Advice for anyone who finds themselves in Saint Petersburg on the 25 of December. Go to the Hermitage. You'll pretty much have it to yourself.
No, no snow. Go figure.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
Baby, if you got it, flaunt it....
Okay, so one of the most annoying things about Russia is the attitude towards sharing -- music, that is.
Russia has a different attitude toward cell phone ettiquette. People don't turn off or silence their cell phones with the same vigilance shown in the US. Had a conversation with one of the Russian professors about this one day, and he suggested that Russians see (or saw in the recent past) possession of a cell phone as much more of a status symbol than Americans do.
I think it might go deeper than this. Virtually anytime I'm trying to study at the Institute -- there's a small group of Russian students playing music quite loudly on there computers. (Occasionally, I think to myself -- hey, some Soundgarden could totally drown out this second rate emo. I, however, have yet to enter into a speaker war that my decrepit computer would probably lose anyway. It's just a standing temptation.)
The same thing happens on the bus when people have an Mp3 player with speakers. Apparently, headphones aren't necessary -- you should do your fellow passengers the favor of sharing the second rate emo and punk. (Or rap -- however, the guys switching between FiftyCent and Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" were amusing -- I think they didn't realize Weird Al was a parody.)
I personally think that it would be hysterical to start playing "The Sound of Silence" on my pocket PC without headphones. But, the language barrier would kill the significance, and why antagonize babushki.
Russia has a different attitude toward cell phone ettiquette. People don't turn off or silence their cell phones with the same vigilance shown in the US. Had a conversation with one of the Russian professors about this one day, and he suggested that Russians see (or saw in the recent past) possession of a cell phone as much more of a status symbol than Americans do.
I think it might go deeper than this. Virtually anytime I'm trying to study at the Institute -- there's a small group of Russian students playing music quite loudly on there computers. (Occasionally, I think to myself -- hey, some Soundgarden could totally drown out this second rate emo. I, however, have yet to enter into a speaker war that my decrepit computer would probably lose anyway. It's just a standing temptation.)
The same thing happens on the bus when people have an Mp3 player with speakers. Apparently, headphones aren't necessary -- you should do your fellow passengers the favor of sharing the second rate emo and punk. (Or rap -- however, the guys switching between FiftyCent and Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" were amusing -- I think they didn't realize Weird Al was a parody.)
I personally think that it would be hysterical to start playing "The Sound of Silence" on my pocket PC without headphones. But, the language barrier would kill the significance, and why antagonize babushki.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Centralized hot water = bad idea...
Current mood: Grouchy.
Day two of no hot water in my apartment. Apparently, a water line burst. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon, or I'm just going to snap.
Oh, also, no heat, because the heat is a radiator with hot water taken from the centralized source thereof. Fortunately, the temperature has been hovering around 50 for the past few days.
This does not mean however that the cold water -- still running -- is anything that could be passed off as warm, tepid, room temperature etc. This makes washing one's hair in the sink a very fun experience. (The water is cold enough to be mildly painful. And I just haven't felt like wearing a scarf and going with greasy hair.) Oh, and when I first turned on the cold water this morning, it was roughly the color of weak coffee. Cleared up later, but I was about to cry. I at least need a cat bath. Then the chihuahua started barking at me and nipping at my heels. The gods of housing hate me.
Bryan tells me the normal fixing time is one to two days, but could be as much as two weeks.
Maybe I'll get to do laundry tonight, because I don't think I can take dirty clothes on top of not being able to shower.
File under, "it sounds ridiculous, but welcome to Russia."
Day two of no hot water in my apartment. Apparently, a water line burst. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon, or I'm just going to snap.
Oh, also, no heat, because the heat is a radiator with hot water taken from the centralized source thereof. Fortunately, the temperature has been hovering around 50 for the past few days.
This does not mean however that the cold water -- still running -- is anything that could be passed off as warm, tepid, room temperature etc. This makes washing one's hair in the sink a very fun experience. (The water is cold enough to be mildly painful. And I just haven't felt like wearing a scarf and going with greasy hair.) Oh, and when I first turned on the cold water this morning, it was roughly the color of weak coffee. Cleared up later, but I was about to cry. I at least need a cat bath. Then the chihuahua started barking at me and nipping at my heels. The gods of housing hate me.
Bryan tells me the normal fixing time is one to two days, but could be as much as two weeks.
Maybe I'll get to do laundry tonight, because I don't think I can take dirty clothes on top of not being able to shower.
File under, "it sounds ridiculous, but welcome to Russia."
Monday, November 26, 2007
Protest in the Palace Square!
So, yesterday, was the scheduled whirlwind tour of the Hermitage with the Smolny group.
Yesterday was also an anti-Putin protest in Palace Square. (That would be right next to the Hermitage.)
Hannah and I took the number 7 autobus from the far end of world (a.k.a. Primorskaya) to the Hermitage. When we arrived at the Palace Embankment, which -- along with the Palace Square and the upper end of Nevsky -- was crawling with Russian cops in riot gear. Incidentally, all them seemed to be in a great mood. I'm not being sarcastic, they were just standing in line telling each other jokes and laughing. Hannah and I were politely barred from entering the Palace Square, where we were supposed to be meeting. I called our assistant baby-sitter who had no idea that there was a rally.
In the meantime, Hannah got very happy and started taking photos. If she posts them, I'll post links.
Hermitage. Whirlwind tour. Most of the art we saw on it was just the Italian collection, which isn't really my thing. Western classical religious art just disturbs me.
Da Vinci worked very small, by the way.
Planning to go back again, since my student I.D. gets me in free.
Yesterday was also an anti-Putin protest in Palace Square. (That would be right next to the Hermitage.)
Hannah and I took the number 7 autobus from the far end of world (a.k.a. Primorskaya) to the Hermitage. When we arrived at the Palace Embankment, which -- along with the Palace Square and the upper end of Nevsky -- was crawling with Russian cops in riot gear. Incidentally, all them seemed to be in a great mood. I'm not being sarcastic, they were just standing in line telling each other jokes and laughing. Hannah and I were politely barred from entering the Palace Square, where we were supposed to be meeting. I called our assistant baby-sitter who had no idea that there was a rally.
In the meantime, Hannah got very happy and started taking photos. If she posts them, I'll post links.
Hermitage. Whirlwind tour. Most of the art we saw on it was just the Italian collection, which isn't really my thing. Western classical religious art just disturbs me.
Da Vinci worked very small, by the way.
Planning to go back again, since my student I.D. gets me in free.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Convert Me: A Cooking in Russia Update
Found "corn meal" or something that we can pretend is cornmeal. And another girl found corn meal. So, now, I have a ton of cornmeal. Well, in reality, only about a kilogram of corn meal.
And therein lies the next hurdle. Converting recipes with US measurements into metric. Either that or eyeballing measurements since I suspect there are no measuring devices of any type in my apartment. Hey, that tea cup looks like 8 ounces! Tablespoons could be difficult as their are teaspoons and these huge soup spoons, and nothing else.
Oh, I needs to go find some baking powder now.
And therein lies the next hurdle. Converting recipes with US measurements into metric. Either that or eyeballing measurements since I suspect there are no measuring devices of any type in my apartment. Hey, that tea cup looks like 8 ounces! Tablespoons could be difficult as their are teaspoons and these huge soup spoons, and nothing else.
Oh, I needs to go find some baking powder now.
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Great Russian Shopping Extravaganza
I'm hunting cornmeal in St. Petersburg.
Don't ask me why I do silly things like this.
This morning I went to the "gipermarket" Lenta. Which is basically the Russian version of Wal-mart. Picture a more frustrating version of Wal-mart without cornmeal and something like three or four aisles of vodka, and ta-da, you will have Lenta in your head. Now, add tacky American Christmas carols. Wonder why they are playing such things, as it is not Christmas, nor does Russian really have American-style Christmas.
Then add in gates so that you can't leave without going through a check-out line, and I didn't want to try to explain that I hadn't found what I wanted, so I bought a chocolate bar, and confused the cashier because going into this store and only buying a chocolate bar is kinda silly. Just now I remembered that I should have bought ink pens and a gluestick, but those can be had else well.
On to try other options. I have a feeling that if I find cornmeal at all it will be the most expensive cornmeal ever. Good thing I don't need that much.
In the TMI category -- I have one wisdom coming in all happy and straight, and being pampered and carefully brushed. Can I get a second? Come on little tooth. I welcome you to my mouth, and would prefer that you take up residence there.
Don't ask me why I do silly things like this.
This morning I went to the "gipermarket" Lenta. Which is basically the Russian version of Wal-mart. Picture a more frustrating version of Wal-mart without cornmeal and something like three or four aisles of vodka, and ta-da, you will have Lenta in your head. Now, add tacky American Christmas carols. Wonder why they are playing such things, as it is not Christmas, nor does Russian really have American-style Christmas.
Then add in gates so that you can't leave without going through a check-out line, and I didn't want to try to explain that I hadn't found what I wanted, so I bought a chocolate bar, and confused the cashier because going into this store and only buying a chocolate bar is kinda silly. Just now I remembered that I should have bought ink pens and a gluestick, but those can be had else well.
On to try other options. I have a feeling that if I find cornmeal at all it will be the most expensive cornmeal ever. Good thing I don't need that much.
In the TMI category -- I have one wisdom coming in all happy and straight, and being pampered and carefully brushed. Can I get a second? Come on little tooth. I welcome you to my mouth, and would prefer that you take up residence there.
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