeah, I know you’re jealous. Flying British Airways back will be nothing like taking a boat in a burlap sack with wax seals.
So we were there for about 2 1/2 hours in total. Luckily it wasn’t super busy or that place would’ve driven me crazy. Well, crazier than it drove me. As I was walking home from the Metro, I stopped and watched some workers for a while. Apparently the property that used to house the Iguana clothing store (Iguana being a brand name, it wasn’t a store of lizard apparel) is now some swanky watch store. They were lifting the gigantic new sign into place. They had about 10 guys and a system of pulleys and it was really interesting to watch. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow morning on my way into town to meet the bus to Peterhoff.
This whole sickness business is really not making me happy. Oh well, tomorrow is Peterhoff, which should be fantastic. Then fireworks and back here to finish up some Grammar work. Speaking of which, I should get to some of that right now. Only 4 full days left. I kind of have to keep saying that to myself because it doesn’t sound real.
The past hour has confirmed my fears—I’m getting sick. Dangit. My colds usually start by waking up one day with a sore throat. But about an hour ago my nose suddenly started running and I got a headache in the general sinus area. Wonderful. Maybe that means the cold’s progressing at a faster speed than usual? I hope so. Flying while sick is pretty much the crappiest thing ever. Thank goodness it’s flying home, though. It’s worse to fly while sick knowing that you won’t even be in your own bed at the end of it. I’ve got 4 1/2 days to try and get this sucker out of my system. Yeah, I’ll let you know how that goes.
So today I found out that I got a 5 on the written part of my Conversation exam. Yay! The only grade I’m worried about is Grammar, which as I said (Probably a little too much) in my last post, is lame. There are so many other things I want or need to do before I leave that it’s just kind of hard to even think about finals.
That said, I got a big To Do done today. I shipped stuff home. I consolidated it into two packages: My freaking awesome Russian Postal Service box with random heavy crap, and the bag I bought at Apraksin Dvor with my big coat, two pairs of boots, and my books in it. The Russian postal system is pretty much what you’d expect. I filled out a total of 13 forms today. 4 customs declarations for each, 2 of some other form for each, and for the box a sticker to put on it. The box is being sent back to the states via airmail so it might actually get home before I do. The bag is going by boat and who knows when it’ll get there.
But it’s traveling in style. It, like every large bag people sent today, is in its own custom-made burlap sack sewn by a woman at the post office while we watched. Over the stitches at one end, there are like six gigantic brown wax Russian Post Office seals. The address was written by yours truly with a blue marker on the burlap sack. Oh yeah, I know you’re jealous. Flying British Airways back will be nothing like taking a boat in a burlap sack with wax seals.
So we were there for about 2 1/2 hours in total. Luckily it wasn’t super busy or that place would’ve driven me crazy. Well, crazier than it drove me. As I was walking home from the Metro, I stopped and watched some workers for a while. Apparently the property that used to house the Iguana clothing store (Iguana being a brand name, it wasn’t a store of lizard apparel) is now some swanky watch store. They were lifting the gigantic new sign into place. They had about 10 guys and a system of pulleys and it was really interesting to watch. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow morning on my way into town to meet the bus to Peterhoff.
This whole sickness business is really not making me happy. Oh well, tomorrow is Peterhoff, which should be fantastic. Then fireworks and back here to finish up some Grammar work. Speaking of which, I should get to some of that right now. Only 4 full days left. I kind of have to keep saying that to myself because it doesn’t sound real.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
5-7-07
5-7-07
Less than a week left. That’s pretty crazy to think about, so I try to avoid it. I mean, it’s a pretty constant thing that we’re all inserting into our conversations. Things like, “Less than a week, that’s crazy!” But as to actually thinking about the finality of leaving? Pretty bizarre.
