Monday, 1:15 pm. Good Lord. I apologize for such a delay in blogging but I’ve been indulging in another of my favorite activities: sleeping. (And homework, but that doesn’t really count as an ‘indulgence.’) I read over the entries I’d scribbled down between activities and realized that posting them one by one would make for really choppy reading, so I’ve condensed them into a sort of ‘week in review’ post. Enjoy!
Wednesday: classes, Russian chorus, and orchestra. Russian chorus consisted of about fifteen girls and two guys (heaven bless Evan and Matt) going through every word of a folk song in great detail with Irina Gennadyevna, then singing it at ever-increasing tempos. It doesn’t sound like much in the description, but it’s great fun, and as we learn more and more songs, we’ll learn more and more vocabulary, too. :D English class was spent discussing the concept of excess (and who better than an American to help with that part!) and cooking. I’m discovering just how much gets lost in translation when the translation is largely incomplete. How the heck do you explain the concept of “savoury” to someone who only speaks basic English? How do you even explain it to an English speaker?
Thursday: classes, then orchestra. We’re getting into the detailed work, and therefore the part of the rehearsal process where my lack of the language might be a detriment, but thankfully, Konstantin Fyodorovich speaks fluent gestures. Yulia or Angelina (tonight, Yulia) still translates for me, but I’m actually discovering that I need their translation less and less. Osmosis really is effective in learning a new language. :D We also had a small Men’s Day party at the break in rehearsal, for the two men in the orchestra (Andrei on violin and Ilya on cello) and our esteemed conductor. One of the second violinists, Vera, has a tendency to make long rambling speeches on occasions like this…and the rest of the orchestra has a tendency to hush her and go on with their conversations. :P We may or may not be having rehearsal on Saturday to make up for Monday’s lack of rehearsal. Nobody’s quite sure yet, so I’m waiting for a text message before planning Friday night.
Friday: classes, then Ladies’ Night (good news – no rehearsal tomorrow!). This was, admittedly, not a particularly exciting outing; eight girls met at a jazz club on Furshtatskaya, about a twenty-minute walk from my homestay (finally, I don’t have to go across the city to hang out with people!). Listening to rather elderly Russian men crooning Russian and American jazz was certainly a pleasant way to spend the evening, anyway, and I missed extensive amounts of girl talk. :) Most of the girls left from Sunduk to hit some club on Vasilievsky, but Ella and I really didn’t feel like taking a cab home from the other end of the city, so the two of us walked home together. She’s very good at convincing me to be sensible when I’m wavering on the edge of doing something silly.
Saturday: catch-up day with regard to homework, then a party! The political science department (probably one of their student organizations) is hosting a party this evening vaguely based on the theme of the movie ‘Tsars.’ This is not the same movie we half-watched on the bus back from Novgorod, but a different movie in which Ivan the Terrible ends up in the 1970s. Don’t ask; I haven’t. :P Anyway, it was my first excuse to break out my dress this semester! As it turned out, it’s quite difficult to make friends with Russian students when the music is THAT loud, but at least the dancing was fun. I stayed until fairly early in the morning and ended up walking home (from the far end of Nevsky Prospekt, this was not smart) with Irena, Devon, and Cecilia, all of whom live on the street leading up to mine. By “not smart,” I don’t mean that anything actually happened; it’s just a really long walk. I let myself in without waking Lyudmila Afanasyevna and fell into bed.
Sunday: spent the day with Olya after her lesson! The chemistry lesson lasted until about 1:30, most of which time I spent reading Tolstoy. I’ve embarked upon War and Peace, for better or worse. And I WILL finish it this semester, if it takes me the entire semester to do so. Anyway, the two of us and Ella went to the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood…and were pretty much struck dumb when we walked inside. Every inch of the inside of that church that is not covered in marble is covered in mosaic tiles. It’s AMAZING. (And now that Jackie has explained to me how to upload pictures on Blogger, I’ll be putting in some pictures very soon!) It’s not a particularly interesting place to spend hours, at the moment, but in small doses, it’s breathtaking. :) Then, to regain our breath, we went bookstore-hopping! Nevsky Prospekt alone is lined with bookstores, many of which are open 24 hours—so if we ever want to go book shopping at three in the morning, we know where to go! :D I’m cheap, but I do have to watch myself in bookstores. I found a copy of Lolita for a little more than $5, though, so I have reading material that’s not War and Peace! :D
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