I think Wednesday will be my update days

I think that Wednesdays will probably become my update days as I have a break-period, which is what I am using right now to type this.

These past few days have been busy. Classes have started for me. I am in what seems to be the “advanced” group of students for Russian language classes. It is a bit intimidating, yet at the same time, I feel as though I am doing ok. What we are working on in terms of grammar and oral fluency is very similar to what Zoya Mikhailevna demanded of us all last quarter.

I am trying to think through all of the things that I have done these last few days, I forgot to bring my notes so I’m feeling a bit scatterbrained.

I’m starting to figure my way around the city. Allegra and I have discovered thanks to Marina that the bus is a better way to get to and from the school than the metro. I heard comments from other students that on weekday mornings that the metro resembles something out of “march of the penguins”.

I now have a cell-phone, my host-mom had an old one she is loaning me for the semester, and I bought a sim-card for it. Send me an e-mail if you want my phone-number.

My classes for this semester, are, at this time; grammar, conversation, phonetics/translation, civilization, culture, and choir. For sure the CIEE choir, but I may also be able to participate in the St. Petersburg State University choir. I need to talk to Irina and Jarlath more about that though.

The weather in St. Petersburg has been quite mild in my opinion. Maybe a little cold at night but not bad. I’ve has to explain to my hosts over and over again however that I don’t consider this to be cold, this is normal, even warm, winter weather for me. If I don’t have my hat on my head or my scarf around me next when heading out the apartment door, (not the building door the apartment door) I get scolded that it is cold out-side and I need to be bundled up. It’s wonderful that my host-mom cares, but I’ve spent the past few days OVERHEATING in St. Petersburg. :-P I guess I’ll just bundle up going out the door and then stick my scarf and gloves in my bag before going the rest of the way to school.

I am noticing that my comprehension of Russian has increased exponentionally since coming here, I have issues speaking still, my grammar goes out the window when I talk. Not completely but I know I must sound quite strange. I am starting to mutter to myself in Russian however and not English, I think this is a good first step.

I have spent more time talking to my host family now, though not as much as I would like. I even had a conversation with Seryosha the other day, though the two of us have more difficulty understanding one another than Tanya and I, I am not sure why exactly that is.

One thing I am shocked by is the amount of TV my family watches. I am not used to watching much TV. Still I try to watch a little just to see how much I can understand. I had the most issues when a commercial in English came on…. It messed with my head.

On the 27th, St. Petersburg had a holiday to celebrate the end of 900 days of blockade during WWII. The news that day was interesting. I wish I could have understood more of the interviews they had with blockade survivors. Allegra, Brian and I went to watch the fireworks over the Petropavloskaya Krepost’. I have pictures from this and from our excursion on Sunday. (click on the photo gallery to see them. :) )

I think I’ll maybe have to update this better another day. I’m sitting in the study room with about 15 other people, so I keep getting distracted from what it is I am writing.

So I lied...

In my last post I said it would be a while before I had internet access again, but already I've found a cafe where one can purchase a wi-fi access card for relatively cheap.

Yesterday we finished orientation and I was picked up from the hotel by my hozyika (hostess/host-mom), Tat'yana, and her friend Marina who is host mom to another girl in the CIEE program. Both Tat'yana and Marina live in the same apartment building.

Our apartment building is located on Bolshoi prospect in the most desirable neighborhood in St. Petersburg. From the out-side of many of these buildings you can't quite figure out why-but inside the apartment is a different matter.

I feel as though I am living in a cataloge. My host parents, Tat'ya and her husband Seryosha have an extremely nice 3 room apartment. And yes when I say 3 rooms, I mean 3 rooms. When you enter the door there is an entry way and directly ahead is an office, this is where I am staying. The couch folds around into a very comfy trundle bed.

Down a short hallway is the toilet room, and the bathroom, next to that the kitchen/eating area, and around the corner the living room, which is also where my hosts sleep.

The apartment is done up in a modern European style on the inside, and is both beautiful and comfortable.

Tat'yana brought me home, got me settled in and fed a hearty lunch of home-made chicken noodle soup, bread, and a salad plate of noodles, carrots, and a culetta (mini-cutlet). Then she had to leave for work so I was home alone for a short while before being picked up for a walk with Allegra (other student) and her host-mom Marina.

Marina walked us through our neighborhood, explained transportation, showed us the cafe I am currently sitting in, and most importantly, I think on her list at any-rate, was taking us to the Peter Paul fortress. The birth-place and central heart of St. Petersburg. I'd been there before when I came to Russia with Lalah, but it was different seeing it in winter, snow covered, grounds under renovation, near dusk, and with a guide who bossed us through the entire complex while explaining the importance of various buildings. This woman KNOWS St. Petersburg, and wants to ensure we know it too.

