Monday, October 12, 2009
October 12th
Probably the best purchase I’ve made in my time here in Russia has got to be a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. To my mind, cigarettes and/or a lighter are easily the best learning tools for a student of Russian. Not a day goes by when I don't get asked for a cigarette or a light and about 50% of the time, the proffering of said cigarette or light will lead to some sort of rudimentary conversation. I wouldn’t suggest this in Pete or Moscow where people are annoyed by foreigners, but here in V-town, bumming a cigarette off an American student is something to tell your friends about, so all is forgiven. Soldati are easily the worst offenders and not a day goes by when I don’t see the soldiers from the National Guard barracks near my house asking for cigarettes or a light. Sure, they’re taking advantage of their status as soldiers to take advantage of their fellow citizens, but I’ve never seen anyone refuse them, that’d be unpatriotic. Anyways, the reason I brought this up was because today on the way back from school I was asked by two pathetic looking Privates (they were washing their commander’s personal vehicle- difference number one between U.S. Military and the Russkaya Armiya) for a cigarette and a light. I fished them out and lit both their cigarettes, in the process of this I exposed myself as a foreigner and the usual battery of questions began. Obviously I have far more interest in talking with soldiers here than regular people so I usually jump at the opportunity. We talked about me for awhile and I asked them about themselves. I asked what rank they were, Private or Private First Class (the only two lower enlisted ranks in the Russian Army to my knowledge) and they clamed up and looked distinctly terrified. Obviously they put two and two together and decided that an American student asking them about military matters definitely made me a spy. Knowing the form that discipline takes in the Russian Army (seriously, this isn’t conjecture on my part), these two soldiers were convinced that if their superiors found out they were telling an American about any military matters, no matter how trivial, they’d likely get roughed up. Me being a spy is a conclusion that about every Russian I’ve ever spent more than five minutes with has jumped to, joking or not, and it’s almost comical how Cold War that is. I’m not thrilled with the idea of getting arrested for military espionage so I beat a hasty retreat from these Joes (Ivans?) and called it a day.
I’ve decided that’s essentially a Voronezh Moment of the Day too so I’m going to skip out on that for this post.
P.S. The cigarettes I buy are called Soyuz Apollon. At first I thought it just meant the Union of Apollo (the literal translation) but I finally translated the back and found out that they are named after the “17 July 1975 docking of space ships from two great powers- Soviet ship Soyuz-19
Sunday, October 11, 2009
October 11th
Every Thursday, the cadets here in Voronezh have a military history/ethics class taught by a Russian Lieutenant Colonel and with about 10 of the cadets from VGU. It’s mostly unintelligible, but I find it fascinating and I feel by the end of my trip here I’ll have a post about that class. However, the more immediate effect on my life is the korsanti who we take the class with. Three or four of them have really taken a liking to us (and likewise) and so for the past three weeks, we hang out with them about four times a week. It’s mostly a giant game of charades, but we all have a blast (bear in mind, these are not typical Russian “bros” as defined earlier. These guys have their lives on track, don’t drink, they play sports, etc.). Anyways, this week, on Thursday, we were invited to a pickup game of basketball, 5 on 5. Danilla, one of the Russians, assured us that despite the fact that he plays on a basketball team here in Voronezh, that he and his friends weren’t very good. So we assembled an American dream team and set off last night for some basketball. It turns out we were the most exciting thing happening in the English speaking camp that night, because we had a cheering section of at least 10. With the pressure of the whole English speaking world on our shoulders, we set of for the gym. We arrived and, instead of finding a group of five guys who played basketball in their off time, we found five guys, in matching uniforms, ready for a serious game. Needless to say, our “dream team” of guys, none of whom had played basketball past middle school, got comprehensively wrecked. As one of our critics aptly put it, “Yeah, you played with a lot of heart, but after 30 minutes you had two points and three rebounds. The only time you guys got the ball back was after they scored.” None of the other guys spoke any English but that didn’t keep me from hearing one of them say, after 20 minutes of embarrassment, “Let’s go easy on them.” It didn’t help… they just scored less often. Anyways, after 30 minutes we decided that we’d pretty well proven that despite coming from the home of basketball, we were not all magically endowed with the ability to play superb basketball. So we switched up the teams and a great multicultural time was had by all and our unbelievably poor play was covered at least somewhat by our Russian compatriots. I don’t think we’ll be getting challenged to another game of basketball anytime soon, but I could still face them down in the pool any day of the week. Maybe.
