We're all going to come home skinny as twigs. Design menus so that only two out of the three courses will be appealing to any one person. Out of those two, only half of said course will appeal.
Then, make a direct relationship between meal time and computer time- the less one eats, the more one gets to be online.
Then, make at least 2 hours out of the day walking.
People are already commenting that their jeans are too big.
I had a stomach ache the other day, but I couldn't figure out what from. I blamed the goulash, mainly because I couldn't think what else it could be. Then, in a flash of inspiration, I read the ingredients on the Benadryl capsules I brought with me. What are they packed with? Lactose!
Joy.
Luckily, allergies here are no big thing, and my claritin is fine.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Mysterious Visions of the White Nights
Short post only today. After the philharmonic concert last night, my friend and I could not find the Metro station. it was insane. It was nowhere to be found. So we walked the mile or two to the next station, enjoying the scenery. (my feet! my poor, innocent feet!)
There was a woman selling puppies and kittens from a cardboard box on the way down into an underground crosswalk.
There were groups of people just sitting enjoying the weather in broad light, sitting on the benches on playgrounds and looking at the sky.
Patrick and I walked into a crowd only to find that, in the middle of the silvery night, they were inflating hot air ballons by the street corner.
A man was racing around a square on a moped, hands in the air.
In the absolute middle of a big city full of cars and pedestrians and giant buildings, two young women were waiting for the light to change at the crosswalk. They seemed fairly patient, but the huge horses they were riding wanted to get moving.
Makes you wonder what goes on when you can't see everything that happens.
There was a woman selling puppies and kittens from a cardboard box on the way down into an underground crosswalk.
There were groups of people just sitting enjoying the weather in broad light, sitting on the benches on playgrounds and looking at the sky.
Patrick and I walked into a crowd only to find that, in the middle of the silvery night, they were inflating hot air ballons by the street corner.
A man was racing around a square on a moped, hands in the air.
In the absolute middle of a big city full of cars and pedestrians and giant buildings, two young women were waiting for the light to change at the crosswalk. They seemed fairly patient, but the huge horses they were riding wanted to get moving.
Makes you wonder what goes on when you can't see everything that happens.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Bonus computer time!
Our afternoon lecture was cancelled, since the movie we were going to talk about could not be shown, due to technical difficulties. This means that I get to have some actual time on the computer! (Our table got served last at lunch, so that we were the last to get to the lab today. Looooong line.)
On with the more detailed informations!
I have a lovely small room full of photographs and books and beautiful carpets. One wall is almost entirely windows, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on what time of day it is; I don't know what I would do if I hadn't brought a blindfold. The white nights make it very hard to tell what time it is, and it's far too easy to underestimate how much time you've spent out and about, until your feet start hurtin or (I'm glad do say I haven't had this happen) all the bridges go up and you're stuck on the wrong island. Yes, I said all the bridges go up. The water traffic has to come through sometime, and so all the bridges that span any of the rivers are actually drawbridges. It's supposed to be really beautiful to watch them all, but I've been too tired to venture out at midnight. Plus, I live about forty minutes from the university on a good day, so I have to get up at seven thirty in the morning to make sure I get there on time.
Lyuba is very insistent upon breakfast- cereal and yogurt most of the time, but this morning she heard me rustling around (the apartment practically has a nightingale floor) and got up to make me an omelette (ahmelYET). It took me far too long to recognize the Russian pronunciation of omelette. Then, after asking me about my day and blessing my food, she went back to bed. I don't understand it! She practically chases me down the hall with snacks for school, and even if I say I've eaten dinner she gives me something to eat anyway.
Danil speaks very good English and is happy to help me, and I saw the other day that he has a computer in his room. I'm going to ask if I can use it, if it has internet. For dial up, you just use a phone or internet card. Then I'd be able to post a little more fully a little more often.
The food here is very good, though the goulashy thing that was today's meat course at lunch is not sitting extremely well in my stomach. As I've said, Lyuba makes sure I eat a real breakfast, and they have a whole dining room set aside for our group at lunch; when we get out of our second class, we go there, and the salad is already on the tables. No, not green salad- shredded apples and carrots, or peas and beets and pickles, or chopped tomatoes, radishes, zucchini and bell peppers. Always delicious. Then they bring out soup, which has so far been: vegetable; chicken noodle with potatoes; and today, some sort of lovely mushroom soup with sour cream. Then comes the meat course, which was beef meatballs in baked rounds of some sort of vegetal that no one could identify (very tasty), soemthing that I didn't eat and now forget what was, and today the delicious but slightly vocal goulash. Lunch is the big meal in Russia, and dinner is more like our lunch- a piece of pizza type affair.