So I now have 3 1/2 finals out of the way. On Saturday I presented my Civilization paper. It was “Genius!” In my opinion, it was “Lame!” But she seemed to like it. Today I had my Fonetika and Literature finals. Fonetika was kind of intimidating. It consisted of three parts: 1) A dictation where she would read 20 words and we would have to spell them correctly (Harder than it sounds), 2) Reading a text that we prepared for at home, and 3) Reading a text that we received at the beginning of class. She recorded the second two. In the recording of the text we hadn’t prepared, I read a question with a completely flat intonation (which is wrong), and I’m pretty sure when she listens to the tape she’ll be able to hear me say, “Damnit! Oops.” It went well, though. She told Cadence and Michelle that no one would be getting lower than a B, and I’m pretty sure I did better than a B.
After lunch we had our Literature exam. Last week we each chose an author out of those we had covered, and then we each had to basically know everything about him or her. I chose Evgeny Zamyatin, author the novel We, which I love. I can tell you basically anything about him, but most of it’s not that interesting. However, you have no idea what she’s going to ask you. For instance, I knew that when he finished high school he received a “Gold Medal.” I have no idea what exactly that means, but it was in my notes. I was lucky it was, because she asked me about it. She also asked me a couple of questions about other authors: “What was Bulgakov’s most famous work?” “Name one of Bulgakov’s satires.” “Who was older, Zamyatin or Bulgakov?” “What’s Mayakovsky’s most famous work?” I got a 5, which is the US equivalent of an A.
That means I’ve got my Grammar (LAMELAMELAME) final on Thursday, along with my oral Conversation final, and then on Friday, my Gazeta final. I won’t get into the stupidity that is my Grammar class; suffice to say that I learned more grammar in my other classes. I have never written a bad evaluation of a teacher before, honestly. One lukewarm one freshman year, but that was it. Her evaluation, well, I’ve probably been writing it in my head since the second week of that class. It just got more interesting last week. “I’ll be collecting all of your homework for the semester the day of the final.” “You mean the assignments that you never indicated would be seen, and are therefore written in like six different notebooks and on the worksheets themselves, many of which have been lost or thrown away? Those assignments?”
But this is not the place to complain about classes. Not at all. So moving on.
I think the weirdly long days are affecting my dreams. It doesn’t get dark until 11:15ish, and it’s light really early in the morning. The other night I dreamt of killing a baby. Accidentally, of course, but I woke up and was horrified and grossed out. Then last night I dreamt about Emily’s wedding, except it was taking place in Judge Haynes, my old elementary school. It was about 12:30, the ceremony wasn’t supposed to start til 3, and I realized I had forgotten my dress at home. Dad freaked out, but home’s only like 2 minutes away from school, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. I got back and a ton of my friends were there already with wedding gifts. I told them they weren’t invited, and even if they were, it was too early. They asked me why I wasn’t ready yet. I woke up at 5:00 and had no idea where I was for a second.
Let’s get this entry back on some kind of track. Saturday, after classes, a bunch of us went up to the Lider pool hall one last time for some bowling and pool. I didn’t bowl very well, but I probably played the best game of pool I’ve played in this country, which was very satisfying. Then Sunday I ran a couple of errands and mostly just strolled around, which is satisfying in a different way. That night I went out to Café Tblis, the great Georgian restaurant, with Kate, Ryan, Brandon, and Nohemi. None of the Area Studies program kids wanted to come because they were all studying for their huge history test today.
It doesn’t feel like a Monday at all, this is most definitely a Tuesday kind of day. Tomorrow, which is actually Tuesday, we’re going to the post office after classes to ship stuff home. I’m shipping three parcels: One with books (There’s a cheaper rate for just books), an awesome Russian Post Office box with heavy things, and a bag with my winter coat and two pairs of boots in it. Basically, I’m sending things home that woul make packing tough space- or weight-wise. I’m probably going to pack one of my suitcases Thursday night, just to get it out of the way and make sure there’s no crisis of size or weight at the last minute. That, and making room for souvenirs. Not like I’ve got a crate or something, but you know what I mean.
Fortunately, CIEE provides transportation to the airport for us. Where originally I thought there were five of us on the flight to London Sunday night, it turns out that three of those people are actually on that flight Saturday night. So it’s just Lael and I on Sunday, which will be nice to have someone as a travel buddy. It feels like the past 5 weeks or so just flew by and now time is crawling, which is both a blessing and a curse. I just want to get finals out of the way, but once finals are done, then that’s it. I’ve got all day Saturday here, though. I’ll probably use that time to sell my cell phone, take some pictures of my neighborhood, and pack up.
