Two weekends of fun and walking

I will like to admit right now that I need to learn to write less. So here is a wonderful blog on only highlights. Of course it will still be long, but there will be nothing about school :-D

So last Saturday (November 14th) I decided to just walk around Nevsky. I finally decided to, because I didn't want to bore myself alone, go to the actual Russian Museum. You see there are subsets of the Russian Museum and also the actual RUSSIAN MUSEUM. The cute little subsets, like the Engineer's palace and the marble palace, have most of their building closed off. There are about 4 or 5 exhibitions and that is it. Well in the Russian Museum it is quite different. You can walk through the whole building and the building is like the Hermitage, just like 16 times smaller (trust me that is still quite big for a museum).

Well my problems are started in the cloak room. After I came home from Moscow I decided it would be best to just live in my winter coat. This thing is HUGE. So for the first time, I decided to use a museum cloak room. You would think that they would be easy but no. So I go to the first cloak room that I see, in this museum there is about 5 or 6. So anyways I put my jacket on some random hook but don't get a number. This is usually what happens. You get a number so you know where your jacket is. I then got scared. I planned on being in the museum long enough to forget where my coat was.

So I finally get to the actual museum, it is a freaking maze to get from the cloak room to the exhibitions. Every now and then I stopped staring at painting and started to think about what if I couldn't find my coat. I finally got over it and enjoyed myself quite well. I have a new favorite painting: The Ninth Wave. It is gorgeous.

I think I can finally tell you all my painting style. Well first off I hate staring at icons for too long, religious painting normally bore me. What excites me are landscape picture. But not any landscape picture, but ones with nice fluffy clouds. I like clouds, and rainbows, and sunsets and tree.

I walked through the museum for about 2 hours. I found some of the most famous painting that Russia has to offer which obvious are: The Last Day Pompeii and The Knight at the Crossroad. Very gorgeous to look at in person. Very big too!

I then decide enough is enough and decide to leave the building. So, obviously being a smart person, I follow the exit signs. oops! wrong exit. apparently there are two ways to leave the building. So then i decide the best course of action is to retrace my steps. The thing with museums are that you forget quite fast what you have and haven't seen. So i looked for highlights. I finally found my way to the "right" exit. So then my mind again starts racing. Where is my cloakroom. I don't know. I go to the first cloak room I see and go to where I think it is, and there it is- my coat. I am relieved. Stressed for no reason.

On Sunday, the next day, I had a planned "Cooking in Russia" seminar with Jessica and Sergei. It was quite fun. One of Sergei's friend's daughters came along too. Her name is dzhenya. It translate somehow to Jane in English but if you were to write it out it is actually Jenna. She is younger than Jess and I, but is quite amazing. Get this, she is still in school (high school I am presuming) and is learning her 3rd language. She is fluent in English and Russian and is now learning German. Why couldn't America be that cool. I wish I was fluent in 3 languages by like 16!!!!

So we learned how to make grecha/Kasha/buckwheat and sirniki. The buckwheat came out amazing. Very delicious. The sirniki was a different story. I actually know how to make it now but his style is way different then my host mother's. I am quite biased in my sirniki because her's are THAT amazing. Ironically that morning she made some. Very fun to actually taste the differences. Anywho, We made the sirniki too thick and put to much flour on the outside of them. When you combine this two things, disaster ensues. You see flour, obviously, makes everything burn faster and if you have a thick "pancake" then everything doesn't cook all the way thru. Regardless of this disaster, I still enjoyed the night.

Funny story. So I decided to bring up my fascination with kettles. Of course I didn't know that was what I was talking about when I brought it up. I asked if everyone in Russia uses an electric boiling water thing. They all stared at me. I was like I have never seen something like this before. And they just laughed. I mean the only time I ever see anyone make hot water it is on the stove. Although electric kettles are convenient (because that is what they are), apparently tea tastes better from a pot on the stove.

