Halloween, Election, Moscow, Parents, Winter

—Well, its been quite nearly a month since my last post: seems like a good time to post again!
—Per usual, things have been quite busy around, and the internet access has been spotty. Those two things tend to lead to me not updating. Regardless, quite a lot has happened. The quick hits that this post should touch on:

• Halloween in Russia
• The run up to the election, results, reactions
• Weekend trip to Moscow
• The Parents visiting over travel week
• the arrival of winter

—Halloween came and went without too much fanfare in Russia, as in most countries outside the U.S. However, let me just say that the Russians that do celebrate Halloween, mostly those around my age, seem to understand the scary aspects of the holiday, and that it allows young women to wear less clothing than it would normally be socially acceptable to wear. Even though Halloween occurred on a Friday this year, unfortunately the following Saturday, Nov. 1, was a class day for us because Tuesday, Nov. 4 was a national holiday and in order to have a three day weekend together, everyone was given Monday off but had to work on Saturday.
—Regardless, some friends and I went to a bar where our friend was DJing. We each had costumes; I dressed up as a soccer player who plays for Zenit, the best soccer team in St. Petersburg. At the bar, no Russian men were dressed up, and we definitely got some looks for our fun (not scary/promiscuous) costumes. In addition, a band came on after our friend finished DJing. The band, first of all, was terrible and the male and female lead singers just screamed the whole time. However, they were notable for their décor and performance, which consisted of crucifying a raw chicken (one undoubtedly purchased at a local supermarket—these people did not appear to be super hard core). It was the type of event that I would have left in an instant were I in the States, but as it was it ended up being just another Russian night and just another Russian story so I stayed for the whole thing. If you want to know more details, ask, however I’m not sure how interested most are in a Russian metal/scream band. Needless to say, Russian Halloween was an experience all its own, one I hope to never experience again.

Russians understand the scary aspect of Halloween. Some of us were not prepared for this "trick" the Russian woman played on us.

—Next, to the election. Watching the election from abroad was a very strange experience, indeed. I woke up at 7:30 am Weds. Nov. 5, having a received a text from a friend which read only “Obama Wins.” I then went into the kitchen for breakfast and watched Obama give his speech in Chicago live, in Russian. I was amused at the fact that Euronews, too, cut to Oprah repeatedly. Interesting.
—Anyway, at my family’s behest, I purchased various Russian newspapers announcing Obama’s victory on Nov. 6 (Nov. 5 newspapers only reported that the elections were taking place, because at press time Obama had not been announced as the victor). Interestingly, first-year president Dimitri Medvedev decided to make his first speech to the Duma, the Legislative Assembly, on the night of Nov. 5. Therefore news from his speech took the top of the front page, with Obama’s victory relegated to the second story and even on one newspaper, to the second page. Medvedev chose an interesting time to challenge America on its foreign policy in Georgia and the placing of NATO’s missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland.
—Shortly after the election, my mom told me that the American press was reporting that basically every country in the world was happy with Obama being elected other than Russia. I have not found that to be true. While many conversations with Russians about Obama tend to involve at least one racist comment, (“Why would you elect a black man to be president? / Do you really think a black man could be a good president? / But he’s black!”) most Russians see Obama as the rest of the world does—a deviation from the divisive policies of Bush. Particularly excited about the election are those people who rely on Visas between the two countries, as they have become harder and harder to get over the past few years. For example, Americans doing business in Russia used to be able to receive multiple entry business visas for a whole year, only having to renew the visas once a year and the cost was not prohibitively expensive. In the past few years however, business visas have changed to be only 6 months long, and in order to receive another one, Americans have to leave Russia for 6 months. Therefore American businessmen can only do business in Russia for 6 months out of the year. Evidently the United States has also tightened visa rules towards Russians, to the point that many don’t even try to obtain visas anymore. Sorry for the tangent, but these people are excited about Obama becoming president, hoping for a thawing of the recent cold relations between the two countries.