Wednesday’s the big trip to Peterhoff, then fireworks. Then a lame-o Thursday because of the Grammar final. Friday’ll be packed, because we have a “closing ceremony” and then our cruise and then the party and I’m pretty sure I’ve written about all of that a million times so I’m just going to stop now. I’m not sure when I’ll post this, probably Thursday, by which point I should’ve written about Peterhoff, too. I suppose I could write one more and post it on Saturday during my free time. So that’s two more entries to write while here. I figure I’ll have to write some big reflections thing once I’m home and my head has cleared. I’m not sure though. I think this experience, like any truly meaningful experience, doesn’t reveal how important it was for a while, when you’ve really had time to reflect. I guess I’ll just do my best.
Less than a week left. That’s pretty crazy to think about, so I try to avoid it. I mean, it’s a pretty constant thing that we’re all inserting into our conversations. Things like, “Less than a week, that’s crazy!” But as to actually thinking about the finality of leaving? Pretty bizarre.
So I now have 3 1/2 finals out of the way. On Saturday I presented my Civilization paper. It was “Genius!” In my opinion, it was “Lame!” But she seemed to like it. Today I had my Fonetika and Literature finals. Fonetika was kind of intimidating. It consisted of three parts: 1) A dictation where she would read 20 words and we would have to spell them correctly (Harder than it sounds), 2) Reading a text that we prepared for at home, and 3) Reading a text that we received at the beginning of class. She recorded the second two. In the recording of the text we hadn’t prepared, I read a question with a completely flat intonation (which is wrong), and I’m pretty sure when she listens to the tape she’ll be able to hear me say, “Damnit! Oops.” It went well, though. She told Cadence and Michelle that no one would be getting lower than a B, and I’m pretty sure I did better than a B.
After lunch we had our Literature exam. Last week we each chose an author out of those we had covered, and then we each had to basically know everything about him or her. I chose Evgeny Zamyatin, author the novel We, which I love. I can tell you basically anything about him, but most of it’s not that interesting. However, you have no idea what she’s going to ask you. For instance, I knew that when he finished high school he received a “Gold Medal.” I have no idea what exactly that means, but it was in my notes. I was lucky it was, because she asked me about it. She also asked me a couple of questions about other authors: “What was Bulgakov’s most famous work?” “Name one of Bulgakov’s satires.” “Who was older, Zamyatin or Bulgakov?” “What’s Mayakovsky’s most famous work?” I got a 5, which is the US equivalent of an A.
That means I’ve got my Grammar (LAMELAMELAME) final on Thursday, along with my oral Conversation final, and then on Friday, my Gazeta final. I won’t get into the stupidity that is my Grammar class; suffice to say that I learned more grammar in my other classes. I have never written a bad evaluation of a teacher before, honestly. One lukewarm one freshman year, but that was it. Her evaluation, well, I’ve probably been writing it in my head since the second week of that class. It just got more interesting last week. “I’ll be collecting all of your homework for the semester the day of the final.” “You mean the assignments that you never indicated would be seen, and are therefore written in like six different notebooks and on the worksheets themselves, many of which have been lost or thrown away? Those assignments?”
But this is not the place to complain about classes. Not at all. So moving on.
I think the weirdly long days are affecting my dreams. It doesn’t get dark until 11:15ish, and it’s light really early in the morning. The other night I dreamt of killing a baby. Accidentally, of course, but I woke up and was horrified and grossed out. Then last night I dreamt about Emily’s wedding, except it was taking place in Judge Haynes, my old elementary school. It was about 12:30, the ceremony wasn’t supposed to start til 3, and I realized I had forgotten my dress at home. Dad freaked out, but home’s only like 2 minutes away from school, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. I got back and a ton of my friends were there already with wedding gifts. I told them they weren’t invited, and even if they were, it was too early. They asked me why I wasn’t ready yet. I woke up at 5:00 and had no idea where I was for a second.
