Snow!

Yesterday, the 30th of October, was my first real Russian snow.

It was nice, thick big wet snowflakes that are good for making snowballs.

I feel that everybody in Russia except for me got a memo about waterproof coat. Mine definitely is not. Snowflakes just stick to my coat and don't melt!

Photos to come.

Finally!!!!

Not finally, I have been moved to a cat-free apartment in a good neighborhood...but finally, I am updating my blog! I wrote a really long update on Thursday but my computer ran out of battery right before I could publish it :(

Update on Extra curricular activities

So I quit the kindergarten, because the administration of the kindergarten wasn't very friendly and accommodating, and because it was really far away from where I live, and the Russian kindergarteners weren't interested in learning English, and that is why we were going there. At first though, the administration didn't really care and let all of the students whose parents didn't pay for them to be in the "intensive English learning" section play with the kids whose parents did, but then they separated them and it became a lot less fun.

Instead, I am volunteering right now at Dom Miloserdie. It is an institutionalized foster care system; children who have been taken away from their parents due to their parents being alcoholics or another bad living situation live there for a year while their parents try to get them back, or if their parents are unable to get them back they can be adopted after a year. The kids there range from 3 to 17.

Also, my friend Erin (who is from Iowa) and I are heading up a Toys for Tots program for the kids at Dom Miloserdie. I am going to be very busy!

My region discoveries
My metro stop - Prospekt Bolshevikov - means Prospekt of the Bolsheviks. I somehow did not make the connection until just recently!

The big abandoned field that for some reason hasn't been developed - - the former city landfill!!! That explains the way that it is a hill and a very unnatural hill.

My street means Latvian archers, who were a group of archers that helped with the revolution before Stalin killed them all...familiar story....

Travel plans

I have plans to travel. I travel by a luxury night train (courtesy of my tuition to the program) on Wednesday night, and then my travel week starts on Sunday. I plan to do the Zolotoe Koltso. That is a modern name given to a group of medieval cities around Moscow that have old museums, churches, monestaries, etc.

I bout a guidebook, and the guidebook said NOT to go after November or before April, and not to rely on public transportation, because it is complicated, etc.

I'll show them!!!!

I'm going with my friend Anna who is from Oregon. She has a really good sense of direction and is really nice. Some other people were going to go to, but they wanted to waste all of their time on a train going to the south of Russia (my words not theirs).

Оркестр! Orchestra!

I don't know if I've told you all, dear blog readers, about my Russian orchestra, the Orchestra of the students of St. Petersburg State University. I bought a crappy violin and joined! It is so much fun.

We are not playing any russian songs, except for this new modern piece that we are doing the "world debut" for.

I went to the Russian orchestra one day, and asked about joining. They were so nice, open and friendly! They made me sit first chair though, so the conductor could hear me, but i was sight-reading, and due to my strict suzuki musical upbringing I poorly sight read. But that's okay.

During the break, they always break out a real Russian metal old-fashioned samovar!

I'm on my way there now, in about 45 minutes :)

Tallinn photo update

Unlike St. Petersburg, Tallinn is a really medieval city. It is also fairly Scandinavian, but with Eastern European (i.e. cheap) prices.

I bought two hats and gloves hand knitted! I am wearing the hat in the photo :)

Tallinn!

I arrived safely in Tallinn and am sitting in the NICEST hotel in Tallinn with my parents. Tallinn, to me, seems so Western European, but it seems so Eastern European to my parents!

I would tell a witty, funny story about Tallinn, but nothing really happened today except for sitting for a really really really long time on the bus and waiting to go through two customs - - one to get out of Russia and one to get into Estonia, a country in the EU.

The nicest thing about Tallinn is that everybody speaks English! It is just a nice relief and break from Petersburg.

Photos to come!!!!

The biggest Blog update in the WORLD, but so totally worth it to read.

Моre differences between US and Russia

- they cut their melons differently; they cut orange-slice like pieces out of the watermelon

- they have peaches and chocolate a lot; it is their fruit of choice to go with chocolate

- They don't highly value or use doctors and prescription medicine and hospitals as much as in America

- There is no good Russian translation for frustration, to be frustrated, or to be excited

- MTV Russia isn't a cable channel

- Some Russian verbs are extremely extremely specific; they have a separate verb (возненавидеть) for "to have a deep hatred of," and my personal favorite (опасататься) - "to fear and therefore refrain from" and лениться (to be too lazy to do something)

- It costs more to see a crappy USA movie on a Friday night than to see an opera or ballet!

HOST FAMILY NEWS!!!!!!!

I am not switching host families I don't think, they found the family with cats, but I am allergic, and the more I talk with other students about their host families the more I am grateful for my interesting, friendly, and open host family.

I have had a few long conversations with my host mother over the last few days, and this is what I learned -

1. She has four jobs. (She always seems to be at home though, I have no idea when she goes to these four jobs).
2. Those four jobs are actually being a professor of art and art history at different institutes around St. Petersburg!
3. She was born in the Arctic circle
4. She homeschooled Polina, my host sister, until she was 12. This is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY unusual in Russia. You weren't even allowed to homeschool in the Soviet time, because how else would they indoctrinate the children with Communist ideology?
My host sister was not only homeschooled, but homeschooled in the Russian aristocratic sense that she painted, learned French, played the violin and piano, and sang!
5. I think she speaks English and just hasn't told me. Over the past few days when I have been struggling with a Russian word, she says it in English. Also, if I say a word in English that is really similar to a Russian word (or she tells me a word in Russian that I don't know, but it sounds like an English word, so I say it in English) and she asks me to repeat it in English and then she practices saying it. If she does speak English, which I think she does, I would feel/do feel so odd! Like finding out that I was adopted...

Tallinn

On Friday I'm going to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, which should be awesome!

I look forward to the:
- coffee there (I've heard it's amazing)
- open-air markets there
- seeing my parents
- being in a place where they speak English a lot of the time.

More photos

The first photo is of my friends and I in front of one of the fountains at Peterhof,
Peter the Great's summer "cottage."

The second to last photo is of the grand cascade of fountains in Peterhof

The last photo is the same thing, but a different view.

Fun Photo Update!

Need to give credit where credit is due, so these photos were taken by my friends Lena and Sarah on the program :)

Sarah's flash card was also a victim of my mugging experience :(

The first photograph is of the Fontanki on the river Neva in St. Petersburg, and the second one is of some of my guy friends on the program trying to do the "Wolverine" making a "W" pose.

The third one is on the Gulf of finland

Some Sad News :(

I was planning on having this blog entry about my wonderful time at the ballet seeing Tchaikovksy's Sleeping Beauty on Saturday night, but sadly, after the ballet, while I was walking home (I went home right after the ballet instead of going to a cafe with friends, 'cause you know - it is dangerous in Petersburg!), I was assaulted and mugged right near my house. The assailant then ran into the abandoned field (see diagram on previous post), where it was dark and there was nothing that I could do.

I was walking down the street, which was a lit street, it was just past 11.00 PM, and a man came from behind (possible from the other side of the street as well) and pushed me to the ground really hard (almost a body slam) and grabbed my purse.

In my purse was my cell phone, money, credit cards, camera, and documents. But thank God I had my keys in my hand, a safety precaution I always take, and also my passport was not in my purse. I usually keep my money and credit card and documents in my money pouch, but it didn't match my outfit for the ballet!

My host family was very helpful, they called the police for me and helped me call the program director, who called my parents and had my parents call me. The police (much to my host sister's surprise) actually came and took a report and gave me the reference number of the case to give to the consulate.

The next morning my host mother went to the abandoned field and found my purse, although it was completely emptied of all of its contents. But it was ripped so hard from my arm that both of the straps were ripped off! My host sister thinks that it is salvageable, but I disagree. If I were a seamstress I could save it.

If hearing about wounds is not your cup of tea, skip the next paragraph :)

As far as my physical wounds are concerned, my right knee got banged up pretty badly; there are 2 fairly large open wounds about 2 inches in diameter a piece, which is pretty large. They are not deep at all, but just all of the skin was ripped off, and a few other very minor scrapes. I have been putting bandages on it that I change twice a day and Neosporin. But there are also a lot of bruises on my right knee and it is really swollen. Today (Tuesday) is the first day that it hasn't been too painful to walk normally. My left knee just has a few scrapes, and my right arm (where my purse was grabbed) was really sore the day after, but it is fine now.

Emotionally, I am doing pretty well. I've been more homesick, understandably, and I don't feel safe at all in my area even when I am walking in daylight with lots of other people.

The directors of the program themselves decided to move me, but St. Petersburg State University is the one responsible for finding host families, and they haven't yet found one. I really like my host family, but I live really far out in a not good section of town, and I've already been mugged...

And today, Tuesday, some of my documents were returned to the university! My photocopy of my passport, and my credit cards (which had already been canceled), but it was still very exciting to get them back.

Stay tuned for more news...