So I would say today was pretty productive. I woke up, had breakfast (the continental breakfast here leaves something to be desired, but it’s okay…it did its job. I left the hostel not hungry and not needing to eat for a couple of hours), went to Sannaya Square. Called Deda’s friends. We’re probably going to meet after I come back from Novgorod, around the 30^th. I’m excited, this should be very nice.

Wandered trying to find the Railway Museum. Found it. It was closed. So I wandered some more, looking for more things on the checklist of things to see. Had a nice business lunch. And as I was wandering trying to find a particular church/cathedral, I ran right into St. Isaac’s Square. I knew this had to be an important place, as there was a large, aesthetically pleasing building with a Russian flag on it, a statue, and a gigantic cathedral. Turns out this was, in fact, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, but it was on a different map because this was technically a different section in my guide (they break up the cities into sections, so you can sightsee in one section, and then go to another, etc). I had planned on leaving the Palace Embankment section until I got back, but it seems as if I just ran right into it. So I went to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which was ABSOLUTELY amazing. SO gorgeous. I can’t decide whether or not I like it more than the Cathedral of the Assumption. St. Isaac’s looks a lot newer. But oh man. I could have just stood there for hours.

Then happened to run into the Bronze Horseman. Pretty exciting. Also I think there were two people there who were supposed to be dressed up as Peter the Great and Catherine II. I’m not really sure what their purpose was…but I guess it was amusing to look at them (this was exactly what I wrote my essay on for Speech Practice…the prompt was “who needs an ordinary person?” (which, by the way, is a completely ridiculous and stupid question, but whatever) and I said that I did, because I like to people-watch, and if they didn’t exist, how would I occupy myself on the streets? I’m not sure she loved that essay). I also saw the Palace Square and looked at the Hermitage, but I’m coming back one day after Novgorod. I want to get there when it opens and then not leave until it closes. And then maybe I’ll go back again. We’ll see.

Found the Marinskii Theatre, and maybe want to see something there. They have a New Year’s Eve show, and Romeo and Juliet on January 2^nd. I guess I’ll see how much tickets cost. Mama Mia is also playing somewhere that is not the Marinskii Theatre, so I guess we’ll just have to see…

The moral of the story is that I did a lot of walking around today and my feet hurt a lot. Also I went to a Subway with wifi. What kind of Subway has wifi? And I ordered a sub but the girl put a ridiculous amount of sauce on it that I didn’t want at all. And it was white-ish, making me believe that a significant part of it was mayonnaise. But I scraped as much off as possible and then ate it. Which I was actually proud of myself for, given my aversion to condiments of all kinds. Not feeling so great right now though, so maybe that wasn’t a good decision.

Friday, December 28^th

Oh, okay, so I forgot to mention this yesterday. But you can’t buy tickets for the Electrichka (sort of like a train?) early. You have to buy them the day of. Which does NOT work out well for planning purposes, because what are you supposed to do if there aren’t any left? So I got to the train station this morning to buy my electrichka ticket 25 mins before my train left. Everything was fine. No need to worry.

Then I started freaking out though, because I guess there was one “Novgorod” stop before the ACTUAL Novgorod, so then I wasn’t sure where to get off. I was pretty sure that Novgorod was the end of the line, so I wouldn’t need to worry about these things, but I’m positive the overhead voice said “Novgorod” 45 mins before we got there. I couldn’t understand anything else though because it was really fuzzy. So then I was afraid that I would just be riding the electrichka for hours before someone found out and then I’d be kicked off the side of the tracks in the middle of Russia with a heavy blue adidas bag. But the first Novgorod stop was in the middle of nowhere and no one else was getting off, so I didn’t either.

This went on for about 45 mins until we actually arrived in Novgorod and I realized I had been right all along and there was no reason to freak out about it. So my phone wasn’t working last night when I tried to call hostels/hotels (my phone is being really annoying, actually, and only works about half the time), so I just wandered to the hotel recommended by Lonely Planet. And they had free rooms. So everything was okay.

So I put my stuff down and hunted down a café (which was much more difficult than it should have been. But I found a bunch of really fancy cafes, and CLEARLY I couldn’t go there in jeans, so I ended up wandering the streets for quite some time). Also there was a blizzardish thing today. Made walking difficult. But that’s okay.

Novgorod itself is pretty small. Even the kremlin is small. It’s really crazy to think about how old it is though, and how much history has taken place here. So I enjoyed just walking around the kremlin, being in a small church built in the 1500s, seeing old icons in museums, etc. I felt like I saw a lot today, which is good. The only bad thing is everything closes at like 5 or 6, even the churches, so after that I didn’t have any sightseeing to do.

Which actually was okay with me. I wandered around the town a little longer, stopped in a produktii (food) store to buy dinner (which consisted of a bulachka, an ice cream bar, and some apple juice, which was so much better than it sounds and was exactly what I wanted), headed back to my room, put all of my food products away in this snazzy little mini fridge the Hotel Akron provided me, and took a shower. Organized a bit. Watched Chocolat while having dinner. It’s now almost 10 and I’m ready to go to bed. Actually I was ready to go to bed at like 7, but that’s okay.

Tomorrow I’ll see more of Novgorod. Probably not everything, but I’m okay with that. My goal was to see all the necessities (which I’ll be able to do) and then as many churches as possible (which I won’t be able to do). But Novgorod has 30 churches. Making seeing all of them an unrealistic goal. Also I’ve already seen SO many churches and cathedrals here that I think I’ll forgive myself if I don’t see all of them. I love them, and they are SO pretty, but I can’t keep them straight anyway (except for the main ones, the little ones just all blur together). I hope the hotel has somewhere where I can store my luggage for four hours before my electrichka train back to St. Petersburg.

Speaking of which, I don’t know where my next hostel is located. And don’t know where there’s an internet café here. I think there’s a wifi café next to the train station, and I’ll probably need to have dinner anyway (at like 9 PM), so that’ll be a good choice. I can find the address and then actually find it. Sonya and Alya might already be there? Not sure. They’ll be there soon though, I do know that.

I hope my phone works when Deda’s friends try to call me back. It’s been REALLY annoying lately. I think I’ll just call them back at some point tomorrow just in case.

Also carrying all these bags around is like DEATH on my shoulder. Carrying around my black purse all semester probably wasn’t good for it either, but that AND a blue adidas bag? Man. I mean, I switch shoulders and everything, but my right shoulder is already messed up, and now I can feel it just…well, completely not where it should be. For example, I’m lying on my back right now and I can feel my shoulderblade jutting into the mattress. This is uncomfortable. I hope I can straighten this out when I get back, because if not, oh man. THAT will be a major problem.

Also, I didn’t thing this would be true before, but I think when I come back there’s going to be some major reverse culture shock. I’m not looking forward to it. I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE RUSSIA.

Saturday, December 29^th

So slept in till 9:30 today. Went and had breakfast at the café in the hotel (the same café, coincidentally, where Sonya and Alya had eaten the day before and I didn’t even know!) which was not very good. Well, the espresso was good. But anyway, went to see the art museum. Have I talked about museum experiences before? At every museum there are about 60,000 old women whose job it is to follow you around and make sure you don’t, like, destroy the art or something. So there’s always a woman sitting in every room closely watching you. And if there’s only a few women, they stand in the corner and follow you around as you look at things. It’s very unsettling. Also there were these women at the icon museum who were VERY concerned because I was evidently looking at things out of order. I mean, I might see something from a different church before finishing the icons from the first! What would we do? My entire opinion and icon experience will all out of whack (seriously, one woman for like 15 mins explained to me how the icons are grouped by church and time). I did not look at things “out of order” again.

Then I tried to go to the Chamber of Facets, which was closed. Tried to find an internet café to figure out the address of the next hostel (I need to start getting on that knowing-where-I’m-going thing before I actually arrive at my destination), but it seems the only working internet café is in the kremlin, which is closed on weekends (like, actual weekends, not the ones they choose). Walked around Yaroslav’s court. All the museum women there were really nice and friendly, except for one woman who yelled at me while I was looking for…some sort of museum, don’t remember. Also there was freezing rain in Novgorod today. Yesterday was a blizzard, and now freezing rain. This weather is AWFUL.

