2-5-07 (Obscenely long)

2-5-07

The Colts won the Super Bowl. The Colts won the Super Bowl. The Colts won the Super Bowl. THE COLTS WON THE SUPER BOWL! I found out this morning from the one guy in the program who stayed up all night and watched it at a friend’s apartment. Right now, I’d love to be reading article after article online about how Peyton and the boys triumphed in sloppy conditions. But alas, Kolobok has, once again, decided not to have its WiFi operating. So I’m just sitting here, typing away with no internet. Our class this afternoon got moved to Wednesday afternoon. I’m going to wait here for the people that did have an afternoon class. That means I’ve got about an hour to sit here and look busy. I had lunch with Katie and then some cake. Katie’s studying for her grammar quiz tomorrow and making sure I don’t look suspicious, sitting in a corner all alone.

Haha, I typed my last entry less than 24 hours ago so not a lot is happening right now. That means there’s not a whole lot to report. Right now the most exciting issue I’m grappling with is whether I should try the café near my house later tonight after dinner, even though last time I was there the WiFi didn’t work.

Dangit, Katie’s leaving. I’m going to move into the other room, maybe there’s a signal in there.

No. What is Kolobok’s deal? I’m going to be here for another hour. Maybe they’ll, like, turn it on at 3 o’clock or something. I’d just give up now, but I’m charging Hillary’s iPod Shuffle for her and she’s in an afternoon class so I’m going to meet her here to return it.

Kolobok has like three guys in suits with nametags that just kind of wander around. I guess they’re security? I kind of want to ask the guy, “Why is the internet not working?” But of course, even if he did have an answer, I probably wouldn’t understand the entirety of it. So I don’t think it’s worth it. It’s not like the place is super busy, there are a lot of empty seats. Looks like we might need to find a new after-school hangout with free WiFi. CityBar has free WiFi with purchase of food, so maybe we’ll try that tomorrow. I’d kind of like to consult with everyone else with laptops first, though, so I’m not the only one with a laptop and then I’m alone in hauling it to CityBar.

I really wish there was more to talk about. It’s pretty preposterous that I’m here in a foreign country, looking out on a street no one I know back home would recognize, watching the snow fly past horizontally and the tiny cars slog through sludge and yet I still cannot find anything that I think would be worth writing about. I guess it’s one of those things where, to me, the little everyday things here that I’ve begun to just accept and not think about are things that are foreign to the people reading this.

I could, for example, take the time to describe the absolutely nasty composition of the sludge that’s created from the constant snow and the constant dust that gathers on the roads and sidewalks, but I feel that it’s not worth it to take the time to present this as thought it’s something exciting that I’m dealing with, when in reality I don’t even think about it anymore.

My thoughts on this blog are really torn between thinking of it as, “You’re coming home to America at the end of every day in St. Petersburg, what’re the things worth telling your roommates and family?” and instead thinking, “Record all the minute details of life in this foreign country and report them to people who have never been there and will never go.” I suppose it’s times like these, as I just sit in Kolobok with nothing to do for at least the next 40 minutes that I think that recording the most minute of experiences would be worthwhile. At the end of long, tiring days (See: Yesterday), I’m tempted to just report the major events and skim over, if not skip entirely, the rest.

Hahaha, I suppose the other option would be that I could just sit here and look out the window and write down everything I see. That would probably be the lamest thing in the world. That would be the post that people would start to read and think, “Nevermind.” Although, speaking of things out the window, a yellow lab on a walk just went by and he had cute little red and blue booties on. For such small apartments here, I’ve seen a surprising number of large dogs. Example: In the past week I have seen two absolutely cow-sized Great Danes. One was last night outside the bus window and the other was a week ago as we walked to the Metro station from school and stopped in the park to play on the frozen pond. The one on the lake had a blanket draped over his back that really, really increased his horse-like appearance.

That’s not to say that there aren’t small dogs. On the contrary, they’re ubiquitous. In purses, on leashes, dressed in sweaters, and one that I swear was in a child’s snowsuit. It looked warm but incredibly unhappy. Of course, there’s also a ridiculous amount of strays. Out on the other island there are allegedly parts where the wild dogs roam in packs. When they can, they get into the Metro stations and sleep where it’s warm. For the most part, they’re friendly. I have yet to run into a mean stray but I’m not naïve enough to assume that they don’t exist.

