(no subject)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve last written. I have been incredibly busy, which has made the time fly. In less than 4 weeks I will be in ISTANBUL. I, unfortunately, have not had a lot of time to get excited about the trip, and the lack of internet at home has made it difficult to communicate with Christie about trip planning. But I have a plane ticket and a hotel room, and that is all that is important!
I found out about a week ago that I didn’t get into the advanced program for next year. I was bummed for about 20 minutes, and then I realized that I’m quite sick of formal study and am quite excited to find a job here and start living in the real world. I will hear about the summer scholarship in late March, and if I don’t receive that, I will be in America working and enjoying the little things (like clean drinking water from the faucet) until I return to Piter in August.
One of my closest friends here just graduated and moved back to Kazakhstan, which gives me even more of an incentive to go there. Before she left she was nice enough to introduce me to some of her friends. They plan on visiting her sometime in the next few months or in the fall, and hopefully I will be able to go with them.
Every Wednesday night Dave and Hannah (English couple, who are starting a church here) have our “congregation” over for a delicious Western meal. When I started going to their place on Wednesdays about 12 people went (Tim, Rachel and their daughter, Dave, Hannah, and their 3 children, 3 girls around my age, and me). Last Wednesday there were 33 people and we even had a handful of the “new regulars” missing. I cannot believe how much our church family has grown in just a month. Wednesday is only fellowship time, and on Saturdays is when we have worship. I wonder if we will all be able to fit into Dave and Hannah’s family room tonight.
Sundays after church I have started volunteering with the Salvation Army. I make sandwiches and then I, along with 3 other people, go around Petersburg, giving the sandwiches to the homeless and telling them about the free meals that Salvation Army offers during the week. The homeless people here are a little different from American homeless people. The homeless people here never refuse food, while in America I have seen homeless people refuse food when they hear it comes from a Christian organization. The homeless here always cross themselves and hug us and tell God to bless us, it’s really an interesting experience!
School has not been quite as fun as the other aspects of my life. My class consists of 7 students, and only 3 of the 7 always do their homework, listen to the teacher, don’t talk while the teacher is talking, etc. It is as though the other 4 have given up, and it’s quite frustrating and embarrassing (as far as the impressions our professors must have of American students). I have already complained to the director, so hopefully things will change soon. I’m paying too much money to waste class time on the people who have decided that they have something more important to do here than to learn Russian.
Last weekend I saw Dima Bilan in concert. Dima Bilan is like the Justin Timberlake of Russia. He won a large European music competition (Eurovision) this past spring, and he is Russia’s pride and joy. Since this was the first pop concert I had ever been to, I didn’t really have any expectations, other than the fact that I expected Johanna and I to be the oldest females there, surrounded by screaming 13 year olds dressed in pink. The concert-goers were surprising normal. There were a few little girls whose fathers had taken them, but there were also several couples my age and older. Although Dima Bilan is fun to look at (something I cannot deny), his show left something to be desired. Over the course of 3 hours, he only sang about 12 songs, excluding his very first (and most popular) hit. Every two songs, he would go off stage to catch his breath and change outfits, while a girl DJ came on the stage and played some techno music. I was expecting a little more from Dima, but I still had a fun time at the concert. At the beginning of March, I plan to go see a rock group here called “Agatha Christie”. I’m hoping for a little more of an adrenaline rush from that show.
Monday we don’t have school, as Monday is two very important holidays. First it is Russia’s “Men’s Day”, more accurately, Day of the Defenders of the Motherland. From what I have gathered from my Russian friends, it is a mix of Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day for men. Everyone gets the day off of work, and women give gifts to their father, uncles, spouse, brothers, sons, male coworkers, etc. Women’s Day is March 8th, which is the same idea only for women. This Monday is also the first day of Maslenitsa!! Maslenitsa = from the Russian word for “butter”, is a Pagan festival the week before Lent starts. There should be some events around the city this week, of course the Sunday which ends the week will be the most celebrated day.
That’s all for now. I will try to update again before my spring break trips!
I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve last written. I have been incredibly busy, which has made the time fly. In less than 4 weeks I will be in ISTANBUL. I, unfortunately, have not had a lot of time to get excited about the trip, and the lack of internet at home has made it difficult to communicate with Christie about trip planning. But I have a plane ticket and a hotel room, and that is all that is important!
I found out about a week ago that I didn’t get into the advanced program for next year. I was bummed for about 20 minutes, and then I realized that I’m quite sick of formal study and am quite excited to find a job here and start living in the real world. I will hear about the summer scholarship in late March, and if I don’t receive that, I will be in America working and enjoying the little things (like clean drinking water from the faucet) until I return to Piter in August.
One of my closest friends here just graduated and moved back to Kazakhstan, which gives me even more of an incentive to go there. Before she left she was nice enough to introduce me to some of her friends. They plan on visiting her sometime in the next few months or in the fall, and hopefully I will be able to go with them.
Every Wednesday night Dave and Hannah (English couple, who are starting a church here) have our “congregation” over for a delicious Western meal. When I started going to their place on Wednesdays about 12 people went (Tim, Rachel and their daughter, Dave, Hannah, and their 3 children, 3 girls around my age, and me). Last Wednesday there were 33 people and we even had a handful of the “new regulars” missing. I cannot believe how much our church family has grown in just a month. Wednesday is only fellowship time, and on Saturdays is when we have worship. I wonder if we will all be able to fit into Dave and Hannah’s family room tonight.
Sundays after church I have started volunteering with the Salvation Army. I make sandwiches and then I, along with 3 other people, go around Petersburg, giving the sandwiches to the homeless and telling them about the free meals that Salvation Army offers during the week. The homeless people here are a little different from American homeless people. The homeless people here never refuse food, while in America I have seen homeless people refuse food when they hear it comes from a Christian organization. The homeless here always cross themselves and hug us and tell God to bless us, it’s really an interesting experience!
School has not been quite as fun as the other aspects of my life. My class consists of 7 students, and only 3 of the 7 always do their homework, listen to the teacher, don’t talk while the teacher is talking, etc. It is as though the other 4 have given up, and it’s quite frustrating and embarrassing (as far as the impressions our professors must have of American students). I have already complained to the director, so hopefully things will change soon. I’m paying too much money to waste class time on the people who have decided that they have something more important to do here than to learn Russian.
Last weekend I saw Dima Bilan in concert. Dima Bilan is like the Justin Timberlake of Russia. He won a large European music competition (Eurovision) this past spring, and he is Russia’s pride and joy. Since this was the first pop concert I had ever been to, I didn’t really have any expectations, other than the fact that I expected Johanna and I to be the oldest females there, surrounded by screaming 13 year olds dressed in pink. The concert-goers were surprising normal. There were a few little girls whose fathers had taken them, but there were also several couples my age and older. Although Dima Bilan is fun to look at (something I cannot deny), his show left something to be desired. Over the course of 3 hours, he only sang about 12 songs, excluding his very first (and most popular) hit. Every two songs, he would go off stage to catch his breath and change outfits, while a girl DJ came on the stage and played some techno music. I was expecting a little more from Dima, but I still had a fun time at the concert. At the beginning of March, I plan to go see a rock group here called “Agatha Christie”. I’m hoping for a little more of an adrenaline rush from that show.
Monday we don’t have school, as Monday is two very important holidays. First it is Russia’s “Men’s Day”, more accurately, Day of the Defenders of the Motherland. From what I have gathered from my Russian friends, it is a mix of Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day for men. Everyone gets the day off of work, and women give gifts to their father, uncles, spouse, brothers, sons, male coworkers, etc. Women’s Day is March 8th, which is the same idea only for women. This Monday is also the first day of Maslenitsa!! Maslenitsa = from the Russian word for “butter”, is a Pagan festival the week before Lent starts. There should be some events around the city this week, of course the Sunday which ends the week will be the most celebrated day.
That’s all for now. I will try to update again before my spring break trips!