So I walked around some more. Then wanted to go to this Chocolate Café, but it looked too fancy for me. Why are there so many fancy cafes in Novgorod? I am POSITIVE the fancy café:people ratio is completely imbalanced. Anyway so then I was sad. And went back to this café and ordered borsht without sour cream, and got something that wasn’t borsht with sour cream. I picked out the sour cream but then tried to ask the girl if I could actually have borsht…and she claimed that it was, in fact, borsht. Her reasoning was “I ate it this morning”. I don’t care if you ate it this morning, that doesn’t make it borsht! It wasn’t bad though, so I really can’t complain.

OH. MY GOD. I forgot to mention this. So there was this photo exhibit around Yaroslav’s Court, about old Novgorod. So I went to see it. And there were these two women there, who, like all the other church museum people, were very nice. And then I saw this staged scene that I couldn’t really figure out…and one of the two women rushes up to me and explains how for only 30 rubles, I can have my picture taken with these scenes as many times as I want! And she can take them for me, since I’m alone, maybe, if I set up the shot with my camera, it’s digital so she probably doesn’t know how to use it (she said that, not me). Then she rushed to show me all these pictures of other people who had dressed up in strange costumes and taken pictures with wax figures, umbrellas, and chairs. So she was clearly very excited about this, so I figured I could spare the 30 rubles for 15 mins of entertainment for her. So she and the other woman fought over what I should wear (“no, she should wear the red hat, it matches the scarf!” “no, the black one would look better!” “No, she’ll wear the white scarf with that one!” “Well, fine, we can take lots of pictures though, let’s start with these one and then try the black hat”) and so on. Every time I had to set the zoom with my camera, but the woman didn’t always stand where I had stood, so a lot of times I’m really far away, or really close up. Also, even though I used image stabilization, they were always blurry. So after like 15 or 20 minutes and like 20 pictures, I have 3, non-blurry, completely ridiculous photographs. They also gave me a certificate with a kruglii stamp. Words cannot express the ridiculousness of this experience.

So then I went to the train station and bought my ticket for the electrichka. Sat in the train station, heard them say something about the train from Novgorod to St. Petersburg and watched as a lot of people got up. Decided that I would follow them and sat on a train. Hoped it was the right one, as I didn’t want to go back and check or ask anyone, and couldn’t understand the fuzzy voice overhead (and this isn’t from a lack of language skills, NO ONE could have understood what this guy was saying). 4 hours later I arrived in St. Petersburg. Mission accomplished.

Except I still didn’t know where I was going. But they had an internet place in the train station so I got on and found the address and whatnot. Except my time cut out right in the middle of facebook, so I’m hoping it logged me out automatically. That would be a disaster if not. This hostel is actually really really nice. In terms of decoration, anyway. Really comfortable. They supply towels. Nice kitchen. Free eggs, yogurt, and cheese (you really don’t know how big of a deal this all is. Free eggs! I could eat eggs all day long!). Although the 2 girls running it look a bit…ditzy. And some other girl staying here said they don’t really know how to do anything, so if there’s a problem they have to call someone else. They’ve done a nice job of hanging balloons and festive streamers, though. And they have wifi. Pretty great place so far. I would say it’s better than the one in Moscow, except the people here so far aren’t as fun and I have a major crush on the Moscow hostel owner (I’ve probably stated that already), who is not here in St. Petersburg.

I feel bad because I think I talked Sonya and Alya to death once I got here. I’m just so excited to see people who are a) not crazy Cubans asking me if I like them or b) Russian employees of the service industry or c) Russian women working in museum churches dying to take my photograph dressed up in ridiculous clothes.

I’m always thinking of things I want to note here but then forget. I need to write this stuff down.

End of Moscow 1 + beginning of St. Petersburg

So later I came back to the hostel and just hung around for awhile. A little later the Australians came back from the ice hockey game, put on these ridiculous sailor hats, and started drinking and playing poker. It looked REALLY fun. They were singing all kinds of Christmas carols too (and Queen…not really sure where that one came in). Anyway it was really funny listening to them. They’re really funny in general. Good hostel-mates. Also one of them told me at 2 in the morning they ordered 3 large pizzas for like 1400 rubles and devoured them in like 5 mins, literally. Hahahaha. Silly Australians. (trix are for kids!)

So that morning I made myself a delicious omlet. And salad. And apple with peanut butter. And peanut butter and jelly. And tea. With jelly in it. And talked to the Australians for awhile before heading off to the Kremlin area. My day consisted mostly of churches and cathedrals. Which is okay, because I love them a lot. Almost every time I’m in one though I think about Baba, which makes it all sort of an exhausting experience.

So first was St. Basil’s. Very cool. And just crazy to think about how old it is (and it seems old on the inside) and yet on the outside it still looks like a toy. Then I was going to see Lenin, but I had my camera with me, and you can’t take your camera with you even if you aren’t going to use it. And there was no where to put it, and I didn’t trust the police officers to keep it safe for me. So I’ll come back next time. The history museum was also closed (Tuesday is their weekend day?), and the Armoury was sold out, so I can do all three of those together next week.

So I circled around the Kremlin until I found the ticket office. Bought a ticket. But then it was hard to get in because there was something going on with children and a Christmas tree (well, New Year’s tree in Russia). Most yolkas (new years trees) in Russia, like Sonya said, are wire with pine wrapped around it and lights. So they aren’t actually trees. But the one in the Kremlin was a real tree, although not a very attractive looking one. It was just big. So there were SWARMS of children everywhere carrying little festive blue boxes and militsionarii (policemen) were yelling at all of those who wanted to enter the Kremlin, but were not children. It was very overwhelming and I wished that they weren’t there. So many children that close to me makes me uneasy. I think I’d be more comfortable with crowds of angry Bolsheviks.

So I saw everything accessible in the Kremlin except for the State Armory and the Cathedral of the Annunciation, since it’s being restored. But oh my God. I talked about how I love Orthodox Churches. But the ones in the Kremlin are like 15 times better than I ever could have imagined. The tombs of so many people were in the Cathedral of the Archangel. It was sort of cool. And the Cathedral of the Assumption is unbelievable. I almost couldn’t take myself out of it. It’s SO amazing. Oh my GOD. Do they do Christmas services there? I’m going to be in Moscow during Russian Christmas. And I’m going to a Christmas Eve service, I’ve decided. I need to find myself a head scarf. So anyway, all of these churches and cathedrals are totally incredible. Even the little churches on sidestreets are amazing. WAHHH. HOW DO THEY DO THAT?!

So then I was tired and really wanted to just go back to the hostel but knew if I did I’d never make it out again. So I stopped somewhere and had some tea to just sit and warm up for a bit. Then I went wandering for the things I was looking for yesterday, but never found. And as I was wandering I saw some really cool buildings (this often happens), a GORGEOUS church (also often), another gorgeous church, and THEN…a gigantic tea house. My guide said it was closed to the public, which I didn’t believe, because how else would they sell tea? So I went in there and it was AMAZING. They had all kinds of teas-in boxes and loose leaf-and then all kinds of coffees and chocolates and a little thing of desserts and a place where they sold alcohol. I think there were 5 stations in all. It was amaaaaaaazing. So I bought a box of tea (the really good kind from Mongolia!) and 2 bags of loose leaf. This is so exciting. Do we have any tea houses around Middlebury? Or Cleveland? That would make my day.

So then I wandered back to the hostel, took a shower, talked to some people. It was fun. And I stayed up way too late just talking considering I had to get up at 7 the next morning to make my 11:45 flight. Oh, also, at one of the cathedrals I bought a CD of Russian Orthodox choral music. I know you’re all really jealous.

So I gathered myself the next morning, made myself another omlet with tomatoes and green onions which did NOT sit well in my stomach as I was lugging all of my stuff around the metro. Said goodbye to some people (I’m SO sad that this other girl from Irkutsk (as in, she’s actually from Irkutsk), Elvira, isn’t going to be there when I come back…she was SO sweet.)…etc. Said goodbye to the creepy Cuban guy. I HATE creepy people. Like SO much. UGH. Anyway.

Had my black purse, a пакет, and my blue adidas bag with me on the metro. It was fine, just sort of heavy, and it is SO hot on the metro. Then took a bus to the airport. Was like an hour early. Read some Turgenev in Russian (like, 2 pages). The Aeroflot flight was nice, they gave us some juice, croissants, chocolates, and tea. I was pleased. I was not thrilled with how the plane sort of shook as we were taking off and was at times not very smooth, but it didn’t crash, so I can’t complain.

