Spring 2012 (a bit late..)

(I accidentally saved this post instead of publishing it a few months ago, so I decided to post it now)

Wow, more than half a year has passed since my last post.  I am horrible at remembering to write anything here.  Well, in the last six months, a lot has happened in my Russian Adventure.  I recently finished my first year of teaching English.  I worked mainly with teenagers, and by the end of the year, I realized that I seem to be quite good with this age groups.  I had about ten groups of kids each week, and at the beginging things were quite a challenge.  Classroom control was difficult and kids were crazy.  In the end, the kids were still crazy, but controlable.  We developed such great relationships by the end of the year.  They made such great improvement.  It was so fun to read their final writing tests and see how much they had improved in the year. During the last week of lessons, some of my groups decided to have goodbye parties. The groups organized themselves and all brought cakes, cookies, chocolates and pies along with tea, juice and water to share with one another.  I can say that I taught them something new this year in the aspect of language, but they also taught me something.  Perhaps this is a bit cliche, but they taught me how to be a teacher.  They taught me patience.  They taught me that it is ok to make mistakes and that a good sense of humor can make most situations better.

This is where at taught English in Kupchino Region St. Petersburg

I remember my first few weeks of teaching.  Every time I walked into the classroom, I was nervous.  I didn't want to do anything wrong in my lesson.  I wanted everything to be perfect.  BUT, there was too much worrying going on, and all for not.  My kids were excited to come to my lessons.  They did not care if I made little mistakes.  They cared that I was there.  They wanted to tell me about their lives, and wanted to learn about mine.  We had lots of great conversations.  We decided to start every lesson with a great question to put a smile on every person's face: Why are you happy today? and If you aren't happy, what is something that makes you happy? By the time we were done with this, everyone was smiling, either about a nice walk in the park they had with their friends, or because they have a loving family, or because they had a birthday over the weekend.  Kids want to be happy.  They want to share happiness with others.  Sometimes it doesnt seem like it.  Sometimes you think they want to make your life miserable by not listening and being crazy teenagers, but they all just want to be happy.  When teaching a unit on personalities, we had to chose three words from the list that describe ourselves. I chose shy, friendly and maybe clever.  My students informed me that I was wrong, that I was not shy at all.  It is interesting how differently they see me than I see myself.  I always felt a bit shy, and not always so confident, but they saw me as a great, outgoing, friendly woman.

One of my 10 groups of Russian teenagers

At the moment, I am sitting in the Russian National Library, in a room filled with beautiful old books from the 1800's that I am not allowed to touch or photograph.  I came here with my great friend Lucinda.  She is writing her thesis on Dostevsky and needed to do some research here.  I thought this would be a good time to tell you about how excitingly beurotic Russia is.  This is the third day we've been here this week, and its Wednesday.  This is the first time there has been success.  Lu needed some very old books and journals for her research, so of course first day we come to the library.  I fill out all the intensive paperwork necessary to recieve a library card, only to find out we are not allowed to see any of the materials we need because you need a letter of explanation from the directory of your department at your university in able to read these materials.  So, we left the library and went to the office at the Uni where the director wrote the "explanation letter" Everything was in order after much waiting.  We headed back to the library, only to find that it happened to be closed because it just so happened to be the last tuesday of the month.  How lucky were we? So finally, Day three, we get into the library, have the proper document, and Ludcinda can order her materials, but then we have to wait a few hours while they search for them.  After a few hours, we return to the library where they say she can see some of the materials, but she must go to a special room, and I am not allowed in.
So, here I am, sitting in a beautiful old library room, with windows opening into Ekaterinskii Garden.  On all sides of me are old, warn, books and journals of faded browns and reds and blues.  The smell of dust and years of use, and the wind is jently blowing in through the beautifuly gated windows.   There is even a second level to this room with more books and beautiful railings.  If I could choose any place to sit and write or study, this would most definatley be the place.  

 Just outside the window are beautiful tall trees and a statue of Katherine the Great. Saint Petersburg is such a beautiful place.  Especially in the Summer.  Winter on the other hand is a different story.

Marshrutki, Avtobusi and Metropolitan Oh My! ~Transport in SPB

Transportation in this city is always an adventure.  This is my second time in St. Pete and I'm just getting the hang of it now.  It probably helps that I am forced to use many forms of transport every day because of my job.  I am a traveling English teacher.  Luckily I live in the center, which is pretty convenient, but still about an hour from most places I work.  Some days I travel on as many as 5 forms of transportation.  Lets take Monday for example.  I get picked up for my first lesson in an automobile which takes me to the north west corner of the city.  After this lesson, I must take a bus to the nearest metro.  I take the metro to the north central part of the city for my next lesson.  After this lesson I take the metro to the South central part of the city ( a place many Russians warn me about being the ghetto... and its true..) where I have to catch a marshrutka that takes me about 15 minutes to get to my final destination. I teach a few lessons here at an after school program and then have to take the hour long bus ride home.  I am lucky that I found a bus that goes directly from the middle of nowhere where I work, almost all the way home.  Only a ten minute walk from the bus stop!  At the end of the day, I just want to eat dinner and go to bed.  I think traveling is the most tiring part of my job.  But I am getting to know the city very well.