—Shortly after the election, on Thursday, Nov. 6, the American student group began our fall term break with a weekend trip to Moscow. We took a night train (the journey lasts 7-8 hours), arriving in Moscow around 7:30 am on Friday, Nov. 7. On Friday we took a short bus tour, giving us a general view of the city. Unfortunately for me, the bus tour was almost exactly the same as the tour I took three and a half years ago with the SLUH trip, but it was still interesting to see differences from what I remembered. Overall, there weren’t too many. On Saturday, we took a tour of the Kremlin and Red Square, at a little lunch, then headed over to a sculpture park / “graveyard”, where many old Soviet statues are now located, and also saw many statues that weren’t quite good enough to be anywhere prominent. While the visit to the sculpture park was definitely worth it, we walked there and things started to get a bit cold (high 20s, with high wind), and it was the coldest weather we had experience in Russia so far. We got to the metro and went to Arbat street, a walking-only street not too far away. We stopped by one of the first Starbucks in Russia (one of my friends’ dads works for Starbucks, so it was a must) and the dined at a restaurant I remembered from my SLUH trip. It was as good as I remembered.

The Statue "graveyard." So many Lenins and Stalins!

—A few Moscow scoops: it has been rated as the most expensive city in the world, and the food prices seemed to prove that true to us. We didn’t eat out that much, and didn’t really spend all that much time there in general, but we didn’t find ANYTHING under $10. It seemed about 30% more expensive than St. Petersburg for the same quality/amount. Not sure why this is. Moscow’s population is around 12 million while Petersburg’s is around 6. This probably doesn’t factor in at all, but I just thought I’d throw that out there.Americans conducting serious diplomacy in Red Square. There was no room for smiles; they show weakness.

With the Kremlin in the distance on a beautiful day.

My friend Harrison looking "great" in front of Peter the Great.

—Another thing: Moscow’s subway system is AWESOME. It is an incredible engineering feat. There are well over a hundred stops and 14 lines!!!! Here is a link to a picture of it; I am in awe. If only we had a couple million free laborers and the fear only a ruthless dictator can instill, we could probably do it in Saint Louis, too! (I guess I’ll take Metrolink if that’s the choice…) (The reference, of course, was to Stalin, under whose reign most of the metro system was built)
Anyway, Sunday wasn’t too exciting of a day; we went to the famous souvenir/stuff market in Moscow, and came away with some good deals, then headed back to St. Pete’s that night, arriving on Monday.

The Moscow market/bazaar. Note the babushka.

Muscovite stores disrespect dachshunds.

—Then, travel week began, and my parents came!!!! Jack and Teresa Huether arrived at 6 pm on Tuesday. For some reason, I had their departure time in my head and decided to go to the airport to meet them at 2 pm. Much confusion ensued, particularly because I had sent them an email a week earlier mentioning that they were arriving at 6 pm. Sometimes I get an incorrect time/date in my head and am so sure of it that I don’t even bother to check. That happened. Anyway, I greeted them at the tiny Pulkovo-2 Airport (sounds so Russian, doesn’t it?) and we headed to the Renaissance Hotel, located nicely in the center of the city right near St. Isaac’s Cathedral and Isaac’s Square. We got some solid dinner and they had enough energy after the long journey for a stroll.
—Over the course of the week they were here (the left at 2 pm on Monday) we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Although it had rained for probably 10 straight days before they came, it only rained once or twice, stayed in the high 30s/low 40s, and we even got to see the sun on multiple days! They must have been the secret, because I haven’t seen the sun since. More update on weather later (it’s not good news).

The parents in the Coffee House, called Kofe Haus.

—I’m pretty sure my parents enjoyed their stay, and it was likely much less intense and scary than they were anticipating/I warned them about (at least than my mom was anticipating. Evidently before she left, she made sure Kate knew where the key to the safety deposit box was “in case anything happens.”) I’ll see if I can get them to write down their thoughts/impressions for a little blog entry if you’re curious (this is the first they’re hearing about it, too). But I would also be curious how they would summarize their visit.
—We had the opportunity to visit a few cathedrals, the Russian Museum and Hermitage Museum, and got to do a lot of walking. I will mention that both mentioned that the palaces were more lavish than anything they had seen in their lives. My mom had been to London and Paris, and thought that the Winter Palace, the main building of the Hermitage Museum, was unfathomably ornate, far more than anything palace she had seen in London or Paris. Just had to stick it to those studying in Europe. At least I have that!

The family at the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

—The other great opportunity we had during their visit was to visit my host family for dinner. I stayed with my parents in the hotel during the week, as the temptation of a queen-sized bed, heating that can be controlled, and a shower than I can stand up in were too much to turn down. However, we visited the host family on Saturday night for an epic feast that my digestive system is still getting over. Having received the invitation for 4:30, we assumed there might be some appetizers and conversation before the meal, we had a small, late lunch (at McDonalds, no less. We’re so cultured!) However, we arrived at 4:30 and immediately sat down for a full sized meal. First soup (borsch, of course), then bliny which are like crepes, then salads, fish, more salads, more fish, bread, and I don’t know what else. Of course, at irregular intervals vodka had to be consumed, as well. And additionally, I was the only person at the table that spoke English and Russian (some Russian), so I had to work double time as translator. That ended up in my having to eat a bit less though, so it worked out. But overall, it was an incredible display of hospitality of which my parents and I were very grateful. My host family is great.
—Other than some digestive issues over the next two days which were undoubtedly spurred on in part by the beet – cheese – potato – fish – who knows what else layered salad, the last few days of their visit were relatively uneventful, and the left on Monday, arriving home late Monday night. Their visit was incredibly welcome, but unfortunately left me a bit more homesick than I had been before. Of well, I’m only here for another four weeks so I have to make the best of it. I know I am very glad (and I’m sure they are, too) that my parents took this rare opportunity to see a city few Americans have a good chance to see.


—Now, to the recent weather news: since my parents left, winter has arrived! We have received two solid snows, so that on an undisturbed piece of land there’s about 4-5 inches of snow/ice. However, living in a dirty, dirty city, snow is not always welcome, especially when the temperature likes to hover around freezing. Especially in a city with poor drainage. What results are large puddles, which typically form on the streets near the sidewalks and are filled with slush and brown water. Often, one doesn’t know how deep these puddles are, and often, one can do nothing but jump right in to try the water out for one’s self! Hopefully I don’t drown in one of these. If I do, Kate, you can have Kaiser. But seriously, it’s disgusting. I’d be fine if the temperature stayed at a solid 20 degrees for the next four weeks, just so I wouldn’t have to deal with this soupy gunk quite as much. Additionally, the forecast for the rest of the week calls for rain and temps in the high 30s. Which means that all the ice and snow on the ground now will melt. Terrific.

The upside to the weather: awesome pictures of Smolny Cathedral.

Snow!

The flame of the unknown soldier in one of large parks. It is very warm.

—Fortunately, and on a lighter note, I’m taking two days off school (plus our day off Friday) to go on a trip to Riga, Latvia with a friend! We’re leaving Thursday morning and will get back Monday night. We’re not sure what we’ll do about Thanksgiving dinner, but I’ll let you know. Hopefully the post about that trip will follow this post sooner than this post followed the previous! However, I think it is about time for me to go to bed, and I’m sure I’ve bored you enough for now. If you think of anything I didn’t cover, mention it in the comments!

Smorgasbord: Teaching, News, Tallin

I am terribly sorry that I have been neglecting you, my devoted and dear readers, but things have been quite busy lately. Fortunately fresh from a two-hour nap, I have time on this Wednesday night to work out a draft and likely will be able to post it on Thursday. Buckle your seatbelts and grab the nearest babushka, cause this is going to be a doozie of an entry.
So much has happened! Where to begin? I suppose I will begin with a few words about the English class that I am teaching. I believe that I wrote in my last entry that I signed up to volunteer to help teach an English class for students either in high school or university, to get to know some Russians, have them get to know an American, and possibly to practice my Russian a bit. Little did I know that I would be assigned a class of my own to teach (I have absolutely zero teaching experience, by the way). Anyway, I was given a class of 8 high school students, between 16 and 17 years old, to teach one time a week for three hours. Three hours is obviously quite a long time, but over the course of just three class periods, I think that I have gotten better at managing it so that we cover the necessary material in the given time. Or maybe it was just because I could explain infinitives and gerunds much more effectively than the difference between “few” and “some,” countable and uncountable nouns, and the use of articles. Regardless, my class on Tuesday went much better than either of the two classes.
A quick funny story about the class the previous Monday: I usually receive cassettes and a cassette player to accompany the textbook in places. Well, two Mondays ago the cassette player wasn’t there, but I got the CD player and a CD. Should be no problem, right? Even easier than cassettes, right, especially because I am a kid that has grown up with CDs? Well, I tried to play the CD but it started to skip, indicating a scratch or dirty disc. First, my teenage wisdom told me to blow on the disc and wipe it off, and blow in the CD player. I tried it again, with the same result. When that fails, teenage wisdom recommends that you lick the CD, then wipe it off again. That’s right, I licked the CD. And not in an inconspicuous, I-am-ashamed-that-I-am-doing-this sort of way. No, I turned to my class, licked the CD (arousing the fits of laughter that I intended) and then put the CD back in the player. And what happened after this attempt at humor and way of showing how cool I am? Of course, the CD refused to work at all! We had to go the rest of the class time without the accompaniment of the CD, but at least my class didn’t tell the other teacher why the CD doesn’t work…
Anyway, perhaps now a few words about my students: there are two girls that always come, who giggle a lot, and one of whom asked to take my picture with her during the first class I taught. During that class one of the boys suggested that they are both very interested because they want to marry me. All arrogance aside, I haven’t found anything yet to disprove this theory. One guy in the class is evidently a very good basketball player, having received a sportsman’s medal, and loves American rap music, especially Eminem. Although my knowledge of rap is quite limited, we have been able to discuss that a little bit.
In terms of general life news, things are going pretty well. I am about at the halfway point of my time in Russia, and that is hard to believe. I have definitely learned a lot already, and am much more willing to converse that I was when I arrived. The vocabulary is still weak, but I’m at the point where if I need to know something, I can find it out one way or another. Classes are going well enough; they’re not as hard as classes in the U.S. and there isn’t as much work. However, commuting is much more work, so I think it evens itself out.
One thing many have asked about is news. A very interesting thing is how Russia is reporting on the Global Financial Crisis (or whatever you want to call it). Almost every day, it seems there are reports on the TV that the western economic system is falling to pieces, when in fact the Russian economy is doing even worse! On the television at least, the news coverage of the Russian economic collapse is laughable—I know more about it than Russians. Even as our economy is looking weaker by the day, the exchange rate reached the highest point since I’ve been here this week—nearly 27 rubles to the dollar! My host sister, a teacher for a public school, hasn’t been paid for almost a month. However, the authorities are sure that “everything is under control.” Just today, my host mom said that the newspapers are reporting that every third person will lose their job. While this is surely doomsday reporting, trying to sell more newspapers, there are nevertheless VERY serious problems in the Russian economy right now, more serious than most other western nations. It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next two months, and if the reporting and true investigating will get any better (doubtful). The fact that a newspaper could report that 33% of people will lose their jobs and not be laughed at shows you just how serious the crisis has affected Russia.
Now for the fun part of this blog entry: my trip to Tallin, Estonia. Last Friday morning the whole group of 52 American students left for a trip to Tallin, Estonia. Estonia is a Baltic State, formerly a part of the USSR. It was independent prior to World War II, was under Soviet control for 51 years, and has been independent for 17 years, since it declared independence with the “Singing Revolution,” which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. The population is around 1.4 million, and more than 400,000 people live in the capital, Tallin, which is on the Baltic Sea. Estonia is an EU nation, and, while they have their own currency—the kroon—right now, will be moving to the Euro in the next year or so.

Cathedral in Old Tallin
Estonian Parliament Building
Estonian President's House

We began our bus ride at 7:30 in the morning and eight hours later (after two hours at the border, having had to stop at the Russian and Estonian borders) we arrived in Tallin. Not surprisingly, the roads on the Russian side are noticeably worse to the point that the bus couldn’t have been going more than 35 mph at times simply because the roads were so poor. We checked in to our nice hotel (work out room, pool, great buffet breakfast, FREE WI FI IN ROOMS!!!) and started a walking tour. While the weather was not the kindest (low 40s and raining) we were all glad to be out of Russia.

Estonian Baltic Sea View

Our first encounter with the difference between Russian and Estonia was through our tour guide. Because our educational program, CIEE, tells our universities that we are in a language immersion program, all of our tours have to be in Russian. In Russia, tour guides give the same tour they give to Russians, without accommodating the fact that we are at a relatively elementary language level. The Russian mentality is that “You’re the one that wants the tour, why should I change to make it better for you?” not only in reference to tours, but in general. Whenever I don’t pay with exact change, the question is “do you have other change?” not because it’s a huge deal, but because it makes their job marginally more difficult.

The coolest tour guide every: note the rainbow umbrella
Largest town square in Old Tallin
Huge, old cathedral

However, the Estonian tour guide was terrific. He spoke more intelligibly and slower (which could have been because we understood his accent better) and truly cared that we knew what all the words he spoke meant. Rather than Russian tour guides, who take their history very seriously and believe themselves to be the vanguards of some sacred ancient Russian history that they cannot change to make more interesting for the tour, even in the kids don’t fully understand everything, the Estonian tour guide poked fun at his nation and its history, telling funny anecdotes about the Russian-Estonian relationship which I think gave us a fuller picture of the small nation. Friday night we had some free time and some friends and I went to a local beer hall and I tried some very tasty honey beer.

Triumphant Picture! Glad to be in Estonia!

Saturday morning following the best breakfast in two months we headed off for a bus tour to see more of the city. Having only seen the “Old Town” on Friday, which was very medieval European, we ventured to the newer parts of the city and I noticed many more contrasts with Russia. Simply put, in Estonia capitalism seems to work. Having only been free of the Soviet Union for 17 years, it is amazing how many new and modern buildings the city has. The wide streets, significantly less traffic congestion and foot traffic reminded me of Saint Louis or any smaller city in the United States, but with even more new, modern buildings. Surely Estonia’s membership in the EU and the fact that is a much smaller, easily governed nation has something to do with its quick turn around from Soviet days, but it is still amazing to see the post-Soviet world from another nation’s point of view.

Medieval Restaurant: Sweet

After the bus tour, we walked around Old Town some more, bought some souvenirs, and made reservations to eat at a Medieval restaurant called Olde Hansa. It truly was a meal for the ages. Two friends and I, Andy and Harrison, decided ahead of time to try the bear, but split it three ways because of the cost (too much, don’t ask, but how often can you eat bear?) Upon getting to the restaurant, I inquired, do you have the bear today? Yes (YES!). Then out of curiosity, “how often do you get the bear?” “We usually have the bear, yes, but then again he likes to hide in the woods and is sometimes very tricky. He doesn’t like to be caught, yes.” (Oh and the waiters spoke English and were helpful, also a contrast).

Ready to eat some bear, obviously. Above, clockwise from the bottom: boar, bear, Andy, Harrison, duck.

I don't look as hungry, but just look ridiculous

So Harrison, Andy and I split a meal of bear, boar, and duck, in addition to trying some of the ladies' food: elk, rabbit, chicken, fish, and beef. Yes, eight different types of animal were consumed on that great night, and I didn’t even have (much) indigestion! Olde Hansa got two thumbs up, definitely. After dinner, we walked around Old Town some more until we felt it was time to head back to the hotel.

The boys showing some estonian pride

Sunday was mostly a travel day, as we checked out of the hotel at noon, but we stopped at a castle on the Estonian-Russian border. Not much notable there—it was a pretty standard castle. We arrived back in St. Petersburg at 11 at night on Sunday, ready for another week of classes. Our next trip is to Moscow from Nov. 6-10, then during the following week of fall break, my parents are coming, from Nov. 11-17 or 18. I am very excited!!!
One last story before I depart. Occasionally I feel a bit like I am on candid camera. On Tuesday after teaching my class, I decided to stop in at the McDonald’s on the way back to the metro stop (I know, gross, but its American. Give me a break.) I get in line, and order two double cheeseburgers. She looks confused. I say it again. I put the noun in the wrong case, I now realize, but it still wasn't too hard to figure out. Seriously. The cashier looks at the burger slot, and there aren’t any. She goes back, turns back to me, “do you want something else?” “No, thanks.” “Will you wait.” “Yeah, sure.” I mean, how long could it take, it’s just the same patties they’re cooking everything else with, right? Evidently double cheeseburgers are a strange order in Russia. So I’m waiting, and she starts whispering to the other cashiers behind the counter, and they’re all looking at me. It becomes clear that she is just getting off her shift, and needs other people to fill my order. So that makes sense, I know why they were looking at me—they were exchanging necessary information. Then, for some reason, I see customers in line looking at me. I know when people are looking at me—I get it a decent amount here—and multiple people in the line next to me were just looking at me. I wasn’t doing anything special or strange, just standing. As I’m waiting I see Big Mac after Big Mac, Quarter Pounder after Quarter Pounder (Royal with Cheese here, too) added to the burger slot. Finally, I get my burgers and sit down. I pick a table close, a four-person table as it happens to be, so that I can leave quickly. I notice two of the people who were in line near me who are eating somewhat across from me looking at me again and whispering to each other. I keep eating, and keep making eye contact with them. Then, another woman from the line comes up to me and asks if she can put her stuff down at me table two—she has a group of two other people. There are plenty of open tables, but she decides to put her food down across from me. Sure I say, trying not to be confrontational, as I’m almost done with my food. But she proceeds to stand behind the chair, waiting for her friends, and staring at me. I gave her the eyebrow-raise, simply because I was confused, but in retrospect probably should have asked why everyone was acting so weird. Even though I thoroughly inspected the burgers before eating them, while on my way home I was convinced that the McDonald’s workers must have done something to them and that everyone must have known about it. What else could explain all of the looks? If I fall dead in the next week, I’m definitely blaming those burgers.
So what’s the resolution of the story? Is it simply because no one orders double cheeseburgers? Did I somehow make it obvious that I’m American (I don’t know how I could have done that)? Did they do something to my burgers? Was something wrong with my face? Am I simply that attractive? Or was I in fact on some sort of candid camera show? The answer to this day evades me, but this is life in Russia, and every day is interesting.

Yes, I am a bum

First I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. On one hand, it is hard to update often when I only have access to internet for about 3-4 hours a week, because I want to put together well thought out posts but I also have to use the internet time to get my news, email, and occassionally TV as well (the new episode of the Office last week was great). I only have that much internet time on average because the only reliable place with internet is the university, and I only have access in between classes or when I stay after school. Anyway, away from that and to more interesting topics...

My last few weeks have been exciting. I traveled to Novgorod two (three?) weekends ago, and got to see one of the most important early Russian cities, along with some classic russian achitecture. I have been to see two amazing museums which will necessitate return trips: the Russian Museum, with predominantly Russian art, and the Hermitage, which is one of the best and largest art museums in the world. I forgot to bring the camera to Subway today, so I can't upload pictures, but some pictures will be sure to follow in the next few weeks. I also ventured to the Yusupov Palace, where Gregory Rasputin, a debated figure that surrounded the royal family of tsar nicholai II during World War I, was murdered.

In other news, I am beginning to help teach an english class at a high school starting tonight. By "helping" to teach, that means that I will be teaching one three hour class a week by myself, and another teacher will be teaching the other class. After learning that I have absolutlely no experience teaching, the director decided to have me teach one class with the teacher, so I see how it is done. That class will happen tonight, then tomorrow its all me. I'll let you know how that ends up.

One thing that I want to talk about that has been brought up in my conversation class is the demographic crisis that Russia is currently undergoing. According to the stats provided by my teacher (which may be more or less accurate, that for every 100 live births in Russia, there are 208 abortions. This has occurred for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that abortions in Russia have been free for a long time, which has taken away both the stigma of abortion and the cost (obviously). Additionally, 75% of women of childbearing age surveyed said that they did not want to have more than one child. This has resulted in Russia having negative population growth of around 1%, despite the fact that immigration from Central Asia is lessening the effect of population loss.

Other reasons for the lack of desire to have children include the general poor health of children here: if your child only has some minor breathing difficulties and allergies, you are lucky. Additionally, the average wage is such that moving from a one to a two-child family often decreases you from middle to lower class. The government has tried to provide incentives for bearing more children, but they have so far proved ineffective.

This problem has manifested itself in a number of ways. The most obvious way that I have seen is the vast number of help wanted signs. Often it seems that the firms that are hiring are lower level and are relatively menial jobs, but the vast number of ads requesting workers is nothing like in the US. Additionally, my impression is that the combination of negative population growth among the native Russian population and the immigration from central asia has contributed to racism because some Russians feel, like certain Americans feel about Latin Americans, that "they" are taking over the country. Some of it is probably legitimate; Russia is the developed country with the second worst terrorism problem behind Israel. Additionally in talking to my host mother, Uzbeks and Tajiks are generally blamed for bringing narcotics into the country and other organized crime activities while Kazakhs are viewed as being hard-working. I can't really speak to how true that is, but that is their impression.

Well, I guess that's about it for now, I'll try to think about more interesting topics to write about in the future, and I'll try to keep to once-a-week updates, in addition to some pictures of my apartment, which you all haven't seen yet. That's all for now!

fast times at smolnij high...

So I realized I didn't give a whole lot of information about my education while I'm here in the previous post. Allow me to elaborate, and try not to make things too boring. While I'm here, I'll be taking five courses. Three are required: phonetics, grammar, and conversation. then i got to choose russian culture, and russian literature of the 19th century. additionally, i'm in the choir, which meets once a week. here's the course schedule:
mon: conversation, grammar
tues: lit., culture
weds: grammar, phonetics
thurs: grammar, conversation, lit, culture
fri: conversation, phonetics

each class is only in russian, and each class is 90 mins. so on thursday, i'm in class for 6 hours of only russian. its pretty intense.

conversation is easily the most frustrating class. we have been talking about such issues as international finance, how to fix the current credit crisis, progressive vs. flat income taxes, and other such complex issues. which is incredibly frustrating for me because with my limited command of the language, its impossible to make a complex argument one way or the other without asking for help every other word. i'd much rather be debating the merits of horses vs. dogs or something, which i can sort of do, rather than trying to explain why putting up trade barriers would be bad for the economy. maybe they just think we should be talking about important things cause we're the highest language group...

now, here's a picture of the school, literally:


ok, so thats the chapel in the middle of the school grounds, but still, its pretty ridiculous. the facility was originally meant as a monestary for nuns after elizabeth, peter the great's daughter, decided to not accept the throne and to become a nun. however, she ended up getting the throne later, anyway. our building is located on "the dictatorship of the proletariat street," next to the smolny institute, where lenin started getting people excited about the revolution. literally. so thats really ridiculous.

i guess thats about all for now. going to novgorod this weekend, a city thats small on population but big on history!

and uncle kevin, you're right. the baltika's good stuff!

when in russia...

So I finallllllly have time to update. Russia is crazy, I don't really have internet access very often, and have been very busy. I guess I'll give a general run-down of the past week, and go into specifics when possible. Maybe load some pics up too, if the internet card doesn't end too early (update: the internet card ended too early. i started to post this on wednesday night; its now friday and i'm at school where we have free internet).
So I left at about 2 last Tuesday, st. louis time, flying through chicago and london, and arriving in st. petersburg at 5 pm wednesday. we have to fill out cards upon arriving, and they get stamps. we need to carry these cards with us the whole time we're in russia, or bad things happen when the police do random "spot checks" (asking for documents, which means migration card, visa, and passport) if you dont have that stuff, you're in trouble.
anyway, i got through customs and quickly realized that my baggage had not arrived. sweet. i got in a line for lost baggage, and found a coordinator of our program sitting with another student in our program who had also lost his baggage. jarlith, the coordinator, was very helpful and got everything done that was necessary, but i did not have my baggage. good thing i packed a change of clothes in my carry-on!

me and jerome, the gnome around the globe, in chicago

we then went to an orientation a bit outside the city in a "resort" area which the state subsidizes for old people and families to go and get away for a while. apparently we use it because its one of the only places that will accept 60 americans for a few days, many of whom can't speak good russian. the place looked really crappy from the outside but was alright otherwise. the food was bad, but oh well. from the start i got the picture that the ciee program knew what it was doing and that i'd be in good hands.
fortunately many other people are awesome, and i have really enjoyed hanging out with other program members, particularly our other georgetown representatives, from the start. additionally, the two-day orientation provided a bit of an english-to-russian transition that i think helped with my psyche better than when i came in high school and was thrown in with my host family immediately.
after a whole day of being bombarded with all the risks in russia on thursday, and another half day on friday, we were sent to meet our host families. my hazyaika (host-mom/tenant) is named natalia leonidovna and she is very nice and a very good cook. her husband, aleksei, is also very nice and they have a son and a daughter. the daughter is a teacher and is in her early 20s, but im not sure who exactly their son is. the daughter may or may not be married and may or may not have a child, but regardless i have met three guys in their early 20s in our apartment, one who is the son, one who may be a possible husband of the daughter, and the other who must be just a friend. i've been too embarrassed by my misunderstanding to ask for clarification at this point.
the food has been really good-very russian and very much filled with butter and the like. the family makes sure that i eat as much as possible at every meal, and i have tried to be as accommodating as possible.
over the weekend we had a bus tour and a walking tour of the city, which i had already seen before, having been here three years ago, but which was still interesting. one thing i noticed as a difference between three years ago and this year is the prominence of adds for the state-owned gas company, gazprom (energy!) as jarlith pointed out, its not even necessary--why would a state-owned company need to advertise?!! but apparently they think they do. the main st. petersburg soccer team, zenit (which beat man u. 2-1 on saturday, by the way) is sponsored by gazprom, too, and their ads are everywhere. here are some examples:

me and a family friend, anton, the night zenit returned to st. pete's with the cup after the victory vs. man u.

