2-23-07

2-23-07

After Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday progressed as boringly as ever. Wednesday night, however, we had no power for a couple of hours so I read David Sedaris in the dark with a flashlight.

Yesterday morning I woke up and felt fine, at first. Then I had breakfast and as I was getting dressed it became quite clear that I had eaten something that was violently disagreeing with me. I stayed home from classes and slept and felt better by the afternoon. Marina made me something that was basically tea, but she showed me the plant she used to make it and it looked kind of like hops. It did not taste like hops, however. It tasted like she cut up a cereal box and boiled it.

My friends at school were convinced my symptoms were psychosomatic, as yesterday was supposed to be the coldest day of the winter. I assured them, without going into detail, that they were genuine.

I managed to convince Marina that I was fine and escaped after a lunch of kasha to meet up with everyone else at CityBar, where I enjoyed a tuna melt and some time online. We then all set out to see the new Russian movie “Paragraph 78.” We had no idea what the movie was going to be about. But it’s being promoted heavily, signs on every street and in every Metro car, so because we’re all sheep and it looked like a pretty brainless action thriller, we wanted to go because we figured we’d understand what was going on.

Well, we did understand what was going on, as the plot itself was incredibly formulaic: Elite Forces team splits up after mission gone wrong, four years later team leader must go through a montage of pulling all the wacky characters of the team back together. Team reunites after something goes wrong at a remote underground research facility. Love triangle between team leader and his second-in-command and the one woman on the team. And…zombies? You see, we’re not really sure EXACTLY what’s going on in the remote research facility, because the movie, unbeknownst to us (And I believe unbeknownst to everyone else in the audience), was purely the first half of a longer movie. So the movie ended on a cliffhanger. Luckily, the second half comes out at the end of March, so we’ll all be able to go and see it. That’s a relief.

Today, we don’t have classes as it’s “Defenders of the Homeland Day,” aka, the male equivalent to International Women’s Day. So a couple of us are thinking of going to the Yusopov Palace to check off another required museum. Yusopov Palace is the place where Rasputin was killed. Well, it was the place where they started to kill Rasputin. Unfortunately, it’s rather inconveniently located, so it looks like it’ll be a bit of a hike in the cold.

Tomorrow it looks like we’re going Cross-Country Skiing. This could be a disaster, as I have never before put my feet into any kind of skis. Plus, anyone with any knowledge of my ice-skating abilities knows that I should probably stay away from winter sports involving special footwear. We’ll see.

…Later that day. The Yusopov Palace was nice. Some of the rooms were actually decorated tastefully. Imagine that! I arrived way before Hannah did so I took the opportunity to wander down to the Mariinsky and the statue of Rimsky-Korsakov in the cold. Then Mattison arrived, and he and I waited in the lobby of the palace for Hannah, who had become lost and was miserably late, something she will never live down. Mattison and I started our audio tours without her. The audio tours were narrated by a very British gentleman who had an interesting cadence and sounded ridiculous when he had to absurdly describe some of the more ornate elements of the palace. Also, there was organ music to accompany us on a long transition between rooms. Highlights include: A study with a secret door hidden behind a bookcase, a room decorated in a Moroccan style that came out of nowhere, and the palace’s own, still-operating, theatre. Then we had a late lunch at Teremok, the three of us splitting an absolutely delicious chocolate blini at the end because we wanted an excuse to stay inside.

Then we met up with Becky and Kate with the intention of going to Moika 12, Pushkin’s apartment, but when we arrived it was closed. So then I made my way home, had dinner, and then came here, to Kofe Haus. Where I’m eating ice cream, even though I was so cold outside. It’s nice. It’s also nice to sit by the door. Yeah, every once in a while there’s a blast around my knees, but the smokers all sit away from the door.