What an absolutely fascinating country! Fascinating, & yet terrifying at the same time. I am relieved to be departing for countries easier to navigate, but sad to be leaving with so much here still a mystery to me. While this portion of my trip easily has been the most unsettling & uncomfortable (mentally), it also has been by far the most thought-provoking & joyous. Everything they say about Russian hospitality & more is true! I only wish I had enough paper & ink to record everything! Ok...so technically pencil lead 0.5, not ink, but tell me how that's romantic.
In keeping with (what I was told is) Russian tradition, as the guest I was not allowed to do any work whatsoever. I still cannot get used to this idea. They fixed my very comfy makeshift bed up in Sasha's room, Irina cooked for & cleaned after every meal, the person closest to the kettle poured my tea, & I was constantly urged to ask for anything I wanted, even though I given all that I needed & more. At each meal, & sometimes in between, Irina & I battled tooth & nail: she to ensure I was not starved & I to keep from bursting. Although slightly embarrassing, it was always very flattering. Every time without fail, upon sitting for a meal a helping twice the size of all others was placed in front of me. It truly was a struggle to eat everything that was given, regardless of how good it all was. Even more difficult was expressing this sentiment to a woman who was so proud to have a foreign traveler in her home, & an American one at that, through a translator. Olga was the most fluent in English in the family, with Sasha not too far behind. Neither Misha nor Irina spoke any English, save for the occasional "hello" or "thank you" taught to them by Olga or Sasha & reproduced at the appropriate time. Fortunately, according to Irina, by the end of my visit my cheeks had a healthier glow to them.
Friday the 23rd was definitely a special day. I had the distinct honor of watching Olga receive her diploma from university with her family! I enjoyed it immensely! It took place at her & Sasha's university, in one of the large lecture halls. Because it was the ceremony only for the college of languages, there were a handful of student presentations to go along with it: a flamenco dancer representing the Spanish students, a girl singing a lovely ballad in French, etc. I'm not sure if they had anything representing English (if they did I missed it), & unfortunately Olga did not present anything. Besides herself of course, which was more than adequate! After the graduation, she went off for some much deserved celebrating with her fellow graduates, & I checked out downtown
We slept in on Saturday, which felt lovely. I arose around
After ringing the bell at her friend's apartment we were greeted with a standard answering machine message followed by a beep. I love a good sense of humor! We were buzzed in shortly thereafter. These two were a riot! Sasha (another) & the girl whose name I hate that I've forgotten were totally the typical college students...just with a Russian flair. Just younger than me they were funny, great hosts, & he even had a healthy interest in computers! I knew it. Girls never consider computers a hobby! We had dinner, cake & tea (noticing a trend yet?), then went for a nice stroll through the park, ending at Olga's & my bus stop.
On Sunday, once again, we slept in. I'm totally diggin' this part of Russian culture! This day, however, was a national holiday: National Youth Day! Why don't we have one of these?? After lunch & tea Olga & I visited the bank & the train ticket office to get my plans set. We found a Chelyabinsk/St. Petersburg express leaving at
The train north to
They left early Monday morning. They woke me to say goodbye, & I rejoiced at having my own compartment! I lay on my top bunk, shirtless (as he had been), tangled up in the sheet & contently munched on my loaf of bread. Plus, as embarrassed as I am to admit this, having just woken up I was incredibly uncomfortable from gas...probably from the fries & pizza the night before...& it was an enormous relief to rid myself of that without having to put on my shirt & shoes & making the trek to the bathroom. Then the door opened. In walked a gruff-looking man in his 50's followed by two pretty teenage girls. This is precisely the point at which I desperately wished Sasha & Natasha had robbed & killed me in the night. I threw on my shirt. The girls giggled. The man looked uncomfortable. He said something in Russian, I half-smiled & mumbled "angliski?", the girls giggled, he looked more uncomfortable. He asked one of the girls something, she whispered a response, & he turned to me with his hands on one of each of the girls' shoulders & said with some difficulty "my daughters. Very good speak English." Sweet lord almighty kill me now. This poor man has to send his young, pretty daughters all the way to
The rest of the trip to St. Pete was uneventful, quiet, & as awkward as the day is long, with my two cabinmates whispering (in Russian) & giggling uncontrollably if I so much as shifted on my bunk. I spent most of it drifting in & out of sleep with no sense of time or place (the curtains were shut so I couldn't even tell if it was day or night), having dreams ranging from being home in Chicago to meeting up with Chris to being held prisoner on a distant planet by creatures reminiscent of the bad guys from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" for some insignificant crime I didn't commit. That last one included a hair-raising roller coaster sequence & even had it's own soundtrack borrowed from the funky Russian rock music being piped into the compartment through the speaker on the ceiling...right next to which I was sleeping. I think I was hungry.
At long last we arrived in St. Pete! The girls vacated the second the train stopped moving & I purchased my ticket to
No comments:
Post a Comment