St. Petersburg, Day 1

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Well, it is now 02:36 on Saturday, 14 June, and hopefully we'll get about six hours of sleep before waking up and starting our second day of exploring St. Petersburg. As this is the last leg of our journey, we are cramming in as many last-minute experiences as possible. Things are additionally hectic simply because of all the moving around we've been doing: last weekend, we were in a rural village; we returned to Vladimir for two days before leaving to spend two-and-a-half days in Murom, then went back to Vladimir, left on a night train, and arrived to St. Petersburg this morning (now, technically, "yesterday" morning). My phone was dead nearly all day today, and outlets in public to charge one's phone or other devices are hard to find. It's been another really packed day, as tomorrow will be. Sunday will be our final day in Russia, and we plan on staying up, taking a final tour, and experiencing the "White Nights"; we'll be out and about until probably 02:00, head back to the hostel, sleep (maybe), and be back out the door and on our way to the airport by 05:00.

Long story short, I may not be able to update this blog until I've actually left Russia. Nonetheless, I plan to keep notes for myself so that I can come back later and update with details and, hopefully, pictures. In the meantime, as usual, keep checking the latest photos HERE. :)

Murom, Day 3 & Night Train to "Peter"

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Murom, Day 2: "Ciągle Pada"

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Well, the title of this post is actually Polish, but it's still a Slavic language that gets across the message: "Still raining"!

It's kind of incredible that, up until Saturday, the only weather we'd really experienced during our time in Russia was beautiful sunshine--though, admittedly, we often complained because it was so hot. It's rained and/or stormed off and on since Saturday, but today was the worst of it yet. Walking to "school"--the Murom Institute of Vladimir State University--was like an agility course. After a full day of rain, this afternoon coming home was even worse. Huge puddles, more like ponds, formed everywhere, and it was a matter of jumping from rock to rock in order not to succumb to the rainwater and mud. Unfortunately, the only pair of tennis shoes I have are white, as I used my other tennis shoes to do volunteer work in and threw them out back in Vladimir. They're covered in paint, are torn up, and smell like wet dog. Now that I think of it, those are exactly the shoes I should've brought for this weather... :P

Anyway, this morning I woke up right before Emilia walked in to get me up for the day. We then had a huge, filling, delicious breakfast and watched the news before heading to her institute. We walked to the bus, where we met her mom, who was on her way to work but realized she'd forgotten something, so she'd had to come back.

The institute is about fifteen minutes away by bus. We got there, walked in, climbed the stairs to the second floor where the foreign language faculty is located, and met up with some of my group mates who were hanging out in the English language room.

We were introduced briefly to Rebecca, an English professor and the teacher of my host sister Emilia, who's from outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Emilia had told me about her American English teacher, but I didn't realize right away that she and this Rebecca were the same person. For a split second, I was thinking, "Wow, this girl's accent doesn't sound Russian at all!" Then it clicked: This is the American teacher. ;)

Our group then received a tour of the institute and got to see different rooms and facilities. It's a large building that was built in, I think, 1957. To be honest, I don't remember; they have this awesome museum we went into, but after yet another long day of being overwhelmed with information and experiences, I can't recall any specifics. I've got papers and a brochure from the institute, though, so the information isn't lost on me forever.

After a tour--which included a stop in this aforementioned museum and allowed us the opportunity to listen to an old Soviet love and battle song on an original record and phonograph from the period of World War II--we were led to a classroom, where 25 or so students and some teachers were sitting, awaiting our presentation to them about our lives and about our university.

For what seemed like two hours, the five of us talked about Vanderbilt and shared little tidbits of our lives with the Russian students, showing them pictures of Vandy thanks to an Internet connection and projector screen in the classroom, and answering the students' and professors' questions about anything and everything. This was the third time we've given such a presentation--twice at Vladimir State University: once to the history students and once to the foreign language [English] students--and at the end of this one we were each presented with a folder full of goodies by which we will be able to remember Murom and the Murom Institute fondly. It was really sweet, very thoughtful, and completely unexpected--just like so many other gestures of kindness we've received on this trip. We had a bunch of pictures taken, the American students and Russian students together, and for these pictures I grabbed my host sister, Emilia, who was in the "audience," and pulled her next to me. :)

We then took a break for lunch in the cafeteria (or canteen, as they called it) before beginning work in the afternoon on some materials for English lessons. Our assignment was simply to write up about a page-and-a-half on some given topic, using relatively simple sentences, and then to be recorded reading our sentences. I wrote on the topic of education in the US; others wrote on American sports culture, food and dining customs, travel, etc. This was really nothing for us, but we were thanked several times over and assured that we will now be part of the history of the institute. Apparently, Murom received a Peace Corps volunteer over ten years ago. He did many similar projects to help with English lessons, and much of what he created and recorded is still used in lessons. Maybe, ten years from now, our audio clips and writing samples will be helping a new generation of Russians learn English. :) While we were writing our sentences on the computer, a student from the institute--who just so happened to have been named, essentially, "Mr. Murom Institute" this past year--went around interviewing us individually on camera and with a little microphone. These interviews, too, will be used for educational purposes and shown, we're told, to thousands of students. Unfortunately, I was so tired today that I hadn't much good to say, so I'm sure my clip turned out pretty lackluster. This afternoon, I was so tired that I was afraid I'd pass out at some point. Luckily, somehow, I made it through the day. Thankfully, tomorrow, I can sleep in, as we don't have to meet up with the group until 11:30!

After all of this, we left the institute, went to a local center of culture, and received demonstrations of various aspects of traditional Russian life in Murom: dolls, samovars for tea, clay toys, decorative cooking tiles, and--of course, as has become our recent hobby apparently--swords and armor.

At this point, I was just barely keeping awake, and I was trying to hide my crankiness. It was interesting, but my tiredness was winning out.

When we left the center of culture (which I really did like and would've enjoyed more, had I been less tired), we set out by foot--half American students, half Russian students, plus David and some of the Russian teachers of English--for an excursion to some of the main sights of the city.

The weather was still dreary, so the umbrellas were out in full force, but we managed to slosh our way through the mud and make it from church to monastery to monument to park to monastery and back home successfully.

...

Dinner

Village (house of Irina's friend) to visit animals (incl. a turkey!)--ate strawberries off the plants!

Supermarket (mall + what we'd call a supermarket [a big grocery store]) (concept of "supermarket" just a few years old here, according to Emilia yesterday; today, this finally made sense to me--here, it's mostly just individual, family-owned markets; one for bread and pastries, one for pet food, one for purses, one for sports jerseys, one for fruit and vegetables, etc.; I like this system better than the more impersonal, corporatized "supermarket" experience, where you walk in one huge building and can get everything in the same place; sure, more convenient, but different experience; Russians/Europeans, by my observation, less concerned with convenience and speed, more concerned with whether things are sufficient and quality)

Home for ice cream, fresh strawberries, honeysuckle (thought it was blueberry; never had it before), chocolate-covered raisins, chocolate-covered plum candies; discussed politics, got host mom's opinions with Vladim's help interpreting English and Russian

First Doener Kebab sighting (memories/anticipation of Berlin!)
ChocoBoy (candy/cookies in store--funny name)
Fitness (best cereal ever--finally going to buy it again in Germany)
Learned: during Soviet times, the traffic lights used to be flipped; i.e., the order of the colors as they light up to convey message of whether to stop, go, or slow down; Murom older than Vladimir; hometown of guy who invented the TV, though he moved to America.

Murom, Day 1: "Back in the USSR"

All too quickly, 08:30 arrived, my alarm went off, [I hit snooze three times,] and for the last time I was rolling out of my cozy bed in the center of town in Vladimir. Lena had prepared a special breakfast for me--kasha (basically, oatmeal) with fresh fruit--plus a local yogurt and cup of coffee. I took some pictures whilst watching my morning episode of ГубкaБоб (Spongebob) and thinking about what the rest of our time in Russia would be like.

Lena called a cab, so I didn't have to roll my suitcase through the streets--it's been raining since yesterday afternoon--and off we went to the American Home. We had our final Russian lesson, which mainly consisted of me writing as much as I could think of in Russian and then giving it to Lena to correct. I keep writing one of the letters (э) backwards, and thereby creating my own letter of the alphabet. For three weeks of Russian, I'm pleasantly surprised with the amount of the language I've been able to pick up, even if my spelling is still not so good and my pronunciation is bad. I wrote more sentences than I thought I'd be able to write.

Before our lesson, I should mention that Lilly's host sister, Anastasia, who's 16, had come with her to say goodbye. Anastasia and I met the first night we were in Vladimir, when a "welcome" picnic was held at the American Home for us. Anastasia is so sweet, and we talked a lot and have kept in touch via Facebook since then, though we haven't seen each other. But today, we got a chance to talk for a few brief moments, and then it was time for lessons to begin. She's still in school for the year, so I guess she had to go to her lessons, too. She teared up saying bye, and we hugged several times. This was her first experience hosting/with Americans, she said, and she would miss us a lot. On Thursday evening, we'll have a goodbye party at the American Home, where I will have to say bye to Lena. Anastasia won't be able to make it, as she'll be out of town with her family, so this was the last time we will see each other--at least for now.

I've learned that I'm a more sensitive person than I previously recognized, and goodbyes of any sort are probably my biggest weakness; I'm absolutely horrible with goodbyes. But I managed to keep it together today, though I expect our whole group will have a tough time saying bye on Thursday; we've already talked about it and see it coming!

After our lesson, we joined together to sing a Russian folk song while Aleksey Leovich played guitar. Alternating stanzas were sung by us girls and then by the guys, and it was fun, but--again--sad. The melody wasn't particularly cheery, we were tired, and everything had that feeling of winding down.

We then had tea before heading to lunch at the Café Solyanka, where I had my favorite borsch in all of Vladimir a couple weeks back. They weren't serving borsch today, unfortunately, but I had a lot of other stuff, and it was all really good.

Following lunch, we walked to the bus station, directly across the street from the train station. We had about 45 minutes to burn before our bus boarded. Once we boarded the bus, it wasn't long until I fell asleep, and the next thing I knew it was about three hours later, and we were pulling into the driveway of the bus station at our destination. Just in time, I woke up to stumble out of the bus with my group, where we were greeted by three professors and a group of smiling students. We'd made it to Murom!

Here, we will spend through Thursday afternoon, helping out at the Murom Institute of Vladimir State University in the English department--working with students who study English and speaking about our experiences in Russia and our university back home.

My host is a really nice 18-year-old student named Emilia, and she uses Emily as her English name. :) Her mom is Irina, just like my host mom in Vladimir, her dad is Feodor, and her older brother is Vladim. Already, we have had many good conversations. Emilia's English is very good, and her brother studied English, German, and philology when he was in university, so his English is excellent as well, though he says he hasn't spoken English regularly in 6 or 7 years. Especially he talks a lot, which has been great, as we've already talked a lot about politics and society and stereotypes between Russians and Americans. I've learned a lot from Emilia and her family, and it's only been about 8 hours.

Also, after dinner, she and her family took me to their dacha out in the country about 20 minutes away. This "microplantation," as they called it, actually belongs to another family, I think, but here they plant all of the fruits and vegetables and flowers that they grow--which is a LOT! In Russia, we've learned that it's typical for every family to have or use a dacha. Food is home-grown, which explains why it's so much better and fresher than American food, which is filled with chemicals and often stays preserved on shelves for unnatural amounts of time. Emilia and her family took me to pick strawberries, which was so fun! I've never done this before, so I was taking pictures and running around, gleefully plucking berries. For them, this is just part of everyday life, so they found it amusing. Also, speaking of amusing, I don't know what it is, but both of my host moms have had the best laughs... maybe it's something about Russian women with the name "Irina," but they both have these amazing, hearty laughs that are impossible to hear without laughing, too--very jolly. :D

After picking a ton of strawberries, we loaded up the trunk, and Vladim drove us back home, where I got settled while the berries were washed. We then sat around eating a delicious dessert of fresh, crushed strawberries in condensed milk, which makes it sort of like a parfait, only not yogurty. Just sweet and really, really good. I can't describe it, and it was all gone before I could even think to take a picture. We then talked some more, laughed a bunch, and now it's time for bed. In the days to come, I'll try to take notes on some of the things that my host family says, particularly pertaining to politics and cultural differences and stuff, and then at a later time I can hopefully include these specific comments on my blog to share with anyone reading. After all, intercultural dialogue and greater understanding between people is the goal of this trip as well as one of the purposes of my personal blog.

It's off to bed for now, but one last thing--a teaser of sorts. I should mention that, when we were having a snack of tea and cookies right after I arrived here with my Murom host family, the regional news was on and, as part of the news program, my Vanderbilt group and the American Home were featured. This took place yesterday, and I'll wait until the clip is posted online before I say much more, but bottom line: we were on Russian TV! :D

Last Night in Vladimir

Well, this is it. Not "it it," as we still have a week left in Russia. But for the town of Vladimir, the time is nearing for us to say до свидания (goodbye). I already had to say bye to my sweet friend Глеб (Gleb), shy though he is and despite the fact that we barely spoke tonight because of the language barrier, and to Irina, my host mom. I spoke to her in Russian, using phrases that I committed to memory for the express purpose of saying goodbye, and she gave me a big hug, said a few words in German, and assured me that we will stay in touch via Skype and/or Viber and/or WhatsApp--various messaging platforms.

Speaking of goodbyes, last night I said bye to my host niece Sonya and to my host babushka after hours of hanging out. Again, we barely talked because of the language barrier, but Sonya and I played dolls for a long time, and then she started taking pictures of me and using an app on an iPad to give a makeover to the pictures--make-up, clothes, hair, glasses, hats, etc. She thought that was fun, but then I brought out my laptop and turned on the webcam, and from that moment on she was laughing nonstop for hours. Together, we must have taken over 200 pictures with various backgrounds and faces and camera effects. We even got some awesome pictures with Babushka.

Here's a bunch of pictures from our photo sessions, just because:

When Sonya and Babushka had to leave, I gave Sonya some candy, courtesy of Cracker Barrel, and a little booklet with games and puzzles to teach kids some facts about the US. It's in English, but the games are simple, and with the help of anyone in her family I figured she'd be able to get some enjoyment out of it (hopefully!) while also having a reminder of that weirdo American girl that stayed with her family for, like, three weeks during the summer. :P In addition to all the silly pictures we took together, I've also got this masterpiece as a souvenir, which Sonya made for me using Paint:

When we said bye, I was honored because Babushka gave a hug and the traditional three kisses (on the lips...!) to Lena, her mom Irina, and then to me. I wasn't expecting that at all, but I felt like I was really part of the family. :)

Anyway, back to today: This morning was the usual Russian lesson with Lena. It was fun, and I had a much easier time reading and writing than I expected. I think I did better than Lena expected, too, but I'm constantly babbling and making up words, apparently, which seems to amuse us both. After the lesson, we had a master class on painting the well-known матрёшка (matryoshka), or Russian nesting dolls. It was a woman, her husband, who helped with preparations and took pictures, and her daughter, who is our age and interpreted Russian to English for us. This woman has been painting and selling her dolls for 20+ years now, and though it was fun to try it out ourselves, it was also nerve-wracking, and most of us ended up getting significant assistance from the master of the matryoshka in order to make our dolls souvenir-worthy. At this activity, we were joined by a camera crew from the regional affiliate of national TV station Россия 1, who, it turns out, decided to do a story on our Vanderbilt group's service-learning trip to Vladimir. :D

Next, the group went to lunch, had about an hour and a half to eat and dry off from the torrential downpour--the first rain we've even encountered during our stay here in Vladimir!--before heading to a center of culture and arts that formerly served as the House for Officers, a government building where meetings, ceremonies, and performances were conducted. For about an hour, we were given a private demonstration of old Russian military outfits and gear, before being allowed to put on the heavy chain-mail, vests, gloves, and swords ourselves. We got to have sword fights, and all I can even say about this is that it was AWESOME. (I wish I could think of a less-commonly-used word, but the experience literally elicited awe.) Also, some sort of heavy metal music--pun possibly intended?--was playing in the background as we were having our sword fights, dressed up as knights, and at one point Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyrie" from his Ring of the Nibelung cycle was playing. It was incredibly EPIC--that's a better word. So many pictures to come... And, naturally, the camera crew joined us for this activity, as well.