It also turns out that we get an allowance for dinner, so that is good. 500 rubles a day, which is nothing to sneeze at.
I can get to school a variety of ways, but since none of them reaches the entire way, I've decided just to walk. It's great exercise, free, and there's no getting off on the wrong stop. There are marshrutki, which are fixed route, fixed fee cabs, but which only go part of the way; there is also the metro, which has a station near my house and one about a fifteen minute walk from teh university, which I may take from time to time. There are also the traditional gypsy cabs- wave your arm, someone will stop and take you where you're going for a minimal fee. They're apparently extremely safe, even according to most of our program directors, but they don't appeal to me. The metro and marshrutki both cost fifteen rubles, which is like forty cents. Or less.
In the morning, we have two classes. So far I've had grammar, phonetics, culture, and conversation. All of them are taught in Russian, which is actually nice because I keep surprising myself at how much I understand. I don't know how the placement test went, because they didn't assign ranks to the groups. My group, Emerald, has six students in it. There are three others- Sapphire, Ruby, and something else. I think Emerald is the lowest or second to lowest, but since other people were humming the same song from Phonetics today that we learned yesterday, I suspect there isn't as big a difference as I thought.
Then there's lunch, which I've already talked about, and then a lecture or two, and some days of the week a movie. Tonight we're going out to the theater- they bought sixteen tickets for The Vagina Monologues (in Russian) and sixteen for Verdy's Requiem. However, 26 people wanted to go to Verde and only four wanted to go to The Vagina Monologues.
Yesterday most of the students split into groups to go to restaurants around town, but I was too tired to do that. Instead, I was going to head home, but then Larissa said she didn't have keys to her apartment yet, so she couldn't go home and what she really wanted to do was go to Dom Knigi. Dom Knigi is the Powell's of St Petersburg, so how could I turn that down? We got fairly lost on the way, but within a small area, and we found it after a little walking. I got a detective novel, the absolute favorite genre of Russia, and a book of children's stories, and a collection of Roald Dahl stories in English to keep myself sane. Also got some school supplies. The Roald Dahl book cost easily twice as much as it would have in the states, but the russian books were extremely inexpensive. (I paid with my credit card, mom and dad, if you're wondering what that charge is.)
The weatherhere is rain, rain, rain. When people told me the weather was rainy and unpredictable, I thought, 'Hey! I'm from Oregon! What do they know about unpredictable, rainy weather?'
However, the rain here means what it says. The lack of good drainage anywhere makes puddle jumping an art- businessmen with black umbrellas tiptoe at a diagonal across the sidewalk, watching their feet. Yesterday I wasn't watching and stepped into a puddle as deep as my shoe. On our first day, it was merely overcast, and Ilookedwith some puzzlement and a little amusement at the drain in the courtyard, set three inches above the ground. However, it was doing brisk business yesterday.
A lot of things are definitely different here. Where else do you see 24 hour flower stands? Leafy greens are a fleeting dream. All bathrooms stink, but some of them have toilet seats and free toilet paper.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for the moment. I'll write again soon.
On with the more detailed informations!
I have a lovely small room full of photographs and books and beautiful carpets. One wall is almost entirely windows, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on what time of day it is; I don't know what I would do if I hadn't brought a blindfold. The white nights make it very hard to tell what time it is, and it's far too easy to underestimate how much time you've spent out and about, until your feet start hurtin or (I'm glad do say I haven't had this happen) all the bridges go up and you're stuck on the wrong island. Yes, I said all the bridges go up. The water traffic has to come through sometime, and so all the bridges that span any of the rivers are actually drawbridges. It's supposed to be really beautiful to watch them all, but I've been too tired to venture out at midnight. Plus, I live about forty minutes from the university on a good day, so I have to get up at seven thirty in the morning to make sure I get there on time.
Lyuba is very insistent upon breakfast- cereal and yogurt most of the time, but this morning she heard me rustling around (the apartment practically has a nightingale floor) and got up to make me an omelette (ahmelYET). It took me far too long to recognize the Russian pronunciation of omelette. Then, after asking me about my day and blessing my food, she went back to bed. I don't understand it! She practically chases me down the hall with snacks for school, and even if I say I've eaten dinner she gives me something to eat anyway.
