I'm sitting in the Smolny Institute computer lab, which is on the fourth floor of... this building. I should know what is is in reality, but I don't. The point is, I can see the Neva out the window, as well as big puffy clouds that seem closer to me than big puffy clouds usually do. It's the most convenient place I know of right now to get wireless. And it's not very convenient to bring my laptop here. I mean, I have a 35 minutes bus ride here and then I have to carry my computer along with me throughout the day.
I don't mean to sound crabby, but the fact of the matter is, I am very tired. This session of intensive Russian Language is taking the life out of me. From 10 to 1:20 or so we have four classes: Грамматика, Разговорная практика, Письменная речь, and an 'elective' (Grammar, Conversational practice, written speech). Today we had Фонетика (phonetics), at the beginning of which the professor, Светлана Борисовна Степанова, had us talk about ourselves. I thought she just wanted to get to know us, but NO, she was listening to our accents and called some people out on their mistakes. Sneaky. Later, we recited some tongue-twisters and that made up for it.
The point is (yes, I'm making another point), we've had lots of homework, a fact Алеша can attest to, seeing as he's called me more than once before I left for school and I still hadn't finished all my домашнее задание.
Yes, home. My host mother is an understanding woman who lets me alone for the most part. I have not been harangued about my going outside with wet hair, made to put on socks, or scolded for not eating enough, as some of my groupmates have. Her son has a work schedule I haven't quite figured out yet, though I found out yesterday when I came home earlier than usual and he was there, that it involves two days off during the week because he works on Saturday and Sunday. He also told me to fill up the water pitcher. Ok, I can do that.
Just a taste right here of St. Petersburg: driving. I don't know how much of this insanity is large city stuff in general or what, but when I was being dropped off at my host family's, the driver would have made me fear for my life if he had not so clearly seemed to know what he was doing. The dashed lines were mere suggestions to him. Also, walking home from Primordskaya (metro station) one Sunday, we saw a car accident on the street next to us. Not even a week into my stay here, not even at an intersection, but BAM black smoke and staring spectators.
Tonight is an introductory dinner at a restaurant on Malaya Sadova, a street about two blocks long. I think I'll be walking there, but how long that will take, I do not know. It's a nice day, though, and word on the street is that we won't have many of those in a month or two. Let's hope I have enough energy to spit out information about myself to real Russians. Пока.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
First Adventure
So here I am, in St. Petersburg. Our group is staying in the Hotel Regina, which (as I learned last night) is at the Petrogradskaya metro station on the blue line. The room I share with Demetria is smaller than any hotel or motel room I've been in, but it is nice, especially the bathroom. The floor in there is heated! And the toilet paper is pink.
Two days ago was my birthday, a fact which was announced to our group while we rode around tne city on an old red bus with blue curtains. They sang to me, and that was about the extent of my birthday celebrations, but being in Russia was excitement enough. Right? Of course.
By now, we've had two tours of the city of St. Petersburg -- bus and boat -- a tour of the Church of the Spilled Blood, eated at four different restaurants around the city, received cell phones and phone cards, and ridden the Metro. After our last dinner together, we had to get ourselves home. Anna insisted that I go out for my birthday, so we and two ther guys headed to the American Consulate. Yes, the Marines were having a party.
As we walked towars the bus stop, we saw our bus passing us. We gave chase and caught up with it at the остановка автобуса. Anna bought tickets from the conductor for us because we all had big bills, then we sat down and I anxiously/carefully traced the route of the автобус in my small city atlas. We managed to get off at the right stop, found the consulate, and experienced the Waiting which is so common in Russia. A guard collected our spravki (replacement documentation while we get our multipass visa) and Russian student IDs, went into a small, gray shack with tinted windows, came out, lit a cigarette, went back in.... We stood at a distance, as intstructed, and waited in the median along with three Russians. He eventually returned our документы to us, which was a relief. It's nervewracking to be without one's passport, справка, and ID!
We were let in two at a time, with plenty of waiting time in between entries. I suppose it felt longer than it actually was. When it was finally Anna and my time to go, we went up to the door and showed our справка и русские студенты биллеты again. The gaurds tried chatting with me in Russian about studying here, but I was distracted by the security process and we all switched to English. I got signed in, surrendered my camera, assured them that my cell phone couldn't take pictures, and plowed forward. Anna, who had gone before me, was waiting at the top of a short flight of stairs. We passed through a short hallway, which led us into a small courtyard. Um, where to now?
Well, we spotted another guard in the far right corner and approached him (подошли к ему). As we did so, I formulated a question to ask -- I decided on Где находится вечеринка? Before I could bust that out, he motioned us towards a staircase across from him.
The party was not very exciting. Already there were the three Russians, who had started a game of pool. That's it. More people came, in time. We stayed an hour, leaving before eleven because the Metro stops running at midnight and I'm skittish like that. Thanks to our navigation of the Metro earlier in the day, and Anna's public transportation smarts, we made it expediently to our stop (Петроградская). The boys were a different story. First, they didn't follow us up the escalator at our transfer. We went back down to get them and of course passed them as they ascended. Then, they got on the wrong train. We tried calling them, but I think they were more worried about us than we were abut them. I believe they got on yet another wrong train before making it home, but we all made it back in one piece to the hotel by midnight. You know, I don't think I even saw any Marines! None in uniform, at least.
