I Like Stuff...
Well, we've been here in St. Petersburg for almost three weeks
already, the time has definitely flown! The first few days it felt
like I had been here forever, having been here already and knowing my
way around quite well...But now I find myself wondering where the time
has gone. I try to judge how things are going by how my trip was at
this point when I was in Moscow...some days are good, and others I get
frustrated or tired, but it's to be expected.
On Wednesday, all of us were having a difficult day...classes weren't being understood,
fatigue had kind of sunk in, so after class Meaghan and I went to a
cafe which we have been frequenting one metro stop from our residence
on Vasilievsky Island just to relax and have a cup of tea. The
waitresses have started recognizing us, and have always been quite
nice. This time though, our waitress decided to strike up a
conversation with us, telling us how we had good accents, asking us
where we were from, etc. It was exactly what we needed to hear after a
hard day. Immediately we felt better about ourselves, and particularly
our Russian capabilities. The next day, while in the grocery store, an
older lady asked for our help in reading the label on a bottle of
ketchup (she wanted to know if it was sweetened or not, I'm guessing
her eyesight wasn't too good). After we helped her find what she
wanted she asked where we were from and fondly patted us on the arm,
saying "oh, devushki" (oh, girls). It was nice to be able to do
something so small.
Despite the fact that we have been here for three weeks, adventures are
still a part of daily life. Today, on our way to an internet cafe
(where I'm now typing this), we got on a bus that SAID it was going to
Nevsky Prospekt, however, it's route had changed...not the sign. We
ended up on the Petrograd side, not far from Finland Station...We had
time to kill so we weren't upset, laughed it off with some women on
the bus, and took the opportunity to take some pictures of the Lenin
statue in front of the station. I'm sure there'll be many more
adventures like this to come, the possibilities are endless!
This weekend, Meaghan and I have tickets to go see the Tchaikovsky opera The Queen of Spades (based on the work by Pushkin)...I'm so excited! Our schedule is kind of messed up next week because of Men's Day (a.k.a. Defenders of the Motherland Day)on Wednesday. We get the day off but we have to go to make up classes on Monday afternoon and Friday (which kind of sucks). Things have been overall good. Things between Deanna and I have been worked out (thank god) but I want to start doing more museum going, etc. We found out where Pushkin was shot (near Chornaya Reka metro...just for you Ana!) so Meaghan and I are going to go on an excursia po gorodu to find it and explore a bit.
Poka!
already, the time has definitely flown! The first few days it felt
like I had been here forever, having been here already and knowing my
way around quite well...But now I find myself wondering where the time
has gone. I try to judge how things are going by how my trip was at
this point when I was in Moscow...some days are good, and others I get
frustrated or tired, but it's to be expected.
On Wednesday, all of us were having a difficult day...classes weren't being understood,
fatigue had kind of sunk in, so after class Meaghan and I went to a
cafe which we have been frequenting one metro stop from our residence
on Vasilievsky Island just to relax and have a cup of tea. The
waitresses have started recognizing us, and have always been quite
nice. This time though, our waitress decided to strike up a
conversation with us, telling us how we had good accents, asking us
where we were from, etc. It was exactly what we needed to hear after a
hard day. Immediately we felt better about ourselves, and particularly
our Russian capabilities. The next day, while in the grocery store, an
older lady asked for our help in reading the label on a bottle of
ketchup (she wanted to know if it was sweetened or not, I'm guessing
her eyesight wasn't too good). After we helped her find what she
wanted she asked where we were from and fondly patted us on the arm,
saying "oh, devushki" (oh, girls). It was nice to be able to do
something so small.
Despite the fact that we have been here for three weeks, adventures are
still a part of daily life. Today, on our way to an internet cafe
(where I'm now typing this), we got on a bus that SAID it was going to
Nevsky Prospekt, however, it's route had changed...not the sign. We
ended up on the Petrograd side, not far from Finland Station...We had
time to kill so we weren't upset, laughed it off with some women on
the bus, and took the opportunity to take some pictures of the Lenin
statue in front of the station. I'm sure there'll be many more
adventures like this to come, the possibilities are endless!
This weekend, Meaghan and I have tickets to go see the Tchaikovsky opera The Queen of Spades (based on the work by Pushkin)...I'm so excited! Our schedule is kind of messed up next week because of Men's Day (a.k.a. Defenders of the Motherland Day)on Wednesday. We get the day off but we have to go to make up classes on Monday afternoon and Friday (which kind of sucks). Things have been overall good. Things between Deanna and I have been worked out (thank god) but I want to start doing more museum going, etc. We found out where Pushkin was shot (near Chornaya Reka metro...just for you Ana!) so Meaghan and I are going to go on an excursia po gorodu to find it and explore a bit.
Poka!