Kazan!

So I haven’t posted anything new for almost two months, which is a shame, as a lot has happened since November 12^th!

I suppose the most noteworthy events have been my travels. Late November, I traveled to Tatarstan, a region of Russia that is known for the Tatar ethnic group. We traveled mainly to Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, whose population consists mainly of ethnic Russians and ethnic Tatars. The city is equal part Muslim and Russian Orthodox.

An overnight journey by train.

It’s a beautiful city, more so than I expected. Our hotel was a ten-minute walk from the White Kremlin and the whole area was beautiful, with wide canals and old churches. The weather was very cooperative; we saw blue sky for the first time in ages. The Kremlin was beautiful, the white walls stood vivid against the blue sky. The mosque was absolutely awesome, in the true sense of the word, but I was disappointed to find out that it was only built seven years ago. I bought an exquisite hand-embroidered silk pillowcase and a hand-embroidered belt, both done in the traditional Tatar style. They also sold lovely handmade colorful leather shoes, also traditionally done, but the only pair in my size were white, which I would never wear.

Canals, which rival those of St. Petersburg

The White Kremlin 

Ok, so the weather wasn't that great the first day. It was the day I didn't take photos, of  course :(

View from Kremlin

Kul Sharif Mosque

Annunciation Cathedral of Kazan Kremlin, 1561–1562

More views

            We also visited a little island that is set in the Volga River, about an hour outside the city. This was a real highlight of the trip. Ivan the Terrible first built a monastery on the island. However, after the Revolution, the island became a camp for political prisoners and for the mentally ill. After the fall of the Soviet Union, people began raising money and the monastery was rebuilt, along with many other key buildings. Now, there is a very tiny village on the island and a place where people forge traditional weapons from the middle ages and practice fighting with them. We got a chance to try out some of the weapons J

Approaching the island

Monument for political prisoners, one of the more beautiful I've seen

Sword fight

Every blacksmith needs his cat companion. 

Crossbow! 

Sun! Clouds! Snow!

We also met the most darling dog, who followed us around and had the temperament of a grumpy polar bear.

Those eyes :(

On our last day, we tried to visit some museums, which led us to a very interesting part of town. The buildings were clearly all new and it was quite beautiful architecturally. However, when we got to the museum, it was locked. We wandered around for a bit, trying different doors. There was a little bathroom shed, with a woman running it, which seemed a bit strange, since there was absolutely no one around who would need a bathroom, except us. We asked her about the museum, and she said it should be open. Just as we walked towards it one last time, two women walked out of the front door. We ran to them and asked what was going on and they said the museum was closing early, since no one came. We explained the doors had been locked earlier, but they denied this. Our Russian friend with us was really frustrated, and said it was such typical Russian behavior, that they didn’t want to work, so they just decide to close the museum.

The museum

Who in the world lives here?

Wait, where are we?

We ended up walking quite far to a gallery, which had a few good exhibits, but the weather turned quite nasty on our way back to the hotel. It was quite a strong snowstorm just as it was getting dark. We were quite happy to go inside after a thirty-minute walk in that weather.

Next post: life in Moscow!

Then: My trip to Oxford!

New Posts Coming Soon!

Currently trying to catch up on work, while balancing classes with the ever important process of making Russian friends!
In the meant time, enjoy this picture of Putin. Rest assured, I take higher quality notes than him.

And no, that is not Cyrillic. 

St. Petersburg

So I haven't made a blog post in almost 2 months. Oops! Time flies when you're having fun! I'll be making a few blog posts to catch up.
So I went to St. Petersburg, with my fellow Dickinson students, plus Sasha, the twin sister of our TA from last year. Her purpose was to basically make sure we didn't miss the train, forgot about excursions, or fall into the Nevsky river.
So what did we do? The classic activities, really. We had a bus tour of the city, went to Peterhoff Palace (getting there by the means of a speed boat down the river and over the gulf of Finland), saw where Rasputin was killed, went to the Marinksy theatre to see the ballet "Gisselle", and of course went to the Hermitage.

Petersburg in the wee hours of the morning, as we walked from the train station to our hostel.

Blue sky! Such a welcome sight.

Peterhoff, where all the glitters really is gold.

A friend I made on the Peterhoff grounds.

View of St. Petersburg from Peterhoff. Note the shining dome.

Marinksy theatre

Church of the Savior on Spilt Blood (Blue sky!)

View from boat tour.

As per request of my father.

Pushkin, the greatest literary figure in Russian history.

It was a good trip and the weather was much more cooperative than it was during my last visit last summer. But it was strange, coming back to Moscow, I was shocked how relieved I was to be back. Just last year, I would have told you I prefer St. Petersburg over Moscow. But Moscow is home right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

First Day of Volunteering

I had such a great evening, despite initial awkwardness! After all, what would a study-abroad experience be without awkwardness? If you aren't uncomfortable, you are doing something wrong. 

So I went to the Children's Center for the first time today, which was extremely nerve-wracking. When I called my contact to ask how to get into the building (which is conveniently located 5 minutes away from my University!), she told me she wasn't going to be there. And when I went into the building, it was completely dark and when I introduced myself to the three people in the building, no one else introduced themselves and then the only girl whose name I knew started talking on the phone, giving someone directions. Some other people started coming in, presumably volunteers, but no one was telling me where to go, I wasn't sure who to ask, people were headed in different directions, and none of this was helped by the fact that the electricity wasn't working!

