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 ;]

Welcome to the Jungle

My last weekend in St. Petersburg.  It seems strange that now we are coming up to all of the "last"s: last weekend, last Monday, last quizzes... but it's good.  I'm ready to come home now.

• I was planning to do all of my souvenir shopping in one fell swoop on Saturday: just set aside the day and wander from souvenir stand to souvenir stand, searching for the best deals.  I should have known that things never work out the way you want them to :P  For starters, a terrific thunderstorm started up just as I was planning to head out.  It was no use searching for souvenirs in the rain, so I was forced to stay in and study all morning - and am I ever tired of studying.  Finally, around noontime, I headed out in search of some lunch (the rain had stopped by this time, but it was still cloudy and threatening).  I here ran into some luck; stopping by Петёрочка, I found microwaveable popcorn, and then! a rack of DVDs, $3.99 each.  Browsing through these, one in particular caught my eye: Хроникли Нарнии: Принс Каспиан.  I quickly checked the back of the case: indeed, it was in Russian, English, and Ukranian.  My decision was made: armed with the popcorn, the movie, and a chocolate bar for good measure, I happily traipsed back to the apartment, stopping by Teremok on the way to pick up a ham-and-cheese blin for lunch.  The movie was thoroughly enjoyable (in English, of course - I hadn't yet had the pleasure of watching the second Narnia movie, and my Russian is certainly not at the level to understand an entire movie...) and the popcorn was delicious, albeit a bit on the stale side.  The chocolate made up for that, however... I'm trying to find the best European chocolate over here that isn't too expensive, so that I can bring some back for you guys :]
• Finally, by the time I had finished the movie, the weather had cleared up and the sun was doing its best to make up for the morning's rain by shining twice as strongly.  Seeing as it was only 2:30, I decided that there was no time like the present to set out, and perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to only shop for an afternoon rather than an entire day.  With this in mind, my hopes high, and my wallet fat, I set out on my adventure.  
• As you can imagine, I systematically searched all of the souvenir kiosks between me and the center of the city, looking for the perfect gifts for my friends and family (and more importantly, at the perfect prices).  Although this may surprise you, I can get quite nervous when it comes to bartering, but the fact that I had a limited amount of money to spend and a certain amount of souvenirs to buy helped to bolster my courage.  I quickly learned that some salespeople are much quicker to bargain than others, and some will barely engage you (the more engaging ones are harder to get away from, I find).  I also found out that the more expensive the souvenir is, the more of a discount you can get for it.  Finally, I learned that the souvenir stores are not always more expensive than the kiosks... and that, though матрошки did not originate in Russia, contrary to popular opinion (they actually come from Japan), they are now the classic Russian souvenir - and they are everywhere.  It is rare to find a kiosk that doesn't have a few of the portly stacking dolls lined up on a shelf, or on display.  And you can find матрошки with pictures of anything - from the traditional Russian babushkas to fairy tales (I was particularly interested in these for my cousin Grace, but they were all very expensive) to sports teams to the Beatles to Russian political leaders to Barack Obama and family to popular movies and TV shows (I even found a LOTR матрошкa, but the quality wasn't very high, so I passed on that one).  Not to bore you with all of the details or a description of all of the souvenirs that I purchased (you can see them when I return, and if you're lucky, you'll even get one :]), I'll just say that after $100 I had found most of the souvenirs that I was looking for, and then some.
• By this time it was already 8:00, and the kiosks were beginning to close shop for the day, so I headed home to a supper of cold vegetables.  It sounds gross (and probably was) but after walking around for 6 hours in the scorching heat (the sun quickly warmed things up even after the morning's thunderstorm) they tasted like a gourmet meal.  Still in a somewhat lazy mood, it struck my fancy to watch a movie in Russian before I went to bed.  Tatyana has a smallish collection of DVDs and videos, including several multi-movie DVDs the likes of which I have never seen in the States.  From one of these I finally selected King Kong as my film of choice, mostly because I figured the dialogue would not be crucial to the plot (at this point in my Russian, I still only understand about half of what is said at normal speed).  However, this turned out not to be such a great decision: I didn't realize that the movie was 3 hours long, so it was past midnight when I finally got to bed.  Normally, this would not have been a problem, particularly on a Saturday night, except for the fact that I had requested to accompany Tatyana to the 7:00 Orthodox service the next morning.  Well, we all make mistakes...
