"I shouldn't use that word on the street, should I?"

Some more highlights and entertaining anecdotes from last week (I forgot my notebook on Friday where I keep notes on all of the really good stuff that happens to me, so I missed a few things). 

• Monday was a holiday in St. Petersburg, but we still had classes as normal.  However, the cafeteria was closed because the cooks had the day off, so we went to a nearby restaurant (Чайная ложка or "The Teaspoon") for lunch.  This restaurant is basically identical to Teremok, specializing in блины of all different flavors.  I ordered a chicken, cheese and bacon bleen which was quite delicious and cost only $3.  I love the cheap food here.
• Latalia finally recieved her own set of keys last week, so we have begun to travel between our apartment and the Institute separately.  This is good - it means I can stay after and blog if I want without feeling guilty that I'm making Latalia stay when she has nothing to do. 
• I really started buying things beside lunch for myself last week, and perhaps it's about time.  On Monday I went to the аптека (pharmacy) next door to our apartment and bought powdered laundry detergent so that I could wash my clothes.  Russians almost always wear clothes more than once before washing them, and it is completely normal to wear the same outfit for several days in a row here.  Thus, my laundry schedule is primarily governed by my supply of underwear and socks.  Honestly, had I known that the culture concerning clothing was so much more lax here than in America, I might have brought only half of the clothes that I did - I still have outfits that I haven't worn, and I've been here more than 2 weeks.  I'm personally enjoying not having to feel like I need to wash my clothes as often (and they really don't get dirty very quickly, since all I'm doing is walking around town and sitting in a classroom - no overly strenuous activity) and I fully intend to continue the practice upon my return.  I don't care if people think I'm poor or whatever.  If it isn't dirty, why wash it? :]  I also bought some mouthwash on Tuesday because I still use the tap water to brush my teeth, although I won't drink it.  It occurred to me after a while that any germs that were in the water would be just as easily caught by my rinsing my mouth with the water as by my drinking it (although I've heard that there are heavy metals here in the water, which in order to imbibe I would actually have to drink significant quantities of the water, so I'm okay on that front).  However, at least by my calculations, if I always rinse my mouth with an alcohol-based mouthwash after brushing my teeth, it should nullify the effect of my possibly using dirty water (and it's a lot more convenient and efficient than using filtered water to brush my teeth).  I hope I'm right.  Also on Tuesday, I went to our local grocery store (Пятёрочка) and invested in some snack foods, in case the supper situation doesn't improve.  I found out by doing this that snacking is a distinctly American idea.  I couldn't find any chips or crackers (although I've since been told that I must have been looking in the wrong place) but I bought some bread rings (very similar to unsalted pretzels) and some sweetbread- or cookie-like things that you might eat with tea (of course, anything eaten with tea is quite plentiful in Russia).  Having something to snack on helps me concentrate in the afternoon as well as not be so hungry by suppertime, so I don't bolt my food.  And it's quite economical - I spent around $3 for snacks that will probably last me 2 weeks.  Have I mentioned that I love the cheap food in Russia? :]]
• Tuesday was also the first day that I spent some time out of the apartment after school.  I had gotten a bit ahead on studying because of the weekend, so I got the chance to wander a bit and explore our neighborhood.  So I walked around the park that is located at the end of our street (which also happens to contain the zoo, although I didn't go to the zoo this time).  There were PONY RIDES!  They were actual ponies, otherwise I might have tried to get one.  But it might look a bit funny if my feet touched the ground on either side... :]]  The park is very pretty and filled with walking paths, playgrounds and statues.  It bears more exploring later. 
• I also started doing more pleasure reading last week.  I had brought a few books from home, thinking that I really couldn't study ALL of the time and I would probably get quite tired of Russian at times.  I finished both Mere Christianity and More Than A Carpenter last week (both excellent books, which I highly recommend and am slightly ashamed to admit that I had not previously read them).  I also started The Bridge on the Drina, the book written by the only Serb to ever win a Nobel Prize.  As I told you, Mrs. Stojanovic gave it to me as a parting gift from Serbia and told me to let her know if I read it anytime in the next 10 years.  Well, I'm reading it now and it's actually an excellent piece of literature.  It's historical fiction and contains quite enough action to keep the reader engaged (granted, the history of the Balkan States is anything but boring).  I'm enjoying having time for pleasure reading again, a pastime that is quite foreign to students at Princeton.
• On Wednesday, as Latalia and I were returning home (from our троллeйбус adventure), she was recounting to me how a police car had slowed down and was looking like it would stop in front of her the morning before as she was trying to cross the street in front of our apartment.  She told me that she feared that since she was standing on the curb and not in the street, the policemen might have thought she looked like a prostitute (which I think is highly unlikely.  Latalia is a very meek, modest, petite girl and looks the farthest thing from a prostitute).  Then she caught herself and exclaimed, mortified, "Oh, I shouldn't use that word on the street, should I?  It's the same in Russian!"  There weren't many people around, and we were speaking quietly (as we always do when we are speaking in English in public) so I didn't think it was a big deal.  However, soon after that we overtook a well-dressed, middle-aged man who was walking in the same direction as us; as we drew abreast of him, he turned to us and said in clear, distinct English and with a smile on his face, "How do you do?"  Latalia jumped three feet in the air and scurried forward to the door of our apartment (which we had almost reached).  Laughing silently, I hurried after her and once we were safely on the other side of the imposing wooden door, explained to her between giggles that the most likely explanation for the man's strange behavior was that he was a Russian who had heard us speaking English and wanted to try out his knowledge of the language, much as I might say "Bonjour" to a person I heard speaking French.  But the unexpectedness of the encounter and the conversation leading up to it had caused Latalia to assume the worst, and her naturally timid nature had gotten the best of her.  Her actions, therefore, had not been entirely without cause, and I hope that the public recounting of this anecdote will not too badly embarrass her.  Perhaps I could stand to develop a bit more of her caution ;]
• Though I don't recall why this came up in class, we were discussing on Thursday the different sounds that animals make in Russian.  Some of them are quite comical.  For instance, a Russian dog says "gaf gaf gaf" and a Russian frog says "kva kva kva."  Although, I suppose some of our onomotopoeia is just as arbitrary - why should a frog say "ribbit" instead of "kva" ?  It still made us laugh, though.
• On Friday evening Latalia and I enjoyed a particularly long conversation with Tatyana; however, because of our limited Russian vocabulary, several (comical and hopefully not serious) misunderstandings occurred.  By the end of the conversation, I'm pretty sure that T.T. thought that one of the members of our group is pregnant (we had showed her a picture of the group taken on a windy day and this particular girl's dress was ballooned in an unflattering manner in the picture), that one of my friends is suicidal (I was trying to describe that he was in a bad mood and was just feeling very tired of everything), and that Latalia and I have a huge crush on our professor, Stas (he is a wonderful teacher and a very kind man, so everyone in the group adores him - just not in THAT way :P).  Oh, the things that come with learning a language.  I still often get frustrated when I can't communicate the way that I want to, although T.T. tells me I'm progressing (just not as quickly as I would like).
• The other exciting thing that happened on Friday (and possibly the highlight of my week) was the World Cup Germany vs. Serbia game.  Yes, Jennifer, I'm going to brag on here too.  So, the backstory is that I personally care very little for soccer, or sports in general.  But several months ago my half-German friend Jennifer found out that Serbia and Germany were in the same group, which means that they would play each other in the first round of the world cup.  She also found out the date of the game and as it drew nearer, began leaving taunting messages on my Facebook wall.  I'm not entirely sure (that's a lie, I know) how she associated me with Serbia, but she turned the game into a competition between us.  I acquieced - I love a good bit of competition between friends (especially Jennifer - she's particularly fun to compete with).  So it was a bit of sweet victory when Serbia defeated Germany 1-0 and I was able to watch the entire game (although, since it was commentated in Russian, I understood very little of it).  The only sad part was that I didn't have computer access all weekend, so my gloating had to wait until today.  And how sweet it was... :D XD :]]