other random observations that i'll throw out there for those who have never been to russia:

people don't smile in public when they're commuting, etc. according to one host mom (not mine), its because they were so afraid all the time during the soviet union....but of course, the soviet union "was still better than it is now"

old russian women love to die their hair dark shades of red. don't ask me why-it doesn't look good
public transport is a mess. i take one of two buses to school, each of which is supposed to come every 10-13 minutes. neither came on wednesday for 40, and i was late. additionally, yesterday my bus cut off an ambulance. later on in the bus ride, we saw the accident the ambulance was going to. in those ridiculous situations, all you can do is laugh (and cry and die a little on the inside)
if you order one liter of beer at a pub, it is not a pitcher. it will only come in one very big glass, and if you only order one liter of beer for a table, you will look silly and the waiter will look at you quizically.


getting visas in russia for long periods of time are very difficult. because of the problem with aids, the russian government is doing all that it can to keep people with aids from entering the country. as a result, i had to receive negative hiv test results in may to get the initial visa, and had to get tested again upon arriving. here's a picture of the test center:



well, i guess that's really about all i have for now. overall, its been a great experience and i'm very excited for the rest of the semester. i've found some great pals, gotten to be better friends wtih my georgetown russian classmates, and its only been a little more than a week. i can't wait to relate all i've experienced over the course of the semester, and i'll try to add some more interesting observations about russian and its people over the course of the trip, in addition to my fair share or ridiculous russian stories. until then, thanks for reading!

Base Camp

For those of you who may need a refresher, this is Tim Huether's blog that I started for my junior fall semester abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia. Right now I'm here in Saint Louis for a couple of weeks before I fly out two Tuesdays from now, on August 26th. I got home to St. Louis last Saturday, the 9th, after a fun summer in DC. The idea was to get everything ready for the big trip while I'm at home, but as usual, I've done a pretty good job of procrastinating so far. But enough of the day-to-day, I doubt anyone wants to read that and if they do want to know about it, they can just ask me.
I decided to set up this blog both as a journal of my experiences for myself, and also so that my friends and family can keep track of how I'm doing easily. I will do my best to convey how life abroad is on me, and it will be great to live for a while in a culture with a completely different point of view of the international system and American hegemony.
So maybe a little bit about why I'm going to Russia in the first place, because whenever I mention studying abroad there, many people immediately ask, "why?" Indeed, nowadays more people are surprised at someone venturing to Russia than to China or the Middle East for studying abroad.
I must say that my interest in Russia wasn't all deliberate. I began studying Russian as a freshman in high school, a choice made out of my desire to be different and unique as much as anything else. Here I am, six years later, with no regrets about that decision. I have, in my opinion, been very fortunate to see Russia regain some of its lost importance on the world stage over the past few years, and I think that the Russian population is one that is still very misunderstood by the West. I definitely don't claim to have a good understanding or Russia, but hopefully this trip will help.
For reference, St. Petersburg time is 9 hours ahead of central, 8 hours ahead of eastern. I just got skype, my name is Heathrow143. I'm not sure how much Internet access I'll have, but hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with everyone pretty easily. I am hoping to write some snail mail letters back and forth as well, so give me your addresses in the comments if you're interested and I'll provide mine as soon as I know it in another post (I'll be living with a host family but won't know which one or where I'll live until I get there).
If you want me to try to find something out, have a question about Russian culture you want me to try to answer, or want me to pick something Russian up for you while I'm there, write a comment or shoot me an email at tjhuether@gmail.com (no guarantees, I only have so much room in the suitcases).
Lastly, the title of the blog: Timswindowtothewest. Peter the Great always wanted a warm-water port, and following a war with Sweden he was able to take the land that St. Petersburg is built on. Shortly after the war he started construction of a new, European-style capital, St. Petersburg, in 1703, requiring massive amounts of labor to drain the swamp on which it is built. Peter the Great was striving for a "Window on the West," trying to make Russia look western to the great European powers as a model for future development. So, too I will try to look through the Russian perspective at the West during this trip. A corny name I know, but it was as good any I suppose.
First blog post done, I'll be writing again but possibly not until I get to St. Petersburg. This was pretty disorganized and just stream of consciousness, so hopefully in the future these will be more organized and thought-out.