I’ve come to the conclusion that anything can happen in Russia…ANYTHING. Last Thursday my friend Brad came to school and just casually tells me “oh yeah by the way I found a dead guy in the park yesterday”…which didn’t generate the most extreme reaction from me as expected, because somehow or another that is not the most absurd concept to me anymore….but apparently Brad and a couple of others were in the park and there was this guy just laying out there (which EVERYBODY had been doing last week, causing me to wonder if anyone actually works in this city) and the theory is he probably had been drinking before hand and then laid out, because this has been a serious problem - even news stations have been reporting on how many hundreds of people across Russia have died from drinking vodka and then laying out in the past two weeks…anyway there were dozens of people laying around him so no one paid him any heed and no one seemed to notice he hadn’t been moving for hours, until someone picked up his arm and it limply fell aside…the police/милиция came took a look at him, threw a tarp over him and left…then the coroners came, looked at him again and walked away, then the coroners AND the милиция came and finally carted his poor body away…mind you my friends had been sitting in the park for an hour by that time and during all this, the multitudes of other sunbathers could not even be bothered….
But on a happier note, I had a great weekend! Well considering this is Russia and nothing ever quite goes as planned it was an almost-great weekend…Thursday happened to be a record-breaking day of 35 degrees, and while Friday was not nearly as hot (30 degrees - haha) the humidity certainly stuck around….so the streets were hot, humid, steamy, smelly, and on top of that дождь шёл…which is why I spent about 45 minutes in the Зенит soccer store Friday afternoon – its the only air-conditioned building on the block…and of course this weather comes just in time for the big night = ЛЕБЕДНОЕ ОЗЕРО!!! SWAN LAKE! В Маринском Театре. I got all dressed up and did my hair (which was basically pointless because my polyester-lined dress instantly stuck to me and my hair was practically an afro by the end of the night…) но всяком случае it was so much fun – got myself to the Marinsky in plenty of time (which was a chore since practically only one bus goes there) only to find out that the Marinsky like every other building in town also does not have air-conditioning…so I was privileged to watch perhaps the most beautiful display of dancing I have ever and probably will ever see in a 95 degree building with 500 disgruntled rich snobby old people fanning themselves (as if that actually made a difference) in their cramped seats…but I did not care, my seat was right next to the stage where I could literally see the expressions (and sweat) on the dancers’ faces…my friend Jen was a ballerina for 16 years so while I know next to nothing about ballet, she updated me on everything and apparently Black Swan is like the hardest dancing part EVER in the history of ballet but this dancer was so incredible that she made it look easy and absolutely flawless…
После балета, Jen, Alex, and I ходили на улицу в каком-то русском ресторане називался Садко (тоже потому что у него air-conditioning) and sat there in blissful coolness until 11:50 until we knew we had to leave to catch the public transportation home all of which stops working at 12:00…we split off to our perspective ways home and I was relieved that I made it just in time because bus 3 was headed right towards me…only problem = it was going the wrong way…uh-oh… I had no idea where the bus stop was on the other side of the street because the остановки in that part of town are far and few between – I started walking one way but then the street turned and I didn’t know which way to go and so went the other way – same problem…so I am just about to call Alex and ask her when I see bus 3 coming right at me in the RIGHT direction – fantastic! Or not… there is no bus stop in sight and so it passes me right on by…but instead of panicking (because I know this is the last bus for the night and my only ticket home) I start sprinting after it – in heels, a form-fitting Calvin Klein dress, purse slung over my shoulder, scarf flying in the wind, fancy-shmancy mineral water bottle in one hand, phone in the other… I make it to the canal, take my shoes off and make a bee line for that bus – but unfortunately for me this bus was actually going fast (which is the first time ANY bus has EVER done that in this city….) so finally gave up, stood on the bridge, and pathetically watched it drive away – pretty much dashing my hopes for a decent rest of the night… fortunately for me I have a weirdly heightened sense of direction in this city and so I looked for some street names (which is easier said than done because Russians only seem to post street signs when they feel like it) found my bearings and then started the long trek home on foot…it wasn’t so bad because everyone from four year olds eating ice cream with their parents to бабушки walking home to roller bladders and bike riders were out and about, only it was such a long way and I looked like a drunk with a bottle in one hand shoes in the other grumbling my way back to Електросила…an hour and 15 minutes later and blisters on my feet to prove it…
Saturday we went to Kronshdandt (где жена Медведева incidentally is from) which is an old naval town and base которые был закрытый и запришеный в советской време (and was the case up until about 12 years ago) but is now known for its пляж – we literally went there for the beach and of course Saturday the weather changed and it was cold….2 weeks straight of 30+ degree weather and Saturday is the one day it was 22 degrees…бывает…but we did get a tour of the city by an ex-naval officer in a bright pink shirt ☺ and got to go swimming in the Gulf of Finland …the water was really shallow, surprisingly warm, the water was full of slimy vegetation, and the floor was clay…so definitely not my ideal beach, but hey it worked…I realize now that I just have to stop comparing my definition of a beach to Russia’s – it always ends badly…
The rest of my weekend involved the зоопарк, a live Spanish/Russian/French folk band called Los Machetes, cleaning my room, and watching Russian sit-coms –not too bad…
Monday I went back to the Russian National Library on my own – got myself a library card and a pass and went into the Книжний Зал and researched – found some stuff I would love to look at only problem is I have no idea how because there are no directions and the librarians scare me to death (imagine the typical grumpy librarian and then add the fact that she only speaks Russian…) besides I already got yelled at there for not signing out properly so I didn’t want to be completely humiliated in one day, but I need to figure this out because I found a bunch of manuscripts about Молокани в катологие… speeches, firsthand accounts, and some text written by a Самарин….