So, that's a little more positive version of last week.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Coming soon: this weekend, including a trip to Peterhoff, Czar Peter 1's extravagant complex of gardens, palaces, and 400 fountains!!

"The Random parts of Life"

So, this week was much more exciting than last.  Which probably means that I'm beginning to settle in here, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

• My parents finally got through to me on the phone on Monday, and we talked for about 15 minutes before our call got suddenly cut off.  I still don't know why, but Mom told me that she had to try several times with the same number before actually getting through, so I suppose our connection was just lost.  After all, it was a cell-to-cell connection over a distance of about 8000 miles, so I guess it's not all that surprising.  But it was good to talk to Dad, at least.  They haven't tried again as far as I know.
• The weather was mostly rainy and cool all week, which kind of set the mood, unfortunately.  On Monday evening we had a kind of buckwheat porridge for dinner, and afterwards I felt very sick to my stomach.  But I had some Pepto-Bismol with me, so I took that and it soon put me right again.  However, we were unfortunately also served it the next night.  I (for obvious reasons) refused to eat it, but somehow the reason for my refusal was not properly communicated to my host mother.  I don't know whether she thought that I really didn't like it, or was just being obstinate, or what; but apparently the fact that I wouldn't eat it the second time rather offended her.  She was very cool to us the rest of the evening and on Wednesday morning wouldn't even talk to us, other than to tell us that breakfast was ready (although we have cereal, bread and yogurt every morning, she insists on preparing it for us).  As I could tell that I had deeply offended her, I was rather upset for the rest of the day; this was the day that I also began severely missing my friends - I'm not sure how much this was connected with my host mother's behavior.  Everyone else in the group (or so it at least seemed) hung out after school: exploring the city, attending ballets and operas, watching the World Cup, etc.  Latalia and I don't really live close to any of the other members of our group, and since neither of us have spent very much time in big cities, we are rather timid about venutring out and about by ourselves.  Thus we haven't really done any exploring thus far, and the grueling routine of class 9-2 and studying afterwards until supper, and then again from suppertime until bed, was beginning to tell on me.  It wasn't that I didn't want to do anything else: we live close to the zoo, which is situated in a beautiful park, and I also know that there is a very famous and extensive zoological museum nearby that I am very interested in visiting.  However, I was feeling very left out since none of the other members of the group ever invited me to go along with them, and I felt that the things that I was interested in weren't "high culture" enough for the others to enjoy.  I missed my crazy friends from back home: Jennifer, Carmella, Brooke, Alek & Emily... the people with whom I knew I could have fun no matter what we were doing; the ones who had the proper sense of humor to enjoy things like pickled fetuses or a circus.  :]  To make matters worse, my depressed mood (so I'm convinced) lowered my immunological (is that the word?) defenses, and I woke up Thursday morning with a horrible sore throat.  I still went to class (what else could I do?) but I felt worse and worse throughout the day and I could hardly walk by the time school ended at 2:00. Fortunately, an afternoon of laying low, a good night's sleep and a healthy dose of ibuprofen and tylenol seems to have cured most of my ills: today I'm a bit stuffed up but nothing else.  I'm also happy to report that my mood has lifted exceedingly: I bounded out of bed this morning with an inexplicable smile on my face, ready to face the glorious day (this is the nicest day we've had all week, sunny and clear and in the high 60s); i.e., back to my normal self.  To quote Emily Irvine, "You could cheer up a rock if it was having a bad day, so I'm sure you'll be fine."  I leave it to your judgement whether my infectious personality actually goes that far...
• Also, Latalia and I spoke to Stas about the situation with T.T. and he asked someone from the institute to call and explain why I had refused to eat the porridge the second time, as well as tactfully try to suggest that we should be eating supper closer to 6 than 8 (since lunch at the institute is served at 11, we are both starving by supper every day, which circumstance could very well have contributed to my averse reaction to the porridge).  Now Latalia and I are on much better terms with T.T., and it's a good thing, too: she's the only Russian aside from our teachers who will go to the effort to communicate with us in Russian.  It isn't worth it for Latalia and I to try to converse together in Russian, since we're on the same (extremely basic) level, and I have yet to hang out with my Russian Friend (that comes this weekend).  T.T. always seems interested in hearing how the other members of the group are doing, as well as our other friends (i.e. Nikola, whom she mistakenly called "твой boyfriend" once before I vehemently corrected her, asserting "у меня нет boyfriend-а" (I don't have a boyfriend) - that led to a rather entertaining conversation ;])
• This week was also a week of firsts for Latalia and I.  On Wednesday afternoon we decided to try to visit the Zoological Museum, only to find when we arrived there (on foot - we still basically walk everywhere, regardless of distance) that it was closed (presumably in preparation for the upcoming holiday on Saturday, the Festival of the Scarlet Sails).  Not willing to make the outing a complete waste, I proposed that we take a bus back to our apartment.  After much persuasion, I convinced Latalia that nothing bad would happen to us and we hopped on the first bus that came by (actually a троллейвус or electric bus that runs on the tram lines - I saw these in Belgrade, too, but have never seen the likes of them in America).  However, when it stopped at the metro station closest to our apartment, I proposed that we wait until the next stop, both to see where the bus went and to explore the city a bit more.  What I was unaware of is that buses do not run in circular routes, as I had assumed...  Latalia and I grew more and more nervous as we traveled further and further from our apartment in a not entirely friendly-looking neighborhood that neither of us had seen before, though I tried hard not to let it show.  Soon we were the only passengers on the bus, and when it stopped at a somewhat sketchy roundabout and the контролёр (ticket-checker) indicated that we would have to get off, I began to think that my idea might not have been a very good one.  Not to be discouraged, however, I proposed to Latalia that we begin walking back along the bus route and once again catch the first bus that was traveling to the metro stop near our apartment (all of the buses have a sign in them that lists the principal stops along its route, usually metro stations).  Which we promptly did, and this time we got off at that stop, not waiting to see where the bus would travel next.  And all was well.  However, I might have a bit more difficulty convincing Latalia to be adventurous with me next time, and possibly not without good reason ;]
• I, on the other hand, not to be deterred (or perhaps warned is the better word) by our experience on Wednesday, decided to take a маршрутка (literally means "fixed-route taxi"; it's like a bus but has no fixed stops, instead you tell the driver when you want to get out) home on Thursday, since I had gone in the opposite direction in order to find a store where I could buy a large quantity of filtered water (I'm still really skeptical of the water at our house; I'm not sure what's wrong with it, but I know we're not supposed to drink it straight from the tap) as well as some other snack food.  I found a great grocery store with good prices and an excellent selection but since I was still feeling poorly I had no intentions of walking the 1.25 miles home carrying a 5-liter container of water (which I bought for approximately $1.40 - at least prices for bottled water in Russia are reasonable).  I waited until I saw someone else flag down a маршрутка, then hopped on behind her (after checking that it was traveling in the right direction - the маршрутка also have the principal stops of their route printed on the side of the vehicle).  After figuring out that you literally paid the man driving the маршрутка, I asked him how much, at which he pointed to the sign hanging above his head that clearly read "27 рублей".  Oops.  Anyway, I paid him and then sat down, frantically trying to remember how to ask for a stop.  I hopelessly bungled the phrase but managed to convey that I wanted him to stop when we reached the corner of my street, which he did and I gratefully got off, thinking elatedly "I did it!!  I didn't die!!"  And thus I proved to myself that I'm not a completely self-destructive force when loosed upon a population center.  Perhaps. :D 

