Arrival

I am writing this blog on my third day in Russia, Sunday. Let’s see if I can think all the way back to Thursday to fill you all in on my experiences so far.

We were scheduled to fly out of DC at 5:23 PM on Thursday. After all 303 passengers had boarded, we just sat there for a long time. Then they told us all to disembark – there was a problem with the water system on board; we were going to have to wait for them to bring another plane. So we sat in Dulles for another few hours, finally flying out around 10 PM. Some passengers were grumbling, but I was actually not too upset about the whole thing. The airline did a pretty good job keeping us informed about what was going on and worked hard to rebook everyone’s Frankfurt connections.

As we were preparing to leave at 5:23, I was on the verge of a panic attack – I couldn’t breathe, I was shaking, and I wanted to cry. I don’t know why; it’s not like I haven’t been to Russia before. I didn’t have a strong feeling of wanting to return to Iowa City, it was more like knowing that I’d be away from home for so long, knowing that I’d chosen to put myself into an unfamiliar and uncomfortable environment again for 9 months. Somehow, the delayed flight snapped me out of it, and I was fine when we left at 10 – mostly just relieved, in fact, that we weren’t just sitting in the airport anymore.

Once we finally got out of DC, the flight and our connection in Frankfurt was uneventful. We arrived in Piter about 6:30 PM local time on Friday and piled into a minibus with all of our luggage (that was a game of Tetris if I ever saw one). There are thirteen of us in the Flagship program, and we live all over town. The bus slowly worked its way from the south side of the city to the north. I was the fifth to be dropped off at my host mom’s apartment, and I sat in that bus for two and a half hours. Yikes. Katie was the last to be dropped off; she got in at 11:30.

One nice thing about being on the bus, however, was seeing some familiar (and some unfamiliar) parts of the city again. In the familiar parts of town, it was both cool and weird to know where I was already. It has been three years since I last arrived in this town, and I remember the feeling I had of having absolutely no way to orient myself to where I was. This time it was comforting and exciting to see a Coffee House on every corner (the Russian version of Starbucks, and possibly my internet lifesaver), the same old “Skins and Furs” stores (ick :P), tiny grocery stores tucked into closet-sized spaces on the first floors of tall apartment buildings, nifty new Toyotas driving alongside 30-year-old Ladas belching half-burned fuel fumes. Speaking of which – the smells of this city have come back to me instantly, particularly the car exhaust smell, the courtyard archway smell (anyone been in Petersburg? You know what I’m talking about.), and the metro smell. As choking and potentially life-shortening as they can be, they make me happy. I’m in Petersburg!!

My host mom, Galina, is very sweet. It’s just me and her in a fairly sizable apartment (3 rooms, plus kitchen and bath). She doesn’t force me to overeat (as in, she lets me take as much as I want of food, and asks if I want more, but doesn’t put it on my plate without asking), which I greatly appreciate – she’s been hosting American women for a while now, and I think she understands how we eat. So far our conversation has been a little stilted, but I think we’ll get more comfortable with each other as time goes on. Right away I noticed that I have a hard time understanding the first part of almost all her sentences, so either she’s mumbling or I’m deaf. Even though it’s uncomfortable now to have to ask her to repeat herself all the time, I know that with practice I’ll start to understand her all the time, particularly as my listening comprehension overall increases.

Speaking of listening comprehension, being back in Petersburg has reminded me of the one type of language practice I haven’t been getting in the last three years – natural situations! I have tons of classroom practice, and lots of media practice (radio, TV, etc), but I haven’t spent much time talking (not writing, but talking) with Russians who aren’t teachers. It’s really funny to me that I now understand TV better than real people – when I started studying Russian, for at least the first two or three years, TV was a great mystery. Now I’ve spent so much time with TV and radio as my best and most available source of native Russian that I forgot that people don’t talk like TV. Thus, yesterday, when I went to The Teaspoon, my favorite blini joint in town (which, by the way, has removed my two favorite blinis from the menu! Grr…), I completely goofed up my order, since I couldn’t understand a word the bored teenager behind the counter was asking me. Those kinds of situations will become automated very quickly – now that I remember what they ask me (What can I get you? Do you want any additional sauces with that? Anything else?) I won’t sound so stupid next time. Funny, they asked the exact same questions three years ago, but I forgot right away once I left.

