"Do you have mayonaise in America?"

Busy busy busy! At least that’s how it feels right now. I have just almost exactly 24 hours before I leave for Moscow and I feel like I’m scrambling to get everything together and get everything taken care of before I leave. But of course, one of the most important things I needed to do before I left was to write a blog entry as per my promise. I guess I’ll pick up with Friday. We usually have two classes on Fridays but because of that holiday the other week we have some make-up classes scheduled, and one of them was Friday. So, after a long day of classes it was finally the weekend. After school, Vickie and I tagged along with Nick and Tom, who were going to Moskovsky Vokzal (the big train station) to buy a ticket back to St. Petersburg for after Moscow. They are going to Copenhagen for their spring break, for some reason, and they need to get back to St. Petersburg to take a bus to Helsinki where they will catch their (apparently cheap) flight to Copenhagen, This is the train station that we have to meet at tomorrow to take to Moscow, so it was good to see it before hand and know where to go. I enjoyed looking at the big time-tables in the station to. It was really exciting to see the names of all these cities that I know of in Russia, and to imagine that from here with all this information you could actually go to them all! So, while they were buying their tickets I just stared up at all those names and tried to make sense of how the schedules are explained. After the station we were going to go to that little café I know with the cheap beer and blini, but after getting side-tracked at a 505 store (I didn’t buy anything) and realizing how late it was getting, Nick and I decided to head back to the Island. We decided to take the metro instead of the bus because it would be a lot quicker, though not cheaper for me since I had to get a marshrutka afterwards. I hung out at home for a while before heading out again. The plan was for a bunch of us to go somewhere with Allisonn, because she hasn’t been out with us to any bars or anything yet and she’s been wanting to. She didn’t want to drink and didn’t want to go anywhere to crazy or anything, so we thought it would be fun just to relax at Kofe Khaus. I got to the metro station and waited around for the others to show up. Ruth and then Stacey showed up first and we stood around together waiting for the others. We saw this guy walking around whose face was completely and utterly beaten. I mean bruised, cut, bloody, and swollen, and virtually over every inch of his face. It was pretty scary to see. What’s even scarier is that he stood close to us for a little while and seemed like he was looking at us. He kept moving closer and closer over the course of a few minutes, and right as I said, “Maybe we should stand somewhere else,” he came up and started asking us for something. He was smoking a cigarette and had about half of the cigarette’s worth of ash hanging off the end of it. We kind of ignored him at first, but then I just looked up to him and said, “excuse me [us]” and we walked away and stood in another spot. He sort of disappeared after that, cause after we moved and looked back I couldn’t see him anywhere. It was really weird. Everyone else eventually showed up and we got to Kofe Khaus, where we got a table in the back room like always and had a fun, relaxing time like always. None of the usual waitresses were there, though. I had a beer and some blini with ice cream. I think Allisonn had a fun time, and we all hope that she will start coming out with us more often. Everyone had their cameras and we were all taking pictures of each other. There was a couple at the table behind us who were making out the whole time, so we took pictures of that too. As 12:00 approached almost everyone decided to catch the metro home. I still wanted to stay out and the only other person who did was Sasha, so we decided to head across the street to Choomadon for a while. I hadn’t ever really hung out with Sasha outside of school yet, so I was glad to get a chance. At the bar we talked a lot about small town life versus big city life, and differences between America and Europe (Sasha is from Finland). Unfortunately, our time spent at Choomadan was not entirely pleasant, because they screwed up our order almost entirely, and everything we ordered was either the wrong thing or never came at all. Sasha ordered some French fries and what she thought was a pirozhki (like a pierogie), as well as a glass of “fresh-squeezed” orange juice and two shots of cranberry vodka (one was for me, actually, because she didn’t want to drink a shot by herself). I ordered a beer and some grenki (the dark bread with garlic and cheese). So the waitress took down our whole order, and a little while later she came back and told us that they were out of fries and grenki. We got the menu back to try and order something else but decided to skip it in the end. The “pirozhki” was actually a piece of pie that was basically just made out of marshmallow. The shots were most definitely not cranberry vodka, and Sasha’s orange juice was most definitely not “fresh squeezed.” And my beer never came. We decided to leave and go to this little café that Sasha knew nearby that was 24-hours, so we asked for the check. Of course the beer was still on the check, so when the waitress came to collect the money I made sure to remind her that I never got the beer, so she shouldn’t charge me for it, and she nodded and seemed to understand. She brought my change back, and lo and behold she had charged me for the beer. I called her back when she came by again and informed her that she still owed me for the beer I never got. She said fine, left, and came back with 60 rubles. The beer was 70. I counted it, and informed her that she still owed me 10 rubles. Of course she was pretty pissed by now, but she went and got it and finally we were able to leave. She totally knew what she was doing the whole time, she was just trying to screw me over, but I wasn’t going to let it happen this time. This is the third strike for Choomadon, I’m not going back their anymore. So, Sasha and I walked down the street to find this 24-hour café, and when we found it we were quite disappointed to find that it was actually closed, despite the fact that it clearly said “24 hours” on the sign. By then, we both decided it was just time to go home. I walked Sasha another block to bridge, and she said she could walk the rest of the way fine. We made a deal though, that if she doesn’t call me after 45 minutes then I should call her to make sure she got home alright, and if I don’t hear from her or can’t get a hold of her I would call the program director and let him know something had happened. Of course, I got a call from her about half an hour later, so it was no problem. I caught a chasnik on Bolshoi for 80 rubles and got home for a good night’s rest. Most of Friday was spent at home, something I hadn’t done yet. I called around for a while to try and get a hold of someone to see if they wanted to do something, but everyone was busy or didn’t want to do anything or whatever, so I just stayed in all day. That night, however, there were big plans. It was Tom’s 21st the next day, so Katie and Vickie had planned for everyone to meet him a the metro station near his house, and then we would all go to this club nearby called Griboedova that’s supposed to be really cool. Once we got there, Katie and Vickie informed us that they had scoped it out and found out there was a 300 ruble cover, and nobody really wanted to pay that, so we decided to head to our new fall-back place, the Red Lion. We took the metro and then a bus and once we got there we found plenty or space in the back room. We all had a grand old time drinkin’ and dancin’ and eatin’ and talkin’ and all that. I got some delicious grenki to make up for the grenki I never got the night before. Tom ordered a “cyr-burger” (“cyr” is the Russian word for cheese) and the waiter thought it was hilarious. More people showed up later and at one point we pretty much twook up two whole booths, which are each pretty darn big. I think everyone had a really fun time. We met some Russian people sitting at the booth near us and talked to them for a while. At one point, a Russian guy from another booth across from us invited me over to their booth and I ended up sitting and talking with them for about an hour. All in Russian! Actually, they did use a few English words that they knew when they could, but those were really just the words “good” and “beautiful,” which they seemed to try to use whenever they possibly could. They were older than me, I think they were probably around 30. They were really friendly though, and were really patient with me when I didn’t know a word in Russian and they would take the time to try and explain it to me. They told me I spoke Russian very well, and they said they give me a “5” (The Russian equivalent of an A). We had some pictures taken together, but I’m not sure whose camera they were taken on. We exchanged numbers too, and they kept telling me that they would call me and we would relax together. They also said they were going to come to America on vacation sometime and they would call me. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the number I gave them was, of course, only my number in Russia, and they certainly would not be able to reach me with it in America. While I was talking to them, most of my friends left, and by the time my new friends took off (their names were Constantine and Denis [Kostya and Den] by the way) there were only a few from our group left, so I took off soon there after. I walked down the street and over the bridge to get back to Vasilevskiy Island where I could catch a marshrutka for a lot cheaper than it would be from right outside the bar. I caught one in the same spot I had the night before and for the same price. By the time I got home it was about 5:00, so I hit the sack and slept until about noon the next morning. Sunday was actually quite busy and exciting. I had planned to go to this island-park in the north of the city for the big last-day-of-maslenitsa party that was apparently going on there. When I awoke their was a text message from Ruth awaiting me that said they were meeting at the metro station near the park at 1:00, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it by then, so I texted her back and we decided that I would just call them whenever I got their and we would meet up. I got up and had my usual weekend morning breakfast of blini and jam, and then headed out to meet them. I meant to go to Vasileostrovskaya metro, but I took a different marshrutka than usual and it didn’t stop their automatically like the other ones, but it continued