Greetings from an unseasonably-warm-yet-still-kinda-cold St. Petersburg!

Included in this post:
*Megan & Co. adventure to a naval base
*Russian Ne’er-Do-Wells steal Megan’s wallet on the metro
*Megan befriends real, live Russians!
*Megan finally does laundry after 37 days in this country
*in true Russian tradition, “A Day In The Life Of Megan Jayevna” (10 brownie points if you can name that literary reference)
*Megan finds a suitable summer vacation home in Tsarskoe Selo

I hope this post finds everyone healthy, happy, and warm. I am nearly all of those things: I’m feeling great (despite the fact that my host mother feeds me like I’m Jerome Bettis, and if she doesn’t stop I’ll look like him by December), excited about all the stuff I’m doing here, but starting to get pretty cold. It is highly unusual that we haven’t had any snow yet, and I’m quite thankful, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t colder than I would prefer. Of course, I didn’t sign up to study abroad in the Bahamas. It is time I start looking into buying a winter coat, but I can’t, as…

…I was robbed on the metro! I’m perfectly fine and only embarrassed. It was last Wednesday and I was with two Russian adults when it happened! We got on the metro and this group of 5 or 6 boys shoved me and crushed around me, separating me from the two I was with. But they were “trying to get on the metro,” you know, so it was “okay.” They continued to push around some, and when I got off the train, sure enough, my stuff was gone (including credit cards). They then tried to buy plane tickets ($1600 worth! Dollars, not Rubles!) and withdraw a few hundred more. Haha, joke’s on them, I’m poor! I cancelled the cards, so it was okay, but now it’s kind of an inconvenience to wait for new ones to come. I talked to some real characters too, when I called to cancel my cards. Eric, at Bank of America, was so nice and concerned. He asked if my card was lost or stolen, and I said stolen, and when he asked how I told him and he said, “Well, how are you?” I said, “Fine, thanks,” and he said, “No, I mean, after this, are you doing okay? I want to make sure you are feeling alright!” I was like, “…Yeah, I’m fine…Thanks, Eric!” and then I had a crush on him for approximately the last three minutes of our conversation. Then I called Citibank and spoke with Madea (at least, that is what dubbed her). I asked if there had been any recent action on the card, and she said, “Hmm…oh Lord yes! They’ve been trying to use your card all over St. Petersburg, Russia!” and I said, “Oh, no, some of that is me.” And she said (I kid you not), “GIRL whatchu doin’ in Russia??” (Getting mugged on the metro, clearly. Duh.) I had to try so hard not to laugh—she really put this extra emphasis on “girl.” GIRL whatchu doin’ in Russia. Anyway, it was really no big deal, I’m just annoyed. I was doing everything right, too: bag under my arm, zipped, etc, but they are really good. Props to them. I had hidden money in other parts of my purse and my room, so I wasn’t completely out of cash. Like I said, though, I’m fine—this happens and could happen in any big city. The metro here is crazy, too. I’m sure I mentioned how huge the stations are and how during rush hour the crowds are just amazing. About two weeks ago I was getting on around 5pm with two friends, and the crowd started in the square in front of the metro. First of all, there are about 6 doors, but they lock all but one or two, so everyone is funneling in and then they all have to funnel through the turnstiles. I have been in pretty crowded places, but I’ve never seen anything like this. I literally didn’t have to move my feet and I was being swept along with the crowd. It was outrageous. But I’ve gotten pretty good by now at just shoving right along with the best of them.

Despite that little incident, that was actually a really great night as I met tons of real Russians through CCI and this Entrepreneurs’ Club. And after the meeting, where I was introduced as an American student studying here, I was bombarded with people who wanted to talk with me/help me with Russian/present me as a present. That last one was a bit of a language miscommunication: he wanted to present a gift to me, rather than present me as a gift to someone else. But, you know, minor detail. Really, though, I’m meeting with two people next week; one of whom works for a Russian NGO network (yay!) and the other who is starting her own company to teach foreigners Russian. Plus, I agreed with the director of the Club to help those members who were interested with their English. He asked if I could come four days a week for three hours a day, and I was like, “How do you say, ‘Are you out of your cotton-picking mind?!’ pa-russkie?” But I agreed to maybe two (because I’m also going to help at an orphanage!) and that I would go to the meeting again next Wednesday, where that sketchy man will present to me his present. I think he maybe wrote a book.

