Halfway

Yes, I am halfway through the semester, and yes, fortunately or unfortunately, I can believe it.  This blog is going to be short.  I am up late...as usual, but I wanted to update everyone before I leave for Moscow tomorrow.  Tomorrow evening spring break begins and I will not have my computer with me as I travel to Moscow, Tbilisi, and Kiev.  You will all just have to wait until I return next Sunday.

In preparation for my trip to Tbilisi, I have made the effort to learn the Georgian alphabet.  I definitely have made progress, which is very exciting, but it is hard.  No Georgian letters look like Russian or English letters and it makes things tricky.  There is actually one letter, what looks like a "y", but it is a very false friend in both English and Russian.  The Russian letter "у" is pronounced like "u".  However, in Georgian, it is pronounced something alone the lines of "q".  Anyway, I now know a small handful of words, as well, and this a project I on which I am going to continue long after I leave Georgia.

If you are curious, here is my name written in Georgian: გრეტა 

This past weekend, on Friday, I went ice skating at Tvaricheskiy Sad with friends until 2 am! It was a fantastic experience, and I did a lot better than I thought I would.  I did not fall once and I managed to skate away from the wall.  After skating, I called a cab, arrived home, and promptly went to bed because of an excursion that would follow in the morning.  I was and am proud of myself.

Saturday, I went to the Russian Museum, which houses Russian art.  The museum was nice, but our tour guide talked way too much - we spent over twenty minutes on one half of a room.  Oh well, overall, I enjoyed it.

Sunday, I lazed about for much of the day and attempted to do homework, only partially succeeding.

Here are a couple of pictures from an unwelcome, but pretty snowfall that greeted me as I left for school the other day:

Pigeon attacking

Tvaricheskiy Park 

Tvaricheskiy Park.

Now it is off to bed! I will update again when I can!

Saint Petersburg is Thawing...Somewhat

It has been nearly two weeks since I have last written a post. I suppose I will start with the long week that I experienced previous to the one that just ended.

When you are used to going to school for five days each week for the last sixteen years of your life, adding another day on is brutal.  This week was hard for me.  I realized, after watching a couple quintessential American films dubbed in Russian, that I was a tad bit homesick for America as a whole, and for Missoula especially.  I feel no love lost for Russia, I am still enjoying my time here, but it is only natural to feel a pull towards home.  Not only did I have six days of school, I also worked this week on sending out applications and resumes for potential jobs this summer.  This week I also encountered the frustration of being cheated out of 200 rubles at a supermarket near school.  I am not going to dive into the details of it, I have moved on, I know it is not something worth stewing over.  My time here in Russia is too short to do that.

When the weekend finally rolled in, however, I welcomed it.

On Saturday, I took part in a mandatory excursion to Peter and Paul Fortress.  The Peter and Paul Fortress  is the original point upon which Saint Petersburg was founded.  Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg in 1703 and construction of the fortress began shortly thereafter. Within the fortress walls there is the Peter and Paul Cathedral which contains the remains of many tsars including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and most of the Romanovs.  No building in Saint Petersburg is allowed to be built taller than this cathedral.  There is also a prison where Dostoevsky, Lenin's brother, the Decembrists, and other revolutionaries and intellectuals were held for a period of time at some point in their lives.  While there, we had the opportunity to hear a cannon go off at noon, and as our student director so nicely described it, it is like a "firework exploding in your face." It was very loud.  I am going to have to return on a nice day to capture better pictures and perhaps a video of the cannon going off.  In the mean time, here are a few pictures taken from the excursion.

Aerial view of Peter and Paul Fortress and
the Artillery Museum (top right) courtesy of Wikipedia.

Prison cell.

Burial site of Peter the Great (on the right).

Peter and Paul Cathedral

Following the excursion, a bunch of friends and I went to have lunch at a very nice, reasonably-priced cafe not far from the fortress.  Then, we decided to visit the Artillery Museum and with our student IDs, we were able to get in for free.  The building that houses the museum was built in 1849 - 1860, and was originally used as an arsenal.  The museum has over 600 pieces of artillery and military vehicles, not to mention uniforms, flags, and small arms dating back to the medieval period.  It was interesting to explore and I will definitely have to return to it.  

