So for those of you who have been reading, you may have learned some Russian (there will be a test...), or you may have learned some interesting information about the Russian culture, or perhaps you just learned that Russia is not in America (sometimes I wonder about a college education these days...). However it might be, thank you for reading and laughing at my many misfortunes.
I start summer school tomorrow, so please bear with me as I try to get my pictures all uploaded to my computer and load them all onto some website where you can view them or order prints to bring home and share with you all in person.
My Russian has gotten much better over the course of the semester, and I have even found that I can read Polish (thank you, Dad, for sharing your anger at the Russian people in an educational manner; I hope none of Jillian's classmates can read Polish...). This has, therefore, been quite an educational semester for me.
Off now to study American Constitutional Law. That's not a jump at all.
20 May 2007
13 May 2007
Final Post in Russia
Hola, otra vez. I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last update, but I spent a week in St. Petersburg, and the computers in the hotel-thing were so outdated that they had a conniption trying to open PowerPoint...I didn't even try to get to this site.
So anyway, St. Petersburg was great, except for the fact that it rained and then got cold. Ironically, the day it poured was a holiday, so we walked around all day in the rain watching the "festivities" of "Dien Pobiedi," or Victory Day, May 9th, which is the day Russia celebrates the end of World War II. It was a big deal--parades, huge signs on buildings, flags (I even saw an American flag on the top of a military truck in the Veterans' Parade, go America!), drunk 10 year olds running around the streets, a concert and fireworks that night (although it was pretty light out at 10 pm...we're getting into what Russia calls the White Nights; because St. Petersburg is pretty close to the Arctic Circle, during the summer, they almost have no dark period at night).
I also toured the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where some of the enormous palaces are--one city is known as "Tsarskoye Selo," which means City of the Tsars (its real name is Pushkin, named after Russia's beloved poet). That city contains Catherine's Palace (Ekaterinskiy Dvoryets), where the famous yantaraya komnata (amber room) is. The entire room (on three sides) is made out of amber, and it is beautiful. I also went to the city called Petrodvorets (Peter's Palace), more commonly known to contain Petergoff. Everyone told me that the fountains would be off, but, lo and behold, I got there, and they were having a big preparatory celebration for Victory Day (I got there the 8th), complete with working fountains. So that was neat. I also think that, because of this celebration, they didn't sell tickets for the lower gardens, which is where the better fountains are. They just let people through, so I only spent 250 rubles for the tickets instead of 500 (each ticket should have been that much...imagine what it would have been without my handy-dandy student ID). I have some amazing pictures, but my stuff is all packed up to go home, so I'm not posting any until I get back to West Point.
I'm extremely excited to go back to the United States, although my semester has been amazing. Hopefully, I will see you all sometime soon, but for right now I have to go (the Internet cafe just closed...). I will talk to you all again soon.
So anyway, St. Petersburg was great, except for the fact that it rained and then got cold. Ironically, the day it poured was a holiday, so we walked around all day in the rain watching the "festivities" of "Dien Pobiedi," or Victory Day, May 9th, which is the day Russia celebrates the end of World War II. It was a big deal--parades, huge signs on buildings, flags (I even saw an American flag on the top of a military truck in the Veterans' Parade, go America!), drunk 10 year olds running around the streets, a concert and fireworks that night (although it was pretty light out at 10 pm...we're getting into what Russia calls the White Nights; because St. Petersburg is pretty close to the Arctic Circle, during the summer, they almost have no dark period at night).
I also toured the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where some of the enormous palaces are--one city is known as "Tsarskoye Selo," which means City of the Tsars (its real name is Pushkin, named after Russia's beloved poet). That city contains Catherine's Palace (Ekaterinskiy Dvoryets), where the famous yantaraya komnata (amber room) is. The entire room (on three sides) is made out of amber, and it is beautiful. I also went to the city called Petrodvorets (Peter's Palace), more commonly known to contain Petergoff. Everyone told me that the fountains would be off, but, lo and behold, I got there, and they were having a big preparatory celebration for Victory Day (I got there the 8th), complete with working fountains. So that was neat. I also think that, because of this celebration, they didn't sell tickets for the lower gardens, which is where the better fountains are. They just let people through, so I only spent 250 rubles for the tickets instead of 500 (each ticket should have been that much...imagine what it would have been without my handy-dandy student ID). I have some amazing pictures, but my stuff is all packed up to go home, so I'm not posting any until I get back to West Point.
I'm extremely excited to go back to the United States, although my semester has been amazing. Hopefully, I will see you all sometime soon, but for right now I have to go (the Internet cafe just closed...). I will talk to you all again soon.
23 April 2007
Caucasus, Part II
Woo, update, and yes, I have many more photos than I have uploaded, so if anyone is interested in looking at around 400 pictures, they exist. By the way, I will put more pictures on here later; I am too hungry to spend a long time here waiting for them to upload. Sorry, I haven't eaten since breakfast, and it's already 4pm. Use your imagination for now. I know you all have one--I've been told I do, so if that's true, then you can all imagine too...
So, in any case, I've discussed up to the verblud riding session (the CAMEL!!) and have yet to discuss the majority of my wonderful vacation less than 200 miles from the Chechnyan border.
We also went to a waterfall, which was called the "Medoviye Vodopadi (Honey Waterfalls)." This was a neat trip with lots of great views, and it even had a rickety metal ladder-like staircase that some of us were sure would collapse beneath us. But it didn't.
The same day we saw the ring in the rocks, the group took another scary bus trip to the nearby city of Pytigorsk (which translates as five mountains or peaks--pyat=five, gora=mountain) to see some kind of lake as well as the house / museum of the Russian writer Lermontov. I didn't go because, well, I don't really like the way they drive in Russia, and, although I can easily read and do various other activities in a moving vehicle that may nauseate those with weak stomachs, I felt quite sick on that 20 minute ride back to our sanatoriy (hotel, kind of) because of the driver's wonderful swerving habits.
So the next trip I went on was the one to Mt. Elbrus, also known as the highest mountain peak in Europe. We only went up to 3500m, but that was still pretty high. However, it was kind of a nasty day for weather, and the sun didn't really break through the snow and clouds to give us a clear view. It was just enough to blind us if we were not wearing sunglasses. But it was pretty neat, and two people slid down a part of the mountain like penguins, while another thought it would be cool to walk around with just a t-shirt on. This was Friday.
Saturday was amazing because, although we went on what I considered a completely pointless little excursion around Kislovodsk to see an Armenian church, the smallest krepost (fortress) the world has ever seen, and another rock formation with a fountain of nasty sulfuric water, I spent two and a half hours watching the scenery of the steppe from the back of a horse. It was amazing, probably the best views I saw the entire week, and I absolutely loved being able to ride a horse. Plus, the people we paid to do this were the nicest people I've come in contact with here in Russia. They were not what you might think of as "Russian," though. They had darker skin and pokhozh (resemble) closer to Turks than Russians. The horses, too, were extremely calm and sedate. They were used to following a leader and did not want to walk off on their own. Mine flat out refused to move if there was not another horse in front of it, which was a disappointment when I figured out how to make it trot.
Then, we came to Sunday. I bought a lot of souvenirs and got on the train, where we stayed for the next 23 hours. This ride wasn't quite as bad as the one out to Kislovodsk, though, because at least one of the women who worked on the train opened a window and the door to our wagon so that we could get some air moving and not be so uncomfortably hot.
Getting back to Voronezh was about the biggest disappointment of my life. I got up early on Tuesday morning to go run and couldn't breathe. I wanted to cry because the air was so much worse than the amazing clean air of Kislovodsk. That about sums up the way I would compare Voronezh to Kislovodsk.
So, in any case, I've discussed up to the verblud riding session (the CAMEL!!) and have yet to discuss the majority of my wonderful vacation less than 200 miles from the Chechnyan border.
We also went to a waterfall, which was called the "Medoviye Vodopadi (Honey Waterfalls)." This was a neat trip with lots of great views, and it even had a rickety metal ladder-like staircase that some of us were sure would collapse beneath us. But it didn't.
The same day we saw the ring in the rocks, the group took another scary bus trip to the nearby city of Pytigorsk (which translates as five mountains or peaks--pyat=five, gora=mountain) to see some kind of lake as well as the house / museum of the Russian writer Lermontov. I didn't go because, well, I don't really like the way they drive in Russia, and, although I can easily read and do various other activities in a moving vehicle that may nauseate those with weak stomachs, I felt quite sick on that 20 minute ride back to our sanatoriy (hotel, kind of) because of the driver's wonderful swerving habits.
So the next trip I went on was the one to Mt. Elbrus, also known as the highest mountain peak in Europe. We only went up to 3500m, but that was still pretty high. However, it was kind of a nasty day for weather, and the sun didn't really break through the snow and clouds to give us a clear view. It was just enough to blind us if we were not wearing sunglasses. But it was pretty neat, and two people slid down a part of the mountain like penguins, while another thought it would be cool to walk around with just a t-shirt on. This was Friday.