So anyway, the night before I had sent an email to the St. Petersburg International Hostel because I hadn’t received any confirmation from them about my online reservation. So when I got to the airport in St. Petersburg and had no idea where I was going, I just hopped on a bus going downtown and wandered until I found an internet café. And then they said they had never received and online confirmation. So I didn’t want to go all the way there if they didn’t have any beds, so I tried calling. And my phone didn’t work. And all I had was a 1000 ruble bill, which is accepted, like, nowhere.

But I needed to have lunch anyway, so I had a nice business lunch at Pizza Hut, where they played the great hits of our time, such as “Sugar Sugar How You Get So Fly?” and other such classics. I hope the sarcasm here is sensed, as I’m laying it on pretty thick.

So then my phone still didn’t work, and I didn’t know what to do, so I got on the metro and went to the Mosckovsky Train Station (which is not too far from either of my two hostel options) and bought a phone card to try and call. Phone still didn’t work. People at the train station told me they couldn’t help me and sent me to find the MTS store, which was not possible to find. So I saw this gigantic MTS sign and went into the building under it. Which turned out to be a restaurant/bar. BUT the nicest guy EVER was there and I asked him if he knew where the MTS store is. He said no, but then went and asked someone else, and said he knew where someone could help me, offered to carry my gigantic blue adidas bag for me, and walked me to this cell phone store about 2 blocks away. Like, nicest guy EVER. AH. So they told me they didn’t know what was wrong and just had me buy a new SIM card, which worked out well. Called the hostel, they had free beds. Wandered around forever trying to find it. Finally found it. Was relieved.

It’s not really a hostel, it’s more like a really really really rundown hotel-ish thing. They have like a check in area, and individual rooms that have 2, 3, 4, or 5 beds. It’s sort of lonely. Not like all the other hostels I’ve been to (all 2 of them, but they have been totally fabulous). They also don’t have mugs in the kitchen, which means I can’t drink any tea. Oh well. It’s okay.

So I called my mom, organized my stuff, and went to a café. Unsuccessfully tried to download three seasons of Arrested Development. Had some hot chocolate and ice cream, but just about had a heart attack because the internet card they gave me was twice as much as it was in Moscow, and then I was afraid that I wouldn’t have enough cash on me and that I’d have to go track down a bankomat before paying, but turns out I just didn’t do the math. Okay. Came back and went to sleep.

It’s really cold in this hostel. I don’t like that. I also don’t like that I don’t know when it’s morning, since it was still dark at 9 AM. Which means I thought it was like 4 AM. I need to take note of that.

Okay, so I don’t know if anyone’s heard about the Moscow metro, but it’s really pretty. They have all kinds of sculptures and it’s made out of this gorgeous stone and whatnot and just looks REALLY really good. Some stops are better than others, but on the whole, it’s really cool. But at the same time, I can’t help thinking about how much money they must have spent on the metro and NOT on other, more important things. Anyway.

Also now is a good time to talk about the importance of пакеты (aka plastic bags). Everyone here carries their stuff around in plastic bags. Some are crappy plastic bags, which you buy for like 1 ruble, and others are much classier, like 10 rubles. The ones with handles and the thick plastic are the most desirable. But seriously, like EVERYONE carries their stuff around in plastic bags. Most people have 1 purse and 1 пакет. I wonder if I’ll keep doing this at home.

Okay, it’s time to buy some train tickets to Novgorod and see St. Petersburg.

Moscow. More detailed than Sonya's. But I'm not with Sonya, so that's not important.

Okay so later we got back to the hotel, but as usual there was a guard there, so we had to register Joseph as a guest and they told him he only had until 12. So then we had to figure out something to do. I could go through this whole story but it’s not that interesting or important. Long story short, Joseph went down and paid for a single room. Then he wrote in his journal while Ivan and I used the free wifi and surfed facebook for like 2 hours.

So the next morning we had a fairly unappetizing breakfast before setting off for the regional museum of Tatarstan. This was much better than the regional museum of Yekaterinburg, and had very interesting things. I got tired of reading by the end though. Joseph and Ivan also endured like an hour long lecture from some guy who had this theory that all words were somehow linked to their corresponding gestures. And that it would be impossible to learn language without gestures. Which is probably true, but I don’t think the actual word can be linked to the gesture. Especially because not all words are the same in each language (although sometimes similar).

So then we went back to the Kremlin to see the museum of Islam. The woman at the front of the Kremlin let us in free a third time, which was really really nice of her. She said she was so glad that we liked it so much that we were coming back a third time, that she would just let us in free. There were way too many “that”s in the last sentence. The Islam museum was okay, not really very informative. Actually it sort of was, I just was way to tired to read everything and I sort of read, but didn’t really soak in. It’s okay.

So then we searched for a Café for lunch and found one that was not very good at all. And walked around some more, trying to find the Volga, but found the Kazanskaya instead. Actually we didn’t even find it, we just found its general direction. Took a taxi to the train station, which was amazing since it meant I didn’t have to drag suitcases everywhere. Our train was delayed. But we had a system in place at that point. Joseph stood at this little place at the entrance of the compartment where we could hand him all of our small bags, but was out of the way enough that other people could still get on. Then Ivan and I stored our giant suitcases, and came back for Joseph and all the little things. And even more exciting…WE DIDN’T HAVE A COMPARTMENTMATE. I don’t think you all understand how amazing that was to me. Like, SO amazing. Especially after how tired I was and how not amazing our last compartmentmate was. AND it wasn’t too hot, even a little on the cool side, enough to warrant using the blanket at night.

So we got to Moscow at 6:15, took an overpriced (but not gypsy) cab to our hostel. More like to the side of the road, where we then stood for about 5 minutes before someone working on the street directed us to the hostel. Oh, by the way, Moscow train station? WHOA. Like, way fancy. The place where you have to pay to sit (that was a bunch of rubber chairs and a little TV in Kazan?) was like, leather couches and a big screen TV and internet. They also had a pilmenia (aka a place that sells pilmeni). However, the Kazanskaya, Yaroslavskaya, and Leninskaya train stations were all right next to each other. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just have one gigantic train station? Not really sure.

Moscow is very big. A legitimate city. More like a gigantic wifi zone. EVERYWHERE has wifi. There are car dealerships with wifi. The McDonald’s has wifi. This is madness.

So we accidentally woke up the guy next to the hostel, and the actual hostel owner, with our 6:45 AM arrival time. And I think he wasn’t actually sure who we were until I asked if he received our reservation, to which he responded “probably…” and turned on the computer. But once I said something about hostelworld.com he remembered. Really nice guy. Speaks English well, I think. I’ve only spoken to him in Russian. So we made macaroni and cheese, had some tea, and just chilled out for a little while. Then we headed out to find wifi (which we found in, like, 3 seconds) and Joseph found a candy factory in Ivan’s Moscow guidebook. Ivan has the best guidebooks and I don’t know how I would have traveled around Russia without them. Anyway so the only problem is that this guidebook has completely wrong metro maps…like COMPLETELY. So we did a lot of circling around the Kremlin (we could see it from, like, every stop). But finally we found the Red October Candy Factory, which was really just a small chocolate store. However, I bought a box of chocolates that are actually quite good, which was surprising, because Russian candy on the whole is…less than fabulous. We also ran into the Church of Christ the Redeemer. I almost forgot the T there, which would have made it the Church of Chris the Redeemer, and we know that that just isn’t true.

So then Joseph only had about 40 minutes left, so we made our way back to the hostel, made more macaroni and cheese, and then Joseph left. Ivan and I sat around for a little while before heading off to find Arbat to do some souvenir shopping. They have some FANTASTIC stuff. A lot of it is souvenirs that are really cool, but I would never buy (the really fancy looking samovars, or the lacquered spoons and plates, etc) but some of the stuff they have is AWESOME. Like the strange kinds of matroshka dolls they have. Oh my GOD. I would explain them here but I’m buying some as gifts so no one’s allowed to know just yet! But AH. SO great. And then they have some cool T-shirts…I want to get one with Cheburashka on it. But they also have one that says “Che burasha” (as in Che Guevara) and Cheburashka’s holding an automatic. I’m sorry, that is hilarious. They also have one that says “I have been to Russia. There are no bears.” It’s not really that funny, but somewhat amusing.