On Sunday, I wandered along the Fontanka River off of Nevsky Prospect.  It was a beautiful day, and once again, I took plenty of photographs.  I finally was able to get a good shot of Gostinyy Dvor', is a very large department store along Nevsky Prospect.  It is very high-end and out of my price range - but it certainly is a beautiful building.  I remember one of the first photographs I saw of Saint Petersburg when I first became interested in Russia was a picture of Gostinyy Dvor, under the colonnades. (You will have to forgive me, I do not know the correct architectural term).  At the time, I remember thinking to myself how cool it would be to go there and get a picture of it myself.  I finally did on Sunday and it filled me with joy.  Walking along the Fontanka, I thought about how nice it was to be in Russia, and how it has been a dream of mine to go for quite some time.  Here are some pictures that I took:

Gostinny Dvor

The shot I have wanted to take for a long time at Gostinny Dvor

Fontanka River

A side note: tonight, during dinner, my host mother insisted that I put sour cream on all of my food.  

Salad, potatoes, soup, chicken, and bread.  Yes, all of it.  I happen to enjoy sour cream and happened to enjoy all of these combinations, especially with soup.  Sour cream is serious business here in Russia: my host family goes through a carton of sour cream every two days.  Last night, I also happened to converse with my host mother for over an hour! It is very satisfying to be able to actively use my Russian and talk about things that are more complex and abstract.  

I can say that nothing especially out of the ordinary happened this week, except for the fact that I now prefer taking a marshrutka (a shared taxi on a fixed route) to school than the metro, and that I see the barest hints of spring throughout the city.  This week I was finally able to see some grass! The ice in the canals is starting to break up, and I can hear birds! The temperatures have been chilly, but pleasant in the upper 20s and mid 30s.  Of course, Saint Petersburg is not in the most ideal of locations built on a swamp off the Gulf of Finland six degrees below the Arctic Circle and because of this, the city experiences weather similar to that of Seattle: precipitation and lots of it.  The parks and paths and sidewalks are a mess of puddles and mud.  The sky is usually gray. It is getting light around 7:30 in the morning and getting dark around 8:30! Spring is coming - slowly but surely.  

In a week, I will be in Moscow.  Then, following that, spring break begins and it is off to Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine! 

What a Week

Hello everyone.  I have not had much time to write this past week - so much has been happening! I think the best place to start is the 5th of March, a Monday.  A couple of weeks ago, I attended an information session regarding teaching English to local university students.  It is strange, because I have always said that I do not really want to teach yet I continue to volunteer my time to activities that involve teaching.  My responsibilities here in Piter are primarily to help Russian students with their English conversation skills - something, that I know from experience, can be challenging when learning a foreign language.  When the Russian professor first called me about arranging the times when I would assist her in class, she asked me how long I would like to be left alone with them.  At the time, I was slightly mortified.  However, I quickly realized that everything would be fine, that I did not need to worry.  Everything was fine; in fact, after I met with the Russian students, I felt incredibly happy.  Tonight, I again felt the same way.  It is more work in my already busy schedule, but it is completely worth it.

Tuesday, I met with my Russian language partner, and we attended a photo exhibit together.  We ended up speaking a lot of what I call "Ruslish" as she would try to speak to me in English, and I to her in Russian.  Hopefully, we will meet again soon.

Wednesday was the only day I did not do anything out of the ordinary.  I only have one class that day in the morning, but I usually end up staying at Smolny Institute until five so I can work on homework.

Thursday we did not have any classes because it was International Women's Day.  It is a big holiday in Russia and Eastern Europe, and is not widely celebrated in the United States despite the fact that it originated there.  I received chocolate from my host mother and celebrated the day by going to my first ballet, called Laurencia, at the Mikhailovsky Theater.

Friday I again had no classes and instead spent part of the day learning how to cook Georgian food.  We prepared several dishes, including Khachapuri, which is bread filled with cheese.  All the food was delicious and I am glad I was given the recipes.  Hopefully, when I get home, I will be able to prepare a Georgian meal for my family and friends to enjoy.  

Saturday I went on an excursion with the group to Yusupov Palace, which is supposedly one of the most beautiful and or grandiose palaces in Saint Petersburg.  It also happens to be the place where Rasputin was murdered.  Honestly, I do not know much about Rasputin, and because the tour was in Russian, I had a hard time learning more about him.  It is somewhat frustrating that the tours are in Russian simply because it takes so much focus in order to understand everything that is being said.  Usually, at the same time, I am trying to take pictures and absorb what I am looking at, whether it is a room in a palace or a monument in a park.  When I do attentively listen, however, I can understand a fair amount.  Nevertheless, I found Yusupov Palace interesting and I am glad that I decided to buy a ticket to permit me to photograph the interior.  Who knows when I will be in Russia again? 