Let’s get this entry back on some kind of track. Saturday, after classes, a bunch of us went up to the Lider pool hall one last time for some bowling and pool. I didn’t bowl very well, but I probably played the best game of pool I’ve played in this country, which was very satisfying. Then Sunday I ran a couple of errands and mostly just strolled around, which is satisfying in a different way. That night I went out to Café Tblis, the great Georgian restaurant, with Kate, Ryan, Brandon, and Nohemi. None of the Area Studies program kids wanted to come because they were all studying for their huge history test today.
It doesn’t feel like a Monday at all, this is most definitely a Tuesday kind of day. Tomorrow, which is actually Tuesday, we’re going to the post office after classes to ship stuff home. I’m shipping three parcels: One with books (There’s a cheaper rate for just books), an awesome Russian Post Office box with heavy things, and a bag with my winter coat and two pairs of boots in it. Basically, I’m sending things home that woul make packing tough space- or weight-wise. I’m probably going to pack one of my suitcases Thursday night, just to get it out of the way and make sure there’s no crisis of size or weight at the last minute. That, and making room for souvenirs. Not like I’ve got a crate or something, but you know what I mean.
Fortunately, CIEE provides transportation to the airport for us. Where originally I thought there were five of us on the flight to London Sunday night, it turns out that three of those people are actually on that flight Saturday night. So it’s just Lael and I on Sunday, which will be nice to have someone as a travel buddy. It feels like the past 5 weeks or so just flew by and now time is crawling, which is both a blessing and a curse. I just want to get finals out of the way, but once finals are done, then that’s it. I’ve got all day Saturday here, though. I’ll probably use that time to sell my cell phone, take some pictures of my neighborhood, and pack up.
Wednesday’s the big trip to Peterhoff, then fireworks. Then a lame-o Thursday because of the Grammar final. Friday’ll be packed, because we have a “closing ceremony” and then our cruise and then the party and I’m pretty sure I’ve written about all of that a million times so I’m just going to stop now. I’m not sure when I’ll post this, probably Thursday, by which point I should’ve written about Peterhoff, too. I suppose I could write one more and post it on Saturday during my free time. So that’s two more entries to write while here. I figure I’ll have to write some big reflections thing once I’m home and my head has cleared. I’m not sure though. I think this experience, like any truly meaningful experience, doesn’t reveal how important it was for a while, when you’ve really had time to reflect. I guess I’ll just do my best.
Friday, May 4, 2007
5-3-07
5-3-07
I just ate the weirdest soup. I think Marina’s cleaning out the fridge. The main ingredients seemed to be: Potatoes (duh), orange peppers, and three whole black olives. With pits. And, of course, a giant glop of sour cream in the middle. Plus, the soup had an orangey color, which I’ll assume was caused by the peppers (Even though there weren’t very many in there), because I have no idea what it could have been instead.
So, wow, it’s May. I leave in 10 days. Oh crap, that means tomorrow I’ll be down to the single digits. Scary stuff. I just realized that probably in mid-April I stopped thinking “I’ve been here ____ days/weeks/months!” and started thinking “I only have ____ months/weeks/days left!” An interesting turning point, to be sure.
So, since we got back from Pskov, I’ve managed to stay busy. On Tuesday, since we didn’t have classes, I spent some time online to post pictures and then I wandered around and took more pictures. I’m now 1000+ pictures taken in Russia, not counting everything I took on travel week.
So anyway, I wandered down to the famous statue of Peter the Great, the Bronze Horseman. I took some pictures there and I was walking through the park towards St. Isaac’s to finally set off to find the Nose, when I saw a crowd near an ice cream cart. In the midst of the crowd, I get a glimpse of some fur. I just assumed it’s one of those people with a box of puppies. But I was wrong. It was a baby bear! No, seriously! I’ll post a picture of the owner(???) holding it. You could pay 100 rubles (Roughly $4) to hold it and you could have someone else take a picture of you. Yes, this is definitely a most foreign country. A baby bear!
