Final Days in Moscow

Well, it's the night before I leave Russia, so I suppose I'd better make my second to last update.

On Sunday we didn't do much of anything, just sat around for the most part because of the heat. Little did we know that Monday would be worse. Monday set the record for the hottest day in Moscow since 1930 at 99.7 degrees, and it felt much worse thanks to the smoke in the air. The peat bogs and forests around Moscow are burning, and the ash and smoke in the air is nearly unbearable. Thankfully, Benny got me a mask, and I've been trying to use it, though it makes things much hotter. As a result, we really didn't do much, save for going to the grocery store and so on.

Tuesday night we all got together to watch Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, since we'd all been watching the trilogy together. It was a fun night, though we tried not to stay up too late, because on Wednesday we had an excursion to Sergeev Pasad in place of our lecture.

I didn't feel very well from the get-go on Wednesday, but I tried to fight through it. I threw up once on the way to breakfast, but I foolishly hoped that I was over the hump, and it wouldn't happen again. How very wrong I was. After our ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast (of which I ate half of one piece of bread), I trooped on over to the bus and got on, hoping that I would feel better by the time we got there if I took a nap. Again, very wrong. Thankfully, I had sensed that my bread might not be staying down, and so I took our lunch out of the bag it had been packed in (our lunch consisting of a Mounds bar, a Snickers, a Kit-Kat, and a chocolate cookie of some sort) and managed to throw up in that. I still didn't feel better by the time we got there, and asked to stay on the bus, but Elena freaked out so much about it that I finally just decided to go into the monastery with them.

When we reached the interior of the monastery, I found a bench to sit down on and half-fall asleep while they waited for the tour guide. I was awoken by a half-crazed Russian woman (who I subsequently discovered was the homestay mother of one of the girls in our group), who insisted that I follow her. I did so, and though she first told me I should drink some holy water, she wanted me to wash my face first. So she led me over to a woman watering the flowers, and proceeded to have this woman hose me down. Shoulders to toes soak me with a hose. I kept trying to run away in between dousings, but she was very insistent, and eventually I was suitably drenched for her purposes.

I escaped her and wandered off to find a bench to fall asleep on in the shade. This was a difficult task, given how crowded benches are, but I found a spot next to another woman who was already asleep, and managed to doze for a couple minutes before she woke up and woke me up in turn. I discovered at this point that my once-shady bench was now in the sunshine and much too hot to stay on, so I got up and started walking again. I went to the holy water fountain and splashed some on my face, thinking it couldn't hurt, and then wandered around some more until I found a shady grassy spot under a tree. No sooner had I sat down than a crazy Russian babushka came up to me and started yelling and reciting a poem about me killing myself and my unborn children by sitting in the grass because Russians believe that sitting in the grass without anything under you will shrivel your ovaries up.

Rather than argue with her, I got up and started searching for another place to lie down. Eventually I found a building in the corner with a large, three-sided staircase. I hid on the hard-to-see side and fell asleep on the stone stairs. Luckily, only 12 people asked me if I was alright. One was a priest, who told me that he would be working in a nearby building if I needed him and also blessed me.

Eventually I went to McDonald's when it was only about an hour till we were supposed to leave, and was fine until I entered the building and the smell hit me. At that point, the nausea returned, and when we left I threw up again. An employee brought me a cup of water, but since I wasn't really sure whether he wanted me to drink it or pour it on myself, I just threw it away.

I slept all the way home, and felt much, much better, and it only got better after that.

I was completely back to normal on Thursday, just in time for our final class and our graduation ceremony. I took our test on verbs of motion and managed to make an A even though I didn't study at all. Ludmila informed me that I made A's in everything, and our graduation ceremony passed as most do, with much handing out of papers and so on.

Friday, Anna and Bart and I went to the bookstore to get a couple of things I'd forgotten to get, and then we went to Red Square for a group picture. Afterwards we returned home, and mostly chilled out all night.

And that brings us to today, which I have spent doing nothing. I was supposed to meet up with friends, but they were too tired after the souvenir fair to do so, and so I was stuck here. Still, it wasn't terrible, and Anna made dinner, so all in all, I guess it was good to relax.

I can't wait to get home on Monday, and I'm praying for a safe, uneventful trip.

See you all Stateside soon!

Moscow: Days 46-60

Apologies again for the lack of updates. I would like to blame it on the heat and so-on, but really I just got lazy. Still, I have been keeping detailed notes, so I will be able to tell you all about the past two weeks.

So, two Saturdays ago we had an excursion to Red Square to see Lenin's Mausoleum and the graves along the Kremlin Wall. The majority of the group went to a little nearby town named Seusdal, so there were very few of us that went on this excursion. Poor Matthew had been drinking quite a bit the previous evening, and so he spent the morning searching for places the throw up. Eventually, after standing in line for an hour and a half, we got to go through the mausoleum. Honestly, the best part of it was the fact that it was so much colder in there. It was a little freaky seeing him there, and I kept expecting him to sit up and yell "Boo!" The guards were also amusing, as their sole purpose seemed to be standing there to shush people. The graves along the Kremlin wall were actually more interesting to me, and I ended up reading the names to the group of British tourists in front of me as we walked along. After that Kim and I went to Starbucks, which wasn't quite as good as home, and then to the mall, and then home.

That Sunday, we did absolutely nothing, seeing as how it was so ungodly hot. However, the Monday after that we had class and I had my individual. In this individual, I began reading a book of Russian history for foreigners, and we focused on the 1917 Revolution. The vocab is quite difficult, and there is a lot of it, but I am greatly enjoying it.

Tuesday, as usual, we went to class. Afterwards, we had an excursion to the museum of Contemporary Russian History. This was not a particularly interesting museum, despite my hopes, and the fact that it was not air conditioned and therefore stiflingly hot did not help matters. Even worse was the fact that the tour guide they hired for us was probably the worst tour guide in history, and "spoke English" about as well as I speak Swahili. When he didn't know a word, he would just mumble something under his breath and move on to the next room, leaving us to scramble after him. After we left, Kim, Anna, Matthew, and I went to TGI Friday's across the street for some American cuisine. It ended up being delicious, as close to true American food as we could get, and the cherry on top of the sundae was the fact that they had cold fountain drinks on ice--a true anomaly here in Russia.

Wednesday was lecture day, as usual, and, also as usual, it was tragically boring. I still don't understand how this man could make ethnic tensions a boring topic, but boy-howdy, he succeeded. So, somewhere along the line of the 4 hour lecture, I started studying words for my vocab test the next day rather than listening.

Due to this voracious studying, I went into class on Thursday feeling quite confident that I would do what our teacher said had never been done. I would score 100% on a vocab quiz. I flew through the test, confident that I had succeeded, only to discover that I missed that mark by one letter. One misspelled letter dashed my dreams. After a few minutes to whine and moan over it, I returned my attention to class. However, near the end of class, she offered me a second chance to correct that one mistake, since I didn't know what it was. I tried, and though I correctly identified which word was incorrect, I did not manage to correct it, and so my hopes were once again dashed on the cold, hard rocks of disappointment.

Friday was even hotter than previous days, and so after class, Kim and I took a walk down to the mall at the end of the street so we could sit in the air conditioning. We went up to the Italian restaurant on the top floor to have lunch. I chose lasagna and she chose a shashlik. I should have known better, because my lasagna, while not terrible, was definitely not lasagna, and lacked any meat or red sauce at all. In fact, it was more like cheese between lasagna noodles floating in a sea of strange cheese/cream something or other.

Saturday we had plans to all go to the Armory museum together, and since Kim and I hadn't done much else, we decided to go early while the others were going through the mausoleum they had missed and go into St. Basil's instead. The cathedral was pretty on the inside, but it looked a great deal like every other cathedral we've been in, and the main interesting point was the view out one of the the windows of Red Square. Afterwards we headed to the ticket office, only to find, just before we got to the window, that they had just sold out tickets for the day. Disappointed, Kim, Anna, Matthew, and I went to the mall instead to window shop our troubles away. When we returned home, we were informed that some of the group was going to an ice bar with some girls they had met in St. Pete's, where the bar was actually made of ice, and it was -10 degrees C. We were all very excited, but when we got there, we discovered that it was actually just a room in a grocery store. Before we got there, I had gotten an email from Dr. Mozur telling me that his nephew, Mark, was in town, and we should meet up with him. He had given us his number, so we sent him a text on the metro, and found out that he was actually meeting some friends at about 10:30 that evening, close to where we were. We agreed to join him, and so Anna and I left early to go meet him. After quite a while of wandering back and forth on the phone, totally lost (for the record, there are two giant cross statues in the park near Kitai Gorod), we finally found him and went to a little bar called Bourbon Street. I imagine it was supposed to evoke the feel of the street for which it was named, but I'm afraid the cramped quarters and Elvis impersonator screaming at us all night made the resemblance shaky at best. Nonetheless, we had fun, and I was sad when Anna and I had to leave early to catch the last metro.

On Sunday, we went to a soccer game, which proved to be more strictly policed than the airports here. My bag was searched 3 times before I was allowed to sit. The first time, the woman said she saw a fork. I was very confused, as I was certain there could not be a fork in my bag. I assumed she must be talking about my comb with the pick on the end, and she decided that must have been what she saw, and let me through. Not 5 minutes later, I discovered that I actually did have a fork in my purse. It was one that broke in the cafeteria that I had kept as a funny souvenir. I hid it in the bag that my sunglasses are in, and didn't have any more trouble with that. The game itself was rather ridiculous, between the cheering and jeering and shouting, but it was fun. We left a little early to beat the crowds, walked through the intimidating aisle of Militsia, and went home.

The following Monday, I finally achieved the goal I had set for myself from the start of the month. I scored 100% on a vocab test. This set the tone of the rest of the class, and I was giddy with excitement. However, I had my individual after lunch, and I actually did rather poorly. Still not sure what was up with me, but Lyudmilla accused the coke I was drinking of destroying my brain. Still, nothing could get me down after that 100.

Tuesday was uneventful, and Wednesday marked our last lecture. I couldn't have been more pleased. After sitting through 4 hours of boring lecturing again, I sat at home for quite a while until Mitch and I decided to go out and ride the metro. We rode all the way around the circle line and then out to the end of the dark blue line, so we could see the new stations that just opened this year and last year. They were nice, and large, but they seemed to lack the character of the inner stations, and so on the way back we stopped by Park Pobedy (Victory Park) and took some pictures, before doing the same at Taganka Square.

Thursday was uneventful, save for the fact that I got a phone and a few other things from a girl who is also leaving and didn't want to have to pack them. The phone is in perfect order, and I had a card already, so I popped it in and was quite pleased to find that it worked just fine. Among the things I took, I also got a dictionary that, get this, isn't in alphabetical order. Oh, the joys of Soviet publishing.

Friday was class as usual, and that evening we all went to the Malii Theater to see Swan Lake. It was excrutiatingly hot inside, and the worst part of it all was that the performance itself was not that good. Everything felt very sleepy and uninteresting. The second act was better than the first, but still not unbelievable, and the end was very anticlimactic, sad to say.

And finally, that brings us to today. Another record high, another day without air conditioning. We went to the Izmailova Souvenir fair, where I purchased quite a few gifts for people. I truly hope that I haven't forgotten or jilted anyone, and I would hope that if I did, no one would string me up by my toenails.

Moscow: Days 36-45

First of all, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! One thing led to another and by the time I got home it was just such a daunting task that I just couldn't bring myself to do it. However, I am feeling sufficiently guilty today to just jump in and go, so forgive me if things seem a little disjointed.

On Tuesday of last week, we determined which classes we would be in. I was placed in the second highest group, along with many of those that had been in my class in St. Pete. The group above me consists of a guy who was raised in Russia and is fluent and a couple of others who are very very good, so I was pleased with where I was placed. My teacher's name is Lyudmilla Sergeevna and though I wasn't too certain about her at first (she has the rather abrasive, blunt manner of teaching that is so typical of the Soviet schooling system) I now really do like her. Classes are 2 hours long, 2 per day, with one ten minute break. It's quite a lot to handle, but I think I've gotten used to it, and I just keep telling myself that classes back home will seem like a snap compared to this.

Wednesday was our first lecture, on the topic "Russia Today." Unfortunately, these are one of my least favorite things about Moscow. We are with one man for the entire 4 hours of our class day, listening to him talk on one subject. It gets exceedingly boring, and I know that the majority of us now use the time to do homework for our other classes instead.

Thursday was Kim's 21st birthday, so after class Anna went out and collected all the things to make a big pasta dinner for her, since we couldn't go out because of classes the next day. Kim very much enjoyed herself, and especially the bottle of Bailey's that we all pitched in to buy for her, since Bailey's is approaching 40 dollars per bottle here!

Friday was a fairly standard class day, nothing much to report, and rather than going anywhere I just came back to the dorms and chilled.

Saturday morning we had an excursion to the Kremlin. I was a little irritated (and still am) at the way our student advisor seems to treat us all like children, but what can you do, I guess. We were told to meet at a metro station 2 minutes away from where we were going at 11:15am. Turns out, our tour didn't even start until noon. So we waited around for 45 minutes for no reason at all, and then had to stop every 3 seconds once we did get going so that Elena could make sure that all her little American ducklings were in a row. It didn't help that the inside of the Kremlin was rather unremarkable. We did get to see the outside of the building that the President's office is in, but other than that all we saw were churches. Granted, the Assumption Cathedral was pretty cool, since it houses the bodies of almost all of the Tsars of Russia. We were supposed to go out for Kim's birthday that night, but it ended up not happening, and we just chilled in our room instead after walking around the Ohotnii Ryad underground mall for a few hours.

Sunday, our Russian friend Dmitry invited us to go to a beach north of Moscow on the Moscow River and have a barbeque for the Fourth of July. About 12 people said they would go Saturday night, but we needed a few people to get up and leave early to go to a large Hypermarket (apparently 5 times bigger than a supermarket) named Ashan to get all the things we would need. Since no one else would, I volunteered. So I got up the next morning at 7 after approximately 4.5 hours of sleep thanks to some people being loud in the kitchen all night and got up to get Benny, who likewise volunteered to go. When I went in, he refused to get up. I left and talked it over with Cate, and then went back in and very nicely encouraged him to get out of the bed. We were on our way by 8 and though the trip to Ashan was pretty crazy, we eventually made it (seems to be the story of just about every outing here). We spent four hours shopping and approximately a hundred dollars. Then it turned out that we had only 8 people who would be there, but it wasn't too big a deal. We met up with those that were going and headed to the beach. Again, took a while, but we eventually made it, only to discover that we weren't allowed to bring the mangal (open barbeque grill) in with us and if we wanted to it would be 5,000 rubles (almost 200 dollars). We said no way, and just decided to let the meat go bad and chalk it up to a loss and a lesson. Once inside we had a ton of fun, and I'm still very glad I went. Mitch and I laid out and watched people for hours, and I still think I'm scarred by the things people think are appropriate to wear ever, much less in public. Granted, being topless is totally acceptable at beaches here, and there are some that I think would have looked better just leaving all their clothes off, rather than the terrible things they chose to wear.

Monday I had my individual lesson after class (another 2 hours tacked on to the end of our second class after another 10 minute break. For the record, that's 6 hours of instruction and 20 minutes of break). We decided to do declined numbers (exceedingly difficult) but I did pretty well! The class was interrupted by a bee, however, that landed on the back of my neck in the middle of class. I freaked out, as anyone would, at finding a Chernobyl-size nuclear bee on the back of their neck, and swatted at it. When my teacher realized what was happening, she stopped telling me to be quiet and bodily lifted me from the chair, away from the bee. We chased the bee around for a little while, trying to get the bee onto a piece of paper to throw it out the window because it couldn't fly (apparently I broke its wing when I hit it). Eventually I got it and threw it out, and we settled back down to class. Not 5 minutes later, that thing crawled back in the window and started flopping around on the floor. We freaked out again and threw it back out, and Lyudmilla Sergeevna leaned out the window for several minutes to make sure it was really gone that time. She still says that all the insects love me, and I'm not so sure she's wrong.

Tuesday was Mitch's birthday, so once again we all pitched in to make him a big dinner. We went to Ashan again (a closer one this time), hoping to find coconut milk, but all we found were coconuts. We bought one anyway, hoping to make our own (bad idea). I finally fought the stupid thing open when we got home, and it was, predictably, an enormous failure. We eventually just threw it out because it stunk so bad. On the bright side, the curry chicken Anna made was delicious, and we all had a lot of fun. And, of course, I was in a fabulous mood because I found Haribo Gummy Coke Bottles at Ashan and bought myself 3 packs. They were absolutely delicious, even if I did eat all of them the next day and felt terribly sick.

Wednesday was our lecture again, during which I felt quite ill thanks to the aforementioned coke bottles, and I ended up sleeping through most of it. I hope I can stay awake next week, because he's supposed to be talking about ethnic troubles in Russia today, and as that has direct bearing on my thesis, I would really like to have the information. This was also the day that my hand looked its worse, thanks to two mosquito bites on the back of my right hand. It was swollen to baseball mitt-like proportions, and incredibly itchy and painful. I was afraid I would have to go to the doctor.

On Thursday, my hand looked a great deal better, so I felt much better about that, and my mood was only helped by the fact that our class starts late on Thursday because Bart has his individual lesson on Thursday mornings. That afternoon, Matt and Anna and I decided to go into the city to see the Mayakovsky museum. It was quite interesting, and we went to Teremok afterwards for food, which was delicious as usual. I'm going to miss Teremok terribly when I get back to the States! But on the way home Anna found a Lush store completely by accident, which she'd been searching for ever since we got here. She bought a couple of things, and then we headed home.

And that brings us, finally, to today. Class was done as usual, and then I went with Mitch to meet a Russian friend of his from Siberia, named Ivan. We wandered around Moscow together (much too quickly for my liking), took some pictures, and then went to a sushi restaurant for dinner. After dinner, my feet were so swollen and I was so tired that I decided to go home by myself. The trip nearly killed me because my feet hurt so bad, but I eventually made it home, and that is where I have been ever since, soaking my feet in cold water and being progressively guilted into spending an eternity writing this update. I hope you all appreciate it. ;)

St Petersburg: Day 31 and Moscow: Days 32-35

Alrighty. So I'm now in Moscow, as many of you know, and my internet is US-level quick, so I'm very pleased with that. That said, I'll jump right in to documenting the past few days.

On Friday we had our White Nights tour, which began at 10:30pm. Before that we had our closing ceremony, at which I nearly cried many times. I've come to love my teachers and everyone at Smolny so much, it was very hard for me to leave them. I received a certificate stating that I had completed 100 hours in Russian coursework, and we each got a souvenier mug with something from St. Pete on it, to help us remember. Goodness knows I will never forget, mug or no mug. But after that we went back to the dorms to pack and take a little nap. That done, we met downstairs at the appointed time and went on our White Nights tour, which was really very, very fun. We saw a lot of things we hadn't gotten to see before, and returned to the dorms at 2:30am.

The next day, we had to be checked out of the dorms at 11am. Good thing I was already packed, or it would have been a nightmare. As it was, it was surprisingly simple, given how crazy Russian stuff in general tends to be. That done, we had the rest of the day to kill till we were to meet at 9:30 to head to the train station. The weather was miserable, rainy and cool, but Anna, Bart, Kim, and I went to Peterhof anyway. It was beautiful, despite the rain, and we had a good time. Even if the crazy marshutka driver that took us there had a van whose transmission DESPERATELY needed to be replaced. We returned and went to the bar to kill the last couple of hours, and Anna and I got to talking once we were the only ones left there. On a whim, we decided to check the time, only to discover that it was 9:32. Needless to say, a crazed run back to the dorms ensued, but we were still there before many of the others. The train station was uneventful, and at 12:20am, we were allowed to board the train.