Oh and THEN we met the most fantastic woman EVER. So she was selling these matroshka dolls and Ivan wanted one in particular (I won’t say which one, I don’t know if it’s a gift for someone? Anyway) and the woman didn’t have it, so she ran around to other stands trying to find it. So she found it for him, and was talking to us for awhile. But anyway she was SO nice so then I bought a matroshka from her, and then as we were leaving she gave us two little matroshka keychains as gifts! I don’t know. She was just SO nice it was crazy. And anyone that’s, like, friendly by American standards is a GEM in Russia. (Do people still use the word “gem”?)

Then we saw a Starbucks. This was insane. We went inside to look around. They’re exactly like starbucks in America, only the prices are more than twice as high. So we just sort of walked around and then walked out. I would say it was a good experience.

We also saw TGI Friday’s. Then went into a bookstore so I could buy some city guides to Moscow and St. Petersburg, since I’m on my own without Ivan’s Lonely Planet at this point. And I was excited because I found one that wasn’t too expensive for Moscow, and figured I’d get the identical one for St. Petersburg too. And then I went to pay for it and when she said the price I thought she said something different, (--60 instead of -600) and ended up paying way more than I wanted to. It turns out the St. Petersburg guide was twice the price of the Moscow guide, and then I was REALLY sad, and when I realized my mistake and asked if I could return it they said no. So I went from being really thrilled to really really sad. And then on our way back on the metro we got on at a different Arbat, went one stop, walked to the other arbat, went one stop, walked to another stop, went one stop, and so one. We probably walked just as much as we rode the metro. Also I love my furry boots but they are NOT comfortable to walk around in.

So then we went to the McDonald’s with the wifi which was fabulous. And wandered back and went to bed. However, IVAN, you did NOT wake me up before you left like I asked you to which means I didn’t get to say goodbye and THAT IS SAD. I’ll forgive you.

So I woke up at like 7:15 and sat in bed for about half an hour before getting up, brushing my teeth, and trying to find some sort of food store. I was really hoping for a “Bcyo Budet OK gypermarket” but there wasn’t one. So I walked for a long time before finding a place where I could buy bread, eggs, and an apple. Came back, took a shower, made breakfast, sat and talked to people, read. I’m probably going to check my email, read some of my Moscow guide, and go see things. Maybe later I’ll post this. Probably will call home tomorrow night, as it will be tomorrow morning’s Christmas in America.

I love this hostel, by the way. The owner is AWESOME and all the people here are really cool. Even the Australians, who complained about getting robbed by the police after they were dumb enough to go and smile and say hello when they were in Irkutsk. Who smiles, let alone greets, Russian police officers? It’s when I hear stories like that that I’m really glad I can actually somewhat speak the language. Although knowing the laws about fines and passports and embassies isn’t really that hard to do.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that the street vendors on Arbat are the easiest people to haggle with in the WORLD. In fact, you don’t even have to, they’ll do it for you. Like, I ask how much something is….well here’s a sample convo:

Natasha: How much?
Street vendor (of matroshkas): 450.
Natasha: *is in the process of inhaling, which is part of breathing, which is necessary*
Street vendor: Well okay I guess I could do 400.
Natasha: *looks at the street vendor*
Street vendor: Well, you’re what, a student? And students are usually on a budget. Okay, 350.
*pause that is longer than a second and a half*
Natasha: 300?
Street vendor: well….*pause. Probably 2 seconds*…Okay. *smile*. Here you go. Do you need a bag?

Natasha: How much?
Street Vendor (of T-shirts): 300. But I guess if you wanted we could go cheaper.

No, I’m going to turn down the cheaper offer and stick with the 300. Like, what?

Later:
So today I read my Moscow guidebook and decided that I want to cover the Kremlin, Red Square, and Kitai-Gorod areas before leaving for St. Petersburg on Wednesday (also I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the hostel where I’m staying is located in Kitai-Gorod, which I guess could be translated to Chinatown. Except the only part of China that is here is the guy from Hong Kong staying at this hostel. And a picture of a yin-yang on a poster. And a sushi restaurant, which is technically Japanese, but I guess it’s part of Asia, which is closer.) Anyway so I left today and just sort of wandered around. I started off in the direction my guide told me to, and came across this building that looked quite important. Turned out it was the ГУМ, so I went and walked around there for a bit, as I felt it was a necessary tourist activity. Turns out it’s more like the ritziest mall EVER. 3 floors of stores I would never go to. And lots of fancy cafes. But I guess it was pretty. I had to walk around like a Muscovite so as to conceal my foreigner identity, meaning that I had to look as if I was unhappy, knew where I was going, and was planning on getting there in a timely fashion. But I couldn’t walk too fast, or else I wouldn’t have been able to see anything. This was really all carefully planned and quite successful.

So as I wandered the streets I saw a lot of pretty buildings. It’s funny, there are a LOT of gorgeous buildings in Moscow. And I haven’t even been to that many parts of Moscow yet. But there are SO many. And then there’s also a bunch of Soviet-era ugly buildings. And ugly city-ness. But there’s so much that is SO pretty. And you can just be walking down the street and there are a bunch of ugly buildings and cafes and right in the middle of it all is an Orthodox Church. And if you’re not paying attention, you won’t even notice it, because it’s almost buried by commercialism.

I may not have mentioned this before. I LOVE ORTHODOX CHURCHES. I love the sound of the bells, of the people when they sing (choir? They’re usually sad sounding. Actually I think they’re always sad sounding, even when the Russians in the Orthodox Church rejoice, they aren’t entirely, or even partially, enthusiastic. In my experience anyway.), the smell of the candles and the incense, the icons, etc. I LOVE IT. Which makes Moscow a particularly good place to be, because there are like 18,000 Russian Orthodox cathedrals and churches. I always feel awkward though, because it’s not my church, and to be totally honest, I’m still not entirely sure about Orthodox Church etiquette. But anyway.

So I saw like 10,000 of those and they were all really pretty. I’m going to St. Basil’s tomorrow. As I was wandering around the Kitai-Gorod I found Moo-Moo café, which has cow prints all over it, and has all kinds of Russian food. Tatiana gave us a menu to read in class one day, so I wanted to go and experience the real thing. But then it looked sort of busy, and I was by myself, and I didn’t want to be the loser eating dinner by herself. 95% of the time I don’t care but every once in awhile I do. I was also sort of sad as I was walking around Red Square and watching the people ice skating (they have a rink in the middle…a Chocoladnitza is attached) and kind of wishing that I had a travel buddy, because ice skating alone just isn’t very fun. I actually like traveling alone, and doing a lot of the sightseeing stuff alone, but every once in awhile I feel like it would be nice to be with someone. Speaking of which, Denis’s phone isn’t working or something so I can’t get ahold of him, which is sad.

So then I was cold and a little bit tired so I stopped in a different Chocoladnitza (they are EVERYWHERE), but contrary to what I thought, it’s like a REALLY nice coffee shop chain. They have comfy chairs and a totally fabulous menu. I had some raspberry thing and some tea and was very, very satisfied with it. Their blini looked good too.

So then I wandered around trying to find other things…mainly more churches. But ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere and not understanding why I had made my way back to the Kremlin. I just figured that it wasn’t really important, since the Kremlin seems to be everywhere, instead of seeing it for what it was-a sign that I had taken a wrong turn. But I found this souvenir market, which was actually a bunch of kiosks (half of which were closed, since it was like 7:30) and looked around. I think I might go back tomorrow or next week when everything is open. This market was also right next to Red Square.

Okay. The experience of walking into Red Square is something that just absolutely cannot be recreated. Especially at night. Coming through the Resurrection Gate, and then seeing ГУМ and Kazansky Cathedral on the left, the Kremlin/Savoir’s tower and Lenin’s tomb on the left, and as you keep walking St. Basil’s comes into view. And it is all so big and so full of history gorgeous and SO BREATHTAKING. EVERY TIME. I hope you all one day come to Moscow just to experience this, because it is worth it.

I like Moscow a lot.

Kazan is the greatest place ever. Next to Siberia.

I do not love Western Russia. It isn't Siberia. I might have already said this earlier, but I think Siberia is the Midwest of Russia. I love it.

I also STILL have trouble believing that there are cities bigger than Irkutsk in Russia. I think I've just hung around Lake Baikal for too long. Kazan is also a large city, with more than 3 main streets. Before I get into Kazan I need to talk about the rest of Yekaterinburg and getting OUT of Yekaterinburg.