Now let me explain each of these methods of transportation.  They may sound familiar, but everything in Russia seems to have a special twist to it.

Avtomobili (cars):
Most of us have ridden in a car before, but let me tell you.  The SPb driving experience is something a little different than what I'm used to back in Minnesota.  In many places, there are no lines on the roads.  People just drive where they fit. Even if there are lines, if there is enough space between two cars, another car will join and fill in the gap. When in the car, I could usually roll down my window and touch the person in the car next to me. We're that close. Turn signals are almost never used, never.  Drivers do use their hazard lights to thank one another after being let in, or maybe cutting someone off. Ok, left turns.  I hate them in general. In America they cause me anxiety, but in Russia, they are something else all together.  There may be one left turn lane, but really, even if you are in the far right lane of a 3 lane road, why not make a left hand turn.  Even busses will make these crazy left turns.   The first time I road in a car here, I was quite frightened, and I've gotten less afraid, but I still don't think I would ever be able to drive a car here.

Avtobusi (busses)
Busses are a bit easier to understand.  I don't have much experience with American busses other than school busses, so I haven't got much to compare it to.  Sometimes the busses are so full you literally can't move your arms.  The conductor comes to scan your card but you cant even get it out.  Last week I was on a bus and the conductor couldn't even move.  He just gave up and everyone road for free for a few stops until enough people got off.  When the doors open people fall out.  It is the worst when you are standing next to the door because when it is closed you have space, but as soon as it starts to open, it needs to open to where you are standing, and this can cause some pain if you can't move.  I've been squished by a few bus doors so far.  On the way home, the bus is usually pretty empty so I can just sit and read, but during the day its a crazy house.  One day there was a crazy man shouting for the whole hour bus ride, and a big fluffy dog.  Lots of interesting conversations on that bus.

Marshrutki (taxi busses)

Marshrutki are special.  They are unlike anything I have experienced. They are vans, sometimes mini busses that are more like taxis.  It costs 30rubles and you have to tell the driver when to stop.  They follow certain paths, so it wont go wherever you want, but it will stop whenever you say.  This is the challenging part for me because you have to shout it so he can hear you, and I dont like speaking Russian loudly around lots of strangers.  I always hope that someone else will be getting off at my stop.  It usually happens that someone gets off there, if not I just walk a little from the next stop)) The drivers are a bit crazy, but I've not seen an accident yet.

Metro/Metropolitan (Subway):

Ok, this one is the easiest to understand of all.  We have 5 metro lines.  I live on the Red and Green lines.  The metro is really deep, so I always end up spending 3-5 minutes going up or down the escalator.  it moves pretty fast, but it goes forever! I like riding the metro.  Its a great place to people watch.  Always interesting people there!

The city is really cool.  Each region is so different from the others, I love traveling around.  Historic regions, industrial regions, stalin apartment regions, treeee regions, soviet regions.  Sometimes when you get off the metro you think you went back in time 50 years.  Other times you think you are in NY. Its fantastic!

And The Teaching Begins

This was my first week teaching full time.  I work at a place called DDUT which is an acronym for Dvorets Detskogo Unosheskogo tvorchstva, which translates to something like, Palace of Children's (Youth's) Creativity.  In DDUT, kids take dance lessons, drawing lessons, music lessons, language lessons, etc.  To get to this place, I must take the metro to the south end of the city, and from the metro I should take a shared taxi bus called a Marshrutka.  These marshrutkas are kind of like a bus, but also a taxi.  You must tell the driver to let you off... I am really bad at this, and have gotten off a stop early or late every time so far.  Someday soon I will master this method of transportation, but in the mean time I make sure to have extra time for traveling.  My classes are quite interesting.  I have children from age 11 to 18.  Boys around the age of 15 are uncontrollable! I tell my classes that I don't speak Russian, although that is not true.  They should only use English in our classroom, but they don't like this rule and speak Russian all the time.  It's funny.  Some of the classes try to trick me into speaking Russian, or prove that I understand them.  It's kind of a fun game, but they know that I understand some of what they say.

