The Last Gasp

I would be hard put to say whether this last week passed more quickly or slowly than the others.  It certainly seemed to last long enough while we were in the midst of it...

• Monday marked our last Reading class - our final is Wednesday.  Reading was probably my least favorite subject of the three - I'm not sad to have it over with. :P  Likewise with Grammar, though that was much more enjoyable... at this point, most of us are just ready to be done.  It's even difficult for me to get up the motivation to study, I'm so burnt out... I really think 8 weeks is too long for an intensive program such as this, without any breaks.  The progress is evident, but it still wears on you.
• Monday also marked my last official meeting with my Russian friend.  We met after school and walked to one of the northern islands (Yelagin Island, the one that I explored during my not-so-well-thought-out late night excursion).  We rented a pair of roller blades for me (Ksyusha had managed to find her own pair) and spent two hours criss-crossing the island on the asphalt paths.  That's the thing about roller blades - they don't really work on anything but asphalt.  Trust me - we tried. :P  We visited the "zoo" on the island: a collection of half a dozen pens of goats, sheep, and a pair of bedraggled reindeer.  We went to the very tip of the island, where it faces the Gulf of Finland, and looked out across the water to where the horizon blended together and the sky became indistinguishable from the sea (sorry, thought I'd wax a little poetic there ;]).  Then we made laps around the island until our two hours were up, trying to get our money's worth (the cost to rent the roller blades was $10 per hour, but it was Princeton's money, so I didn't really mind ;]).  Unfortunately, Ksyusha was much slower on her blades than I was, not having skated for 2 years, which slowed me down a little and took a little bit of the fun out of it, since she was constantly behind me and I often had to slow down or wait up for her.  But we skated the entire two hours, and at the end got a pleasant surprise when Zarina, my other Russian friend (remember that fateful day at the McDonalds?) also showed up.  Since we hadn't even come close to spending the $250 allotted to us by Princeton for the program, we decided to treat ourselves to supper on a cafe on the island.  The food was good, but nothing special: I had a milkshake, a pork shishkebob and a "ceasar salad."  Russians sure do have a strange idea of a salad: at home, I'll get a single vegetable (usually a carrot) grated into a bowl and mixed with mayonnaise.  At the cafe, the "salad" consisted of a few leaves of lettuce, a hard-boiled egg, a slice or two of tomato, some cheese, and an onion or two, all drenched in dressing.  It was certainly not an entire serving.  But we accomplished our aim: the bill came to 1065 rubles (~$35) and we filled our stomachs.  On the way home I purposely went out of the way to get some ice cream at the Baskin-Robbins on Nevsky Prospect: I figured since ice cream is so much better here than in the States, and since Baskin-Robbins is really good ice cream back home (at least, it's pricey enough...), therefore, Baskin-Robbins in Russia must be to die for.  Unfortunately, there was a logical error somewhere in my theory.  It wasn't worth it - I paid $4.50 for two tiny scoops in a waffle cone and it wasn't even as good as the ice cream at Чайная ложка which I can buy for one-third the price.  But, you live and learn, I suppose...
• Unfortunately, our Conversation class has finally begun to get interesting, just about the time we are finishing the program.  We started playing word games this week, and the teacher would have us do a dialogue on an assigned topic, then we would have to answer questions from our classmates on other topics of the teacher's choice.  It is a good exercise in improvisation and coherency - exactly the skills one would need in an actual conversation.  I wish we had begun this four weeks ago - but perhaps four weeks ago we would not have been able to do this.  Who knows.  In any case, I am finding it more and more difficult to enjoy classes in general, and studying even less so.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday I made valiant attempts to study, with the effect that I probably added a dozen or so words to my vocabulary, and decided that I already knew most of the grammar topics fairly well.  Well, we'll see about that.
