Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sun Sun Sun SUN


Being back in Florida was a little anticlimactic at first...  I had been really looking forward to the rain and thunderstorms that come with a Florida summer, but this was a little ridiculous. 

A typical Florida summer day is supposed to go as follows...

Sunrise.
Beautiful sunny morning.
Hot sunny noontime, with maybe a hint of clouds.
Sudden tropical downpour, with really badass thunder and lightning, the kind of clouds that look awesome and fierce as the sun sets, all pink and raging with flickering talons of enraged electric terror clawing across the face of the sky....The kind of storm that looks so wicked and apocalyptic as you drive down the highway towards it, you feel like you should be playing ACDC and hanging out the windows screaming.
Then the storm disappears, the sky clears as though nothing so energetic and raw had ever happened. The only hint is the steaming and humid earth as the sun sets, for a clear hot summer night.

And so the cycle repeats itself...

But for the first 10days that I was back in Florida, this normal pattern was not so.  Instead it was day after day of rain.  Just steady, continuous, grey sky rain.  Sometimes it rained hard. Sometimes it rained soft (that annoyingly soft rain...where it's not light enough that you can go outside and DO anything -the weather sucks just enough to trap you inside, but at the same time the sheer WEAKNESS of the rain annoys you and you'd prefer that the clouds would just grow a pair and really pour).  It was like there was a cyclone/hurricane sitting over Florida, but it wasn't.  V.strange.  I'm not really complaining...Florida needed a good rain, and I like the sound of rain, so no biggie...

But anyway, finally, there has been some nice sunny Florida days.  I'm even slowly getting some colour back to my complexion...(not too much at a time though -after 4months in Russia I need to wean my melanin back onto vitamin D slowly.  I'm pretty sure that too much direct exposure to sunlight would send my body into shock and kill me)...  In fact I intend to return to the beach tomorrow.  Huzzah!  Or, as they say in Russia, "Ooo-rrrah!"




Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sensory Overload

This will be short, I'm at a weird kiosk in Heathrow, difficult to type. Only 12 hours left here, wooh! Anyway.... It's weird already. I can read all the signs...I understand every announcement...I can't help but eavesdrop on people, because I understand every word.... SO MUCH going on... And communication takes so little effort. I can already feel a part of my brain dying off, the part that took me 4months to beat into the equivalent of running the 100m in 25seconds..... I'll elaborate on my first impressions of reverse culture shock later, when I don't have to punch every key. I'm off to listen to russian music, and read Garri Pohter.....

Monday, May 11, 2009

Tulips, Ice Hockey, and Leaving...


It's my last night! :(  So very sad.  Although it is going to be MARVELOUS to get back to the states, and then Australia, I really don't want to leave.  The tulips are springing up all over the city, fountains are popping up in places I didn't know had fountains, the leaves on the trees are beautifully bright green (I realised that I hadn't seen leaves for almost 4 months -strange thought), and where there was once mud and ice there is the most ridiculously bright green grass.  In short, St Petersburg is becoming absolutely beautiful, and I'm leaving in almost 15 hours.

Oh well, I'll just have to return.

Last night we stayed out all night to see the bridges go up and celebrate my last weekend in St Pete.  We chose a good night -Russia was playing Canada in the ice hockey somethingorother final, and they won.  There was partying and honking and flag waving and screaming all throughout the streets... Russians are a lot of fun when they're happy.

I have a ton of footage of the evening, but I'll have to upload later.  I'm packing, trying to make sure I have everything I need, and not be over the baggage weight.  I hate packing.

If I don't get another chance to blog from Russia, I'll catch up when I'm in the states, or on my stopover in London.

LOVES TO ALL!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Another Bim?


Moscow has something St Pete ain't got.... Starbucks.  And although it's fairly lame to give in and buy something so ridiculously american while visiting another country, after a looooooong day of walking around Moscow after a 9 hour train ride, it was nice to have a cup "saboy" (to go...literally, "to you").

But here's what was interesting... We sat down at a table outside to rest a moment, and on the table was an old and empty cup, left by a previous customer (funny thing in Russia, noone is expected to clean off their own trays or tables in fast food restaurants.  Many a time I have gone to do so, and been intercepted on the way by a woman in an apron, as though she thought I was going to walk out the door with it).


I had to get a photo...







My cup is the one on the left... You'll notice that the cup on the right has the same first 3 letters as my own...so essentially it says "Bim"...or more literally "Beeem".

Now it's far more likely that "Beeem" in Russian  is just Starbucks shorthand for whatever type of drink that guy had had...but still, I felt like I'd made some kind of passing fateful, connection...  I've never met another Bimini (although I know they exist), and I'll be crushed if one of them becomes well known for something before I do.  Having a different name is great, I love my name, but it would suck if one of the other Bimini's winds up on MTV dating Tila Tequila or something...I prefer "Bimini hey? Wow, that's unusual!" to "Bimini? Like that other chick...?"

Meanwhile, people in Russia don't have any trouble spelling my name.  When I go to a Starbucks in the states, it's easier for me to make up a name (I usually go with "Minnie", like "mini" from "Bimini" -which Charley HATES with a passion) simply because it's easier than having to repeat myself, and then spell it out, repeat again, and spell it out again, when there is a queue of angry impatient coffee addicts waiting behind me. But because Russian is so very phonetic (although not entirely, don't be fooled!) spelling isn't really an issue.  

Russians are really into nicknames....almost any name can have an "ochka" or something thrown on the end, and voila! be It comes a cute Russian familial.  In fact, reading Russian stories can be confusing as hell, because one person will have 3 or 4 different names, depending on who is talking to them.  Sadly, I have not been given one.  Even "Bima" hasn't happened, which Dr Denner had guessed might evolve.  If a Russian is confused by my name, sometimes I suggest "Bima", and then they look at me strangely thinking I said "Dima", when it's obvious that my name couldn't possibly be Dmitri.... so I'll alway be Beemeenee I suppose...