• Regardless of my insufficient night's sleep, I arose at 6:30 in order to prepare to attend the service with Tatyana.  We walked over to the cathedral, which is very close to our apartment.  The service lasted about 90 minutes, and I will do my best to describe my impressions here.  The thing that struck me most was the ritual of it all: there was a set order in which things were done, and I imagine that many of the same things are said every week.  But there was more than enough happening during the service to keep my attention: the (non-professional) choir sang slow, solemn hymns in Old Church Slavonic (T.T. informed me that her husband Vacilly also sings in that choir); the priests in their long, ornate golden robes walked around the altar, came out in front of the congregation and declared things, then walked back behind the iconostasis; one of the priests produced an incense burner and proceeded around the altar and back and forth in front of the worshipers, swinging it in a rhythm; members of the congregation bought and lighted candles in front of the various icons hanging on the walls and the columns, recited prayers before them and kissed the glass frames protecting them; an offering was taken by three humble-looking ladies who passed around the cathedral holding offering-plates; a golden chalice was produced with much ceremony and the members of the congregation were each fed a spoonful of its contents before they filed over (with crossed arms) to the table where communion was being served; one of the priests mounted a raised platform and spoke for a few minutes, apparently reading a prayer or passage of scripture from a large tome; a gilded book was brought out, opened, read from, then replaced somewhere behind the altar (I'm assuming it was a Bible); and at the end, the oldest priest took a golden crucifix and allowed each of the worshipers to kiss it, in turn, before they filed out of the cathedral.  I was exceedingly impressed by the acoustics of the cathedral, until I realized that there were strategically placed microphones near where the priests stood to talk (but I'm still sure that the building was designed so that sound from that specific place would resonate the most).  It was also interesting to see the dress of the people who attended the service: all of the women were in skirts that came at least to their knees, and they all wore head-scarves (I did too; no woman is allowed to enter a working cathedral with her head uncovered), and none of the men wore shorts or hats; but that is where the uniformity ended.  The people were dressed in all different stages of formality: some men wore khakis and dress shirts, but some were in jeans and T-shirts.  The priests also surprised me with their lack of uniformity: they all wore similar robes, of course, but were all of different aged and had all different styles of facial hair (I guess I had assumed that there would be some sort of strictures for how the priests should be bearded).  At many points during the service, the people crossed themselves, and sometimes bowed all the way to the floor, but I couldn't exactly find a rhyme or reason to it.  There was also a bit of call-and-response on the part of the choir: the priest would read part of a prayer and the singers would respond Господи помоги, Господи помоги, Господи помоги нам, which, being translated, is "Lord help, Lord help, Lord help us."  Once, the priests recited something and most of the members of the congregation joined in; there must be some prayers that everyone is supposed to learn by heart.  Overall, it was different in action from a service at Calvary Chapel, but perhaps not so far off in spirit; I could still feel the presence of the Lord in that place and I am sure that there are many people who worship from the bottom of their hearts in the only way they know how through this church.  But I am glad that I nearly always understand what my pastor is saying (I am fairly sure that the majority of the service was conducted in Old Church Slavonic, which is no longer used or even understood by most Russians).
