Ramblings From Russia: Voronezh Version

I am back in Russia and so is my blog. I will be in Russia for the next nine months as an English teacher. I have been placed to teach at Voronezh State University in the Applied Sciences and International Relations faculties. I have never been to Voronezh before, but here is the little I know about my home for the next year:

1.     Voronezh is a city about 5-9 hours south of Moscow (depending on if your mode of transportation is train, bus, or crazy Russian driver). 

2.     Voronezh has a population of about 890,000 (slightly bigger than San Francisco’s population). 

3.     Voronezh is most famous for alleged UFO sightings in the 1980s

4.     Most importantly, Voronezh boasts a Mango (by far my favorite clothing store in the world).

As of yet, I have received very little info as to what I will be teaching, to whom/what level specifically, or even where I will be living, but I have developed a more “zen” attitude about these things since there’s really nothing I can do about it until I arrive in Voronezhon Friday night.

Right now I am in Moscow for a five day Fulbright orientation and training.  Last Friday, I flew from JFK and met Madeleine on my connection flight out of Zurich, and we arrived together at Domodedovo. At the airport, we found ourselves sufficiently lost while attempting to find our driver after clearing customs, and in our panic we then proceeded to confuse random strangers by speaking incorrect Russian while attempting to ask them if we could borrow their phones in order to locate our driver. (Who knew it was so easy to mess up the word “roditel” (parent) with “voditel” (driver) when frantically looking for the latter?)  We eventually ran into our rather, by that time, impatient driver who took us on one of the most terrifying drives of my life for two hours to our hotel on the outskirts of Moscow. I think our airport experience was still better than the first time Madeline and I attempted it.
 
I have not had much of a chance to explore the city since we have training every day, but I have made it to a few Moscow landmarks. Tomorrow is our last day in Moscow, and we have a whole day to ourselves to wander around and explore the city, which I am looking forward to very much.
 
Here is a picture of me with my fellow Rochester friends on red square. Even though we all majored in Russia and studied abroad, this is the first time the three of us have been together in Russia.

 
Tonight, we found a nice restaurant called “Sixties” on top of one of Moscow’s sky scrapers which has this beautiful view of the city.

Also, if you are familiar with my extreme trepidation when it comes to pigeons, you can only imagine how I feel about the new phenomenon in Moscow called "zombie pigeons". In case you haven’t heard of it, since August people have been frantically reporting cases of birds, pigeons specifically, acting strangely (falling onto people, getting their necks stuck in awkward positions, dying unexpectedly on the streets, etc). It doesn’t sound like a disease that can be transmitted to humans, but I am keeping a very healthy distance from any pigeons (normally my policy anyways, let’s be real).

On a more serious note, I have one more day in Moscow and then I head to Voronezh. Next update will hopefully be from there!

Western European Adventures

I have to take a small side diversion from my Russian ramblings to quickly describe my Western European Travel Week. A few weeks ago I got a break from Eastern Europe and spent a week in Paris. Paris was everything I thought it was going to be! The people I stayed with were so gracious and even gave me my own apartment. What a nice (slightly needed) break from Russia. I honestly hadn’t seen the sun in weeks and even got sunburned on my first CLOUDY day in Paris. I loved absolutely everything about the city. I was able to walk almost everywhere and with the help of my guidebook (thanks, Masha!) and my wonderful hosts I was able to see a lot of the city. I saw all the major landmarks but my favorite two by far were Musee de Orsay and the Shakespeare Bookstore. Since I am in love with the impressionists, Musee de Orsay had almost every painting I grew up loving. I spent hours wandering through their impressionist gallery. Shakespeare and Company is the name of an independent bookstore opened first in 1919 in Paris that I also fell in love with. I could have spent hours sitting and reading there. The Louvre was also incredible and a bit overwhelming because there was just SO much to see.

Here I am outside the Louvre! Wilson Commons (UofR's main student building was designed after the Louvre's triangle entrance).