So we went to the Regional Studies Museum, which was really more like a bunch of old things from Russia/Yekaterinburg put in a bunch of rooms with no real order to them. My favorite was the gigantic piece of wood from the bridge/platoon(?) they rebuilt like 10 years ago. Or maybe the very new looking iron patio set with the fake ivy and the iron garden gnomes was better. The people there also made sure that we went through "in order", although I'm not particularly sure what the order was.

Most of the people in the museums were nice. Most of the people in the train station were not.

So we gathered all of our stuff onto the train which took a ridiculous amount of effort and all kinds of people were snickering at us, to which I responded with large amounts of glaring. We were quite displeased to find we had a roommate (and were more displeased as the night progressed...more to follow), but he helped us store our gigantic suitcases so that was nice of him. BUT red flags for me-he almost immediately referred to us as "ты", which most Russians haven't done EVEN though we were clearly younger (we're still adults), and he was speaking in maternii (Russian's "swearing" language, I think it's much stronger and cruder than anything we have in English). He made sure to pull out his bottles of alcohol at the beginning of the trip (we're talking 2 PM Moscow time/4 PM Yekaterinburg time). We IMMEDIATELY decided that we're going to have to come up with some reason as to why we couldn't drink, and decided that religion would be the best option. So we told him we were Mormans. The only downside, is then he (and his brother/friend? who joined our compartment to drink) began to ask a lot of questions, which we didn't know the answer to. So we sort of formulated our own religion where we don't drink alcohol at all or do anything, really. They, of course, were RELENTLESS in trying to get us to drink with them, which we wouldn't, and got REALLY annoying. They also kept forcing food/tea on us, more on Ivan and Joseph than on me (maybe they realized that I was really quite irritated?), and doing other such annoying things. Such as asking me when I was going to eat. I replied with some sort of "How should I know, I don't have any sort of set SCHEDULE for meals, I'll eat when I'm hungry", which I think ended up working because he stopped hassling me about it.

But anyway they drank A LOT and talked A LOT (many words in maternii, I noticed, and about women in general...there were probably 4 or 5 toasts "to Natasha"), and kept trying to get us to go to sleep. At 5:30 PM. I realize this was probably an irrational fear, but I couldn't figure out WHY else he would try to get us to go to sleep so early-but I thought maybe he was trying to get us to go to sleep so he could steal something. I don't know. He didn't right off the bat strike me as a criminal, but then again, it's very possible, and this was CLEARLY not an honest/decent person. The most alarming was when he and his brother/friend decided that they wanted to get off the train earlier than their stop in order to accompany us to Kazan. Which was definitely not okay. Anyway, he passed out at like 6:30, so we layed down to go to sleep, but there was some pretty awful music playing that we couldn't turn off, which made it difficult. Then again, normal people don't go to sleep at, like, 7. Anyway he requested that we wake him up when we get up so he could accompany us. Obviously we weren't going to do this so we gathered our things as quietly as we could, and even managed to drag Ivan's suitcase out from under this guy's bed, but at some point we banged something and he woke up. But he just asked for his man-purse and went back to sleep, which was a HUGE relief.

So we dragged all of our stuff off the train, again, and tried to call our hotel, whose number had been suddenly disconnected. So Ivan walked to the hotel closest to the train station and found that it was a good hotel with not bad prices. We only paid for a double though, because Joseph didn't want to pay for a double and a single so we each had a bed, saying he'd sleep on the floor, which sort of turned out to be a problem (as I knew it would be). Anyway, it was a HUGE relief to be able leave all of our stuff in a locked room and take a shower.

Then we went to the Kremlin, which was AWESOME. I wasn't really believing what everyone said, that Kazan was a a really beautiful city, but that's probably because our window had a view of the train tracks. Anyway, so Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan. 57% of the city is Tatar, so a lot of the signs are in both Tatarskii (how do you say that in English?) and Russian. The city had its 1000th birthday in 2005, so they built this gigantic and GORGEOUS mosque in the middle of the Kremlin. They also have a Russian Orthodox Cathedral which is SO amazing. Like, icons everywhere, just...SO pretty. I can't even begin to describe it. So we walked around for awhile, saw a bunch of administrative buildings, went to the cathedral, saw the president's house, visited an art museum, etc. We went to a cafe for lunch and had pizza, while they played techno remixes of techno songs. Like, how does that happen? They choose the already techno-y songs and THEN remix them. Like, for example, "Like a Record" or "Barbie Girl". My favorite was the techno remix to the x-files theme song.

So then it was getting late, and we decided we'd see the Regional Museum of Tatarstan tomorrow (so we'd have longer than 45 mins, it should be REALLY interesting). We're also going to see the Museum of Islam tomorrow because it was closed today.

We went to a WW2 memorial museum which was REALLY interesting. I think History museums are in general really interesting, but it's cool to see them from a different country's perspective. Like, WW2 had such a greater impact on Russia than it did on us that it's sort of hard to even imagine. Like, the United States is a really powerful country and has been an important part of both world wars, but in each case we didn't really come in until the very end. And we didn't have the actual war on our land. Whereas Russia has been completely devastated (I'm talking specifically about world wars, not just throughout history in general, which is also very true). I think I find myself defending Russia more and more (and I think I already did that before I came here, I got called out during a history discussion once for doing that). But, I mean, MAN. The two papers I wrote this semester were about Americans on Baikal during the Russian Civil War, and Russia's international relations in between World Wars. I could go on and on about this but I won't because it probably isn't interesting, but things have really sucked for Russia. I can't really say that it isn't the country's fault, because a lot of it is, and I think it's going to take a LONG time to pull Russia together. But anyway, even the posters and newspapers were interesting to read. One of the "go to war and fight for your country" posters said "Kill a German-if you don't kill him, he'll kill you" which I thought was incredibly...well, I don't know. Did we have that kind of propaganda? I don't think so. I think I'm just used to the "defend your country" or "fight for your homeland" or "fight against (insert political regime here)". But just flat-out "go kill Germans"? whoa.

There were a lot of Germans in Irkutsk, and a lot in Russia in general I think, so it's nice to see that they've patched things up.

I hope people know that I'm not always serious on this blog and use a lot of sarcasm, so I'm not really as airhead as I seem.

So then we wandered trying to find this cafe that had a reputation for good and cheap blini. Which doesn't seem to exist anymore, so clearly it couldn't have been that good of a cafe. So I said I saw a cafe with a Julius Meinl sign, and they usually have good tea, so I said we should go there. Except then I didn't order tea, and Ivan and I ordered not very good blini, and this guy next to us started smoking this awful cigar and then some other guy came and it seemed that they were doing very important and illegal business transactions, so I'd say on the whole the experience was not so great. But then we walked back to the hotel and stopped in McDonald's, which is much like McDonald's in America. They even just write the names of everything instead of translating them. A chicken sandwich is not a "kuritznoi buterbrod" but a "chicken sandvich". It was a very trendy place too, very Chipotle mixed with Starbucks mixed with McDonald's feel. And now they have things with raspberries. Which means that, on the whole, was a positive experience.

I'll write more later. I'm really tired.

last entry for today.

I hope no one thinks I'm like Russia schitzo.

Because I do still really really really love Irkutsk. And Siberia in general. I just hate Yekaterinburg.

continuation.

So now we're sitting in the internet cafe and planning on going to the regional studies museum (where they have a lot of stuff about the Romanov family and old believers) and some railway museum next to the train station. We have like four and a half hours to do all of this. We'll probably have lunch in a cafe somewhere and sit in the train station some more. Oh, also, we tried to call the hotel in Kazan where Ivan sent them an email about ordering a room (every hotel we call says we have to send an email or a fax, so Ivan sent an email), but when we called they said they hadn't read their email in a week, maybe they'd read it tomorrow (today). Then they said they had free rooms but we have to book 2 weeks in advance. The moral of the story is that we have no idea what the hotel situation is going to be in Kazan.

I smell like smoke, which is disgusting, and I'm not entirely sure what from (other than Russia in general). I could also really use a shower. Anyway the second I get on the train (I HOPE TO GOD THAT WE DON'T HAVE A COMPARTMENT-MATE) I'm situating myself, maybe reading, and going to bed at like 6 PM, since we need to get up at like 5 am (Kazan/Moscow time) tomorrow morning.