• Tatyana repeated many times over both before and during the service that I could leave when I got tired or bored, or at least sit down on the benches that are on the side for the elderly members of the congregation who physically cannot stand on their feet for the entire 90 minutes, as is required since there are no other seats in the cathedral.  But I chose to stand the entire time, wishing to have the full experience of a Russian Orthodox service.  For that Tatyana was very proud of me afterwards, and kept telling me how wonderful it was that I stayed for the entire time.  I feel like I have a new grandmother now - T.T. seems to be proud of me for almost everything, from my progress in Russian (we can actually hold decent and lengthy conversations on a select few subjects) to my mediocre cooking skills to things like this.  I will, indeed, miss her when I return to America, and may even endeavor to write her a letter every now and again (international calling is nearly out of the question because of the cost and time difference, and she doesn't use a computer).  Anyway, on our way out of the cathedral we saw an ambulance parked outside; apparently one of the older churchgoers had fallen and hurt herself pretty severely on her way out.  Incidentally, I only saw older women at the service; the oldest man there was probably the priest, and the oldest male worshiper couldn't have been over 50.  I wonder why that is - I'm sure past a certain age you would still find the effects of WWII and the Siege of Leningrad, when more than 1.5 million citizens of the city died, and the men of that generation became very scarce.  Or perhaps it is that men who grew up in the Soviet era tend to be less religious than the women, or perhaps the women live longer for any of several reasons.  But it was a striking fact.
• After church, we went to the local grocery store for bread and milk, then returned to the apartment for breakfast.  It being my last weekend in St. Petersburg, I decided to visit the Hermitage with Latalia again (which, unfortunately, I had only visited once before during my time here, which is not nearly enough time to appreciate the vast collection of art in this extravagant 5-building complex).  This time I brought my borrowed camera and took pictures of some of the interiors and works, so that I can show you all a little of the splendor of Russia.  Of course, it won't do it justice, but I can at least try :].  After that, I found a couple more of the souvenirs I hadn't managed to find the day before (namely a painting for my Aunt Shirley and a gift for my cousin Ben), then took a circuitous route back to the apartment in order to photograph the Bronze Horseman monument and the large ships that lay moored in the river: apparently Sunday commemorated the 310th anniversary of the founding of the Russian Navy, and the sailors were out en force.  I think my dad at least will appreciate the pictures of the big war ships - he will be able to tell me all about what they are for. :]  But the real reason for my roundabout way home was so that I could take a ride on the tram, which I had been wanting to do for a while.  I have now officially used every possible form of transportation here in St. Petersburg (a fact of which I am very proud) although I still prefer to walk, when it is possible.  
• Home again, I cooked supper, as I have been doing more and more often lately - cutlets, rice and vegetables.  While the food here is good, and filling, and hearty, I really miss American food... a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a piece of bacon pizza... but now I'm drooling XD

And so passed my last weekend in St. Petersburg.  It's hard to imagine that I'm so close to the end... I've already been here for 7 weeks... I'm ready to come home. 

Thank God for Peanut Butter

Well, since I realize that my blog is starting to sound more like a chronicle or a detailed police report than an interesting story, I'll try to only hit the highlights of last week.

• I went to the store on Monday, spent 214 rubles and got food for the entire week.  Not the most appetizing fare, but certainly cause for celebration: nowhere else could I spend $6 and feed myself for 5 days (granted, it's really only 5 meals, but the point still holds).  This is good, since I am still thinking about all of the money that I lost when my purse was stolen (in bills as well as goods), and the time is drawing near to venture out into the wild jungles of the souvenir fair, where every vendor waits to pounce on you and lure you in to paying at least twice as much as what everything is worth.  I'm not entirely sure that I'm ready. :P
• Last week I was very busy after school.  Monday I met Ksyusha, Tuesday I went to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery,  Wednesday I blogged (and that was an adventure in itself), Thursday we went to the Russian Museum, and Friday I once again spent time with Ksyusha.  Somewhere in all of that I still managed to do my homework either on time or early and get a full night's sleep every night.  Can it be that I've really figured out how to study and have a social life simultaneously?  Or is this just an illusion, enabled by the fact that I'm only studying one subject and therefore have 20 instead of 24 hours of class each week? (Wow, I actually didn't realize that it was that much... my schedule last semester seemed like a lot, and yet 4 hours per day doesn't??  Guess I'm back in High School mode here...)