Saturday was amazing because, although we went on what I considered a completely pointless little excursion around Kislovodsk to see an Armenian church, the smallest krepost (fortress) the world has ever seen, and another rock formation with a fountain of nasty sulfuric water, I spent two and a half hours watching the scenery of the steppe from the back of a horse. It was amazing, probably the best views I saw the entire week, and I absolutely loved being able to ride a horse. Plus, the people we paid to do this were the nicest people I've come in contact with here in Russia. They were not what you might think of as "Russian," though. They had darker skin and pokhozh (resemble) closer to Turks than Russians. The horses, too, were extremely calm and sedate. They were used to following a leader and did not want to walk off on their own. Mine flat out refused to move if there was not another horse in front of it, which was a disappointment when I figured out how to make it trot.
Then, we came to Sunday. I bought a lot of souvenirs and got on the train, where we stayed for the next 23 hours. This ride wasn't quite as bad as the one out to Kislovodsk, though, because at least one of the women who worked on the train opened a window and the door to our wagon so that we could get some air moving and not be so uncomfortably hot.
Getting back to Voronezh was about the biggest disappointment of my life. I got up early on Tuesday morning to go run and couldn't breathe. I wanted to cry because the air was so much worse than the amazing clean air of Kislovodsk. That about sums up the way I would compare Voronezh to Kislovodsk.
19 April 2007
Vacation in the Caucasus
So last week, I got on a train in Voronezh in the rainish snow to find that we had the worst seats ever. Being a 22-hour ride, I was hoping for something a little more liveable than this:
But life goes on, and Slava Bogu (thank god) that I wore shorts underneath my jeans so that I didn't have to sit in that sauna in jeans the whole 22 hours.
Next phase, beautiful, sunny (and green! because the grass actually grows there) Kislovodsk. Who wants to guess at what degree of latitude this city is? I'm sure you could find it online or in an atlas, but I'll save you some trouble...it's at almost 44 degrees. Last time I checked, that's north of where I live in New York... Anyway, the first day was relatively laid back and relaxed, and we just walked around the (huge!) local park and saw all the cool stuff they had there, like a concrete crocodile. Interestingly, the Russian word for crocodile is very easy to say, but that might only be because it is the same in English...Needless to say, the 17 international college students climbed on the thing like four year olds.
We also paid a bunch of money to hold birds of prey with their beaks taped shut. Well, I kind of thought a peacock was cooler, so I picked that one up instead. Oh the crazy things we do in Mother Russia.
It wasn't until the next day (Thursday) that we began our wonderful bus excursions. By wonderful, I mean awful, as far as the riding in the bus was concerned. The excursions themselves were actually a lot of fun, and I got a bunch of neat pictures. The first place we went was a place the Russians creatively named "The Ring." This is what it looked like...
Kind of tall...
Then I rode a camel. Yeah, that's right. Woo. Her name was "Umnitsa," which, in Russian, means intelligent or wise one (feminine).
I'm not sure what I'm doing...maybe I thought I was cool...
More to say, but I'll say it tomorrow.
09 April 2007
Paskha (Easter) in Russia
Yesterday was Easter, as most of you probably already knew. In Russia, it is one of the most revered holidays because religion and faith have become extremely important parts of the lives of the people partly as a result of the years of Soviet religious repression. As a result, almost everything was closed. Usually, when I go running at the ungodly early hour of 6:30 am (7:30 on weekends), I see people meandering and sort of slowly getting around to setting up their tent-things in which they sell their various wares. Not yesterday. Voronezh was a virtual ghost town. Okay, so not seriously, but a lot of stuff was closed.
So anyway, I got back from running, and my hozyaika, Vera, woke up the entire house because we had to eat breakfast--cake, to be exact. Yes. She bought four Easter Cakes (paska; note that this word has a hard k sound, not like the kh in paskha), and we ate the great majority of all of them. Vera told us that we had to try some of each to see which was the best. Right. They were huge. Luckily, she had made this wonderful frosting with which we were to top our huge cake...I couldn't eat for the rest of the day until Vera and Vladimir decided we needed to drink some champagne for Jesus. No way was I drinking for anybody without some hearty calories in my stomach...paska, yaitsa (eggs), riba (fish), kuritsa (chicken), and, of course, frosting...
Oh yeah, we had eggs too. If you've never had an egg colored by onion skins, you should. The longer they sit in there, the darker red they get, and eventually, they start to obtain a tiny hint of onion flavor in the egg itself.
The yummy, yummy frosting:
...and the paska...the one in the back was the best...moist and almost breadish...mmm
Did I go to a church to see a real Orthodox Easter Mass? No...I contemplated it, but yesterday was an uber lazy day for me, and I did not even get changed out of my running clothes until the end of the day. Considering the recent drop in temperatures, there was no way I was going outside in shorts. I think maybe I am glad, too, because I heard from one of my fellow West Point compatriots that he found a baptist service--that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours--I can't imagine how long an Orthodox Mass would last.
So anyway, I got back from running, and my hozyaika, Vera, woke up the entire house because we had to eat breakfast--cake, to be exact. Yes. She bought four Easter Cakes (paska; note that this word has a hard k sound, not like the kh in paskha), and we ate the great majority of all of them. Vera told us that we had to try some of each to see which was the best. Right. They were huge. Luckily, she had made this wonderful frosting with which we were to top our huge cake...I couldn't eat for the rest of the day until Vera and Vladimir decided we needed to drink some champagne for Jesus. No way was I drinking for anybody without some hearty calories in my stomach...paska, yaitsa (eggs), riba (fish), kuritsa (chicken), and, of course, frosting...
Oh yeah, we had eggs too. If you've never had an egg colored by onion skins, you should. The longer they sit in there, the darker red they get, and eventually, they start to obtain a tiny hint of onion flavor in the egg itself.
The yummy, yummy frosting:
...and the paska...the one in the back was the best...moist and almost breadish...mmm
Did I go to a church to see a real Orthodox Easter Mass? No...I contemplated it, but yesterday was an uber lazy day for me, and I did not even get changed out of my running clothes until the end of the day. Considering the recent drop in temperatures, there was no way I was going outside in shorts. I think maybe I am glad, too, because I heard from one of my fellow West Point compatriots that he found a baptist service--that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours--I can't imagine how long an Orthodox Mass would last.
06 April 2007
01 April 2007
Tula and Yasnaya Polyana
Alright, after spending an hour uploading pictures,arranging them, and typing up my thoughts on this trip only to have the little window from hell that says "Microsoft Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and will now close" pop up, I had to stay away from this site for a few days. By the way, that stupid little window is easily recognizable in Russian as well as English, and it is just as depressing...
In any case, here is a recount of the excessively long trip to a city that is not even 300 miles from Voronezh. It began with a few cadets meeting up at the main university building at 10pm on Friday night and being placed in the way back of a "ghetto" Russian version of a tour bus. We settled in for what we'd been told would be a seven hour trip. Why, you might ask, is a journey of less than 300 miles going to take seven hours? Well, that was my question as well. I quickly found out that it is very easy for a "short" distance to become a long and dragged out adventure when the bus driver stops every hour and waits for a whole hour at just about every rest / parking area!
So we arrived at the vokzal (train station) in the city of Tula somewhere around 5am, but we didn't leave until well after 8 because nothing in Russia opens before 9am (except for the gym I go to...). So with the three hours of free time, I ventured into the vokzal in search of breakfast and then retreated back to the bus for some much needed extra sleep. I woke up well after the tour guide began her rambling about all the monuments and history of the city, took a couple photos of the cool stuff (like a tank, and a really tall statue of Lenin), and went back to sleep, kind of. We finally got to the prianiki museum to find out all I could ever want to know about the first of Tula's three "famous for" items: prianiki. This museum had tons of prianiki on shelves behind glass--any kind you can imagine. It had soviet prianiki, Yasnaya Polyana prianiki, "dien pobiedi" (day of victory, to commemorate the victory in WWII) prianiki, prianiki commemorating the city's 400th year in existence, and many, many more. So, what, exactly are prianiki? Why, spice cakes, of course!
Sovietski prianiki
Yasnaya Polyana prianiki
Dien Pobiedi prianiki
After this wonderful experience, we actually did get to eat some of this wonderful treat with which the Russians complement their tea, at which time we also viewed the second object Tula is "famous for." Samovars. Um, that would be the self-boiler tea brewer thing that looks excessively ornate and flashy. So here we have two very important things that have truly placed Tula on the map.
