Yes, you read that right. On an overnight train to Moscow, writing at 1:30 in the morning. We met at the station at 2140, the better to over-prepare, because trains are about the only institution in Russia that do(es) not run on Russian time. We pulled out of Moskovsky Voksal (Moscow Station) at 2300 on the dot, and we’re expected to pull into Moscow shortly before 0700. We’re in compartments of four, now split and scattered into each other’s compartments; I’m working in my quiet compartment with three sleeping friends. It’s like the Hogwarts Express, only less colorful, and with all girls in this car (the guys are in the next car over, with Jarlath). I’m writing late because I can’t sleep; we’re all fairly charged up with the party atmosphere. ;) (Plus, this top-bunk situation is a little scary. I’m not convinced yet that I’m not going to fall off and accidentally kill Katie in the middle of the night.)
But, I digress. Week in review, coming up! :)
Saturday: Tsarskoye Selo! Another historic palace surrounded by legendary gardens, which are currently buried under a foot and a half of snow. Definitely the prettiest palace I’ve seen so far, though, and we were actually allowed to take pictures in this one. And I did. About eighty. :) Including me with a statue of Pushkin! The surrounding town is named for Pushkin, and the tour guide was very thorough in explaining where Pushkin studied and how he left his mark on the town. The following are a couple of the best photos from the afternoon’s excursion. We’ve all decided that we’re going back on a weekend in May to wander around the gardens when they’re green. :D
The Amber Room! We weren't really supposed to be taking pictures in here, hence the awkward angle.
Hanging out with Pushkin. :D
Sunday: my birthday! :D I celebrated my birthday by sleeping in, first of all, then meeting a handful of friends for lunch at an Azerbaijani restaurant! This wasn’t actually planned for my birthday, the two occasions just sort of happened to coincide. Major props to Eric for this plan. :D Six of us met outside Gostiny Dvor and went to Baku, lingering for two and a half hours over fantastic Azerbaijani food and conversation. What made it even more interesting was that Dmitri came! Dima, Eric, Svetlana, Megan, Eve and I talked animatedly in Russian and English, sharing the food, toasting with (a single glass of) Azerbaijani wine, and exchanging funny slang in our respective languages. (In Russian, when a person is very, very drunk, he ‘goes home by his eyebrows.’) I even walked around with Eric after we’d finished the meal and took several pictures of the restaurant—he wants to design his house in a similar fashion sometime in the future. :) The rest of the day was very quiet, mostly spent reading and watching British comedy videos on YouTube, followed by a glass of champagne with my host mom and an early night. A fantastic twentieth birthday.
The six of us in Baku. Photo taken by the very nice and VERY patient waiter. From left: Svetlana, Eric, Dmitri, Megan, Eve, and myself.Monday: back to classes, then orchestra rehearsal. I figured out on Monday that I’m going to be missing the next two rehearsals because of the Moscow trip…the two rehearsals right before the concert. Normally, this would be a MAJOR issue, but thankfully, Angelina explained it to Andrei Vladimirovich such that he understood. The two of them wished me a lovely weekend in Moscow, which was a nice touch. (I did get a text from Angelina today reminding me that I need to bring my viola to the concert. Really, now? I realize that I don’t understand more than about a third of what she says, but does that automatically qualify me as ‘person who needs REALLY silly reminders’? :P) I still don’t know the exact concert order, nor whether we’re actually playing all the pieces in our folders. But, I expect that will be cleared up in the three hours preceding the concert next Tuesday. :)
Tuesday was devoted to classes, laundry, and buying tickets for the following several days. I made my hostel reservations in Tallinn on Monday…without actually having bought the bus tickets yet. We had a group ‘excursion’ to Moscow Station Tuesday after classes so that Katya could help people like me buy their train tickets either back to Petersburg or elsewhere. After I finally had a return ticket from Moscow in my possession, I decided to cross two things off the list in one trip and went to Baltiskiy Voksal (Baltic Station) to buy a round-trip bus ticket to Tallinn. It took me nearly half an hour (and two text messages to Jarlath) to discover that the office was not in fact inside the station, but rather across the street; once I got there, though, I did manage to buy this ticket all by myself! :D I relied on writing down the numbers and times so as to make absolutely sure not to screw it up. I can practice my Russian sometime when I’m spending significantly smaller amounts of money. In any case, I’m now thoroughly ready to spend Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in Estonia! (Also, major thanks to Eric for lending me his guidebook this evening!)
Wednesday: classes, then a long meeting with Moscow trip instructions and protocol, then English class. This was one of the best discussions we’ve had yet, centered around the theme of crime; I got the chance to break out the vocabulary from all the Tom Clancy novels I’ve been reading, and the students got the chance to introduce me to the Russian Sherlock Holmes movies. I really, REALLY want to watch one of these now! :D Also, I made the mistake of mentioning last class (in a discussion of the term ‘witty’) that British humor tends to be based more on wit than American humor, which is (more often than not) based on put-downs. Olga Vladimirovna took me seriously, but in an entirely different fashion than the one I intended. She walked into class with a thin British paperback book, featuring a scantily clad woman on the cover, entitled “Really Wicked Dirty Jokes.” Moreover, I found that she had photocopied several stories from this book and handed them out to the class as examples of wit. The stories were certainly witty; however, I fear that this class now has an indelibly set impression of ‘wit’ meaning ‘off-color.’ What have I done? :P
And that brings us to today, taken up with classes, packing, and attempting to solve class registration issues back home (grrrrrrrrr). I’ll probably be writing the weekend’s entry on the train back home, at a similarly strange hour of the morning. For now, time to try my damnedest not to fall off the top bunk and to grab five hours’ sleep before pulling into Leningradsky Voksal in Moscow. More to come! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment