Just alot of nothing

So this is me thinking all the way back to last week. Let me first mention how much I love my host family. Igor went to the Dasha (it is just some random house that all Russians have outside of the main city). He went to go pick flower and mushroom. The flowers were gorgeous. They were these fuchsia lily like things. The mushrooms were delicious. I finally have realized what people mean when the say that Russia has amazing mushroom. I have yet to get tired of them. So for every day this week I had mushroom soup. Nothing is better than some good mushroom soup!

Besides that last week I didn't really do much. I went to class, chillaxed, you know the usual. One Friday I decided to explore around St. Petersburg University. It is nice, a little boring. I bough a cheap umbrella, tried to get used to my surroundings, you know the usual.

Jessica finally got her luggage that has been in storage for 3ish weeks. So the full story: its all corrupt. It all started in Canada where she decided to send, by cargo, her luggage through British Airways. Before going to Russia, she decided to backpack Europe and couldn't lug around all her stuff, especially because she is a goalie in hockey and their equipment is quite heavy and extravagant. In Canada the cargo man told her all she needed to do was pay a little fee and pick up her luggage at the airport. Seems simple enough...well it isn't. The day she arrive in Russia they told her the cargo place was closed and she couldn't pick up anything. Then she went numerous times after that and no one knew where her cargo was. Each person told her to go to a different person and the cargo place told her she couldn't go to them unless she paid but no one knew where to pay. Twice, I went with her to the airport and no one knew anything. Her mother got involved in Canada and called up the original cargo man that mailed it out. He wasn't any help. Also, she involved the consulate in Russia and Canada. They tried to help. We also went to the information office at British Airways in the airport. This is when they first told us that she needs to pay a large lump sum and that she needs to also pay for a customs broker. Jessica knew nothing of this. On top of all this, custom brokers only work with commercial stuff. Her luggage was not commercial, it was her stuff, so no one wanted to help her. So once again for a week she was told to go to one office to the next. She called every possible consulate and then they came up with a explanation. They pretty much told her she had to pay 1500 dollars and pick up her cargo and each day she kept it there she has to pay more money. The issue still stood though: where was her luggage? So finally Sergei came back from his trip and they went to the airport. Things were accomplished. She went to offices she never even heard about and got her luggage and payed a sketch man 1600 dollars (so sketch he wrote out her receipt by hand and drove a BMW). Of course this money was meant for her semester stay in Russia so now she is broke, but isn't cold. What a wonderful payoff. Only in Russia can these things happen.

The weekend wasn't bad. Saturday Jessica and I just walked around doing nothing. I went to McDonalds! I had fries and ice cream (Hannah recommended the 50 cent ice cream so I had to get it). I also got ketchup. Can anyone explain to me the concept of paying for condiments. I don't want to pay 50 cents for ketchup! am I really that pampered in the US? Jessica got free condiments with her chicken fingers. Once again this vegetarian hatred motif arises. She got sweet and sour sauce, or I think it was. I translated to Acid Sweet Sauce. It was delicious.

Sunday we went to Pushkin. Of course I am never notified about anything and thought it actually had something to do with Pushkin, the poet. Well apparently not. It is a town named after him. In this wonderful town, about a 20 minute bus ride from St. Pete, is a castle.

Ok lets start off with the ride there. We took the metro to some part of Russia and then ate at Pizza Hut. I really need to stop telling you people where I eat but I just had to mention that there are Pizza Huts in Russia. It was delicious and cheap. During our (me and Jessica) whole dinner they played crappy English music. I am talking about Hanson and Spice Girls here. No seriously, we walked in and Mmmbop was playing!

So then we take the bus ride there in one of the miniature buses and there were not enough seats so I sat on Jessica's lap. I think i damaged her. During the whole ride I listened to these three Russian boys talk. It was hilarious, at one point this guy started singing Billy Jean and then Sexy Back. I literally think it made my day!

Pushkin is wonderful. It is this small quaint town with a garden in it. Of course in the garden stood the castle. We decide to walk around before looking at the castle. Well this garden is HUGE. I am talking it has a map like the one you get (free) at Epcot. It wasn't as extravagant as Peterhof but it was just wonderful to be in, very green and fresh. It is much greener than Peterhof and the random building are interesting to say the least. There is a Chinese garden apparently where two Chinese like buildings stand. It is weird being in Russia and seeing a red hut like building, especially when at the time you don't know that you are in a place called the Chinese Garden. We then venture back to the castle to find a huge line waiting to get in. Of course the line doesn't move for like 15 minutes so we decided not to go in. Apparently that is where the beauty is though. The infrastructure, painting, sculpture, etc. are actually what attracts an audience. I will go back there and explore the inside.

After exploring the garden we decided to explore the town, find anything worth finding. Of course I see a flee market and decided we should walk through. No such a good idea. Every other stand was a honey stand and there were bees EVERYWHERE. they were on the honey, inside the honey, in the air, on people, etc. It was like death trap for people allergic to bees (ironically Jessica is one of them).

Instead of being cramped up in a bus again we decided to find the train station. So it took us an hour to find it and asking like 20 Russians where it is. This is how Russians explain directions to you: they point in the general direction. I mean if you angle your arm just right I will know exactly where to go...right. So finally we ask the right person and we walk another 15 minutes. God were my legs hurting by then. The train station is not understandable, well it is so confusing that we decided not to even take it. Maybe next time!

Well that was me whole week! Nothing too interesting

Few Notes
-I love my host family more and more each and every day. I still feel bad for them though. I am such an inept American trying trying to learn, but I am getting better. My comprehension is getting fairly better. I think I comprehend my host family more though because I know what they are thinking, listening to my Russian teacher is a little harder. I usually just blankly stare at them. Or I do know what is going on but I am still processing it, and then they explain it in simpler terms because they think I don't understand. I really hate that.

There are like random silent pauses when I don't understand something the host family says. Its like the worse awkward pauses ever and I can't do anything about it because I want to learn. I am also unintentionally teaching them English. How cute is that. I don't know when I helped him, but Igor took out one of his notebooks on English and started to read to me. Its really funny when they try to distinguish the difference between vowels. Beeeech (beach)...Biiiitch. I giggled.

-Did you know that the Canadian consulate in Russia is actually within the Australian consulate. Apparently no Canadians go to Russia for them to have a separate consulate...but isn't is also a commonwealth of England? random I know.

That is all for now