On another note... It's Friday, my last day of class :(  I tried to find thank-you cards for my teachers, but was extremely unsuccessful.  Tomorrow is Victory Day, so the stores are filled with VictoryDay cards... and Nevsky Prospect is gorgeous, completely decked out with ribbons and banners etc.  Big parades tomorrow, that I'll go into town to see.  But our teacher warned us that it was probably better to go home in the early evening...tomorrow is the day where the Russians REALLY demonstrate their alcohol-imbibing abilities, and she told us that it's not pretty.  Somehow hearing a Russian woman describe something as "Not pretty" in Russian, (nee krassiva) is hilarious and very cool at the same time.

I'm planning to drop off a travel bug this afternoon... Aside from that, no idea what to do with my last Friday. I'm sure I'll think of something.



Tuesday, May 5, 2009

13 years ago....


I was 8 years old....


Rick suggested I put it up.  Thanks to Sue for the photo  <3

Monday, May 4, 2009

Moscow

Just got back from 3 days in Moscow, had a great time. Moscow obviously deserves a huge post all to itself, and I know I've promised to blog on stuff before and never followed through, but I have to stick an IOU on this one. I have ONE WEEK LEFT officially, and so the blog post will just have to wait.

I'll leave you with this tidbit morsel.... It was not at all what I expected. Moscow felt more like New York city, or Sydney (more so Sydney than New York) to me than it felt like Russia. Very strange. I've heard and I know that St Petersburg is the "western" city, and that Moscow is more "Russian".... But Moscow just felt like a big city, with some Russian churches thrown in. St Pete feels like a different country. I would say that (to me) Moscow felt more 'western' (like, American-western, not Europe) because of all the traffic and skyscrapers and traffic lights and giant light up billboards etc.... St Pete is like Prague or something.

Anyway, thoughts are jumbled, I'll hopefully elaborate later. I liked it a lot though, we did a lot of things, saw a lot of things. I have terrifyingly ugly blisters on my feet, but they'll be ok.

ONE WEEK LEFT!!! ARHHHHHHHH!!! I don't want to leave! :( But it'll be great to get home. It's my birthday tomorrow (well, today I suppose since it's past midnight) but I think that the real celebrations will be next Sunday night since Monday is a public holiday. We'll stay out and watch the bridges go up etc.

LOVES TO ALL!

Here's me in front of St Basil's.

Red Square Moscow




Just a little video of the morning of our second day in Moscow.


NB: The day before, Red Square had been closed down for a series of parades (national public holiday) followed by some communist protests/rallies/general russian drama... OBVIOUSLY it wasn't Putin's bday or anything I said. I was entertaining myself.

Choir in St Basil's


Men singing in St Basil's (the really famous church in Red Square that looks like something out of Candyland)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Accents


I took a Voice and Diction class a year ago, and I really enjoyed it.  In particular, I learned techniques that help me dissect an accent, in order to correctly reproduce it.  Although as part of my final grade I performed a monologue in a Russian accent, I haven't really been able to get the hang of speaking RUSSIAN with a russian accent.  I guess it's just too much to think about...or maybe it's because I stick out so badly as a foreigner that subconsciously I realise there is no point in even trying to hide it.

I've had people ask if I'm from Finland, Italy, Greece, and of course America.  What's funny is that they never ask "where are you from", it's always "oh, you're from Italy".  This may just be russian sentence structure, but the presumptuous nature of it amuses me.

Really I think most of those nationalities are assumed because I have dark hair and skin (at least comparatively so... after almost 4 months of winter I'm paler than I've ever been).  But still, the study of accents and the way they are received really intrigues and amuses me.  I can't for the life of me understand the Chinese students in my class when they speak russian, and the Belgium guy Pieter makes me laugh with the most random comments, simply because his accent is so deadpan.  Laura on the other hand (from Mexico), sounds like she's speaking Spanish even when she's speaking russian or english.

Anyway, here's a little bit of standup on accents that I find humorous.  Hope you enjoy.


Monday, April 27, 2009

The video


Here is the video that facebook took down...it's on youtube now.  Doesn't look as pretty because the quality isn't as good, but you get the idea <3


In the name of Peace, and Swine Flu

Friday, April 24, 2009

Masha


I met someone today.  He's gorgeous.  An absolute dreamboat.  Soft brown hair, beautiful brown eyes... He's a little immature for me at the moment, but I feel that in a few years he'll be quite good at providing for his mate.  I think Dad would approve, because I'm pretty sure he's an excellent fisherman.

His name is Masha, and he's a 4 month old bear cub.

I'd heard that you could find bears on leashes in Russia, and some of my friends here had seen them a few months ago, but I had yet to encounter any myself.  But the weather has finally  (knock on wood) taken a serious turn for the better, and as the days get longer and sunnier and warmer, the tourists are beginning to come out of the wood work.  So have the tourist traps, the canal rides, and the photo-opportunities.


Evan and I met Masha on a bridge behind the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood.  This bridge is highly frequented because it is right next to the Souvenir Market, directly behind the Sobor, and on most days you will find several newlywed couples there. 

 It's a tradition in Russia that on your wedding day you (As a couple) run around having your photos taken in front of all the major landmarks...this includes churches, statues, bridges, palaces, etc...there's a lot of ground to cover.  So on pretty much every weekend (even in the middle of winter) you'll see limousines lined up, and couples having pictures taken. 

It's also a tradition in St Pete (and they have similar traditions in Moscow) that the newlyweds lock a padlock onto the bridge behind the Church on the Spilled Blood, and then throw the key away into the river below. 
 This represents that their marriage/love will not be broken, or that noone else will be able to unlock the brides heart, or something like that.

This photo here is just one of the padlocks -the bridge is covered in them.  This one is quite large, and has the names of the bride and groom engraved in it, as well as their day of marriage.  Pretty cute idea really.  This photo doesn't show it, but the bridge is COVERED in these.

Anyway, the bridge has quite a high level of foot traffic, and today for the first time I saw a bear.

