The post I started 2 weeks ago...

Is there a word that translate to organization in Russian? probably not, because it doesn't exist. And by saying it doesn't exist, I mean it really really really doesn't exist. On Tuesday (Oct. 29thish) I had class. I didn't know where it was because of two reason. 1) I had my final the day before and wasn't in class(I will get to that soon) 2) Classes for the past week have been all over the place. Apparently St. Pete University in general was having exams. Because of this our classes were moved to accommodate the test takers. Our class of course had to be moved to a whole new building that is about a 15/20 minute walk away. Friday of last week I was told that classes would resume to normal on Tuesday so I was banking in on that statement. Well no such luck

This is the story:

So I go to the normal building early and to see no one in my class. I wait a little and then, being me, I get scared that no one has showed up so I walk outside thinking that maybe my classmates were just walking to the building. No such luck, and then i remembered 307. This is what we call the room of amazingness. They know what is going on (which is rare in this country called Russia) and can tell you what to do and how to do it (I lived in this room when preparing my Multi-entry visa). So I go to the room and there was this lone lady. I ask her where my class is and she calls a number and told me it is 221. I walk down a flight of stairs, go to the door, and it is locked. By this time class has started so it shouldn't have be locked. I go back upstairs and tell her no such luck. She then tell me to check my schedule. Of course I have already been there and it isn't open, and I tell her that. At this point she was just as lost as me. So I sit for a little in the office while she calls a couple other numbers. So then she tells me my room was now in 212. I say thanks and go down the same flight of stairs, arrive at the room and like it has been all day-it is locked. Out of nowhere this old lady comes and opens up the door, turns on the lights, and tells me to sit. Being stupid, and stunned, I didn't ask her where my class actually is. She disappears. So I wait alone in this one room for like 5 minutes and decide to just check my normal room again. You know things can change quite quickly here. So I leave the room walk to the other room and the lights just so happen to be on. no such luck, there was a different class in there taking a test. I then read a note on the door that said to go to room 415. The note is for a different class but I think maybe it applies to me too. I walk up to 415 and there is also another class in there too. I then go back to the lonely room I was siting in (mind you this was 3 minutes later) and there was my class. It was like magic.

Apparently what happened was the day before (Monday) the class was told that classes will stay in the other (non-normal) building. So the whole class (minus me) met there to be told nope you are in the other building. So the whole time I was waiting for them they were walking to me. So this is what we call Russian organization. No one knows anything and somehow everything works out just later than it was planned to.

Ok so now lets talk about last week. Wednesday I had my presentation (wow does that feel like it was ages ago) in my business class. It went well. We met up an hour before class to run through everything etc. but one person didn't show up. He also didn't read anything over the weekend (when I sent out the powerpoint and told everyone what needed to be said and when) because his parents were in town. Because of this we were a little (but not dramatically) disorganized. Also, we were right after the longest presentation that ever existed. It was 50 minutes...no joke. So anyways I don't think the teacher was happy with life when we were presented, so he gave us lower marks than we deserved. regardless, It went well. I was really proud of everything and my group members thanked me for all my work. That in itself is just more wonderful than a good grade.

Thursday and Friday was Katya-less day again. We had the same teacher as the week before. Still don't like her. I also wasn't prepared for class because I was doing the damn powerpoint for like 3 days straight and all the jazz. So i go to class which apparently started earlier than normal. Apparently, according to some source of mine, the school decided (out of nowhere) to turn the 2 block system into a 3 blocks system. . Because there are now 3 blocks, classes in the 3rd block need to get out earlier than like 6pm or something like that so they made the 1st and 2nd block earlier. Now my classes start at 9am and 12:20pm. I am not OK with this change. 9am means I have to wake up at 6:45 leave the apt. by 8:10 to get to class 10 minutes early (i like to be punctual). stupid, stupid school. So anyways as soon as I enter class the teacher looks at me and start making me talk. I can't even comprehend my life let alone speak in another language right when I walk through the door. So for the rest of the class she just yelling at me, making me feel incompetent. Not cool. So of course Friday I prepare for class get there early and she was late. I KNOW FREAKING TEACHER. class went well and I feel less incompetent now.

This weekend was boring. I didn't do much. I went to see Jessica's first hockey game. She had to be Vika, a 12 year old Russian goalie because she was playing for the younger girls division. Mind you, she is 24 years old and not Vika and doesn't look at all like a Russian. So every time the ref looked at her she held her head down and pretended not to exist. It was entertaining to watch.

So anyways they lost. They were playing against some really good boys team. It was so cute to watch though. Everyone was falling over everyone else's sticks and there was a cute 5 year old girl playing in the division. Apparently, before I got there, she scored the only shot on the girl's end. It was a penalty shot. How cute is that, the whole stadium of course went wild (so I heard).

It really wasn't Jessica's fault that they lost. She is a really good goalie but the goalie's job is to keep the puck out of the net on the first attempt, all other attempts must be intercepted by the players (Kudos for me for understanding something about hockey). Her teammates couldn't stop the other attempts and Jessica was already somewhere else from the first interception so the puck went in. I think the game ended 8-1 or maybe 7-1. At least they are playing and having fun doing so!

After that we walk along Cenaya ploshads. Apparently it is one of the oldest streets in St. Pete. It was pretty then we decided to be boring and hop on the metro and see all of the red line's stops. it is the the first metro line in St. Pete and all of there stops are open. Usually there is a second door that has to open up for you to get onto and leave the train. Because of that, you cannot see the exterior. Jessica heard that there is this one beautiful stop and that she hasn't seen it yet. Of course it is like the longest ride ever, I think it took 20 minutes and like 5 stops to get there, but it was worth it. It has freaking Chandeliers, in the metro! who does that? Also the pillars were like this gorgeous bronze color with glass pieces on it. God I can't even describe it but it almost beats the ceilings in the Hermitage. it as that breathtaking. Random, but beautiful!

Nothing too interesting the rest of the week until Wednesday. I had no business class, obviously, because I took the exam and I wasn't (for one day) go to the Russian literature class at St. Pete U. So instead, I decided to wake up late(r) and go on a museum hunt. Rule of thumb, don't ever plan anything in Russia. So anyways I wanted to go to the Museum of Applied Art (my host mother raved about it the night before). So I go there to see a small little sign that said it was closed. I personally don't know if that means indefinitely or not, but regardless, I had no plans but that for the day. It was also raining, like St. Petersburg always does, so I decided not to walk too far (I forgot my umbrella in my room). So I went to the closest museum which so happened to be on of the Russian Museum's subset buildings. The Russian Museum has like 6 buildings, all of which are usually referred to as the Russian Museum. Very confusing. I went first to Mikali's castle, I think it is also referred to as the Engineer's palace. Anyways it is gorgeous inside and out. I first entered the building to find the best exhibit I have seen thus far. Of course it wasn't an exhibit of a Russian artist but instead a Canadian artist by the name of Robert Bateman. He is the best wildlife painter that every existed. all the paintings were breathtaking. So anyways I go upstairs to the other more permanent exhibits. The cool thing about the Russian museum, is that all paintings are either of Russia, by Russian painters, or by people that spent time working in Russia. It is very authentic and nice but nothing really stood out for me. So after an hour in the Engineer's palace I went to the marble palace. It is really weird to call something the marble palace because everything is marble in Russia. So anyways ironically, thinking it will be all sophisticated, everything was modern. There was a main exhibition by a Russian who just died (who I also think was Jewish because a lot of his paintings had Hebrew on them). His name was Ebgeni Abeshaus (or something like that). He is one of those you either hate or like painters. Some of his painting were breath taking and others were just black canvases with glued on rubles and happy shiny paint. You know that paint you get at the dollar store that is all glittery. Yeah it weird to say the least. The other exhibits had to do with the modernization of 20th century painters. Of course that means there just had to be a jacket entitled the Costume of a Golden Ass. Don't even ask what was in it. My favorite had to be Olympia by Надежда Зубарева. I don't know how she does it but she takes like aluminum coils and turns it into a human body. Google her, she is amazing.

Well then nothing again interesting happened until Halloween. I didn't do anything too exciting but I still had fun. I went to James' apartment (which is right by the Morinski Theater). There we (Me, James, and the Taiwanese) carved a pumpkin, watched Legends of Sleepy Hallow and roasted pumpkin seeds. Seriously, that was the most Halloween festive I have ever been my whole life. It was very fun, and pumpkin seeds are very delicious straight out of the oven. After that James wanted to take us to this cafe where a DJ was going to play Halloween music. Of course the cafe was completely crowded and filled with smoke so we left quite quickly and wound up at another cafe. There we just drank tea and talked.

So anyways we just so happened to get seats right by these 5 police officers. Nothing dramatic happened, but it was quite obvious there disgust towards the Taiwanese. I really don't know how to explain it, but every couple of minutes they would just give us the evil eye. It also didn't help that we were loud and random diner games (or whatever you want to call them). Also we were just walking back to the bus stop when we ran into a lady/man with a Mastiff. The dog was so gorgeous and huge, and all the Taiwanese (i really need to come up with a better name for them) stared at it with amazement. The lady/man gave them the middle finger and walked away. Seriously Russians you need to get with the times. The Asians are taking over the world better now to get along with them, then go through the consequences in the near future.

Sunday was also a never plan in Russia day. I wanted to go to the Pushkin House Museum and it just so happened to be closed, indefinitely I am not sure. Anyways I again didn't want to walk too much so I went to the closest museum, which was the Naval Museum. I can now say for certain that boats bore me. I walk in there and of course there is every school child that existed there. So the place is packed and I decided to have some fun and take pictures when I didn't have permission. Some places like the Russian Museum you can't take pictures of anything and other places you have to pay an extra fee to take pictures. This place was under the extra fee concept. So I took some pictures when I had the scary old ladies walk down. Every time I knew you wasn't looking I took a picture. I feel so dangerous now, you gotta watch out people, I am going to come back a rebel.