The French cuisine definitely lives up to its reputation. Crepes and Croissants were a wonderful contrast to my regular dinner of boiled potatoes and borsht. Who knew that a simple French baguette could be so rich and delicious! I ate one for breakfast on the train to Versailles. I forgot the warning to tear off the bread before biting into it. I am pretty sure that everyone on the commuter train was silently laughing at the silly American tourist with a baguette stuck in her mouth.

I got really excited every time I saw the Eiffel Tower. It reminded me that I was in PARIS and how lucky I was to be there.

Here is a view of the city from Notre Dame.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with a few friends in Paris and with one of them (Betsy!) went to London for one day. I was warned but did not realize just how expensive London really is. The first night there we bought a metro ticket one way that was the equivalent of over six dollars. For one underground ride. Betsy and I just laughed and laughed because the fare was so ridiculously high. London was also my first hostel experience. Since it was probably the cheapest hostel in the city, it was definitely…interesting. Every person in our rather smelly room was over 50 and living there indefinitely. I was also terrified of bed bugs, but thankfully had no encounters with them (that I know of…). It was, however, wonderful motivation to wake up early and explore the city. We saw so much in one day: Kensington, the Tower of London, Westminster Abby, Parliament/Big Ben, British Museum, National Gallery, Piccadilly and Leicester.

Buckingham Palace! I was so happy to see the sun. 

For me, the most startling thing about London besides the prices was the fact that everyone spoke English. I hadn’t heard that much English since August! I noticed that I let my guard down a bit with my belongings because I tend to subconsciously trust people who speak the same language as I do. Even though Betsy and I were only there for a day and a half, we figured out the metro system very easily and even helped out other lost Americans. 

At the British Museum with pieces from the Parthenon. (NERD alert)

The weekend I returned to Russia I traveled to Pskov, an ancient Russian city about four hours from Petersburg, with Anya. The marshrutka we took to Pskov was playing “The Proposal” with dubbed Russian voices. It was pretty hilarious. When we arrived, it was SNOWING. I was so excited! We stayed in a woman’s monastery for basically nothing for two nights. I earned my keep though by helping the nuns with their English! There are 100 nuns at this monastery, and they were all incredibly sweet and gave me little presents to remember Pskov. On Sunday morning, Anya and I took a bus to the Pskov Cave monastery, which was amazing. I am really going to miss these beautiful, peaceful places. The monastery is very unique because, if I understood correctly, it was never closed during the Soviet times. We ate lunch and went through the caves before heading back to St. Petersburg.

The following week, we had a Leningrad Rock concert at a club near Nevsky. It consisted of Americans (specifically on our program) singing Soviet 80s songs and Russians singing American 80s songs. It was so much fun! I was part of the choir who sang “Goodbye America”, a song about a man saying farewell to America even though he had never been there. There is even a reference to a banjo.

These are the students in my program at the Rock Concert. Can you find me?

Sad to say, my semester in Russia is quickly coming to an end! Yesterday, I had my last day of work at the Hermitage. They were so sweet and gave me lots of presents (including 2 hardcover books in Russian and the 2005 Annual Report in English). It was hard leaving the Hermitage for the last time. I keep telling myself I will be back sometime soon! Even though I am in complete denial that I am leaving this country in three days, I will not miss the lack of sunlight or my uncaring host mother. I will blog again soon with details on my last few days! 

I've been bit by the travel bug

I sincerely apologize for how long it has been since I have updated! After my week of traveling, I found myself needing time to recuperate but having to do a million and a half things instead. But let me recap my travel week! First, we set off for Moscow on an overnight train. In Russia, there are two types of train cars: ones with doors and ones without. Apparently, the Russians rationalize the ones without doors as being safer for someone traveling alone because they spend a whole night sleeping next to a stranger and probably wouldn’t want to be completely shut in. At least that’s what they told us. Nevertheless, our first train compartment had DOORS! We woke up in Moscow and immediately hopped on a tour bus to see the city. Since we were only in Moscow for a few days (about two and a half), it was a challenge to limit myself in all I hoped to see but even still, I managed to pack in a lot including Red Square (even Lenin's body), the Kremlin (and the churches and the Armory Museum inside!), the Tretyakov Gallery (one of my absolute favorite galleries to date), the Novodevichy Convent and Cemetery (where Gogol and Chekov among others are buried), the Goulag Museum and a few other beautifully baroque churches. Unfortunately, at my favorite places, like the Tretyakov Gallery, the Armory, and most churches, I wasn’t able to take pictures. But here, I am in Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, the signature church of Moscow.