on to Gostiny Dvor so I just waited until then and got off, Outside the metro station there was a small demonstration of about 10 or 15 old ladies holding Soviet Union flags waving pictures of Stalin and holding a big banner that I didn’t read all of and probably couldn’t have understood anyways (I did catch the word “reforms”), but it was pretty obvious to see what they were suggesting by their protest, There were lots of people gawking some police hanging around too. I managed to snap a couple of pictures. Down in the tunnel between Gostiny Dvor and Nevskiy Prospekt metro stations I saw another awesome sight. There were about 6 army veterans all dressed in camo, a few of them with missing limbs, and they were all singing folk-type songs to the accompaniment of two of them on guitar. It was really awesome. I wanted to stop and take pictures and/or video with my camera, but there were lots of people constantly walking by and I thought it might be disrespectful or something. It sounded really good though, and I wish I had a recording of whatever it was they were singing. Anyway, I rode the metro around, made some transfers, and ended up at the Krestovsky Ostrov metro station in the north part of the city, where I hadn’t been before. I called up Ruth and she gave me directions to where they were in the park, and I followed the crowds to the park entrance. I had forgotten my student ID so I had to pay the adult price (50 rubels versus 30, bummer) and crossed the big bridge to the park that makes up an entire island. There were tons of people and tons of activity, and I wonder how much is actually going on there when it isn’t maslenitsa. Anyway, Ruth had told me to take a right when I got in the park and to look for big amusement park rides. I took a right and walked for a long time and never saw any rides. I kept calling them again and again and trying to find the right place but just ended up further and further away. It’s a pretty big park, so it was kind of easy to get lost. There was lots of fanfare, and lots of kids were carrying around little effigies of old-lady winter on the ends of sticks made out of straw, presumably to be burned later. After wandering around forever and seeing the world’s most northerly Buddhist temple across the river, I finally stumbled upon the right spot and was finally able to meet up with them (Ruth, Matt, and Stacey). I joined them on their quest for food, but we kept getting frustrated with the long lines at all the vendors and kept moving along. They found a little indoor place that was selling food and got in line to by some blini, while I found a little place that was selling shish kabob outside with a short line, so I got me a little of that. The others were still in line, so I ate my thing and looked around for a bit, and when I got back they were just getting out of the line, having decided it wasn’t worth the long wait. We walked some more and they finally decided to suck it up and get into another line for some blini. I went with Ruth to another tent to get something to drink. I was originally planning on just getting a soda, but Ruth talked me into getting one of the huge 1.5 liter bottles of honey-beer that everyone seemed to be drinking because she was going to get one too. It’s amazing what you can get people to do as long as you do it with them. It hit me later just how much beer it was. It’s like three normal beers from a bar. It was crazy, but, with a little help from Matt and Stacey, I was able to finish it before we got back to the metro station later. But anyway, they got their blini and we sat around outside while they ate it, and then we all got really cold and decided it was time to leave. Well, first they wanted to ride the bumper cars with the tickets they had earned for getting stuck on a ride earlier ( wasn’t there for that so I’m not really sure what happened). After waiting in line for a while they decided it wasn’t worth it, plus Ruth had to go meet Tsveti for a play or something, so we all left. This is when the really crazy thing happened. As we were walking towards the exit there was this big group of people about our age laughing and having a good time, and I just assumed they were Russian. As we walked by one of them overheard us speaking English and asked us who we were and all that. We found out that they were from the ACTR Moscow group (a different study abroad program that I could have gone on too, actually) and they were on their St. Petersburg trip. One of them we found out is friends with Ingrid from our group and another is friends with Kara. We found out that they were going back to Moscow the same night we are going, so we all exchanged some numbers and made plans to meet up down there. Then, it hit me that they are from the same program that my friend Christine from UO is on. I asked them if they knew her and they of course said “yes,” and I was able to get her phone number from them! I had emailed her about a month ago telling her when I would be in Moscow but I never heard back and I didn’t know how else to get a hold of her. And then, out of nowhere, I run into her friends by chance and get her phone number! It IS a small world, after all. I tried calling her right away, but didn’t get an answer. We parted ways with our new acquaintances and headed back to the metro I went through all the crazy transfers and everything again, got to Vasileostrovskaya and