Tuesday, 9:30 pm. Holiday! The name of today’s cause for celebration is variously translated as “Russian Army Day,” “Military Day,” “Victory Day,” etc., etc. It’s also considered Men’s Day in general, even if the men in question aren’t part of the armed forces. In any case, it’s a national holiday, so no classes for me and none for Lyudmila Afanasyevna. I slept late (woohoo!) and once again got out of the shower to find Olya having a chemistry lesson. If it’s a day off for her, that just means she’s not missing any classes to come to St. Petersburg from Pskov, so I gather. Somewhere around 1, a pair of my host mom’s friends showed up, and the three of them gathered in the kitchen while Olya and I stayed in the living room and talked for quite some time. She speaks very good English for a Russian teenager, even if she doesn’t think so herself, and I speak in Russian when I can. I think I may have made a genuine friend here, which makes me really happy. :D
The weather was beautiful today—and when I say beautiful, I mean near zero Celsius and not actively precipitating—so of course we had to go do something out in the city. About three o’clock, I left to rendezvous with Erica, Matt, and Irena at St. Isaac’s Cathedral. This church doesn’t have services anymore; instead, it’s the state Museum of Religious History (or maybe just religion). Primarily, it’s a museum of breathtaking art and soaring, shiny architecture…the word ‘shiny’ feels out of place in that sentence, but it’s true. Thankfully, though, they didn’t overdo the shiny in this one. I can only compare it to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, which looks like the entire contents of the Fort Knox vault were melted down for the purpose of decorating this one church. In St. Isaac’s, it’s richly decorated, but not overwhelming. It just…works so well. I’m stumbling over the description, but if I ever figure out a way to post photos on here, that’ll work much better.
When I got off the trolleybus at St. Isaac’s, the sky was its normal grayish-white, but the weather was clear and calm. By the time I had found the ticket office about two minutes later, the wind had picked up and it had started to snow. By the time I actually bought my ticket, another two minutes later, the snow was blowing all over the place; we would call this type of weather “blizzard conditions” back home. When the four of us climbed the two hundred stairs to the cathedral’s colonnade, the snow was flying fast enough to blind anyone not wearing glasses, and the wind was blowing hard enough to make you reconsider leaning over the handrail to take a picture. Of course, even with much of the city practically whited out, we couldn’t resist the view. The panorama of St. Petersburg from St. Isaac’s is a photographer’s dream. On a clear day, I’m sure you could see for several miles from there; I could probably pick out my apartment block without even squinting too hard. Absolutely marvelous.
When we left the cathedral, it was still snowing furiously, so what did we decide to do? Go walk some more! Actually, it wasn’t bad; we just made our way back to Nevsky and to this little café that one of Matt’s Russian acquaintances had recommended. I don’t remember how this came up, but at some point before I left, I was talking with Mom and Dad about Russian food. The mention of hot powdered-sugar-covered donuts came up, and Dad recommended I bring home a few. Well, I found them today, Dad. They’re called pishki, and they’re the specialty of this tiny little café on Bolshaya Konnushenaya Ulitsa. The café itself is just called Pishki; they’re that famous. The closest comparison I can make is to fresh funnel cake, but slightly softer, and in donut form. They’re absolutely heavenly, especially coming in out of that kind of weather, and they’re only ten rubles a pop—three for a dollar. :D Nobody looks at you twice if you order six (I’m looking at you, Matt). They even served coffee that was diluted with enough milk and sugar that I actually enjoyed it. I suspect that once word of this place gets around, it’s going to become quite the hangout.
