After a high-speed taxi ride through Petersburg in the middle of the night, zooming past the illuminated palaces and the glittering canals, I arrived at the airport for the first stage of a long journey.  Two plane rides and a long layover in Germany later, I was racing into the arms of my family at last.  It was a glorious reunion, even though I was so exhausted by that point that I felt like I was hallucinating. 

       Being home is absolutely wonderful – but so strange.  I feel like I never left, like these last four months were just some surreal dream.  At the same time, I feel like I’m going to walk out the door and find myself on Nevsky Prospekt again, swerving around drunk Russians, gazing at the looming facades reflected in the Neva.  Instead, I find myself in beautiful Marblehead, with a renewed appreciation for the clean salt air and glorious ocean views.

       I also love just wandering around my house, reveling in the sunlight streaming through the windows, the flowers, the little decorations that make it home. 

       It’s weird to try to talk about my experiences, to put the smells and sounds and sensory overload of Petersburg into words.  No one who hasn’t lived through these months with me can ever fully understand, I suppose, and that makes me a bit sad.  I feel that in a way I can’t quite integrate Russia into the rest of my life…I’m still reflecting on what the experience as a whole meant to me, and where it has left me. 

       I know for sure that I have changed, deeply.  I am still essentially the same person, but you can’t wander around in a foreign country for months without absorbing something, some sort of new perspective on life.  Not to mention a bit more independence.  I think the changes are for the better though – I’m so glad I went to Russia.  It wasn’t easy, and at times I had made a crazy decision – but I really think it was a good one.  I’m incredibly glad I went. 

       At the same time, I’m so glad it’s over!  I’ve returned to America with a deep gratitude for the life I have, for how blessed I am.  I knew that before, but what I’ve seen in the last four months has certainly driven that knowledge home.  I live in a truly beautiful, clean, safe place, where the police are trustworthy and the peanut butter plentiful.  Most importantly, I have wonderful family and friends, who have supported me throughout my adventure (and the rest of my life).   Thank you, all. 

        Now I’m enjoying relaxing, catching up with family and friends, and getting ready for Christmas (how is it so soon?)  I’m a bit sad that my adventure is over, but confident that more await…

       Happy Holidays! 

       And goodbye, blog! 

From HOME with love,

Rachel

P.S.  I will probably stick a link up here when my essay is published in the online journal of Russian studies that accepted it…should be any day now. 

And once again…thanks again for reading, and for your support!!!

I’ve traveled the world

to learn I must

return

from Russia

with love

…

     Privyet!! That just seemed so fitting I couldn’t resist using it.  Thank you, James Bond.  And you know I’ll be listening to that on the flight home…

     It’s 9:30 in the evening now, on Wednesday – and I’m sitting here trying to kill time until 3 am! So what better to do than blog? Our flight leaves at 5:40, so taxis are going to pick us up at three…and I’m unfortunately way too excited to sleep before then, despite the fact that I did not get too much rest last night.   But I’ll get to the reason why in a bit…

     Yesterday we had a little “graduation” ceremony at the institute where we’ve been studying. It was quite cute, we got little diplomas and gave our teachers hugs and flowers.  I simply had to take a picture as I was walking out the door for the last time…notice the annoying turnstile that we had to swipe our way through to get in or out with magnetic cards that rarely worked.

         Then Shalini and I had our last lunch at Chaynaya Loshka, our most habitual lunch spot and the site of many long chats about the meaning of life.  There’s this one kind of nerdy looking guy that works at the counter who speaks English, and he has always made a big deal out of speaking English to us and has been quite amused by us for some reason.  So we decided to be awkward and bid him farewell – we told him we were leaving Russia and said goodbye, and he turned bright pink and it was quite amusing.  We sneakily took a picture of him from our table.  Of course I also had to pose with my last borsch and rye bread from Chaynaya Loshka.

          Here’s a shot of the inside of the place…

         And Shalini with the sign that says “Breakfast! Lunch! Friends!” All you need in life, right? 

         We had quite a bit of time to kill before our farewell dinner, so we decided to check out the Kirov museum/Museum of Soviet Childhood (they are a combined affair).  Kirov was an important Bolshevik leader, and later head of the Communist party in Leningrad.  He was eventually assassinated.  Here are a few highlights from his apartment, including a really awesome study, a table that Stalin ate dinner at, and some hunting gear. 

        And on the floor above the apartment was the Museum of Soviet Childhood.  Unfortunately we couldn’t really read all the signs, but saw some neat displays of toys and such.  I especially liked this museum because the ladies working there were very friendly, which is sort of unusual.

        After chatting in a cafe for a couple of hours, we finally had our group farewell dinner at a Georgian restaurant.  It was an incredible feast, with SO many different kinds of delicious foods.  Some highlights included pickled rhubarb, cheese in kefir sauce, chicken in walnut sauce, eggplant with walnuts and pomegranate seeds, grilled salmon…and of course the delicious khachapuri, Georgian cheesy bread.  We also had delicious Georgian home wine, which is famous for being strong and sweet.  Our professors offered some toasts! In true Russian fashion, the meal lasted for hours, with many rounds of food (ending in a delicious Georgian version of baklava and tea), much toasting, and much laughter.  It was an incredibly enjoyable night. 

        Finally, at about 11:45, we got on the metro to go back…and some madness ensued.  Days ago, we’d decided that it was essential that we at some point dance on the metro.  You see, people here are extremely stoic on the metro – there are no smiles or impromptu subway conversations.  It’s usually really crowded so we’d continually chickened out (and also usually didn’t have someone to film it).  But last night the metro was nearly empty, and our wonderful Russian program assistant Lena was with us and agreed to film our antics, after making sure we all had our documents so we couldn’t get in too much trouble with the police!! And here is the resulting ridiculousness.  I would also like to point out that by this time the Georgian wine had long since worn off…we’re always like this. 

        We also had to get a video of the phrase we all know so well now…Осторожно, двери закрываются (Ostorozhna, dvery zakryvayutsya – it means “caution, doors are closing”).  This phrase is repeated at every stop and for some reason we all find it quite amusing.  Here’s my friend Elle lip-synching it.

        ‘Twas amusing.  It was also nice walking back at night and seeing all the Christmas (New Years) lights.  I didn’t take these last night, but they’re from a few days ago…

        The bottom picture is a billboard near my apartment.  I think it’s a governent billboard because before it’s only advertised national holidays – but now it says “Happy New Year, and Happy Christmas!” It’s reversed because here New Years comes first, Christmas is January 7th and not as big of a deal. 

        Today was spent packing, buying flowers and a tea towel for my host mother, walking around with my friends on Nevsky Prospekt and chatting in a cafe one last time.  Then I went to Lena’s apartment to to have a cup of tea and bid her farewell – she’s going back to her home city, near Moscow, where she’s working on her Phd!  Lena has really been a godsend for all of us this semester – she’s been incredibly patient dealing with homestay problems, helping us set up our phones and internets, tutoring us, and generally providing insight into Russian life.  She has come to be a really good friend, and I will truly miss her.  It’s such a weird feeling to be leaving people and not know if you’ll ever se them again, but know that your lives are going on simultaneously across the globe…I had never experienced that before coming here.

         I also had a nice dinner with my host mother…she gave me a St. Petersburg calendar, which was quite sweet. 

         And now I am twiddling my thumbs and anxiously awaiting 3 am and the arrival of a cab.  We fly out of St. Petersburg at 5:40 am, then have a SIX HOUR LAYOVER in Germany, then 8.5 hours to Boston…if all goes well and there aren’t any delays, I should land in Boston at 2:40 pm tomorrow!!!! I absolutely CANNOT wait to run shrieking into the arms of my family.

         It actually sort of all feels too good to be true right now…I can’t believe I’m finally going HOME.  I have a feeling I’ll be a bit discombobulated for a couple of days!!!! 

        But I am SO EXCITED I cannot put it into words.

        EEEEKK!!!!!!!!!!! Ya budoo doma zaftra!!!!! (I’ll be home tomorrow!!!!!!!!) 

        Can. Not. Wait. 

        Be on the lookout for a final post from America in a couple of days! 

I guess this is the last time I can say…

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

       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

          As many of you know, my 20th birthday was last Sunday.  I had been quite sick the day before, so I was worried that I would be stuck abed for my birthday, but I woke up feeling much better after two long nights of sleep, and could tell that my fever was gone.  However, I was still coughing rather violently (still am, actually), which prompted my host mother to give me an…ahem…interesting Russian remedy.  Along with my breakfast kasha, in place of my normal cup of tea, I received a mug of some hot dairy substance.  There was yellow stuff floating on top, which I guessed at first to be egg.  Taking a sip, I thought that it was sort of like eggnog – except not at all tasty.  When I asked my host mother what it was, she looked at me like I was crazy.  “Milk, butter, and honey, of course,” she said, explaining that Russians always drink it when they are ill.  Yikes.  I was not exactly a big fan – it was actually quite difficult to choke down.  I think I prefer good old American orange juice. 

           Then I made it out with my friends for my long-awaited birthday brunch at the Idiot, the Dostoevsky themed cafe I wrote about before.  It was quite delicious…but they failed to give us our free shots of vodka!!!! It was rather disappointing.  But the food was still delicious, and the ambience in the cafe is really cool and right up my alley.

         We made up for the lack of vodka by ordering a nice glass of red wine to celebrate my birthday.  I had never gotten alcohol in Russia, and felt I should take up the opportunity once before I left, since I can’t do that at home for another year!

          By the time we left the cafe, it had gotten dark out (and it was only 4:30!) and I snapped a few pictures as we walked to the metro. 

          Here’s one of the main canals,

           A different canal with St. Isaacs in the background,

           And the newly 20-year-old me in front of the canal. 

            Before we went to a play for the evening, we had two strange encounters.   The first was on the metro.  As usual, my friend Shalini and I were speaking in English.  When the car stopped and we got out, a boy about our age, and smaller than me, stopped us, saying that he’d heard us speaking English.  He explained that he was learning the language, and was incredibly excited to meet Americans, who he’d never seen in real life before!  He explained that he was studying computer science at the technological university in Petersburg, and was learning English because, and I quote, “My friend Billy, you know, Billy Gates, programs his computers in English.”  He was quite odd, but friendly, and he gave us directions so that was helpful. 

           Then, when we stopped into a convenience store to buy some chocolate, it happened again.  You have to understand here – this NEVER happens.  People are never happy to hear us speaking English!  But the man behind the counter in this store heard us and immediately informed us that he knew some English, and asked if we were American.  He explained that he was foreign too.  I had guessed that immediately, but could not place his nationality.  He told us that he was from Morocco, which was definitely a new one.  Russians are a fairly homogenous bunch, and immigrants tend to be from Eastern Europe and especially the Caucasus region.   This guy was very friendly, and asked us about where we were studying and such.  Then he asked a question which really struck me.  “Why are you studying this language that I only want to forget?”  He warned us not to move to Russia, and told us that we should work for the US government since now we would understand the “psychology of these people” (meaning Russians).  I asked him why he moved to Russia, and he said that he had come here 17 years ago to study, since there were better opportunities than Morocco and he could not afford to go to America.  He said “I am poor, it does not matter where I go.”  Then he wished us luck in our studies and travels as we left the store.   It was quite a fascinating and thought-provoking encounter, that definitely reminded me of how incredibly fortunate I am. 

          We finally made it to our play, which was based on Dostoevsky’s short story “The Tale of a Ridiculous Man”.  It was put on by this sort of underground theatre troupe.  Our tickets gave an address – a famous Petersburg film studio.  We waited there, and a representative of the theatre troupe came to fetch us, then led us down a few streets and to an apartment building.  There had only been twenty seats available for the play, and they were all purchased by people from my program. The woman told us some background about the theatre troupe and the play, and warned us to not be surprised by anything…and then, most ominously, promised that we would get out alive.  It was a really eery setting, and none of use knew what to expect. 

          She led us up five flights of stairs to the top of an apartment building, and into an attic apartment.  After a woman in a 19th century maid costume took our coats, we were ushered into a small room lit only by candle-light and lined with twenty chairs.  It was decorated in dilapidated 19th century fashion.   And then the play began.  Except for one other minor character, it was essentially a one-man show – mostly monologues, but including some odd effects and cool use of props.  All through the performance, only a few candles offered any lighting.  The actor was fantastic, and apparently is actually a well-known film actor who has been to Cannes twice.  Even though we could not understand most of what he was saying, it was apparent that he was a really good classical actor, and the play was fantastic.  I really can’t describe the experience, in fact – it was just so different from anything I’d ever seen. 

          Fittingly enough, the ambience and atmosphere totally matched that of The Idiot.  So it was really a 19th century Dostoevsky themed day, and quite a memorable birthday! 

          And now only 9 days and a LOT of work stand between me and home!

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

         Despite not feeling the greatest, I did enjoy our trip to Novgorod.  It was a 3.5 hour bus ride from Petersburg, and we got there Wednesday night – so we first went out on a tour of some of the landmarks Thursday morning.

        Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia – in fact, this year is the 1150th anniversary of its founding in 859!  Crazy.  In its heyday it was a major trading center.  Today its mostly a historical site/tourist attraction. 

       Novgorod is known for its beautiful medieval churches, several of which we saw on Thursday.  It was a cold, windy, foggy, damp day, and since I was feeling quite ill those weather conditions were not the greatest.  But I have some pictures for you anyways! 

       Here are a few of the churches in the city center.

            Here are the walls of the Novgorod Kremlin, rather obscured by fog.