After that, I finally managed to find the Nose, which was most satisfying. Marina went out after dinner that night to go to a celebration for May Day, but I was pooped and ended up just staying here and watching a dubbed episode of Animal Cops. Last night, 5 of us went to the Mariinskiy and saw the ballet (Bear with me on the transliteration) “Bachisaraiskii Fountain,” based off an epic poem by Pushkin. I wasn’t quite sure what the woman who sold us the tickets meant when she said it was an “Eastern ballet,” but now I understand. Basic plot: Some khan encounters a Slavic people, kidnaps their princess and kills the rest, becomes obsessed with princess, his former favorite from his harem gets jealous, kills princess, khan has harem woman killed. It was pretty cool. The theatre itself is a must-see in this city. The fight scenes were really well done, too—especially when the khan’s men burnt down the palace and were chasing everyone around and killing people. The plot was fairly weak (Forgive me Pushkin, I’m sure the original is better), but I enjoyed the music and dancing and costumes and sets. And who goes to a ballet for the plot, anyway?
We were running late but got there right as the lights went down. Afterwards, I came back here and had an orange because I wasn’t hungry at all. Today we went to Subway on Nevsky for lunch and then went to the souvenir market to finish up that stuff. And success! My souvenir shopping is done! I still need to get my Zenit scarf, but I’m going to check out prices in other places, first. The advantage to the souvenir market is that you can haggle, which is fun. And the vendors there, although they all speak some English, like it when you can speak to them in Russian. But man, those guys don’t give up. Mattison and I made the mistake of looking at one girl’s flasks when she latched on to us and was like, “Flask? Don’t you need? It’s so cold, get warm with flask. Don’t you need? Don’t you need?” Tough to get out of that one. But I must admit, it’s a weight off of my shoulders to get that done.
So the next big weight to be lifted: Shipping a box home. I’m hoping to go to the main post office and buy a box tomorrow, packing it tomorrow night, and then shipping it out on Saturday. Not too much in it, just my huge winter coat and the boots I bought here, and maybe something heavy out of my suitcase. I’m just trying to make room for the souvenirs I’ve bought while I’ve been here. Once that’s gone, things’ll be much easier.
Of course, I’m dealing with finals right now. I had my first one today. Well, it was technically only the first half. It was my written exam for my conversation class. Written? Conversation? Yeah, I know. Anyway, my paper in Russian for Civilization is due Saturday (LAME), my Literature final is oral and is on Monday (I’m discussing Zamyatin for 5 minutes), Grammar and oral exam for Conversation on Thursday, and then Gazeta and Phonetics on Friday. Phonetics is kind of scary—one half of it is marking intonations and intonational pauses in a text, which is no big deal. The other part is a dictation, she says words and we have to write down how they’re spelled. It’s tough.
After that, we have a final ceremony with our teachers, and then a cruise along the river and canals, and then a party at City Bar. I refuse to discuss saying goodbye to people at this time.
We’re all going to Peterhoff on May 9th, the first day the fountains are on, which should be cool. We’ll get back in time to see the fireworks over the Neva. That’s the last thing on my “Required” list, and there are only two more things I want to do, both of which I believe can be accomplished. The weather right now is cold and rainy, but it’s supposed to improve next Wednesday. Hopefully St. Petersburg will send us out with nice weather, instead of driving us away with crappiness like the snow on the ground on the first of May.
I just ate the weirdest soup. I think Marina’s cleaning out the fridge. The main ingredients seemed to be: Potatoes (duh), orange peppers, and three whole black olives. With pits. And, of course, a giant glop of sour cream in the middle. Plus, the soup had an orangey color, which I’ll assume was caused by the peppers (Even though there weren’t very many in there), because I have no idea what it could have been instead.
So, wow, it’s May. I leave in 10 days. Oh crap, that means tomorrow I’ll be down to the single digits. Scary stuff. I just realized that probably in mid-April I stopped thinking “I’ve been here ____ days/weeks/months!” and started thinking “I only have ____ months/weeks/days left!” An interesting turning point, to be sure.