The four of us stayed in Pishki talking and munching for a good two hours, but alas, it came time to head home. Whoever was up for further exploring was vehemently denied by those of us who were sick of the blowing ice pellets. The three girls dropped Matt at the metro and took the trolleybus home, where Lyudmila Afanasyevna greeted me with spaghetti for dinner (with just cheese and butter—Russian-style spaghetti!) and several cups of tea. She’s going to her dacha for her day off tomorrow, while I have class and then English teaching in the evening, so she’s left several pots on the stove for me. Tomorrow: Russian Civilization, then Russian chorus (!). We’ll see if we’ve managed to recruit more than two malchiki since last week. :)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Untranslateables
Monday, 10:45 am. One day of snow has undone a good week and a half of work by the St. Petersburg city sanitation department, grounds crew, or whatever they’re called. Good LORD, just walking across the Smolny campus was treacherous! :P
10:45 pm. Classes went pretty well, though we’re all rather glad not to have three hours of Russian language at ten tomorrow morning. Four class periods of Albina Vitalievna in a row can be…slightly taxing for all involved, including her, I’m sure.
Lyudmila Afanasyevna had students over, so I retired to my room after dinner and actually dozed off over my history book (whoops). I woke up about nine and walked in to see how she was doing, and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. :D It started with the fact that tomorrow is Russian Army Day, also known as Men’s Day, a national holiday. This led to a whole discussion about gender relations, which segued into the fact that her first husband was Bulgarian, and then led to her showing me photographs of her various travels. I know St. Petersburg is considered a cosmopolitan city, but it still surprised me that my host mom has been to Dubai and Thailand! :)
I’m going to start combining a couple days into one post at this point, I think, because we’re starting to settle into a routine. It’s strange to think that I’ve been here long enough to develop a routine, actually…but it’s been almost a month. Time flies like an arrow…fruit flies like a banana.
10:45 pm. Classes went pretty well, though we’re all rather glad not to have three hours of Russian language at ten tomorrow morning. Four class periods of Albina Vitalievna in a row can be…slightly taxing for all involved, including her, I’m sure.
Lyudmila Afanasyevna had students over, so I retired to my room after dinner and actually dozed off over my history book (whoops). I woke up about nine and walked in to see how she was doing, and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. :D It started with the fact that tomorrow is Russian Army Day, also known as Men’s Day, a national holiday. This led to a whole discussion about gender relations, which segued into the fact that her first husband was Bulgarian, and then led to her showing me photographs of her various travels. I know St. Petersburg is considered a cosmopolitan city, but it still surprised me that my host mom has been to Dubai and Thailand! :)
I’m going to start combining a couple days into one post at this point, I think, because we’re starting to settle into a routine. It’s strange to think that I’ve been here long enough to develop a routine, actually…but it’s been almost a month. Time flies like an arrow…fruit flies like a banana.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
In which Amanda waxes philosophical about physiognomy
Saturday, 10:00 pm. Negative twenty-eight degrees Celsius. -28°C. Nearly negative twenty Fahrenheit, for those of you stateside. That’s how bloody cold it is outside tonight. Since I’ve been here, it’s constantly been cold enough to see your breath; tonight, it was cold enough to freeze my breath to my glasses. Anyone who’s still out in this weather is either suicidal or really, really brave.
I’ve stayed home this weekend because Lyudmila Afanasyevna finally laid down the law about whatever this chest cold is I’ve been fighting: no going anywhere by myself until I can speak more than four sentences without coughing. :P Plus, who really wants to go exploring museums this weekend when walking to the apteka at the corner of my building was painfully cold? In any case, I’ve been enjoying the warmth of my bed and probably a dozen cups of tea in the past two days, not to mention a pack of cough drops. This situation is not likely to change tomorrow, either, so at least I’ll be able to get large amounts of laundry done and some extra vocabulary reviewed.
My host mother and I did make plans earlier in the week to attend a concert this evening, though, so that’s how I realized just how piercingly cold it is outside. At the State Polytechnic University, there was a performance by a small symphony orchestra and a guest pianist, playing Chopin and Schubert. I’m sure my translation isn’t quite up to par, but I believe the name of the orchestra is the Concert Society of St. Petersburg’s Orchestra. If I am to express my honest opinion, I’ve heard better orchestras, but rarely have I heard a better pianist than the one they were accompanying for the Chopin concerto. Miroslav Kultishev is all of twenty-four, but he’s already won a slew of international honors, including second place in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2007. (As I understand it, this is like the Grand Mastership of piano-ness.)
