Internet Woes

I am sorry it has been so long since my last post. My dear friend must have finally figured out I was stealing internet and he just cut me right off. Consequently, I really have no way to use the internet unless I take my computer with me everywhere and find a McDonalds! I am trying to figure out the problem, so in the mean time I’ll post when I can. This weekend was jam packed with the Hermitage again and on Tuesday we made a trip to the part of town where Crime and Punishment was set in.  We even went inside the little church the author supposedly went to for inspiration and thinking. (These fun facts are always an iffy on the “fact” side of things. But, it makes it seem way more interesting when they put it like that.)

Here are some pictures I have been taking around the city. I hope you can get a better idea of some of things I get to see. The pictures never do anything any justice, but at least they are a shadow of the coolness of this city that I can share with you! I hope everyone is doing well.

Nevsky Prospect:

Each of the metro stations has a different design. The Nevsky Prospect (the 5th Ave. of St. Petersburg) metro station is a lot prettier than some of the others.

We went inside the Grand and it was absolutely beautiful.

Lady of Kazan: (A Russian Orthodox Cathedral dedicated to one of the most important and worshipped icons in the religion. Also on Nevsky Prospect.)

Nicole, Me, and Allison in front of the cathedral.

Singer Building: (This was built for the Singer Sewing Machine Company and now it is a really awesome, beautiful bookstore. It is one of my favorite buildings in the city.)

Church on Spilled Blood: ( I can't get enough of this place!)

Even the gates surrounding the church are so detailed and ornate like the church itself.

Park Behind the Church:

Pigeons are seriously respected here because they kept the people alive when they were starving during war times. This is unfortunate because I have a bad history with pigeons which includes a walk through Central Park, something falling on my head, and me smelling horrible for the rest of the day. The pigeons here have been much kinder...so far.

The 'Hood where Crime and Punishment was set:

There are lots of scary alleyways in the city closed by these really beautiful iron gates. They aren't actually scary, they only look it. Most of them just lead to apartment complexes.

I can't get over how much detail is on every single building here. Buildings that would be historical landmarks in America house little stores or bars or nothing at all.

The Little Church Dostoevsky Visited for Inspiration:

The Miracle of the Lost Boot

Friday morning was very, very cold. My shuttle got stuck in traffic because a pipe burst on the main road and I had to jump ship and book it to the metro to be on time. Nika and I were just weaving in and out of these big busses stuck in traffic…I am thinking this is so Russian. I made it to the metro on time and met my teaching partner. However, apparently the whole city had gone mad. After our metro ride we take a shuttle to our school and again we were stuck in traffic for 45 minutes! By the time we finally got to school we were very late and frustrated. Kristen was bringing Olga’s boot back this day because she got hers fixed. As we were walking up to the school it popped into my head…she doesn’t have her boot. I turned around and asked her and she just got the worst look on her face and bolted back to the stop.  I started class while she waited for the shuttle to loop back around, but somehow it was a different driver.

We called our coordinator who speaks a little English and tried to explain what happened and she said she would help.  Her version of helping was telling Olga that we lost the boot and she would need to try to track it down herself! We were horrified. We were trying to keep the situation on the DL. So after class we took the shuttle back and found a not-scary-looking woman to ask if she spoke any English.  She did! Holy good luck. She talked to the driver for us and gave us very little hope.  She just kept repeating, this is not a good situation, this is not a good situation. We’re like, yeah pretty aware of that.  Our last hope was to wait for every shuttle that takes our route to stop by the metro and we would do a quick search before the pushy Russians boarded again. The shuttles come about every 30 minutes…so we waited and waited and waited, and searched really fast and then waited and waited and waited.  By the third van, the shuttle driver knew who we were and what we were looking for.  They had created this little communication between the drivers and he showed us the note he had about the dumb American girls who lost their one boot.  I can’t read Russian so I’m not sure those were the exact words, but I am sure it was close to that…or meaner.