I have also done some stuff with the ladies in the CCI-St. Petersburg office. On Thursday night they bought me a ticket to a concert by a famous Russian singer (Evgeniya Smol’nonova) who does popular Russian national songs. For those of you who have never heard Russian singing besides TATU, I’ll have you know that the musical style and what is considered a beautiful voice in Russian music is quite different from our standards. (Which makes sense—it has a lot of roots in Eastern music.) She opened up her mouth, and what came out at first kind of sounded like someone was drowning a bag of cats. I shouldn't say that, though. I am exaggerating. But I then got used to it, and there were actually some very, very pretty songs. I very much enjoyed it. She performed in an old Russian custom and was accompanied only by a piano, 2 guitars, and one lady who played the accordion, flute, lute, and another unidentifiable instrument. Not at the same time, of course, but within the same song! I was impressed. I didn’t really understand a lot of the songs, but the CCI ladies tried to translate what they could. At one point, Lyudmila leaned over and said that this was a “horticultural song.” I was like, “A what?” She said, “You know, they sing it in the fields.” Oooh. Not like, crop rotation. Gotcha. Lyudmila also bought me a CD of this performer’s before the show, because she “just knew I would like her so much.” But that was so nice!

Lyudmila also has 2 daughters around my age who are in a band, and last Saturday she invited me to their concert at a little bar/jazz club. They were actually pretty good, and I met the girls. One of them invited me out for coffee with her and her friends, and they want to do more stuff! Something kind of interesting came up in our conversation, though. They asked me where most Americans vacation (Egypt? No. Turkey? No.), and I was trying to explain how it was different all over the country, and they asked if Cuba was popular. I said, “No, you know, actually, it sounds silly, but our government doesn’t get along with Cuba and Americans aren’t allowed to go there.” “Oh, why does America not like Cuba?” “Oh, it goes back a while, we don’t Fidel Castro and his government,” “Why is that?” “Well, they’re Communists...” and then I remembered who I was talking to. I mean, these girls are a few years younger than I am and don’t have any memory of the Soviet Union, but it’s still interesting to think that a lot of people around me have very clear recollections and strong opinions on the matter. Mention of the Soviet Union is kind of tricky and I’m still trying to figure out the general consensus and what is considered acceptable. It’s especially awkward as an American, because I’m not a citizen of a country where the Soviet Union was just another political entity. Even if it is no longer very strong, Russians (I believe) are very aware that in the U.S. the prevailing mindset was—and still is—anti-Soviet and anti-Russian. I think it is true of almost all Americans: though the political relationship is not as tense as it once was and we don’t hear about the “Evil Empire,” popular culture and recent history still paint a pretty dark picture of Russia. When people think of Russia, they often think of corruption, and the KGB, and poverty, etc. I mean, that’s even true for me, and I feel like I have had a pretty liberal and balanced education and upbringing, including a fair amount of information about the real Russia. But we still think Hunt for Red October. So I say all this just to illustrate my point: Given our former relationship, I am always very self-conscious when mentioning the Soviet Union because even if they aren’t (and there is no way to know without asking), I wonder if my Russian interlocuters are in turn wondering what I think about the Soviet Union and if I am passing judgment. Even though I’m not and am careful to use language that would not make it appear that I was, I always wonder if they are thinking, “What is she really trying to say?” simply because I’m an American in Russia. I think a huge amount of distrust still exists, on many different levels and between many different groups, but that is a discussion for another time, as I have gone on long enough.