I hate Russia. Or just Yekaterinburg. Or just the Yekaterinburg train station.

Although yesterday when we came to this internet cafe I wanted to buy a bottle of water (it's an internet cafe AND a coffee shop) but the guy told me he couldn't because he didn't work at the bar. So then I asked about a 40 ruble bottle of pepsi sitting in the fridge right next to the internet desk and he said he couldn't do that either. This country is ridiculous.

hmm.

My love for Russia has rapidly decreased since leaving Irkutsk. Which will make going home an easier decision. Although I'm still pining for Irkutsk in a way that might be strong enough to convince me to stay.

Train ride was fine, mostly. Our little buryat compartment-mate named Edik was quite nice. And then we had another roommate for about 3 hours in between the hours of 12 and 3 (Moscow time) or 5 and 8 (Irkutsk time). We couldn't figure out why he paid the extra money for a kypee if he was just going to sit for three hours, and not even on the bed. He just put his stuff there and sat in the hallway. Then we got really neurotic that he stole some of our stuff, because we didn't wake up when he came in (well, I think Joseph did, but I certainly didn't and was very confused when I woke up and the compartment door was open). Nothing was missing.

Then all the outlets they have in the hallway don't actually work, which was sad, although not entirely surprising. I watched some Charlie Brown and Snoopy in English, then planned on charging my computer again to watch it in Russian. But my computer battery was low and the outlets didn't work. And I didn't want to run the battery completely out, I think that's bad, right? So I'm just letting it sit with like 15% battery power. and not using it.

Also there were a group of drunk Russian guys like 2 compartments down who were harrassing the girl with the food on the cart as she was coming by. I didn't actually witness this, Joseph did, but it made me very sad. Especially because this isn't exactly surprising in Russia, but would be completely appalling in America. I find myself comparing the two countries more and more as I become more displeased with the first after leaving Irkutsk. Also it was 10 in the morning, who gets drunk at 10 in the morning? That is a rhetorical question, since almost every time I've been in a restaraunt/cafe early in the morning (often now that we're travling, more on that later) there have been people drinking alcohol. I was almost ready to say beer at 8:30 AM is okay, even though it's not. But vodka? completely unacceptable.

So we got to Yekaterinburg and found out that the hotel where we booked a room AND Ivan's Dad booked a room for us didn't actually have our reservation. Then told us we'd have to pay for a single and a double, coming to about $90 a person. And telling us they didn't have cots (I DO NOT beleive that.) So we sad for a long time calling different hotels at 6 in the morning, then Joseph went over to the train station to see if they have places to sleep (often train stations in Russia have beds that you can pay for by the hour). They didn't have actual beds, but a little area where there are comfy(er) chairs and you can sleep there. We figured that would be fine, it's only one night, and we can sleep like 12 hours on the train if we don't get enough sleep. In theory this would have been fine. But didn't really work out that way.

Oh yea, when we got there this guy with a cart thing offered to help us with our bags, which was fine, but then told us when we got to the actual train station (like a 3 minute walk), told us that it would cost 600 rubles ($24) which was completely obscene. Joseph, being my hero at this point, yelled at the guy, and I should have too, but just didn't have the energy. Naturally we should have asked before he took our luggage but still. So we haggled him down a little and left. We should have just given him 100 rubles and walked away. Whatever.

So then we dragged all of our luggage across the street to the hotel (which was SIGNIFICANTLY harder than one would think, as my gigantic suitcase has wheels that don't really work in the snow (seeing as the snow packs itself on them and whatnot and I just have to drag it along), although sort of worked when there wasn't much snow, but I still had that, an addidas bag with everything I'd need for the rest of my stay in Russia (since I'm keeping my bag in the hostel in Moscow so I don't have to drag it everywhere), my gigantic black purse, and a bag of food). Then the hotel fiasco ensued and we dragged all of our stuff back to the train station. But I didn't want to leave everything (mainly my black purse with my laptop, camera, anything of value, etc and my plastic bag of food) so I ended up carrying that around with me always which was more of a pain and much heavier than one would think.

So it was then 7:30 in the morning in downtown Yekaterinburg, where nothing is open, because although this was a big city (like, 1.28 million), almost nothing is open before 9. (Also, for some reason, maybe because I was in Irkutsk, I'm always surprised when other cities are bigger than Irkutsk (other than Moscow and St. Petersburg, of course). There are SO MANY. Like, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, all of these are bigger than Irkutsk. I feel like I'm some sort of weird Irkutsk enthusiast whose view of the sizes of Russian cities has been completely skewed...anyway). So we finally found this Italian restaraunt with breakfast. I had a badly cooked omlet. We noted that there are a lot of places in Russia that look like maybe they could exist in the US, but then you hear the dance techno remix music and see the guys drinking in the corner at 8 AM and realize that this would not occur anywhere other than in Russia.

So then we did a walking tour of Yekaterinburg and saw a number of interesting churches and monuments. Maybe the most interesting was the Romanov death site. It was weird though, because there was this iron cross symbolizing where they had died, but in the middle of this city with this big road and all kinds of commercial...well, things around it. It was just hard to imagine, seeing as we were in the middle of this modernized city. So then we went to a cafe while we waited for the icon museum to open, went to the icon museum, went to a really cool photography museum, backtracked to the Afganistan/Chechnya war memorial (really quite nice, actually), saw that the military history museum was closed, went to some sort of jewel/stone museum which was cool, went to a pilmeni cafe with not very good pilmeni, went to a fine arts museum which I actually quite enjoyed. Made our way back to the train station, had some soup at this uzbek food place, which was not that good. Bought some cards and decided we'd hang out and play cards, then go to sleep. Played cards for about an hour, and were EXHAUSTED (probably because we woke up at like 4 AM local time, and it was 10 PM local time) so we went to pay to sleep in this little area for 6 hours. Then the women there were VERY concerned because it was only 8 PM moscow time, meaning we'd wake up at 2 AM Moscow time and 4 AM local time. We assured them that this was okay, seeing as our body clocks were all out of whack anyway.

It's very hard to sleep with your feet on the floor. Russians have a THING with shoes on chairs, which I can understand, but I was afraid to take off my boots because I thought someone would steal them (probably a bit of an irrational fear, but not completely). Then it was hard for me to sleep because I was coughing a lot and worrying about my bags. I was sleeping on top of my bag with my laptop, which was quite uncomfortable, actaully. The other bag wasn't really that important, it just had food, but still. After like three hours I finally took off my boots and adjusted myself so that I could sleep comfortably, while still clutching my purse. So then they woke us up at 2 AM Moscow time (4AM local time) so we moved to another sitting room where they just had these metal chairs. I gladly would have paid for another couple of hours, but I guess Joseph and Ivan didn't want to, and I didn't want to be alone. So we relocated and went back to sleep.

Unfortunately we relocated to a place where the most evil woman ever was the hall guard or something. So they had these metal chairs, not really nice or comfortable or anything, but I arranged myself so that I could sleep comfortably and the woman came over and woke me up and yelled at me because my boots were touching some metal pole part of the chair. Okay, I can admit that they were definitely more off the ground than they should have been. So I rearranged myself so that I was sleeping in some sort of ball where my feet were hanging off the edge so that they weren't touching anything (I'd draw a diagram, but I'm not on my computer). So then like a half an hour later she came back and woke me up again to yell at me, but like actually yell at me, to which I responded that my feet weren't actually ON anything or touching anything at all, just hanging off the edge 6 inches from the ground, which made her even more unpleasant. To which I just rolled over into another position and ignored her and went back to sleep. But then I was uncomfortable, so I just took off my shoes and curled up in a ball and slept. So then an hour later (at like 6:30) she woke me up again, telling me that I had slept enough and that it was already morning. She, however, did not wake up and yell at the other 15 people around me sleeping. She also did something, not really sure what, where she woke up two other people and hassled them until they left. Or for one guy she got 2 security guards or something and they pulled him out. This woman was completely ridiculous. However, Joseph said she was completely pleasant to him, although he wasn't next to Ivan and I. So that was pretty much awful and I hated everyone at that point, and wished that my Russian was good enough (or that I was awake enough) to yell at this woman. Actually I was prepared for it if she came back to bother me, but unfortunately enough she didn't, so I didn't get to go off on my carefully formed rant about how she was a ridiculous human being.