I had the chance to watch Mr. Kultishev (oh, heck, I can’t think of him as Mr. Kultishev, the man’s five years older than I am) and then to meet him briefly after the concert, and he left quite the impression. As soon as he walked onstage, I thought, there’s the type of guy I would see on the street and pin down as a concert pianist. With some musicians, you’d never guess that’s their day job; take Mr. Phil Hosford, who I could easily see as a high school math teacher (the cool kind). Miroslav, who’s tall, very skinny, long-haired, and looks like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands until he sits down at the keyboard, couldn’t possibly be anything else…except possibly a painter in an attic apartment. He’s quite shy in person, and understands just enough English to accept a compliment, which he does with his hair sort of falling into his face and a bit of a blush. In different circumstances, I can’t help but think he’d be an interesting person to get to know over a pizza with a few friends. :)
I also had the chance this evening to meet two good friends of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s: one Adolf Ivanovich, a doctor and former med school colleague of hers, and Larisa, my host mom’s best friend and my friend Kim’s host mother. Thoroughly nice people, who understand about as much English as my host mom does, so we were all able to communicate somehow. I also met an American violin student at the local conservatory whose father was just recently transferred to the consulate here, from DC, of all places. (All three of the adults I had come with kept hinting about this Alexei on the ride back, somewhat to my chagrin. No, I did not get his number. Please. I really try not to date musicians.)
And now, a spy novel from the CIEE library and a bottle of warm water. I have yet to figure out what channel the Olympics are on, and I think all the interesting events are shown after I’ve fallen asleep anyway…so, I’ll just have to follow the updates from my friends. Stay warm, everyone.
I’ve stayed home this weekend because Lyudmila Afanasyevna finally laid down the law about whatever this chest cold is I’ve been fighting: no going anywhere by myself until I can speak more than four sentences without coughing. :P Plus, who really wants to go exploring museums this weekend when walking to the apteka at the corner of my building was painfully cold? In any case, I’ve been enjoying the warmth of my bed and probably a dozen cups of tea in the past two days, not to mention a pack of cough drops. This situation is not likely to change tomorrow, either, so at least I’ll be able to get large amounts of laundry done and some extra vocabulary reviewed.
My host mother and I did make plans earlier in the week to attend a concert this evening, though, so that’s how I realized just how piercingly cold it is outside. At the State Polytechnic University, there was a performance by a small symphony orchestra and a guest pianist, playing Chopin and Schubert. I’m sure my translation isn’t quite up to par, but I believe the name of the orchestra is the Concert Society of St. Petersburg’s Orchestra. If I am to express my honest opinion, I’ve heard better orchestras, but rarely have I heard a better pianist than the one they were accompanying for the Chopin concerto. Miroslav Kultishev is all of twenty-four, but he’s already won a slew of international honors, including second place in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2007. (As I understand it, this is like the Grand Mastership of piano-ness.)
I had the chance to watch Mr. Kultishev (oh, heck, I can’t think of him as Mr. Kultishev, the man’s five years older than I am) and then to meet him briefly after the concert, and he left quite the impression. As soon as he walked onstage, I thought, there’s the type of guy I would see on the street and pin down as a concert pianist. With some musicians, you’d never guess that’s their day job; take Mr. Phil Hosford, who I could easily see as a high school math teacher (the cool kind). Miroslav, who’s tall, very skinny, long-haired, and looks like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands until he sits down at the keyboard, couldn’t possibly be anything else…except possibly a painter in an attic apartment. He’s quite shy in person, and understands just enough English to accept a compliment, which he does with his hair sort of falling into his face and a bit of a blush. In different circumstances, I can’t help but think he’d be an interesting person to get to know over a pizza with a few friends. :)
I also had the chance this evening to meet two good friends of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s: one Adolf Ivanovich, a doctor and former med school colleague of hers, and Larisa, my host mom’s best friend and my friend Kim’s host mother. Thoroughly nice people, who understand about as much English as my host mom does, so we were all able to communicate somehow. I also met an American violin student at the local conservatory whose father was just recently transferred to the consulate here, from DC, of all places. (All three of the adults I had come with kept hinting about this Alexei on the ride back, somewhat to my chagrin. No, I did not get his number. Please. I really try not to date musicians.)
