Packing Up

       Privyet! I can’t believe that in a mere 3 days I’ll be home! After being away so long, it seems too good to be true.  It will be glorious…but no doubt strange.  I’m sure I’ll have a bit of reverse culture shock for a few days, and possibly try to speak to cashiers at stores in Russian.  We shall see!  I am a bit sad to leave Petersburg – it’s going to be quite an adjustment to not go to the opera whenever the heck I feel like it, and to not stroll past the Winter Palace on a regular basis.  I have grown to love this city and its idiosyncrasies – hopefully I will return one day.  As my host mother said on the subject, “Life is long.”  With any luck, my life will allow me to come back, to revisit the blini and babushki.  Somehow, while I wasn’t looking, Petersburg crept up on me and became a part of my soul.

       At the same time, I can’t wait to walk around Fort Sewell, to smell the clean salt air, to smile at people that pass me on the street.  I miss driving a car, clean tap water, and recycling.  It will be wonderful to have all these things again – but most of all it will be wonderful to be home and reunited with the family and friends that I have missed so much for these four months.  I feel changed – now let’s see if you can see it. 

        This past week has been quite busy – but the good news is that I submitted my two final papers last night (early! They’re not due till tomorrow!) and took my Russian exam last Friday.  So now I’m bizarrely free of work for a couple of days. 

        Last week’s events included a film screening (Window to Paris, a movie that takes place in Petersburg in the early 90’s and does not portray the city in a terribly flattering manner) and a trip out to the edge of the city, to modern (60’s-now) housing projects.  We had a lecture about the effects of architecture and such on the psyche – and in Russia, those effects have not been good.  Imagine how depressed you might be if you lived in a place like this…

         This must have been especially horrible during the Soviet era, when housing was assigned.  Imagine having an assigned job, an assigned tiny apartment in a nasty housing block, a long commute, and only six hours of sunlight a day during a long cold winter.  Yikes.  No wonder Russians don’t smile much. 

         Many parts of Petersburg’s city center are rather squalid and run-down looking, but at least the old buildings have some charm.  These projects on the outskirts are just downright miserable. 

         The woman giving us the tour and lecture was a Russian friend of our professor, who was described to us as “a hippie”.  I thought she was incredibly cool, and really enjoyed what she said.  Here was her advice for how to deal with living conditions like these:

                                       

             Hug a tree!!! I thought that was fantastic – and I completely agree.  Living in this crowded, dirty and often overwhelming city has reminded me how much I need green space and fresh air for my sanity.  Just walking through a tiny park, as we did, really improves my mood.  Thinking about this right now is making me incredibly excited to go to the beach and just stare at the ocean when I get home…

           We also saw the university where Mendeleev created the Periodic Table of the Elements! (This one’s for you Uncle Bill!)

                        

              Besides sitting on my bed procrastinating madly while working on my paper, I had quite an amusing weekend!  On Saturday, I went with my friend Shalini to a matinee at the Philharmonia, a symphony hall where both Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky played.  We weren’t even sure what we’d bought tickets for, but we knew it would be good!  It turned out to be a performance sort of geared towards children, with a narrator telling some Pushkin fairy tales that went with the music. The performers were students from some incredibly presitigious conservatory, and they were fantastic.  It made me itch to pull my poor neglected violin out of its case and see if I even remember how to hold it. 

           The Philharmonia’s concert hall:

               

            We also had a lovely lunch at a Japanese restaurant – oh how nice it is to NOT eat Russian food! 

           Sunday, we went to a matinee of the opera Rusalka at the Mariinsky – my third (and last…*sniff*) opera in Russia.  The opera was in Czech, and basically the story (I read the synopsis online) was a sort of Eastern European version of the Little Mermaid.  ‘Twas quite good!  Afterwards, we decided we needed to visit the blini chain Teremok one last time.  I’m glad we did – but now I don’t think I’ll miss it too much, since it left me feeling immensely queasy! A giant greasy blini filled with chocolate sauce and banana is tasty for a few bites…but then just plain sickly.  

           Took a few pics while walking…

                 

          Today, we had a final little Russian class party.  Our phonetics teacher, Natasha, stuffed us silly with pirog (rich pastry sort of thing – there was one with cabbage and egg, and one with preserves – we all had a generous slice of each) and tea, and we sang some Russian songs, as well as the Beatles! 

          This Soviet-era song has been stuck in my head for days.  If you can read Cyrillic you can sing along!!

         This afternoon I did a final bit of souvenir-shopping, then started packing!!! What a weird feeling.  Tomorrow we have a little “graduation” from school…then I’ll do something (not sure what) in the afternoon, then we have our group farewell dinner at a Georgian restaurant, which should be delicious and a late night.  I’m not sure yet what is happening on Wednesday, besides some last minute packing – we’re actually leaving in the middle of the night.  So only 2 days left actually IN Petersburg…then one very long day (in fact I will have 32 hours in my day due to time changes!) of travel. 

         I may or may not post again before I leave depending on how things go…but I will definitely write a post when I get home.  I’m going to really miss this blog, I’ve had a lot of fun with it! Perhaps I should start another…any ideas?

 

From Russia With Love,
Rachel

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