I have 10 groups, and all of about 15 students.  This makes for an interesting time trying to remember everyone's names.  Russians don't have as many names as Americans do.  I was actually told that during the soviet era, when a woman gave birth, she was given a list of names and had to choose only from that list.  Some popular names in my classes are: Andrei, Sergei, Sasha, Mihail, Alexandr, Anna, Katya, Julia, Nastya, Viktoria.  I have one class with lots of strange names in it, but these students have come from other countries or cultures.  I have Ilard, Darina Arkedi, Arseni, Galuna, Levan and some others.  It's going to be a fun year. For some reason they have a hard time saying my name.  Katie.  They call me Kate or Karrie.  It's fun.  Most of my classes are pretty good, but they are quite rowdy.  Maybe they will calm down once the classes get going.  One can hope, right?

Back in Russia

Ok, so I intended to write here a while ago, but as I still don't have wireless at home, its been a challenge. This means that I am going to post many things at the same time...  This city is amazing! I've been here for about a month and a half now.  The first 2 week, I stayed with my friend Andrei while I studied and searched for a flat.  He lives a in an area of St. Pete I had never visited before.   I am very lucky to have connections here and my host mom from my previous visit helped me find an amazing flat in the center of the city very quickly.

The flat.  Almost anything you could need is within a 10 minute walk from our flat.  The flat located at the corner of Mayakovskaya's Street and Nekrasov's Street.  Both Mayakovskaya and Nekrasov were writers.  I think I should probably read some of their works, as I’m living on their streets.   Surrounding the flat are many little shops and restaurants.  Directly across from my flat is a Pishechnaya, which is a little Soviet style donut shop.  The make little powdered sugar donuts and the best sweet coffee ever!  To the left is a nice Georgian Food restaurant (which we visit often enough for the woman to remember our favorite dishes).  Georgian food is delicious! Spiced meats cooked on the grill and our favorite Hachipuri, a cheesy bread sort of dish. On another corner we have a bakeshop where we get our bread and sweets.  Bread here is pretty cheap. Right next to our gate there is a meat shop which has a 10% Sunday discount! We also have a fancy little grocery store just next to the meat shop, but it’s a bit expensive so we walk the extra 5 minutes to go somewhere cheaper.  On the corner across from the bakeshop, there is a park dedicated to Mayakovskaya.  A large statue of his head sits there, usually covered in pigeons.  The park is quite small, but its always full of people.  They like to sit there and have a drink or chat.  We live in the city center, but about 10 minutes north from Nevskii Prospekt so its much quieter here.  Grass even lines our sidewalks so the dogs like to walk there. A cat lives in our courtyard.  He is a chubby calico cat that my flatmate named Wolverine.  Wolverine is fed by the people at the grocery store since their backdoor opens into our courtyard.  He gets lots of snacks from them and will never be hungry. We live on the third floor.  In order to get here you need 4 keys.  First the gate to the street, (which someone spray-painted “Blueberry” on, so we can always find our gate), then the steal door to the building and then two locks on the door to our actual flat. Very Russian.

Would you like a tour of the flat? Well if you open the door, you could see all the way to the other side of the flat.  It’s a long narrow layout.  Hang up your coat please and take off your shoes.  On the right is a large room with the toilet, bathtub and washing machine.  In Russia the toilet is usually in it’s own room, so this is a rather western bathroom.  The next room on the right is the kitchen.  It’s a bit small, but it has everything we need, and we like to sit there and chat and drink lots of tea. Just don’t use the electric tea kettle and the microwave at the same time please.  It could result in disaster!  If you continue down the hallway that stretches the length of our flat, the next room on the right is the living room.  It has a fold out couch and a T.V. with a dvd player and a radio.  This room has a big window that we like to sit in and relax listening to Russian Radio.  Continue down the hallway and there is a bedroom on the right where I sleep. Continue further and there is a small room that could either be a walk in closet or a very small bedroom.  We bought a bed and put it there.  It has a window and a radiator as well, so its livable.  Well, that’s our flat.  It’s pretty comfy and cozy. 
Life here is pretty good.  

Alie Parusa

I have never been in a city that enjoyed celebrating as much as Saint Petersburg. This city could be the holiday capital of the world. This spring we celebrated quite a few holidays, all with big festivals of sorts, concerts, shows, lots of people. On the 19th of June, we celebrated the holiday of Alye parusa, which means scarlet sails. This holiday is the day that graduates celebrate their accomplishment of finishing school. Concerts took place on both Palace Square and on Vasilevski Island late in the evening. The concert at Palace Square was for the graduates and the other concert was for the rest of the city, but the students in our program were lucky enough to get free tickets to the graduate concert. The stage was beautifully placed on the square with a giant chandelier and the palace as a backdrop. At the concert many musicians and groups performed including Serebro, Dima Bilan, Cirq di Sole and some others as well. We watched the amazing spectacle, standing in a sea of Petersburg’s youth, dancing and have a great night in this amazing city. After the concert, the sea of people migrated over to the banks of the Neva to observe the next portion of the night’s show. So many people were lined up along the banks, it was almost impossible to see the great Neva, people had climbed all the trees, climbed onto the tops of cars, and signs, anything climbable was climbed. We found a spot on the curb next to the hermitage museum. Luckily the first part of this show was in the sky. Music started playing and a beautiful firework show accompanied the Russian-pirate-esqu music. The firework show was spectacular, the sky was filled with bright flashing fireworks and lasers and then the moment everyone was was waiting for ----- off in the distance we could see the top of a ship. The ship slowly made its way down the Neva towards the palace bridge. The sails were bright red and people were standing in awe of this beautiful boat that floats on the Neva once a year. It was a beautiful night and a very jolly holiday.

ooops

So it has been a few months since I've blogged... Sorry about that. I have other entries, but I will add them later. This is the blog I did for my program.