We then took a detour to the house of one of Russia's favorite writers, Leo Tolstoy. I've decided that it was called "Yasnaya Polyana" for a reason. Literally, the name means "serene / peaceful clearing," and it was amazing. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly why Tolstoy would have wanted to come back and live there. A little history: Tolstoy became very interested in the lives of peasants and renounced his "aristocracy," much to his wife's dismay. He thought it unnecessary and superfluously arrogant to live extravagantly. This actually led to many bitter arguments with his wife, who wanted money to raise their 13 children (it may have been more; I've forgotten the exact number...) and to lavish on herself as well, and in his last days, Tolstoy actually went to the local train station and refused his wife entry until after he died there.
Me messing up a lovely view of Yasnaya Polyana and its aptly-named "Bolshoy Prud" (big pond)...I think the other lady messed up my picture, though...
In any case, this place quite fit Tolstoy's late life philosophy (other than the fact that it was huge and actually kind of extravagant in its own right...), as it was peaceful, open, and would allow him to "get back to nature" and plow his fields or ride his horses all he wanted. We actually saw a runaway horse while we were there, which was amazing. When I told my hozyain, Vladimir, about the trip, he suggested that perhaps Tolstoy wanted to go for a ride and that he was riding the horse, which is ludicrous, of course, but it is a nice thought, I suppose.
Even his grave was fitting for his wishes--simple, away from everything, no markers but covered with pine boughs in its own little clearing in the forest.
Finally, we made our final stop in the city of Tula at the Tulski Kreml (Kremlin of Tula), at which they have a weapons museum. Wasn't it obvious that a city known for its teapots and cakes would be a big weapons city as well? In any case, it was pretty cool, but I didn't take any pictures because I didn't particularly care to put an extra $4 into the Russian economy so that I could take pictures of guns and swords which look much like many other guns and swords I've seen in my life, although some of the aviation and tank guns were pretty big. I just took pictures of the outside.
The outside of the kreml literally says "Museum, Kremlin of Tula"
A view from the inside of the gateway
The church inside the kreml (which actually housed the arms museum)
By this time, it was already 4:30, and the arms museum was closing, but we weren't scheduled to leave the city until 10:30 that night. So...what to do for six hours? The international students formed a relatively large group and wandered the city, of course! ...after just about everything interesting had closed. However, we did stop to buy some amazingly good samsa s lukom i miasom (croissant-type bread filled with onions (luk) and meat (miasa)). They only cost 18 rubles each, which was a pretty good deal for how amazingly good they were. We then proceeded to watch kids skateboard, bike, and rollerblade in front of Tula's Lenin Square (I'm pretty sure every Russian city has a Ploshad Lenina...) because there was really not much else to do. Around 9, we headed back to the bus, all the time wondering why we didn't just leave after the weapons museum...had we left then, we'd have been back in Voronezh by midnight. But no, we left at 10:30 pm and stopped a million times again, to return home somewhere around 6am.
I gave myself a break and slept for four hours before I finally got up and went running.
Yes, it was excessively long, and the Russian style of "organization," "waiting in line," and "hurrying up" would never fly in the United States in general, let alone at West Point; however, it was a good trip, and I'm not exactly sure I'd have spent my weekend doing anything more productive than what I got out of this "excursion."
In any case, here is a recount of the excessively long trip to a city that is not even 300 miles from Voronezh. It began with a few cadets meeting up at the main university building at 10pm on Friday night and being placed in the way back of a "ghetto" Russian version of a tour bus. We settled in for what we'd been told would be a seven hour trip. Why, you might ask, is a journey of less than 300 miles going to take seven hours? Well, that was my question as well. I quickly found out that it is very easy for a "short" distance to become a long and dragged out adventure when the bus driver stops every hour and waits for a whole hour at just about every rest / parking area!
So we arrived at the vokzal (train station) in the city of Tula somewhere around 5am, but we didn't leave until well after 8 because nothing in Russia opens before 9am (except for the gym I go to...). So with the three hours of free time, I ventured into the vokzal in search of breakfast and then retreated back to the bus for some much needed extra sleep. I woke up well after the tour guide began her rambling about all the monuments and history of the city, took a couple photos of the cool stuff (like a tank, and a really tall statue of Lenin), and went back to sleep, kind of. We finally got to the prianiki museum to find out all I could ever want to know about the first of Tula's three "famous for" items: prianiki. This museum had tons of prianiki on shelves behind glass--any kind you can imagine. It had soviet prianiki, Yasnaya Polyana prianiki, "dien pobiedi" (day of victory, to commemorate the victory in WWII) prianiki, prianiki commemorating the city's 400th year in existence, and many, many more. So, what, exactly are prianiki? Why, spice cakes, of course!
Sovietski prianiki
Yasnaya Polyana prianiki
Dien Pobiedi prianikiAfter this wonderful experience, we actually did get to eat some of this wonderful treat with which the Russians complement their tea, at which time we also viewed the second object Tula is "famous for." Samovars. Um, that would be the self-boiler tea brewer thing that looks excessively ornate and flashy. So here we have two very important things that have truly placed Tula on the map.
We then took a detour to the house of one of Russia's favorite writers, Leo Tolstoy. I've decided that it was called "Yasnaya Polyana" for a reason. Literally, the name means "serene / peaceful clearing," and it was amazing. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly why Tolstoy would have wanted to come back and live there. A little history: Tolstoy became very interested in the lives of peasants and renounced his "aristocracy," much to his wife's dismay. He thought it unnecessary and superfluously arrogant to live extravagantly. This actually led to many bitter arguments with his wife, who wanted money to raise their 13 children (it may have been more; I've forgotten the exact number...) and to lavish on herself as well, and in his last days, Tolstoy actually went to the local train station and refused his wife entry until after he died there.
Me messing up a lovely view of Yasnaya Polyana and its aptly-named "Bolshoy Prud" (big pond)...I think the other lady messed up my picture, though...
In any case, this place quite fit Tolstoy's late life philosophy (other than the fact that it was huge and actually kind of extravagant in its own right...), as it was peaceful, open, and would allow him to "get back to nature" and plow his fields or ride his horses all he wanted. We actually saw a runaway horse while we were there, which was amazing. When I told my hozyain, Vladimir, about the trip, he suggested that perhaps Tolstoy wanted to go for a ride and that he was riding the horse, which is ludicrous, of course, but it is a nice thought, I suppose.
Even his grave was fitting for his wishes--simple, away from everything, no markers but covered with pine boughs in its own little clearing in the forest.
Finally, we made our final stop in the city of Tula at the Tulski Kreml (Kremlin of Tula), at which they have a weapons museum. Wasn't it obvious that a city known for its teapots and cakes would be a big weapons city as well? In any case, it was pretty cool, but I didn't take any pictures because I didn't particularly care to put an extra $4 into the Russian economy so that I could take pictures of guns and swords which look much like many other guns and swords I've seen in my life, although some of the aviation and tank guns were pretty big. I just took pictures of the outside.
The outside of the kreml literally says "Museum, Kremlin of Tula"
A view from the inside of the gateway
The church inside the kreml (which actually housed the arms museum)
By this time, it was already 4:30, and the arms museum was closing, but we weren't scheduled to leave the city until 10:30 that night. So...what to do for six hours? The international students formed a relatively large group and wandered the city, of course! ...after just about everything interesting had closed. However, we did stop to buy some amazingly good samsa s lukom i miasom (croissant-type bread filled with onions (luk) and meat (miasa)). They only cost 18 rubles each, which was a pretty good deal for how amazingly good they were. We then proceeded to watch kids skateboard, bike, and rollerblade in front of Tula's Lenin Square (I'm pretty sure every Russian city has a Ploshad Lenina...) because there was really not much else to do. Around 9, we headed back to the bus, all the time wondering why we didn't just leave after the weapons museum...had we left then, we'd have been back in Voronezh by midnight. But no, we left at 10:30 pm and stopped a million times again, to return home somewhere around 6am.
I gave myself a break and slept for four hours before I finally got up and went running.
Yes, it was excessively long, and the Russian style of "organization," "waiting in line," and "hurrying up" would never fly in the United States in general, let alone at West Point; however, it was a good trip, and I'm not exactly sure I'd have spent my weekend doing anything more productive than what I got out of this "excursion."
29 March 2007
SKID Analis (AIDS test)
So, after two months in Russia, it has come to that time in my travels at which I must renew my Visa. Russia has this thing where they only give out three month Visas, so as a student who obviously is spending longer than that here, I have to renew mine. It expires on 20 April.
For those of you who may not know what is required for a Russian Visa application, I'll explain the process. I need to fill out an application form with whatever personal information--address, name, passport number, good stuff like that. I also need to get more pictures; I had a bunch, but somehow two disappeared, and I gave up six at the beginning of the semester although I'm sure now that they didn't really need that many, so this is good. At least they're cheap. Finally, I have to get tested for AIDS. This part makes absolutely no sense to me. This is why: I didn't have AIDS before I came here, I have had no contact while here that would expose me to the disease, and I haven't been out of the country. Therefore, the only way I could possibly get AIDS would be through an infected syringe. Hmmmmmm.