Afterward, we finally had some long-coveted free time. I returned home, where Lena took a nap, and I got cozy, caught up on world news, listened to the radio, watched some interviews and clips from a documentary of Russian president Putin on Youtube, and also gave into temptation and napped for about an hour and a half.

I woke up to a very pleasant surprise: Gleb had come over! This morning, I'd asked Lena if it'd be possible to say bye to Gleb before I left town, and she said she didn't think so. Whether this was just her being sneaky and surprising me with a visit from Gleb in the evening, or whether he actually had plans that then got cancelled so that he was able to come over, I don't know. But I woke up, packed (sadly), and went into the hallway, where Lena told me that Gleb was here. I walked into the room where they were, high-fived Gleb, and we talked for a minute before Lena spoke the words I'd long been awaiting: "Wanna watch The Godfather?"

For the next three hours, Gleb and Lena and I watched The Godfather: Part I (in English, with Russian subtitles, as there isn't a Russian-audio version), one of my all-time favorites and the favorite movie of Lena's dad. It was really incredible to be sharing the experience of this movie with my contemporaries on the other side of the world where I previously would've never expected to even find people who knew this movie. File this under the "We're Not So Different After All" category. This was Gleb's first time seeing the movie and my first time watching it all the way through in a long while. I actually caught three or four details I'd never picked up on before, thanks in part to the [Russian!] subtitles.

When the movie was over, we relocated into the kitchen, where I ate dinner, and Gleb snacked. We talked a bit, watched what was on TV (Family Guy), and then got some pictures before Gleb left. Now, it's 01:30, and I'm in that odd in-between state of knowing I should go to bed, yet wanting so badly to stay awake even though I know I've got nothing to gain from it. I want to enjoy every minute I'm here, and staying up late makes the hours pass much more slowly than falling asleep and suddenly waking up 8 hours later does.

Tomorrow, we'll have our last Russian lesson at the American Home before the group departs Vladimir for Murom, a nearby city. There, we'll be helping at the Murom Institute of Vladimir State University, talking with students who concentrate on the English language. We'll each be staying with a new host family during the two days we're there. Then, it's back to the American Home in Vladimir just long enough to grab our bags on Thursday evening, and we'll turn right back around and leave Vladimir for St. Petersburg, where our group will stay in a hostel the duration of our time in Russia.

6-8 June: The Dacha (Village) Experience

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
 

Please check back later. In the mean time, click HERE to view the latest photos!

The Last Lecture (Or Something Like It)

The title of this post might actually be incorrect, but, regardless, it's sadly nearing the end of our time here in Vladimir, and--after breakfast of blini with Lena at the Café Dalee, our morning lesson, and an early break for lunch--our group sat for one of the final lectures we'll receive on Russian politics and society.

Professor Roman, from the Vladimir Presidential Institute, returned and spoke about US-Russian relations in the 21st century, which was so interesting! He talked for an hour and a half, and, though I probably yawned fifteen times--Week 3 is killer--it was a great presentation. Maybe when I get home to Nashville I'll type up my notes from the various lectures we've had and edit my posts to include some of the bullet points I jotted down.

For this lecture, as with other lectures, some Russian students joined us. Unfortunately, they didn't talk much, and it would've been great to hear their thoughts, but then again we weren't so talkative today either. The professor spoke about the transition period in Russia from Yeltsin to Putin, the transition periods in the US from Clinton to W. Bush and Bush to Obama, and the characteristics of Putin and Bush's relationship compared to the characteristics of Putin's relationship with Obama.

Largely as a result of the "personality cult" that's formed around the person of Putin, I find anything and everything Putin-related to be really intriguing. The man is an enigma, and it's really been eye-opening to see how culturally-relative media depictions are when it comes to a country's leader. That's something I didn't really notice during my time in Germany. But being in Russia at a time like this, with the Crimea and Ukraine conflicts, the differences are immediately apparent, and opinion on Putin is one of the first things that Russians ask and that I, as an American, ask Russians about.

...

 After the lecture, I gave the professor a sort of souvenir: a TIME magazine that I brought with me from home, which I got in the mail but--like every other issue--haven't had the time to read. Because of my own interest in the topic, because of his scholarly focus as a political scientist, and because of the discussions we've had during lectures on this theme, I thought he would find this issue particularly interesting, to see the latest in American print media's image of Russia and its president.

 

He liked this present, and we got a photo together. Our group then had a quick break before turning around and heading out on an excursion through town, which he led. It was really hot today, as it's been every day (85+ Fahrenheit), and honestly we walked the same path we'd walked before and saw mostly the same stuff we've seen several times now. But, it was generous of him to guide us and to take the time and energy to teach us (in English!) about the history of the city on foot.

Following the excursion, we went to McDonald's en route to a football (soccer) match to see the local team, FC Torpedo Vladimir, face off against FC Dolgoprudny from Moscow Oblast/province. There weren't too many people there, but it was in their big stadium, and I swear the police and various military guards--security dogs included--nearly equaled, if not outnumbered, the actual crowd. Never before have I seen a sporting event (or, really, any other event I can think of) with so much security.... The game itself was a draw, 0-0 at the final whistle, which was kind of a shame, because it would've been nice to see what a Russian goal celebration is like, both on the field and in the stands. But it was a really good time, and Emily (a grad student from Alaska who's in Vladimir for six weeks studying Russian) and I hit it off, talking about our shared history with the sport and other life stuff. All the other Vandy people and the Russian students who'd joined us left at halftime, but the two of us stayed chatting and cheering on our home team.

One of the most exciting moments of the match was off the pitch, when some really drunk guy started attacking a metal fence/gate in the stands--there was nobody within 15 feet of him, so he was just kind of there on his own rattling the fence, acting like he was strangling it, until a quarter of the nearby police pack went over, grabbed him, wrestled him down a little, and walked him out of the stadium. Very odd, made no sense, but was--admittedly--entertaining to watch.

After the game, I went back home, ate a quick dinner, and then Gleb came over and we went for an hours'-long walk, just strolling through a park and throughout the city, having really good conversation with the help of Google Translate. He bought me lemonade, and the whole thing was very sweet and quaint. Russian date? Check!

This afternoon (since it's now Friday...) through Sunday afternoon, the group will go to a rural village to experience a bit of real, "old-world" Russia. We really have no idea what to expect--we don't even know the name or location of this village--but I don't expect to do any blogging this weekend. ;)

Preschool Work Day

After staying up too late last night blogging in excruciating detail, getting up this morning was difficult. The pace of everything has been so quick since we arrived, and particularly after Moscow I think everyone in our group is feeling pretty drained.

This morning, like usual, Lena and I had a Russian lesson. We briefly reviewed some words and phrases--she actually cheated and started quizzing me while we were still on the bus, asking me to name hard Russian numbers!--before she challenged me to write an introduction about myself in Russian. I know words, not so much grammar, and my spelling is atrocious--as I've mentioned before, during this short-term trip, if I want to remember stuff, I have to be able to visualize it, and I don't want to waste any time, so I'm just visualizing things phonetically rather than how they're actually written in Russian. She wrote her own page-and-a-half introduction about herself in English, which was really good and witty...maybe I'll share it later...(GLEB!)

Also, maybe I'll share a picture of mine later, so anyone familiar with Russian can laugh. Apparently I made up some words, though she said one word was Polish (points for crossing into another language?), and unsurprisingly my spelling was not so good. It's hard to say what the stupidest thing I wrote was, because it was all pretty lame and basic and random, according to what words/phrases popped into my head at the moment, but I did make a cultural reference to a song about Putin, which I think I've mentioned in a previous post (if not, I surely will in the future), so that also won me some points back. Overall, Lena gave me a 5- which is equivalent to an A-. We aren't actually getting grades--and we were having a lot of fun, especially Lena!--but I think I did pretty well for only having two weeks of Russian under my belt. I was actually surprised that I was able to write so much, to remember so many words, and to remember the letters I needed to form the words--even if I did make up a letter or two of my own along the way. :P

Following the lesson, it was tea time, and then we had a lecture given to us by two Russian girls who study English at Vladimir State University with Aleksey Leovich. They talked about Russian phrases and homophones, words that sound the same but have different meanings and often altered spellings. For example, one phrase is dangerous because, depending on how you say it, you're either conveying, "We can be on a first-name basis now," or, "We're married"!

The group then went to lunch, though Abby frantically took the bus back home because she was afraid she'd left her hair curler plugged in and wanted to make sure she hadn't burnt down her host's apartment. While she panicked, we ate a typical, three-course "business lunch." The salad* was really good; the soup was good; the main dish was ok, but it was fish, which I don't care for. Also, it's a joke amongst Russians that Americans can't handle eating the fish here because fish is served with the bones. Considering Kevin literally gave up eating and admitted defeat after one big, bone-filled bite--and Mack, too, after not too long--this seems like an accurate assessment. Lilly, the debutante (for-real) of the group, managed to eat her fish with no problems. But after we left, David told us that the woman working in the restaurant had been staring out from the kitchen door, watching and smirking while Kevin and Mack struggled to eat bone-in fish. Apparently, it's yet another one of the many arts and sciences of daily Russian life.

As we finished working at the dog shelter yesterday, today we had a new project at a local kindergarten/preschool. Allergy-ridden Kevin didn't tag along, but went home to sleep it off instead. While at the preschool, we painted a bunch of things out on the playground, and at one point a class of kiddos came out to play, so it was fun to see them running around and to listen to them speaking Russian a million times better than us. ;)

I then got recruited, along with Mack, to go inside and work with some girls who are students at the local art institute, who were drawing and painting murals inside one of the school rooms. The girls were so sweet, and despite the language barrier we had really good conversations. One girl said I spoke really good Russian; I'd only really introduced myself--which is about all I can do--but I'll take the compliment! :P

As it turns out, the girls are studying to be art restorers--professionals who have the great honor and responsibility of caring for and repairing the centuries'-old art found around town, including the delicate iconography for which Russian churches are so famous. So, they are really talented, and it was an honor just working with them, knowing what they'll go on to do. Because I wrote icons for a couple years during high school, I have profound respect especially for that part of their training and work, and I can't imagine having the skill to do that kind of stuff. Really neat! Also, really cool because that's not a course of study that I've ever heard of or met someone from in the US.

Following this, during which time I was painting in yellow stars drawn on the wall, we all stopped working and rejoined the other members of the Vandy group to have tea, compote, and sweets and to get to know each other. We were all kind of quiet and shy, but we eventually started talking and laughing, and it was so much fun! One of the women who works at the preschool took a video of our interactions, and then of Lilly and Abby each playing a little something on the piano. Aleksey Leovich had me read my introduction that I'd written in Russian earlier today with Lena, and--just as Lena had done--one of the Russian girls took a picture of my writing, because she found it entertaining. I got a lot of laughs, some intended, some definitely not intended but not altogether unexpected, given my poor Russian. :P

We were presented with a certificate for our work and contributions there, which was a surprise, because we only worked for a couple hours and hadn't done a great deal. The women were very grateful for whatever help we provided them, though, and then Abby and I presented some gifts from America to one of the women for the children and teachers of the preschool. Abby brought some mini Beanie Babies, and I gave some postcards of Nashville (representative both of my hometown and of our Vanderbilt group) and some homemade candy sticks I picked up from Cracker Barrel before I left. One of the women got this on video. I don't think any of us quite understands how or why, because we feel we haven't really done much work at all. To us, it's nothing, but to the locals we've been helping, apparently, it's been a big deal. Even though it's hard to fight the feeling that, "All we did was X; we could have done more!" the gratitude and warmth with which our work has been met has been really humbling and rewarding. Maybe a little bit really can go a long way.

Tired and headachy from inhaling paint fumes all afternoon, we went to Mack's host family's house, where we watched Mamma Mia! in English and then ate a tasty dinner cooked for us by Mack's host mom, Tatiana. After dinner, the group went to meet up with Mack's host brother, Anton, to go bowling, but I was too tired, so I called it a night, came home, had some tea, and took a shower, though I'm still splattered with blue and yellow paint. Bedtime!

The Two-Week Mark

It's weird to think that, two weeks from now, our group will have disbanded, our adventure together having come to an end and all of us having gone our separate ways until late-August.

Because there are only six of us, professor David included, we know each other pretty well by now, and it's just a fact of life that we probably get on each others' nerves from time to time. We've really got a great group, and I'm going to miss these guys as much as I'll miss the town of Vladimir and everything in it!

Speaking of the group, I have to mention something here that I told my friends I would. You see, we take turns having "on" and "off" days, though most of us are usually "on," which is a good thing.

Our first work day, now a couple weeks back, saw three casualties: First, when we were putting our trays away at the school where we had lunch and talked to some middle-schoolers, Mack knocked over the trash bucket containing all the leftover noodles, soup, juice, and other assorted food remnants that people had scraped off their plates--pretty nasty. Second, during tea time after we had finished our tasks at the Association for the Parents of Handicapped Children, my face randomly started bleeding profusely, I think because I accidentally scratched a bug bite I got while we were gardening. Finally, just a few minutes later, Kevin knocked over his cup, pouring hot water all over his pants and making it look like he'd wet himself. Somewhere, David has a picture of the three of us--Mack, me, and Kevin--standing together, representing the three snafus of Day 1. For the three of us, Day 1 was an "off" day.

At the banya, stuff happened, and we'll just say Abby had an "off" day.

In Moscow, the otherwise-perfect Lilly made her first mistake: tripping and falling whilst going down the stairs at the train station. She proceeded to make two other mistakes: leaving her cell phone at the hostel after we'd checked out and gone to catch the train back to Vladimir...and something else I can't remember, but which was noteworthy because Lilly's the one who always remains unscathed while the rest of us mess up. :P

Kevin...It really hasn't been Kevin's day for a few days, as he's borne the brunt of our group's allergy-suffering from the ridiculous amount of pollen in Moscow. Also, he's got a bunch of blisters from walking and other stuff, so the poor guy's kind of a mess right now. OH! And he's the one who ate a cold mix of sour cream/cottage cheese, thinking it was going to be vanilla ice cream. Ok, enough bashing Kevin.

Today was my turn to have it be not-my-day. (Also, Mack overslept and was late to class, so he deserves a mention for it not being his day, either.)

My morning lesson with Lena was disrupted by the presence of the biggest bee I've ever seen in my life. It was some kind of mutant (or maybe just Russian?), the size of three normal bees combined.

We had decided to sit outside, since the weather was so nice and I honestly just wanted to feel a little freer, less confined, less forced into activity. So, we slowed down the pace, did some dialogues, and worked on vocab and phrases. I just didn't want someone to come up and ask what we were working on, or if I had already learned X, because Lena is doing a fine job, and I'm satisfied with the pace at which I'm learning. It's a difficult language, with difficult pronunciation rules for even the seemingly-simplest of words, and I don't care about learning via traditional textbook methods; I just want to get by as best I can while I'm here. Plus, I'm not getting graded on my progress, so I'm welcoming this freedom to experiment with a language. I know I'm perpetually messing up, but it's fun to just try without worrying or being self-critical that "I had a test on this; I should remember it!" Additionally, from an etymological standpoint it's interesting. Every word that I don't know in Russian is a challenge to pull together all my linguistic knowledge and to try to approximate the word in Russian.

For example, trying to figure out the word "day":

In English, day. In German, Tag. In Latin, dies. In Spanish, día. In Polish, dzień. Sasha, a woman who works in my dorm back at Vanderbilt, taught me to say "good day" in Serbo-Croatian, and the word for day was dan. As it turns out, the word in Russian is день ("dyehn"), which makes sense, as Russian, like Polish and Serbo-Croatian, is a Slavic language.

Or for a more specific word like apple, I know that Russian's Slavic cousin Polish uses the word jabłko, which is close enough to the actual Russian word, яблоко (yahblakah), that I can get by pronouncing it the Polish way, which is already familiar to me and committed to memory.

ANYWAY, the mutant bee invasion was one problem today. Also, my purse got eaten up, shredded, and spit back out by the security scanner at the train station back in Vladimir en route to Moscow; that casualty carried over to today, when it was deemed an actual fatality and when it was clear there was no hope of reviving it or use, therefore, in keeping it.

After our lesson, we went to lunch at a place called Café Solyanka (named for this traditional soup dish), where I had the best borsch, called "Moscow-style," so far in Russia. We then headed out one last time to work at the dog shelter, where the guys did stuff involving wood, saws, hammers, etc., and we girls socialized the puppies--who are now so much bigger!--in between painting a wooden fence. It was really hot outside, no one had sunblock, and I was still sunburned from Moscow--I didn't expect to be in the sun as much as we were. (It was really the riverboat that did it.) So, as I was crisping in the late afternoon sun, we tried to move a big, heavy, unwieldy iron plate on the ground that the fence was laying on top of so we could more easily paint. Unfortunately, it fell and did a pretty good job of crushing my left middle finger. By this point, I was already splattered with blue paint, and so I expect my finger to be literally black and blue come tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I'll be able to feel the tip of my finger by tomorrow, too....

We had homemade blini, brought to us by one of the women at the dog shelter, again with delicious, fresh apricot marmalade. We took some pictures as a group, kissed the doggies good-bye, and boarded a bus back to our respective host families. Also, before leaving, Abby, Lilly, and I signed the doghouses we'd previously painted: "With love from America." :)

(One last note about working at the dog shelter: met X, had a great conversation; her English was about the same level as "our" combined Russian; made my first joke in Russian! "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No." "Why not?" "Мне нужно 'Такого, как Путин'!" "So, bald?" ... turns out she--like many young Russians--didn't know the song, but Abby and Lilly got the joke, which was satisfaction enough.)

The bus ride itself was interesting; I got stuck between two drunk guys. One guy was standing, since the bus was so crowded, and I was afraid I was going to have to grab him when--not if--he fell over. I think something was wrong with the other guy, as the lady on the bus who collects money and hands out tickets seemed to recognize him, and then they started yelling at each other with me in the middle. Also, we passed two different scenes of [minor] car wrecks, and a trolley and a car almost collided because the traffic was so bad. When I finally got off the struggle bus, I crossed the street, got home, ate dinner, took a shower so I no longer smelled like wet dog, and then pretty much turned right back around to meet my group at 19:20 on a street corner, as we would be visiting the town's blacksmith shop.

Honestly, I expected this to be boring. We were told we'd each get to make a nail to bring home as a souvenir. Woo-hoo, a nail! But actually, this was one of the funnest evenings in recent memory, as the blacksmith himself was a cute, super bubbly guy--described by David as a "short little ball of energy"--who was hilarious. Aleksey's shop is incredible and is filled with his works from top to bottom. He explained that it's a family business; he was his father's apprentice from the age of 5 and eventually took over after his father died. He's also a new dad to a one-month-old baby boy, whom he said he hopes to one day train in the art of smithing, too, and if he had a daughter he'd train her, too, he said. He told us a lot of really interesting stuff that I never would've thought or cared about before, like the intricacies of horseshoes and a legend behind the good luck horseshoes are associated with. He explained that, during tsarist times, blacksmiths and millers were the two main professions, and that the only differences between a contemporary blacksmith shop like his are (1) electricity instead of pumps to get the fire burning under the coals; (2) see notebook; and (3) .... It was really interesting and almost surreal--a very "old world" kind of feel and a continuation of our skazka (fairytale) that began at the banya our first weekend here.

He demonstrated use of his various tools, showed us how to make a nail, and then we each got to try our hand at it. None of us hit right on the mark, and it was cool to learn first-hand about the reality (and, for blacksmiths, the necessity) of "striking while the iron is hot"! It was ridiculously fun and an unexpected but major adrenaline rush to be hurrying to swing a big hammer on a +1000-degree-Celsius piece of flaming iron. He then offered us tea and let us roam around, looking at his various works and taking pictures. I asked if he has a favorite thing he likes to make; he said no. He also told us about how, last weekend, during the Night of the Museum (where all museums are open all night long and, mostly I think, free to the public), he received a visit from the Russian Foreign Minister* and the Minister of Finance/Economics or something, who also got to try their hand at making a nail. Apparently, they did "ok...." ;)

Above ("a family business"), I've linked to the smithy. The blacksmith's full name is Aleksey Borodin, and his father was Yuri Borodin. Also, I just came across THIS interesting story about an honorary axe they gave to Putin back in 2008! And here's a story, in Russian, that includes a picture of them together. Aleksey is on the right. We had been told that the city administration of Vladimir had begun calling him a local phenomenon, as nobody can believe that it's just him doing all this outstanding work, but I didn't realize he and the shop were this well-known! An axe for Putin! :P

When we finally had to leave--Aleksey said he'd be working until about 02:00 or 03:00 this morning, which means he's probably still up hammering away!--I walked into McDonald's, thinking I'd grab a snack on my walk home. I went in, looked at the menu, thought about how crowded it was, and chickened out. I could've ordered and been fine, but at the moment I wasn't really feeling it. Honestly, I wasn't that hungry, but I just wanted to try making a transaction on my own. I guess I decided that today wasn't the day for that, though.

I've still got to go back and fill in details on Moscow. And also, I think, on the banya, which was now two weekends ago! I may not get a chance to do so until we leave Vladimir, unfortunately, but that's why I've taken a bunch of pictures--so I can recall the mundane, forgettable details that combine to create the wonderful, unforgettable experiences I'm having.

Off to bed now. Darn. Just realized we had a lecture today following our lesson. The lecture was on Russian economy, particularly the economy of the Vladimir region. It started off dry and over my head, as I know nothing about economics, but once the speaker--(list position; see notebook)--opened it up for questions, I asked several questions and got really insightful answers in layman's terms. More details later on this, too, I guess. This is why I take notes during the day. ;) Ok, NOW, off to bed.

*This guy was apparently quite drunk at the time!

Moscow, Day 4

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

-morning rush to pack up, eat breakfast

-Kremlin; arrived at 10, got in line, went in, took pictures from every angle, went into Ivan the Terrible/Great(?) bell-towerWIKI (named not because he had it built but in order to connect it to Russia’s past)(?)

-went into 2 other churches; 1 where lots of tsars, from 1400s-1600s that I could tell, are buried; and the one where coronations of tsars was held (Dormition church??), including final tsar Nicky; tsar’s “praying place,” tsarina’s pew, in between the two is the patriarch’s seat; touched tsarina’s (tsar’s wasn’t reachable) when security guard not looking…Alexandra! Unreal. Gold everywhere. Enormous, hand-written icons floor to ceiling [in all the churches] and paintings of saints/biblical stuff

-lunch at neat café, no idea what it was called, really good, sweet and sour chicken (missing American Chinese food), chocolate-cherry cake

-Soviet cemetery (Novodechi??), Yeltsin, Khrushchev and his wife, Stalin’s daughter, Chekov, Gogol (??), Pavlov (THE Pavlov, we think), also the man who started the circus we saw the night before.

-back to the hostel, grabbed bags, went to the train station, came home, ate dinner, chatted with Lena (Irina in Moscow with her other daughter/Lena’s older sister), unpacked, going to bed

-overall, liked Moscow ok; amazing history; center of everything; good food; but too bustling, hectic, large—so many people, like NYC, just feels out of control because of sheer size; favorite parts still: Red Square, Moscow Circus; also, just seeing all the Kremlin police/guards, strolling through the Kremlin and Kremlin gardens (way less crowded than Red Square, though still of course touristy), and Soviet cemetery.

-but overall, as far as experiencing the life of the city, I can check that off my list. Like NYC (after much thought), it’s not a place I can see myself really wanting to visit again, though I’d go back to visit more sites of historical interest if I were given the opportunity--could look at such spots for days.

Moscow, Day 3

This morning, we woke up at 09:00, rushed to eat breakfast and get ready, and then headed out to meet a free tour guide and group at 10:45 in a plaza at a statue dedicated to Saints Cyril and Methodius, who brought the Greek (“Cyrillic”) alphabet to and christianized Russia.

Admittedly, one of the most exciting parts of the day for me was hearing two men speaking German at the statue. I debated with myself whether or not to say anything to them, because I wanted to ask where they were from, and it was just a relief to finally hear a language I understood and could communicate in. (I ended up saying something, and it turns out they're from Hamburg, where I'll be stopping over on my way back west toward the States. I got a chance to impress my group mates by showing them that I am, indeed, competent in something--just maybe not Russian [yet!].)

The tour was led by a really sweet young Russian girl, Irina, who was really witty and spoke nearly perfect English. She took us to several of the spots we’d already seen, such as Red Square, the former KGB headquarters (currently under construction), and the massive GUM mall. Today was International Children’s Day, celebrating the Rights of the Child—a United Nations charter signed by nearly every country…except for the US—so there were games and balloons and stands with snacks and free ice cream for kids everywhere in the mall. It’s been such a long day and we saw so much that, honestly, I can’t recall all of the spots we visited. But we got to see the house that Michael I, the first Romanov, lived in and passed on through the Romanov dynasty until, I presume, palaces started being built in other parts of Russia. (Excuse my shoddy history; it’s past midnight, and the Internet connection here at the hostel is insufficient for basic googling, at least from where I’m sitting.)

After about an hour and a half, our group left the tour to go to lunch at a food court at another, less-expensive-but-still-fancy mall, where I got pilaf/plov, playing it safe since I was familiar with the dish. It was ok, but, like mall food back in the US, a bit on the greasy side.

From lunch, we took the Metro/subway across town, walked down to the water, and boarded a riverboat where we took a tour for another hour and a half, passing Red Square and the Kremlin, lots of other beautifully-architected, ornate buildings, a huge statue in the river of Peter the Great, and lots of people sunning in the grass along the side of the river.

The boat tour took us to a pier where we disembarked in order to walk to the Great Moscow State Circus. At 17:00, the show started, and initially I was afraid there’d be a bunch of clowns. There were some creepy clowns, but overall the show was really outstanding—a REAL circus. All sorts of dancing, acrobatics, monkeys (jumping, running around, flipping), sea lions (high-fiving, clapping, hula-hooping), a bear (walking, hula-hooping, dancing), stereotypical human characters, etc., etc. AMAZINGLY talented folks! Also, now we can cross off our list that we’ve seen a bear in Russia. ;) 

However, I left the show with mixed feelings—supremely entertained and impressed, but at the same time saddened, considering how unnatural and disorienting a life in the circus must be for the animals and also how odd the little person must feel, playing out the traditional role of “midget,” as he was the only person in the show simply because of his physical appearance. Even though the guy looked like he was having fun and is obviously doing this of his own free will and getting paid for it, as someone of relatively short stature this left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

All that said, Red Square and the have been my favorite parts of Moscow so far, by a long shot. Moscow is too big and hectic, and it’s a little overwhelming not speaking Russian. We’ve also been rushing around from one place to the next without much time to enjoy where we are, and at this point I’m just ready to be back in Vladimir with Lena and family.

At this point, I’m still not feeling the love for the Russian language, and this was clear to me particularly when I noted my reaction at overhearing Germans. I think the main problem I have with Russian is still the different alphabet—despite the fact that my dear puppy is named Cyril in honor of it. :) Being unable to understand and use the language of the country also makes it more difficult to enjoy fully.

After the circus, we went to Il Patio, an Italian restaurant just down the street. Dinner was good, we were exhausted, but we walked several kilometers away anyway to go to Sparrow Hills, where Moscow State University is located and where the ultimate panoramic view of Moscow can be found. (Naturally, my phone ran out of storage space, and my battery died minutes later.) Finally, after what seemed like an endless walk, we arrived back at the hostel.

Moscow, Day 2

Today began with a quick breakfast in the hostel before a walk over to Red Square. This morning was our long-awaited visit to the tomb of Lenin (linked to in my last post). A while back, I remember reading about the mausoleum and being amused that his body is still preserved, despite the fact that he died in 1924. Knowing this and having seen pictures, I expected him to look pretty waxy, which he did. Apparently, his body is “refurbished” once a year, and below his tomb is a complex, including a gym, for the people who work on his body.

We lined up around 09:45, as the tomb opens each day for tourists at 10:00. Also at 10:00 is the changing of the guards at the eternal flame that burns on the side of the Kremlin for the Russian soldiers who gave their lives during the fight against the Nazis in World War II. The whole experience of being at the Kremlin, surrounded by old and gorgeous architecture, uniformed men, and quaint chiming bells, it felt like we had stepped back in time. Things were at once modern and historic, and to see the changing of the guards—a simple but dramatic practice involving five soldiers—gave me chills.

Right after the changing of the guards, a group of individuals bearing a single flower each stepped up and stood in a sort of formation. I don’t know who, exactly, they were, but I think they were probably family members of soldiers who died during World War II who had come and been granted a special visit to the eternal flame, which was currently off-limits to all other visitors. In three groups, they marched up, laid down their flowers on the monument, did a synchronized about-face, and marched back down as the next row of their group got in formation and prepared to deposit their flowers.

In Russia, we are told, there is no family without some sort of personal connection to someone who died during World War II. Though a lot of Americans fought in the war and some died, Russia had the most fatalities during the war by an enormous margin. As a result, reminders of the war and those who died are everywhere in Russia, particularly in Moscow—even outside the Kremlin—as we’ve seen. Also, because we’ve never faced war on our own home turf, because our cities weren’t bombed out or turned into bloody battlefields, because our buildings aren’t pockmarked with bullet holes from wartime, Americans don’t have the same sense of the reality of war that Europeans do. War for us has been a more distant affair, which is of course a good thing—a blessing, but also a curse, I think, because we don’t fully appreciate the horrible consequences that war or invasion can have. In any case, it was really a neat experience to catch the changing of the guards, as I’m not sure how often this “ceremony” takes place.

We continued on in line to see Lenin, and after about fifteen minutes we were being ushered forward towards his tomb. We walked up a ramp that took us around the tomb, before being led down a stairway and, soon enough, into a dark passageway with the word “LENIN” inscribed above in big, red, Cyrillic letters. It was cold inside, which was a welcome change from the humid weather outside, and soldiers stood on guard at every turn.

We had about 45 seconds total to view Lenin’s body, herded slowly past by guards. When we turned the corner into the actual crypt, there was Lenin, lying in state behind thick glass in the middle of a dark room lit only by red candles. Since he’s been dead 80+ years, it’s no surprise that he looked mostly like wax. His fingernails were gray and yellowed, and the black blanket covering him from the waist down matched the color of his suit, so it made him look four feet wide, which was kind of amusing. It was creepy and disturbing to know in whose presence we were standing, but it was very humbling and put things into perspective. People can do great good, people can do great evil, people can wield unimaginable power over others, and people can also be completely powerless over their own lives and situations—but at the end of the day, death is the great equalizer, as the saying goes. Lenin—for everything he did during his lifetime and the effects of his historic legacy—was simply lying there in all his dead un-glory like anyone else.

Following a visit to Lenin and the other Soviets buried outside the Kremlin wall, including Stalin and Brezhnev and also the ashes of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, we walked across town to the Gulag Museum that opened in 2004 in an old building. A sweet old Russian woman gave us a super thorough, two-hour tour—too many details and facts to report—and at the end, I asked (through David, interpreting) if she had a personal connection to all of the things she had taught us about: Did she have a personal connection to the gulags? Was someone in her family imprisoned during the Soviet era? Was she? The answer was what I expected: “Too personal. I can’t.” Again, back to the theme of how nearly every Russian family has someone who was affected by the prison/labor camps under the gulag system.

For lunch, we went to the former state department store, GUM, now a really fancy shopping mall, where we had lunch at Stolovaya No. 57—a Soviet-style, self-service diner thing. It was crowded, the line was long, the food was expensive, and overall it was ok. The only problem I have with these self-service restaurant things is that you can neither scout out the options beforehand nor put stuff back if you come across something later on down the line that you’d rather have. Noteworthy moment: One of the guys in the group, Kevin, bought and ate what he thought was vanilla ice cream—turns out it was a mix of cold sour cream and cottage cheese. :X

After lunch, we went out to the circus to buy tickets, as we’ll be at the Great Moscow State Circus tomorrow night. We then went to the massive souvenir market, spent about an hour and a half there, rushed back to the hostel, dropped stuff off, changed/freshened up, and then went to the Moscow Conservatory, where we saw a moving two-and-a-half-hour performance including something by Haydn, someone else, and then Mozart’s Requiem, complete with a choir joining the orchestra. (performance details?)

Following the concert at the Conservatory, the group went to a really cool café called Лук (“look”), where there was live music. The girl singing was really good and sang all English-language songs, including “At Last” by Etta James, to which we all sang along, impressed! After dinner, we came back to the hostel. Another long but exciting day.

Moscow, Day 1

When I got home last night, Lena was gone, taking her brother Iliya to the train station. He was heading out to St. Petersburg, I think because his vacation is over, and he’s back on military duty now. At home were Lena’s mom and her sister, brother-in-law, and niece, who live in Moscow but visit on the weekends. I was exhausted, so I packed as quickly as I could before jumping in bed.

This morning, Lena and I had breakfast, and her brother-in-law drove us to the American Home, since I had my suitcase for the Vanderbilt group’s Moscow trip this weekend. (We would leave directly from the American Home around noon, and it was easier to just grab my suitcase and go rather than unpack my suitcase and repack my backpack, the only other and smaller bag I’ve got. I tried to defend this to Lena, but she laughed: “Is this typical for Americans?” [In truth…kind of.])

After our morning lesson, during which Lena and I read some short Russian poems and she had me try to translate stuff, the group had tea before settling in downstairs for our last lecture of the week, and perhaps the most awaited one yet: “Who Is Mr. Putin?”

This lecture was given by a professor Roman who’s spoken to us several times before now on different topics about Russian politics, geography, demography, and history. He teaches in Vladimir and brought two of his students with him to join us today for the lecture. As he talked through the topic of Vladimir Putin, the man and the politician, he often asked questions to “poll the representatives” of America and Russia--that is, us and his students, respectively. For instance, he had us take a sheet of paper, fold it in half, and write anything positive that comes to mind about Putin on one side and anything negative that comes to mind about Putin on the other. He told us that we didn’t have to write anything on both sides; if our opinion was fully leaning in one direction, we should just put that. We then went around reading from our lists, and this was interesting. The two Russian women, who study political science and had joined us, both wrote only positive things about Putin. Our lists were more a mix, with most of the “negative” thoughts pertaining to Putin’s past as a Soviet KGB officer and the way this is interpreted by the West.

Right after the lecture, the taxis arrived, so we grabbed our stuff and were driven off to the train station. We got a quick lunch (beef cutlet—like German Boulette, basically just a hamburger patty—and rice, plus blini with raspberry jam) before heading to the actual station, where we stopped for a bathroom break. Normally, bathroom breaks are less than noteworthy, but… Shock. Nervous giggles. Almost-tears of disbelief.

PIC

A picture’s worth a thousand words: the [Soviet-era?] toilet in the women’s room.

After this humbling, confusing, utterly dumbfounding experience, we walked—introspective, defeated, continuing to laugh nervously, heads hung low—to catch our train. Most of the train ride I slept, as I’d snagged a window seat and brought along the travel pillow that I took (stole? It’s unclear whether in-flight pillows, like the seatback magazines, are also free for the taking.) from my flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam earlier this month. For about five minutes I devoted myself to reading  over some Russian vocab, but I hadn’t slept much the night before, so back to sleep it was.

Soon enough, we were leaving the rural landscape behind for the urban one of Moscow. We hurried off the train and were greeted by a veritable snowstorm of pollen. (I haven’t actually seen the trees the pollen comes from, but it’s flying around in big clumps everywhere!)

It was a draining, slightly agonizing 30-plus-minute walk to the hostel through the city. We were tired, hungry, hot—so warm here this afternoon!—and dragging big bags through narrow, winding passages and cobblestone, puddle-filled sidewalks. But finally we reached the hostel, where we settled in, all six of us into one room. Abby and I are sharing a bunk bed; I’ve got bottom bunk. :)

Quarters are tight, but we managed, so we set out walking again after changing clothes and taking a minute to recharge. We walked another 20 or so minutes to a cafe called My-My (“moo-moo”), which is a cow-themed (again, why not?) chain of restaurants here. As David explained it to us, it’s basically “a glorified [Soviet-style] cafeteria,” but the food was really good. The ambiance was neat, but honestly it was just nice to sit down somewhere, anywhere, and chill out for a bit.

On the way to and from My-My, my friends and I were stopping every several meters to snap a picture of something. Just like Vladimir, Moscow is very colorful, but there are many more and much larger buildings, and it’s extremely large and busy. So far, it reminds me of [my limited experience with] New York City, only even more hectic, if that’s possible. My first impressions of Moscow were: (1) This is insane; and (2) I want to go back to Vladimir! At first, everything just seemed out of control—the drivers, the pedestrians, the noise, the signs and advertisements, even the pollen.

After dinner, we walked to Red Square, passing various administrative government buildings along the way. Soon enough, a red brick wall showed itself, and we were there—the Kremlin!

Walking up to Red Square was one of those moments when every thought or memory related to the place started running through my head: learning about Red Square in school, seeing mentions of it on the news, hearing references to it in songs and movies...

We stayed in Red Square long enough to take pictures and listen to the clock-tower bells, which ring every 30 minutes. For such a stunningly beautiful sight, the chimes were eerie and ominous—out of place, yet at the same time fitting, considering the history and the fact that the tomb ofVladimir Lenin and the grave-sites of Stalin and many other big Soviet names lay scattered throughout the Square.

Police were everywhere, patrolling the area, but hurting no one. This was an occasion where I realized the fears and biases I, as an American, brought with me on this trip: I stood there looking around, taking pictures (including of the police and other guards), and I was excited on two levels—first, just to be in Red Square, but second, because in my mind it felt like what I was doing was risky. As an American abroad, it’s like I had the expectation that I couldn’t act “normally” without running into some sort of barrier to the freedoms we pride ourselves on so much in the United States. Like in the movies, I expected that simply taking a picture of a cop or zooming in my camera lens too much on government buildings would arouse the suspicion of “the Russians” and get me in trouble. I was born two years after the dissolution of the USSR, yet Cold War messages and stereotypes still managed to color my worldview and my expectations when abroad. As it turns out, I was just one of probably thousands of people this evening walking around and snapping pictures of anything and everything in sight, with no consequences. It was fun but unbelievable to actually stroll through such a significant plaza. Although Red Square is a major tourist destination, this has been my experience so far in all of Russia: Nothing I did was risky, and the only threat to my freedom was my own paranoia, as an American abroad, about somehow losing my freedom.

I think that the American sense of exceptionalism—of being the only place in the world that “does/has/thinks/values X”—is an attitude we would be well to examine. It would certainly make traveling to other countries easier. That said, as is clear from the picture of the toilet above, there are some things that I am really missing about home right now. First, free public toilets. Whenever you want to go to the bathroom here (like in the rest of Europe that I know of), it costs. It’s just pocket change, and you’re paying for the restroom attendant to be constantly cleaning, but still—I miss not having to pay to go to the bathroom at the mall, for example. Second, free water in restaurants and cafés. This was my other complaint in the other parts of Europe I’ve been to, too. I don’t understand how people here aren’t perpetually dehydrated, because it’s relatively expensive to get water (or other any other drink, for that matter; tonight, a 2-ounce glass of juice cost me 140 rubles/about $4), and drink containers run small.

Ah, so back to talking about Red Square and the Kremlin: Whilst walking through a big garden-ish area behind the outer side walls of the Kremlin, we encountered a long row of memorials to the Soviet soldiers who fought to defeat the Nazis in World War II. There was an eternal flame lit, followed by a bunch of markers indicating the names of several Russian battlefronts and Soviet “hero cities.” A few meters later, a large column jutted out of the ground. Upon closer examination and with the help of David to translate the finer points of the engraving, it was a marker celebrating the 300^th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty—each tsar’s name is listed, including the final and fateful Nicholas II toward the bottom of the column. With such a long personal history with the Romanovs, dating back to when I was 3 and dressing up as Anastasia and “researching” Alexei with my dad, it was unreal to be standing in Russia, reading in Russian an official monument dedicated to the actual imperial family.

After this, our group walked on to the Old Arbat district, which is filled with shops, restaurants, cafés, etc. It’s a big plaza with lots of street artists, some musicians, and craftspeople. We just strolled around, and en route we’d stopped to get tickets to a performance tomorrow night by the Russian National Orchestra. Though they won’t be playing Russian music—Mozart’s Requiem, I think—it’ll still be an entertaining experience in a beautiful music hall. Apparently, tourists go to the Bolshoi, and locals go to the Moscow Conservatory, so if anything we can just say we’re being more “authentic.” :)

After spending time in Old Arbat and grabbing some free samples from Wetzel’s Pretzels, we returned to the hostel, where I’m writing from now with a really weak Internet connection. It’s been a long day.

McDonald's Day & Uzbek Hospitality

This morning, I apparently hit "snooze" a couple of times before finally jumping out of bed at the sound of Lena's knocking on the door. I was in a deep sleep and had forgotten what today was set to be: McDonald's Day.

It's always interesting to go someplace away from home and encounter something familiar; comparing and contrasting can offer insights into your culture as well as the local culture, even just from region to region within the same country. But as an American abroad, it's particularly interesting to pay a visit to familiar stuff in another part of the world. I could ramble about this, but simply put: McDonald's is way nicer here than back home, and I've never seen a McDonald's this nice (or clean) anywhere in the US--not to mention the food and menu are different!

This morning, we had our Russian lesson as usual, then tea time, and then our group had a lecture about the Russian holiday of Maslenitsa ("Pancake Week"), given to us by a young woman named Daria, who's really sweet, speaks nearly perfect English, and works as a supervisor at Aeroflot, which is the Russian company whose flight we took from Amsterdam to Moscow earlier this month.

The group then went to lunch at a place called "Ogly" (which means "coals" and is a pizza place where they cook pizzas in a coal oven), where I had the opportunity to introduce my group-mates to the art of eating cheeseless pizza. They had many questions about this practice, so I demonstrated. :)

We then had free time, so I went back home, where Lena was hanging out after having lessons at her institute after tutoring me in Russian. Lena hadn't eaten yet, so we went back out for lunch, to a Chinese place she'd been telling me about for days. We got chicken and noodles to-go, then went back home with the plan of watching The Godfather together in Russian with English subtitles. The food, which was delicious, took a while, though, so by the time we got back we just decided to sit and talk and watch whatever was on TLC. I love The Godfather, and it was Lena's dad's favorite film, too. We plan to have our viewing party next week after I get back from Moscow. :D

At 17:15, my group met back up at the bus stop in the center of town at the Golden Gates, where we took a bus about 30 minutes away to be treated to a traditional Uzbek dinner hosted at the invitation of Timur Atabekov, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer who studies migration to Russia and has been presenting to us on these topics. Timur, his wife Natasha, and their two little boys entertained us to a delightful evening with one of the best dishes I've had here so far--actually a staple food in Uzbekistan--real pilaf ("plov").

Before, during, and after dinner, Timur showed us Uzbek songs, a documentary, and talked to us about the Uzbek culture, Russian culture, intercultural relations, religious/secular differences in Central Asia and Russia, and tolerance as it relates to the topic of migration and cultural differences. It was a really fun time, and the only thing that could've been better was the weather. Just a dreary, rainy night.

A Free Afternoon

This morning, Lena and I again went to the same café for breakfast, where I ordered blini (new favorite breakfast food; way lighter than pancakes, less dessert-like than crêpes, and much better than both!) and a latte. 

Lena, too, ordered a coffee, but when we were seated it was clear that she was interpreting for me in English. Whether or not it was obvious that I was an American, I'm not sure, but all I know is that my coffee came out looking different than hers, and we think it had to do with the fact that I'm not from around here:

Close-up.

After breakfast, we walked to the American Home, where we had our Russian lesson. We worked on numbers and on basic words and phrases for restaurants/shops. As I've previously written, I'm pushing myself to stay focused just on what would be most helpful to me during my time here. I won't be taking a Russian class when I return to Vanderbilt in the fall, and I don't know if or when I will again encounter a situation where I'll need to speak the language. So, for now, my future with Russian is limited to the next two-and-a-half weeks, and tempting as it is to try to memorize the grammatical case system (not being sarcastic, just nerdy), I think it's more important to be able to engage with the language as much as possible in daily life while I'm here. Unfortunately, just because I can say stuff doesn't mean I can understand stuff, so even if I flawlessly ask someone how they're doing or how old they are, that doesn't solve the problem of comprehending their answer. Live and learn, as they say.

Following our lessons, we had tea time and then sat for a lecture by four or five different Russian students who study English at Vladimir State with Alexei. There seems to be a never-ending supply of them, which is great, but kind of funny, because we keep saying that we've met "the foreign language students," yet we never encounter any of the same people. The girls talked about stereotypes of Russian women, about anglicisms in Russian, and about various phrases/idioms in Russian, some of which have equivalent English sayings. They kept putting us on the spot to read things in Russian and to try to figure out words or fill in blanks with the correct Russian word, and it was really fun, albeit a bit nerve-wracking; honestly, I felt good about how much I've learned in a week, and gradually things (starting with the alphabet) have begun to make some sense.

Today was our first "free day"--er, free afternoon--so we went to lunch as a group at a place called Adam & Eve (interesting concept, nothing particularly biblical [or sinful] about the food), and then half the group went bowling. Mack and I were too tired, so we went back to our respective host families to rest up.

"Adam & Eve: You can resist everything except temptation!"

When I got home, Lena was napping, but she woke up and did some homework and stuff while I took a nap. When I woke up about an hour later, I heard indistinct chatter and figured it was Lena and her brother Iliya. Then I remembered that Gleb was supposed to come visit later, and sure enough it was the famous Gleb. So, the three of us chatted for a while, Gleb wrote a silly poem for me in Russian, translated it into English, and gave it to me, and then we went to the store to get stuff for dinner.

Naptime with Бонни (Boniface, or Bonnie ["like Bonnie and Clyde"] for short).

At 17:30, I had to meet my group at the theater by the American Home, where we would be treated to the dress rehearsal run-through of a performance opening on Saturday: an end-of-the-year recital given by the students of the Vladimir State art institute who are on track to become professional dancers. They were still working out the sound and lights, but it was really entertaining, and all styles of dance were displayed. We only stayed about an hour and a half before heading out, though, so we didn't get the chance to talk with any of the dancers or their instructor/choreographer, who we were told is quite renowned.

When I got back, Lena had made her favorite dish: a Chinese meal of chicken in soy sauce with pineapple and peppers. It was really delicious, and I could've eaten three bowls of it, but I saved room for the Russian candies she and her mom had me try. For Lena, this is a special dish to cook and eat, so it was a cool privilege to get to be here when she made it. So. Good.

The rest of the night was just Lena, Irina, and me sitting in the kitchen talking like we do, in a mix of English and Russian with the occasional German word or phrase peppered in, watching TLC Россия (TLC Russia) until we get tired and decide to go to bed. Also, a final note about today: Every 28 May is a national holiday in honor of the Russian Border Guards. If David hadn't mentioned it to us this evening, I would've had no idea. Still trying to get the story on this holiday; details to come later, hopefully.