         Within the Kremlin is the Church of St. Sophia, the oldest cathedral in Russia.  Construction was started in 1045.  They were doing some renovation work on the outside while we were there, so while we were inside the church (where we could not take pictures), there was quite a bit of hammering going on.  Nonetheless, it was absolutely beautiful and incredible to be inside such an ancient building. 

           That night, we had our much-anticipated “Thanksgiving dinner” in the restaurant of a fancy hotel.  Although it was not exactly the usual spread, there was plentiful food, and the restaurant was decorated for Christmas, which gave it a festive feel.  In advance of the trip, we’d had a chance to sign up for a vegetarian option, which several of us jumped on as a chance to escape our usual meat-heavy fare for a couple of days.  Apparently, the restaurant interpreted “vegetarian” as “vegan”, however – they gave us separate salads to keep out the cheese, and left out all dairy from our meals.  This didn’t bother me at all, of course – but things got a little humorous when it came time for dessert.  The waitresses brought out little cakes for everyone in the group except us.  We then saw two of them conferring and looking in our direction – after twiddling our thumbs for five minutes they returned, bearing four dessert plates.  On each plate was a single, uncut green apple.  It was pretty hilarious.  And seriously, couldn’t they have at least managed a nice fruit salad?  But it worked out all right in the end because there are five birthdays in the group this week (including me, yay!) so our professor had bought a big cake for the group – of which I did manage to get a slice. 

          The next day, we went to the Yuriev Monastery, which was founded in the early twelfth century on the bank of the Volkhov River.  The monastery is a bit outside the city, and the area around it looks a bit wild – the distance from civilization made it even easier to imagine what it must have been like back in the Middle Ages.  Today, four monks and a few homeless people live there, and there is also a seminary on the monastery grounds.

         There are several churches inside the monastery, all of which are very beautiful.  We could not go inside any of the buildings, but it was lovely to just wander around and admire the architecture and the views down the river to Lake Illmen. 

        I was especially enamored by the church with the blue domes – isn’t it gorgeous? 

        After the monastery, we went to the Museum of Wooden Architecture, which is an outdoor museum sort of along the lines of Plymouth Plantation or Sturbridge Village, except without any actors.  It was quite neat, I do love Russian folk traditions.   Unfortunately it was hard to get pictures to come out since the wood was so dark, but here are the best ones that I got. 

           And there you have it – my trip to Novgorod!  I’m quite glad that I got to see such an old part of Russia – it was much different than the other places that I’ve been here and it added another dimension to my experience of this country. 

         On a much sadder note, I’ve seen in the news that there was a train derailment on the line between Moscow and St. Petersburg last night, which killed at least 39 people and injured many more.  They’ve just announced that it was caused by a bomb.  This is obviously incredibly disturbing news, and it’s kind of shaken me since I took that very trip just a month ago.  Apparently it actually crashed sort of near Novgorod, too…

        But anyways, now it’s the evening and I’ve pretty much just been sitting here in my room feeling ill all day.  I needed today to get a lot of schoolwork done, so it’s pretty unfortunate that I couldn’t manage to bring myself to do any! I just feel so darn yucky.  Hopefully I’ll make it out tomorrow.  \ In any event…only 12 days left!  Nothing like being sick while 4,000 miles away from home to make you really miss your mommy and your nice cozy bed.  Oh well, soon enough I suppose!

From Russia With Love,
Rachel

        Now that the end is so close (16 days!) I think we’re all getting a bit reflective.  I know I certainly am.  Looking back to the beginning of this semester, it’s hard to believe that I’m the same person and this is the same trip.  I’ve experienced so much, and I definitely feel that it has changed me.  My gut tells me that it’s for the better, but you can judge that for yourself when you next see me! 

       I still have to write two major papers, and somehow get graded on my sadly non-existent Russian language skills before I get to go home, though – my whirlwind farewell tour of the city will somehow have to be fit around some serious work. 

       Happily though, the rest of this week shall be work-free! Like you, we have a short Thanksgiving week.  After class tomorrow, we’re taking a four-hour bus ride to Novgorod, a small city to the southeast of Petersburg.  Founded sometime in the 800s, Novgorod is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is famous for its medieval buildings.  Judging from the pictures I’ve seen online, it should be absolutely beautiful, and I’m quite excited.  We’ll be back in Petersburg Friday evening, so I promise I’ll post pictures either Friday night or Saturday. 

        I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of pictures now…but I did have a rather fun Sunday that I can tell you about anyways.  The sun miraculously came out for a few hours, which certainly improved everyone’s spirits!  My friends and I went to the Mariinsky Theatre for a matinee performance of a choreographed dance set to a Pushkin poem.  It was mostly ballet, but it also incorporated some Cossack dancing, and even sword fighting!  The story was about Tatars who kidnapped a Polish princess, and it was incredibly well done.  The settings and costumes were fantastic, and the performance as a whole was absolutely breathtaking.  I actually think I liked it better than Swan Lake. 