I also learned about Russian business banquets. Apparently, Russians are very keen into keeping conversations group oriented. In Georgia they actually have a designated person that sits at each table to make sure that there are no personal conversations going on. Very weird. So I have now placed America at the far left, Russia in the middle, and China on the far far right. America is very chilaxed in there banquets, Russia has some order, and China has PROTOCOL. hahaha

The next weekend, was also pretty eventful. On Saturday (my sister's 23rd birthday), I decided to just get off the metro at a random exit. It actually wasn't too random. A couple of days prior my host mother told me of a book store. Apparently this bookstore is the cheapest bookstore in St. Pete and Dom Kinigi is the most expensive store. This is very strange to me because you can get a huge hard covered book for like 4 dollars at Dom Kinigi. So anyways, I didn't remember which stop it was, I was between two, and the stops were very close together so I just decides to get off at one and walk to the other.

So I went off at the farthest stop I looked around a little, found nothing, and then headed to the closer one. Right by the metro there was a carnival. I am thinking about going back to it later on. I didn't go inside the park, it seemed like the rides weren't working. So I then went to the closer stop and I looked around there, also nothing. Then I walked back to the father one, look even more and still found nothing. I didn't even see a book store in all my walking. So I killed my legs for nothing. Very sad.

That night I told the host family where I was, they clarified the stop and the name of the store. I should be OK for my next attempt.

Sunday I went to Pavlovsk. Very gorgeous. Sergei planned the whole thing. We met up with him (and Dzhenya) at the train station. from there we took the train to Pavlovsk. It was kinda a fun trip. There was this group of Russian student,I am presuming, that decided to play guitar and sing "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. I don't think it could get better than that. The trip lasted a whole 15 minutes and then we arrived at Pavlovsk. Surprisingly, Pushkin is a town next too Pavlovsk. Apparently people go to both places in one day. I would personally die if I did that!

When we got there we walked in the park for a little. It was actually a pretty day out, I SAW THE SUN!!!! We went to the castle and obviously, like all others, it was magnificent. This castle, unlike Peterhof and Pushkin, is actually a livable castle. The rooms weren't gaudy, there wasn't a lot of disgustingly expensive things everywhere. It was just a nice quaint place.

So I saw like a bazillion clocks and it made me think. How do they synchronize clocks in castles. I mean for one there is no satellite to do it for them and there are like what 300 rooms and all of them have a clock. Seems like the worst job ever!

Just a little history: The palace was built for Catherine II's son Paul. So Paul lived, when he was emperor, duke, etc., in the Emperor's palace. He had this false sense of security, and that was what ultimately killed him. There were rebels, we will call them, that decided to take action. He heard them coming and decided to hide in the fireplace cover. The rebels thought that he left the room, hearing of their impending arrival. They then noticed a piece of cloth sticking out of the fireplace cover. They pulled him out and because he made so much noise, they killed him. For some reason, I don't know if it was by his wife or the museum, the fireplace cover is on display in one of the rooms. Kinda creepy if you ask me. After that Maria Feodorovna, his wife, moved to Palvosk and lived there for rest of her life.

She is my new favorite Duchess. She seemed very simple. She painted and stitched a lot and was very talented. Usually you don't think of royalty as being talented in the arts, but she really was! Her painting were all over the palace.

Well that is enough for now. Until next time :-D

Some side notes

What I have noticed in Russia thus far....

What is racism? I think I have come up with a new definition while I have lived here. Racism in its most natural form is that of a “hatred” to a different “type” of person. I do not see it as such anymore. I see it now as stereotypes (leaning toward dislike) of a world that is not yours.

Can people really be blamed for these stereotypes. Yes and obviously no. Yes, because people should realize now that not everyone is like a stereotype. You can go to France and meet people that are nice, mean, hate Americans, envy Americans. Everything changes from one person to the next. But obviously you also don't know these cultures, it is easy to stereotype them. I still stereotype the Taiwanese. I call them happy friendly people that love to give the peace sign in pictures (mind you I have yet to be proven wrong in this stereotype...)

So what about Russian? They have been fed junk for quite awhile under the Soviet Union. It is like a child born and raised in the KKK. It is just norm to hate/stereotype others. I don't think that they shouldn't be blamed for this blatant racism. You really can't hate someone for just who they are. Not in the sense of WHO they are but what they come from. I shouldn't be blamed and hated because I am a Jew, even though I most definitely will/have. People should really grow up and be smart about these thing. Russian aren't not educated. Most are quite brilliant.

So where does that put me, in a house with two older Russians who were born in the Soviet Union era? I honestly don't even know. I am not going to lie, I wouldn't ask for a better host family, but at the same time there is still blatant racism...in the weakest of forms (where they stereotype people from Africa as being barbaric etc.). I go with it. I am not going to tell them to change, that is wrong. But it puts you in awkward position. Do I sit here and just agree, try and fight it (in a simple kind manner), not say anything? I haven't really come across this in excess, but I have come across it.

The girl that was in our room on the way back to St. Petersburg from Moscow had some racist tendencies. She was beyond educated, spoke almost perfect English, has been abroad a million times. Sophie got her hair cut by a Russian recently too who was I am assuming fluent in English and was learning Dutch. And while this lady was cutting her hair she had to listen to racist comments. There are many examples that many people study abroad in Russia can vouch for. So should I instead call the United States far ahead of its time, or should I call Russia far behind? O the questions.

I have been fed two opposite things about Russian people. Some people say that Russian don't like change and just want a concrete life. And by concrete life I mean a life without drastic change because every time Russia changes things go sour, and fast. I have also been fed the fact that the Russian people are pushing from the bottom up for a more democratic democracy. And sooner or later the government will have to change to give the Russian people what they want. So what is true about the Russian people? After that whole introduction I am going to have to say I don't know. But what I do know are Russians are not “concrete” people. They do not make plans that are going to be fulfilled and followed. Every Russian person I have met, I feel is almost idealistic. They do not want what the can have, but rather what they wish to have. They dream very big, not knowing if their dreams will come true. Of course most people in most cultures are like this...

Life in Russia is no walk in the park. It probably never will be. It almost makes me want to work here more because of that. I know I will never have a boring repetitious life if I work somehow with Russians/Russia. So who is best suited for this job of working in Russia? Well that is actually quite a simple answer, surprisingly. Any person wanting to work with Russians, live in Russia, must be very understanding. I do not mean like “o I understand the situation.” you will never understand any situation in Russia. It is because it is. You must be understanding in the concept that it is Russia. Like I said, it is because well it is. There is no explanation. It is just because. You must also be very forceful. If you want anything done in Russia you cannot sit and wait. It isn't like America, where things just go into their place and everything works out. Yes, no matter what things always work out here but you need to force them into their places. Sitting will pretty much resolve nothing. You also must have no temper. You have to be forceful, but not forceful like a old angry Babooshka. You must be simple about it. Say that you need this done but don't fight it. If you work with the Russia people things will get done and probably even faster. What ever faster means. You must also never smile. Don't forget that!

On the lighter note I must comment on one of my previous blogs in which I said that Russians are terrible yet brilliant driver. They don't know what they are doing but never get into crashes. I can actually tell you why not. YOU BUY YOUR LICENSE HERE. Yes, they have tests but they are so long, annoying, and expensive that you can just go to some other business pay them 500 bucks and get a license. How freaking scary!
But worse than that concept is the concept of no traffic lights. It is almost one of the scariest experiences of your life. There is a lot of horn honking. No one dies. But you definitely feel like you might actually see your life flash in front of your eyes.

MOSCOW!!!!

Of course, like every trip of mine, it started out dramatic. Jessica and I planned on meeting at 11:45 in front of the metro because the metro closes at 12 every night/morning. I left later than I thought I was going to and arrived at the metro at about 11:55. Jessica was no where to be found. I called her twice, no answer. Being myself, I panicked. I then called up Brian, because I didn't even know where the actual train station was (I always let Jessica take care of the directions, she actually knows the difference between east and west). Brian told me at least where to go, but had no clue where she was either. According to him, Jessica left the apartment 30 minutes prior. I, of course, freaked him out. And while I was on the phone with him, couldn't get him off of the phone, Jessica called me. She actually was alive...

Apparently, Jessica's elevator in the dorms decided to go demonic. What it did, for like 15 minutes, was ride up and down between two floor. Althought this doesn't seem too bad it also decided not to actually open up its doors in this demonic state. Because of this, Jessica couldn't jump out. Also, because she was in the elevator she didn't have service to keep me updated. Nothing like scaring the bejeebies out of me.

The train, my home for 9 hours, was horror-like. First off, the train wasn't anything like "Eurotrip". We are assigned beds to sleep on and that is it. For those Americans that don't know there are 3 parts to a train. First class is closed off and each room has two beds, second class is also closed off but each room as four beds, and finally third class is open and each cart has about 50 beds. There are beds/bunks everywhere. Freaking tables flip over into beds. The way the cart was set up was that although it was open there were compartments. In each like section there was 4 beds and the “hall way” had another two beds. Jessica and I both had top bunks right next to each other, under us were these two old ladies.

How bad is a top bunk? Well it is like hell. On top of our bunks were little storage area, and the area between this storage area and the bed is so tiny that only a contortionist can comfortably lay in the bed. You cannot sit up, and it is almost impossible to get down once you are up. Also, being scared about scary men that steal your stuff at night I had my purse next to me and my traveling bad by my feet. You see the beds are also as narrow as narrow can be. Two of these beds (if not more) make up the dorm beds at Stetson. It is THAT tiny. So I was quite uncomfortable while I “tried” to sleep.

Anywho, enough about that, On with Moscow. We arrive in Moscow and were immediately met by Lisa, works for SRAS. She is quite wonderful, and does not seem anything like her voice. She has her eyebrow pierced and looks like she is in her mid 20s.
She took us to the hostel right away.

The hostel is pretty nice. It has all Ikea furniture. As soon as Lisa went in, obviously has been here before, she started talking in English. Not what I expected. I always hear that Moscow is more Russian than St. Pete., which to me means that no one speaks English. WRONG. Jessica and I both take showers to get the train smell off of us and then we headed out a walking tour of Moscow.

Josh, who works with Lisa, was out walking tour guide. It first started with a talk about Politics. Learned a lot. Then we started walking around Moscow. We went to the cutest bridge ever. The bridge has these cute little Christmas like tree and on these trees are about a bazillion (and that is no exaggeration) locks. It all started in France where they started a tradition on putting locks (somewhere) after a wedding. The Russians then took to this tradition and started going to this bridge right after they got married and attached a lock to the side of the bridge. After a while Engineers started to get worried about the frame of the bridge and added trees to the center of the bridge so everything was centered. Aywho, I thought it was cute. Then we went to a couple other places like Red Square and ended up at old Arbask. Red Square is just as pretty as I imagined. I now can say that I will choose the Church on/0f Spilt Blood over St. Basil's. I am probably going to get shot for saying that. After Red Square, it started to snow. I think I am the only one that is still taken aback by this. Usually there is a forewarning when it comes to a huge downpour but nope, there is no warning about when it is going to snow, it just does.

Josh had to leave us at Old Arbask to go to a meeting so we decided to walk in Old Arbask because we had a dinner that was planned right afterwards right near by. So Old Arbask, I really can't explain it, and it really isn't too exciting. It is just a path that has a lot of Starbucks, restaurants, and all that jazz. It is quite gorgeous walking in it while it snows, but I think that is true for anything.

I must randomly put here now I love Jessica's ability to just know where we are. We walked away from Arbask to just explore around the area and still ended up at our destination. It was of course a Georgian Restaurant. SRAS organized a huge seminar about living and working in Russia. Josh, Lisa, the SRAS students in Moscow, and random Americans who work in Moscow were tjere. It was very educational. There was this lady who works for the foreign relations embassy (place) in Moscow. Talked about how you get into foreign affairs and the test you must take, there was a game designer who had the biggest sense of humor ever. Very entertaining to listen to. Josh spoke about his time in Moscow thus far, and how it is living in Moscow with a Russian wife, and some other guy was there who just talked about his stay as well. I learned a lot from them but it also scared me. Apparently it is almost impossible to get a work Visa. It usually takes about a year to move to Russia which means I need to start getting cracking on this if I want to live here right after I graduate. Or I can just cheat the system and go as a student and then work under that visa. Regardless, I fear for my life. Random side note: I drank Georgian Wine. This is actually an accomplishment because Russia has a ban Georgian Wine. The only reason we were allowed to drink it was because it was brewed right in the restaurant. After the seminar Jessica and I hung out with the MGU kids. They are beyond amazing. I think this would be one of the only reason that I would choose to go to MGU over SPbU.

