4-22-07

4-22-07

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on my window. It’s the first time that’s happened while I’ve been here. It’s rained, of course, just usually when I’m outside somewhere, walking. It was quite pleasant, actually, and I just lay in bed and listened to it for a while. Had it not been a plan-less Sunday, it probably would have been a rude awakening. Instead I was able to linger over my morning porridge and take my time getting dressed, such that when I set out to actually greet the day, the rain had stopped.

It was still pretty crappy out, of course. The rain had muddied things up and it wasn’t too warm, either. So it wasn’t exactly the kind of day where I’d just say, “Screw it, I don’t want to go inside! I’ll just walk around!” So I went to the Russian Museum and spent a couple of hours wandering around there. It’s far more easily navigable than the Ermitage, so I actually feel like I saw everything. It’s now checked off of my have-to-do list, which means that I only have one more thing remaining—Peterhof, which’ll have to wait til a sunny day when the fountains in the cascade are running.

That means there are four more things on the “I’d Really Like To Do” list and two more on the “Really Should Do” list. On the latter, however, I’ve already bought tickets to a ballet at the Mariinskiy in the first week of May with a couple of other people. We’d also really like to go to a football match, and there’s one remaining before we go home, so depending on the price, I’ll try to cross that off, as well. As for the “I’d Really Like To Do” list, two of them are the insides of cathedrals, one is wandering the nearby Botanical Gardens, and the last is finding that damned Nose Statue. Considering there’s three weeks left, I think there’s no excusing me not getting all of those done.

After the Russian Museum, I went to Subway, where I ran into Hannah and her parents, randomly. We chatted for a bit, then I met up with Mattison, who had texted me while I was in the Russian Museum. He and I headed down to Apraksin Dvor, the chaotic and bustling and sometimes scary outdoor market. We didn’t really see anything to buy for anyone back home, but we wandered around there for quite a while, marveling at the weirdness of the place.

After that, we walked up to Gostiny Dvor, the large, classy indoor shopping center. We didn’t really expect to find anything, because the majority of things in Gostiny Dvor are ridiculously expensive. However, we both were successful in finding gifts that were way cheaper than we thought they’d be. In fact, for what I bought, I’m willing the prices were as much as (if not cheaper than) the prices at the actual souvenir market behind the Church on Spilt Blood. So yay! Not all gifts are taken care of, but for all but one I at least know what the gift will be. That last one is giving me some trouble, but it’ll click eventually.

After dinner, I joined Marina in watching Circus with the Stars! Basically, take the concept of “Dancing with the Stars,” except instead of just dancing, put the B-List stars in a circus. I was entertained tonight by watching Russian celebrities I’ve never heard of walk tightropes, do acrobatics, juggle, and make chimpanzees do the can-can. I’m not kidding. Probably the second-most strange part for me was watching some smarmy well-tanned Russian run around with chimpanzees in pants as they rode bicycles and danced. Marina thought it was hilarious and laughed harder than I’ve ever seen her laugh. But that was only the second-weirdest. Honors for the weirdest go to the clown/juggling routine that was loosely based on the idea of a US/USSR basketball match. The Russian playing the American player was, of course, in blackface, wearing an afro wig, and the name on the back of his jersey was “White.” Where am I living???

It’s 9:30 and it’s still light outside. It’s a phenomenal difference from the beginning of the semester. I’m willing to admit, only somewhat ashamedly, that there were nights (Yes, plural) that I got into my pajamas before the clock struck nine. It was my circadian rhythms, I tell you! When it’s pitch black at 5, and I was wiped from walking around the city, my body just went crazy. I don’t think that in the year before I got here that I went to bed before 10. It’s not uncommon here, I’m sad to say. I know it makes me sound like a loser, but I’m just going to blame it on what this country did to my circadian rhythms.

Because of the lengthening days, it feels weird to come home when it’s still light outside. However, I know if I wait til it gets dark, dinner (Potatoes potatoes potatoes potatoes) will be later, and that invariably gives me an upset stomach the next day. So even though it feels strange to say goodbye to friends when it looks like midday outside, we’re all slowly adjusting.

On Friday morning, we leave for Pskov. We get back Monday night. I honestly don’t know what to expect, like I did with Novgorod. I’m pretty sure that the scene in the excellent Eisenstein film “Alexander Nevsky” where they toss the children into the fire took place in Pskov. I suppose that’s a question to ask the guide. Then we don’t have class on Tuesday, because it’s May Day. I’m trying to maybe arrange some kind of picnic out on Yelagin Island if the weather’s good. I’m sure the rest of the city will have similar plans, but our days are waning, and if the weather’s good, it could be a really fun time. I’ll test the waters tomorrow, see what people think.