        I do have a couple of pictures of the “New Year’s Tree” outside of the Mariinsky Theatre.  The one in my neighborhood is now also decorated, I’ll have to take a picture!

         Then we went to an Azerbaijani restaurant to celebrate my friend’s birthday.  If you ever get the chance to try this cuisine, do so! I had a delicious dish made of beans and walnuts and spices, garnished with pomegranate seeds…and some really yummy doughy bread.  ‘Twas excellent, and significantly more flavorful than most Russian food.

       We also watched a really great Russian movie – with subtitles of course – based on an essay by Joseph Brodsky called “In a Room and a Half,” about life in a communal apartment.  I don’t actually know the name of the movie though! Oops. 

        And back to the title of my post.  I will of course be missing out on the traditional Thanksgiving feasting this year, although we are apparently going to have some sort of big group dinner in Novgorod – sans turkey, since there is none to be found in Russia!  I do love Thanksgiving for reasons other than food though…it gives me a chance to express my inner cheesiness.  In that vein, would like to express my deep thanks to you, the family and friends who have supported me through my preparations, my pre-departure anxieties, and the last three months.  Your emails and comments have meant the world to me, and being able to keep in touch with all of you while I’m 4,000 miles away has really helped to make this experience great. So thank you!

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

         That means that tomorrow I’m going to actually have to get some work done!  I am planning on going out to wander a bit though – gotta make sure I can get in a tiny bit of sunlight when it’s around.  It’s not light out until 9:30 am now.  Thank goodness my classes don’t start until 10:30.  I’m usually a morning person, but these short days are really wreaking havoc on my internal clock.  Oh well, when I get home New England will feel abundantly sunny to me. 

       Per my mother’s request (hi Mom!) I’ve taken a bunch of pictures of my normal walk to school.  I was glad she suggested this – after all, my every day experience of Petersburg isn’t just the Hermitage and the Church on the Spilled Blood.  Generally it’s much more mundane and routine.  So now you can see what my life really looks like these days…

       To start, here’s the view from the door of my apartment down the stairs to the landing, followed by the landing window, and a second landing before the building’s exit.  The fourth picture is door to the building as seen from the outside.  These kind of ominous metal doors are standard here. 

        Note – the outdoor pictures were taken on two different days – one when it was snowing, and one when it was not.

         All along the streets here are these little alleys that open into courtyardish sort of deals where there are entrances to apartment buildings.  The picture on the left is inside my particular “courtyard” – the second picture is the view from the alley into the courtyard.  My building is the yellow one on the right in the second picture.

          The view to the left and the right down my street.  As you walk with me to school we’ll be turning right…

          Past this cafe and its dumpsters…

            A tiny park with some pretty sad trees, a sports bar and one of those sketchy alley entrances I told you about…

         Peer around this corner on the left, then keep going up the street.

           This corner park marks the beginning of “my” street.  There are lots of tiny little parks in this city, usually with a few pieces of playground equipment.  I tend to see people walking their dogs in this one, teenagers loitering on the swingsets, and often there is a man or two swigging something out of a bottle. 

             Here we are at the corner, next to the park.  Notice that weird brown facade that seems to just be floating there…don’t know what that’s about.  There’s a Dolce and Gabana perfume ad with Scarlett Johansen on my corner, which I find vaguely amusing for some reason.  On those billboards is an ad for the “National Police Day” – before that, they had an ad for National Unity Day.

        Now we’d best wait for the light to turn green before we cross this street…

          After a bit of walking, we’ll get to the intersection that crosses Bolshoy Prospekt, one of the biggest fancy shopping streets in Petersburg.  While we wait for the light to turn green, take a look left and right down the street.

             Once we cross, we’ll reach this little square in front of the Armani store.  Just a few days ago the city started putting up giant artificial New Years trees in all neighborhoods of the city.  (Yes, they basically have our Christmas celebrations on New Years! Although Russian Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, during the Soviet era  religion was prohibited and the state focused celebrations on New Years).  I actually think this one looks a little ridiculous, because as you can see they put it up next to a bunch of huge REAL pine trees.  Not quite sure what the logic was there…allegedly it will be lit up at some point but I have seen no signs of that yet. 

         After walking a bit further, we come  to one of the many wooden sidewalks made with planks and corrugated steel.  I don’t really know why these are here – they’re kind of weird.  And difficult to navigate when they’re full of people holding opened umbrellas!

         We’ll cross the street again here, past the road work that has been going on for the last couple of weeks.  That store across the street is “1001 Handbags”. 