I had never travelled by train before, certainly not overnight, and I have to say that if I have to travel that way again, I might just throw myself on the tracks. 4 people were jammed into a room the size of a walk-in closet, and about as hot as a sauna. Once we wrestled our luggage into the tiny space, we laid down to attempt sleeping. It was miserably hot, and I woke up several times sweating like a whore in church, but we finally made it at around 9am the next morning.

Thus began our time in Moscow. When we got here, we lugged all our luggage to the dorms, got room assignments (I'm rooming with Kim) and settled in. But we didn't have long before they wanted us to go walk around the campus. We did that, and then walked about 15 minutes to the corner to see the store and then 10 minutes more to see the metro station, and then returned, only to be called to a meeting. Once the meeting was over, I was finally able to take a blessed shower, and felt a million times better for it. That done, I mostly whiled away the rest of the day playing on the computer.

Today we went to breakfast at 9:20, and then went to take the placement exam. It went fairly well, I hope, but I won't know until tomorrow. After that we had lunch and then trekked on to downtown to see Red Square and a few other sites. It took a little while, and it was pretty hot, but it was nice enough. If my knee hadn't been hurting so bad it probably would have been better. In the end, Kim and Geoff and I came back and made dinner together, and I've been chilling ever since. Hopefully tomorrow will bring less swelling and a better attitude now that I've had some time to recover.

I will keep you updated on the school situation!

St. Petersburg: Days 30-32

Hello again all. I don't have a ton of time for this, so I'll just jump right in.

On Tuesday Anna and Kim went to a bookstore followed by a cafe, while Geoff, Emily, Sander and I decided to ride the metros all day. Turns out, if you ride any line all the way to the end, you have to get out and pay again to get in and go the other way, after crossing under the tracks through a very VERY sketchy hallway. I honestly would not be surprised to see a drug deal going down there, and my sketch-o-meter is even calibrated to Russia. In any event, nothing terrible befell us, and we made it to the philharmonia with time to spare, after stopping at KFC for dinner. The music was wonderful (the first half was Beethoven and the second was Shostokovich (sp?)) and I sat next to Nina Petrovna, who was quite lovely and happy to talk with me about nearly anything in the world.

Wednesday we had, of course, choir and a lecture on current literature in Russia. Choir went better than usual, surprisingly enough, and I'm hoping that we don't completely embarrass ourselves when we sing for our teachers tomorrow. Afterwards, Kim, Emily and I went to the bookstore where I bought a few Jane Austen novels to amuse myself with. We then returned to the island and met up with several of our friends to watch the US soccer game. England was playing at the same time, and we apparently very much upset two Russians, who stormed out after the game was changed to the US game. The game was super exciting, and the ending unbelievable, and we all went home in great spirits.

Today has been fairly uneventful, given that we're all trying to save strength for packing and our trip this weekend. But a group of us went to a nice little Armenian restaraunt that ended up having delicious food, and by the time we left it was nearly 5 o'clock. I read my book on the way home, and managed to finish it around 8:30, after which I went to the cafeteria with Bart and Anna and then returned here. Not planning on going out again tonight, but some of the others are.

I will probably not be able to update for a little while, given the craziness that will be going on this weekend, but I'll do my best.

St. Petersburg: Days 26-29

Hello again all! Sorry for the delay in updates once again. The end of my time in Petersburg is fast approaching, and so we're all trying to get everything done that we haven't already, so by the time I get home I'm usually ready to collapse.

So, where did we leave off? Friday, I believe. On Friday, Anna, Geoff, Emily, Kim, Bart, and I decided to make the rounds of the various cathedrals and churches in St. Pete. We started with the rather impressive Kazaan Cathedral, however there's not much to tell about it beyond the fact that it is a beautiful cathedral. We then went to the top of St. Issac's cathedral, where I got some beautiful photos of the city and how expansive it is, though it is nowhere near as unending as Tokyo appeared from the top of the skyscraper I was in.
After that, we all went to the Liverpool pub to watch the US soccer game in the World Cup, followed by the England game. Both games were really fun to watch, even if our waitress was less than accomodating, and I chatted with the Russian businessman sitting behind me, who was regaling me with tales of how Russia should have beaten Slovenia. His name was Konstantin, and I found him very interesting to listen to. Not to mention the fact that I got to practice speaking!