And now, a spy novel from the CIEE library and a bottle of warm water. I have yet to figure out what channel the Olympics are on, and I think all the interesting events are shown after I’ve fallen asleep anyway…so, I’ll just have to follow the updates from my friends. Stay warm, everyone.
In which Amanda waxes philosophical about physiognomy
Saturday, 10:00 pm. Negative twenty-eight degrees Celsius. -28°C. Nearly negative twenty Fahrenheit, for those of you stateside. That’s how bloody cold it is outside tonight. Since I’ve been here, it’s constantly been cold enough to see your breath; tonight, it was cold enough to freeze my breath to my glasses. Anyone who’s still out in this weather is either suicidal or really, really brave.
I’ve stayed home this weekend because Lyudmila Afanasyevna finally laid down the law about whatever this chest cold is I’ve been fighting: no going anywhere by myself until I can speak more than four sentences without coughing. :P Plus, who really wants to go exploring museums this weekend when walking to the apteka at the corner of my building was painfully cold? In any case, I’ve been enjoying the warmth of my bed and probably a dozen cups of tea in the past two days, not to mention a pack of cough drops. This situation is not likely to change tomorrow, either, so at least I’ll be able to get large amounts of laundry done and some extra vocabulary reviewed.
My host mother and I did make plans earlier in the week to attend a concert this evening, though, so that’s how I realized just how piercingly cold it is outside. At the State Polytechnic University, there was a performance by a small symphony orchestra and a guest pianist, playing Chopin and Schubert. I’m sure my translation isn’t quite up to par, but I believe the name of the orchestra is the Concert Society of St. Petersburg’s Orchestra. If I am to express my honest opinion, I’ve heard better orchestras, but rarely have I heard a better pianist than the one they were accompanying for the Chopin concerto. Miroslav Kultishev is all of twenty-four, but he’s already won a slew of international honors, including second place in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2007. (As I understand it, this is like the Grand Mastership of piano-ness.)
I had the chance to watch Mr. Kultishev (oh, heck, I can’t think of him as Mr. Kultishev, the man’s five years older than I am) and then to meet him briefly after the concert, and he left quite the impression. As soon as he walked onstage, I thought, there’s the type of guy I would see on the street and pin down as a concert pianist. With some musicians, you’d never guess that’s their day job; take Mr. Phil Hosford, who I could easily see as a high school math teacher (the cool kind). Miroslav, who’s tall, very skinny, long-haired, and looks like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands until he sits down at the keyboard, couldn’t possibly be anything else…except possibly a painter in an attic apartment. He’s quite shy in person, and understands just enough English to accept a compliment, which he does with his hair sort of falling into his face and a bit of a blush. In different circumstances, I can’t help but think he’d be an interesting person to get to know over a pizza with a few friends. :)
I also had the chance this evening to meet two good friends of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s: one Adolf Ivanovich, a doctor and former med school colleague of hers, and Larisa, my host mom’s best friend and my friend Kim’s host mother. Thoroughly nice people, who understand about as much English as my host mom does, so we were all able to communicate somehow. I also met an American violin student at the local conservatory whose father was just recently transferred to the consulate here, from DC, of all places. (All three of the adults I had come with kept hinting about this Alexei on the ride back, somewhat to my chagrin. No, I did not get his number. Please. I really try not to date musicians.)
And now, a spy novel from the CIEE library and a bottle of warm water. I have yet to figure out what channel the Olympics are on, and I think all the interesting events are shown after I’ve fallen asleep anyway…so, I’ll just have to follow the updates from my friends. Stay warm, everyone.