Well, like good little cadets, we all went this morning to the poliklinika (hospital) and filled out forms that I think basically said, "This hospital is not liable for anything that happens to you while you are here or as a result of your visit. If you get sick or die, that's your problem." Then we paid 350 rubles because they don't have a national healthcare like we do...funny how communism works...We then walked down this hallway, gave our forms and passports to women / nurses in a room and waited for them to tell us they were ready. This is Jessica and me being scared before we went...
The rest of this will describe the process of drawing blood, so don't read it if you're queasy about that kind of stuff...
We watched her take a new needle out of a new package every time. She wore gloves, and even washed her (gloved) hands between each person.
Of course, I was the last one to go. Of course, she would miss my vein. Of course, she would move the needle around in my arm trying to get it into my vein. Of course, everything that could possibly go wrong in this situation did. My arm went numb, pain shot through the entire arm, she wouldn't take the needle out, and my stupid vein wouldn't bleed. Yeah, I cried. And I begged her to take the needle out. In broken Russian (which basically consisted of "nyet, pozhalsta, stoy," and the like). I thought my arm was going to die and never be usable again. Finally, she took the needle out and brought in another nurse to try my other arm. That worked fine. However, 6 hours later, my arm still aches from my wonderful experience this morning.
I had better not have a problem renewing my Visa. And I better not get AIDS or some other disease from that test this morning. You haven't truly lived until you've had blood drawn in Russia, by a Russian nurse with a funny green chef's hat on. At least she was nice. Pictures zaftra (tomorrow).
For those of you who may not know what is required for a Russian Visa application, I'll explain the process. I need to fill out an application form with whatever personal information--address, name, passport number, good stuff like that. I also need to get more pictures; I had a bunch, but somehow two disappeared, and I gave up six at the beginning of the semester although I'm sure now that they didn't really need that many, so this is good. At least they're cheap. Finally, I have to get tested for AIDS. This part makes absolutely no sense to me. This is why: I didn't have AIDS before I came here, I have had no contact while here that would expose me to the disease, and I haven't been out of the country. Therefore, the only way I could possibly get AIDS would be through an infected syringe. Hmmmmmm.
Well, like good little cadets, we all went this morning to the poliklinika (hospital) and filled out forms that I think basically said, "This hospital is not liable for anything that happens to you while you are here or as a result of your visit. If you get sick or die, that's your problem." Then we paid 350 rubles because they don't have a national healthcare like we do...funny how communism works...We then walked down this hallway, gave our forms and passports to women / nurses in a room and waited for them to tell us they were ready. This is Jessica and me being scared before we went...
I think these explain it all.
The rest of this will describe the process of drawing blood, so don't read it if you're queasy about that kind of stuff...
We watched her take a new needle out of a new package every time. She wore gloves, and even washed her (gloved) hands between each person.
Of course, I was the last one to go. Of course, she would miss my vein. Of course, she would move the needle around in my arm trying to get it into my vein. Of course, everything that could possibly go wrong in this situation did. My arm went numb, pain shot through the entire arm, she wouldn't take the needle out, and my stupid vein wouldn't bleed. Yeah, I cried. And I begged her to take the needle out. In broken Russian (which basically consisted of "nyet, pozhalsta, stoy," and the like). I thought my arm was going to die and never be usable again. Finally, she took the needle out and brought in another nurse to try my other arm. That worked fine. However, 6 hours later, my arm still aches from my wonderful experience this morning.
I had better not have a problem renewing my Visa. And I better not get AIDS or some other disease from that test this morning. You haven't truly lived until you've had blood drawn in Russia, by a Russian nurse with a funny green chef's hat on. At least she was nice. Pictures zaftra (tomorrow).
24 March 2007
My Thumb Drive's Not Missing Anymore
I found it! It was in my jeans pocket! Yay. Let the pictures begin. But not yet because I don't have anything good yet.
I ran to the gym today. I thought I would share that because it might sound funny. Maybe not. It did to me because I'm still weak and probably shouldn't yet be doing much of anything. Stupid virus.
I'm going to see Swan Lake tonight at the theater.
I was talking to a guy who sells matroshkas (the nesting doll things) on one of the main roads last week, and he asked me if I was from Poland. Now, I know I sound and act like a foreigner, but that is one comment I was never expecting to get. Honestly, I think it would be awesome if the Russians thought I had a Polish accent because I think Polish is a better language anyway--it's clearer and always uses verbs in independent clauses (but don't tell them that...I still have two months left here).
Next weekend, we're all going to Yasnaya Polyana (where Leo Tolstoy lived) and Tula to see the museum and whatever all else there.
By the way, from now on, you all have to make sure that there are either zero comments or more than one comment on all of my posts because otherwise the "comments" section won't be right. I hate when I have a sentence or phrase without number agreement...
Thanks!
I ran to the gym today. I thought I would share that because it might sound funny. Maybe not. It did to me because I'm still weak and probably shouldn't yet be doing much of anything. Stupid virus.
I'm going to see Swan Lake tonight at the theater.
I was talking to a guy who sells matroshkas (the nesting doll things) on one of the main roads last week, and he asked me if I was from Poland. Now, I know I sound and act like a foreigner, but that is one comment I was never expecting to get. Honestly, I think it would be awesome if the Russians thought I had a Polish accent because I think Polish is a better language anyway--it's clearer and always uses verbs in independent clauses (but don't tell them that...I still have two months left here).
Next weekend, we're all going to Yasnaya Polyana (where Leo Tolstoy lived) and Tula to see the museum and whatever all else there.
By the way, from now on, you all have to make sure that there are either zero comments or more than one comment on all of my posts because otherwise the "comments" section won't be right. I hate when I have a sentence or phrase without number agreement...
Thanks!
21 March 2007
Birthdays in Russia
I have pictures of this but not with me, so they'll have to wait a couple of days.
However, for now, a verbal description will have to do. On Sunday, 18 March, my hozyain had his 67th birthday, and my hozyaika spent all last week preparing for it. Saturday night (St. Patrick's Day), I helped her with the table set up and folded napkins. Then on Sunday morning after I got back from the gym, the table (actually two tables pushed together with 18 chairs around them) was COVERED with food and champagne and vodka. I have never seen so much food at once like that. Well, probably, yes, I have, but it was still a lot of food.
Anyway, people started showing up at 3, and by 8:30 at night, we were still sitting at the table when Vera (my hozyaika) said she was going to bring out mashed potatoes and chicken...I didn't know how to eat anymore.
Everyone at the table stood up to give a toast at one point during the meal, going all the way around the table, so you can probably imagine that it wasn't too difficult for 20+ people to go through 8 bottles of various types of alcohol in a few hours. However, there are some interesting customs that go along with this toasting, like the first toast was obviously to my hozyain (Vladimir) and his wife said that one. The next was to his parents, then to Vera, and then various other toasts. One person gave a toast to Vera's parents, who both have died, at which point I realized another very important custom. You don't "clink glasses" or whatever you want to call it when a person mentioned in a toast has died. Guess how I found that out. Jessica and I definitely figured that out the hard way, and I felt like a horrible person. Oops. Oh well, nobody dwelled on it, which was good, and the party went on.
Sometime along in all this festivity, one of my teachers from school began to play the piano and everyone sang along. We sang so many Russian songs. Unfortunately, I am uncultured enough only to have known one of them. Moreover, since this teacher of mine and his wife lived in England for a while, they knew some English songs--not American English, but British English--and they sang them too. The distinction between British and American is important because I did not know those songs either, the words, at least. And people kept asking me why I wasn't singing when the words were in my own native language...as they all sang along. Yeah. However, I am proud to say that I did know the words to "Yesterday," "Yellow Submarine," and the one Spanish sonng we sang "La Bamba." Yes. We did. And people danced. It was really a big huge happy party. And it was awesome. I can't believe we don't do that kind of stuff in the US. People need to sing in groups like that.
That was seriously a fun party.
However, for now, a verbal description will have to do. On Sunday, 18 March, my hozyain had his 67th birthday, and my hozyaika spent all last week preparing for it. Saturday night (St. Patrick's Day), I helped her with the table set up and folded napkins. Then on Sunday morning after I got back from the gym, the table (actually two tables pushed together with 18 chairs around them) was COVERED with food and champagne and vodka. I have never seen so much food at once like that. Well, probably, yes, I have, but it was still a lot of food.
Anyway, people started showing up at 3, and by 8:30 at night, we were still sitting at the table when Vera (my hozyaika) said she was going to bring out mashed potatoes and chicken...I didn't know how to eat anymore.