The bottom line is, I’m really excited, because between all these different groups, I do stuff with real Russians almost every day after school and I feel like this is the kind of experience I wanted and is making my time here so much richer. But now about the naval adventure. Last Saturday, I went with three friends to Kronshtadt, a naval town/base on an island in the Finnish Gulf off the coast of St. Petersburg. Kronshtadt was constructed by Peter the Great and is particularly famous for an uprising of sailors which led to the end of War Communism. It was huge embarrassment for the Bolsheviks, as the sailors were one of their primary pillars of support. So, being the history buffs we are, we decided to check this place out. Well, you know you are going to be in for an adventure when the guidebook says that the highlight of your trip will be a diorama and your host mother looks at you quizzically and says, “Why?” when you mention where you are going. At any rate, to get there, we took one of the metro lines to the very end, where we then wandered around the station and asked 3 bus drivers which minivan or bus would take us to Kronshtadt. We finally found the correct bus, and drove about 35 minutes through the surrounding country and across a very strange land-bridge thing to the town. Once we got off the bus, there was no large sign and arrow saying, “MEGAN AND PHIL AND JEANNINE AND ALLISON, GO THIS WAY TO THE INTERESTING STUFF.” (Oddly enough). And you can’t ask anyone where Kronshtadt (the naval stuff) is, because a town has now sprung up around it and you’re technically already in Kronshtadt, and it is very confusing. I also think that it is some kind of cruel joke that the word for “tourist sites” or “places of attraction” is one of the longest words in Russian: doctiprimichatelni. Anyway, thanks to Phil’s guidebook (the same one that promised an amazing diorama) we found the naval cathedral and eternal flame, as well as Orthodox Nuns on holiday! We bought Russian sailor hats from a woman and took our picture next to a giant anchor. Actually, the three of us girls did that, whereas I think Phil preferred to pretend he didn’t know us. At any rate, the sailor hat pretty much made the trip worth-while for me. The babushka who sold them to us was super nice, too. She didn’t speak any English (they really don’t out in the country), but heard us and asked where we were from. We told her America, and she was absolutely tickled pink that we had come half-way around the world to Kronshtadt and were now buying her kitschy hats. (I don’t know who she sells them to, as this was not a tourist trap type of place.) She even gave us all free postcards and put the hats on our heads and wished us the best, further proving my theory that people in the countryside and regions are far nicer than in the city. We weren’t yelled at or scolded once that day, which for me is highly unusual. We then went into the museum in the cathedral (for 50 cents!! Imagine!!) and despite it being entirely in Russian, it was really interesting. They had like, bombs or whatever that they had salvaged from the water sitting in the corners. I’m almost positive they had been defused. Strangely enough, however, they did not have anything in the museum about the rebellion. Which is why we had trekked out there (that and the hats). I get the feeling that it’s something you don’t really talk about, and one of my professors later confirmed it. But we did see the diorama, and it was duly spectacular, and then we ventured to find some lunch. Unlike Petersburg, there was not a café every five feet, so we had some trouble finding one, but then we found a little room with two drunks and a woman in an apron watching TV. Quite hungry and devoid of any other options, we ate there, which I think really just completed our experience. On our way back to St. P, we took this little minibus that stopped for gas on the way! I mean, I suppose it has to be done…while pumping the gas, the driver also left the engine running and continued to smoke his cigarette. No one was fazed, except for the four Americans. All in all, it was quite an adventure and a fun day, and I’m glad we went.

Saturday our study group ventured to Pushkin, previously known as Tsarskoe Selo (which means “Tsar’s Village.” The name was changed after the revolution and named after Russia’s premier poet who studied in the town there). It is about 30 minutes south of St. Petersburg and has a number of palaces, the most prominent and famous being the Catherine Palace, built for Catherine I (Peter the Great’s wife, who ruled from 1725-1727, not Catherine the Great, who came later). The Catherine Palace was the official summer residence of the royal family, and the last Romanovs spent much time there. They primarily lived in the Alexander Palace, near the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, and constructed for Tsar Alexander I when he was born. The Russian people had to be kept in the dark about the fact that Tsarevich Alexei (the only heir to the throne) was a hemophiliac, and it was easier to do that living outside of the city. It was to the Catherine Palace that the royal family was kept under house arrest after the February Revolution before being transported to Siberia and there executed. At any rate, we toured the Catherine Palace and Gardens, and it is absolutely amazing. I seem to say that about everything, but this place is definitely at the top of my list, along with Cpac na Kravee. It is so breathtaking and HUGE and beautiful. I wouldn’t mind living there. You know, part of the time. I think I finally found someplace that would have enough closet space for my shoes. The best part is that you have to walk down this gravel path along the side of the park and then turn a corner and bam!—the entire expanse of the palace is in front of you, and it is spectacular. I’ve added the pictures to my Shutterfly page and as you can see, the exterior is blue and white, very similar to Smolnyi Cathedral and Institute, where I study. The buildings were in fact designed by the same man, Rasterelli, and commissioned by the same woman, Catherine I. The palace is still undergoing major renovation and many of the rooms are not open yet, but even what we saw was really neat. There is one huge ballroom that is pretty much solid gold, and adjoining it on either side are a series of receptions and dining rooms for different groups when they would have a dinner or ball at the palace. They are all decorated the same, in gold and white damask silk, and if you stand at one end, the entrances line up perfectly and you can see all the way to the end of the palace, which is 300 meters long. Rasterelli really wanted to have this suite of seemingly continuous rooms, and it truly is breathtaking. Unfortunately, only half of the rooms were open and with all the people, I couldn’t get a very good picture of it. Also in the Catherine Palace is the famed Amber Room, referred to as the “eighth wonder of the world,” which you may have heard of. It is a room decorated entirely in amber, which is local to the St. Petersburg environs. Pictures are not allowed in the room, so you will have to imagine. But trust me, it is pretty awesome, and there is a very interesting story behind the room. It is in fact a reproduction of what the room originally looked like, as the Nazis sacked the entire palace during the Seige of Leningrad (hence the renovations still going on) and took the entirety of the Amber Room with them. They specifically came for the Amber Room, as the first of the amber panels were presented to Peter the Great as a diplomatic gift from the Prussian Emperor Frederick in order to entice Peter to sign an alliance (which he did). So the Germans made off with the entire Amber Room and after the war ended, a search for their whereabouts began. It was in vain, however, and to this day no one knows where the original amber panels are. Dun dun dun. I smell a real-life National Treasure kind of adventure coming on. After the Revolution, the Catherine Palace was turned into a museum (which really surprised me) and when the news of the German onslaught was heard, the curators tried to hide and preserve what they could, but unfortunately much was still lost. This is the case with the vast majority of the historical places around St. Petersburg. Damn Germans ruined everything! They are restoring everything using original methods however, which is why it is taking such an unbelievably long time, but the parts of the palace officially reopened in 2003 in time for the tercennary of St. Petersburg, and it is used even today for state functions. I particularly liked the gardens (that’s how you know I’m a Blair), and I think I would have spent hours walking around them if I lived there. Or now, if it wasn’t so cold.

Speaking of concerts, you will never guess who I saw perform! Andrea Bocelli! They had a free concert in Palace Square, which is this breathtaking square in the city with the Winter Palace/Hermitage on one side and another huge building on the other and a giant monument in the middle. It was the most majestic setting and I think perfect for a singer like Andrea Bocelli. Plus, it was free, so that was awesome. They put up a stage and he performed right there last Sunday evening, and then they finished the show with fireworks, which no one expected. Though I must say, an outdoor concert in the evening on October really isn’t a great idea; we were rather cold. I went with my friends Joe and Allison, and it was great! So beautiful and majestic. I felt like it was a very Russian-kind of evening. Big and grand.