I’ve stayed home this weekend because Lyudmila Afanasyevna finally laid down the law about whatever this chest cold is I’ve been fighting: no going anywhere by myself until I can speak more than four sentences without coughing. :P Plus, who really wants to go exploring museums this weekend when walking to the apteka at the corner of my building was painfully cold? In any case, I’ve been enjoying the warmth of my bed and probably a dozen cups of tea in the past two days, not to mention a pack of cough drops. This situation is not likely to change tomorrow, either, so at least I’ll be able to get large amounts of laundry done and some extra vocabulary reviewed.
My host mother and I did make plans earlier in the week to attend a concert this evening, though, so that’s how I realized just how piercingly cold it is outside. At the State Polytechnic University, there was a performance by a small symphony orchestra and a guest pianist, playing Chopin and Schubert. I’m sure my translation isn’t quite up to par, but I believe the name of the orchestra is the Concert Society of St. Petersburg’s Orchestra. If I am to express my honest opinion, I’ve heard better orchestras, but rarely have I heard a better pianist than the one they were accompanying for the Chopin concerto. Miroslav Kultishev is all of twenty-four, but he’s already won a slew of international honors, including second place in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 2007. (As I understand it, this is like the Grand Mastership of piano-ness.)
I had the chance to watch Mr. Kultishev (oh, heck, I can’t think of him as Mr. Kultishev, the man’s five years older than I am) and then to meet him briefly after the concert, and he left quite the impression. As soon as he walked onstage, I thought, there’s the type of guy I would see on the street and pin down as a concert pianist. With some musicians, you’d never guess that’s their day job; take Mr. Phil Hosford, who I could easily see as a high school math teacher (the cool kind). Miroslav, who’s tall, very skinny, long-haired, and looks like he doesn’t know what to do with his hands until he sits down at the keyboard, couldn’t possibly be anything else…except possibly a painter in an attic apartment. He’s quite shy in person, and understands just enough English to accept a compliment, which he does with his hair sort of falling into his face and a bit of a blush. In different circumstances, I can’t help but think he’d be an interesting person to get to know over a pizza with a few friends. :)
I also had the chance this evening to meet two good friends of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s: one Adolf Ivanovich, a doctor and former med school colleague of hers, and Larisa, my host mom’s best friend and my friend Kim’s host mother. Thoroughly nice people, who understand about as much English as my host mom does, so we were all able to communicate somehow. I also met an American violin student at the local conservatory whose father was just recently transferred to the consulate here, from DC, of all places. (All three of the adults I had come with kept hinting about this Alexei on the ride back, somewhat to my chagrin. No, I did not get his number. Please. I really try not to date musicians.)
And now, a spy novel from the CIEE library and a bottle of warm water. I have yet to figure out what channel the Olympics are on, and I think all the interesting events are shown after I’ve fallen asleep anyway…so, I’ll just have to follow the updates from my friends. Stay warm, everyone.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Alto clef readers WILL rule the world!
Thursday, 1:15 pm. I got out of the shower this morning to find one of Lyudmila Afanasyevna’s students, Olya, at the table having tea. She’s very interesting to talk to – enough that I was almost late for classes this morning…whoops. I packed a couple of quick blini and ran out the door; thank heavens for my living only ten minutes from campus!
10:45 pm. Not only have I found my happy place with the chamber orchestra – they found me a viola. This keeps getting better and better. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D (It’s one size bigger than I play back home, but that’s really not a problem.) I can’t take it home, but the orchestral manager, Angelina (who is also a violist!), assured me that I’m good enough I don’t need to practice. She’s very much mistaken, but I think I’ll manage. :) Last week was all sight-reading; this week we started the serious detail work on a couple of pieces. I’m happy to report that only about half of Konstantin Fyodorovich’s directions need translation! (The rest are either measure numbers, very general instructions, or nonverbal instructions any musician would understand.)