Everyone at the table stood up to give a toast at one point during the meal, going all the way around the table, so you can probably imagine that it wasn't too difficult for 20+ people to go through 8 bottles of various types of alcohol in a few hours. However, there are some interesting customs that go along with this toasting, like the first toast was obviously to my hozyain (Vladimir) and his wife said that one. The next was to his parents, then to Vera, and then various other toasts. One person gave a toast to Vera's parents, who both have died, at which point I realized another very important custom. You don't "clink glasses" or whatever you want to call it when a person mentioned in a toast has died. Guess how I found that out. Jessica and I definitely figured that out the hard way, and I felt like a horrible person. Oops. Oh well, nobody dwelled on it, which was good, and the party went on.
Sometime along in all this festivity, one of my teachers from school began to play the piano and everyone sang along. We sang so many Russian songs. Unfortunately, I am uncultured enough only to have known one of them. Moreover, since this teacher of mine and his wife lived in England for a while, they knew some English songs--not American English, but British English--and they sang them too. The distinction between British and American is important because I did not know those songs either, the words, at least. And people kept asking me why I wasn't singing when the words were in my own native language...as they all sang along. Yeah. However, I am proud to say that I did know the words to "Yesterday," "Yellow Submarine," and the one Spanish sonng we sang "La Bamba." Yes. We did. And people danced. It was really a big huge happy party. And it was awesome. I can't believe we don't do that kind of stuff in the US. People need to sing in groups like that.
That was seriously a fun party.
11 March 2007
Truth About the Gym, International Women's Day, and Other Tales
So, it's been about two weeks; I think another post is long overdue by this time. Thankfully, I have some things that I need to mention in here.
First of all, I want to bring up the gym again. I knew when I paid for the first month that it was a lot. Possibly, insane, in fact. However, I also figured that, like they do in the United States, since I only paid for a month, I was paying more than the people who buy a year membership or whatever. Also, I thought that they were taking advantage of my poor understanding of the Russian language and thought it'd be easy to steal my money.
However, when I looked at the brochure of all the services that gym offers and what it costs, I was astounded. First, I was surprised because what I'm paying is one of the "cheaper" services. Second, I had no idea how they figured out what the actual price of anything was because I was paying 3.3 times the amount listed. Why would the gym use a 3.3 x conversion for anything, and what did it mean? I was completely baffled until I realized that the Euro Dollar equals approximately 33 rubles. So then, I realized that their prices were in Euros...kind of...they were actually in Euros with an extra zero at the end. Yeah. And that was also when I realized that everyone who goes there pays the same price. My hozyaika earns less money a month at her primary job than I pay for that gym. The only reason I'm willing to pay is that it's only going to be 2 or 3 months that I'll go, and there's no way I'd ever consider paying for it, even as a "rich American" for any kind of extended period. How do they afford it??
Anyway, next topic. How many people in America actually realize that there is a "holiday" called "International Women's Day?" Probably not many. However, in Russia, it is a HUGE holiday, and it was last Thursday. They sell tons of flowers on the streets, everyone says "S prazdnikom" to every girl with whom they talk, and many places, including schools (and the university) are closed. It felt almost like Christmas, but without the fake Santas and greedy storeowners trying to guilt you into buying things.
Even better was that, since we had no school, the four West Point guys that were there that week (one took spring break to St. Petersburg last week) decided to cook for all the girls. Not just the cadet girls, but the two other Americans here (who are from Texas), the British girl, and the French girl. It was amazing. We walked in the door and were immediately greeted with a rose and told to sit down and stay OUT of the kitchen. In a couple of minutes, they brought out a bowl of salad, and the "feast," as it was so-named, commenced. It was a spinach salad with fried potatoes (try it sometime because it is good...). Next, or rather, kind of with the salad, were grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes. Then, spaghetti with an awesome homemade meat sauce, omelettes, and finally desert. Two cakes and two kinds of ice cream. Along with all this, the six girls managed to finish two bottles of wine and two bottles of champagne. That was an awesome day off of school, I thought, although I ate waaayyyy too much food and couldn't move.
Various other odds and ends:
Rinoks are way better than stores--I bought a pair of shoes that I saw in a store for about 1500 rubles for only 650 ($25.19, if I use an exchage rate of 26 rubles per dollar...), and I also bought 8 movies for 60 rubles, total...yeah. Everything else is about the same. Plus, it's not bad quality at all.
My Russian is getting better, yay! I can actually have logical conversations at times, even though I speak extremely slowly and probably sound like a two-year-old.
Updating this blog costs me somewhere around 40 rubles a week because it takes me an hour to get everything done, especially if I put pictures up.
And I can't think of anything else right now.
First of all, I want to bring up the gym again. I knew when I paid for the first month that it was a lot. Possibly, insane, in fact. However, I also figured that, like they do in the United States, since I only paid for a month, I was paying more than the people who buy a year membership or whatever. Also, I thought that they were taking advantage of my poor understanding of the Russian language and thought it'd be easy to steal my money.
However, when I looked at the brochure of all the services that gym offers and what it costs, I was astounded. First, I was surprised because what I'm paying is one of the "cheaper" services. Second, I had no idea how they figured out what the actual price of anything was because I was paying 3.3 times the amount listed. Why would the gym use a 3.3 x conversion for anything, and what did it mean? I was completely baffled until I realized that the Euro Dollar equals approximately 33 rubles. So then, I realized that their prices were in Euros...kind of...they were actually in Euros with an extra zero at the end. Yeah. And that was also when I realized that everyone who goes there pays the same price. My hozyaika earns less money a month at her primary job than I pay for that gym. The only reason I'm willing to pay is that it's only going to be 2 or 3 months that I'll go, and there's no way I'd ever consider paying for it, even as a "rich American" for any kind of extended period. How do they afford it??
Anyway, next topic. How many people in America actually realize that there is a "holiday" called "International Women's Day?" Probably not many. However, in Russia, it is a HUGE holiday, and it was last Thursday. They sell tons of flowers on the streets, everyone says "S prazdnikom" to every girl with whom they talk, and many places, including schools (and the university) are closed. It felt almost like Christmas, but without the fake Santas and greedy storeowners trying to guilt you into buying things.
Even better was that, since we had no school, the four West Point guys that were there that week (one took spring break to St. Petersburg last week) decided to cook for all the girls. Not just the cadet girls, but the two other Americans here (who are from Texas), the British girl, and the French girl. It was amazing. We walked in the door and were immediately greeted with a rose and told to sit down and stay OUT of the kitchen. In a couple of minutes, they brought out a bowl of salad, and the "feast," as it was so-named, commenced. It was a spinach salad with fried potatoes (try it sometime because it is good...). Next, or rather, kind of with the salad, were grilled cheese sandwiches. Yes. Then, spaghetti with an awesome homemade meat sauce, omelettes, and finally desert. Two cakes and two kinds of ice cream. Along with all this, the six girls managed to finish two bottles of wine and two bottles of champagne. That was an awesome day off of school, I thought, although I ate waaayyyy too much food and couldn't move.
Various other odds and ends:
Rinoks are way better than stores--I bought a pair of shoes that I saw in a store for about 1500 rubles for only 650 ($25.19, if I use an exchage rate of 26 rubles per dollar...), and I also bought 8 movies for 60 rubles, total...yeah. Everything else is about the same. Plus, it's not bad quality at all.
My Russian is getting better, yay! I can actually have logical conversations at times, even though I speak extremely slowly and probably sound like a two-year-old.
Updating this blog costs me somewhere around 40 rubles a week because it takes me an hour to get everything done, especially if I put pictures up.
And I can't think of anything else right now.
25 February 2007
Another quick post, this time, about the Russian banya and the movie theater.
First of all, I hadn't gone to a Russian banya until last week, even though everyone's told me how popular they are and how it was imperative that I find one and experience it. So finally, Jessica and I visited the spa room of the gym at which we work out. It was amazing, and it struck me yet again how rich I felt just being able to walk into a room like that. It was as if I were looking at one of those expensive spa places you see on TV for hundreds of dollars or something, and that you would never actually go to because, well, it's more important to eat and pay bills than pay for a luxury like that. Anyway, we walked in and they had chairs with towels draped over them and tray tables set up in case we wanted tea, juice, or whatever, which they brought to us immediately. Then we looked around and saw what appeared to be a hot tub (but we later found out it had cool water with even colder jets...interesting), multiple showers so you could rinse off after sitting in the banya, and the banyas themselves. There were three rooms, each large enough to fit a few people comfortably, one was the typical Russian banya, one Turkish, and one Finnish. So, being American tourists who wanted to know everything, Jessica and I proceeded to try everything, beginning with the Finnish banya, which was all wood inside, with dry heat. I couldn't breathe, but it was neat.
We left there after about 20 minutes and sat on the chairs for a few minutes to cool off before trying the Turkish banya, which was my favorite one. The room was tile, and the air was wet. Immediately upon walking in, my skin was dripping, not from sweat, but from the water in the air. And it smelled minty. I could have stayed in there for hours (but then I'd probably have passed out), but we left, again, after about 20 minutes.