A Cadillac Escalade pickup truck just parked very badly in front of the café. It’s like no one here ever took driver’s ed. Or for that matter, had to pass any kind of test to get a driver’s license. If I were able to get online right now, I’d look that up. It’s in the CIEE rules that students aren’t allowed to drive while on the program. I don’t see why anyone would ever WANT to. There are no lanes. THERE ARE NO LANES. There are lines that one would assume marked some sort of lane, but they’re not really lanes. The number of lanes exists only as the number of cars that can be squeezed into a given area. (Aw, there goes the lab with booties again. Adorable!) The drive in the CIEE van from the Metro station to school in the morning is terrifying. I just don’t really pay attention to the way we swerve around. Of course, traffic is further complicated by the fact that the roads are all covered with snow. I’ve seen plows before, but really since the snow is falling and blowing all day long, the roads are constantly dangerous.

That’s why so many people take public transportation. But the Metro itself is no picnic. Yeah, sure, it’s convenient (Most of the time. The closest Metro station to Smolny is a half hour’s walk away) and the most efficient means of getting from A to B in many cases, but when it’s busy it’s hell. Lots of tired, smelly people getting crammed into little metal cans and then speeding along under rivers and bouncing into each other is generally not my idea of a good time. When it’s not peak hours, it’s not bad at all. I can sit down; have some personal space, not get pushed into and out of the cars. While the St. Petersburg Metro stations don’t compare to the beautiful stations in Moscow (So I’ve seen in pictures, I’ll see for myself in March), a couple of the stations are absolutely gorgeous. It’s times like these when I forgive the Metro its sins, from smelly mean people and dogs sleeping outside to drunken guys outside and the crunch to get onto the 5-minute long escalator ride. Okay, maybe it’s not that long. I’ll time it today. It’s really hard to find things to do when you’re just standing there for so long. Some people sit down, that’s how long of a trip down it is. I usually space out. In the morning I’m not awake enough to do anything worthwhile, like read, and at the end of the day I’m just burnt out.

I’m really looking forward to the days getting longer. I’m leaving here on May 13th, so I won’t really be here for the White Nights of summer, but the days will be plenty long by that point. It’ll be nice to walk to the Metro in the morning when there’s actually sun, and it’ll be nice to return home when it’s still light out. Of course, it would also be nice to see the sun right now, when it’s technically day. While the first week or so I was here was filled with sunny, blue-skied days, the past week and a half it’s snowed every day, leaving St. Petersburg under an everlasting grey blanket, and the light from the sun is so distorted and indirect it feels like it’s coming from another room, through frosted glass. It’s like the sun is actually shining on Western Europe, but there’s so much crap in between here and there that by the time the light gets to us it’s lost its luminescence and barely provides the citizens of the city with the light to see where they’re going. The snow helps, reflecting what little light there is and covering up the dirtiest parts of the city.

But right now we’re slowly, slowly turning the corner and the days will get longer and the snow will melt and even though the dirty parts will be visible again, it’ll be bright enough that no one will even notice. I’m looking forward to that. I am not, however, looking forward to icicles. Icicles falling from eaves here are actually a gigantic health problem, injuring and even killing people every year when they fall. Hopefully, by that point, the weather will be clear so the blue skies will give me a reason to look up, and I’ll be able to stop any icicles of death before they hit me.

Considering how little snow we’d had back in Indiana. You’d think I’d be relishing the fact that it keeps constantly snowing here. On the contrary, it’s driving me crazy. The snow isn’t really enjoyable right now. In the parks it’s great, we have a chance to actually enjoy it. But just out on the street, where I am more often than not (Just walking, not like hanging out on corners or anything), the snow just makes your feet hurt from walking on a constantly shifting surface. It gets your boots filthy, and it blows into your face and stings like hell. These are not big friendly flakes, slowly drifting down and staying on your nose and eyelashes. These are little gnats that feel like they’re made from glass or steel, flying right at you horizontally. It’s not pleasant.

Okay, Hillary will either be here soon, or she won’t. I’ve got about an hour of battery life left, but it’s really not worth it to just hang around. I have blog entries dating back to the 29th of January though, so I really need to get online soon. I’m going to have to try my best into talking other people into going to CityBar tomorrow. Haha, the length of this post is absurd, especially considering the fact that it’s really about nothing. Kolobok’s almost deserted, but it has two internet stations, and I’ll use one to check my email once I shut this puppy down. Plus, if no one’s behind me waiting in line, I’ll just read articles about the Super Bowl for a while. That would warm me up on the coldest of St. Petersburg days.

THE COLTS WON THE SUPER BOWL.