T'was the Birthday of Hitler...

T'was the birthday of Hitler, and all through St Pete,
Not a black kid or asian could be seen in the street.
For they were all locked in their dorm rooms with care,
In the hopes that a racist gang of skinhead idiot nationalistic bastards wouldn't hunt them down and beat or rape them in a violent hate crime.

Hmm... maybe that last line needs a little work....

But seriously, it's Hitler's birthday, and so all the asians are staying home, Sujin (the wonderful Korean roommate) included.  Apparently these two weeks are particularly dangerous for asians, and in fact a couple of Chinese girls in my class went home to China, and plan to return to St Pete in May.  

It isn't just today that it's a problem... Sujin has a friend who was harassed on the bus by a group of Russian tools about a month ago, because they thought she was Chinese.  From what I can tell, these guys don't actually have any beef with Japanese or Koreans, but because they look Chinese they're still at risk.

So today, because our class was small (due to Asian students being at home), and because of issues with classrooms, our teacher Maria took us "Na Excoorsee" (on an excursion) to the Museum of the Press.

It was a GORGEOUSLY sunny day, but bitterly bitterly bitterly cold.  Oh man.  The last few days the weather has been colder than ever.  Sunny, clear, beautiful blue skies...but so cold.  I think that last night in particular must have pretty bad, because the wind outside our window was ridiculously loud, and because the Neva river is full of ice again.  The last week, it has been completely defrosted, no ice to be seen.  Today it's crowded with big jagged chunks, and if the weather were to continue this way (let's hope NOT, seeing as it's almost MAY) I have no doubt that it would be safe to walk on again in a week due to the ice.

So anyway, we met up out the front of Dom Knigi (House of Books) on Nevsky Prospect, and set off.  It's great to walk around a pretty city with a friendly Russian teacher and your classmates.  We basically only really walked around one or two blocks, but that took us past a statue dedicated to Gogol, and the royal stables, and Pushkin's apartment, and two different rivers.  It was a very nice little walk.  Then we wound up at the Museum of Print, which was the headquarters for the magazine/newspaper "Pravda"! (click on pravda to read more about it, thanks to Grace)....

Of course, even though Maria had given us a sheet of vocabulary to learn, I still didn't really catch everything the guide was telling us, but it was still interesting.  We saw a printing press, some old sheets of the newspaper, old desks and writing implements, and the first ever printed book in Russia.  There was also a neat ornate tripod/stand, in which Peter the Great used to place his new laws, inscribed in metal plates, for his people to read.  We also watched a movie on the blockade, which was fairly depressing. (Click here to see some excellent photos from the Leningrad Blockade, juxtaposed with photos from today)

So it was a lovely morning, and nicely relaxing after a tiring weekend with Amanda and Hannah. (They visited from Moscow! So nice to see them and show them around! Although we could only hit up the main points, the more obvious, touristy kind of stuff in 2 days...but you can't come to St Pete and NOT do the hermitage/bronze horseman etc...

Loves to all!

-Bimini

PS: I ONLY HAVE 3 WEEKS LEFT HERE!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.