Now that the weather has warmed up, and most of the snow has melted, or been shipped out of the city, St. Petersburg has once more evolved into almost a completely different city. I have found that with every season, the city has taken on a different personality. Now, as I stroll around the city, taking in its beauty, I see people everywhere; people of all kinds, of all ages, and of all social groups and from many different places. People dress in such a wide variety of cloths, there isn’t really a St. Petersburg style, anything goes. This city is very diverse, as many Russians have told me, “St. Petersburg is the New York of Europe”. Saint Petersburg is kind of a melting pot of people. We have a lot of people from different regions of Russia, as well as other countries. Every day, walking to school, or wandering around, I see hundreds faces. We don’t always think about these other people, they are just faces to us, but when we pay attention, we realize that each of those faces belongs to a person, a life, a story. Sometimes while I am on the escalator, descending into the underground world of the metro, I imagine the lives of the people passing me by on their way up to the surface. The older people captivate my thoughts as I daydream. They have lived through so much. I have a friend whose grandmother is in her 90’s. She lived during the time of the tsar, through the revolution, through the Soviet Union, and now into the 21st century and in the age of the Internet. She even knows how to send email.
Just by looking at these people, you would never know who they really are, and what their lives are like. I live in a building that is an apartment, but hotels are located on the lower levels. We have about five men who work at the door as the concierge for our building, and they are wonderful. The other day, I noticed an unfamiliar man sitting at the reception desk, so I introduced myself and started chatting with him. This man’s name is Vladimir and he is probably in his 60’s, with crazy black hair that only grows on the sides of his head. After a few minutes of chatting, he told me that he used to dance in the Mariinski Ballet. He had the lead in many productions such as The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, and he traveled around the world with the ballet. We chatted a while and he pulled out an album of photos from his days as a dancer. The photographs were amazing, and he was so happy to share them with me. Vladimir was also a film actor. He informed me that next Friday, if I tune into channel 1 at 21:30, I might watch a film in which he performed the lead role.
I do not understand how someone who used to be a dancer at the Mariinski and a movie actor ended up as my concierge, but this is just one more example of how people can surprise you here. I am glad that I got to know this man. He even invited me to go to the Ballet with him. Russians are interesting people full of surprises and secrets, and they will share their story, we just need to ask.

Москва!!!!!

I took the overnight train from St. Pete to Moscow on Wednesday night, and have now been in Moscow for 4 days. It is very cold here, around -20 degrees. I am wearing my long underwear right now. My first days here, I wandered around the city a bit, and went to a few museums. The Pushkin museum and gallery are amazing!! Picasso, Matisse, Degas, lots of neat stuff!! It felt good to be so independant and to figure things out on my own, and actually have to communicate with people in Russian, without anyone there to help me. I even managed to get lost (but i guess that doesn't take much effort in such a big city) and got directions from a babushka on the street. The metro in St. Pete has 5 lines. The metro in moscow has something like 12 lines. In one metro station I've been to, I was lost for 30 minutes! There was a restaurant in the metro!!! I thought I was at an airport. There is a city under Moscow, I call in Metrocity.

Yesterday I went to Arbot and wandered around, but it was very cold. After my hour commute there, I walked around for an hour, and was to cold to continue, so I went back to the apartment. The city is beautiful, and huge, but on my own, it's a little intimidating, and a little boring without someone to share it with. Luckily, today, I was greeted by my 2nd babushka. She picked me up this morning and we decided to go to the Kremlin. We spent the whole day exploring it! The snow was falling, and it was beautiful. The Kremlin is quite huge, and we did a lot there. First, she insisted on buying me souveniers to prove I was in Moscow, then we went to Church square, where there are 5 churches, dating back to the 13th century. They are beautiful!! We had a tour of the Palace Jewels, and of the Armoury, and wandered through Alexander park. I love babushkas, while we were on tours, she always pushed me to the front of the crowd and told everyone to be nice to me because I'm short. Wonderful. On our way home, we stopped and got cabbage and meat pies from a vendor outside the metro, only her pie was missing the cabbage, it was empty!! Poor babushka.

I wonder what kind of adventures I will have this week :) Merry Christmas!!!!