And now I'm waiting to move in with my family. Nervous much?
Two days ago was my birthday, a fact which was announced to our group while we rode around tne city on an old red bus with blue curtains. They sang to me, and that was about the extent of my birthday celebrations, but being in Russia was excitement enough. Right? Of course.
By now, we've had two tours of the city of St. Petersburg -- bus and boat -- a tour of the Church of the Spilled Blood, eated at four different restaurants around the city, received cell phones and phone cards, and ridden the Metro. After our last dinner together, we had to get ourselves home. Anna insisted that I go out for my birthday, so we and two ther guys headed to the American Consulate. Yes, the Marines were having a party.
As we walked towars the bus stop, we saw our bus passing us. We gave chase and caught up with it at the остановка автобуса. Anna bought tickets from the conductor for us because we all had big bills, then we sat down and I anxiously/carefully traced the route of the автобус in my small city atlas. We managed to get off at the right stop, found the consulate, and experienced the Waiting which is so common in Russia. A guard collected our spravki (replacement documentation while we get our multipass visa) and Russian student IDs, went into a small, gray shack with tinted windows, came out, lit a cigarette, went back in.... We stood at a distance, as intstructed, and waited in the median along with three Russians. He eventually returned our документы to us, which was a relief. It's nervewracking to be without one's passport, справка, and ID!
We were let in two at a time, with plenty of waiting time in between entries. I suppose it felt longer than it actually was. When it was finally Anna and my time to go, we went up to the door and showed our справка и русские студенты биллеты again. The gaurds tried chatting with me in Russian about studying here, but I was distracted by the security process and we all switched to English. I got signed in, surrendered my camera, assured them that my cell phone couldn't take pictures, and plowed forward. Anna, who had gone before me, was waiting at the top of a short flight of stairs. We passed through a short hallway, which led us into a small courtyard. Um, where to now?
Well, we spotted another guard in the far right corner and approached him (подошли к ему). As we did so, I formulated a question to ask -- I decided on Где находится вечеринка? Before I could bust that out, he motioned us towards a staircase across from him.
The party was not very exciting. Already there were the three Russians, who had started a game of pool. That's it. More people came, in time. We stayed an hour, leaving before eleven because the Metro stops running at midnight and I'm skittish like that. Thanks to our navigation of the Metro earlier in the day, and Anna's public transportation smarts, we made it expediently to our stop (Петроградская). The boys were a different story. First, they didn't follow us up the escalator at our transfer. We went back down to get them and of course passed them as they ascended. Then, they got on the wrong train. We tried calling them, but I think they were more worried about us than we were abut them. I believe they got on yet another wrong train before making it home, but we all made it back in one piece to the hotel by midnight. You know, I don't think I even saw any Marines! None in uniform, at least.
And now I'm waiting to move in with my family. Nervous much?
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Ananndale On Hudson
I'm sitting in a dorm room at Bard College, trying to make out the mountain that I know is outside my window, but this morning is shrouded in clouds. This is the second day of orientation, and I would be looking forward to it less if the staff weren't as great as they are.
How did I get here? Well, I boarded a six am flight on Sunday and waited and waited. We found out that a huge nut on the landing gear had a torque problem. The flight attendants started pulling people off the plane and onto different flights, and then we ALL got off and lined up at the counter. Luckily, I was close to the front of the line. Even more luckily, a woman called my name after a bit. She told me that the next flight to Albany was at 1:05pm. Nooooo problem, I thought, and set off to Concouse A.
During my seven hours of leisure time, I struck up a conversation with a man on his way to Coloumbus, OH. He sells lab equipment for Johnson&Johnson, hadn't checked his email, and was chagrined when I told him about the counterfeit diabetes test strips Johnson & Johnson got from China. I found a discarded newspaper. I listened to This American Life. I read the book Gabby gave me. And I worried about my luggage.
Finally the 1:05 flight came. Luckily, I sat next to a wonderful, chatty woman (chatty until I fell asleep) who stuck with me after disembarking, giving me advice on how to figure out where my luggage was, lending me her cell phone, and sticking with me until Sooz (from Bard) arrived. I was so grateful. She had all these tips, like, "Once you see that your luggage is not coming, quick go to the luggage claims office, because a line'll form" and "They're required to send you your luggage, but usually they ask when you can pick it up. Be firm, give them a sob story, and they'll ship it through UPS." As it turned out, my luggage arrived about twenty minutes after I did, a bit smudged, but intact and present.
We made it to the college, I got some dinner, which included lots of tasty corn on the cob -- er, ears of corn -- and crashed around ten.
Yesterday was a lot of info, a lot of sitting, a lot of walking (this campus is loooong), and my neck started to hurt. And now it's time for breakfast. Cheers!
Edit:
I forgot to mention that I have my host family information. I'm living with Tatiana Ivanovna and her son Andrew (don't know his age) at 42 Korablestroiteley. I move in Saturday.