Now, as promised, I shall also give you a description of daily life. Life in Russia is hard, as my day begins before sun-up. That last part is true—because we are so far north, the sun is no longer up when I get up at 7:30 (which really isn’t all that incredibly early). However, I do think it is incredibly unfair: if the sun isn’t awake then I shouldn’t have to be either. Life isn’t really that hard, but it is difficult to haul yourself out of bed into the cold when it is still black outside! I figure in about a month or so I won’t ever see the sun again, as it will only be out for about four hours a day, and that’s when I’ll be in school! After getting up, I shower and eat a quick breakfast that Emilia Filipovna prepares (days with apple pancakes are good, days with hot corn flakes or left-over hot dogs are not my favorites) and then head out to do battle with my ever-capricious bus. Once at school (I sure hope you all looked at Smolnyi either online or in my pictures, isn’t it amazing??) I study for either three hours (M, W, F) or five hours (Tuesday and Thursday). On longer days I usually take my lunch, as the food is kind of expensive and rather unidentifiable (typical of cafeterias worldwide, apparently). Plus, for the hundred rubles I could spend at Smolnyi, I could buy at the market enough blinis for a week, a 4-pack of yogurt, a bunch of bananas, and 2 2-liter water bottles. While food here isn’t horribly expensive, this is a city where eating out relative to cooking at home is quite pricey. After classes, I usually have something to do (go to an internet café, meet some friends at a museum, or brave the American-eating babushka at the Russian post office), after which I head home and do my mountains of grammar (and other) homework. I heat up whatever has been left for my dinner. Emilia Filipovna usually doesn’t get home until sometime between 8-10 and she sort of does her thing while I do mine. As I meet more people, I have had more and more things to do, which is great. This week I didn’t get back home before 9 once! Very rarely do I go out at night during the week, as it is dark early and cold and always takes me at least a good half hour to get anywhere and I don’t like being alone on the street at night. Occasionally however, we will go to the opera or ballet. St. Petersburg has a very long artistic tradition, and back in the day people would spend nearly every night at the theatre! Theatre programs are very interesting here: unlike the US, where a particular show or program will run at one place for a certain length of time, theatres here have a different bill every night! There are so many artistic troupes and theatres here, however, that it is easy to catch something you missed in a month or few weeks, but I’m just astounded by the flexibility. One night they will put on Swan Lake, then Gisele the next night, followed by Carmen on a third. But I digress. Weekends I spend mostly exploring the city. On Saturdays we often have a planned excursion, or if we don’t we create one of our own, and in the evenings we try to find an interesting bar or jazz club or movie to see. Sundays I do a little bit of exploring (while it still is decent I enjoy walking around; I’m saving the Russian Museum and the Hermitage for the really awful weather when I won’t want to go out of doors and can spend hours wandering) and do some homework. So there you have it: A Day In The Life of Megan Jayevna.

As far as food goes and what I eat, it’s not bad. There was only one thing I absolutely could not eat (I still gag just thinking about it—and don’t ask what it was, because I couldn’t tell you). Everything else is just average, though I probably wouldn’t prepare it for myself if I was on my own. I’m just sort of lukewarm about most food items, but there are a few things that I am absolutely obsessed with and I’m trying to figure out how I can fashion some sort of device to bring things back with me. Russians do desserts very well, and there is something called “seerok” sold in the frozen case at my local market that I LOVE. It is essentially a small, round little roll of cheesecake (about 4 bites) cased in chocolate. It’s amazing. “Seer” means cheese and it is basically a sweet kind of cheese, and other variants include one with coconut flavoring, carmel and peanut butter, or apricot. But the pure seerok is the best, and it is really rather embarrassing how often I go into the market and buy nothing but seerok. The best part is they are only 14 cents each!! How could I pass that up?? I’m also in love with this chain of tea houses called “Chashka” (which sort of means like, little cup of tea). They serve this ice cream (can you sense a trend in the foods I like?) that they call “panna cotta.” It has kind of a light, creamy flavor with mango or something mixed in. (I apologize for the fact that my descriptions are so vague—I really have no idea what half the stuff I put in my mouth is.) I’m also a fan of frozen blinis. I take the meat ones to school, but you can get them with apples, cabbage, sweet cheese, or liver. As you can tell, Russians are big on their cheese/dairy products. Cmetana, like sour cream/plain yogurt, is put on everything, and dumped by the spoonful into soups. As far as a typical Russian meal goes, it starts with a salad (I have never had so many salads sans lettuce). A salad is usually cucumbers and tomatoes, or possibly sliced beets with (what else) some cream. Then you get soup, which is usually borscht (beet soup) or some other vegetable soup, followed by meat dish with rice or potatoes or something. There is always lots of bread and dinner is followed by black tea. Sometimes we drink kefer later, which is like a thick plain yogurt like drink. During my first week or two I got these big dinners, but now I get more everyday things. Typically for dinner I get rice-hash thing with a ball-patty of meat, or potatoes and hot dogs. I’ve only had “American-type” fast food twice, and that was when I had total cravings. There is a Pizza Hut in town (and it is apparently the place to be seen), and I went with two friends, where we ordered a large pizza. It’s legit to share that among three people! However, typically, the two Russian women sitting next to us were splitting a personal pan pizza. That’s crazy! You don’t split a personal pan! It’s personal! This is why all these young Russian women are insanely thin. We felt like such fat Americans, but boy did it taste good.