then rode a marshrutka home. At home I tried giving Christine another call, and this time she picked up. She must have been pretty surprised to her from me out of the blue like that, and I explained to her what had happened. She said that her the friends she was with were going to go out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in a little bit and invited me to come eat with them. How could I turn down the opportunity to see my friend who I hadn’t seen in months AND have my first Mexican food in about two months all at the same time? Even though I was tired and had just gotten home, I decided to head back out and meet them. This meant another marshrutka ride and another ride on the metro requiring transfers. She had given me directions to the place, which is in a part of town that I don’t really know at all, but I managed to find it just fine and they were waiting for me inside. She was with a guy from her program named Blake who she is apparently dating, and they were with Blake’s friend John who is studying in St. Petersburg on some other program. It was great catching up and hearing of her time spent in Moscow and around Russia. She’s already seen a lot. She took a big trip around Eastern Europe, a trip to Volgograd and Kazan, and had already been to St. Petersburg once before this time. The food wasn’t quite as good as it is in America, but it still tasted amazing because I was pretty hungry and have been craving Mexican food for a while. We ate for a while and sat and talked and all that while this huge group of young ladies who looked like they were having a bachelorette party or something sat at a big table next to us. When we were about to leave, the restaurant started blasting Latin music at an obscene volume and a bunch of the girls got up and started dancing in the open area in the middle of the restaurant. It was so loud that we could barely hear each other. Emily called while the music was playing, because I had tried to get a hold of her earlier to see if she wanted to join us for dinner. I had to call her back from outside because it was so loud in there. We paid up and headed back to the metro. I was invited to go a bar with them, but I really had to get back and do some homework, so I declined. I parted ways with Christine and Blake and made plans to meet up with them in Moscow, then John and I headed down into the metro. We rode the same line for a while and even made the same transfer, but then at Gostiny Dvor he went one way and I went the other. I didn’t get his number or anything, but who knows, I might see him around. A rode back to Vasileostrovskaya, rode another marshrutka, and was finally home for the evening where I had to start writing my 30 to 40 sentence essay for grammar class. That took me until about 2:00, so I got to bed pretty late last night. Today I went straight home from school to try to get some work done before heading to the other university to teach English. I managed to reread that one text for gazeta and look up all the words I didn’t know, but it really did take me about two hours. I caught a marshrutka over to the university and ran into Bruce, Stacey and Matt who were also their to teach to there classes. We talked for a bit before heading to our own classes. There were only four students in the class today, but I had to listen to each of them re-tell the little story about the journalist going diving with sharks that we had read last time. One student, Olya, mispronounced the name of the movie “Jaws” in her re-telling, and it sounded like she said “Jews.” So it was like she said, “thanks to the movie ‘Jews,’ sharks have a reputation of being cold-blooded killers,” and I had to keep from laughing. The teacher told me that I should tell them some about US Presidents, and that basically lead to a whole discussion of the structure of the US government and the election process, as well as small lessons in US history. I’m not sure if they understood everything I said or not, but they seemed interested enough. I tried to tell them about Mount Rushmore and even drew a cheesy picture or it on the board with just smiley faces, and then Olya pointed out to me that there was a picture of it on the front of her little notebook, so I could use a real visual aid. I taught them such great terms as “electoral college,” and “speaker of the house,” and told them about different political parties in America. It was all very fun, as usual. I felt bad telling them that I won’t be able to come to class for the next two weeks, but the teacher told me “we will be waiting for you” afterwards, so that was nice. I rode the bus back home and had some dinner when I got there. I talked to my host-brother Alyosha at the dinner table for a little bit about Moscow and Russian music. I think it’s the most I’ve talked to him so far. You know that show on MTV hosted my Nick Cannon where all the rappers do improv rapping and acting and all that? Well, that show was on, dubbed into Russian, and it was completely ridiculous because none of that kind of stuff would translate well at all into any other language. Alyosha told me it didn’t make any sense to him. Anyway, that brings us up to speed. I have to start packing and getting my stuff together for tomorrow. Again, you won’t be hearing much from me here for the next couple of weeks, but I’ll let you know all about it when I get back. Take it easy, everybody!