So, since we got back from Pskov, I’ve managed to stay busy. On Tuesday, since we didn’t have classes, I spent some time online to post pictures and then I wandered around and took more pictures. I’m now 1000+ pictures taken in Russia, not counting everything I took on travel week.
So anyway, I wandered down to the famous statue of Peter the Great, the Bronze Horseman. I took some pictures there and I was walking through the park towards St. Isaac’s to finally set off to find the Nose, when I saw a crowd near an ice cream cart. In the midst of the crowd, I get a glimpse of some fur. I just assumed it’s one of those people with a box of puppies. But I was wrong. It was a baby bear! No, seriously! I’ll post a picture of the owner(???) holding it. You could pay 100 rubles (Roughly $4) to hold it and you could have someone else take a picture of you. Yes, this is definitely a most foreign country. A baby bear!
After that, I finally managed to find the Nose, which was most satisfying. Marina went out after dinner that night to go to a celebration for May Day, but I was pooped and ended up just staying here and watching a dubbed episode of Animal Cops. Last night, 5 of us went to the Mariinskiy and saw the ballet (Bear with me on the transliteration) “Bachisaraiskii Fountain,” based off an epic poem by Pushkin. I wasn’t quite sure what the woman who sold us the tickets meant when she said it was an “Eastern ballet,” but now I understand. Basic plot: Some khan encounters a Slavic people, kidnaps their princess and kills the rest, becomes obsessed with princess, his former favorite from his harem gets jealous, kills princess, khan has harem woman killed. It was pretty cool. The theatre itself is a must-see in this city. The fight scenes were really well done, too—especially when the khan’s men burnt down the palace and were chasing everyone around and killing people. The plot was fairly weak (Forgive me Pushkin, I’m sure the original is better), but I enjoyed the music and dancing and costumes and sets. And who goes to a ballet for the plot, anyway?
We were running late but got there right as the lights went down. Afterwards, I came back here and had an orange because I wasn’t hungry at all. Today we went to Subway on Nevsky for lunch and then went to the souvenir market to finish up that stuff. And success! My souvenir shopping is done! I still need to get my Zenit scarf, but I’m going to check out prices in other places, first. The advantage to the souvenir market is that you can haggle, which is fun. And the vendors there, although they all speak some English, like it when you can speak to them in Russian. But man, those guys don’t give up. Mattison and I made the mistake of looking at one girl’s flasks when she latched on to us and was like, “Flask? Don’t you need? It’s so cold, get warm with flask. Don’t you need? Don’t you need?” Tough to get out of that one. But I must admit, it’s a weight off of my shoulders to get that done.
So the next big weight to be lifted: Shipping a box home. I’m hoping to go to the main post office and buy a box tomorrow, packing it tomorrow night, and then shipping it out on Saturday. Not too much in it, just my huge winter coat and the boots I bought here, and maybe something heavy out of my suitcase. I’m just trying to make room for the souvenirs I’ve bought while I’ve been here. Once that’s gone, things’ll be much easier.
Of course, I’m dealing with finals right now. I had my first one today. Well, it was technically only the first half. It was my written exam for my conversation class. Written? Conversation? Yeah, I know. Anyway, my paper in Russian for Civilization is due Saturday (LAME), my Literature final is oral and is on Monday (I’m discussing Zamyatin for 5 minutes), Grammar and oral exam for Conversation on Thursday, and then Gazeta and Phonetics on Friday. Phonetics is kind of scary—one half of it is marking intonations and intonational pauses in a text, which is no big deal. The other part is a dictation, she says words and we have to write down how they’re spelled. It’s tough.
After that, we have a final ceremony with our teachers, and then a cruise along the river and canals, and then a party at City Bar. I refuse to discuss saying goodbye to people at this time.
We’re all going to Peterhoff on May 9th, the first day the fountains are on, which should be cool. We’ll get back in time to see the fireworks over the Neva. That’s the last thing on my “Required” list, and there are only two more things I want to do, both of which I believe can be accomplished. The weather right now is cold and rainy, but it’s supposed to improve next Wednesday. Hopefully St. Petersburg will send us out with nice weather, instead of driving us away with crappiness like the snow on the ground on the first of May.
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