Sunday, unfortunately, was spent in school.  Because we had Thursday and Friday off, somewhere along the line Russia decided that we should all return to school and work on a Sunday.  Because of this, I have a tediously long week this week.  However, my Sunday turned around exponentially with a surprise lecture by the former president of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity.  Despite the fact that he lectured all in Russian, and spoke really fast mind you, I really enjoyed listening to him.  Never would I have imagined getting the opportunity to hear him speak, and to merely say that I enjoyed hearing him speak really does not express my true thoughts.  The moment I learned that he was going to be here, I felt an excitement like no other.  

Almost anyone who knows me well knows my passion for South Ossetia and the Caucasus region.  It is a topic that can really get my blood flowing.  I have known for a long time that I want to go to graduate school and study this region - study the history, the culture, the politics.  In the future, I want to work as a diplomat and help people understand this region better.  I would give some background information on this region, but I am afraid I would go off on a long tangent.  The region is complicated, but immensely important; what happens there has implications in the West, despite many Americans not having a clue as to where this region is located.  Unfortunately, since entering college, I have not had as much time to devote to this topic, but I intend to return to it.  

Before I sign off, I would like to mention that I am trying to plan a spring break trip to the country of Georgia with a friend.  I really hope it works out.  If not, I may visit Yalta in Ukraine or Kazan in Russia. There is so much I want to do yet so little time.  

Farewell for now! 

Adapting to Life in Piter

I have been in Russia for one month already! It is hard to believe - time is going fast, but I still feel at pace with it.  On the weekends, when I have had free time, I have gone out with camera in hand and have explored the neighborhood around my apartment.  There are always interesting sites to happen upon, people watching (although this must be done secretly, you do not want to be caught doing it), and catching a glimpse of life in the city on and off the tourist track.  Today is election day in Russia and as I wandered the streets, I heard on more than one occasion trucks with loudspeakers encouraging people to vote. There are election posters up throughout the city.  

Yesterday, I visited Pushkin's Last Apartment and was able to see his death mask and an actual lock of his hair that Russian writer Turgenev had collected when he was a teenager.  Turgenev was inspired by Pushkin.  I have a mild cold right now, and at the museum, a curator somehow noticed.  She came up to me, took me by the arm, and urged me to sit down.  Confused, I stood back up when she disappeared, but she returned moments later: "Sit! Please! Sit!"  I kept trying to tell her that I felt fine, but she proceeded to tell the tour guide that I was sick, and then the tour guide told another curator to rise up from her seat so I could sit.  It took several moments for me, with the help of the student director of CIEE, to explain to them that I was fine, and then the tour continued.  Despite the fact that they were only trying to help, it was still a slightly awkward scene.  Other than that incident, the museum was interesting, and I found that I could understand the Russian tour guide better than I have on other tours.  

Greta and Alexander Pushkin

Afterwards, a friend and I toured Kazan Cathedral, and popped in and out of shops along Nevsky Prospect.  In a book store, I saw a teach-yourself Georgian language book, and lamented that the instructions were all in Russian - otherwise I would have bought it.  There are so many books here that I want to buy, but have so little room to pack them.  At the moment, I am skeptical about shipping items back to the United States from Russia.  

I figure I should say something about my host family since I have not really said anything yet about them. With some minor exceptions, I have been really enjoying myself.  They care, they are kind, they are patient, they are helpful, they are encouraging, and they are interested in me.  It is not always easy, but I have been trying to make an effort and speak with them.  They have been making an effort, as well, especially since I think they've noticed that I can be shy and will not always be the first to speak up.  They are asking me lots of questions and helping me as I stumble along in my responses.  It is a goal of mine to take more initiative in speaking, but I am definitely making progress with speaking Russian in general, and that is very important.

Here are a few pictures of the apartment in which I live: 

My Bedroom 

The front door to the apartment

Corridor  

The Kitchen (always a lively room in a Russian household).

My apartment building

Smolny Convent, once a school for noble ladies, now houses several departments from Saint Petersburg State University, including the Depart of Political Science, where I study with CIEE.

Smolny Convent at dawn (around 9:30 am in early February) 

I have one last note to mention before I go.  Last weekend, Russians celebrated Maslenitsa, which is a festival that is dedicated to booting out winter and welcoming in spring (1 March is the official start of spring in Russia).  I ended up attending several of them where I saw people burning effigies of winter (usually straw dolls), heard tradition Russian folk music, and saw children playing all sorts of different games.  Here is a video of an impromptu folk performance: (Those whom are reading my posts by email will need to go to the blog page to view the video: gretainrussia.blogspot.com) 

Don't forget to check out my blog page "Interesting Tidbits."  That's all for now!