We both mistook him for a dog at first, wandering around on his little tiny muzzle at his (owners?) feet.  When I figured out he was a bear however, I had to go over and say hello.

I felt a little guilty handing over 100 rubles (just over $3) to have my photo taken with the little dear.  I'm not a huge fan of the idea that this little guy was taken from his mother 
and is now kept on the end of a leash to be picked up by tourists and make money.  I remember reading "The Deliverance of the Dancing Bears" when I was little, and it seems if nothing else, like a very blatantly touristy thing to do, and I've been trying to live here and be a real student, not seem like an ignorant tourist.

But I'm pretty sure I'll probably never get the chance to hold a brown bear again, or at least not without risking serious harm to myself...(Masha is one Latin name away from being the same bear as a Grizzly).

And he was so darn cute, the poor little dear.

Anyway, here's a photo of me with him....

It's such an awkward photo... Poor little Masha is clearly thinking "putmedownputmedownputmedownputmedown".   He was making funny little grunty noises too.  
I wanted to hold him more firmly, with my hand under his rump like a baby so he'd be more comfortable, but that was how the guy gave him to us to hold, and I'm no bear expert.  I know how to pick up a koala (by the wrists -if you pick them up by the ribcage you can crush and kill them), but a koala isn't even a bear, so that doesn't count.

I volunteered at a zoo for a week back in Cairns, and after having to repeatedly tell stupid tourists not to readjust their grips on baby crocodiles or snakes etc, because it's dangerous, and they weren't holding them correctly,  I didn't want to mess with Masha, (although I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do too much damage, the little darling...) but it would have been nice to be able to hold him in a way that didn't leave him dangling loose and sadly like he is in the photo.
But I guess that's the kind of photo you get -it would be silly, and maybe even wrong on some level, to get a really cute and happy photo with a little bear that's been taken from his mum at such a young age and kept on a leash.  This is real.

Although, the guy who was leading him around seemed pretty gentle with him, and nice to Masha. I don't want to be naive, sure, it could just be a public front, but he seemed to care about the little guy.  And at least he didn't have a ring through his nose (Masha, not the trainer).  But I don't know exactly how one goes about obtaining a baby bear, or what you do with it when it gets older.... it might be a legit business full of care and love, or it might be a sad sad story that I don't want to research.

At the very least I hope to run into Masha again -he was way too cute, and seemed quite frolick-y when not in the hands of an inexpert handler. <3

Loves!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Urgh. Do people have nothing better to do with their time?

So the video in the blog beneath this one has been removed from facebook for copyright infringement... apparently writing "the song in the background is 'Gibberish' by Relient K'" wasn't enough for someone, and so they reported me.

I understand the rules of copyright infringement, and perhaps I shouldn't have named the video clip 'Gibberish' too...  But considering how much copyrighted and infringed CRAP there is on such sites as youtube and myspace, I really didn't think that my video was a problem or illegal in any way.

And most of all, I really don't think that Relient K themselves would have had a problem with it.  Someone (the person who reported me) clearly has too much time on their hands.  It's especially worrying since my facebook profile has such ridiculous privacy settings that my friends can't find me to add me as a contact, leading me to think maybe it was someone I know....?  Hmm.  Or perhaps a record company employee with a really crappy job is paid to sort through bad internet videos, and stumbled across mine.

But anyway, apologies to Relient K if adequate credit was not given.  I've been a fan for ages, and I'm sure noone thought I'd written the song, or sung it like a boy, and played the drums and guitar, or tried to take credit for it in any way.

So, here is a video I found on youtube, set to a different Relient K video.  I'm not saying it's crap, I'm just saying that if this is allowed to stay on the internet, mine should be too.


Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Дорогой русский язык...


Dear Russian Language,

You are a strange and tortuous mistress.  Every time I begin to think that perhaps we are getting along, you spurn me.   You torture me by giving me false hope, believing that maybe our relationship will blossom into something wonderful, and then you send me reeling with your harsh lack of vowels and impossible conjugations. 

Time after time I fall for you, I am fooled into thinking we have a future together,  lulled by your sweet beauty and soft words...and time after time you suddenly turn on me, leaving me heartbroken and frustrated by my own naivety.  

Some days I feel there is hope that I will finally conquer you, and then all is ripped out from underneath me, the basic foundations I thought I knew, gone...

It would be for my own good to just walk away. You're bad for my health.  But I never shall.  Will the torture ever end? I think not.

 

Lovingly, pathetically yours,

Bimini...

 

Soooo, that may have been a little melodramatic, but I think it captures at least to some extent the torture of learning a slavic language, while trying to reflect the drama of Russia itself -a cold, beautiful, but harsh country.

I've been here over 3 months now, and there is no doubt about it, my russian has improved dramatically.  When I first got here I accidentally told someone that my day was "not milk" instead of "not bad", whereas now I can kind of hold a conversation.  Kind of.

But I still have a long way to go.  The language shouldn't be as hard as it is.  It's really quite logical, and looking at it objectively I remind myself that it shouldn't be difficult at all.  You don't have to worry about stupid things like word order -everything is easily marked and identified by it's case ending, which tells you everything you need to know about the sentence.  It's certainly an easier language than English. I'm so glad English is my first language...learning other languages just highlights to me how stupid english is, and I'm glad I don't have to learn it as a second language...

But I can't help but shake the feeling that if I'd been studying something like French these last 3 years, instead of Russian, I'd be practically fluent in French by now.   It was quite depressing when I spent some time with some french students, and realised that my French is just as good as (if not slightly better) than my Russian...after being in Russia for three months!

I heard a statistic though (not sure how true it is), that Asian/slavic languages take 3 times as long to become fluent in, as the romantic languages.  This is somewhat comforting, but at the same time raises the question; "why the hell did I choose to study Russian?!"

I'd just like to point out a few of the challenges in learning this language...

Obviously there's learning a new alphabet.  Now, that's not actually such a big deal.  It's not as hard as some people make it
out to be.  But if you're having an off day, the alphabet can really come back to bite you in the bum.

The "v" sound is represented by a "B".
The "nn" sound is represented by a "H".
The "hh" sound is represented by  "x".

Let's not forget that the "rr" sound is written with a "p",
and that the "pp" sound is represented by "п" (that one actually makes sense). But when the "п" is handwritten in cursive (because all Russians write in cursive), it can kind of look like an english language "n", which really messes with my head sometimes. The letter "я", which LOOKS like an english letter R turned backwards, is really pronounced "ya".

Speaking of backwards letters, the sound "eee" is written with "и", a backwards N.


There is a letter that looks like the starship enterprise.


ю <- see it? This letter is pronounced "yoo".

And this little cutie here is the bane of my existence. I always forget it in my spelling... It's one of those silent/soft sign letters that doesn't really have it's own sound.
ь... Looks like a "b" doesn't it? Nope. Not a b. It's called "Myakee znak".

Oh, and the "d" sound is represented by "д", a letter which can look like a captial A on billboards, or like a "b" when written in cursive.

Such a fun language.

But for all my complaints, I do really enjoy it. I like that I can almost understand radio announcements now, or at least tell where one word begins and the other one ends. I can read billboards, and it doesn't take me 10 minutes to read the side of a bus and figure out where it's going to. But I just wish that my performance was more steady... that is, I either have days of complete and total BRILLIANCE with the language, or I have days where I suck so badly I could make a fortune getting dirt out of carpets.

For example, just the other day, I had just finished telling a story in class. I was so proud of myself, as I'd done very well... Obviously there were a few mistakes, but I'd managed to correctly conjugate my verbs, and use appropriate forms of adjectives etc, without really thinking about it. It was quite an achievement for me. Then, about 10 minutes later I completely screwed up the answer to a very simple question about what I had for breakfast. It's a roller-coaster of ups and downs.

Anyway, I only have three weeks left, so I'm stocking up on books etc, so hopefully I won't lose too much of my speaking abilities over the summer. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, here is a video I made to represent my love/hate relationship with the language...

Blogspot.com seems to cut the video off, so it's not as effective.  You can either watch the cut off, not-as-good clip below, or you can click THIS link and see it properly on facebook.

Loves...


Monday, April 20, 2009

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.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Just incase my photos and blogs were starting to make you think the weather had turned nice....

This was the weather outside my window yesterday afternoon.

Holy blustering white clumps of puffy white death Batman!

Enjoy every sandwich.../ Шаверма

I'm silly I know



The shocking events of April 1st are too much for our in-field reporter to handle...

Another Vid

Monday, April 6, 2009

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Apparently the sun does shine out of Lenin's arse after all...

Most of you may have already seen this, but as an April fool's day prank someone stuck a bomb between Lenin's legs (one of the most famous/popular/loved statues of him, by the way) and blew out the seat of his pants.

Political statement, or commentary on the effects of too much cabbage?

Here are photos....

(for the whole album, click here)











































I also filmed a bunch of impromptu reporter-style dialogue.  I thought I was hilarious at the time, making fun of grieving babyshkas etc., but until I'm better with iMovie and can at least pretend that it's a little pro, I may not upload that....

Loves to all!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Winter Palace -surprisingly hypoallergenic


The State Hermitage Museum.  More commonly and easily referred to as simply 'The Hermitage",  this is one of the largest museums in the world.  It houses over 3 million works of art, so it is no surprise that it holds the Guiness World Record for housing the world's largest collection of paintings.  Some names that spring to mind; Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Monet, Renoir... not to mention Faberge jewellery and apparently the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

The best part?  I can see it when I look out the window of my university... Right down the road and across the Neva River, sitting there in all it's opulent stucco-fied glory, like a giant green baroque birthday cake, is the Winter Palace.  And with a Studientchisky billyet (a student card), entrance is bezplatno -free.

Today we (Evan, Laura, Katie-my suitemate, and I) journeyed to the Hermitage.  But today we weren't there to see the Da Vincis or Monets, we weren't there for the architecture, or even in hopes of seeing the giant gold clockwork peacock open it's tail...

We were there to see cats.

Yes. Cats.  See, the Hermitage museum currently employs around 50-70 workers who are of the feline variety.  They live in the basement, and are supported and fed by the government.  Their job of course is to protect the priceless art from Death By Mouse.  Or Rat. Or whatever other snobby and cultured rodents insist their beds be made from only the finest artwork.

Apparently once upon a time the cats were free to roam the halls of the museum, but nowadays they keep them hidden in the basement.  I'm not sure why -maybe the risk of a tomcat marking his territory on "The Prodigal Son" is too great, or perhaps too many royal russians were sensitive to pet dander... I'm not sure.  But the tradition carries on.

And today was a special day: today, they let the cats out.


Aaaaaaaand now I'm tired. So I'm going to finish this post later.

In the meantime, here is a picture of me outside the Winter Palace section of the Hermitage.  This picture doesn't even begin to capture the grandeur, or the ridiculous ornate decoration and architecture on it...
Very cool.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Busy busy busy


Quick update:  All is well in St. Petersburg.

I know I'm WAAAAAAAAAY behind in keeping everyone up to date. I still have to explain Maslenitsa, I took a trip to Novgorod a month ago, it was women's day last weekend, I walked on the frozen Neva, been clubbing, I've discovered Shaverma and LOVE them, my roommate left and was replaced by a sweet little Korean...and I still haven't described my internship.  I have lots to talk about, and the longer I leave it the more difficult it becomes to recount.  I wish I kept a real diary, but whenever I try to I spend 2 hours every day writing every little detail, and it takes up way too much time because I get bogged down in stupid details, and second guessing my thought processes.

Yesterday I attended Evan's birthday party (www.spellbananas.blogspot.com), which was great and deserves an entire post to itself.  But I won't even try to describe the evening until I have photos to show -words alone are not enough.

So although it's a shame I'm not currently putting more effort into my writing, at least it goes to show that I'm keeping myself very busy and having a lot of fun. The weather is wonderful, so I'm not cooped up in my dorm room on the computer, which is a good thing.


