- The weather all week was absolutely horrendous. I don't think there was a single day below 27 (80 degrees Farenheit) and the beginning of the week got up to 32 or 33 (low 90s). We finally got some thunderstorms on Thursday, though not nearly as intense as two weeks ago, and they didn't cool the air as much as I might have hoped. I cannot stand being hot - I've begun taking ice-cold showers at night just so that I can sleep. Being used to a cool climate, I overheat much more easily than I get cold. Not to mention, St. Petersburg isn't very clean by any standards, and after a couple of days of such heat, the city begins to fester and the stench is oppressive. I've heard that St. Petersburg hasn't had such heat as this for more than 40 years. Interestingly enough, we are reading Crime and Punishment in Russian now, and the book is set in the summer of 1865, which year experienced weather very similar to this now. June was cold and rainy, but July was unbearably hot. Fortunately, the city is in much better condition now than it was in 1865, and the neighborhood where my apartment is on the nicer side, and I'm not a dirt-poor student with crazy ideas about "extraordinary people" to whom the law doesn't apply, so I'm not likely to go out and kill an old pawn-broker to test whether some crimes are useful to humanity :] (In case you're confused, that's the basic plot of Crime and Punishment. If you want more: Crime and Punishment: Wikipedia) But, at least my wardrobe is appropriate now! I no longer have anything to complain about concerning my clothing, and our apartment (which was so uncomfortably cold during cool, rainy June) is finally just right (although it gets kind of hot and stuffy sometimes, even so). And, all of this sun means I'm getting a killer tan!! :]
- Speaking of tans, I shouldn't have tried my luck twice in a row. As usual, I didn't wear sunscreen when I was outside last weekend; Saturday turned out all right, but I got burned pretty badly at the lake on Sunday. As a result, my shoulders were especially tender at the beginning of this week, which is also when we had the hottest weather, so of course I was wearing tank tops. Thus, when the strap of my 30-pound backpack-purse rubbed against my shoulder, it irritated it something awful. :P This made for some pretty uncomfortable walks to and from the Institute, and I was often pretty grumpy by the time I got home after walking for 20 minutes in the oppressive heat with that heavy load.
- On Monday, we (Aryeh, Emily, and I) tried to make our hostel bookings for Moscow, knowing that they were best done sooner rather than later (for a weekend in the summer in Moscow, it isn't hard to imagine that all of the best hotel and hostel rooms fill quickly). Unfortunately, this gets slightly complicated since our party consists of two females and one male. We eventually found a reputable hostel in a good location that wasn't too expensive and Emily and I were able to get places all right, but when Aryeh went to book for himself he discovered that there were no more beds. Of course, I would rather cancel the reservation and swallow the cost of the deposit than have us be in separate hostels; so, that's what we did. We tried again on Tuesday and found beds in another hostel for only $16 per person per night, and the place seemed quite reputable and safe, all things considered. Nonetheless, it will be an adventure, but then again, isn't that what I'm here for? And after all, the opportunity to travel to a major European city for only $215 (when I add up the cost of travel and lodging) is really something that won't happen very often in my life, so in the end it will be worth it, I believe. :]
- On Monday we had the opportunity to tour the Alexandrinsky theater, which was the first public theater in Russia. It was very interesting to hear the history of the theater, and see where the tsar and his family would sit to watch the performances, and the secret passage that he would use when he wanted to visit the theater surreptitiously, and the museum that contains all sorts of costumes from different performances of the 19th century. The theater itself resembled a mini Mariinsky theater; that is, it was designed and built in the same style, although with much less grandeur. As usual, I took lots of pictures. :]
- So, I have finally given up on my Russian friend. Her communication has been sporadic all summer, and the only thing we have done together is the outing to Petergoff - and you can read about how well that went. :P I messaged her with all of the things that I had discovered that I wanted to, very excited and asking which she would prefer. Her answer was indifferent, but at least indicated what she would like to do; however, when I asked her when she would be free, she told me that she works and so she usually isn't (It's summertime. How much can you possibly work that you aren't free at all, even in the evenings or weekends?) After sending her two texts on Wednesday, regarding activities planned for Friday and Saturday and would she like to come? and receiving no answer, I had reached the end of my patience. I told Anna B- of my troubles on Friday, and she talked to the woman who organizes the program, and by Friday evening I had two new Russian friends, who seemed very eager to hang out with me!! If I had known that it was that simple, I would have asked weeks ago. It seems that I'm not the only one who hasn't had luck with the program, though: aside from Mykola, who hangs out with his Russian friend Masha and all of her friends nearly every day, most of the Princeton kids are having a hard time arranging activities with their assigned friends. It makes me curious as to the criteria for the Russian students, since obviously not very many of them are enthusiastic about hanging out with the Americans (even if everything is paid for...).
- All of these things - the heat, my physical discomfort, and the unfriendliness of my Russian friend - combined to bring back the sense of loneliness that I felt so strongly in my first couple of weeks here. However, I have good friends here that won't let me wallow in self-pity for long, and Mykola (whom Latalia and I have agreed is the nicest guy in the group) has promised to invite me along when he and Masha are hanging out sometime. I'm still studying a lot of the time, but not so much to drive me crazy anymore. All in all, I don't think I really have any reason to complain; it must just be that I miss my friends (I'm not particularly close to any of the other Princeton students, and since I don't live in the city center, we rarely see each other outside of school). But I'm only here for another three weeks, so I should really focus on all of the opportunities I have rather than the things that I'm missing. :]
- The other big thing that I struggled with last week was money. I withdrew money again on Monday - 10000 rubles this time. I don't think I had really thought through how much money I was going to use this summer, and I certainly hadn't prepared myself to spend so much. I worked very hard during the school year at a job that paid very well and was careful enough with my money that I didn't have many expenses, so I had built up quite a nest egg in my checking account. Even after paying for my $1900 plane ticket (albeit $1000 of that came as a gift from my grandparents' estate) I had $1700 to my name at the beginning of the summer. It was exciting, having a significant sum of money for the first time in my life. But, probably because of my wonderfully frugal mother, I have a great fear of spending money. After I made the withdrawal on Monday, it really hit me that this was my very own money that I was spending, and that I only had so much of it. It didn't help matters that this was also the week that I received my new Financial Aid award for the next school year and saw that, since I hadn't had time to apply for any outside scholarships in the spring, I would be expected to contribute several thousand dollars more to my education than I had the previous school year. Part of this contribution is $2500 labeled "Summer Savings" - and as I realized with a sinking heart, not only did I not begin the summer with $2500, I was only decreasing the sum available to me as the summer wore on. This news, combined with my natural instincts, put me into a very frenzy of saving money. I had already made several purchases that, in hindsight, seemed to me so frivolous. For instance, the 2400 rubles I had spent on my Swan Lake ticket seemed to haunt me, and since my Russian friend has been so uncooperative, I have had to pay for all "Russian friend" outings out of my own pocket. As a result, even the money I was spending on lunch every day seemed to grow more and more significant, and I resolved to stop buying food in the cafeteria, as I could feed myself more cheaply from the store. Thus, I bought a half-loaf of bread and a package of cheesesticks (the individually wrapped mozzerella kind you eat for lunch in elementary school) and a bag of apples for 10 rubles each and made that my lunch every day. Never mind that it was plain, and not very satisfying, and that by Thursday the bread had gone moldy and the apples soft - it was cheap.
- Fortunately, I have now been able to snap myself out of this horribly destructive way of thinking, by counting my blessings instead of my expenses. I go to a wonderful school, on a wonderful financial aid package (I even got a scholarship to pay the tuition for this program). I had a fantastic job last year that allowed me to save up money for this summer. I will have an even higher-paying job in the fall, and I will also be taking on a second one that has a lower pay rate but requires less attention (i.e. I can do my homework while on the job). The very fact that I'm here in Russia is a wonderful opportunity that would have cost me much more money had I not done it through Princeton. The experiences I am having - from seeing Swan Lake (the classic Russian ballet) in the most famous theater in the city to the life-skills I am learning by fending for myself in a foreign city - are nearly priceless. I should be enjoying myself, not worrying about the money that I am spending to the detriment of my health, or nutrition, or enjoyment of this wonderful opportunity. And above all, do I not serve a great God? Does he not own "the cattle on a thousand hills"? Has He not already provided for me "over and above anything I could ever ask or imagine"? Can He not continue to provide for me, regardless of my expenses? And so I refuse to worship at the altar of economy. I refuse to squander this opportunity that I have been given because I am worrying about the price of my lunch. I will have many years in the workforce to worry about budgets and bills and stewardship. Now is my time to enjoy what I have been given. And I shall.
Monday, July 12, 2010
What's up with this Weather?
Last week was definitely a regression. But, every cloud has a silver lining, so I can't say that it was all bad.
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