.Voronezh Moment of the Day
This actually happened quite some time ago, but I figured I’d give it a go now. So I was running along the river (quick aside: there is no such thing as waterfront property in Voronezh. Sure, the nicest houses are along the river, but I have run along the river for a total of about 16 miles of riverside and in two places have I not been able to run right at the edge. Maybe it was a communist thing, but the river bank throughout the whole city is essentially either boardwalk or public park. Really quite neat if you think about it, especially because I can think of two places [downtown and River Road] that are public along the St. John’s River in Jacksonville. Capitalists…). Anyways, so I was running along the river and rather enjoying the view across the river to the opposite bank, where I live. Another brief aside that’s more integral to our story: people don’t swim in the Voronezh River. It’s got a bunch of factories up and downstream and there’s big signs everywhere that say “NO SWIMMING” with a skull in crossbones (recall this is Russia). So, of course, I don’t expect anyone to be swimming, but this is the Left Bank (Voronezh’s “other side of the tracks.” One of my Russian cadet friends told me not to speak Russian over there because he was fairly certain that I would be beaten to death by packs of xenophobic, racist hooligans. Cool, Russia, cool). Sure enough, as I’m soaking in the view from across the river, there’s a commotion in the water in front of me and this large white manatee heaves into view. Only it wasn’t a manatee. It was instead this enormously fat, enormously naked man heaving himself out of the water like some swollen nymph. I gave a yelp of pain as my eyes were forever seared and then took off running like I’ve never run before.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
October 8th
Rough day in class today. Our first lesson got cancelled, so we had to be at school at the crack of noon for Russian Folk Music 101. After an hour of strenuous singing, we found out our class at 4 o’clock was cancelled too, so finished at 1 o’clock. Voronezh Gosudarstveni Universitet is such a fine (Russian) institution of higher learning… Anyways, so St. Petersburg. Quick run through of the last day: I went to Pavlovsk Park. This gem of a park (2400 acres) is quite off the beaten path (you have to take a train to get there) and in October when you couldn’t find a tourist if you tried, this park was essentially reserved for me. It was lovely to stroll through the tree lined paths and wander through the foresty parts and just totally relax. I found a grassy knoll and laid down for a nap. Before I drifted off to sleep in the lush grass I looked at my watch: 3:00 PM Friday. That meant 7:00 AM on the East Coast. That’s breakfast formation at school. That moment as I looked up at the beautiful sky in a gorgeous park in a wonderful city, I almost felt a twinge of pity for all the folks back home. But it quickly passed. Well, I can’t really find too much to go into about me walking around a park except to say that if you find yourself in St. Pete in the future, Pavlovskii Park is where it’s at. On the last day in St. Petersburg, I sojourned to the Russian Art Museum for Round II making this museum the only art museum that I’ve ever been to twice voluntarily and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Well, that’s pretty much all there is to relate about my trip (I also bought the most delicious blackberries from this babushka on the train ride home, but that’s neither here nor there).
Voronezh Moment of the Day
I believe I’ve related in this blog at some point the admonition that one should under no circumstances smile when walking down the street while in Russia. Sometimes, though I am admittedly nearly perfect, I manage to not follow my own advice all the time. It was my first day back in Voronezh (Monday) and I was just generally happy to be alive. As it were, I just couldn’t help but smile. Mistake. I immediately made myself a target and sure enough as I’m walking down the sidewalk, lost in my own thoughts and oblivious to the world around me, the loudest noise I’ve heard happens right next to my ear. I jump about a foot in the air and turn to see that it’s a police car parked in the parking lot next to the sidewalk and they’d just sounded their siren. In the car are two police men who are dying of laughter that they just scared the bejesus out of me. Then one of the cops has the temerity to ask me for a light for his cigarette. Mustering up all the dignity I have left, I just glare and continue on my way. Semester Abroad day 41: I got harassed by cops on the way to school. Only in Russia.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
October 6th
Day 2&3- After re-falling in love with the city of St. Petersburg, I moved into tourist hyperdrive. In a an action packed two days I saw the following:
Tauride Palace and Park- The Tauride Palace has great historical significance for Russia during her revolutionary period. It was the site of the first Duma during Tsar Nicholas II’s reign and between the February and October Revolutions in 1917, it was the sight of the ineffectual and doomed Provisional Government. So, naturally, my excitement to see this edifice was rather high. Thought I: well, perhaps the best way to see the Tauride Palace would be through the Tauride Park. Silly me, this is Russia. I ended up walking for about 30 minutes just to get a glimpse of this fairly unassuming “palace” (I suppose I’ve been spoiled by the Hermitage and Peterhoff- real palaces…). It is currently the headquarters of the CIS, the modern day answer to the Warsaw Pact. I had to dig to find the irony in this, but I dug and I found it.
Smolney Institute and Cathedral- I didn’t know that the Cathedral existed, but it turned out to be far more accessible and entertaining then the more historically relevant Institute. The Smolney Insitute was, in Tsarist times, a private girl’s school and six months post Tsarist times it became the Communist bastion in the city. All sorts of fun and interesting Communist things happened here, such as the signing of death warrants, the killing of Dukes and intellectuals, and the assassinations of Communists themselves. Indeed, in that building, the Mayor of Leningrad was killed, beginning Stalin’s great purges. It now resembles a building that is closed to tourists…
Alexander Nevsky Monastery- Not a whole lot of historical significance going on here as far as I could tell. Well, beyond a beautiful church and a few cemeteries full of dead bodies of some importance. So the church was incredible inside and, it being October, rainy, and cold, I was the only foreigner anywhere near the place. Of course, like all Orthodox churches, the no photo rule is strictly enforced (that’s my carrot to mom and dad to come to Russia- gotta see the churches) so sorry, no pictures. As I sat inside the church, soaking in the beauty and the peace (and trying to dry out) I thought I was about as far away from Russia as I could possibly be. At that precise moment, a drunk, dirty old man came and sat down next to me and after realizing that I was in no mood to chat, began harassing the nuns going by. Yep. I was still in Russia. On the plus side, I was able to see the graves of Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Shiskin. All in one fell swoop.
Petropavloskii Krepost (Peter and Paul Fortress)- This fortress was one of the first things erected after the founding of the city in 1703. Great fun to be had by all: from the State Museum of Torture to Executioner’s Dock where, well, people were executed. From there, make your way down to the prison where all sorts of famous folks were incarcerated, from Dostoevsky to Lenin’s older brother. Cap it all off with the borderline gaudy Peter and Paul Cathedral where you can see the tombs of all the Tsars from Peter the Great to the murdered Nicholas II who was returned here recently from the field in Siberia where he and his family were so lovingly thrown after they were done in by the Communists.
Well, that’s it for a couple of exciting days in St. Pete. Hope you enjoyed this bit of the virtual tour sans pictures.
St. Petersburg Moment of the Day
So, I was on my way to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery when I stopped to do one of my frequent map checks (sorry dad, no compass). I ascertained my location and continued to move out. About 30 meters down the road I was stopped by a Russian who was clearly thrown off by my Russian coat, pointy shoes, and lack of any ubiquitous “tourist tags” (map, camera, I Heart St. Pete shirt, colorful clothing, smile, etc.). This Russian asked me where Baltinskaya Ulitsa was (that’s a road). Having just checked my map, I was able to not only point him towards this road, but also which way went toward the river and which way went toward downtown. I managed to do this in grammatically correct Russian, but I’m just not good enough to hide that I am indeed a foreigner. It absolutely KILLED this guy that he’d just asked for, and then received instructions from a non-Russian. This man literally looked like I’d just run over his puppy, and then backed over it just to be sure. Not content to let this slight go unavenged, this man said, with all the malice he could muster (it was a significant amount of malice), “Oh. And here I thought you were a Russian.” You’re welcome, sir. You’re welcome.
Monday, October 5, 2009
October 5th
Well, I’ve returned from my arduous journey to the great white north. What immediately springs to mind is how difficult my life is. Taking 10 days off from school to tour the most beautiful city on earth is easily the most taxing thing I’ve done in some time. After reviewing my experiences of this past week, I’ve decided that there’s nothing of a really deep nature that I can relate on this blog. After all, I wasn’t really in Russia and being a tourist is no way to experience the true depth of a country. So, I will merely give an account of my four days in St. Petersburg.
Day 1- The train to Pete is 24 hours, quite the experience and certainly the best way to travel. Each vagon is controlled by an imperious babushka who is not averse to yelling at you to get her way. The customer is not always right… Anyways, it is impossible not to meet people on a train when you are literally living with them for 24 hours and sure enough, within several hours of departing Voronezh several of my fellow travelers were going shot for shot with a group of Russians. We arrived in Pete none the worse for the ware and immediately set out for our hostel (25 bucks a night is hard to beat…). Probably my favorite part about St. Petersburg is that you don’t even have to enter into a building to fall in love with this city. My favorite pastime is simply walking around, day or night, sun or rain, there is always some angle, some nook or cranny that is somehow more beautiful than the last. I’ve been in St. Petersburg for a total of eight days now in my life and still I feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface of the city. After getting checked in, I immediately set out to reacquaint myself with the city. I won’t bore with details, but the beautiful pastels and classical architecture combine to make a stroll around the city a pleasant one. I ended the day with a shaverma, a sort of burrito concoction with vegetables, mystery meat, and a mayonnaise mustard sauce. This can be found anywhere in Russia, but the best ones I’ve found are in downtown Pete in a little hole in the wall place. Devine. Anyhow, that’s it for day one; feel free to check tomorrow for a continuation of the trip…
St. Petersburg Moment of the Day
Just because I wasn’t really in Russia didn’t mean that there were no Russians in St. Pete. Just as I was being lulled into a false sense of European-ness, I came around a corner and squatting over the side of the seawall was a man who was literally defecating into the Neva River. Next to a highway. I was far enough away that it wasn’t pornographic, but I was still mightily shocked. Surrounded by an incredibly beautiful city, on a very picturesque river and this man couldn’t make it to the public toilets 20 meters away. And 20 meters away at the public toilet right next to the gorgeous Smolney Cathedral, another obviously drunk man was urinating on the public toilets. I expect this from Voronezh and maybe even Moscow, but not St. Petersburg…