Picture of me on the Neva -in the background is the Hermitage, St Isaac's Cathedral, and much more.  In front of me, (which obviously you can't see) is Peter and Paul fortress.  Quite a view.

Loves to all! More soon,
Bimini



Sunday, March 8, 2009

Maslenitsa!

So I'm extremely backlogged with my blogs.  I really should have written a blog about Maslenitsa a week ago, while it was still clear in my mind and my enthusiasm was fresh.  Maslenitsa was amazing fun, but now the details of the day are starting to slip away from me.

Anyway, in an attempt to capture the fun of it all I made this little video collection of clips from the last day of Maslenitsa week.  My editing skills are still extremely basic, so forgive me for that.  I was thinking about Rick "Spiderman" Westphal all day (a brilliant professional videographer/director of photography friend of mine) and what he would film, and I tried to channel the Spiderman genius and find interesting things to shoot, but I'm not sure how well I fared in that department.  Also, I left a little bit of extra footage on the end (that isn't put to music) because I thought that you should hear the chanting/singing/general ruckus being made at the time.

Hopefully I caught a little tiny bit of the fun that was Maslenitsa :)  Enjoy.

PS: I will blog soon, and explain exactly what Maslenitsa is.

LOVES!


Thursday, March 5, 2009

Gulf of Finland Photos


So, I've been meaning to walk out on the Gulf of Finland for awhile now, but the weather has been lousy and grey.  Then I was worried that the weather was getting too warm for walking out on the ocean to be safe.  But this afternoon it was beautiful and sunny, and I saw a kiteboarder out on the ice, so Evan and I decided to mish out there.



It was GORGEOUS, and to see more pics go to THIS link...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Maslenitsa is the bomb.


Today was the last day of Maslenitsa.  I went to a park with my classmate Claudia for the festivities.  It was AMAZING and FUN and I need to dedicate a lot of time to writing a huge, gushy, oh-my-god-I-love-Maslenitsa post....But right now I am reeallly tired.  Need sleep.  Will update later.

Loves!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Universal body language?


Making out, snogging, pashing...tonsil hockey, frenching, smooching... Many different terms to describe an easily identifiable pastime that takes place in almost every society in one form or another.  The Russian verb is "целовать", but somehow I don't think that the proper verb "to kiss" is appropriate for (i.e. it doesn't even begin to describe) what Russian youth love to do in public areas.

I find it very bizarre to be in a country where it is considered strange to smile at someone in the street, and yet publicly sucking face is so acceptable.

Seriously. Everywhere you go in St Petersburg there are hormonal Russian youth in heat, jaws locked so tight it's as though they're auditioning for the role of a Death Eater in the next Harry Potter film. Normally public displays of affection don't get to me -I think PDA is cute to see in another young couple, and I know I'm guilty of the crime myself.  I've had friends tell me that my beau and I can be sickening when we're together-but I think (or I hope) that it's usually in a "sickenly sweet" sort of way. When we're in public, we generally try to keep the PDA to a somewhat  dignified level at least.
But in Russia some of the public make out sesh's have really...to be honest...grossed me out.   I dunno, maybe I'm aging early, and I'm turning into a disapproving old babushka already, but the way some of the youth here carry on ("rutting" is the term that most quickly comes to mind) is confusing and bizarre, and at serious odds with the slightly less passionate surroundings.  Metro, sidewalk, escalator, elevator -all are potential makeout spots in America as well as in Russia...but not usually when you're ass-to elbow with a crowd of people so tight you can't move.  Believe me, elevators in Russia (at least all the one's I've encountered) are small - but an elevator built for 4 that has 7 people in it already is no deterrent for the youth of Russia when they want to get their game on.

I was sitting on the metro today, and one such young couple was standing right in front of me.  It was like watching a car wreck -awful, violent, and incredibly disturbing, but at the same time impossible to look away from.  Usually I can ignore people kissing in public -I avert my eyes for the sake of their privacy (although I don't know why I bother -they're in public after all and can't be too concerned), but this was impossible.  I think that at one point my mouth may have actually been open in a little "o" of disbelief.  Believe me, Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow could not possibly choreograph a kissing scene like this in their wildest dreams for their most base summer comedy.  I would expect this kind of thing on a Saturday Night Live sketch, I never expected to see such a thing in public.   The Jim and Stifler kiss from American Pie doesn't even hit a bump on the richter scale by comparison (NB: for those adults who read this blog and don't know what that means, I'm sure you could youtube it...but if you're not into what my father would consider "really dumb" humour, I don't recommend you look it up).

The phrase that really jumped to mind was one that is a favourite of my current roommate Heather -"maccing out".  The reason, I think, that this particular phrase stood out to me is because it was like they each had macaroni and cheese smeared all over their faces and crammed into every crevice (and I mean EVERY crevice), and were trying to clean it off each other with their tongues and gums.  I just re-read that description, and it doesn't begin to do it justice.  I won't even TRY to describe the noises that went with it.

What amazed me most was my reaction to it.  Looking back on it now the whole scene was quite hilarious, and hopefully I'll be able to use the experience later in a story or film or something.  But at the time I could practically feel myself pulling my scarf up over my head Nonna style, and my lips and shoulders tightening up in disapproval.  But I got a grip on myself, reminding myself that I'm only 20 and shouldn't be tutting at teenagers just yet, it struck me that noone else had so much as blinked.  Even the real old ladies on the train weren't paying any attention, and strange little old ladies in Russia will yell at you on the street for something as simple as not wearing a warm hat in the winter.

In my musings, as I got off at my station and made my way onto the escalator, I found that despite the crushing crowd of people I had somehow wound up right next to the young lovebirds yet again.  Horror of horrors -now they had elbow room, and were more free to explore.  Maybe they each had hidden candy in their pockets, and were competing to see who could find it all first, I don't know.   I managed to distract myself by keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the picture of the budgerigar that is at the top of the escalator. (NO idea why there's a picture of a budgerigar by the way- a poster of a native Australian parrot in Russia, with no slogan or advertisement on it?  What the?)

Anyway, as I reflected on the strangeness of it all (the public cavity searches, not the parrots)  it occurred to me that there was probably a good chance that these kids (oh god, I'm only 20 and already I'm calling them "kids") both live in a pretty small apartment, and share a very thin wall with a grandmother or some other member of the family (perhaps that's a sweeping stereotype, but stereotypes exist for a reason).

In such a seemingly passion-less society (and again, that's a sweeping overstatement, not to be taken too seriously...I'm not saying Russians are passion-less, or soulless or anything horrible like that...But they're not going to win any awards for being the most cheerful/colourful population in the world -and they aren't exactly renowned for their raw passion and sexuality)...In a society like this it's seems out of place to see these hormonally vibrant displays on the street.  But keeping in mind that in many living situations in Russia privacy doesn't really exist,  it kind of makes sense.  On the street, where people avoid eye contact (dare I say that they avoid human contact altogether?), is almost as private as you can get.  It makes sense that all the available passion is channelled to these areas, where people are busy with their own agenda's and don't care.  It's almost like hiding in plain sight.


















Or maybe it's just cos they can't dance -there's no other way for them to express themselves sexually.  I've only been out once, and it wasn't for very long, but I tell you what -I have never felt so coordinated and athletic on the dance floor compared to the people around me, in my life.

Still, it may take me awhile to get used to this particular cultural anomaly.  What is the russian equivalent for "get a room"?



PS:  For anyone who doesn't know what a budgie/budgerigar is, it's a parakeet...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Can't get this song out of my head

From a fun film called "Stilyagi", about rebellious anti-Soviet teens, rebelling with their own version of rock and roll. Bright, colourful, fun...and the ending isn't so depressing you want to kill yourself! (Don't get me wrong, it's still not the HAPPIEST ending in the world -it is a Russian film after all -but it's not too bad).




I had no idea where to get the music, but luckily a girl in my class has the soundtrack, so she gave it to me. Probably counts as illegal music sharing, but I prefer to think of it as culturally enriching.

Links to Photos


Just to make things a little easier...for those of you who don't have facebook....

Here are some links to my photos on facebook, so you can see them without getting an account:



And... Link 3 

If you click on the album, and then click on the first photo in the album, you can see the photo as a decent size.  Then simply click on each photo to see the next one.

Loves!
Bimini

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Hoar Frost





















Some photos, and a video, of the fog that came through...and the frost it brought with it.  The photos were taken at about 4pm one afternoon...

PS:  If you click on the photos you can see them in a larger size


Nevsky Prospect For Real


NB:  It has not been that sunny since.  I can count the number of decently sunny days we've had on one hand...and then maybe 3 or four more where the weather has pretended it will be sunny, and then has failed me.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Over a month!


Oh my gosh, it's been over a month.  I can't believe it.  Well, it's like they say... Time flies when you're confused and bewildered, in a strange country...

Or do I not have that right?  Damn.

But seriously, I cannot believe I've been here for so long -almost 5 weeks actually.  Seriously crazy stuff.  According to the manual that Stetson sent with me, now is about the time that serious homesickness is supposed to set in.

And I'm not going to lie, the last week has been kind of difficult.  I've been up and down moodwise, all over the place....  But I've had to remind myself that I've been seriously sick for the past several days now, and being seriously sick can certainly affect your humour.  I shouldn't worry too much about the underlying cause of the momentary bouts of depression, like think that I made a bad decision, or that I'm doing something stupid.  Giving myself mini peptalks has helped... I mean after all, I have been confined to a tiny room, and the weather hasn't been too cheerful.  It's easy to start thinking "I'm so hopeless! I've been in Russia for 5 weeks and haven't done anything exciting!".  Helllloooooo?  You're in Russia!  That IS exciting!  And you've been going to classes every day, and working almost every afternoon, which in itself is exhausting, and on the weekends you've been catching up on sleep and doing more work.  Now for the last week you've been sick, and lying low is smart -you're not letting anyone down. Getting pneumonia won't help anybody.  Besides, the museums will all still be there in the next month, and I can't really venture off to Moscow until I have my new visa anyhow.

On Sunday I was invited to the home of a Mexican girl in my class for breakfast.  I felt lousy for pulling out at the last minute, but I had a sudden attack of really bad coughing, so I figured that sloughing through the snow to visit her wouldn't be a great idea.  Thankfully she of course forgave me (funny how sickness+slight depression can = serious paranoia that Laura would disown me as a friend), and tomorrow afternoon I may go cook blini with her.

So although I feel that I've been off to a sluggish start, I'm doing well in my classes.  Every now and then I freak out that I don't have any spare time with my internship, but that's only guaranteed until the middle of March, so if I can hang in until then I should be ok.  I haven't gotten a huge amount of translations done over the past few days, but hopefully I can knuckle down and do that tomorrow.

For now I'm going to go to bed and get some more sleep.  I'm almost completely recovered, but there's still a little bit of a lurgie hanging in there trying to get me, and as my teacher told me today -"It's winter! Winter is for sleeping!"  (She also said the sun wouldn't come out again until at least April, but I'm going to ignore that and hope she's wrong)


Sunday, February 15, 2009

Cold update!


Feeling a little better!  HUZZAH!  Can't tell if it's my body actually healing, or if it's because I went to the Lenta yesterday and bought a new comforter and pillow. Both were a little pricey, but they have made my happiness level triple.  My bed now feels like a bed, more like a happy place, and less like a lumpy, just-adequate-enough-to-not-really-complain-about-but-not-exactly-wonderful place to lie down upon.  Usually I refrain from even calling a comforter a comforter, preferring instead the Australian word "Doona".  But this comforter is indeed so very comforting, that I will have to refer to it as such.

I could probably sing it's praises for a several more paragraphs worth, but in the interests of not sounding a little delusional, I will refrain from writing a mucinex-induced ode to my bedding.  

Hopefully the good feelings continue... *fingers crossed*!

Oh, by the way, my friend Amanda is a finalist for the Truman scholarship.  GO AMANDA!!!!!!!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Болезнь


I have a cold, and it sucks.  :(  Having an awful cough and constant headaches in sub-zero temperatures is no fun.  I'm not very tough when it comes to this sort of thing, I'm a real sook.

(sook is an aussie word for wuss/someone who's a bit of a crybaby/whinges and complains)

I knew it would happen eventually, Heather my roommate has been sick for awhile.  But I'd been taking vitamins and eating veggies, hoping and denying that I would succumb as well.  But the room is so tiny it was really bound to happen.

Anyway, I've been dragging myself to class in the mornings because supposedly if I miss more than 10% of my classes, my student visa can be revoked (although I don't think our teachers take attendance, so if I haven't improved by next week I might have to wag)...

(wag is an aussie word for playing hookey)

....but I feel really guilty for missing work at my internship.  I've been trying to do work on my computer in the dormitory for them, but god it is so hard to do translations when you have a pounding headache and keep bending forward to hack your lungs out.  

I have some azithromycin I could take, but my roommate is sick too, and has been for about two weeks now.  She says she'll probably be sick for at least another 2 weeks (she has tonsil issues), so I don't want to take the azithromycin and waste it because I just get reinfected immediately.  However, I also don't want it to turn into something ghastly like pneumonia. Le sigh.

I have more to update y'all on, (like the creepy Russian guy yesterday who was trying to get me to go to a cafe with him, and not leaving me alone until I ducked into a shop to throw him off), but my head is pounding and I used up all my energy tonight making chicken soup.  Who woulda thought cutting up garlic and onion, and ransacking a chicken carcass would be so exhausting?  Today my teacher told me to fill a sock with salt and put it on my face, but I looked it up online and can only find that it's good for earaches.  Maybe she recognises the symptoms, and I have contracted a deadly Russian flu that starts out with a cough but eventually progresses to the ears...? I don't know.

A guy in my class who's from SanDiego just switched up to a more difficult level.  I was considering joining him, but I don't want to risk that until I'm better.  I elicited laughs today when I stated "I don't have a hat" when I was supposed to be asking a fellow classmate what time she wakes up.  We're just doing really basic grammatical stuff that I'm fairly sure would make Dr Denner and Olga cry in shame if they saw what a rudimentary class I'm in, but until I can follow what's going on again, I shall remain there.  I like my teacher, she's one of the few Russians that smiles.  Besides, it is good for me, because I'm going over a lot of vocab, and really cementing the basics down.  I used to always screw up my adj.endings for all the cases, and screw up the genitive all the time (which is a very important case) but I don't any more.  At least, I didn't until I got sick.

So send me good vibes and positive thoughts, pray that I recover. I wanted to go to the Zoological Museum this weekend, now I'm not going anywhere.

If anyone wants to chance the Russian postal system (it's not recommended that you try to send anything too valuable -Heather hasn't recieved any of the packages her family has sent her while she's been here), send me some nyquil and other american drugs like that.  I thought I had an entire pantry full, but it looks pretty meagre from this side of a cold.

LOVES,
Bimini

Monday, February 9, 2009

Just to clarify...


I am having a wonderful time in Russia.  I do like the country, and the food, and life so far is good.  I realised today that all my posts have been about fairly negative occurrences, and I don't want anyone to think that I'm hating it, or that studying abroad in Russia is a mistake.  It's just that all the interesting stories involve something going wrong/a cultural faux pas.

It's like the news -they never start the evening news with "Today was another wonderful day in America.  Everything went perfectly and according to plan, and world peace was established.."  No, that would be boring.  So although most of my posts may seem a little scary or as though I'm overwhelmed, never fear. I'm having a great time, and I don't mean to complain.  There are some kids in my class who complain everyday about the people, the culture, and it really gets on my nerves.  They just keep bitching about how horrible everyone is, and it makes me want to strangle them and somehow get them kicked out of the country.  I may have a few grievances against the way things are run (or the fact that people don't smile much), but I understand and appreciate the culture and nature of it all.  I'm just venting if I've had a bad day, not because I truly hate my circumstances.  Russia is a wild, crazy, beautiful and cold, ancient and cultured country.  I'll try to post happier stories in the future. :)

Sunday, February 8, 2009

An Important Difference


An angry woman threw me off a bus a week ago. She was just trying to be helpful, but still it was very violent and there was a lot of yelling.

Moral of the story: Learn the difference between a trolley bus and a normal bus. And then make sure you always check exactly what type of transportation you are stepping onto.

I thought I knew the difference between the two. A normal bus is...well, a normal bus. It has wheels, seats, those funny little straps that dangle down for you to hold onto when all the seats are taken, a driver, etc. You know –a bus.
A trolleybus on the other hand, while looking very much like the aforementioned normal bus, has a key difference; two big pole/wire thingies that stick out of the top of it, and are connected to wires (not unlike telephone lines, or power lines) which run along the street. Sometimes these wire-poles come off or fall down, causing the trolleybus to stop, and so the driver has to climb up on top of the roof and reconnect them.

I knew the difference between these two modes of transportation before I even came to Russia, as we went over them in class with Dr Denner. But one night when I was finished at the museum the metro station was closed for cleaning (WHY they choose to do this at 6 at night is beyond me), so I thought I would instead catch the bus back.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out the bus system here in St Petersburg. Every time I think I've got it down pat or get cocky, Mother Russia throws me a curveball. For example, although I thought I knew what I was doing after a weekend of exploring the city, I missed my first day of classes because I got off at the wrong stop. Being a girl, I use landmarks to gauge my location (it's been proven that we tend to do this) instead of distances and mathematics like boys do. I had been counting on passing the pretty pink church (shown below in my photos) in order to know when to get off the bus. But on that particular Monday morning, the street right in front of the pink church had been shut down for maintenance (adding tar/gravel, etc), and so the bus took a small detour. Nothing major, just went around the block, but it was enough to get me completely lost. Maybe I would have fared better if it wasn’t still extremely dark outside, and the windows weren’t completely frosted over. By the time I figured out where I was, (i.e. at the end of the line, very close to where I had started) I was 40minutes late for class. Heather had told me that some professors get really pissy if you show up late, so rather than stumble through a terrible and stupid explanation, I just skipped class altogether. I was a little ashamed, but this misfortune was probably meant to be, as it resulted in me meeting Alex, the only other Australian in St Petersburg.
Later that same week, I took my morning bus 5 minutes later than I usually do, and encountered morning rush-hour. (It's very important to time things just right -if I leave just a few minutes too late, the morning bus will be FULL) The bus was literally so packed with people that I could not see out the windows or move, and so I wound up having to walk 20minutes to get to class.

**Sidenote: Being on a bus or on the metro at rush-hour is very much like being squashed in the front of a very angry mosh-pit at a death metal concert, where you're pushed up against the railing so hard you think your ribs will break and you'll be cut in half by the crowd behind you. Only instead of being surrounded by huge hairy guys with tattoos and spikes and piercings and BO, you're surrounded by bad-tempered little old ladies. And trust me, the little old ladies are WORSE.

Anyway, I digress. On the ill-fated night the metro was closed, I knew that I needed bus no.7 to get back to the dormitory. It was freezing cold, and I dunno, maybe the poster for a new Russian film coming out distracted me, but I stepped onto the first number 7 bus that came by.
It took me about 15minutes to realize that the bus I was on seemed to have less seats than usual, and was moving quite slow. Also, we passed over a bridge I didn’t recognize, and the PA chimed an almost happy little tune everytime the doors opened. Soon, I was the only person left on the damn bus, when I finally decided I should ask the ticket-lady. I began by explaining that I didn’t speak much Russian, and that I was from Australia (sorry to say it, but saying I’m a foreigner from Australia has worked out far better than admitting connection with the US) and was this a trolleybus or an avtobus? She told me it was a trolleybus, to which I pantomimed despair, but in a good-humoured “oh isn’t this funny, how silly of me!” laughing-at-my-own-misfortune kind of way (Russians don’t seem to mind if you laugh at YOURSELF, just as long as you in no way appear to be laughing at THEM). I smiled in a “well I’m a fool” manner, and asked her what I should do now. She was very friendly, and explained that I could wait until we got to a station on Vasilievsky Island, and then gave me directions that I couldn’t quite understand. I asked if it was ok if I waited on the trolleybus until we did a full circuit, and then I would just get off on Nevsky Prospekt and start over again. She was ok with it, and so I sat down to wait, and wound up taking the metro home.

Now, this story should end there. I should have chalked this up as a somewhat comical anecdote, and important learning experience. But of course, being the stupid DURAK (fool) that I am, two nights later I did it again. Somehow I failed to notice the two giant wires sticking up out of the bus, and once again I found myself on trolleybus no.7, instead of avtobus no.7.
This time, instead of realizing my mistake and shutting up until we did our circuit, I thought it would be polite to tell the conductor why I wasn’t getting off at any stations. She proceeded to tell me in a really fast stream of jabbered Russian a whole set of instructions that involved getting off the bus right now, walking several blocks, getting on the other side of the street and taking another number of trolleybus back across the bridge and more, NONE of which I could follow. I was trying to tell her that I didn’t understand any of it, and if it was ok could I please just stay on until we got back to Nevsky Prospekt? She wouldn’t have any of it, and started yelling at me when I didn’t immediately get off at the next stop. I told her “excuse me, I want to wait” but she had marched up to the front of the bus and was hammering on the driver’s window, yelling at him to stop so the stupid foreigner could get off. I was yelling “EXCUSE ME” at her, (not to be rude, but because there was no way she could hear me over her own screeching) and thumbing through my dictionary to see if I’d screwed up the verb “to wait” (like if it could only be used for “to wait for someone”, not “to wait for something” or some stupid rule like that), and tried laughing self-depreciatively to indicate that I realized I was a fool, and maybe lighten the mood. Apparently she thought I was smiling at her (unforgivable!), which led to more screaming at me, especially the word “DEVYSHKA!” (“girl!”). Her face was very red, and I realized that I had probably just insulted her when all she was trying to do was help me. What a rude and insolent foreigner I was being! The bus was now stopped awkwardly on the side of the road where it wasn’t meant to be, and the conductor was pointing wildly out the doors, still yelling and now advancing on me. Rather than continue the drama or be manhandled, I jumped through the door offering a weak “cpacibo!” and found myself on a dark street I’d never seen before.

Charley picked that moment to call me, and –poor thing –got a freaked out and blubbering girlfriend on the other end, talking about being in a dark part of town and horrible women yelling. I felt reeeeally stupid for crying and letting it get to me, because in the grand scheme of 'scary things that can happen in a foreign country', being told a better route home hardly even ranks a 2, no matter how much yelling may have been involved. But I really hate causing that kind of fuss, and had probably somehow insulted the woman, and it had been a really long day.

After walking around a little bit, collecting myself and reminding myself that I had more than 5 hours to find my way home so I didn’t have to worry about the bridges going up for awhile, and that it wasn’t as though I had been mugged or caught in terrorist fire, I found a metro station (metro is easier than bus –if all else fails there are pictures and maps!, Plus I hadn’t wanted to risk the bus system incase I found myself in Peterhof) and eventually wound up back at the dormitory. I nursed a little bitterness against Russia for about half an hour; “Why would they have buses and trolleybuses with the same numbers come to the same bus-stop?!”, and “Stupid women don’t need to YELL! Who does that help?!” but soon let it all go, because I am enjoying myself here after all, and it was my own stupid fault.

Now, finally, I think I have a better grasp of the public transportation system. And I’ve certainly learned to check the roof of any bus I step onto. But I know that I’ll be yelled at plenty more times before I leave.