Danil speaks very good English and is happy to help me, and I saw the other day that he has a computer in his room. I'm going to ask if I can use it, if it has internet. For dial up, you just use a phone or internet card. Then I'd be able to post a little more fully a little more often.
The food here is very good, though the goulashy thing that was today's meat course at lunch is not sitting extremely well in my stomach. As I've said, Lyuba makes sure I eat a real breakfast, and they have a whole dining room set aside for our group at lunch; when we get out of our second class, we go there, and the salad is already on the tables. No, not green salad- shredded apples and carrots, or peas and beets and pickles, or chopped tomatoes, radishes, zucchini and bell peppers. Always delicious. Then they bring out soup, which has so far been: vegetable; chicken noodle with potatoes; and today, some sort of lovely mushroom soup with sour cream. Then comes the meat course, which was beef meatballs in baked rounds of some sort of vegetal that no one could identify (very tasty), soemthing that I didn't eat and now forget what was, and today the delicious but slightly vocal goulash. Lunch is the big meal in Russia, and dinner is more like our lunch- a piece of pizza type affair.
It also turns out that we get an allowance for dinner, so that is good. 500 rubles a day, which is nothing to sneeze at.
I can get to school a variety of ways, but since none of them reaches the entire way, I've decided just to walk. It's great exercise, free, and there's no getting off on the wrong stop. There are marshrutki, which are fixed route, fixed fee cabs, but which only go part of the way; there is also the metro, which has a station near my house and one about a fifteen minute walk from teh university, which I may take from time to time. There are also the traditional gypsy cabs- wave your arm, someone will stop and take you where you're going for a minimal fee. They're apparently extremely safe, even according to most of our program directors, but they don't appeal to me. The metro and marshrutki both cost fifteen rubles, which is like forty cents. Or less.
In the morning, we have two classes. So far I've had grammar, phonetics, culture, and conversation. All of them are taught in Russian, which is actually nice because I keep surprising myself at how much I understand. I don't know how the placement test went, because they didn't assign ranks to the groups. My group, Emerald, has six students in it. There are three others- Sapphire, Ruby, and something else. I think Emerald is the lowest or second to lowest, but since other people were humming the same song from Phonetics today that we learned yesterday, I suspect there isn't as big a difference as I thought.
Then there's lunch, which I've already talked about, and then a lecture or two, and some days of the week a movie. Tonight we're going out to the theater- they bought sixteen tickets for The Vagina Monologues (in Russian) and sixteen for Verdy's Requiem. However, 26 people wanted to go to Verde and only four wanted to go to The Vagina Monologues.
Yesterday most of the students split into groups to go to restaurants around town, but I was too tired to do that. Instead, I was going to head home, but then Larissa said she didn't have keys to her apartment yet, so she couldn't go home and what she really wanted to do was go to Dom Knigi. Dom Knigi is the Powell's of St Petersburg, so how could I turn that down? We got fairly lost on the way, but within a small area, and we found it after a little walking. I got a detective novel, the absolute favorite genre of Russia, and a book of children's stories, and a collection of Roald Dahl stories in English to keep myself sane. Also got some school supplies. The Roald Dahl book cost easily twice as much as it would have in the states, but the russian books were extremely inexpensive. (I paid with my credit card, mom and dad, if you're wondering what that charge is.)
The weatherhere is rain, rain, rain. When people told me the weather was rainy and unpredictable, I thought, 'Hey! I'm from Oregon! What do they know about unpredictable, rainy weather?'
However, the rain here means what it says. The lack of good drainage anywhere makes puddle jumping an art- businessmen with black umbrellas tiptoe at a diagonal across the sidewalk, watching their feet. Yesterday I wasn't watching and stepped into a puddle as deep as my shoe. On our first day, it was merely overcast, and Ilookedwith some puzzlement and a little amusement at the drain in the courtyard, set three inches above the ground. However, it was doing brisk business yesterday.
A lot of things are definitely different here. Where else do you see 24 hour flower stands? Leafy greens are a fleeting dream. All bathrooms stink, but some of them have toilet seats and free toilet paper.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for the moment. I'll write again soon.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Home, sweet Russian home.