• After school on Monday, Ksyusha and I went to Михайлевский замок (Michael's Castle), which is now a branch of the Russian Art Museum.  There were some very recent works there, painted in the last few years, that especially caught my eye.  I also noticed that the interiors of this building aren't nearly as extravagant as many of the palaces that I have seen here (although, of course, not much can compare to the Hermitage...)  On the way back, I got it into my head to ride a tram, and waited by the stop for about 20 minutes before I gave it up as a lost cause and walked home (I should have learned my lesson from the day before...)
• After supper on Monday, Tatyana and I had a good long talk on two of her favorite subjects: religion and boys.  Fortunately I've become fairly well-versed in the vocabulary necessary to discuss these themes, so it was fairly interesting for the both of us.  In the seven weeks that I've been here, I have at least learned how to express my opinions even when I lack the particular vocabulary (one of the most necessary skills in any language XD).  I'm still not sure whether she's entirely clear on my plans for after the program, particularly when I will be returning to St. Petersburg from Moscow to catch my ridiculously early flight out on the 4th.  But, we still have time to work that out (and to tell the truth, I'm not really sure I'm entirely clear on my plans :P).
• The days were a bit cooler last week, at least at the beginning - that was a welcome relief.  It's such a nuisance to have to shower in the evenings, because then I have to either dry my hair manually (and my hair dryer is the only appliance that I brought with me that doesn't work very well over here) or wait for it to air dry - and with my hair, that takes hours.  The other option, going to bed with wet hair, has led to some dire consequences in the past.  So I was very glad when it had finally cooled down enough to justify taking showers in the mornings again.
• On Tuesday Anna B took a few of us who expressed interest on an expedition to Alexander Nevsky Monastery.  This is the Nevsky for whom Nevsky Prospect, the Nevsky Institute, and sundry other buildings and sights around the city are named.  We went inside the cathedral, and I noticed that there were many fewer murals on the walls than in St. Sophia's cathedral in Novgorod - perhaps because it isn't as old.  We also ate pirojki in a cafe downstairs, but the real attraction to the Monastery is the cemetery.  The Necropolis is the final resting place of some of the most famous Russians of all time, including Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky.  Their gravestones are unbelievably extravagant, as you can imagine; complete with sculptures of the artists and excerpts from their most famous works.  But, it's still a graveyard; they're still dead; by now, they look just like every other person that died more than 50 years ago; and someday, you and I will look like that, too.  Okay, maybe that's a little too morbid.  But it is interesting how much attention we pay to those who are now no more than worm food, all because of what they did during their several dozen years on earth.  After all, you only go around once...
• Also on Tuesday, one of the administrators of the Nevsky Institute who had heard of my plight brought in her old digital camera for me to use.  It takes a rechargeable battery pack and a Memory Stick instead of an SD card, and the last pictures on the Memory Stick are from 2008, so I know the camera is fairly old.  But it is a digital camera, so at least I can have pictures from my last two weeks here; and it is a Canon PowerShot, 7.2 megapixel - a pretty good camera.  The only complication is going to be getting my pictures off of it before I have to return it (which, incidentally, is before I go to Moscow, so it doesn't solve that problem :P).  But I trust that it will work out, in the end.
• The food this week, at least, got a little more interesting than it has tended to be.  Olga came and made us pelmeni on Tuesday (which is now officially my favorite Russian dish.  I'm a big fan of stuffed pasta from any part of the world - ravioli from Italy, pirogies from Poland, dim sum from China... :])  And then on Wednesday morning, she cooked us French Toast!!  (It has a name in Russian, but I forget it.)  It was really good - better than when I had it in Belgrade - and tasted much the same as in America, undoubtedly because it was made the same way. :P  I also got Latalia's permission to make a peanut butter sandwich with some of her peanut butter which her mother sent her (since she won't be able to eat it all by the time she leaves), so Wednesday was a very good food day.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed American food before I had to go without it for a few weeks.  I especially miss breakfast foods - the Russian idea of breakfast is oatmeal and tea :P.  I want pancakes, French toast, waffles with peanut butter and Mom's pineapple-rhubarb jam, omelets, muffins, bacon, and especially fruit.  We have cornflakes every morning - it's something, and I do like cereal, but breakfast is my favorite meal and I love to eat hearty in the mornings.  But, now I'm making myself hungry just talking about this, so I'd better stop. :P
• I had thought that the mosquitoes were done with - turns out I was wrong.  On Wednesday night the biggest mosquito I have ever seen buzzed around my room ceaselessly all night.  Every time I woke up - and I woke up often - I could hear the hellish whine, which sounded like it was right above my head, but if I got up and turned the light on, I could see that the creature was, in fact, on the opposite side of the room (if that tells you anything about how big the thing was :P).  I never did end up killing it, even after getting up at 6:30 and chasing it around the room for 30 minutes.  I left my door open when I went to school, and I can only assume that it flew out, seeking fresh blood or better territory or something.  I can only hope that it doesn't breed in our house - more of those mutant mosquitoes and I can forget about sleeping again while I'm here. :P
• As I said, on Thursday we went to the Russian museum after school, with the entire group.  Incidentally, this was our last group outing (and I was none too sad about that :P).  We had an excellent guide, however (the same guide as conducted our bus tour of the city upon our first arrival in the city) who spoke very good English and moved at a good pace through the museum, telling us interesting things about the artists and their works so that none of us were ever very bored.  I pride myself on the endurance I have built up over the summer as far as walking goes - good thing, too, since I'll be an OA leader in September and that will be my sole occupation for an entire week.  In the interest of this, I decided to walk to our meeting place, although I would barely have enough time.  Yet I managed to not only make it in time, but arrive almost first (as I later learned, this is because several of the group stopped for drinks and snacks and their orders were slower in coming than they expected).  Afterwards, I walked back to the apartment and began to inquire about souvenir prices, so that I didn't get roped into buying the first pretty matroshka doll that I came across for twice its value.  I found some beautiful paintings of sights in St. Petersburg for my artist Aunt Shirley, and made note of the vendor's location to return when I had more money.  There are also many artists who are willing to draw a portrait of you for the right price - namely, 500 rubles.  I'm still not sure whether I can justify spending that kind of money (~$17) on a picture of myself.
• Friday was without a doubt the highlight of my week.  Class was ridiculous - for whatever reason, my classmates (especially Phil) were in a particularly silly mood, and kept answering questions with lines from the poems that we had memorized.  They were impressively creative with how they managed to incorporate the depressing sentiments of Lermontov's 19th-century poetry into exercises about verbs of motion and subordinate clauses.  And that was only grammar class - in conversation, things deteriorated even further.  All summer, we have had assignments called "Creative task: Let's think about it... in Russian."  This means that we are given a theme and have to come up with a several-sentence story that we tell aloud on that particular theme.  At first, these were short and stumbling and we took them very seriously, usually writing down what we wanted to say and either memorizing it or reading straight from the paper.  Then we got completely bored of it and it became a real drag.  Then one day someone realized that instead of laboring to come up with a story, we could take movie plots and retell them, adapting them to the necessary subject: our teacher, a native St. Petersburger who speaks little English, would not be likely to know many American movies.  Suddenly, the boring and pointless exercise turned into a game: to see who could guess the movie first, without letting the teacher know what we were doing.  Our stories also had to be believable, because if she caught on that it was a movie, our cover would be blown.  The theme was vacation/holiday: Emily told about one time when she was in Australia and was temporarily kidnapped and taken to Sydney (Finding Nemo - no one guessed that one :P).  Hayk recounted the time when he skipped school his senior year and went joyriding in his friend's father's Ferrari (Ferris Beuler's Day Off).  Phil explained that there was a village in America where everyone thought that it was still the 19th century, through the cunning of the city fathers (The Village).  Mattias explained the history of Boxing Day - that one time there was a champion boxer, but she suffered head trauma in a fight and her trainer helped her commit suicide so that she wouldn't have to live connected to a ventilator (Million-Dollar Baby).  It was a hoot - we were all excited for Tuesday, since we had connived the theme to be "visiting strange relatives".  Conversation is now our favorite class.
• After class on Friday, I met Ksyusha near Peter and Paul's Fortress, and we went to see the products of the Annual Sand Sculpture Competition, held there on the beach of Hare Island.  The theme this year was "Film" - there was even a sculpture dedicated to Lord of the Rings!!  I got a picture by that one (although I took pictures of all of them).  It was absolutely incredible that the stuff that we were walking on was also the medium out of which these artists had crafted the masterworks that we saw in front of us.  However, it didn't take long to look at the dozen or so sculptures, so we decided to take a detour into the interior of the cathedral in the fortress before our next activity.  In this cathedral are buried all but two of the Russian Czars (the other two are buried in Moscow), a testament to the fact that, for most of the city's history, St. Petersburg has been the capital of Russia.  This cathedral is much more western than most in St. Petersburg - the large windows let in more light and the long, thin spire is definitely not Russian.  I saw there (yet another) bust of Peter the Great as well as the graves of Catherine II, Elizabeth I, and the family of Nicholas II who were kidnapped and shot in a backwater village after the Revolution.  But these only half held my attention, as I was really looking forward to where we were to visit next - the ZOO!!!!
• I love zoos.  Actually, I'm more like a 7-year-old in my interests: you can have your art, history, and theater; just give me animals, a beach, or a playground.  But I probably have more fun, so it's okay :D  I had been wanting to visit the St. Petersburg Zoo all summer, but my (liberal, tree-hugging) friends continually warned me that the conditions would be atrocious and the animals would be mistreated and hungry, and that I shouldn't go (or at least shouldn't expect much when I did).  Then, when I lost my camera, I wanted to wait until I got another before I went, so that I could take pictures, which is my favorite thing to do at the zoo.  So finally the opportunity presented itself (Ksyusha was more than happy to accompany me to the zoo), and we spent an entire afternoon gawking at all of the wild animals and trying to make sure that we didn't miss anything.  We saw a snake in the process of shedding its skin, and watched it until it had finished.  We visited the Spider Room (eek!!), complete with dirt on the floor, sticks and leaves surrounding the terrariums, and a rope spiderweb on the ceiling from which hung the shed skins of all of the tarantulas.  When I first came in and nearly ran into one of these grisly carcasses, it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming.  Good thing I like being scared... :]  In the arena, where there is usually the opportunity to ride horses, there was a fine trotter and a shaggy pony being lunged (for those of you who aren't horsemen and women, that means that they were going around in a circle while the person stood in the middle on the other end of a long canvas rope and directed them.  The trotter was being trained to pick up its legs more when it trotted, so that it would be more of a floaty gait.  The pony was just being exercised.  Of course, I was probably more interested in this than in any of the other animals in the zoo... go figure. :P  But we also saw lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my! - sorry, couldn't resist XD), and leopards (snow, black, and normal), and tons of predatory birds, and hares, which are much larger than rabbits, and Prezhwalski's horses (that's spelled wrong, but I don't really care - they're the only true species of wild horse still in existence, and they live in Mongolia), and mountain goats, and a very active tapir, and reindeer, and moose!!  It was really cool - there were definitely some animals there that I've never seen before so closely.  Like the polar bears, or the hares, or the reindeer.  There was also a petting zoo where you could feed goats (which we, of course, did) and a frog house, which we also visited.  There was a series of rooms in the middle of this building which you could enter, and when we did we discovered that they were actually animal cages that were designed to let the zoo visitors get up close and personal with the animals.  It wasn't anything dangerous - just a couple of fish, some turtles, and a two-toed sloth who glanced blearily around at us before going back to his nap.  But it was definitely something you wouldn't have the chance to do in America - you know, animal rights activists and whatnot.  Something else we saw that I don't think you would in America was the animals being fed.  That's not so strange, but instead of pre-prepared vitamin-packed food mush, there were actual, dead, bloody prey animals.  The ferrets and meerkats and eagles got mice, while the big cats and bears were fed chickens.  The zookeepers weren't worried that the zoo-goers might be squeamish or anything - I guess they figured that if people wanted to see the animals, they might as well see them as they would be in the wild.  I won't gross you out with vivid descriptions of how we could hear the meerkats crunching the bones of the mice or anything... but it was pretty cool.  And, contrary to all of my friends' fears, the animals all seemed well-fed, happy, and as active as they can be expected to be in the terrible 90-degree heat.  Many of them were trying desperately to cool off, whether lying on the cool cement floor or panting (especially the cold-climate creatures like the polar bears and mountain goats), and I felt bad for them then, but this is quite unusual heat and there is really nothing the zookeepers could have done about the weather.  

So, we are finally nearing the end of this series of my adventures.  As you probably know, I will be in Moscow for the weekend after the end of the program, and there I will most likely not have the luxury of a computer.  Thus, I will try my hardest to catch up on my blog before I depart Friday evening, but there will be a lull (although not more than there already has been, at times) followed by a furious spurt of several entries within a short time span, once I return to the States.  Thus, I advise you to catch up now so that you don't get overwhelmed (although, when I think about it, if you're reading this you're basically caught up, and if you're not you wouldn't be reading this, so it won't help you - oh well! :P)  As always, twewthfully yours!!!

Catching up on all the Things I Never Did

• On Saturday, Ksyusha and I had plans to meet at 2, but I didn't have anything to do until then, so I spent a lazy morning reading and studying every now and again.  At 1:00 I set out, and stopped by a Subway on my way to meet my friend in the city center.  The sandwich cost me $5, which is expensive by Russian standards, but it tasted like home.  In general, I have found that the American restaurant chains over here (although I've only been to McDonalds and Subway) taste the same as they do in America.  There is also a Baskin-Robbins on Nevsky Prospect (the main street in the city) that I'm very eager to try before I leave - the ice cream here is positively to die for.  It must be because the milk is so much thicker here than in the States (they have no conception of "skim" milk) but the ice cream is much more creamy and thick and overall delicious.  Anyway, to move on from my food fantasies...
• First, Ksyusha and I went to the Wax Museum.  There we saw Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Elizabeth the Beautiful, and many other famous figures with exaggerated superlatives attached to their names.  However, since there were only a few rooms in the museum, the entire affair only took us about 15 minutes.  It would have been a shame to end the excursion after such a brief period, so we decided to go to another museum.  Our next stop was Kunstkamera.
• Kunstkamera is the German word for art, but the museum actually consists of Peter the Great's collection of oddities and monstrosities, created to dispel superstitions about the workings of the human body.  There were lots of preserved fetuses in jars: at different stages of development, and with lots of different mutations.  It was, to say the least, gross.  Some of the exhibits were less appalling: like the two-headed calf, or the skeleton of Peter's Giant who was just under 7' 6".  On the first floor of the museum were displays of traditional artifacts from ancient cultures all around the world: North America, Siberia, India, China... it was an odd juxtaposition.
• After we had finished at Kunstkamera, it was still only 4:00, and we hadn't had nearly enough museum for the day :P so we traipsed next door to the Zoological Museum.  This was the real highlight of the day: I love animals of all kinds.  It was fascinating to see the skeleton of the blue whale and imagine what it would be like to come upon one while swimming in the ocean.  There were also several rather mediocre exhibits, like the stuffed dogs and cats and pigeons.  There were about 20 different pigeons - I guess a city like St. Petersburg would know about that... There was also a display of insects on the second floor, and it was really interesting for us to compare which species I was familiar with from New England, and which ones Ksyusha saw regularly in Russia.  Then we visited the live insect zoo, briefly - it wasn't as exciting as it sounds.  It consisted of about 15 cages of tarantulas, cockroaches, and beetles, and one scorpion.  I have a love-hate relationship with spiders: I'm terrified of them, yet they fascinate me.  Go figure.  
• While I was still wandering around the Zoological Museum, Aryeh called me to let me know that he and his friends would be meeting in about 30 minutes to eat supper together before heading over to the opera, for which I also had tickets.  So, unfortunately, I had to cut my visit short before beholding all of the wonders of the aquarium section - I dearly hope that I will have the chance to return before I leave the city for good.  I was hurrying home when Aryeh called back to say that plans had changed and the group would just meet at the theater about 45 minutes before the start of the performance, which was a good thing, since it takes 30 minutes to get to the theater.  Nonetheless, even with the extra time, I managed to be late, in the true Mills family fashion.  (Of course, I could use as an excuse that I had to change and make my own supper, as well as the 30-minute walk, and I only had a little over an hour before the meeting time...)
• When I finally arrived at the theater (well before the performance was due to start), I found out that the ticket that I bought was in the balcony above my other friends, due to some misinformation when I was buying my tickets.  However, I was able to talk to them before the show and during both intermissions (one between each of the three acts), so it wasn't so bad.  The opera was "Eugene Onegin," based on the epic poem by Pushkin and with a score written by Tchaikovsky.  It is the classic Russian opera, just as "Swan Lake" is the classic Russian ballet.  It was beautiful - the choreography and set design was fantastic, and the singers had such incredible range.  I knew better what to look for in an opera than a ballet, so I enjoyed and appreciated this much more than I did Swan Lake.  Also, it was once again in the Mariinsky theater, which is probably the most famous theater in Russia after the Bolshoy theater in Moscow.  So it was all around a very prestigious evening.  The opera lasted four hours, so it was nearly 11:30 by the time we finally headed home.  Naturally, I went straight to bed, it being already after midnight.  :P
• On Sunday I slept in - or tried to.  I finally got up at 8:30; because of the light, I really couldn't stay in bed any longer.  I used to sleep with a pillow over my face to make it darker in my room, but it has been far too hot for that the last several weeks.  Whether because of the heat, or my busy day on Saturday, I felt tired and without energy all day.  I ended up not going to church, and I didn't even leave the apartment until 2pm, when I set out in search of lunch.  However, this turned out to be a dismal failure: the restaurant that I had my heart set on going to was closed for renovations.  Not to be deterred, I set out to find a bus that would take me to the part of town where I knew another restaurant in the same chain was located.  However, I had a horrible time finding a bus that went where I wanted it to: at every bus stop there is a sign telling which buses stop there, but not every sign shows the route of said buses.  As a result, when I finally managed to find a bus that was headed in the right direction, I had already been walking for 30 minutes.  I then proceeded to wait for another 30 minutes for the correct bus to come; by that time I could have walked to the other restaurant and back.  But, at long last, I arrived at the restaurant: only to pay more for my lunch than I expected and not enjoy it nearly as much.  It was, plain and simple, a failure.  So I consoled myself with a milkshake from McDonalds and took the metro to Peter and Paul's Fortress, where I visited the Wax Museum.  Here were, again, the Russian Czars, but also Peter I's giant, Dostoevsky, Lenin, Pushkin, and various other uppity-ups who had been imprisoned in the fortress dungeon at various points in Russia's clouded history.  
• After my miserably failed excursion, I returned home and made myself an equally dismal supper of rice with a carrot salad.  The Russian idea of a salad confuses me - they seem to think that grating one vegetable and mixing it with half a cup of mayonnaise counts as healthy.  However, the carrots are good, and I'm desperate for vegetables, so I don't complain.  
• The one redeeming factor of my Sunday was the fact that we found my host's DVD player.  Latalia had bought both Gone With The Wind and Beauty and the Beast in Russian, and this prompted me to look to see whether we could watch them.  It wasn't difficult to find the DVD player - it was in the bottom part of the TV stand, which Latalia didn't know opened.  So we watched a Disney cartoon in Russian - it was very interesting.  I understood a fair amount, but not as much as I wanted to - and for whatever reason we couldn't figure out how to make the display color, so we had to watch it in black-and-white.  (I later discovered that the DVD player was on the wrong display setting, and fixed it.)  But it was good to see something so American and childish, because I was bored and felt like doing anything but studying.  Also, it was funny to see how some of the lines in the movie were translated - my favorite song was Вы наш гост (can you guess? :])

So, my growing lethargy is probably evident in the belatedness of this blog post.  Hopefully today I can write another and catch you up a bit more, although I have to admit that my adventures have been rather fewer and farther between as of late...