So we arrived in downtown Yekaterinburg on the metro at 8 AM, again, and went to this coffee shop. I made the mistake of asking for the check too early, so then it was 9:10 AM and we had nothing to do. The museums we want to see don't open until 11 and the internet cafe didn't open until 10. So we went to a different coffee shop, where we could buy tea for like 10 rubles, and sat and played cards (well, I read Lonely Planet, Joseph and Ivan played cards). And then we came here.

And my internet is going to cut out in like four seconds. So I'll update more later.

AH.

So I left Irkutsk on Sunday night. That day I ran around a TON, meeting with Tanya, Anya, Elissa, and Ilana, having my last cup of amazing tea in Cafe KoKs, went to a bookstore and bought Fathers and Sons in Russian, along with some Sudoku and a Russian Glamour magazine, then sat around the apartment, packed, took a shower, etc. That evening seemed to drag on but I didn't want it to end. I was so sad. My host family and I exchanged gifts (I gave them tapochki (translates to slippers, but the word slippers totally doesn't convey the cultural importance of them) and a bottle of cognac, they gave me a book about Irkutsk and this stone with this painting on it which is really pretty and I love a lot.

We had pozi for dinner (my host mother did that just for me) and left for the train station around 1 AM. As we were waiting for the train at the platform, it was SO eerie. And completely appropriate for leaving my beloved siberian city. It was really cold, but there was still really thick fog...we were all just waiting on the platform as we heard this train horn and it emerged from the fog and just seemed really large and overwhelming. We got on (there was some girl sleeping in our compartment who shouldn't have been there...there were three of us and one other kid but I guess his friend thought no one would be there...anyway, not important), settled, and then Mama Olya and Papa Yuri left and I was SO sad. And I was having one of those panicked moments where I was like...I JUST CAN'T LEAVE IRKUTSK.

And I'm still not sure I can. I DO not want to leave Russia. Also Irina Militievna called me Sunday night to wish me a safe journey and to say she was very sad that I wasn't coming back for 2nd semester.

AHHHHHHH. I DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE.

I might not.

sadness.

Wednesday, December 12^th

Okay, a couple very important points:

a) I went online today at Café KoKs and ended up spending a lot of money for 2 hours of internet and a lot of tea and some pasta, but it was all worth it because I got to talk to Gabe and Dave online which was beyond fabulous.

b) I’m listening to “Mmm Mmmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies, which is the weirdest song EVER. It’s about, like, really bizarre things that happen to 3 kids and then the chorus is this guy humming. You should all download it and experience it for yourself.

c) Once I heard about that song on “I Love the 90s”, where they have a bunch of people talking about random things. So, that wasn’t really the point, the important question is: What do I have to do to be on a show like that? Like, I realize I have to be famous or something, but if I were to get to that point, what do I have to do after that? Like, what qualifications are needed for them to say “You know what, you look like you would have a GREAT opinion on Chia Pets. So, what do you think of them? How about jelly shoes?” Would it be sad if that was one of my main aspirations in life? Please don’t answer that.

d) I made my hostel reservations in Moscow. Which means I have a place to go once I arrive and don’t need to wander the city with all of my bags at 6:30 AM. Also I’m pretty sure it’s the best hostel ever, it’s possible that I’m exaggerating, but I really don’t think so. It had awesome reviews, it’s like RIGHT next to Red Square, they have wi-fi and free breakfast (I think?) and it was like $15 a night, except for after the first of January when the price jumped to $25 a night which is still not bad for a place in Moscow next to Red Square. I’m just saying.

e) I bought my airline ticket to St. Petersburg. At first I was really excited because it said they had a $60 round trip ticket available, but then there was another $60 in taxes and fees. But I’m okay with that, because my research tells me that it’s about the same price as a there and back train ticket. Now I just have to find an Aeroflot ticket office in the next 24 hours…eek?

f) I booked my hostel for my first night in Petersburg, aka my only night before I take the train to Helsinki. I didn’t book the nights for when I’m back from Helsinki because Alya and Sonya are going to be there, and it’d be pretty sweet if we could stay in the same place.

g) Hostel options in Helsinki suck. They’re all about the same price ($50 a night), and the ones actually in downtown Helsinki have not SO great reviews, where the ones that are sort of far away from downtown Helsinki have only sort of okay reviews. So the moral of the story is I tried to make a list of pros and cons, then got tired and just abandoned the Helsinki hostel booking process. I’ll come back to it later.

h) I only have a couple more things to do before my trip is completely planned. Then I can do really awesome things like make budget sheets and lists of exactly what I want to do and schedules for when I’m there. This is going to be excellent.

i) Karrina and I were BFFs before, but now I think we might be the same person. She also doesn’t like extended amounts of eye contact. Just a little bit at a time. JUST LIKE ME.

j) My cat at home doesn’t like eye contact at all, which is sort of weird.

k) I totally lost my voice, probably from talking on the phone with mom last night for 45 mins, but this has worked out in my favor (with the exception of being up all night coughing and being in pain) because 1. when I gave my little presentation about my paper in Baikalovedene I’m pretty sure only half of it was understood, which maybe made it seem like I knew what I was talking about, because hopefully that half was the coherent half. 2. It means other than that I don’t have to talk much and 3. It means the waitress at Café KoKs suggested an exceptionally wonderful kind of tea.

l) We’re still taking my temperature.

m) I still have three pages of paper to write, in Russian, and this is not very good.

Am I like SO hot, Gabe?

Thursday, December 13^th

I am so tired. But I finished my paper, and it was 12 pages. I think it’s actually okay, as long as he ignores the lack of grammar…and that it might not actually be Russian. I think if I had finished with enough time to have had an actual Russian read through it, it might have been okay.

But anyway, so I planned on getting up at like 7:30 so I could go to the internet café, do spell check, and print it. But I shut my alarm off after it went off, had the most bizarre dream EVER (including hotel lobbies, skipping class, Russian professors, Hawken Alum breakfasts with blini, people I didn’t particularly want to see, and climbing through windows and passageways to avoid teachers), and woke up like an hour later. Which is the time I usually wake up to make it to class by 10. At this point there was NO way I was going to make it, so I didn’t really rush, just got ready at my usual speed. Then went to the internet café to do spell check and print (which was unnecessarily complicated, by the way), and maybe check email and facebook. So I was like 45 mins late to grammar class, and felt bad about that, but not that bad.

Then we had this little tea party with the other international students where people, like, sang things and read poems and whatnot. It was sort of weird, actually. And then these three Russian girls wanted to teach us a song and some games, and it was like we were in Kindergarten again. Seriously. I was like, this is ridiculous. Also they taught us how to play spin the bottle (I think that’s a universally understood game), but everyone was supposed to just kiss each other on the cheek, which is not really that big of a deal. But this other girl was acting as if this was clearly not okay, so…I don’t really know where I was going with that, but that’s okay.

Then went to the Aeroflot office to pay for and pick up my ticket (round trip Moscow to St. Petersburg, cheaper than round trip on the train, oooooohhhhhh who is so excellent…that’s right, I am). That was overall successful. I had to wait a long time, but they had comfortable chairs, so I was fine with that. I also feel like having an experience with Aeroflot is necessary in Russia, so I’m looking forward to this, as painful as it may be. Ask Eddie about how many times he had to get his ticket signed when his flights were changed. Sort of ridiculous.

Then booked my hostel for the rest of my stay in St. Petersburg. I’m staying with Sonya and Abby at the Crazy Duck hostel, which as much as the name scared me at first, seems like a pretty good place. The only thing I have left to get is train tickets to Helsinki and Yaroslavl and housing there. Whoa. Almost totally planned.

Then I met Tanya at Domino. We were only there for like 20 mins, which is the perfect amount of time. We’re supposed to meet later this weekend. I’m supposed to text her about that, actually, but my phone isn’t letting me text which is SO annoying.

Then I had my last Phoenix meeting. It was really sad. Also there were only like 8 people there, which made it sadder, because there were a lot of people I didn’t get to say goodbye to. And I got all kinds of email addresses, so that was nice.

Okay I’m exhausted and going to sleep.

Friday, December 14^th,

Okay, before I go on and on about how much I love Russia and am so sad to leave and have been SERIOUSLY thinking for the past day about what would happen if I just didn’t leave, and stay the year, I need to tell everyone that the rap music playing at Café KoKs right now is APPALLING. Like, completely ridiculous. I mean, I know most people here don’t understand the obscenely vulgar lyrics playing right now, but OH MY GOD. I DO. Also the vulgar song that just finished was sandwiched with “Sorry Ms. Jackson” by Outkast, which is also a ridiculous song, now that I listen to the lyrics. Oh man. Okay, anyway.