I wish I'd brought my camera with me yesterday as she led us out onto a frozen beach at the fortress where we had a spectacular view of the Palace Embankment light up against a dark-sky and frozen Neva. However I had no idea where we were going and thus didn't bring my camera with me. :-( I will have to go back and get a picture.

This sight however did leave me to realize that I am within walking distance of the Winter Palace, home to the Hermitage. Once I have my student ID I will have free access to the Hermitage. I think I know where I will be spending otherwise boring or free weekends. :-D

After we came back to our building Marina dropped me off at my door and I met my host-father, Seryosha. By this point I was very tired and my conversation with him was a bit disjointed, but I think I will get along with him well. He went out to the store and Tat'yana came home.

Yesterday was St. Tat'yana's day, the Patron Saint of students, and the Name day for my hostess so we had a party last night, complete with my hosts' son Dima who is also a student. He speaks a little bit of English and I am most thankful to him for giving me occasional context words in English during the conversation over dinner as my brain power was fading. I was definitely feeling out of it trying to consume a HUGE traditional Russian dinner, and carry on a conversation with 3 enthusiastic people in a language that I don't speak particularly well. I think I would have been hard pressed to carry on a decent conversation in English but I made it through, though I almost thought I was going to be sick trying to eat the last of the cake we had for dessert.

All of the food is delicious, and I appreciate my hostess' hospitality greatly, but I'm going to slowly work with her to cut back on my intake of food. In Russia, especially in St. Petersburg it is considered rude to leave food on your plate, thus if it is offered, you eat it - all of it.

Today I was out and about, ice-skating and walking the city for a good 6 hours and the amount of food I ate for dinner I felt adequately replenished the amount of calories I had burned. I think I got it across a little. But I want to be careful with it because she seems very anxious that I enjoy Russian cuisine. So as the days and weeks go by and she learns that I really do have nothing against the food, I can convince her that I just can't eat quite that much of it.

One member of my family I have yet to mention is their koshka (cat) Musi, I think is her name. She is a tiny little thing of 15 years of age. She also has the biggest eyes of any cat I have ever met (Bug included) and is VERY affectionate, at least with me. She spent a good two hours having me pet her and sleeping next to me yesterday, even climbing in my lap. Today when I came home she ran to the door to great me.

She also provides a good topic of conversation with my host mom, because cats, in Russian as well as English are something I can talk about at length, and as Tat'yana is fond of her Musi, she has no problem telling me stories about her in return.

Today was long as you might have guessed from my earlier writing. This morning Marina took Allegra and I on the metro to Nevski Prospect, near Kazan Cathedral to meet with our group. From there we walked to place square where a large ice-rink has been erected and spent several hours ice-skating. Ice-skating in palace square was, in a word, AWESOME.

On the ice, out-door rink, snow falling down, and only a few hundred feet away is the Winter Palace, the Admiralty Spire and the dome of St. Issacs are easily visable, and, for the first time ever I had skates that fit me well.... go figure - I guess randomly at European sizing and find a pair to skates that don't pinch, don't let my ankle go, and don't need to readjusted every 20 minutes to keep them on and comfortable.

After skating was done we all went to a cafe for lunch. Our excursion was officially over but several of us decided to stay down-town and explore the Nevsky area. At about 3:30 the lot of us decided we should be heading home before host parents would start to worry, so Allegra and I showed the others how to buy metro tokens, and we all headed home.

I made it home shortly before Tat'yana came home from work, but thankfully, after having me practice locking and unlocking the door about 5 times this morning I was allowed to take a key with me.

I had another excellent dinner tonight, and then spent time showing Tatyana's pictures on my computer of friends, family, Spokane, and UW.

Then Allegra came over to get me to go this cafe for internet access.

Orientation

So I just got back from a rather long day. Few days?

My trip to Newark was uneventful and I made it to the hotel and back to the airport with ease. I had to wait around for several hours before being able to check my baggage, which was kind of annoying, but I had a book and starbucks was near by.

Flight to Copenhagen was very empty. Thus I had a window seat, and the seat next to me was empty. A very nice combination for a long flight. I tried to sleep but didn’t do very well. I didn’t really fall asleep until about 2 hours before our destination, which meant I had to promptly wake right back up so I could decipher the Danish the stewardesses kept speaking to me in, and get break-fast.

Copenhagen air-port was also very empty, but it was about 6:45am local time when we arrived. I had to wait about an hour before I could find out what gate my flight would be leaving from. Luckly, I ended up sitting next to a young girl from Switzerland who was returning home after a semester exchange to the United States. Talking to her helped to pass the time, and meant both of us managed to stay awake and alert enough to find out what gates our flights would be departing from.

My flight left from a gate on the other side of the air-port so I had a fun through 3 passport checks and one security gate. The security gate made me think I’ve been flying the U.S. to often. The guard didn’t want my shoes off, just my luggage scanned. He was also very polite and let me take my time getting my stuff into bins. It may have helped that I was the only person going through that gate.

I arrived at Pulkovo II, my bag was one of the first off the air-plane and I whisked through passport control and customs, before finding the CIEE group in the waiting area. The first lot of us – all language program students ironically, were taken to our hotel at about 3:30 local time, which meant we made it there by about 5pm.

No, we didn’t go to Repino, (why I don’t know I’m still confused, but this place makes more sense and is really nice so I won’t complain.) We are located across the street from Smolny sobor and our institute. After the second group arrived we ate a late dinner and had a brief introduction to one another and to the program before being allowed to call home and go to a local convenience store if necessary.

Today we got up early for breakfast and then headed over to Smolny for our first day of orientation. I’m amazed I am still capable of any thought. Lots of information, everything from safety, and culture-schock to metro-passes and home stays was covered. I think I’ve got most of it down, but since I am in the Russian language group our orientation was partly in Russian. Meaning I’m still slightly confused on some of the metro-pass and cell-phone information, but assume I’ll either figure out before Sunday or go ask the directors for clarification if it doesn’t make sense after seeing the metro and going to the store to buy phones and sim-cards.
I’m amazed both at the amount of Russian I’ve processed today and how much I’ve understood. Not everything but far more than I would have expected of myself.

With my brain feeling pretty shot after the first 4 hours of orientation we went to lunch I had thought it was going to be relaxing but I ended up sitting at a table with one of Jarlath’s (coordinator) friends from St. Petersburg State, Pavel. So I ended up carrying on a conversation in Russia, trying to down my enormous (but very good) lunch, and have jet-lag slam into me as my body suddenly realized that it was about 2:30am PST.

Afternoon was more orientation, and a very quick tour of the most important locations at Smolny (bathrooms, cafeteria, coat-room, school supply shop, CIEE office, internet café, and library.) Then we went back across the street towards our hotel to catch a bus to Chernshevskaya. We split into several groups for dinner. My group went to Chainikaya Lozhka a Russian fast-food place whose business model is centered around blini, salad (not what Americans would think of as salad normally), and tea. The food was cheap (about $3 for a meal) quick, and very good. I had a cheese blin, and moizaka salad ( I think that is what it was called, I just rattled off the first salad I saw when the server asked what I wanted), which is a tuna salad with vegetables.

After eating and spacing out as my table waited for the rest of the group to finish, we walked back to our hotel. Partly because we didn’t want to wait for a bus in the cold, and partly because Jarlath wanted us to see Tavicheskyi Sad, a large park, and partly to show us that, yes, it does take 30 minutes to walk from Chenishevskaya (closest metro) to Smolny. It’s not a bad walk but it is definitely a motivator for us students to leave our home-stays early. If we make it to the Chernishevskaya metro by 9am we get a free shuttle ride from CIEE to campus. If we miss it, it’s public transit or foot to make it to class.

In the afternoons we have to take public transit back to the station or walk because every ones class ends a different times based upon what courses one is taking. I think it might be a nice walk once spring is here, since it over a block through the park, and then over another block, but not one that I am going to want to make often while snow and ice are still on the ground.

Thankfully this is why we took the bus in that direction, so we know to either take the 46 bus, or the K-46 marshrutka, and what their route is. A marshrutka is a privately owned bus or taxi that runs on a specific route. While about 4 rubles more expensive than a state-run bus, they are very convenient and give another safe travel option for us students.

Now I am back, have figured out that yes I can charge my computer here with my adapter, and trying to write down as much as I can before I forget everything.

Tomorrow I have more orientation in the morning and then get to meet my hozyika and go to my apartment tomorrow afternoon.


PS- Look I even got this posted the same day I wrote it in! Yay for a hotel with free internet and the magic that is flash-drives. :-)

Arrival

Gwen has arrived safely in St Petersburg. She called about 11 am PST (10 pm St Petersburg). All of the airline flights arrived early or on time. The next few days will be spent in orientation and then meeting up with her host family on the weekend. She is likely to be very busy the first 10 to 15 days and may not be able to post updates here at first.

Repino

I will arrive in St Petersburg in early afternoon on Wednesday, January 23d. (This is about 2:30 am Pacific time on the west coast of the U.S.)

This is where I will spend my first few days of orientation. Repino is located about 50 km northwest of St Petersburg. The green arrow on the map points to Repino - St Petersburg is further south and east.


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About

Hello, for those who wish to know about me and about the purpose of my blog here is a little section just for you.

About me:
My name is Gwen, and I am a jr. at the University of Washington. There I am studying Russian Language and Literature, and European Studies with a focus on Eastern Europe and Central Asia.


My Blog:
This blog is a place for me to chronicle my travels, currently my study abroad trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. Though if you look in my photo galleries you will find pictures from past trips as well.

The name for my blog come from the Russian word ПЕВЕЦ or "bard".