On Saturday, Anna and Kim and I decided to go to the Hermitage, since none of us had been already. We met up for breakfast/lunch at a coffeehouse on Nevskyy and then made our way to the winter palace. In the palace square, we saw a strange chandelier-type thing being held aloft by two cranes over a stage, but we didn't have any idea what it was for. So we just continued on into the Hermitage, where we proceeded to get lost and have to ask one of the attendants for a map. While we were there, we even saw Olga, our tour guide from our previous Petersburg excursions. Several hours later we emerged from the palace and headed back towards home, though we stopped off at the sportsbar near the dorms to watch the soccer game.

On Sunday we had our boat tour of St. Pete. Anna and Kim and I met up earlier for lunch and coffee, and then headed to the meetup point. The tour was lovely, if exceedingly cold, but I can't help but feel that it might have been more useful/interesting if we had done it at the beginning of the trip. After all, by this point we had more or less seen and heard all about the places we were being shown, so it was really nicer for the boat ride than for learning anything about the city. One notable issue was poor Anna's unfortunate run in with one of the bridges. The arches that the boats go under are very, very low, and Anna didn't realize the bridge was coming up until she stood up and it hit her in the head. Luckily, she was alright, but it was certainly scary!

Today we had our last grammar class, and a test in said class. I'm not sure how well I did, and I know I made a couple of mistakes, but since it isn't really graded, I'm not too worried. Benny, on the other hand, had the teacher very upset, because he scribbled his test down and left in the first 10 minutes. She lamented to me in very unhappy Russian about how many mistakes he'd made and then returned to the room after handing me the hat that Benny had forgotten. After class, though Kim and I were going to accompany a few of the others on their trip to Pavlovsk, my knee just wasn't up to the task, and so we wandered along the Fontanka instead before meeting up with a few of the others to watch the game and then return home.

St. Petersburg: Days 23-25

Alright. So it turns out that the hot water was only off for a day and a half. According to David, this is a miracle! So thanks to the Lord!

The Philharmonia was utterly amazing, I have to say. They had a woman and a man who sang pieces from Carmen together and they were fabulous.

Tuesday was a bit of a gauntlet. Since we didn't have class on Monday, we had 3 classes on Tuesday instead of our usual 2. This means 4 and a half almost continuous hours of instruction, and I was more than ready to leave by about 10 minutes into the first class. But it ended up not being as terrible as it could have been, really. Afterwards we came home and then went out to watch the next game. Our new friend Phil came along as well. He is (as he will tell you) actually from Wales, but he goes to school in Bath. He's a very nice boy, and pretty fun to watch a game with.

On Wednesday, Anna and Kim and I went out to lunch and then to a little cafe for coffee to discuss some things and just kind of chat. I really enjoyed myself. Part of the really nice thing about going out here is that I can tell day by day how much better my comprehension is becoming. I no longer stare dumbfounded at the waiters and waitresses when they speak to me or ask me questions, or at least not quite as often as before. After we finished with that, it was time to run home and get changed to then immediately head over to the Mikhailovsky Theater to see the ballet of the Little Humpbacked Horse. It was totally delightful. The theater is unbelievably gorgeous, and the ballet itself was engaging and fun, especially since the Humpbacked Horse is my favorite Russian fairy tale!

Today was quite fun as well. After class, Bart, Geoff, Emily, Kim, Alex and I wanted to go to the State Political History Museum, since our tour of Lenin's office was cancelled due to, among other things, President Obama being in the building we were wanting to go into. However, when we got there we discovered that the museum is closed on Thursdays. So instead we went across the street to Peter and Paul fortress. We decided to walk along the ramparts, and I ended up losing 50 rubles because the woman thought that the 50 she had taken out to make change for the 100 I gave her was the bill that I gave her. I fought with her a little, but finally decided it wasn't worth it and just let it go.