So, that was my week.  More emotionally tumultuous than the last, which makes me fervently hope that now I've gotten over most of my homesickness and fear of exploring and can now feel freer to take advantage of the spectacular city in the midst of which I find myself (dang those dangling participles).  I hope this for your sakes, too - I'm sure you'd much rather read vivid descriptions of the splendor of the Hermitage, the palpable history of St. Isaac's Cathedral or Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, or even the disturbing fascination of Peter the 1st's collection of preserved fetuses and a mummified baby mammoth, rather than my musings and whinings about how I don't feel that I fit in, or I'm too scared to leave my apartment by myself.  But this is probably something everyone has to go through at some point (or at least I hope so and that I'm not just crazy - which is a given ;]), so perhaps my rantings will be able to help some of you someday - I can only hope.  But until then, it's off to more adventures!  Пока!!! :D

"Of course he had lady friends... he had a moustache!"

So, unfortunately, my first weekend in St. Petersburg turned out to be quite boring.  Hopefully it gets better from here.
T.T. was at her dacha (a sort of rustic summer house that most city dwellers in Russia own and frequently visit during the summer) for most of the weekend.  I'm not sure whether this was because it was a national holiday on Saturday (Russia Day, which is actually a relatively new holiday and not very widely celebrated, considering) or whether merely because it was a weekend.  In any case, Latalia and I had the apartment to ourselves for the greater part of the weekend.  We woke up around 9 and made ourselves breakfast, then passed the time studying until 11:30, at which time we went to meet the rest of our group and Stas, our professor, in the city center for a group outing.  We used the metro for the first time and found out that it wasn't so scary after all (although Latalia did have trouble figuring out where to put her token in the turnstile...).  It also wasn't as crowded as I anticipated, but perhaps that is because of the timing - it seems to me that the city doesn't really wake up on the weekends until noontime (I don't know whether that's a St. Petersburg thing, or a Russian cultural thing, or a summer thing, or a city thing in general).
We met the rest of our group on Nevsky Prospect and wandered a bit before going to the Cafe Zinger on the second floor of Dom Knigi (literally house of books), the largest bookstore in St. Petersburg which is located in the old Singer Sewing Machine Company building.  The cafe was quite pricey so I only got a vanilla cream danish with fruit on it that was quite delicious.  Some of the other members of my group ordered hot chocolate, which turned out to literally be chocolate that had been warmed to a drinkable consistency.  I tried some, but it would have been too rich for me to have drunk an entire cup of it :P
Well, I thought the weather in Maine was crazy, but it turns out to be nothing compared to St. Petersburg.  The day was a little gray and menacing when we left the house, but we still weren't prepared for the deluge that suddenly hit us when we were out wandering near the Bronze Horseman.  We took shelter in a nearby Teremok, but not before getting completely soaked (fortunately, most of us had umbrellas with us.  I will personally make sure I don't leave the apartment without one from now on).  Teremok is the Russian idea of a fast-food restaurant, and they sell mostly блины (a kind of greasy pancake that can be filled with all sorts of things, from meat to potatoes to sour cream to fruit) which run from $1 to $3 in price.  I've found that most of the food in Russia is cheaper than in America, presumably because the raw materials are cheaper.
Finally we gained a brief respite from the downpour, which we promptly took advantage of to climb to the collonade of St. Isaac's cathedral, from which height we could survey the entire city.  I took some pretty amazing pictures from there - it was SO windy!!  Then we headed home, exhausted.  Since Saturday was my dad's birthday, I tried to call home (and got through with no problems), but international calling from my Russian cell phone is extremely expensive - it costs about 70x more to call America than to call another cell phone in my network.  Thus, I only dared to say "Hey, it's Erin, call me back please" before hanging up.  Unfortunately, Mom wasn't able to figure out how to do that from the Tracfone (from which it doesn't cost any more than calling me in Princeton) so I waited for the call in vain.  I occupied myself for the rest of the evening studying; not the most entertaining pastime, but extremely necessary with the amount of vocabulary we are expected to absorb per week.  It's a bit overwhelming at times, but the marked improvement I can already notice in my speaking ability is encouraging.

