An update, this time from notes.

An update, this time from notes. Somethings might be repeated. I’ve posted reverse chronological order to keep with blog entry format.


3 February 2008

I don’t think food has ever tasted so good. Today we had a four hour long scavenger hunt and coming home to a meal of fish, potatoes, and vegetables was wonderful. I also think that by the time I leave here I will have a mild addiction to mustard sauce. It isn’t the same thing as mustard, but it tastes really good.

Our scavanger hunt took us all over St. Petersburg taking pictures and collection various items. (Bottle of Kvas and tramvai ticket for example.)

Today I also made it to a grocery store. For bottled water, shampoo and the like. I felt proud of myself for finding the things I needed. I even bought the right kind of shampoo for my hair!

1 Feb. 2008

I shouldn’t have mentioned in my last blog up-date about it being so warm in St. Petersburg. February is the coldest month in St. Petersburg, and so with the first of the month the temperature dropped. Tomorrow we have a trip to Pavlovsk, I am fearing that it will be really cold.

Today we went to Petropavloskaya Krepost’. The tour was entirely in Russian. I was more than a little frustrated by this as the woman spoke faster than the news anchors on TV and I really wanted to understand what was going on. I could tell the lecture had a lot of information, but I could only get a few sentences here and there. Last night I was able to understand parts of the news broadcast, but I couldn’t understand this talk!

31. Jan 2008

Today has been a long day. I was tired to begin with, I swear that I nearly fell asleep on the busride into school today. Class was relatively easy, phonetics and grammar. Though I am going to have a lot of grammar homework.

The good news about today and why I am so tired right now was that right after lunch we went to the Hermitage. Wandered through several halls. My favorite, was, I think the exhibition of Old Russian Culture. It’s tucked away in a side gallery that I don’t think many tourists go to. It was nearly deserted when Stephanie, Julianne and I went through it.

Came home and talked some with Seryosha. I hope the two of us continue to improve on our communication. It is getting better. After dinner I watched a bit of TV. The news is difficult for me to understand because like in the U.S. news anchors speak very fast. I think I am getting the gist of what is being said however.

Today was interesting because there was a forum with the St. Petersburg Mayor. I managed to embarrass myself for not being able to remember the name of the Seattle mayor. I was able to explain a little about out state government though. While watching TV Musa decided that my lap is the place to sit. I can barely sit down anymore with our her trying to climb into my lap. Tanya has decided that Musa must –really- like me. She was joking that I’ve found myself a 4th cat in Russia and Musa will want to come home with me.

I hope Tanya isn’t too put out with me. We had the Russian version of Floyd’s Fish tonight. I thought I was really going to like it, but the fish didn’t taste like anything I’d ever had before. Tanya could tell I wasn’t quite as fond of it as her other cooking, and seemed really worried that I didn’t like it. I tried explaining that it wasn’t that I didn’t like it. It was just very different from what I thought it was going to taste like, and if I ate it again I would like it. I think I got the message across. It was rather difficult to explain and to explain tactfully at that.

Tact is something I dearly miss. In English I try to be quite tactful and polite in conversation. In Russian I don’t know the words and grammatical structures to be quite as polite. So much of what I say comes out with stronger intent than what I mean.

Good news is today, I was able to understand a man today when he came up to me at the bus stop with a question about the bus schedules. I wasn’t really able to help him much as I didn’t know the time for the bus he wanted. But at least I knew what he was asking me, and could attempt to help.

29 Jan 2008

I didn’t think that I would feel this tired. Perhaps what Caitlin said about learn a language is true – you need more sleep.

Today was my first official day as a student in Russia. I Just nearly wrote v Rossii. :-P I’ve been placed in the most advanced group for language classes. Only 3 spring semester students are in it, the rest are students who have already spent a semester studying in Russia. It’s a bit intimidating but if I can stay in this level I know I will learn a lot.

Today my classes were conversation, civilization, and culture. I can’t believe it was only 3 classes. I feel as if I spent so much more time in focused concentration. I guess the fact that we have 90 minute class periods here might have something to do with it. That and it was 3 classes of discussion and lecture entirely in Russian. I am amazed at how much I understood, particularly in my two lecture based classes. I still struggle with speaking though. Some of the struggle may just be in my head though as my host parents seem to think that I speak fairly well. Though we do have trouble communicating at times. Seryosha and I more frequently than Tanya and I. Still I was placed in the advanced group which must mean I did exceedingly well on the written exam. Today I had an oral interview with Nathan which went okay. It is to be used to record my improvement over the course of the semester.

28 Jan 2008

Today was the first day of “School” I took the bus in with Marina and Allegra. We Arrived early. I think I will usually take the bus because the extra time will allow me to get stuff done in the morning. Plus the other students had stories about the metro being “The March of the Penguins” this morning.

This morning we had a 90 minute written exam to determine course placement. Sometime else this week all of us will go through an oral interview with Nathan.

After our exam we had lunch and then went to get pictures taken for our Student ID cards and extended visa applications. After this a group of us went to Gostiny Dvor along Nevksy Prospekt and wandered around – sunny and pleasant temperature.

Coming home I took the metro for the first time alone. Thankfully at 4pm the metro isn’t yet too crowded though more people are there than on the weekends.

I think I’ve become Musa’s new friend as she greeted me at the door today when I came home. Right now she is sitting next to me only because I kicked her out of my lap.

Oh, a note about Chainaya Loshka. This may be a fast food joint but they sell fresh brewed loose-leaf tea. For a reasonable price even. It’s about $1 for a small pot – about the equivalent of a grande size tea/coffee in the states.