Finally, we went into the Russian banya, which was exactly like the Finnish one, except that you could pour water over the rocks on one side of the room to create steam and a more humid atmosphere. It was easier to breathe in there than the Finnish one because of the humidity, and it was really fun to try it all out.
After we left the Russian banya, we decided it was about time to get going back home, since we'd already worked out and had been at the gym for over two hours as it was, so we tried the "cool" tub for a couple minutes and then went back to the locker room to take showers and get changed to go back outside into the cold and walk home. It was the neatest thing ever, and I felt rich. All I could wonder was who here can afford that? Apparently some people, because there were other people in there with us, but it was crazy.
Last story now--the movie theater. About a week ago, Jessica and I decided we wanted to see a movie, but there weren't really any we were too interested in. Plus, we didn't really want to have to go out late at night and walk to the theater (we stopped by earlier in the day on our way home for dinner). So yesterday, we decided to go back and we watched a new movie here in Russia called "Paragraph 78." It was just the first half, but it was really good. However, it is not the movie itself that I am interested in describing. It is the theater.
We accidentally paid for "VIP" tickets, which were, well, really expensive, and said to each other, "This better be the best movie experience I've ever had..." We bought popcorn and soda for a little over two dollars (something you can't do in the states...) and went into the theater. The seats were reclining chairs with the whole foot rest thing and everything! Not only that, but the chairs were soft leather, and the whole place was extremely nice. I immediately felt underdressed in my jeans and sweatshirt. It was insane.
When we left the theater, Jessica and I asked each other what kind of people did stuff like that here and tried to compare it to America. We pretty much decided that Americans are insanely rich and would live like kings or really really really rich people here in Russia because all the nice and expensive stuff here is nothing like how expensive it would be in America. I'd never dream of doing the things I've been able to do here. The crazy thing is that I'm not going broke to do it either--I still haven't spent last month's paycheck completely.
So yeah, I'm kind of in awe now regarding certain aspects of life here. And I'm going to be in good shape when I get home, because I love the gym.
First of all, I hadn't gone to a Russian banya until last week, even though everyone's told me how popular they are and how it was imperative that I find one and experience it. So finally, Jessica and I visited the spa room of the gym at which we work out. It was amazing, and it struck me yet again how rich I felt just being able to walk into a room like that. It was as if I were looking at one of those expensive spa places you see on TV for hundreds of dollars or something, and that you would never actually go to because, well, it's more important to eat and pay bills than pay for a luxury like that. Anyway, we walked in and they had chairs with towels draped over them and tray tables set up in case we wanted tea, juice, or whatever, which they brought to us immediately. Then we looked around and saw what appeared to be a hot tub (but we later found out it had cool water with even colder jets...interesting), multiple showers so you could rinse off after sitting in the banya, and the banyas themselves. There were three rooms, each large enough to fit a few people comfortably, one was the typical Russian banya, one Turkish, and one Finnish. So, being American tourists who wanted to know everything, Jessica and I proceeded to try everything, beginning with the Finnish banya, which was all wood inside, with dry heat. I couldn't breathe, but it was neat.
We left there after about 20 minutes and sat on the chairs for a few minutes to cool off before trying the Turkish banya, which was my favorite one. The room was tile, and the air was wet. Immediately upon walking in, my skin was dripping, not from sweat, but from the water in the air. And it smelled minty. I could have stayed in there for hours (but then I'd probably have passed out), but we left, again, after about 20 minutes.
Finally, we went into the Russian banya, which was exactly like the Finnish one, except that you could pour water over the rocks on one side of the room to create steam and a more humid atmosphere. It was easier to breathe in there than the Finnish one because of the humidity, and it was really fun to try it all out.
After we left the Russian banya, we decided it was about time to get going back home, since we'd already worked out and had been at the gym for over two hours as it was, so we tried the "cool" tub for a couple minutes and then went back to the locker room to take showers and get changed to go back outside into the cold and walk home. It was the neatest thing ever, and I felt rich. All I could wonder was who here can afford that? Apparently some people, because there were other people in there with us, but it was crazy.
Last story now--the movie theater. About a week ago, Jessica and I decided we wanted to see a movie, but there weren't really any we were too interested in. Plus, we didn't really want to have to go out late at night and walk to the theater (we stopped by earlier in the day on our way home for dinner). So yesterday, we decided to go back and we watched a new movie here in Russia called "Paragraph 78." It was just the first half, but it was really good. However, it is not the movie itself that I am interested in describing. It is the theater.
We accidentally paid for "VIP" tickets, which were, well, really expensive, and said to each other, "This better be the best movie experience I've ever had..." We bought popcorn and soda for a little over two dollars (something you can't do in the states...) and went into the theater. The seats were reclining chairs with the whole foot rest thing and everything! Not only that, but the chairs were soft leather, and the whole place was extremely nice. I immediately felt underdressed in my jeans and sweatshirt. It was insane.
When we left the theater, Jessica and I asked each other what kind of people did stuff like that here and tried to compare it to America. We pretty much decided that Americans are insanely rich and would live like kings or really really really rich people here in Russia because all the nice and expensive stuff here is nothing like how expensive it would be in America. I'd never dream of doing the things I've been able to do here. The crazy thing is that I'm not going broke to do it either--I still haven't spent last month's paycheck completely.
So yeah, I'm kind of in awe now regarding certain aspects of life here. And I'm going to be in good shape when I get home, because I love the gym.
22 February 2007
Another quick update with some interesting thoughts.
First, because I thought it was neat, and because I'm pretty sure my dad will think so, here are some words I did some digging for becuase I've been curious:
in Russian, there are two words that mean "cat," and they are koshka and kot. Koshka is feminine, while kot refers only to a male cat. This led to the actual interesting part, in which I learned that the same is true for dogs. Sabaka is dog, but it refers to females, while "pyos" is for males. There's the connection between Polish and Russian, since "piec" (pronounced pyets) is the Polish word for dog.
The next word is kon', which means horse, but not in the common sense. I'm not really sure how to explain the difference, but I think kon' is not just any horse, but rather more "regal," or important, in some way. If someone knows, I'd be grateful to find out exactly. Anyway, it's the same word as the Polish for horse, kon'.
Finally, the word for perch in Polish is okon', while in Russian it is okun' (pronounced okoon'). So those are my neat little language connections for now.
It's finally colder here--today it's almost -20 degrees out (Celcius). Not quite like it's been at home though, or so I hear.
That's all for now.
First, because I thought it was neat, and because I'm pretty sure my dad will think so, here are some words I did some digging for becuase I've been curious:
in Russian, there are two words that mean "cat," and they are koshka and kot. Koshka is feminine, while kot refers only to a male cat. This led to the actual interesting part, in which I learned that the same is true for dogs. Sabaka is dog, but it refers to females, while "pyos" is for males. There's the connection between Polish and Russian, since "piec" (pronounced pyets) is the Polish word for dog.
The next word is kon', which means horse, but not in the common sense. I'm not really sure how to explain the difference, but I think kon' is not just any horse, but rather more "regal," or important, in some way. If someone knows, I'd be grateful to find out exactly. Anyway, it's the same word as the Polish for horse, kon'.
Finally, the word for perch in Polish is okon', while in Russian it is okun' (pronounced okoon'). So those are my neat little language connections for now.
It's finally colder here--today it's almost -20 degrees out (Celcius). Not quite like it's been at home though, or so I hear.
That's all for now.
20 February 2007
Week Three
Here's my update for the last week, which just happened to be a holiday week here in Russia. They call it "Maslenitsa," which is partly pagan, partly Christian in origin, and it celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of spring. They celebrate this holiday with tons of blinni (pancake-ish food you can put jam, honey, condensed milk, or whatever you want on it).
There were Russian Troikas (three horses pulling a sled / sleigh / carriage), people singing and otherwise celebrating, and selling food by the truckload all over Ploshad Lenina (Lenin Square).
Here are my pictures:
The Russkaya Troika (I know there's only one horse, but it was a small troika, like for a kid...)
Selling meat...yummy cow's head...
Party Time on Ploshad Lenina
Chuchelo (er...maybe she's a chuchela...) on FIRE! :)
It's ME! See how happy I am to be eating?
Okay, so those are my maslenitsa experiences. Now for some random other stuff...
The classroom...
And this was the sidewalk on the way to school...yes, that is ice under my feet, and, yes, it was like that the entire 45 minute (somewhere around 2-3 miles) walk...
Some good old fashioned American fat-filled food...I actually went to 'Makdonaldts' in Russia
...and finally...
...and finally...
this is what the electrical outlets look like in Europe:
If anyone has anything specific you'd like to know or see here, let me know. I'm busy trying to stuff hundreds of words, bits of grammar, and customs down my throat and don't always think of what might be good to update here. Onto another week full of snow, walking, spending lunch money on the gym, amazing food, and, of course, learning Russian.
12 February 2007
This is what I've been up to since I've been in Russia:
The bluish stuff is iodine or something similar, just colored blue. It only took me a week to slam my finger in a door. Congratulations.
The bluish stuff is iodine or something similar, just colored blue. It only took me a week to slam my finger in a door. Congratulations.
And this is what the bathrooms at school look like:
No, there is no illusion...the "seat" is only a couple inches above the floor. Therefore, you don't "sit." Yeah.
So, I'm on my way home now because I'm HUNGRY. I haven't eaten since about 7:30 this morning, except for a glass of milk and a yogurt drink thing after working out this afternoon.
I spent my lunch money on the gym. :) It's really nice, and has anything you can imagine, so it's worth it. Plus, I can buy food or whatever afterward so that I get some calories back into my system.
I've been going into stores and asking to see some stuff so that I can talk to the people a little more. I hate sounding like a two year old to them, but I guess the only way I can get better is to sound like a two year old until I really learn how to talk.
More later because I'm hungry. Oh yeah, and I also want to see if I can still get a ticket to see "Svadba Figaro" (the Marriage of Figaro), which is playing on Thursday. Hopefully it won't be sold out yet...
11 February 2007
Week 2
Anyway, about the last week...I have learned a few new words, bought some new stuff, and have discovered some interesting quirks about the Russian culture.
I bought a laptop / document bag for school in a little market thing outside a mall. I discovered last week that the prices in the mall were sometimes even more expensive than you'd find in the United States. And most of the stuff in the stores were extravagant and unnecessary, pretty much just obvious signs of wealth. This bag in the market was not even 800 rubles, which was reasonable.
Then, they have what I think of as a "bazaar," with tons of little tent-areas where the people inside sell whatever they have: clothes, shoes, boots, gloves, rugs, literally anything you can possibly think of. These places are extremely inexpensive, selling boots for 600 rubles or so...this is about $20. Personally, I can't tell if the boots that are selling in stores for upwards of 7000 rubles are really that much better quality, or if it's just an enormous sign of wealth to shop in stores. I'm definitely not going to be shopping much in stores, I don't think.
This sort of attitude is also visible on the streets and in homes. While the people live in relatively comfortable homes, they are by no means what Americans would consider "amazing." They also tend to be quite modest with food and water / energy conservation, and pretty much everything. The biggest thing I've noticed is that almost everyone walking around (which they all do, instead of driving everywhere like in America) has expensive looking shoes, coats, and hats. These people seem to put their whole effort into appearances, even forsaking necessities in order to appear well off and affluent.
Women who pay money to belong to a gym buy designer workout clothes, and those who go out to a show, or even just to work in the morning, don their calf-length genuine fur coats and hats. The hats alone cost thousands of rubles. I suppose this might sound like the United States a bit (except for all the fur...) in terms of attitudes toward appearances, but their streets and buildings and homes on the outside all look like they just came out of World War II with little to no restoration, and the insides of apartment buildings are little better. The insides of the actual apartments are nicer, I suppose, depending upon who lives there, but I still can't describe it as "modern living."
The concept escapes me, and it's hard to describe, but it's something that you seem to realize instantly upon being here. It's weird.
Another thing is how much the people here love Aleksandr Pushkin. My teacher at school started tearing up when she was telling us about his life and death. He died on the 10th of February 1837, so they showed a movie documentary about his life on television last night. It was kind of a crazy death, involving a duel with a French baron, but many people are personally affected by this poet, as evidenced by my teacher crying in class over his death.
Actual classes start tomorrow, instead of the "orientation" classes I've had the last week and a half, so that should be interesting. I need to study and practice some more.
I bought a laptop / document bag for school in a little market thing outside a mall. I discovered last week that the prices in the mall were sometimes even more expensive than you'd find in the United States. And most of the stuff in the stores were extravagant and unnecessary, pretty much just obvious signs of wealth. This bag in the market was not even 800 rubles, which was reasonable.
Then, they have what I think of as a "bazaar," with tons of little tent-areas where the people inside sell whatever they have: clothes, shoes, boots, gloves, rugs, literally anything you can possibly think of. These places are extremely inexpensive, selling boots for 600 rubles or so...this is about $20. Personally, I can't tell if the boots that are selling in stores for upwards of 7000 rubles are really that much better quality, or if it's just an enormous sign of wealth to shop in stores. I'm definitely not going to be shopping much in stores, I don't think.
This sort of attitude is also visible on the streets and in homes. While the people live in relatively comfortable homes, they are by no means what Americans would consider "amazing." They also tend to be quite modest with food and water / energy conservation, and pretty much everything. The biggest thing I've noticed is that almost everyone walking around (which they all do, instead of driving everywhere like in America) has expensive looking shoes, coats, and hats. These people seem to put their whole effort into appearances, even forsaking necessities in order to appear well off and affluent.
Women who pay money to belong to a gym buy designer workout clothes, and those who go out to a show, or even just to work in the morning, don their calf-length genuine fur coats and hats. The hats alone cost thousands of rubles. I suppose this might sound like the United States a bit (except for all the fur...) in terms of attitudes toward appearances, but their streets and buildings and homes on the outside all look like they just came out of World War II with little to no restoration, and the insides of apartment buildings are little better. The insides of the actual apartments are nicer, I suppose, depending upon who lives there, but I still can't describe it as "modern living."
The concept escapes me, and it's hard to describe, but it's something that you seem to realize instantly upon being here. It's weird.
Another thing is how much the people here love Aleksandr Pushkin. My teacher at school started tearing up when she was telling us about his life and death. He died on the 10th of February 1837, so they showed a movie documentary about his life on television last night. It was kind of a crazy death, involving a duel with a French baron, but many people are personally affected by this poet, as evidenced by my teacher crying in class over his death.
Actual classes start tomorrow, instead of the "orientation" classes I've had the last week and a half, so that should be interesting. I need to study and practice some more.
03 February 2007
The House, The School, and The People
Here is an updated post with some of the pictures I've taken so far. I'm going to try to upload only a couple of pictures at a time now because it takes absolutely forever.
I live in an apartment building with an older man and his wife: Volodya and Vera. I also live with the other girl from West Point, so I'm not all by myself in the house. The apartment is more like a small house with two floors. I have my own room, and it's small, but I don't need anything more than I have. There's a bathroom upstairs with a tub (no shower curtain, so I have to be careful or I splash water everywhere), real toilet, and sink. It's small, and not as "nice looking" as what we normally see in America, but everything is clean. The kitchen is small as well, but it works well, and we even fit 6 people at the table without too much of a problem on the first night.
My bedroom and the bathroom in my house ^
I live in an apartment building with an older man and his wife: Volodya and Vera. I also live with the other girl from West Point, so I'm not all by myself in the house. The apartment is more like a small house with two floors. I have my own room, and it's small, but I don't need anything more than I have. There's a bathroom upstairs with a tub (no shower curtain, so I have to be careful or I splash water everywhere), real toilet, and sink. It's small, and not as "nice looking" as what we normally see in America, but everything is clean. The kitchen is small as well, but it works well, and we even fit 6 people at the table without too much of a problem on the first night.
My bedroom and the bathroom in my house ^
Oh yeah, and they have a cocker spaniel. Her name is Yezhi. :) She took a nap on my bed yesterday.
They always try to feed us too much food, especially on the first night--potatoes, lots of meat, pizza (not American-style, but good), two kinds of kapusta (kind of like a cabbage salad, one was with lots of carrots), more food I don't remember, cake, and since they had guests (one was one of my teachers), they brought out the alcohol. They make their own vodka and wine, and they bought a bottle of russkoye shampanskoye (russian champagne), and we all did about 8 toasts. I figured it out, though. If you don't drink the whole shot or glass, they don't fill it back up.
In the mornings, we've eaten kasha, which is kind of like grits, but worlds better, especially with sugar on it. We've also had "blinni," which are kind of like meat-filled pancake pocket things that are good, but greasy. And tea. Tea with breakfast, tea with dinner, and they give us tea breaks at school too. I love the tea; it is so much better than the tea at home.
Since we only get two meals a day provided by Volodya and Vera, we've been going out for lunch to various restaurants. Even the really expensive ones only cost about 300 rubles to get a really good meal (which is about $12). But I can't eat as much as I've been getting. It's way too much food to eat, and it is too filling.
We walk to school everyday; it's only about a half hour walk, but we got lost yesterday. We thought we were farther up the road than we were, so we turned around and went back the wrong way. Finally I pulled out the map and realized we had been right originally, and we went back. We still made it on time, so it was okay. Now we have a better idea, although neither Jessica nor I know many street names. The school itself is not what you'd think of as a university. It looks quite run down and not very technologically advanced. It's kind of cold inside, but if I wear a long sleeve shirt, it's warm enough. One of the teachers told us that for every word of English we speak during school, we have to pay 10 rubles. The exchange rate has been pretty steady at around 26.3 rubles per dollar, so you figure out how much a short conversation in English might cost.