So, back to my host mom. She has one daughter, Olga, who got her degree in biology specializing in plants (this girl’s for you, Jenn!). Olga is married and has a son. I haven’t met them yet, but I’m sure I will once I get more settled in. Galina has done some traveling with her family, and I’m looking forward to having a great photo exchange with her at some point soon (only all my pictures are on the computer).

My room, I’m sure, will be lovely, but thus far I’m sleeping in the living room, as my room is under renovation. Apparently they were supposed to replace the radiators and pipes in there in May, but didn’t get to it till August (a somewhat typical occurrence in Russia), so it’s not livable yet. Galina says it should be ready by the end of the week, and I’m really hoping she’s right, but I’m a little doubtful. It’s a bit of a bummer for me, actually, because more than anything I was looking forward to getting unpacked and settled in. I really don’t like living out of my suitcases. But, since there’s nothing I can do about it, I’m managing the best I can.

Overall, I’ve got a great location on the south end of Petrograd Side, practically on the river. I’m about a 40 minute walk from school, which is about as far as I had to walk last time I lived here, so I’ll probably be hoofing it to school most of the time. Where I live is still considered the center, although I’m not quite as downtown as I was when I lived on Marata Street. Local attractions include the Petrovsky football stadium, where the beloved Petersburg team, Zenit, plays during soccer season, and the Tuchkov Bridge, over which I will be hiking to school every day (winter winds on the river? Perhaps a good day to take the bus). I hear tale that there’s several gyms in my vicinity, so sometime soon I’ll be scoping those out and hopefully joining one to keep fit while enjoying Russia’s love for butter.

Things I’d forgotten about but am now remembering:

• Mullets. I hadn’t actually forgotten about these, but it’s a little funny to see them everywhere in real life again. Particularly surprising: mullets on children in commercials.
• You don’t hand your money to the cashier, you put it in the little tray.
• I think I’m smiling too much on the street, even when I’m with friends and it’s more okay to smile. Also, even though we’re talking in Russian, I think we’re too loud.
• My host mom calls me a polar bear because I went out yesterday in a skirt and short sleeves when it was only +18 Celsius. Most Russians I saw had jackets on. She says that many of her students have been polar bears, but I’m actually one, because I’m white, and her last girl was Indian. Yikes.
• Lots of oil in fried vegetables. I mean lots. I mean, my plate was orange when I was done eating.
• Don’t swallow the water when you’re brushing your teeth. Spit that ghiarrdia right out, young lady!
• On the tap: cold water on the left, hot on the right.
• In order to get hot water, first turn on the tap, then turn up the gas in the water heater. To avoid double-heating the water for next time, turn the gas off first, then the tap. Between these steps the water should keep running, even if you’re not using it.
• Medieval-looking skeleton keys for the double-layered doors into the apartment.

Class doesn’t start for us until September 1, the traditional first day of school in Russia. Thank god, because I’m way jet lagged. I feel sluggish and weird all the time, sometimes even woozy or nauseous, and I can tell it’s just because my body thinks I should be sleeping and I’m not. Last night I started to get a headache right around 5 PM – that’s 9 AM eastern: I’m late for my morning coffee. As I write this, it’s 3 AM at home, and I really want to sleep, but it’s noon here, and I just got up three hours ago after sleeping for nine hours! I know these first few days are going to be the hardest, and by the time school starts I should be fairly well adjusted to my new schedule, but for now, it sucks.

You know what else sucks: having no cell phone and no internet. I know, I know, just a few years ago no one had those things, but I’m very used to them, and I feel really disconnected without them. I can’t even call my Russian friends because I didn’t think ahead to write down their numbers from my email before I left the US. I’ll have a cell phone soon, but getting one requires a registered passport, and we are thus far unregistered – and will remain so for about a month, as registration is a complex process, apparently. Hopefully Galina will help me buy a SIM card with her passport. As far as internet goes, I think I can buy internet cards that will let me get online using the phone line, which will at least be something, even if very slow, and even if only at night, when no one else will need the phone.

Okay, if you made it all the way through this, I applaud you. For lack of a smoother transition to the end of a three-page blog entry, I’m just going to stop writing.