So I feel totally fine until I return to the apartment, when my throat starts itching and I start coughing uncontrollably the entire night. Then I’m really tired the next morning. Anyway, so I coughed a lot last night and this morning when my alarm went off, I hit the “stop” button and prepared to get up. And then woke up at 9. THIS IS THE SECOND DAY IN A ROW. And this has NEVER happened to me before (in Russia). So I rushed to get myself ready and left the apartment without eating breakfast, which Papa Yuri was not so thrilled about, but thank God my host mother wasn’t there because it would have been the apocalypse. No joke.

Then we took a grammar exam where we were unsure of the answers, because a lot of times it can vary based on context (well, her friends came to visit her, but are they still there? Did they visit her on foot or by car? And other such dilemmas). But on some sections if we asked enough she just gave us the answers (Well, of COURSE you would use this pair of verbs, etc. etc. etc…). She also left for a REALLY long time and we’re pretty positive that it was because she wanted this test to be a collective effort, but we still have some academic integrity left. Russia hasn’t squelched all of it.

Then in Speech Practice we had to read some things and answer questions, and then fill out a chart with all these faces on it…Like those “how are you feeling today?” posters where there are like 70 smiley (or not so smiley) faces and moods under them. So, my vocabulary is relatively limited when faced with such a task, and I ended up writing things like “He’s really bitter” or “He’s suspicious of the person next to him” or “he’s ready” or “he’s laughing and crying at the same time” or “he’s lost his mind”. I know, you’re all blown away by my brilliance.

Then after class we rushed to put together teacher’s gifts. And I had to run and find flowers and get 4 bouquets of them, which took the girl a ridiculously long time to put together and I was like way late for our lunch thing with Elisabeth and our professors. It was so sad. We’re, like, LEAVING. But Vladimir Konstantinovich said it’s possible to do Grad School here…Anyway. So everyone (PS the main lyrics of this song playing right now is “don’t let the system get you down.” What?) talked a lot and we gave gifts and they gave us gifts and we had lots of toasts with juice. And I was really sad. And wanted so badly to just be like “ELISABETH I CAN’T LEAVE”, but held back and didn’t. This softball season had better be good or I’m going to regret not staying SO MUCH. I wish I didn’t have to make that choice. AGH.

And Eddie showed his tanker hat to Pavel Alexandrovich, who then wore it and posed for a picture. Alexandra Vladimirovna was in the background holding flowers. It is a completely ridiculous picture, that Sonya and Ivan now have and I need to take from them. Also Ivan had my grey pants and Nike shirt that I thought I had lost long ago! I thought I had left them in Ulan-Ude and was SO sad about it (my grey pants, my absolute FAVORITE pair of sweatpants, which I’ve worn so much are pretty much worn away and should never be worn outside of the house but I do anyway), but Ivan found them in his suitcase! And then I remembered that after I swam in Baikal once, and didn’t have a пакет (more on their importance in Russian culture to come soon, or just check out Sonya’s or Alya’s blog), so I asked Ivan if I could put them in his пакет with wet clothes. And then forgot to ask him for them again. And then thought I had lost them. Yay!

I wonder if I’ll harvest plastic bags at home the way I do here.

Oh my God, the sadness.

And I didn’t get to say goodbye to our sort of German friends. Irina Militievna said that they were sad we left the tea thing early yesterday. And then I was sad because I totally would have stayed and hung out with them, and even given up my Aeroflot reservation had I known. SADNESS. SO MUCH SADNESS. I might send Amrai a text message and ask for everyone’s emails. WAAAAAAA.

Then I went with Sonya to the train station to try and buy train tickets to Helsinki from St. Petersburg, which turned out to be an impossible task. The number of different ticket counters and places to go is completely ridiculous. Anyway so I tried to find out if the dates I wanted were available, and the really nice woman (actually, I think by Russian standards she was really nice, because she helped, but by American standards still not so friendly) that was there last time was NOT there this time. So I wasn’t sure if a) there were no trains going to Helsinki in general b) there weren’t any trains on that particular day c) there weren’t any available spots on the train d) I couldn’t buy tickets at this particular window e) I couldn’t buy tickets in this particular building or f) I couldn’t buy tickets in Irkutsk. So, that was wildly unsuccessful, and as much as I tried to get them to explain the situation to me, they were still very short with me and unhelpful in general. So I ran away from the situation, pretending that it would fix itself if I waited a day and then returned. So, that’s the plan.

Then I went to Tex-Mex to reserve a table for us tonight where we’re going to have dinner and maybe speak English! Elissa and Eddie and Ivan (I think?) and I have expressed interest. I think we’re going to see how the others feel about it. We wanted to invite Irina Militievna, because…well, just because. Also she said something about how she wasn’t allowed to speak English with us, and how that was unfortunate…and she’s always asking how to say things in English in class…which leads us to believe that she speaks English, which I was NOT aware of, and now DESPERATELY want to speak English with her. Like, SO MUCH.

Then I went to Café KoKs to use their internet and accomplished none of the things that I wanted to accomplish, especially because the internet cut out early. But they had the MOST delicious fruit tea EVER, so that was nice. I’m also trying to figure out how far away JFK is from the Newark airport. Far? Possible to get there inexpensively with a bunch of baggage? I would have answered that question, but the internet cut out. Also I looked for flights from JFK to Cleveland and found flights that connect in Orlando and Houston, but nothing…well, helpful. I know this is completely ridiculous but I’ve been invited to be part of a panel at Old Trail on the 9^th at 2:30. So if I could do that it would be GREAT. Especially since Alex is gone from there now, I’m really looking for any excuse I can to go back, since they’re few and far between. I’d feel weird just, like, going without reason.

Went to Tex-Mex. Everyone was there, which was SO GREAT. And LYONYA AND ANYA came. It was so great. And we walked around for a LONG time in the cold before going to Domino. It was just really nice, and we’re going to a pozi place tomorrow which is pretty much fabulous. Also…

LYONYA AND ANYA ARE WORKING AT MIDDLEBURY NEXT SUMMER. I’ve decided, like immediately, to apply for a scholarship for language school (since I didn’t get the FBI internship). If I get it…oh MAN. Sarah said she might go too (SARAH THIS WOULD BE AMAZING, THINK ABOUT IT) AND I think Lyonya said that Tatiana would be teaching during the summer too. Oh my God, like, I can’t even process the amazingness that would occur. And I’d be able to COMMUNICATE this summer! Oh man. OHHH man. I might even download the application, like, tomorrow. Of course, that would mean that by the end of my senior year, I would have been studying with very little break for more than 2 and a half years. That is a LONG time. That’s okay, I’ll live. Oh man I hope I get this scholarship.

Okay, I have soooo much to do tomorrow and should really go to sleep. Also, I wonder if people read this blog and think I’m completely insane. I think a good number of people (as in, more than my parents and the other students in Irkutsk) read my blog. So, I wonder if people I’ve met before thought that I was some sort of respectable human being, and then read my blog and are like…yea she’s insane. It’s completely possible, and perhaps even likely.

I need to make a list of all the things I want to do before I leave, because it’s a lot.

Also let’s play a game called most annoying thing in the world. (Let’s play another game called count how many times Natalie way exaggerates on this blog). Question: what’s the most annoying thing in the world? Answer: this obnoxious cough that won’t go away. It’s not even like I’m sick anymore, I just have this lingering cough that keeps me from, like, sleeping.

Saturday, December 15^th

I ran around A LOT today. Joseph and I met with 2 Russian girls. Then with Sonya. Then with Ivan. Then we waited a long time for Eddie, Lyonya, and Anya. Then I went to the children’s home with three of the girls from Phoenix and we said goodbye to each other and it was really sad. And I went to the train station with Eddie, Lyonya, Anya, and Mama Mila to say goodbye to Lucy and Adrienne. And I still have a million things to do tomorrow but want to be back by 4 because I think my host family is doing some sort of goodbye thing for me, which is very nice of them. Oh my God in 24 hours we’ll be waiting for a taxi to pick us up and take me away from Irkutsk. Tonight was the last time I’ll watch “Dances on the Ice” with my host family.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH