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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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.

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 ^

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.

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.