 I was seized with the urge to do something a little different in my pictures at Red Square, so here I am jumping with my friend Sarah.

This, unbelievably, is the spectacular interior of one of the Moscow Metros.

I also got to meet up with some old friends!

I have to say I was surprised by Moscow. First, it needs to be noted that people from St. Petersburg can’t STAND people who live in Moscow and vice versa. Therefore, I was warned by almost everyone that Moscow was a dirty city where people were greedy and cold. Surprisingly, it was almost the opposite! Moscow was definitely a huge and dirty city, compared to St. Petersburg at least, but her inhabitants were every bit as friendly! They even smiled and laughed on the metro (a very rare event in St. Pete’s, in my experience anyways). Whenever I found myself lost or confused, I was always able to find help from a Moscovite. I was even escorted places a few times by random people who, out of the goodness of their heart, just wanted to help this poor American girl find what she was looking for (something I have yet to experience in St. Petersburg, granted I haven’t been lost there very often). Nevertheless, I missed St. Petersburg and its beautiful canals very much!

Only a few days later, we hopped back onto a train WITHOUT doors and in 14 hours arrived in Kiev (after two border checks at 5am).  Kiev was amazing. Just amazing. The people were so pleasant, and the city had such a welcoming feeling overall. Ukrainian has many words that are either the same in Russian or very similar and many words that are RADICALLY different. It felt to me like listening to Russian in my sleep, but I was able to communicate in Russian since almost everyone spoke it as well. I really enjoyed wandering around the city in the mornings before our tours began. St. Sophia's Cathedral and the Kiev- Pecharsk Lavra (famous Russian Orthodox Cave Monastery) were beautiful places, and we were able to visit the caves briefly, but how I wished I could have spent more time there. 

 Kiev also had a great World War II Museum (Great Patriotic War as they call it). It is in the base of this monument to the war.

 Here I am standing in front of the lavra.

After Kiev, we spent a total of 19 hours on trains (with one break for an hour) including the trip back to Petersburg on a Russian speed train. I was actually extremely impressed with the speed train. I felt like I was in first class on an airplane! It almost felt too modern to be Russian. After jumping off the train and bolting home, I set off for Helsinki with a few friends that same night! Since our trip to Helsinki wasn’t with our CIEE Group, we decided to couch surf in Helsinki (cross another thing off the bucket list!). I never would have couch surfed if I were alone, but it ended up being a really interesting and positive experience. The person we stayed with was pleasant and even helped us cook one night. Helsinki was such a wonderful break from Russia and a very green city. The air was so clean, and organic shops and markets could be found on practically every street. We wandered through the famous design district and found many cute shops with eco-friendly products. Helsinki also was already preparing for Christmas and had a few “Christmas markets” that were great to wander through (which was wonderful because I LOVE Christmas). On our second day, we went to a fortress about twenty minutes from the mainland called Suomenlinna.

If I had to compare this beautiful island to anything, I imagine it would be a cross between Ireland and New Zealand. It is still a residential island, and over 500 people live there. 

Oh, and did I mention that water is FREE in Helsinki (there is absolutely no free water in Russia)? I drank more water in those two days than I have in probably the three months I’ve been in Russia. Besides the six, yes six, border control stations, it was the perfect way to end the week. And, in this week, I more than doubled the number of countries I have visited. As the title of this post suggests, I cannot wait to explore others.