• Wednesday was our last "excursion" with our group - we went to a combination ballet-drama performance at a little-known theater in the city center.  The dialogue (or, I should really say, monologue) was simple enough that I could follow most of it - something about a deranged man in the psych ward who wants to dance and doesn't think anyone understands him.  Typical Russian plotline, I suppose.  In any case, the dancing was very beautiful, especially the female dancer (whom I later learned was one person in several costumes, not several separate dancers, as I at first thought.  I don't do culture, ok?  I'm from Maine.  Give me a break).  The highlight of that night was beating Latalia home, even though I walked and she took the metro, and it was a 45-minute walk.  I now feel justified in walking everywhere instead of taking a circuitous and complicated metro ride that involves several transfers.  :P
• The way it worked out, our group had one final exam on each of the last three days of classes.  Wednesday was Reading - it was a difficult essay test, and the teacher didn't make it clear until afterwards that she would focus on grammar and clarity instead of actual content (as she said, this is a language, not a literature, course).  I wish I had known that before I slaved away for 90 minutes on it.  Still, I will probably get a satisfactory grade, after all; I probably should have studied more vocab related to the topic, but I can't change that now.  Thursday was Grammar - as I suspected, I was basically ready.  Although we also had Grammar class on Friday, the teacher wanted to be able to give us our tests back and take any questions, so we took the test a day early (which was fine with me - as I said, I was just ready to get it over with).  I did reasonably well - the mistakes that I made were either stupid or not something that much more studying would have helped.  Today, Friday, we had Conversation - the teacher called us up one by one and gave us a topic, which we then had to discourse on then and there without preparation.  Finally, something that simulates actual conversation in Conversation class!!  Actually, I preferred not having time to prepare - it set the standard lower and it was more excusable to ramble and not have a concrete storyline or something exceptionally creative to tell about (my classmates consistently put me to shame in that area during the last semester).  My topic was "Film and Television," so I talked about how I rarely watch TV, and my favorite movies and genres of movies, and the movies I have watched here in Russia.  I got an A, as did most people - the class isn't particularly strenuous, and the grading is actually somewhat arbitrary, from what we can see.
• Thursday I had the opportunity to meet Ksyusha one last time.  My sister Emily wanted a tie-dye T-shirt with cyrillic lettering on it for a souvenir - I didn't realize how American tie-dye is until I started looking around.  Ksyusha thought she had found a place where I could get one, but it turns out that it was a false lead - they only had black and white shirts, and none of them I particularly liked.  I'll get one today from one of the souvenir kiosks (sometime between packing, buying last-minute food items and meeting my traveling companions for supper at 6:45 :P).  But, we were able to visit the Zoological Museum again, since we hadn't been able to finish it last time - and was I ever glad we did!  As it turns out, admission to the museum is free on the last Thursday of every month - and guess what yesterday was?  That was a nice surprise.  I found out that what I had thought was a small side-hall of the museum turned out to be where most of the exhibits were located - including a couple of mummified baby mammoths and more antlers on the wall than I have ever seen in my life.  Their bird collection was also enormous - it is amazing to think of the breadth and variety of species out there!  It was just amazing to see all of the creativity there is in God's creation - not to mention I got to see some of my favorite animals that I have never seen before (i.e. an okapi ^.^).  After this, my feet were tired, so I pointed them homeward.  Latalia was going out for supper with some friends, so I made myself pelmeni (my favorite Russian dish) and a carrot "salad" and sipped my tea, feeling very Russian.  I think this country has gotten me into the tea-drinking habit - I'm even bringing some home so that I can have it occasionally in my dorm room at Princeton.  Who knew... :]  After supper, I called Tatyana to let her know of my plans for the next day concerning my departure for Moscow, and we talked for a full 13 minutes in Russian!  And I understood her!!!  I really have made progress (which she also noted, and congratulated me for effusively and repetitively :P)

And so we come to the end.  Moscow now is going to seem like an epilogue, of sorts... but a good one.  I'll have to tell you all about it (and my epic return journey) when I get back.  Until then, stay sane!  Twewthfully yours, Эмилия ;]