I have also been happily slaving away at the Hermitage as a волонтёр – I went Tuesday and Wednesday and am actually really enjoying it. First because it’s become a completely legitimate internship, second I am being forced to use Russian in a professional setting, and third because the directors of the program have wasted no time in throwing me right into the mix of things…for instance, когда я прнехала во Вторник they needed someone to take over inside the museum so Михаил и Людмила had this great idea to put the new girl (me) who definitely does not speak Russian as her first language who has only been in Russia for a month and who has not even walked through the entire Hermitage yet at the Information Desk… they tossed me the thick of things to see if I would sink or swim and I am proud to say that I not only helped a cluster of very disgruntled British tourists and several indignant Americans, but also some Dutch/Germans, a lady who was either Italian or Spanish, AND a slew of fast-talking Russians…I don’t even think they knew I was foreigner when I helped them (or they did and just pretended not to notice) but I couldn’t believe that I was not only sufficiently giving directions and handing out maps in a place I hardly knew, but furthermore that I was sufficiently doing so in a foreign language…apparently so well that they stationed me there two days in a row…
Otherwise I’ve just been living life here – went for a run in the park Thursday (got tons of extremely confused stares as if I was running around in a wool jacket or something and I’m not even sure why) – discovered a foolproof method for crossing the street (which is definitely a challenge here seeing as NOBODY follows traffic laws) 1. walk out into the street as far as possible with a confident stride 2. without stopping, acknowledge when a car comes 3. give the driver the dirtiest stare possible 4. and then continue on safely to the other side - works every time…oh and as an update on the culinary experience here in Russia, I have not been served liver since the last fiasco, BUT I was given a salad on Sunday for breakfast that consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers, salt, and fresh grated garlic…. I must have smelled amazing that day…but its okay because smelling nice does not seem to be a priority in this country – boy or girl it doesn’t matter NO ONE should be allowed to lift up their arm to grab the handle on the subway these days… :-/
Wednesday afternoon we went to the Pushkin museum – super cool because I understood so much of what the lady was telling us in Russian AND because I saw the actual pistol that killed Pushkin, the library where he worked and died, and the sofa where he took his last breath (его последные слова выло ‘Смерть едёт') - legendary…but that was not even the best part of my day…that would for sure be the moment on the subway home when I sat across from what could have only been a clone copy of myself as a five year old…no joke…there was this mom with two little girls, one five, one probably a year, the one year old was making faces and smiling at me playing peek-a-boo from behind her mom, which is an unprecedented event in a city where a stone-cold glare is the ticket to success, so I started smiling and making faces back at her…then I glanced at her sister and almost caught my breath because it was like staring at a picture of myself from like 1994 only she was moving…it was so bizarre… by this time I’d made eye contact and smiled at both the girls and their mom and was seriously infatuated with how uncharacteristically and openly friendly this family was when my they announced my stop … consequently, we all got off at the same station – and I don’t think it was a coincidence, especially when I had this feeling and just knew that they were good people, I don’t know, there was just something about them, and so I said a little prayer for them that God bless their lives in this city…got to the top of the station, saw this trio coming behind me so I held the door for them (because handling two kids on the metro in St. Petersburg requires some serious skill so I decided to help her out) when I just blurt out the words “Ваши девочки очень красивые” not even дочки but девочки...in any case it must have worked becuase we ended up talking for like 5 minutes outsdie the станция– Настя (my look-alike) after she saw her mom talking to me immediatley grabbed my arm and introduced herself as if I was some long-lost aquaintance and then introduces her sister Даша who may be the most adorable little girl in this city...meanwhile their mom Таня was asking me all about school and congratulated me on my studies and incidentallly it turns out that she is from Stavropol, her grandparents run the library there...in any case it was lovely talking to them and I can definitly add her to my list of favorite people in this city –I had been feeling the desparate need to get out of the city that day, not necesarrily to go home, but just to get out of a blasted megapolis for a change and meeting them is exactly what i needed to brighten up my day... I know for sure that was not a chance meeting...
Otherwise, unsurprisingly the heat wave has returned…today is supposed to be 35 degrees, yesterday was 32 (I think), 38 in Samara, 37 in Moscow, and 36 somewhere else I forget what the news said…who would have thought the hottest summer I’d ever experience would have been the summer I spent in Russia… ☺