        And now we walk down the street to Chkalovskaya metro station. 

       And here, on the corner, is the familiar landmark/meeting place of the metro station itself.

         We cross the street to the sushi restaurant…

        Take a left, walk down the street, passing the blini stand, and take a right at the shoe store. 

         We’ll walk down a side street past a couple of auto body shops…

        And arrive at school.

           And there you have it! It takes me somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes to walk to class each day, which is quite nice.  A lot of people have long metro commutes, and I am quite grateful that I don’t have to go underground, but rather get a chance to stretch my legs each day.  I don’t really get much other exercise here, so it’s very helpful for my sanity to at least walk a bit.

          Although I tend to show you the pretty pictures of the fun places I go, remember I am in fact studying here, so most days are just spent in class, getting lunch somewhere with friends, and going back to my homestay to do homework, eat dinner, etc.  It’s not all glamorous, that’s for sure! 

        I’m quite excited for next week though – we’re going to be taking a brief trip to Novgorod, a medieval city not too far from here.  It’ll only be two nights, and will be spending Thanksgiving there.  I’m really looking forward to it – it’s supposed to be a beautiful place and it will be great to get another perspective on Russia. 

       Thanks for bearing with me through that massive and rather mundane post!  I hope you’re all doing well, and getting excited for some festive feasting on Thursday…

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

      Anyways.  Sunday, before I crawled into my cave and started trying to write my paper, I went for a very long (and cold!) walk with my friend.  We wandered all the way to the Alexander Nevsky monastery, which contains two cemeteries.  I’d wanted to make it over there because it is where Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky are buried – two famous Russians to whom I feel especially connected. 

       On the way over there, we had a nice view down one of the central canals.  It was a rather grey day of the sort that makes it really hard to take photos.

       We got to the monastery, and after a brief argument with the ticket sales lady (she was angry because we had Russian student IDs even though we’re foreign), we entered the cemetery.  Because of the snow and the elaborate statues on the tombs, it kind of reminded me of the cemetery scene in Phantom of the Opera.  Sinead, are you with me on this one? 

             Luckily, there were little street signs in the cemetery pointing to Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky’s graves!  Since their names were written in the fancy church variant of Cyrillic script, it was pretty much impossible for me to read them.  Here’s Dostoevsky’s tomb.

           Flowers had been laid on most of the tombs, clearly by devoted fans.  Here’s the statue on top of Tchaikovsky’s tomb.

             And here are a few more tombs that were particularly intereting.  I’m afraid I didn’t recognize the name. 

        We also went into the actual monastery grounds, but photography was not permitted.  However, I took this picture of one of the churches from outside the walls.

           We went inside the church, and it was really lovely.  It was pretty dim outside by that point, so very little light was coming in the windows – it was mostly lit by the candles in front of the icons.  Their yellow flickering glow in front of ancient, gold-embellished paintings created a beautiful warmth that was only added to by the scent of beeswax and incense.  In one corner of the church, a priest was standing in front of an altar covered with candles, swinging a smoking ball of incense back and forth and chanting the names written down in prayer requests that the faithful had submitted.  Several older women were gathered around him, and when he finished reading they sang a hymn. I felt lucky to have such an intimate glimpse into the spiritual life of the Russian Orthodox church.   There is something about the high domes of the churches, the huge amounts of gold embellishments, and the old women lighting candles, heads covered, in front of icons that seems to just fit Russia in some deep way.  It’s a religious environment that is completely at odds with my own Puritan heritage but I can absolutely see the spirituality in it and be moved by it nonetheless.   

         On the other side of the coin – we’ve been reading a lot this week about housing in the Soviet era (and up to today).  It’s completely and utterly depressing.  During the 1950’s especially, urban Russians were assigned communal apartments, in which each family was allotted one room, and kitchen and bathroom facilities were shared amongst the entire “kommunalka”.  Basically each person was allotted 5 square meters, and rooms were assigned accordingly.  So if you were a family of four, you would get 20 square meters. The shoddy high-rises that were built in later decades weren’t much of an improvement, as Soviet planners basically showed no regard for the complex and varied needs people have in their living spaces.  We’ve been looking at this one website that’s really well done if you’re interested – it’s a virtual museum of a communal apartment.  I’ve linked to the “essays” section, which features videos, photos, and essays, but if you look around the website there’s a lot to be seen.  The living conditions were clearly pretty horrible.  Above all, I find the thought of living in that era utterly depressing – with both jobs and housing assigned, it seems to me there wasn’t too much room for free will.  I mean, I guess that was kind of the point…but I have no idea how people lived like that without their souls just dying.  It’s been making me think a lot about how much we value freedom of choice in our living spaces, and the vast psychological benefit we derive from having some degree of power over our environments. 