How did I get here? Well, I boarded a six am flight on Sunday and waited and waited. We found out that a huge nut on the landing gear had a torque problem. The flight attendants started pulling people off the plane and onto different flights, and then we ALL got off and lined up at the counter. Luckily, I was close to the front of the line. Even more luckily, a woman called my name after a bit. She told me that the next flight to Albany was at 1:05pm. Nooooo problem, I thought, and set off to Concouse A.
During my seven hours of leisure time, I struck up a conversation with a man on his way to Coloumbus, OH. He sells lab equipment for Johnson&Johnson, hadn't checked his email, and was chagrined when I told him about the counterfeit diabetes test strips Johnson & Johnson got from China. I found a discarded newspaper. I listened to This American Life. I read the book Gabby gave me. And I worried about my luggage.
Finally the 1:05 flight came. Luckily, I sat next to a wonderful, chatty woman (chatty until I fell asleep) who stuck with me after disembarking, giving me advice on how to figure out where my luggage was, lending me her cell phone, and sticking with me until Sooz (from Bard) arrived. I was so grateful. She had all these tips, like, "Once you see that your luggage is not coming, quick go to the luggage claims office, because a line'll form" and "They're required to send you your luggage, but usually they ask when you can pick it up. Be firm, give them a sob story, and they'll ship it through UPS." As it turned out, my luggage arrived about twenty minutes after I did, a bit smudged, but intact and present.
We made it to the college, I got some dinner, which included lots of tasty corn on the cob -- er, ears of corn -- and crashed around ten.
Yesterday was a lot of info, a lot of sitting, a lot of walking (this campus is loooong), and my neck started to hurt. And now it's time for breakfast. Cheers!
Edit:
I forgot to mention that I have my host family information. I'm living with Tatiana Ivanovna and her son Andrew (don't know his age) at 42 Korablestroiteley. I move in Saturday.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
The Final Countdown
All right, friends, this is it.
I leave tomorrow morning for Bard College, the institution through with I am studying in St. Petersburg. The plan is to get to the MSP airport at five a.m. and arrive at the Albany airport at eleven. I'm all packed, besides this computer, my retainer, and a Nalgene. And a PBJ sandwich for the road.
I've said my good-byes to Greta and Charlie, to the Struss family, who called me while on vacation to pass the phone around the car, and my extended family, and to Punch. My sister and I played Scrabble with our former manager, and not only was it good to see Kate, and good because I won (this time), but it was good for occupying two full hours of this day, this dreary, boring, what-am-I-to-do-with-myself day.
Mom whipped out Google Earth late this evening -- too late. I wanted to look up all sorts of places, but I needed to reorganize my packing. If you have the time and inclination, you can follow along on my journey. I will be at Annandale on Hudson, NY for the first half of the week (look for the sweet Performing Arts Center), and Hotel Rus' (1 Arilleryiskaya Street) for the second half. The middle of the week will be spent mostly in the air.
The question on every one's mind -- I know what it is because people keep asking -- is WHERE and WHO is my host family. I don't know the answer and I don't know when I'll know the answer. But you will know once I know, dear readers, fear not.
Vocab for the day:
Чемодан: "suitcase," a noun near and dear to the hearts of Prof. Thomas' first-year Russian students. У меня два чемодана.
уходить, убезжать, улетать, уплывать: "to be in the process of leaving by foot, by accelerated motion on foot, by air, or by motion through water." Я улетаю зватра.
Let's be honest, it's late, considering that I plan to be up at four. So farewell!
I leave tomorrow morning for Bard College, the institution through with I am studying in St. Petersburg. The plan is to get to the MSP airport at five a.m. and arrive at the Albany airport at eleven. I'm all packed, besides this computer, my retainer, and a Nalgene. And a PBJ sandwich for the road.
I've said my good-byes to Greta and Charlie, to the Struss family, who called me while on vacation to pass the phone around the car, and my extended family, and to Punch. My sister and I played Scrabble with our former manager, and not only was it good to see Kate, and good because I won (this time), but it was good for occupying two full hours of this day, this dreary, boring, what-am-I-to-do-with-myself day.
Mom whipped out Google Earth late this evening -- too late. I wanted to look up all sorts of places, but I needed to reorganize my packing. If you have the time and inclination, you can follow along on my journey. I will be at Annandale on Hudson, NY for the first half of the week (look for the sweet Performing Arts Center), and Hotel Rus' (1 Arilleryiskaya Street) for the second half. The middle of the week will be spent mostly in the air.
The question on every one's mind -- I know what it is because people keep asking -- is WHERE and WHO is my host family. I don't know the answer and I don't know when I'll know the answer. But you will know once I know, dear readers, fear not.
Vocab for the day:
Чемодан: "suitcase," a noun near and dear to the hearts of Prof. Thomas' first-year Russian students. У меня два чемодана.
уходить, убезжать, улетать, уплывать: "to be in the process of leaving by foot, by accelerated motion on foot, by air, or by motion through water." Я улетаю зватра.
Let's be honest, it's late, considering that I plan to be up at four. So farewell!
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