I am now firmly embedded in my Russian homestay. I am staying with a very nice Russian woman named Lyuba and her son Danil, who is an English major at the university here. They are very kind to me, and since Lyuba is a Russian teacher, I have no shortage in grammatical corrections. The apartment is small, but I wouldn't call it cramped. I have a very sweet, small room that I suspect is actually Lyuba's bedroom, but they don't seem to begrudge me it. We don't have a dog, but there is a turtle in the kitchen and a very charming young raven that likes to hang out outside my window. The turtle is a pet, the raven is wild, just so we're clear on that.
So far, no mosquitos! It was decent weather until today, of course the day I have to go to classes on my own. Got lost, ended up at the university half and hour late and soaking, soaking wet. However, I wasn't really scared, and I know the island I'm on a lot better now.
Had my first two classes today. Grammar was first, and though I was late I caught on fairly quickly. Second was phonetics and conversation, which was just fun. It might help that I already have a pretty good accent. Others seemed a little off put. Still, we have a sweet little song to learn for... uh... Thursday?
I'm writing this from the computer lab we've been given. The meat course of lunch held no spark for me- some sort of greasy rice with indeterminate meat mixed in- so I came here. I'm going to have to log off soon, since computers are in high demand. I just found out last night that there is a computer in Danil's room, so if they have internet connection I'll buy an internet card and have access from home.
I'll email mom and dad my cell phone number. The time difference, from your end, is take one hour off and switch AM and PM.
Busy but cheerful!
So far, no mosquitos! It was decent weather until today, of course the day I have to go to classes on my own. Got lost, ended up at the university half and hour late and soaking, soaking wet. However, I wasn't really scared, and I know the island I'm on a lot better now.
Had my first two classes today. Grammar was first, and though I was late I caught on fairly quickly. Second was phonetics and conversation, which was just fun. It might help that I already have a pretty good accent. Others seemed a little off put. Still, we have a sweet little song to learn for... uh... Thursday?
I'm writing this from the computer lab we've been given. The meat course of lunch held no spark for me- some sort of greasy rice with indeterminate meat mixed in- so I came here. I'm going to have to log off soon, since computers are in high demand. I just found out last night that there is a computer in Danil's room, so if they have internet connection I'll buy an internet card and have access from home.
I'll email mom and dad my cell phone number. The time difference, from your end, is take one hour off and switch AM and PM.
Busy but cheerful!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
RUSSIA!!!
My goodness. I appear to be in Russia!
The hotel I'm staying in is very nice, and apparently AMAZING by Russian standards. Very clean, and blessedly filled with beds. And a shower. I worship the shower- I no longer smell like a stressed out hamster!
I was incredibly jet lagged yesterday. I felt terrible. A little acidophilous and 12 hours of sleep seems to have cured that. And yes, I'd been taking the jetlag pills!
The plane ride was 6 hours, then a layover, then 2.5 hours, then an hour bus ride. The crossatlantic was bumpy, but not terrifying, and extremely cramped. They played cartoons, one of which was Rescue rangers, which I hadn't thought about for years, until the day before the flight. Strange. I couldn't concentrate enough to read, study, or write, so I just listened to my shuffle and tried- mostly fruitlessly- to sleep.
It's so wonderful and strange to look around and see and hear russian, russian, russian! I was delighting in reading all of the signs when we got off the plane. Of course, the minute we did get off the plane, the Russian Only rule swung into action. I understood most of what our guides were saying, thank heavens. My small talk was somewhat lacking, however.
Anyway, I'm alive and well, and suspect that there is an orientation or something soon, though I was too dead on my feet to really understand what was supposed to be going on today last night.
I'll try to post again soon, and perhaps with pictures!
The hotel I'm staying in is very nice, and apparently AMAZING by Russian standards. Very clean, and blessedly filled with beds. And a shower. I worship the shower- I no longer smell like a stressed out hamster!
I was incredibly jet lagged yesterday. I felt terrible. A little acidophilous and 12 hours of sleep seems to have cured that. And yes, I'd been taking the jetlag pills!
The plane ride was 6 hours, then a layover, then 2.5 hours, then an hour bus ride. The crossatlantic was bumpy, but not terrifying, and extremely cramped. They played cartoons, one of which was Rescue rangers, which I hadn't thought about for years, until the day before the flight. Strange. I couldn't concentrate enough to read, study, or write, so I just listened to my shuffle and tried- mostly fruitlessly- to sleep.
It's so wonderful and strange to look around and see and hear russian, russian, russian! I was delighting in reading all of the signs when we got off the plane. Of course, the minute we did get off the plane, the Russian Only rule swung into action. I understood most of what our guides were saying, thank heavens. My small talk was somewhat lacking, however.