I was shocked when I realized how little time I actually have left! Next week is already my travel break, and after that it is a mere 17 days before I return home. There is so much left to see and do (even though I have done almost everything in my guidebook already, yay!) I have taught English a few more times and really enjoyed it. My students are wonderful! I have also started a “Toys for Tots” program with a local orphanage and can’t wait to visit with the kids soon hopefully. I also shook Artemi Troitski's hand last week at a lecture (famous Soviet rock critic). I wasn’t able to gather a lot out of his lecture in Russian (besides his love for the Beatles and disdain for Brittany Spears), but he was a funny guy.

I finally feel that my Russian is at a level where I am comfortable speaking. I have even been able to stumble through many meaningful conversations that have lasted up to a few hours. But I must say, the weather is getting rather depressing. The sun rises around 10:30 am and sets around 5pm. I am pretty sure the best Christmas present I will receive this year will be seeing the sun again!

Here is my comedic Russian tidbit for the day: on many streets one can find this machine by the metro.

 Yes, it is an umbrella vending machine. That should give you a good idea about our wonderful weather here in St. Petersburg.

Loving Life

Long time, no blog! Last weekend, I traveled to Novgorod with a few friends. This trip was much more involved than the others I have planned because it is four hours away from St. Petersburg. Because our passports haven’t been returned to us yet, we were unable to stay overnight (one needs a passport to stay in a hotel here). So, we woke up bright and early at 5:30am and arrived back in the city at 10:30pm. We took the eletrichka (commuter train) on the way there and the bus back (Side note: I fell asleep on the train for a few minutes and woke up to three men taking my picture. When Russians see a foreigner, they do not even try to mask their curiosity. At first I found this extremely disconcerting, but I have learned, especially on the metro, to either completely ignore or stare back with the blankest of expressions. Apparently, it's ok for them to stare, but, if I stare back, it is considered very rude). Novgorod is one of the oldest cities in Russia (I believe it was founded in the 9^th century) and a beautiful, historical place. We spent most of the day wandering around the Kremlin and the Volhov River and exploring the churches.

Here is a view of the Kremlin with the Volhov River in the background from the top of one of the towers.

I was able to capture the two most famous sites inside the Kremlin in one shot. The first is the Memorial to 1000 years of Russia (erected in 1862). This monument contains sculptures of famous Russians all along its base.  Behind it is the famous St. Sophia Cathedral (one of my absolute favorite churches in Russia so far).

Here is a quick glimpse of just a few of the churches in Novogorod. A lot of them have frescos painted by famous iconographers (e.g. Feofan Grek) dating back to the 10^th century. I also loved Novogorod because I finally felt like I was in RUSSIA. The people were so welcoming and helpful! We found a local café and ate lunch for less than $2, which is unheard of in St. Pete’s. 

Yesterday, I hit the halfway point: two months down, two to go. The time has gone by so fast; I don’t like it at all! I have kept myself very busy with school, working, and exploring the city. Volunteering at the Hermitage has been a great experience! The past few times I have been assisting in the Archeology Department. The pieces I am working with are from an underwater excavation in the Smolensk region. Sometimes, I work at the entrance to the museum assisting with tickets and security. As tedious as the work is sometimes, it provides the perfect and much-needed opportunity for practicing my Russian conversation skills! I also finally got my official Hermitage Volunteer Badge. On my first day, they asked me which languages I am studying. I answered in Russian that I am studying Russian, Latin, and VERY old Greek (I didn't know the word древный/ancient). 

They clearly did not understand what I meant because, as you can see, my badge has three flags. The third flag is definitely not Ancient Greece!

I also started teaching English at an English Club. Teaching English has always been a dream of mine, so I was very excited but nervous that I wouldn’t do so well. I had five wonderful students ranging from ages 25 to 40.  It became more of a friendly conversation than a lesson, and soon we were all enjoying an interesting discussion on the differences between American and Russian lifestyles. I really can’t wait to do it again!

I have been taking advantage of my stay in this cultural Mecca that is St. Petersburg and have treated myself to a few ballets and operas. A few weeks ago I saw Yevgeni Onegin at the Marinsky Theater, which was an incredible performance. Though there were English subtitles, I was able to understand some of the Russian phrases on my own. 

Here is a shot of the inside of the theater.

I loved the Marinsky!

I was fortunate enough to see Sleeping Beauty at the Hermitage Theater. As beautiful as the ballet was, it was a very strange experience because this theater is very popular among foreigners. I heard English all around me and found myself staring at people walking by me. I think it was a first taste as to what reverse culture shock will be like. This past weekend I saw a play at Alexandrovsky Theater with a few of my new Russian friends and have tickets to Swan Lake tomorrow at the Mihaelovksy. I am becoming a cultured Petersburgian and loving it!

On Thursday, I am going by train with my program to Moscow and Kiev for a week. I will have much to blog about when I return!

Edit: Forgot to mention that it SNOWED last week. Yes, in the middle of October, it has already snowed.

Here I am celebrating the first snow of the year!

Which palace?

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been trying to see a different suburban town every weekend.  In addition to the excursions our program arranges, a few of us have braved the marshrutka system to get outside of the city. First, we attempted to see the Fountain Ceremony at Peterhof, a week before our excursion there as a group. Every year, there is a ceremonial opening and closing of the fountains, and thousands of people come to celebrate. We hopped on a marshrutka, but, by the time we got there, the ticket booths had closed. After a few minutes, we realized that the police weren’t letting anyone in. Locals with tickets weren’t even able to enter (except, of course, if they knew the officer and had a thick wad of rubles)! Everyone outside the gates was frustrated, and one extremely inebriated woman was wailing and singing sad songs because she couldn’t see the fountains. 

However, about forty-five minutes later, the celebration ended with a stunning firework show. 

Then, crowds of people leaving the celebration pushed by us. In all the chaos, we were able to sneak through the crowds and catch a quick glimpse of the fountains before running back to the marshrutka stop. 

Since we were able to figure out the marshrutka system quite easily at Peterhof, we decided to wing our second adventure (bad decision). We wanted to go to Pushkin and see Catherine’s Palace/царское село. We asked a marshrutka driver (водитель), “Does this marshrutka go to Catherine’s palace?”. He assured us it went to the palace, so we paid and sat down. Almost two hours later, we stopped in a tiny village with a pretty, but rather shabby palace. The driver told us everyone had to get off the bus by an old train station. After a frustrating attempt at a conversation with the driver, we both realized there was a misunderstanding as to WHICH palace we wanted. Apparently, we were in Gatchina, or, as referred to it at the time, the absolute middle of nowhere! After convincing the driver to give us our money back, we franticly found a marshrutka to St. Petersburg and started the process all over again. Six hours later, we arrived in Pushkin, but unfortunately the palaces were closed. In retrospect, I am glad we took the wrong marshrutka because I got to enjoy some of the beautiful Russian countryside and a quaint town (once I knew where I was) that I wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise. 

Having learned my lesson, I am very proud that we did not get lost or get on the wrong marshrutka to our last solo adventure-Kronstadt. Kronstadt is a town on the island of Kotlin, 48 km west of St. Petersburg. It was closed to civilians for many years when it acted as a navy military base. It was just reopened in 1996! It is still the major seaport of St. Petersburg. St. John of Kronstadt also resided there for most of his life, so I was very interested to see where he lived etc. For a while, I wasn’t able to find anything particularly about him in the town until I met a really sweet elderly gentleman by a church. He gave us a full tour of the church and then directed us to St. John’s apartment. It was amazing being able to see where and how he lived!

This plaque says "commemorative museum/ apartment of the holy righteous St. John of Kronstadt". It is located right outside the apartment of St. John. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside but seeing how he lived and his belongings was incredible.

Outside of the apartment was a small garden with a statue in honor of St. John.

There were anchors EVERYWHERE. Here I am standing by an anchor with the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in the background. The cupola even had anchors on it!

The port had a spectacular view of the Gulf of Finland. (Note the lunch bag packed with love by my host mom)

Also, on the way back from Kronstadt, I saw Russia’s version of an emergency exit. Instead of an emergency handle or window, this bus had an emergency hammer.

 In case of emergency, one is to break the glass with the hammer and climb through it. I giggled quietly to myself after realizing what it was and snapped a quick picture. I received yet another deadly Russian glare, but it was worth it. Tomorrow, I am attempting to go to Pushkin again (hopefully with more success) on a local bus. At least I know where the emergency exit is now!

Just another palace...

 I absolutely love weekends in Russia! Every weekend so far, we have gone on an excursion outside of the city either with our program or independently. Last weekend we went to what is now one of my favorite places in the entire world (I keep saying that, don’t I?): Pavlovsk, a small town near St. Petersburg. It holds a palace built by Peter I that is surrounded by the most beautiful park I have ever seen. We took a train to the town and walked through the park to the palace. I was so in love that I took over 700 pictures. Oops. Here are a few that sum up the day.

Here is a quick shot of the magnificent palace.

The scenery was stunning. I didn't want to leave!

Some people rented rowboats and enjoyed the park from the water. 

I also really enjoyed posing with the statues. 

Our next excursion as a group was to Peterhof, yet another palace. As you can probably guess, it was also built by Peter the Great and is often referred to as the "Russian Versailles". Instead of touring the palace as per usual, we toured the grounds. Peterhof is most famous for its fountains; there are over 150 of them! In 1941, Peterhof was captured and used as a military base by German soldiers. Many of the treasures were destroyed, and they attempted to bury and destroy the fountains (thankfully without much success). A good portion of Peterhof was reconstructed after the war, but we were able to see the original brick from the palace!

This is the main fountain of Samson with the palace in the background.

We took a tour under the palace to see how the water was supplied to the fountains. Our guide explained that the water flow is all natural, and no pumps are involved. After that, we were allowed to stand under the main fountain and look out on the park.

Peter the Great also apparently had a sense of humor because he had many "trick" fountains scattered around the park. For example, there is one table at the palace with a basket of fruit. When you reach your hand to grab an apple, guess what happens?

Peter strategically picked the location for the palace, and the view from the grounds is spectacular. From the edge of the park on the Gulf of Finland, one can see the island of Kronstadt to the far left and St. Petersburg to the right. 

I really enjoyed the view and the unusual sunny weather! 

Though I have only been here a month, I have already learned a lot about myself. One of the things I have noticed is how much I enjoy being outside of the city in the fresh air and countryside. It is so refreshing. As much as I adore St. Petersburg and many American cities, it is obvious that I am most definitely a country girl!

Only in Russia

I should know by now that anything and everything I do in Russia is a new adventure. I brought my application to the Hermitage expecting to drop it off and have an interview or a conversation about scheduling. I was immediately photographed and asked to work that evening. I finally understood that a preview of a new sculpture exhibit by Antony Gormley was being held in the evening after the museum had closed.  I was instructed to stand outside the gates of the Museum, welcome guests, and check for their invitations. For a split second, I was delighted because interacting with and assisting people is work I really enjoy; I also had a fantastic experience doing that this summer (Thanks Kajsa!). I was jarred back to reality when I realized I overlooked one important detail: I needed to speak Russian. I was able to think of two useful Russian phrases that I kept repeating over and over, “Good evening, do you have an invitation?” and “Thank you, please proceed to the museum”. However, I was completely useless when trying to explain that the museum was closed and that an event was taking place. I was even more helpless when someone would ask me a question or ignore my request to see their invitation and kept walking. Even if I understood the question, I didn’t have the information or the Russian words to help! The other girl with me accidently asked a policeman for his invitation, and she got the death glare of the century! What a frustrating yet wonderful night.
We were then brought up to the exhibit and were able to look around. I ended up chatting with Antony Gormley’s brother about the peculiarities of Russia and about museums in general. It was comforting to have one conversation of the night that was not in broken Russian, and he and his brother were lively and congenial!  When I got home, I did some research and found out that this is the first time a living artist has had an exhibit in the Hermitage Museum. How fortunate I am to have opportunities like this even if some of the art displayed horribly confused me.