        But I have probably philosophized long enough now.  After all that I feel like I should give you something to cheer you up.  So here’s a picture I promised long ago…remember when I wore sneakers with a dress while walking to the ballet? Here’s evidence, courtesy of my friend Shalini. In my homestay before the ballet, and putting ‘em back on after. 

         Yes, I am a fool.  But hey, at least I know it. 

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

         The past few days have been snowy and beautiful.  This much snow in November is pretty atypical – usually it just rains this time of year – so I feel very lucky to be seeing the city under a lovely white blanket. 

            On Thursday, we went to the Museum of the Blockade of Leningrad.  As I’ve mentioned before, during World War II this city (then called Leningrad) was under siege by the Nazis for almost 900 days.  During this time artillery bombardment  killed about 17,000 people – but this was a minute number compared with the million that died of starvation. 

           The first winter of the blockade was the worst.  When the Nazis first lay siege to the city, there was a very limited food supply available, and by the winter rations had been reduced to 125 grams of bread a day.  I don’t really think in grams, so that wasn’t a very tangible figure to me until I saw a display at the museum of that bread ration – it sure wasn’t much.  Maybe the equivalent of two slices of sandwich bread.  The worst part is that it wasn’t even real bread.  The flour supply was so small that they used sawdust and all sorts of other fillers to try to provide some sort of bulk to these starving people.   After that winter, some rations were brought into the city across Lake Ladoga, but there still wasn’t much to eat for the rest of the war. 

           We listened to a recording of an air raid, as well as to some radio broadcasts from that time.  Even while the war was ongoing, Leningraders were very much aware that they were living at a watershed moment in the history of their city, and did a great deal to record what was going on. 

          Another particularly fascinating exhibit was a map of the city showing which areas were most heavily bombarded.  I was able to find my neighborhood on the map, and saw that it was bombed extensively.  For the past couple of days, I’ve been walking down the streets imagining empty shells of buildings, starving survivors, and piles of rubble.  This city is haunted,  and if you’re not careful it gets under your skin and starts to haunt you too. 

          That same evening, in a radical change of pace, we went to a performance of Cossack dancing.  The performance was in a big modern performance hall, and the audience was mostly middle-aged Russians.  It was definitely kitschy, but not tourist oriented.  Many of the songs performed were obviously very well-known, as most of the audience was singing along.  There were some incredible acrobatic feats, including jumping back and forth over swords and and some ridiculous whirling leaps through the air.  Oddly enough, there were also some moves that were basically the same as those performed by break-dancers!  Those Cossacks would have fit right in on the streets of New York City in the ‘70s, I guess.

         In the interest of procrastination your edification, I have scoured YouTube for a good video of this kind of dancing.  Here’s the best one I found…

         Last night we had a group discussion of Crime and Punishment…oh how I love that book.  Re-reading it in the city where it takes place is a completely different experience.  Petersburg itself plays a huge role in the novel, and being here has really allowed me to get inside the heads of the characters in a way that I never could before I came here. 

         Walking to my professor’s apartment (where we had the discussion), I saw some really pretty views of the snow-covered city.  Here are a few pictures.

       Walking across the Field of Mars (an old military parade ground):

         A view down the canal next to the field.

           Across the bridge in the other direction.

           And the Church on the Spilled Blood.  It was pretty dark, so these pictures didn’t turn out great. 

          Well, that’s all I’ve got for now…

          I have a truly frightening amount of work to do before this semester is out…eek.  I promise I’ll be better about posting this week though, even if it’s just a couple of pictures! After all, more work means more procrastination…and I have some photos of my neighborhood that I’ve gotta put up one of these days. 

From Russia With Love,

Rachel

         I had been a bit concerned that our vacation would drag by with only a few people left in Petersburg, but it actually went by very quickly, and I stayed quite busy!  I saw some things I probably wouldn’t have gotten to otherwise, so that was nice. 

        On Saturday, my friend and I went to Pushkin, another imperial palace and garden outside the city.  The town where the residence is situated was originally named Tsarskoe Selo, but was renamed Pushkin after the beloved Russian poet because he went to school in that town.  The imperial residence is also commonly referred to as Pushkin.  Like Pavlovsk, it is accessed by taking the metro and then a suburban bus (it’s actually on the way to Pavlovsk).  This Saturday, I had quite an odd encounter on that bus. 

       My friend Kendall and I were sitting in the second row.  Right after we sat down, a guy got on the bus who was clearly very drunk…and he was carrying a bottle of beer.  Mind you, this was at noon.  He was probably in his mid twenties, and had long, greasy hair and generally looked quite unwashed.  He went to the back of the bus and sat with a few other rowdy guys, and we thought nothing of it.  Until he came up to the front of the bus, sat in the first row, turned around, and said “Privyet”. 