Anyway, I'm alive and well, and suspect that there is an orientation or something soon, though I was too dead on my feet to really understand what was supposed to be going on today last night.
I'll try to post again soon, and perhaps with pictures!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The big apple!
I am safely in New York, in bed in my pajamas, posting from my roommate's computer. Her name is Larissa, and we are getting along famously. We are far, far too similar, and talked uncontrollably for about an hour before we even thought about going to bed.
Five thirty in the morning we loaded up and headed to the airport, where I was informed- at the preappointed boarding time- that my flight was delayed and would be twenty minutes late. That made it impossible to catch my connecting flight, so they routed me through Seattle instead of San Francisco and got me a Delta flight cross-country. It worked out very nicely, and I and a very nice woman named Christina were both transferred the same way, so we stuck together to find our gates and everything.
Rode a Bombardier to Seattle- very loud. Ate a sandwich and hung out for an hour and a half in the Seattle airport. Then got on a much larger plane to go to New York. It was very well equipped, if a bit juddery- it was quite a novelty, to be channel surfing 35,000 feet above the earth. I watched some Mythbusters, but mostly read.
I got a very reasonable cab from the airport, almost tipped the bellman in rubles, and then sat down on my bed with great relief. Now that I have dutifully posted here, I am going to finish writing in my journal and go to SLEEP. The orientation starts at 9 tomorrow morning, so I have to grab some breakfast before then.
Dosvidanya!
Five thirty in the morning we loaded up and headed to the airport, where I was informed- at the preappointed boarding time- that my flight was delayed and would be twenty minutes late. That made it impossible to catch my connecting flight, so they routed me through Seattle instead of San Francisco and got me a Delta flight cross-country. It worked out very nicely, and I and a very nice woman named Christina were both transferred the same way, so we stuck together to find our gates and everything.
Rode a Bombardier to Seattle- very loud. Ate a sandwich and hung out for an hour and a half in the Seattle airport. Then got on a much larger plane to go to New York. It was very well equipped, if a bit juddery- it was quite a novelty, to be channel surfing 35,000 feet above the earth. I watched some Mythbusters, but mostly read.
I got a very reasonable cab from the airport, almost tipped the bellman in rubles, and then sat down on my bed with great relief. Now that I have dutifully posted here, I am going to finish writing in my journal and go to SLEEP. The orientation starts at 9 tomorrow morning, so I have to grab some breakfast before then.
Dosvidanya!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Appropriate brandishing of a champagne bottle...
The official christening of the blog!
Thank you, everyone, for attending my party! I have been thoroughly sent off. I am taking all of your cards with me to Russia, so that I can read them when I get lonely. I'll have plenty of stories to tell my family, and lots of lovely pictures, too.
It's 3AM and I just sent the last 6 guests home- Victor, Barbara, Lara, Lily, Elek, Matt, and Forrest? You guys rock.
Fantastic party. I feel like I've been run over by one of those millipede dragons from Chinese New Year celebrations, so it must have been good. There was an incredible amount of food, people I loved, and lots of songs. There are, no doubt, a lot of incredibly embarrassing pictures of all of us around the piano. I think I'll never forget the cacophany of all of us in the living room with all the instruments around us. Then we all looked up and the rest of the party was staring at us with cameras. Joy.
From now on, life is mostly packing and sleep. I just thought that I should have something here to welcome all of you, since I gave out the address to everyone twice at the party. And those of you who couldn't make it? Sad.
Goodnight!
Thank you, everyone, for attending my party! I have been thoroughly sent off. I am taking all of your cards with me to Russia, so that I can read them when I get lonely. I'll have plenty of stories to tell my family, and lots of lovely pictures, too.
It's 3AM and I just sent the last 6 guests home- Victor, Barbara, Lara, Lily, Elek, Matt, and Forrest? You guys rock.
Fantastic party. I feel like I've been run over by one of those millipede dragons from Chinese New Year celebrations, so it must have been good. There was an incredible amount of food, people I loved, and lots of songs. There are, no doubt, a lot of incredibly embarrassing pictures of all of us around the piano. I think I'll never forget the cacophany of all of us in the living room with all the instruments around us. Then we all looked up and the rest of the party was staring at us with cameras. Joy.
From now on, life is mostly packing and sleep. I just thought that I should have something here to welcome all of you, since I gave out the address to everyone twice at the party. And those of you who couldn't make it? Sad.
Goodnight!
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