The second to last shuttle came and I bolted in to do my quick search, before I got trampled by the angry mob clambering for seats. and I saw it: black, dirty and sitting all alone exactly where we left it.  I have never been more excited in all of my life. When I got home I was so excited to tell Nika and Julia about it and they just laughed at me. They’re like, “Russians would never do such a thing. We would have just bought a new pair of boots.” I’m like, wow what a letdown.  I will NOT be sharing any more stories at the dinner table if we can’t fake a little excitement.  Oh well, it was a stressful time but with a happy ending. Plus, now we’re tight with all of our cabby friends…perhaps not a good thing.

What a Wednesday...

We had liver for lunch….That was just the start of a series of unfortunate events this last Wednesday.  First of all, Wednesday’s are my longest day. I am either teaching, training, or traveling to teach from 10-8 on Wednesday. They are killer. However, this special day had some greater misfortunes than usual. On the more fortunate side, these events were happening all around me but not to me. 

To kick things off my friend Allison found out she was allergic to Kiwis. (Russia is probably not the place you want to find a new allergy.) This is the girl who is actually allergic to the cold; literally, she has been diagnosed with an allergy to the cold.  Sadly for her this week has been -20 Celsius every day. Things worked out OK with the Kiwi fiasco, but it was a pretty nasty experience for her. 

Additionally, all of the girls have been getting sick because my good friend Nicole, now christened Typhoid Mary, got sick from the “quarantine” kids and it has been spreading like crazy since.  Consequently, my teaching partner called in sick in the morning on Wednesday and managed to drag herself to school for the afternoon shift. You can imagine the interactions we were getting with the kids. They take every ounce of life out of you when you are full speed, so as you can imagine it was a bit of a rowdy day.  Then for the cherry on top of her awesome day, as we were suiting up for the Tundra, her boot zipper just broke right off. We were like sweet, now what are we doing to do? Thank heavens we were work with the nicest women in the world and we mimed what had happened, because they don’t speak any English, and our favorite, Olga (Uncle Dennis and Aunt Sharon, you will appreciate the irony of her name) just gave Kristen her own boot to wear home. It was really nice of her. So all is well that ends well, right?...

Rivaling Disneyland For My Affection

This Saturday made up for all the not-fun-times I have had teaching. We went to the Winter Palace, also known as the Hermitage, and I almost wet my pants. (That could have been because it was freezing outside and Russians are apparently anti-public bathrooms.) Really though, I have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. The detail, colors, and artwork are truly unbelievable. The only problem is that it is so big and so magnificent you can't enjoy everything you want to! Our guide told us that if you were to spend 30 seconds at each exhibit for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take you nearly 7 years to go through the entire museum.  I was so distracted at how beautiful the buildings were though I didn't even appreciate the awesomeness of the exhibits! I can not wait to go back for another trip.

You have to pay for a special ticket to take pictures inside, and since we were being so touristy on Saturday I decided I would go back again when I would have time to myself to take all the pictures I wanted to. Luckily for us, we have special international student cards that allow us to go as many times as we want for free. This I think will become my new Sunday afternoon activity!


I have a few pictures of the outside for you to enjoy, as well as some from the walk there. As soon as I have some of the inside I will post those too! I want everyone to come to St. Petersburg now just to go to the Hermitage. I love it that much. I was going to give some more history, but I will wait until I have some better pictures to accompany it. (Ease the boringness.) Hope everyone is well!

On the way to the Hermitage...excellent build up.

A little theater we passed by. The buildings were getting more and more pretty along the way.

Our first peak!!!

In full glory...

More glory.

A little more detail for you. Note the small individuals walking by...not in fact midgets. Just seriously that big.

Oh the Places I Went

Yesterday was jam packed with sight-seeing, Russian style.  Nika and her friend Vasya took me all over the city and it was wonderful. It is funny, people are the same everywhere. You always take for granted what is in your backyard.  I kept asking Nika and Vasya questions about the history of places and they really didn’t know, and then add the language barrier and I can’t say I learned all that much.  But, if I were home showing Nika around Wyoming it would probably be the same problem. I saw some really beautiful places though, and got very excited about St. Petersburg all over again. 

I’m sorry if this is a boring post, but I’ll just give you a short description of some of the pictures so you can read if you want or just look at the pretty buildings. 

This is Nika and Me on the ship the Aurora. The Aurora was one of the first boats to participate in the Communist Revolution. According to my Russian tour guides, who were not very confident in their knowledge of the boat's history, it was the boat that signaled the start of the revolution.  It was very cool, with a little museum under the deck. However, it was raining and the deck was very slippery! Russians are not so sue happy and thus way less concerned about making things safe for the public. I definitely almost toppled down the steps. So much for dance making me graceful!

This is a shot from the ship Aurora to the naval academy across the street. So many of the buildings are similar to this architecture. I love the bright yellows, pinks, and blues they use on their buildings. They are really beautiful...my lazy eye, not so much.

These pictures are from the Peter and Paul Cathedral. This was the very first building that Peter the Great built in St. Petersburg around 1712 and is considered the center, because the rest of the city was built around it. 

This is a statue of Peter the Great outside the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The Reilly family is obviously not a descendant....look at the size of that head. It was the weirdest looking statue I have ever seen. Vasya told me before I saw it, "I think Peter the Great an ugly man. Very small head."...smells like cabbage. 

Vasya and me in front of an old Russian prison. I think you can imagine what a Russian prison  might be like, super scary.

A beautiful Russian bride taking her glamor shots in the freezing cold! Vasya explained it is very "poplar" to have your picture taken from this spot because The Winter Palace is on one side of the river, and the Peter and Paul Cathedral is directly across on the other side.

We walked around an ice sculpture exhibit with some really awesome pieces. It is difficult to see, but this one was from the new Alice in Wonderland movie.

They took me to a military museum that we walked around the outside of.  It had a ton of  battle equipment from WWII (which could also not be true because my "tour guides" were pretty sketchy on details). Either way, it was pretty interesting.  Look out USA.

Then on to my favorite! The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The Reader's Digest version of this cathedral's story is Alexander II was assassinated by his people and Alexander III built this church on the place of his death as a memorial.

Finally I am getting to see the city. I already feel very at home and familiar with St. Petersburg. It helps so much that I am living with such wonderful people who take amazing care of me. Teaching still sucks...but I am quite sure it can only go up from here. Even if it doesn't, it will all be worth it to live in this beautiful place with these incredible people. 

Are These Rosemary’s Babies? Or Am I Just a Horrible Teacher? …Definitely Both.

Evil is two syllables: Masha. Yes, a child of 5 who is my own personal Damien. Honestly, I am not going to pretend that I am a natural at teaching, because most of the time I am boring myself to tears (which these children are bringing me to on a regular basis…jk, but seriously).  However, these children, I believe, have been sent here to suck the life out of me.  After my first day I was pretty much ready to call it quits. Book me a ticket and get me out of this crazy place.  Fortunately, things have been coming around and I have learned to use my stern-Russian-teacher face.  This I assure is well responded to, but it still is a pretty exhausting effort each day.

(After my first day of teaching I went to the store to get some toothpaste. I was feeling pretty down and discouraged, and then I caught a little twinkle of wrapper out of the corner of my eye. There it was. A snickers bar. I realize what a fat-kid comment this is, but it really perked up my day. Then I went home and talked to my mommy and I felt totally better. Her creative genius ideas are really saving the day with my teaching.)

Besides the teaching, I love Russia. I am sorry I have been a bad blogger.  I have been spending close to 11 hours a day either training, teaching, or preparing to teach. They claim it is a four-hour-a-day commitment. Not so my friends. They have an excellent system setup for free labor. As my wise father the accountant pointed out, it is the best business model available. I pay to get myself here and work for free. Truly though, I know it will become a routine and will not be so time consuming.  For now, I have traveled all around Saint Petersburg, but only underground on my way to one of our schools. I am crazy about the metro. I think it is one of the greatest things I have ever seen, and it is so simple to use. For once, I feel like I know what I am doing here.

I wish I could post pictures of the stations, but you get into some serious trouble if you are caught. And you will be caught. There are armed security guards, complete with the square fur hats, at the entrance of each station. They stop people when they come into the station “at random”, but every time I have seen a person stopped it was a guy in his 20’s. Typical bomber/miscreant? I guess so.  As well, you see cameras in the hallways and attendants that literally appear from nowhere when a train reaches the end of its line. Talk about a little creepy at times. These stations are beautiful though: so clean and enormous.  You take a nearly 120 second escalator dive down just to reach the platforms. I get some major vertigo when I look down and don’t see an end. It’s the strangest thing, but the architecture even on the way down is really cool.  They have tile mosaics in some stations and huge archways of granite. It’s beautiful.

Still, I have not had a chance to see much of the city.  The few pictures I have tried to take have failed because apparently my brand new camera has a bogus battery.  I am really frustrated and not exactly sure what I can do about it now.  Luckily, I brought my big camera, but it is heavy and stressful to carry it around so I haven’t taken many pictures. I thought I would share with some more day-to-day information.

Meals:

 Julia makes delicious dinners and we eat at the kindergarten for lunch every day.  Below are some sample meals I have been enjoying:

• Breakfast: I eat cornflakes or yogurt almost every morning. Pretty American and I am OK with that. However, their milk is absolutely delicious. It’s really creamy and just so good.

• Lunch: These people are incapable of not having soup for lunch. It’s apparently against the health code or something. So I have partaken of some fabulous Borche almost every day, which is great because I love it.  We also always have bread and some sort of meat. I am not going to go into a lot of detail with the meat.  It’s always some sort of mystery loaf, and I am afraid if I look into it too much I am going to have a Soylent Green moment. So I will move on from there. On occasion we have some buckwheat, which is also great. I haven’t determined yet what it is. Does someone know if it’s a grain of sorts?

• Dinner: We have “sausages” quite often.  What Russian's deem sausages, we Americans deem hot dogs. The only difference is they make fancy cuts in them so they look prettier. One morning my friend was served “sausages” for breakfast. She’s like, “Yeah it’s weird to eat something for breakfast I usually have at a baseball game.” This is true.  However, we eat ours for dinner with homemade sauerkraut. Definitely a favorite dinner of mine.  One night we had noodles with just butter on them and baby dill pickles. The combinations are hilarious. My favorite part is that we always have something sweet after words. The problem is, I now require something sweet. I am becoming like Elaine and need my 8 o’clock sugar rush.

Weather:

It really has not been that cold, but it has been really snowy. Snow banks over my head on both sides of the path.  I didn’t even know I was walking on sidewalks until a couple days ago when things started to melt. FYI Death Star black ice is way easier to walk on than knee deep slush. It turns out I prefer the weather to stay at 0 so the snow doesn’t melt.  I didn’t realize my frozen pathway was actually 2 feet above the real sidewalk until my foot sank into it when the weather warmed up. Slush is so deceiving. With ice you know what you’re getting and you adjust your walking accordingly. With slush you are trying to hop from puddle to puddle. When I say puddle I mean lakes that go across the entire road.  Fortunately, or not so fortunately the wind usually nips those in the bud so the lakes don’t last long. I thought I was leaving the wind when I left Wyoming. Not so.

Well, this has become a very long post very quickly so I will stop here.  I will be better about doing more frequent posts with more pictures. Nika is taking me around tomorrow so hopefully I will have some good stuff then. Thanks for all the nice comments and I hope everyone is doing well!

Below are some pictures of the apartment and Nika! Enjoy.