Anywho the next day Jessica and I slept in and then met Lisa for lunch. I think we were at a Lebanese restaurant. It was buffet style, but you could only go once to the buffet. HOW GAY. Anywho, it was delicious and I recommend it to anyone. Especially their tea. I think it was the first time that in Russia I actually had Russian black tea and not Liptons. After that we had a tour of the Kremlin. The tour guide wasn't bad. He was very nice, just had no personality and the tour was 3 hours. So towards the end I started to fall asleep, yes while standing up. I felt bad for him if he noticed, but I couldn't control myself. The Kremlin, for those who don't know, is like a citadel, just a political one. Most state things go on in here now and this is where a lot of the kings (back in the day) used to live. There isn't anything too amazing about the place, minus the history and such. Like I said, I started to fall asleep.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. Jessica and I had nothing to do so we decided to just walk around, take pictures of places. A little side note again: it was an ex soviet holiday on this day (November 7th). So unfortunately, red square was closed for the whole day and night. According to our tour guide, this isn't due to the fact that they are afraid that something would happen, they just don't want people there. Makes no sense, but it upset me. Red Square is beyond gorgeous at night! I just had to look at it from a gate while an angry Russian military man stared at me. After that Jessica and I were like "what to do now, how about we ride the Metro." So we took the brown line (which is just a huge circle that runs around the main center of Moscow). I think the every metro station in Moscow is open, unlike St. Pete so its like an awesome concept. You just sit in the train and watch the pretty metros go by. And by pretty I mean there are chandeliers, painting, statues, its just too much to handle.

On Sunday we also had a free day, more or less. Jessica and I decided to wake up early and go to a market place before a tour we had to go to. Jessica heard about this place from one of the MGU kids, Kate. Kate said go towards Disneyland. How hilarious. It isn't named Disneyland, nor does it look like Disneyland, but it looks like it could be a subset of Disney, like yesteryear or something. The buildings around the marketplace are all like glorified fake buildings that look like doll houses. I really can't explain it. Anyways it cost 10 rubles to get in, and once you are in you can buy really cheap things. the marketplace has everything imaginable. It quite awesome. I bought a few things and got very upset. Why can't St. Pete be this cool at times?

After the amazing marketplace Jess and I went to the tour of a i believe Novodevichy. It is more or less a famous monastery/convent. We also went on the tour with all the MGU kids. It was amazing! They are all so nice and friendly. Also, this time around the tour guide was like the cutest thing ever. She was this yippy happy old Russian lady. She was priceless! I didn't fall asleep this time. Anywho She repeated a lot of what the other tour guide said so I was very happy. I felt all smart inside. I also found out random things like 1) what Red White and Blue stand for (Blood of Christ, purity/chastity, and piety/humility). 2) the number of domes on top of a Russian church actually stand for things (1-Jesus 3-Holy Trinity etc.) 3) the Russians do the cross over the body/heart (?) with 3 fingers representing the holy trinity 4) There are 3 forms of the Virgin Mary in painting in the Russian religion first: Our lady of tenderness second: our lady pulling away third: don't know. very interesting...huh?

The grave site was interesting to say the least. It was an ex soviet grave site and one of the highest ranked places to be buried. Random thing to be noted here: there were a lot of clowns and circus people buried here. I wish we gloried them like the Russians do. And their graves were freaking amazing. I also saw Gorbachev's wife's grave (she died 2 years ago), Yeltsin memorial site. I don't know if he was buried there. Russian have this thing were you must erect a monument a year after a person dies. His monument was a huge marble Russian flag. Very pretty, kinda gaudy. I also saw Gogol's grave as well as Chekhov's. Bet you are jealous, and just as disturbed as me.

After that we hung out with the MGU people, ate, and then went back to the hostel to pick up our stuff and head back home. I have to say that it is the weirdest experience going on vacation while you are on vacation (more or less). Its like you feel like you are finally going home, home and you wind up back in vacation spot number 1. It isn't depressing, or upsetting, it just feels weird.