Angelina was kind enough to inform me that the concert is scheduled for March 31. This is, oddly for me, right in the middle of my spring break. This means I’m going to have to sacrifice my nebulous plans of spending a week in another country, which is a bit of a shame. But all is far from lost! If I’m not going to travel far, I can spend the week visiting the “diamond necklace” of palaces that are a short train ride from St. Petersburg! The weather will be absolutely lovely by this time, so spending a couple of days exploring Peterhof or Yekaterinburg at my leisure sounds to me like an excellent use of the break. (Plus, it’ll definitely save me money, which I always like.) My only regret is that more of my friends won’t be around to hear the concert. :)
The ride home only took about fifty minutes, which was a pleasant surprise. In DC, spending an hour on public transportation to get most of the way across the city would sort of irk me; in St. Petersburg, I’m finding that people don’t mind as much, and I’m starting to mind less, too. To get from my homestay to the main campus of the university, I can take one bus the entire way (trolleybus #11)! Granted, this means I spend an hour in transit thanks to traffic, but at least it’s a warm hour, and the service is practically door-to-door. DC, I suggest taking notes on St. Petersburg’s public transportation system.
And now, as usual, tea and bedtime. I haven’t been able to shake a nasty cough since we got back from Novgorod, so my dear host mother has been making me put honey in EVERYTHING I drink, including milk. Here’s hoping it works!
10:45 pm. Not only have I found my happy place with the chamber orchestra – they found me a viola. This keeps getting better and better. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D (It’s one size bigger than I play back home, but that’s really not a problem.) I can’t take it home, but the orchestral manager, Angelina (who is also a violist!), assured me that I’m good enough I don’t need to practice. She’s very much mistaken, but I think I’ll manage. :) Last week was all sight-reading; this week we started the serious detail work on a couple of pieces. I’m happy to report that only about half of Konstantin Fyodorovich’s directions need translation! (The rest are either measure numbers, very general instructions, or nonverbal instructions any musician would understand.)
Angelina was kind enough to inform me that the concert is scheduled for March 31. This is, oddly for me, right in the middle of my spring break. This means I’m going to have to sacrifice my nebulous plans of spending a week in another country, which is a bit of a shame. But all is far from lost! If I’m not going to travel far, I can spend the week visiting the “diamond necklace” of palaces that are a short train ride from St. Petersburg! The weather will be absolutely lovely by this time, so spending a couple of days exploring Peterhof or Yekaterinburg at my leisure sounds to me like an excellent use of the break. (Plus, it’ll definitely save me money, which I always like.) My only regret is that more of my friends won’t be around to hear the concert. :)
The ride home only took about fifty minutes, which was a pleasant surprise. In DC, spending an hour on public transportation to get most of the way across the city would sort of irk me; in St. Petersburg, I’m finding that people don’t mind as much, and I’m starting to mind less, too. To get from my homestay to the main campus of the university, I can take one bus the entire way (trolleybus #11)! Granted, this means I spend an hour in transit thanks to traffic, but at least it’s a warm hour, and the service is practically door-to-door. DC, I suggest taking notes on St. Petersburg’s public transportation system.
And now, as usual, tea and bedtime. I haven’t been able to shake a nasty cough since we got back from Novgorod, so my dear host mother has been making me put honey in EVERYTHING I drink, including milk. Here’s hoping it works!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
In which Amanda becomes a semi-professional grammar nazi
Wednesday, 3:10 pm. Only one class today, spent discussing the comparative lack of symbolic value of the Russian constitution when it’s been rewritten five times in the past ninety years. We had the first meeting of the American students’ Russian-language chorus today – only about ten minutes long, but we received a song to sound out by next week! This looks like great fun, or at least it will be once my throat’s back to normal. :P Now it’s time to head home and catch up on some history reading regarding Ivan the Terrible. My host mother’s having guests this evening, and indicated that it would be really nice for me to meet ANOTHER “ochen simpatchni malchik” (very nice boy) and his mother, a friend of hers. I do wish she’d stop hinting about Russian boys, but I know she means well, so I promise to at least give Dmitri (Dima) a chance this evening. :)
11 pm. As it turns out, I was spared trying to flirt in Russian after all; I got home after classes to find a text message from Professor Yarushkin, the English language teaching coordinator. I ate a quick dinner and headed over to the main campus, not quite sure what to expect – his message gave me no clue as to our meeting at 6 was to be a half-hour interview or a two-hour group information session. As it turns out, I walked into an actual three-hour class! Olga Vladimirovna (she told me to just call her Olga) teaches upper intermediate English to a group of seven university students and recent graduates on Monday and Wednesday evenings. (I will only be present for the Wednesday classes, because the orchestra meets on Mondays and Thursdays.) The students all seemed happy to meet me and asked me many questions, both about the current topic (travel and migration) and about American life and my impressions of Russia in general.
I’m very impressed by the level of English in this class, actually. As far as I understand, English is taught in the public school system in St. Petersburg, even in grade school; however, the quality of the instruction leaves something to be desired. Some of the students have been studying English only since they entered the university, while others have been studying since they were kids, but their instruction was seriously lacking. As it stands, though, they all speak at least middling English, and the grammar concepts I was explaining today are really fairly minor details. I’m happy to find out that there are equivalent proverbs in Russian for most of the common ones we bandy around in English; “Rome wasn’t built in a day” becomes “Moscow wasn’t built in a week.” :)
It takes me about an hour by public transportation to get from the apartment to the campus on Vasilievsky, so it was fairly late when I made it home, and it’ll be later tomorrow. Even with my gloves, my hands were red and probably dangerously cold when I made it home (yes, Mom, I know), so I sat and nursed a cup of very hot tea for a while, then came in to blog and go to bed. Hooray for only having two classes tomorrow! :D
11 pm. As it turns out, I was spared trying to flirt in Russian after all; I got home after classes to find a text message from Professor Yarushkin, the English language teaching coordinator. I ate a quick dinner and headed over to the main campus, not quite sure what to expect – his message gave me no clue as to our meeting at 6 was to be a half-hour interview or a two-hour group information session. As it turns out, I walked into an actual three-hour class! Olga Vladimirovna (she told me to just call her Olga) teaches upper intermediate English to a group of seven university students and recent graduates on Monday and Wednesday evenings. (I will only be present for the Wednesday classes, because the orchestra meets on Mondays and Thursdays.) The students all seemed happy to meet me and asked me many questions, both about the current topic (travel and migration) and about American life and my impressions of Russia in general.
I’m very impressed by the level of English in this class, actually. As far as I understand, English is taught in the public school system in St. Petersburg, even in grade school; however, the quality of the instruction leaves something to be desired. Some of the students have been studying English only since they entered the university, while others have been studying since they were kids, but their instruction was seriously lacking. As it stands, though, they all speak at least middling English, and the grammar concepts I was explaining today are really fairly minor details. I’m happy to find out that there are equivalent proverbs in Russian for most of the common ones we bandy around in English; “Rome wasn’t built in a day” becomes “Moscow wasn’t built in a week.” :)
It takes me about an hour by public transportation to get from the apartment to the campus on Vasilievsky, so it was fairly late when I made it home, and it’ll be later tomorrow. Even with my gloves, my hands were red and probably dangerously cold when I made it home (yes, Mom, I know), so I sat and nursed a cup of very hot tea for a while, then came in to blog and go to bed. Hooray for only having two classes tomorrow! :D
Speed dating and shopping
Monday, 11:20 pm. Just got in from what we’re all calling Russian speed dating! The sobesedniki mixer featured a motley crew of Russians and Americans eating chips and salsa and trying to speak each other’s languages, with varying degrees of success. We had five minutes to get to know each other, then moved on to the next conversation partner. If the gender balance had been a little more equal (more guys than girls tonight, for once!), it would’ve been true speed dating. :)
I’m actually amazed at the conversations one can get into in five minutes with a total stranger. I’m not great with names, but I can remember discussing the use of the word ‘Snowpocalypse’ with Anya, American comedy with Olga, the merits of Antonio Banderas songs with Roman, and even the incredible variety in the music of Billy Joel and Queen with Ilya. Actually, if this works out, I may be joining Ilya’s band for a while with my violin. :D All in all, it was a wonderful way to break out of our little American group and realize that Russian students are truly friendly people once you start talking to them. Actually, that generalization can really be applied to Russians in general. Pass them on the street and they’ll look suspicious if you smile, but strike up a conversation about violin-piano duets with Masha and you’re instantly a friend.
The only drawback to a blast of an evening out is the fact of ten o’clock classes tomorrow. Time to get to sleep for tomorrow’s grammar lesson.
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Tuesday, 10:00 pm. Not a lot to write today. Ethnic Studies was canceled when Leonid Vladimirovich failed to show up after half an hour for the class before mine, so I went home. I would like to report, though, that I successfully managed to buy a battery charger! This is a minor annoyance, because I brought one from home, but it appears to have given up the ghost here in Russia. Either that, or it needs intense computer psychological counseling that is beyond me…maybe I’ll get Alec, the computer science major on the program, to take a look at it. :P Anyway, this one cost me a little less than US$17 and charges two batteries at a time. As far as I’m concerned, it’s perfect—cheap, functional, and a nice stand-in until I can get mine back to the States and see what’s wrong with it.
About twelve of us went out for Zoltan’s birthday this evening and had blini. We realize it’s not Maslenitsa anymore, but there’s really no occasion on which I would pass up a blin with chocolate sauce. :D Oh, and Olympic fever has officially gripped Russia. Even in Teremok, the city’s blini chain, they were showing the biathlon, which involves skiing and shooting. In my humble and ill-informed opinion, this is not a great combination—sure, let’s start an avalanche and then race away from it!—but it seems to be of great importance to the Russian sports fan community, so it’s time to learn. :)
I’m actually amazed at the conversations one can get into in five minutes with a total stranger. I’m not great with names, but I can remember discussing the use of the word ‘Snowpocalypse’ with Anya, American comedy with Olga, the merits of Antonio Banderas songs with Roman, and even the incredible variety in the music of Billy Joel and Queen with Ilya. Actually, if this works out, I may be joining Ilya’s band for a while with my violin. :D All in all, it was a wonderful way to break out of our little American group and realize that Russian students are truly friendly people once you start talking to them. Actually, that generalization can really be applied to Russians in general. Pass them on the street and they’ll look suspicious if you smile, but strike up a conversation about violin-piano duets with Masha and you’re instantly a friend.
The only drawback to a blast of an evening out is the fact of ten o’clock classes tomorrow. Time to get to sleep for tomorrow’s grammar lesson.
--
Tuesday, 10:00 pm. Not a lot to write today. Ethnic Studies was canceled when Leonid Vladimirovich failed to show up after half an hour for the class before mine, so I went home. I would like to report, though, that I successfully managed to buy a battery charger! This is a minor annoyance, because I brought one from home, but it appears to have given up the ghost here in Russia. Either that, or it needs intense computer psychological counseling that is beyond me…maybe I’ll get Alec, the computer science major on the program, to take a look at it. :P Anyway, this one cost me a little less than US$17 and charges two batteries at a time. As far as I’m concerned, it’s perfect—cheap, functional, and a nice stand-in until I can get mine back to the States and see what’s wrong with it.
About twelve of us went out for Zoltan’s birthday this evening and had blini. We realize it’s not Maslenitsa anymore, but there’s really no occasion on which I would pass up a blin with chocolate sauce. :D Oh, and Olympic fever has officially gripped Russia. Even in Teremok, the city’s blini chain, they were showing the biathlon, which involves skiing and shooting. In my humble and ill-informed opinion, this is not a great combination—sure, let’s start an avalanche and then race away from it!—but it seems to be of great importance to the Russian sports fan community, so it’s time to learn. :)
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