I have been told by three native Russians now that I look Russian (round face, shape of my nose), which explains why everybody and their mother feels impelled to stop me and ask for directions, or start talking to me on the bus. (It apparently does not, however, stop me from getting pickpocketed, but whatever.) One of them also mentioned that the thing that set me apart and marked me as an American was my “courtesy and consideration of others.” That’s just not Russian, he said. It also sometimes means that foreign tourists don’t know that I understand what they are saying, which can be hilarious. This happened the other day on my way to school. Because Smolnyi is such a famous building and so beautiful, there are always hordes of tourist buses parked out front and people taking pictures when I show up in the morning. I feel awfully special, as I just breeze through the crowd and I’m like, “Oh yeah, I just study here, you know.” Well last Friday it was pouring, so of course I was using my Pig in Rain umbrella, to the great amusement of a group of American tourists. I saw this one man watch me walking and was grinning uncontrollably, and then I heard him lean in and say to his wife under his breath, “Did you see her umbrella? Do you think she knows what it says?” I wanted so badly to turn around and say be like, “Yes, I know. That’s partly why I bought it,” but I didn’t want to make him feel bad. It was great.

So that’s about it. Our time in Russia is simply flying by! I can’t believe it is already the second week in October. This weekend we had our Saturday trip to Tsarskoe Selo, next weekend we will be in Tallin, Estonia, the weekend after that Phil’s dad is visiting, and then I think we are going to try and go to Helsinki for the last weekend in October. Then it is off to Moscow for four days, right after which is our independent trip to Ukraine. When we return it will be mid-November, and then we’ll only have a month-and-a-half left, with various other excursions. I haven’t even been yet to the Hermitage or Russian Museum. I know I will need a few trips there, but I’m saving it for when it is deathly cold. When it is still bearable I want to spend time walking around the streets and doing other things outdoors, because I know I won’t be able to do that when it is 10 below. Then I will just zip onto the metro and then into the museum and just spend hours there. Phil and I, along with two friends here, Allison and Jeannine, are planning our trip to Ukraine, and we’re really excited about that. We will already be in Moscow, so we are flying out of there to Kiev, where we will spend three days, and then take an overnight train to Lviv. We’ll spend three nights there (and stay at the same place Ewan McGregor did when he did his motorbike trip around the world in Long Way Round!) and possibly take a day trip into the Carpathian Mountains. We’ll then take another overnight train back to Kiev, where we’ll fly back to St. Petersburg via Moscow. Kind of a lot of back and forth, but there aren’t any safe flights out of Lviv and the train ride to Peter is over 30 hours, so that would rob us of a whole day. But Ukraine! How awesome is that? I think it is kind of funny that way I’ve done international travel: I definitely started with the most unusual place and have been moving backward. Azerbaijan, then Russia, then Ukraine and at the end Phil and I will do Eastern Europe. Yet I haven’t even been to London or France. I think most people go the other way.

Oh, and as I mentioned at the beginning of the email, I have finally done laundry after over a month. I’m pretty impressed with myself. My parents are probably also impressed/slightly embarrassed. But don’t worry, it’s not like I was walking around dirty, I just actually have that many pairs of underwear. If I had more, the laundry would still be dirty. Plus, I wear undershirts and stuff like that. I’ve put it off because it is a huge hassle to do here. Laundromats are scarce and really expensive, so I have to do it in the house, and we don’t have very sophisticated washing technology in our apartment. What we do have is a basin that you put in the tub and fill with water and soap, and then you hang the clothes to dry (but not on my balcony, as it often rains when you are out. I now know this). When we first rented our house on Ossipee, I was impressed that we would have a free laundry machine and dryer for six girls (not 4 for 140 students). Now I’m just impressed to have a laundry machine and dryer period. But I felt kind of bad, because I had so much to do after over a month. When you looked in the bathroom, it was like my underwear was on parade.

But I’m having such a great time here. I am absolutely in love with St. Petersburg (even that group of ne’er-do-well wallet thieves can’t get me down!) and am looking for a job or internship where I could hopefully come back this summer. And I think you should all definitely come. This is a place worth experiencing!

Take care, keep in touch, and best wishes,
Megs