The trip home was quite fantastic. I think, but am not certain, that the person getting us our tickets couldn't get 3rd class tickets so we were put into 2nd class. Let me tell you right now that I would tell anyone and everyone that you SHOULD pay the extra money for 2nd class. There is that much of a different. It is like Titanic. Jack is like 3rd class and Kate Winslet is like 2nd class. And no there aren't any amazing parties in 3rd class just a whole bunch of crampness. We also were put into a room with a very rich (seemingly) Russian who was quite fluent in English. We talked to her for awhile. I learned random things from her too. Like the fact that there are two types of passports in Russia. Because no one really drives (like they do in the States) there is a national passport. This pretty much has the same information as a driver's license would. The other one is a foreign passport. This is the one you use when going abroad obviously. Sleeping was much better in this bed too. I woke up once and was in St. Pete. What a wonderful concept. So that was my trip to Moscow in a nutshell.

the days before Moscow

Ok so last week (Monday) I had my first Marketing class. It is of course more complicated then that. It is The Cross-Cultural Differences of Global Marketing (or something close like that) with a focus in SPSS. It is just as bad as it sounds. Like my first class (IBS), this class is ALSO 6 hours long once a week. But unlike IBS, the first class was straight lectures for all of those 6 hours. talk about brain overload. The class is pretty much based around SPSS (an excel like program that analyzes survey data)and a survey. So what is our survey on you ask? well naturally it is on the marketing of senior citizens. No, it gets better. The teacher wants the foreigners to get samples from their home country. The sample size has to 50+ years old. O the many problems I have with this. Besides that very little problem the class went Ok. There are only like 5 foreigners and it is very interesting to see how no one wants to change. Like the foreigners all eat together and the Russians all eat together, there is no immersion and rarely any conversing between the two groups. I like IBS better for that reason. He forced us to communicate with each other and we actually became friends. But this teacher is ostracizing us by putting us in our own group. regardless, I like the foreigners, who are just as foreign as the Russians to me. And most I already knew from IBS. Lets see there is someone from Switzerland, Holland, Finland, Netherlands, and Germany. Very nice group of people.

Wednesday was the no school no work holiday. They call it National Unity Day and it has no purpose. It was formed a couple of years ago to probably diversify the people but no Russian knows who they are suppose to unite with and how they are suppose to do it. So in the end nothing is different besides having no school or work. I, thinking that the Russians are very festive people, decided on this day to go to Nevsky Prospect, or the main square of St. Pete. In my head I am thinking there will be a festival with music and happy shiny people. Nope, nothing has changed. Most businesses are open because businesses like money. Also, there is not a single congregation around town. There aren't more people drinking in the cafes, or walking down the main street. So Obviously I am beyond upset and just decide to walk around. First I go to Dom Kinigi (a big bookstore) and I buy a small Russian book. Then I figure out I have nothing to do. So I decide to walk. Where I was planning to go, I have no clue, but I did get lost. And this time I got lost for like a couple of hours. I didn't look at my map really. I had nowhere to be so why not walk for a long amount of time with not destination in mind. I finally start getting cold so I take out my map, realizing I am really really really lost, and start walking towards a metro. I apparently was going in the right way. I somehow always wind up getting lost in the right direction. It really is a wonderful ability.

So it is Wednesday and I finally get my itinerary for Moscow but I forget all the important information. So I tell Igor, because Luda is relaxing in their bedroom already, that I am going to Moscow Friday Saturday and Sunday. Of course I don't realize I must leave the apt. Thursday night (11pm) and I won't be back until Monday morning (7:20 am). That really doesn't help the situation. So on Thursday I get some of the information but misread the rest of the information. I know i must leave the apt. at 11pm and I tell them this. But I thought I was getting back to St. Pete at 1am. This complicates everything because the metros close and they both didn't understand how it was possible for me to arrive that late. (ironically the trains to come at 3am and people are stuck in the train station for like 3 hours until the metro opens again). So we all get frustrated with each other not understanding what really was going on with me and they resolve to thinking I will be arriving Sunday night. I decide just to let them think that. Times like this I feel like I haven't progressed at all. Of course I am also being interrogated. Scaring and Rushing me does is a good thing. I get flustered and don't think straight. Regardless, they knew that I was leaving and got me chocolate. How sweet, I kinda love them.