On Sunday I went to Calvary Chapel St. Pete again, this time with Phil (another member of the group who attends PFA).  Though he arrived late to our designated meeting place, by the time we arrived at the church at 11:10 the 11am service had yet to start.  Oh, Calvary Chapel.  It's good to know some things don't change ;]  This week we sang the Victory Chant in Russian - I loved it.  (It sounds very military and yet quite beautiful in Russian :])  After the service I bought the church's worship album and I can't wait to listen to it (hopefully on T.T.'s CD player) because it definitely has some songs on it that I know from back home.  Phil and I also tried introducing ourselves to some of the church members our own age, but soon realized that our limited vocabulary meant that we didn't have very much to talk about.  Or perhaps next time we should find a more talkative interlocutor :P
The weather on Sunday wasn't much better than Saturday - very unpredictable with periods of downpour interspersed with bright sunshine.  Apparently this is normal for St. Petersburg in June, but July and August can get quite hot.  Right now it tends to be cool in our apartment (enough so that I need my fleece or a blanket to be comfortable while studying) but I will probably like it less when it is 90 or 95 degrees outside and hot and stuffy indoors.  So I'll take it now.
On Sunday we had something new for supper for one of the first times.  It was macaroni (which only differed in the shape of the pasta) and котлеты (think ground mystery meat).  It tasted much better than it sounds.
I ended up spending most of Sunday studying - between breakfast and church, all afternoon after church (I came home almost immediately after the service because of the poor weather) and again after supper until bedtime.  When T.T. found out that that was all Latalia and I had done all day, she commented on how boring it must be.  It is, when I think about it, but I seem to have slipped back into Princeton mode where all I can think about is studying.  Maybe if the weather improves I'll be more tempted to explore and actually take advantage of this wonderful city, but only time can tell.  Hopefully I won't have too much homework each day to be able to do that.

I have a new favorite Russian word now: снегоход.  It means snowplow, and the great thing about it is that (just like in English) it is a compound word.  снег means snow, and the verb ходить means to go back and forth (to make many round trips).  Thus, a снегоход is something that makes many round trips in the snow.  I love it when language makes sense (which doesn't happen very often, and especially not in English :P).

On an unrelated note, this time I really will stop blogging every day.  Most of what I'm doing every day here actually isn't very exciting, and if I tried to write about it I would bore myself and you.  From now on, unless we do something special, I'll probably only blog 2-3 times per week, and they (hopefully) won't be as long as my previous posts.  Most of you are probably glad for this, although for my few devoted followers whom I know savor every word (Justin, Luke) I feel a small pang of regret.  However, in the general interest of not becoming completely boring and mundane, I will desist from (for instance) describing my dinner each night.  And now in all of the time in which I could be sitting in front of this computer blogging about all of my trivials, I can be out having more adventures actually worth blogging about.  It's a win-win situation.  :]

"Gm..."

Highlights of last week:

• finding out that Russians write "Gm" when they are thinking (as opposed to "Xm" which would be the closest thing the cyrillic alphabet has to an H)
• Finding hot chocolate powder (какао) at a local department store (as well as our professor, who helped us find the hot chocolate :])
• Actually carrying on a decent conversation with my host mother (Latalia and I were able to explain our rooming situation at Princeton - both of us got the short end of the stick during room draw and won't know our assigned rooms until the end of July - as well as talk about the fact that we are both on excellent scholarships, as are many students at Princeton) that didn't involve making fun of Latalia's appetite
• Discovering that the classes here are much smaller and more personal than lectures at Princeton - I feel like I'm back in one of the small AP courses I took in high school.  I'm a big fan of this.  :]
• Friday marked one week of wearing only skirts and dresses.  I even wore - get ready for this - high heels on Friday.  No joke.  And these weren't platforms, or the little 1/2-inch sandals I wore to prom.  These were legit 3-inch closed-toed monsters.  And I wore them ALL day, and even walked the mile between my apartment and school 4 times in them.  My feet are still sore. :P  (But I managed not to fall down at all, which is definitely an accomplishment for me.  If you know me, you know.)
• Getting caught up on this blog (which was then nullified by my not having access to a computer all weekend)

Other exciting (or otherwise noteworthy) things that happened:

• In our first reading class, we were given a poem that we have to memorize by this Friday's test.  It's by M.U. Lermontov and it's called "И скучно и грустно" (which roughly translates to "Bored and sad").  It's probably the most depressing poem I've ever read, and I took AP English Literature.  Think the book of Ecclesiastes, if you took out every reference to God.  Here's a pretty decent translation of it: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bored-and-sad/.  Only read it if you won't mind being depressed for a while.
• Also on Wednesday, we met our "Russian Friends".  Through this program, we are each paired with a young Russian around our age who is studying at the Nevsky Institute, and the idea is that we will do things together in order to get a better immersive experience.  Originally the person who had contacted me on Facebook, telling me that they were my Russian Friend, was a 23-year-old male grad student.  I'm sure he was plenty nice, but I didn't exactly look forward to the prospect of traipsing around a major city in a foreign country with some 23-year-old man whom I had just met.  I'm sure my parents wouldn't be too enthused about that either.  Fortunately (I suppose) my Russian Friend was switched (unbeknownst to me, by the way) so when we actually met our partners face-to-face, I was pleasantly surprised to have been paired with a girl closer to my age.  She is 20, in fact, and studies Central European regional studies here at the Nevsky Institute.  (I immediately wondered whether that included Serbia.  I should ask ^.^)  She started speaking to me in English and seemed surprised when I answered her in Russian (I'm not sure why she would think I wouldn't speak any of the language, after all, I am here in Russia?)  We finally agreed that I would speak to her in Russian, and she would answer me in English.  (I would rather she just spoke Russian.  I get enough English from my Princeton friends.)  We all met our Friends at once, so right across the table from me were my friend Mykola and his Friend.  I was laughing at Mykola trying to speak Russian to his Friend, and just generally being myself, when my Friend (her name is Анья) remarked, "I think you're crazy."  Grinning at her, I replied, "Well, it didn't take you long to figure that out."  (This was after we'd been talking for maybe 3 minutes.)  I didn't realize I was that obvious, but perhaps I should have guessed - Masha, Jelena, and Danilo, whom I met in Serbia, all said the same thing. :] :P  Not long after that, Anya asked me "Do you smoke?"  When I replied in the negative, she said "Too bad.  It's good."  (I very much doubt that, but I have heard that smoking is the national sport here in Russia - and I believe it.)  She then inquired, "Do you drink?"  To which I again replied that I did not.  She remarked, "Wow, you're boring."  So apparently I'm both boring and crazy, however that works out :D  It's okay - I have more fun sober than most people do drunk, and I remember it all. ;]
• On that note, we had a bus tour of the city on Friday.  I took all the stereotypical touristy pictures (just to make sure that I got them at some point, although I hope to get better ones later) and learned all sorts of random and relatively useless facts about St. Petersburg and it history.  Near the end of the tour, some of my friends were discussing where they wanted to go out that evening; whether anyone knew of any good bars in their neighborhood yet.  Being me, I said to one of them, "Just be careful tonight, ok?  Take care of yourself."  He knew what I meant - I care about my friends, and I think that alcohol in general is better avoided, and especially in excessive quantities.  One of the other members of the group, overhearing my admonition, took offense and exclaimed, "Really?  Are you serious?"  At which the friend that I had been addressing attempted to explain by saying, "She doesn't drink.  She's an evangelical."  Which erroneous sentiment I quickly clarified.  "No, I don't drink for the benefit of the people around me."  At this Phil, another member of our group, commented, "I'm pretty sure that's a good idea.  Although, you might not be any different drunk."  Thanks, Phil.  :P  Then, the rest of the group tried to figure out exactly what I would be like drunk - whether I would just get really quiet, or even more bubbly and annoying, or whether I would get snappish - personally, I don't really know, and I have no intentions of finding out, either.  
• On Thursday, we stayed especially late after school (I was blogging, Latalia was entertaining herself on the computers).  When we finally got home at 6:30, no one else was there, so we each went to our rooms to study.  T.T.'s husband, Vaseli, came home soon after us but didn't stay for very long, and when he left he locked the door behind him, presumably thinking that there was no one else in the apartment.  At least, that's what T.T. thought when she got home around 7:30.  This I only found out after getting so hungry by 8:00 that I came out of my room to ask if there would be any supper tonight (thinking that perhaps since we hadn't come home until 6:30, we had somehow missed it).  T.T., upon seeing me, exclaimed, "Emilia!  You're home?!"  Since Vaseli had locked the door behind him, and neither I nor Latalia are very loud by nature (okay, clarification, I'm not loud when I'm studying.) she had no indications that we were in the apartment, and she hadn't thought to check.  Needless to say, supper that night tasted particularly delicious.
• At the end of the bus tour on Friday (sorry for skipping around a bit, but I'm really trying to keep this short, if you believe me) Latalia went with Anna, one of the program directors, to get a Russian cell phone.  It turns out that it would be extremely expensive for anyone with a Russian cell phone to call her on her iPhone that she brought with her, as it would technically be an international call.  This was the first time that Latalia and I had been separated since arriving in St. Petersburg, and at this point Latalia still did not have a set of keys to the apartment.  However, she could get into the building and I promised to stay in the apartment to let her in when she got back.  This was at around 6:30.  By 8:30, I was getting pretty worried about her, so I texted Anna to ask if she was still with her.  She replied that she wasn't (which did nothing to allay my fears).  It had become cloudy on Friday afternoon and by 7:00 there was a full downpour outside.  Finally at 9:00 I heard the buzzer to the apartment and opened the door to find a very much soaked and bedraggled Latalia standing on the doorstep.  She had WALKED from across town IN THE RAIN WITHOUT AN UMBRELLA because she was too nervous about taking the metro, never having been outside the US or even in a big city before.  Poor child.  Sounds like something I would do.

Same old, same old...

Wow.  Hard to believe that I've already been in St. Petersburg for a week, yet it didn't take very long to fall into a routine.  Latalia and I get up between 7 and 7:30 in order to have breakfast at 8, which is always the same: cornflakes, orange juice, yogurt, and bread (sometimes with jam, sometimes with cheese) and I always drink a cup of tea, too, because it is still rather chilly in the mornings.  We leave for the Nevsky Institute at 8:30 because classes start at 9 and it's a 20-minute walk to the institute (we could take the metro, but it's only one stop, so it's really not worth the crowds and hassle).  We've also fallen into a schedule with our classes: we have grammar every morning Monday thru Thursday and conversation every afternoon except Wednesdays.  Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings we have reading class.  Every class is actually two 50-minute periods (which is normal for Russian education.  Each class is called a para because it consists of the two sessions).  We have lunch between morning and afternoon classes, for which we are given an hour.  I like the food in the Nevsky cafeteria, because it's better than even the dining halls at Princeton (which is really, saying something) as well as being convenient and cheap.  If I buy just rice and potatoes, it only costs 32 rubles, which is just about exactly $1.  Lunch for $1?  Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself.  Classes end at 2, and every day this week we've stayed after so that I can catch up on my blog, which has definitely taken more time than I thought it would (although I should have known that I rarely do anything concisely).  However, in the coming weeks we should be able to go right home after class on most days.  When we do stay after, we get home between 5:30 and 6:30, and supper is usually ready around 6:30.  Fortunately, our dinner fare is a bit more varied than breakfast: so far we've had a couple different kinds of soups, the pelmeni (meat-filled dumplings), and macaroni.  Over meals are really the only times when Latalia and I interact with Tatyana Trofimovna, and I can actually see my improvement every day.  At this point, the conversation still centers around Latalia's amazingly tiny appetite and our schedule at school (and T.T. also always asks how our friends are doing, and how they live compared to us, which questions we usually have to answer with Я не знаю "Ya ne znayu" - I don't know) but every day we are learning more vocabulary words, and T.T. is always willing to help us with our grammar and pronunciation.  She's also very good at speaking slowly and clearly and repeating herself whenever she can see that we don't understand.  Both before and after supper Latalia and I busy ourselves with our homework, which takes up an alarming amount of time.  Last night I wasn't able to go to bed until midnight because I was so busy studying, although it usually isn't quite that bad.  But they weren't lying when they told us that this would be an intensive course.  I'm able to sleep better and better every night - I must be getting used to the light.  I also notice a definite difference in the amount of natural light starting at about 10pm; I even have to turn the light on in my room to work comfortably after that time.  It still gets light very early, however, and I'm trying to train myself not to start waking up until my alarm goes off in the morning (to avoid getting myself up only to find that it is only 4:30 or 5 in the morning, which happened the first few days :P). 
At this point Latalia and I haven't done a great deal of exploring; mostly we walk to and from the institute and spend the rest of our free time studying.  However, after we get into a better routine (and we aren't staying after in the computer lab for 4 hours after school) we will probably find that we have more free time and we may start to explore the neighborhood, as T.T. keeps encouraging us to do.  I'm especially interested in visiting the zoo that is just down the street :] but I also plan to go see the many museums and parks that dot St. Petersburg at some point.  Today, in fact, we have a bus tour of the city, so after that I will have much more to tell about the city in general.  But, as I am trying to get myself into the habit of writing fewer and shorter blog entries, I will leave you for now.  I'll try hard to have some good adventures this weekend so that I'll have a lot to tell when I return on Monday ;].  As we say in Russia, До свидания!!!  (Until I see you again!)

"Does it sound British in Russian, too?"

Monday.  Our first day of classes at the Nevsky Institute of Language and Culture.
We didn't have to be at the Institute this day until 10:00, so we told Jenya (who stayed overnight, although she lives and works - in a hotel - in the suburbs) that we would have breakfast at 9.  I got up at 8 and took a shower, relishing the use of conditioner once again (it seems like a small, silly thing, but if you're a girl, you probably understand).  Breakfast was cereal, once again (I'm wondering when I can tell T.T. that we would be more than fine with a more traditional Russian breakfast, whatever that means) and something called a "sirok".  I thought it would be something cheesy (seer means cheese) but it turned out to be something very sweet and covered in chocolate.  It was the consistency of cheesecake, and I can't pin down the flavor.  (We later found out that it is tvorek, a kind of very sweet, thick cream or cottage cheese)  Neither I nor Latalia liked it very much, and we told Jenya that in the nicest way possible.
We left for Nevsky at 9:30 to give us plenty of time.  The first thing we had was an orientation, and I was perhaps inordinately happy to see my friends from Princeton and my Russian professor, Stas, again.  It had been so long since I had seen so many familiar faces (who all spoke English!) that I couldn't stop beaming from ear to ear and chattering (although, some would tell you that that is my natural state of being :P).  Things were rather chaotic, but we were handed schedules and sundry pieces of important information before being marched down to a room where we could have our pictures taken for our ID cards (so that we could get in to the institute).
Here, for the general information of those of you who don't know (which would probably be everyone reading this blog), I will describe the Princeton in Petersburg program.  I'm assuming that much of what I say will be equally applicable to the many such summer programs offered by Princeton University in the different corners of the globe.  The program is 8 weeks long and covers the equivalent of 2 semesters of study of Intermediate Russian at Princeton University.  Since it is 8 weeks instead of 2 semesters (24 weeks), and since it is Princeton, and since it takes place in St. Petersburg, it is necessarily quite intense.  We have to cover the entire second-year textbook (10 chapters) in the 8 weeks we are here - you do the math, that's more than a chapter a week of grammar, in addition to the two books (M.Y. Lermontov's "Hero of our Times" and Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment") from which we'll be reading exerpts.  Classes are divided into three subjects: grammar, conversation, and reading.  After four weeks, we'll have a "final exam" for our "first semester" in each subject, after which Stas will return to the US :'[ and another professor from Princeton, Ksana Blank, will come to teach us reading instead of the teacher we have now.  At the end of the second four weeks, we will have another round of "final exams" and we will receive a grade for both the first and second part of the course.  Although this program is officially associated with Princeton University, the grading is not nearly as "draconian" (to use Stas's word) as it is for most Princeton courses - A's aren't limited to 10 or 15% of the group (since there are only 17 of us, I'm very glad).
The participants of the Princeton-in-Petersburg program are split into two groups (so that we can learn in a more personal setting, and also to maximize the teachers' efficiency).  This first day we had two hours of grammar with Stas (it was just like being back at Princeton, for which I was very glad) and an hour of conversation with Natalia, a new teacher.  Unfortunately for us, Natalia, like most of the faculty here at the Institute, speaks little English.  (How one is supposed to teach a language to speakers of another language one does not oneself speak, I am not entirely sure.)  Most importantly, this means that whenever we don't understand a word she uses, she is forced to try and explain it another way in Russian, which, more often than not, only confuses us more.  Oh boy, more adventures...
After our three hours of class, we had time for lunch (good thing, too, since it was 2 pm - I was HUNGRY!) but usually we would begin classes at 9, have two hours of lessons, then have an hour for lunch before two more hours of class in the afternoon.  We all ate in the Nevsky cafeteria, which worked much the same way as Frikadelki the day before.  I had a piece of unspecified meat and some coleslaw, which cost 85 rubles.  Feeding myself for under $3 every day?  I could get used to this!!
After lunch, we had yet another orientation, where we were shown the important places in the Nevsky Institute (such as the computer lab, which is my new best friend, at least until I get caught up on my blog, which might never happen) as well as in the surrounding neighborhood.  We were shown where we could exchange money or use an ATM as well as an Internet cafe (for the weekends when the computer lab isn't open) and Pyatyorochka (the department store Latalia and I had found the day before).  Then Latalia and I headed home, but on the way we checked out the "Internet Klub" that was just around the corner from our apartment.  It was an only somewhat sketchy internet cafe, but I hope to use mostly the computer lab at the Institute (besides, the computers here are free :]).  Since our lessons are moving so quickly, Latalia and I were able to busy ourselves with homework from 3:45 (when we got home) until supper at 6.
Supper was macaroni and hot dogs again - I'm really starting to get tired of imitation American food.  Although, even fake American food here is better than real American food in the States, I have to admit...
We hadn't seen T.T. all day and Jenya left at 6:45, which was fine with us since we both had more to study.  What wasn't quite so fine was when T.T.'s husband came home at 7:30.  Neither Latalia nor I had any idea that there was still a man in the picture, although we had both wondered whether T.T. was perhaps divorced or a widow.  But when the door opened, I expected T.T., not the scruffy older man who appeared in my doorway (the door to my room is right beside the door to the apartment).  He obviously had a key and knew about me, because he asked my name but not why I was there or anything.  However, it was still a rather unsettling experience, and I wondered how many other unexpected visitors we would be having before we had met the entire family (T.T. had told me that she had two daughters and a grandchild - she had never said anything about a husband).  I was a little disconcerted, but not too much so - I'm a pretty easygoing person, as a general rule, and I don't get flustered easily.  Nevertheless, I texted one of my friends in the program, asking what I should do, and he advised me to just stay in my room and study, and not worry about it if the man didn't bother Latalia or me.  Which I did (and I've since found out that Vascelli is really a harmless character, and quite jovial - it was merely the circumstances of our first meeting that were less than ideal).  I heard T.T. come home at 9:30, and ended up going to bed at 10.  It's getting easier to sleep every night, although it's still less than ideal - I hope that within a week I'll be back to a normal sleep schedule, not waking up as often in the morning.  Again, I'm thankful for my detour to Serbia, because now I only have to adjust to a 2-hour time difference instead of 8 hours.  Thank God for small blessings.

In the spirit of learning (and to pretend to myself that blogging isn't totally detracting from my progress in Russian), I'll try to add a new Russian "word of the day" to each blog entry.  Today we learned the word ybui "uvwee" (which, like all things Russian, looks much cooler in Cyrillic, if I could figure out how to change the language settings on this computer where EVERYTHING ELSE except the keyboard is in Russian...).  It is a rather antiquated word, and it means "woe".  As in, woe is me.  (which would be ybui mne "uvwee mnyeh").  Stas, our professor, was explaining to us that it is a very antiquated and outdated expression, when one of my classmates piped up, "Does it sound British in Russian, too?"  He spoke in complete seriousness.  I'll leave it at that ;]

Calvary Chapel

While I hadn't originally thought that I would be ready to attend church on the first Sunday morning I was in St. Petersburg, I didn't really know what else to do with myself, so I figured that I would try to find the Calvary Chapel that I had researched from America.  As a matter of fact, in typical me fashion, I had not only found their website but Google Map-ped their address and my own and printed out directions.  As it turns out, it's really not very far from my apartment (actually, I don't feel that anything is, especially after walking around Belgrade for a week with Nikola.  I would much rather walk places than attempt a bus or the metro).  So, I got up at 8 on Sunday morning and got all ready for church, taking care to dress in my nicest clothes and spending extra time on my hair and makeup (girls in Russia actually do look nicer when going out of the house than they do in America, so even though it was a Calvary Chapel I guessed that people would look nicer than back home, so I should too).  T.T. came back to the apartment at 8:30 and told me that she had attended the early service at her church (which I assume is Russian Orthodox, but I don't know) at 7am.  She said they also have a service at 10am, but I was impressed that she went to the 7am service.  Upon learning that I also wanted to attend church (and Latalia too, as I had asked her last night) she asked whether I usually did.  When I told her that I was accustomed to attending multiple services per week, she seemed to approve and asked whether most people in America went to church.  What a question!  I answered that it depended on where you were, but at least in college most people did not, and if they did, it was only Sunday morning. I wonder what she thought beforehand about Americans' church-going habits; what image do we portray to the rest of the world?
Breakfast, served at 9:30, was cornflakes again, this time accompanied by some bread with nuts and berries in it.  It was quite good, the berries adding a good flavor to what would otherwise be a rather plain dish.  She also gave us orange juice to drink because I had indicated that that was my usual breakfast fare, although she herself complained that most juices were too fake.  I'm impressed with how much T.T. is trying to cater to us and get us the food that we want, although I'm more than willing to eat almost anything that crosses my plate and have tried several times to express that to her.
We finally set off for church around 10, in order to give us plenty of time to find the service.  I also knew of two other Princetonians who had expressed interest in attending Calvary Chapel with us, but I had no way of getting in contact with them yet (as I later learned, they had gone to the nearest metro stop and waited for a while, hoping to catch us going by - oops, I'll make sure we set a time and place to meet in future weeks).  We found the building without too much trouble, although getting to the service was another matter.  In typical Calvary Chapel fashion, the church has no building of its own - it instead meets in the upper room of a Lutheran Cathedral.  Latalia and I couldn't find anything about Calvary Chapel on the bulletin board outside the cathedral (of course, it didn't help that it was all in Russian) but we eventually ventured inside and upstairs and, after a wrong turn or two, found ourselves in a large room in which were set up pews with plastic chairs behind them.  There was a stage at the front of the room on which stood the praise and worship team, rehearsing for the upcoming service.  Although I couldn't understand the words they were singing, I recognized the tune - it was Holy, Holy, Holy, a song that we have often sung at Calvary Chapel Central Maine in the last few years!!!  It was, not surprisingly, translated into Russian (which, as far as I'm concerned, is even cooler!) and beside the stage was a projector screen onto which I correctly assumed the words would be projected once the service started.  Everywhere I looked I saw things that were distinctly Calvary Chapel, from the instruments in the worship band to the drumset in the corner to the symbol of the dove to the communion being prepared in the back, and I was beaming from ear to ear.  I had gone all the way across the globe only to find myself at home. 
Latalia and I found a Russian-English Bible on a shelf on one side of the room and took our seats, waiting for the service to begin.  It was just like home - we sang the same songs with the words up on the screen (my favorite was Heart of Worship) and I was glad that I had studied "Christian" vocabulary in Russian before coming, since I was able to understand the general meaning of most of what we sung (which my knowledge of the English versions of the songs also greatly helped).  After worship, we were told to "greet one another in the name of the Lord" (in Russian) before we sat down to listen to the sermon :]  As it happened, sitting directly behind us was a Canadian woman, Betty, and Latalia and I were more than relieved to find a native English speaker (as I rather suspected that we would, since Calvary Chapel Central St. Petersburg is a church plant from the US).  We introduced ourselves and Betty congratulated us on so soon finding a church to attend, at which I explained that I attend a Calvary Chapel back in the States and was more than happy to find one here.  Then the pastor stood up to speak (and, unlike back home in Maine, he actually had to ask people to sit down - I bet that's a cultural thing :]).  He preached in Russian, but he had an English translator (to my great relief), and the sermon was on Revelation 11:1-22.  Just as it would be at home, the pastor explained that the foundational principle of Calvary Chapel was to read the Word of God, and so that was the priority every time the church gathered.  No topical sermons, just readin' and 'splainin' (as Pastor Ken would say :]). 
After the service, Betty invited us to lunch, which invitationn we gratefully accepted.  We went to Frikadelki (it means meatball in Russian) and the system there was different than anything I've ever seen at a restaurant.  It was very similar to an a la carte cafeteria, except that the food was edible: it was all on individual plates or in warming containers, and the customers picked up a tray and silverware from the beginning of the line and then selected what they wanted to eat.  At the end, the prices for each item selected were totaled and you paid for whatever you took.  Not something completely new, but I had never seen a restaurant set up like this.  I selected some mors (a sort of very bitter fruit juice that I didn't end up liking), a piece of chicken, and a roll with ham and cheese in it.  The total came to 158 rubles - about $5.  That's pretty good for a decent-sized meal.  We talked more with Betty over lunch and when she learned that we had a shopping list, she offered to help us find what we were looking for.  Latalia needed a bath towel (T.T. didn't give either of us one, but fortunately I can use my travel towel), and we both wanted to find a place to get bottled water and some different tea (I still had high hopes of finding some that I liked).  We visited several stores but were unsuccessful, so we bid adieu to Betty after exchanging telephone numbers and telling her that we'd be back in chuch the next week. 
On the way home we stopped in a small produkti; these are very common in Russia and are small grocery stores, usually privately owned and many advertise that they are open 24 hours.  Here we were successful - we found bottled water for about $.50 and a package of Pickwick assorted fruit teas that looked promising.  Before returning to the apartment we decided to find the institute where we would be having classes the next day, to avoid the hassle of getting lost in the morning.  It also isn't far from our apartment, about a 20-minute walk, and we found it with no trouble.  On the way back we found a good-sized department store and looked around inside it, but didn't see any bath towels; however, it was still good to know, since we could buy most other things there.  When we finally came back to the apartment, it was 4:00, and we were the only ones home.  We talked together for a while (in English) about various things, mostly comparing backgrounds and preferences.  We're remarkably similar, since she grew up in a small town in West Virginia and this is also her first time outside the country.  At 6, Jenya returned home and made us supper; a different soup this time with potatoes, onions, and carrots.  I liked it reasonably well, although I've never been much of a soup person (when I was younger, it was the one meal I would refuse to eat).  Latalia, however, has a more sensitive stomach and so she must be careful about consuming new and different foods (and she is also much more petite than I am, so her appetite is smaller) and this has become a constant source of teasing at the dinner table, as I always eat at least twice as much as her.  Russians pride themselves on their hospitality, and they especially like to display this by cooking, so refusing food at a Russian house or not eating very much risks offending the host.  T.T. constantly asks whether Latalia usually eats this little, which she insists that she does; this seems to placate T.T. a bit, although she still constantly encourages her to eat more. 
When, after supper, Jenya inquired as to whether we would be having tea (literally translated, this is how Russians ask if you want to eat or drink something.  They say budesh? or budete? depending on their relationship to their interlocutor (budete is more formal) which just means "you will?")  and we gave enthusiastic assent.  Latalia isn't very partial to tea either, but we had high hopes for the fruit tea.  I selected "Juicy Strawberry" and Latalia decided to try "Sweet Raspberry" (we happened to only find english packaging, so I don't even know the Russian equivalents).  To my great delight and relief, I found that I genuinely enjoyed the tea!  It didn't even taste like tea, just vaguely fruity, which was fine with me as it meant that I wouldn't have to be buying bottled water everyday or risking my health by drinking the tap water (although, as Jenya told us later, they boil any water that they'll be drinking, because they also know that it isn't very clean).  This was really my first great triumph in Russia, and it made my prospects for the next two months seem much brighter. 
After supper, Latalia and I went back to her room and talked for several more hours, about our educational plans, what we expected Russia to be like, my time in Serbia and how it compared - we get along splendidly, and we think in much the same way.  I'm so glad; it could have been really awful if I had been rooming with someone that I didn't like.  Although, I had already known that I liked Latalia and we had actually requested to be placed together.  At one point, T.T. inquired as to whether all of the students roomed in pairs, and told us that she thought that was a better way to do things, since we could help each other and speak in English together if communicating in Russian became too difficult.  Finally, at 10:30, we each called it a night (although it was anything but night outside :P).  However, it was noticeably darker, and I sincerely hope that I will eventually get used to the semi-dusk of the White Nights.  I tried sleeping on one pillow and putting another over my face to make it darker - hopefully it helps.