They always try to feed us too much food, especially on the first night--potatoes, lots of meat, pizza (not American-style, but good), two kinds of kapusta (kind of like a cabbage salad, one was with lots of carrots), more food I don't remember, cake, and since they had guests (one was one of my teachers), they brought out the alcohol. They make their own vodka and wine, and they bought a bottle of russkoye shampanskoye (russian champagne), and we all did about 8 toasts. I figured it out, though. If you don't drink the whole shot or glass, they don't fill it back up.
In the mornings, we've eaten kasha, which is kind of like grits, but worlds better, especially with sugar on it. We've also had "blinni," which are kind of like meat-filled pancake pocket things that are good, but greasy. And tea. Tea with breakfast, tea with dinner, and they give us tea breaks at school too. I love the tea; it is so much better than the tea at home.
Since we only get two meals a day provided by Volodya and Vera, we've been going out for lunch to various restaurants. Even the really expensive ones only cost about 300 rubles to get a really good meal (which is about $12). But I can't eat as much as I've been getting. It's way too much food to eat, and it is too filling.
We walk to school everyday; it's only about a half hour walk, but we got lost yesterday. We thought we were farther up the road than we were, so we turned around and went back the wrong way. Finally I pulled out the map and realized we had been right originally, and we went back. We still made it on time, so it was okay. Now we have a better idea, although neither Jessica nor I know many street names. The school itself is not what you'd think of as a university. It looks quite run down and not very technologically advanced. It's kind of cold inside, but if I wear a long sleeve shirt, it's warm enough. One of the teachers told us that for every word of English we speak during school, we have to pay 10 rubles. The exchange rate has been pretty steady at around 26.3 rubles per dollar, so you figure out how much a short conversation in English might cost.
This is what the Russian Rubles and Kopecks look like, compared to American money.
Jessica and I have been getting up to go running in the morning too. It's hard to run through the snow sometimes because it's so slippery, and the air is hard to breathe as well. Not just the cold, but the industrial smoke and smog make it hard to breathe during the day, so we get running by 7. Not today, though. It's Saturday. Right now, I guess it's 4:30 in the morning back home, but here in Voronezh, it's already 12:30 in the afternoon. That's kind of a weird concept.
We're exploring today to find jackets, boots, and other stuff that will make us stand out less. Hopefully sometime soon I'll figure out somewhere or some way I can upload pictures to post so those of you who read this can get a better idea of what it's like here. I actually really like it. More later.
Jessica and I have been getting up to go running in the morning too. It's hard to run through the snow sometimes because it's so slippery, and the air is hard to breathe as well. Not just the cold, but the industrial smoke and smog make it hard to breathe during the day, so we get running by 7. Not today, though. It's Saturday. Right now, I guess it's 4:30 in the morning back home, but here in Voronezh, it's already 12:30 in the afternoon. That's kind of a weird concept.
We're exploring today to find jackets, boots, and other stuff that will make us stand out less. Hopefully sometime soon I'll figure out somewhere or some way I can upload pictures to post so those of you who read this can get a better idea of what it's like here. I actually really like it. More later.
31 January 2007
Finally in Russia
I just wanted to post so that those of you who read this will know that I actually did make it into Russia and my host family's house without too much of a problem. Along with that, please feel free to let people (like my parents or other relatives) that I am still alive, although I will be contacting people as soon as possible.
We almost didn't make our plane to Moscow. It came down to running the entire length of the Atlanta air port in order to make it, although, since it was an international flight, there was still a long line of Americans getting their passports checked, even though it was the scheduled take off time. Ten hours later and an eight hour time difference that made it seem like we'd been flying for 18 hours, we landed in the cold and snowy Russian capital city. Only one person lost a bag, and nobody had a problem with customs. The train from Moscow to Voronezh was pretty much the same, only it was a twelve and a half hour ride. I packed three toothbrushes so that I wouldn't have to worry about running out the whole semester, but all three of them were in the bottom of my least accessible bag. Tip number one: don't do that.
Now that I've had a shower, brushed my teeth, and used a toilet that was more than a hole in the ground, I feel worlds better. I registered with the university and walked around near "Ploshad Lenina," or Lenin Square so that I'm familiar with stores and other things in the area, and tomorrow, my six compatriots and I will return to the university to start "orientation," which is mostly just a formality and a way to help us out while we're here before classes begin on the 12th. Yes, the 12th. Of February.
I will update again with pictures sometime later, as I have to figure out first if the computers at this cafe even have USB ports so I can upload pictures from my camera and then whether or not I'm allowed to.
I don't understand much because I usually miss one or two out of every four or five words someone says, especially if the person is speaking quickly, but hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be better at this.
We almost didn't make our plane to Moscow. It came down to running the entire length of the Atlanta air port in order to make it, although, since it was an international flight, there was still a long line of Americans getting their passports checked, even though it was the scheduled take off time. Ten hours later and an eight hour time difference that made it seem like we'd been flying for 18 hours, we landed in the cold and snowy Russian capital city. Only one person lost a bag, and nobody had a problem with customs. The train from Moscow to Voronezh was pretty much the same, only it was a twelve and a half hour ride. I packed three toothbrushes so that I wouldn't have to worry about running out the whole semester, but all three of them were in the bottom of my least accessible bag. Tip number one: don't do that.
Now that I've had a shower, brushed my teeth, and used a toilet that was more than a hole in the ground, I feel worlds better. I registered with the university and walked around near "Ploshad Lenina," or Lenin Square so that I'm familiar with stores and other things in the area, and tomorrow, my six compatriots and I will return to the university to start "orientation," which is mostly just a formality and a way to help us out while we're here before classes begin on the 12th. Yes, the 12th. Of February.
I will update again with pictures sometime later, as I have to figure out first if the computers at this cafe even have USB ports so I can upload pictures from my camera and then whether or not I'm allowed to.
I don't understand much because I usually miss one or two out of every four or five words someone says, especially if the person is speaking quickly, but hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be better at this.
28 January 2007
Last Minute Thoughts
This will be the last time I edit this in the United States until after I return in May. It has taken me entirely too many hours and too many dollars to get ready for this trip, but if my DLPT (defense language proficiency test) score is better in May, then it will all have been worth it.
Since I still don't even know the names and address of the family with whom I will be staying, I'm a little nervous, mostly because I still have to call my dad and tell him that I don't know the information. I think he's just afraid that I'll find myself in a situation I can't handle.
Anyway, I'm very excited but also nervous because I don't know enough vocabulary and will sound dumb, I'm sure. I also don't know enough about the culture, and I'm afraid of doing something wrong without realizing it. However, whenever that happens (and I'm sure it will...), I'll write about it so everyone back in the US who reads this can laugh about it.
This time tomorrow, I will be just leaving Atlanta on the plane that should reach Moscow at somewhere around 2am local time on Tuesday (10am in Russia) where the group of us eight cadets will head to the US Embassy.
At this point, I will end my dictation for the week and continue sometime late next week. Wish me luck.
Since I still don't even know the names and address of the family with whom I will be staying, I'm a little nervous, mostly because I still have to call my dad and tell him that I don't know the information. I think he's just afraid that I'll find myself in a situation I can't handle.
Anyway, I'm very excited but also nervous because I don't know enough vocabulary and will sound dumb, I'm sure. I also don't know enough about the culture, and I'm afraid of doing something wrong without realizing it. However, whenever that happens (and I'm sure it will...), I'll write about it so everyone back in the US who reads this can laugh about it.
This time tomorrow, I will be just leaving Atlanta on the plane that should reach Moscow at somewhere around 2am local time on Tuesday (10am in Russia) where the group of us eight cadets will head to the US Embassy.
At this point, I will end my dictation for the week and continue sometime late next week. Wish me luck.
22 January 2007
T-6 days and counting
It's my last full week in the United States, and I am so much busier than I ever would have imagined. I was fully expecting to be able to work out twice a day and study Russian for hours on end before I have to leave, but I've been running around trying to finish everything instead.
I can't wait to get going, but I still have too much to do before then.
My goal is to become as fluent in Russian as I can in four months, to the point of actually thinking in Russian and perhaps dreaming in the language a little. We'll see, but I'm going to push myself to get better every single day I'm in that colder than hell motherland of vodka and bribery. And I'm going to love it.
I can't wait to get going, but I still have too much to do before then.
My goal is to become as fluent in Russian as I can in four months, to the point of actually thinking in Russian and perhaps dreaming in the language a little. We'll see, but I'm going to push myself to get better every single day I'm in that colder than hell motherland of vodka and bribery. And I'm going to love it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)