      The bus had started moving, and we were kind of trapped there with him.  Normally, in this sort of situation I would ignore the person and walk away, but that wasn’t really an option in this case.  So we replied “Privyet.”  He then asked us our names, in Russian, while grabbing our hands to shake.  I will add that his hand was VERY dirty.  Kendall and I reluctantly offered our first names, hoping he would just go away.  But no.  He introduced himself as Vanya.  Then he asked us if we were going to Pavlovsk.  “Nyet,” we answered happily.  Of course, he then proceeded to ask where we were going.  Kendall thought he was asking where we were from, and said “America”.  Then his friend in the back of the bus chimed in and helped him with the English of “to where”.  We didn’t answer right away, but since the bus was going to Pushkin and Pavlovsk and we’d said we weren’t going to Pavlovsk, he figured out our destination pretty easily. 

       By this point, he was talking directly to me.  He then asked me if I would go to Pavlovsk with him.  “Nyet,” I replied.  He asked again, this time adding that we could drink alcohol there.  “Nyet,” I replied once again.  He kept insisting, and I kept “nyet”-ing him.  Finally, he said something else in Russian, and we just said we didn’t understand, and he went to the back of the bus. 

       He and his friends were being quite loud though, and though they were speaking in Russian and I couldn’t understand them, I heard “Rachel” several times, which obviously made me quite uncomfortable.  Remember, we were basically trapped on this bus for half an hour, and going far out of the city. 

       So after a little while Vanya suddenly pops up again, wordlessly leans over Kendall and hands me a slip of paper, then disappears again.  I like to call this paper (which I have of course saved), “Exhibit A”.  Here is an exact transcript of what he wrote (with his English speaking friend’s help).  Imagine that it is in an incredibly wavery drunken looking sort of printing. 

       “  !!! Let’s go to Pavlovsk!

           It’s Better than Pushkin!

           Let’s drink some…!  “

       See why I was getting a little nervous at this point?  Five minutes later, he pops up again and thrusts another slip of paper at me, this one with his phone number on it (“Exhibit B”).  Luckily, he then returned to the back of the bus again.  When we got to our stop, I was very much afraid that Vanya and his posse was going to follow us – but luckily they did not.   However, as I was stepping off the bus, he started crying out from the back of the bus – “Rachel! Rachel! Rachel!  I AMOUR you! Raaaachhheeell!”

       Soooo bizarre. And he was SO drunk.  Oy.  So that was a pretty hilarious sort of incident, since it turned out okay.  Believe me, I’ve been having a lot of fun re-enacting this scene for my friends that were not there.  Oh, if only he had turned up a couple of years ago, I would’ve had a prom date after all.  Ha. 

       Once we escaped from my admirer, we had to find our way through the town of Pushkin to the imperial residence, which was fairly simple.  The grounds are not anywhere as near as large as Pavlovsk’s, but the Catherine Palace at Pushkin is much more impressive than the palace at Pavlovsk.   Notice the SNOW on the ground!!

          The town of Pushkin was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, and the Catherine Palace was damaged extremely badly.  However, through some incredibly extensive restoration efforts, it looks fantastic once again.  Restorations are ongoing, and we couldn’t tour through too much of the palace. But what we did see was quite glamorous!  Here’s one side of the entrance hall (the other side had an identical staircase) and a closeup of a statue.

          And here is a rather large and over the top ballroom.

          The views out the windows to the snow-covered grounds were lovely.

       This palace was built specifically for Catherine the Great, and clearly she liked a lot of decoration. 

           Fancy dining tables…

        Some other random palace interior pictures:

          After we’d finished touring the palace, and looking at a fascinating exhibit of photos and such about the restoration, we wandered around the grounds until our extremities started to freeze.

          Once our poor frozen toesies could take no more, we hobbled our way back to the bus and headed back.  Luckily, this time there were no overly friendly drunkards riding with us. 

         I was really glad we made it out to both Pavlovsk and Pushkin over break – if we hadn’t, I would have left Russia without seeing two of the most well known Petersburg – area attractions.  It was especially lovely to see the snow on the ground at Pushkin.  The past couple of days have been a bit warmer and it’s melted, so I’m quite glad it was so cold when we were there. 

        It’s hard to believe there’s only a month left of this trip! With the amount of work I have, it’ll probably be stressful but go by quickly.  The lights that have been hung over Nevsky Prospekt have reminded me that Christmas is on the way…

From Russia With Love,

Rachel