I ended up standing in the hallway with two other girls. No one was speaking, we were just sitting on a bench waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Finally, I broke the ice and asked for their names. I introduced myself and said that I was an American student. This further broke the ice and I found out that one of the girls was Czech and the other girl was from Dagestan (a republic of Russia). The fact that both of them were also outsiders (in a way) set me at ease and we chatted for a while, which was quite enjoyable, they were easy to talk to. Then, the children arrived and we all sat in a room lit with candles and a single flashlight pointed at the ceiling. All things considered, it was a surprisingly effective arrangement.

Then walked in...a pirate! It was one of the volunteers dressed up as Jack Sparrow and the kids loved it! He was a real showman, he played all sorts of tricks and jokes on them and got them all to play some games. There were maybe 7 kids, most from Afghanistan, I think. A few of them were having a hard time understanding his Russian, so their older siblings would whisper the translation from the side. 

This went on for maybe an hour and a half, but it was so much fun to watch! The pirate made them all balloon flowers, swords, and animals, while one of the girls painted their faces. After all that, we all went into the kitchen and had some tea and snacks. I was finally able to talk to one of the coordinators and reconfirmed that I'll be teaching English, a couple evenings a week. Although it was elementary children today, they also have teenagers who come in for school help and to prepare for entry exams into college. I gave my contact information to the coordinator, who will be arranging the schedule. Can't wait to hear back from her and get started!

Classes + Daily Life

So last week was my first week of classes. It was rather hectic and confusing, but went well overall. I have classes on Russian Theater, Language in Mass Media, Russian Grammar, and Practical Discussion. I like everyone in my class, we're all starting to warm up and get to know each other. Hopefully, this coming week, we might go out to lunch together or something.

I will also be taking a class in the International Relations department, but understanding what classes are available continues to be a nightmare. I have a list of possible classes, but frankly none of them seem that appealing and I can't decipher when they take place, so I'm not even sure if they fit into my schedule.

I'm feeling quite settled in now and the strangest thing is just how normal it feel to be here. In the spring, we all had to go to a study abroad meeting, where they showed us a version of this graph...

But I don't feel that what this graph describes is really applying to me. Not "everything is new, interesting, and exciting"! Which is not to say I'm not happy and enjoying myself, because I certainly am.
I suppose because of my time here last summer I knew what to expect when it came to cultural differences. I'm hoping that since I'm not experiencing the study abroad "high", I won't experience the "low". Of course, time will only tell.

The only source of real frustration right now is that I feel deprived of my greatest source of stress-relief: cooking. I cook almost everyday for my family when I'm at home and when I'm on campus at Dickinson, I tend to cook an awful lot as well. But here, my host mom cooks for me, which is great and it's delicious but...
Sometimes, when I come home after class, I just want to have a grilled cheese with fruit, or a salad with goat cheese. But that isn't really possible, because dinner is already prepared. It's like living at home again, instead of on my own at college. Except my new "mom" doesn't really know what I like!
But then again, even as I'm writing this, I'm thinking of solutions to this "problem"! I definitely need to offer to make dinner some nights of the week.

Also, I haven't been super motivated to go places in Moscow, in my free time. I've seen a lot of the city before and I certainly don't feel as if I'm on vacation, so sight-seeing just isn't a priority. I'm so used to either being in my small college town or tiny hometown I have to constantly remind myself I actually have things to do here!

Anyway, this is all rather rambling. But it's where I'm at right now.

Day of the City!

The first weekend in September is a holiday that celebrates just how awesome Moscow is. There were concerts, activities, and events going on throughout the city. I visited two parks, Park Gorky and Poklonnaya Hill, on which Park Victory sits.  
Park Gorky was beautiful as usual. There is always a lot to do there, but even more so today. We saw  an acapella group and dancing. The dancing was great, it was just a crowd of random people being led by one older man. Plus one teenager who was hip-hop dancing to her own ipod. Each to their own, I suppose.
As the sun was setting, we walked down to the river, where the view was gorgeous, of course. On our way out of the park, we bought some cotton candy which we didn't finish, for two reasons. First of all, it was banana flavored, which is disgusting. Second, it got wet. This happened when a drunk couple very intensely asked me when I bought the cotton candy, and while I was answering, they got way too close. It brushed up against the huge panda plushie she was holding, which was apparently damp. It also got all over my pants, jacket, and glasses. Hardened sugar is not easy to get off.

The next day, Danielle and I went to a vegetarian restaurant, one of three in the entire city. It was excellent, just amazing. Danielle got a burrito and I got a sort of cheesy lentil stew. It was honestly the tastiest thing I've eaten so far in Moscow. Definitely going back here!

So good!

After dinner, we headed to Victory Park, which is at the highest point in the city and has just an overwhelming sprawling feeling to it. The park celebrates Russia's victory in WWII and has a was museum on site. I went to the museum last year and don't plan to revisit it. Such a serious topic hit me hard enough the first time, the second time would just be too much.

We drank mulled wine in the park, walked around, and watched in bemusement all the marching policemen. I understand why there were some there, to provide security for light show, but there must have been at least 200! And you see crowds and clusters of police all over the city, honestly, I've never seen so many in any other city.

The light show in the park was amazing. It was a sort of concert/pyrotechnic show/fireworks.

Really crazy, really awesome stuff. What a great way to end the summer!

Next post: Classes finally start!