Sunday, April 24, 2011

Pigeon Pool Party.


(If you haven't noticed, I really like alliterations and pigeons.)

Happy, Happy Easter!

Painting.  Being artsy.  Expressing ourselves through eggs.

Our masterpieces.  Please note the HP house eggs, courtesy Styopa.

"All the king's horses and all the king's men."

Love these girls so much.
So for Easter this year I went Orthodox style.  I am in Russia after all.  It’s really neat to see how people celebrate the resurrection so differently yet so similarly.  Even though I used different words and traditions to celebrate this year, many of which I still don’t understand fully, I never for one moment could forget the reason we celebrated.  That was never lost in translation.  The Orthodox Church holds services the night before Easter Sunday.  They start around eleven and last until dawn when everyone returns to their homes for a feast of all the forbidden foods of Lent.  Last night I participated in services at both Kazansky Sobor (one of main cathedrals on Nevsky) and Vladimirsky Sobor (a smaller cathedral right around the corner from my apartment).  I could not believe the numbers of people that gathered, so many that everyone could not even fit in the cathedral.  There was a procession around the church, lighting of candles, and lots of liturgy.  Everyone brings the food for Easter morning to be blessed by the priest.  It’s amazing and very revering to see such old traditions in practice. This morning I celebrated with my host family by eating a traditional Easter meal that included eggs, kulich (a traditional Easter sweetbread with dried fruit and nuts), and pascha (another traditional Easter dish made with sweetened curd cheese) among other things.  It was quite tasty and fun.  I can’t say enough how blessed I am to live with such a wonderful host family who is so willing to share these experiences with me.  I had a truly lovely day.  So to everyone at home, I hope y’all too have had an amazing day celebrating the wonder of our risen Lord.  «Христос воскресе!» — «Воистину воскресе!»/“Christ is risen!”—“Christ is risen indeed!”
Gathering for the midnight Easter procession at Vladimirsky Cathedral.

Христос воскресе!  Christ is risen!

Our beautiful пасхальный стол.  I have a wonderful host fam. 
"His mercy is more than a match for my heart,

Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart.

Dissolved by His goodness, I fall to the ground

And weep for the praise of the mercy I've found."

One reason I wish my daddy could be in Russia...


...wonderfully fresh pickled EVERYTHING from the рынок!!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Pushkin and Pigeons.


Mine. Not yours.


"Please, don't feed the dog and don't talk to the dog.  THIS IS NOT YOUR DOG!" (Sign on the side of the dog pin at the monastery we visited this weekend in Novgorod)


Sunday, April 17, 2011

Tragedy Strikes Smolny

Nothing hurts a Bard-Smolny student's heart more than the loss of  their Чудо (yogurt).

Thursday, April 14, 2011

МИХАИЛ БОЯРСКИЙ!!!

My friend posted this video on her wall, and I think it is a pretty good glimpse of the ridiculousness of St. Pete.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

the view from here.

Sitting on the edge of the freshly melted Fontanka.
Absorbing the beauty of this city. 
Marveling at the wonder of spring.  
Dreaming of what is still yet to come.
Hoping I can hold onto these moments forever.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Gypsy Gods

Wishin' I was in was in Memphis tonight to experience the wonder that is GOGOL BORDELLO.  You Rhodes kids should ditch Rites and go to Minglewood.  Trust me, your minds will be blown.      
   

The Lighthouse's Tale

(A Visit to Kronshtadt)
The waves crash around me, the sand slips out to sea.
And the winds that blow remind me of what has been and what can never be. 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Live in the Moment

"Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but a man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly."

-Ivan Turgenev

Swan Lake at the Mikhailovsky Theatre




Loss for Words

Every time that I sit down to write a blog post it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find the words to express how I feel about Russia and what I am experiencing here.  It’s not that I don’t have lots to say.  I have so many ideas floating around my head but I simply don’t know how to express them in a way that accurately conveys them.  When I first got here it was really easy to write about how new and different everything felt.  Now that I have been here for two months things don’t feel strange; they feel normal.  Russia doesn’t baffle me in the same way that it did before.  I understand her more now.  Everyday occurrences seem normal.  People’s actions, attitudes, and logic seem pretty normal to me.  I am beginning to understand these things about Russian life, about what it means to be Russian (beginning being the operative word).  It’s frustrating because no amount of words can do these realizations justice.  What I am realizing can only be understood through experience, not by anything that I can write here.  There is such a gap in understanding between America and Russia, and now I see why.  Stereotypes that Americans hold about Russians (and vice versa) are, for the most part, misunderstandings.  It takes learning and understanding the language, living in a Russian home, daily trudging through snowy streets with the rest of the city, or sharing a drink with a friend to break through these misunderstandings.  I really believe that Russia can only be understood through things such as these.  I look back to before I came here when I thought I understood Russia, and I realize how I had no idea.  And I’m sure years (or even months, weeks, days) from now I’ll look back at this blog post and realize that after only a few short months in Russia I still had no idea who Russia was/is.  Understanding is a process.  Even though I feel like my words about my time in Russia seem inadequate, I’m gonna keep on trying, and maybe every once in a while I’ll be able to convey the reality of my experience.   

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Best of the Hermitage

Since I have spent a good portion of my time here wandering the halls of the amazing Hermitage, I figured it was only appropriate to share with you my two favorite pieces of art displayed there.

Rembrandt's  Return of the Prodigal Son
Children's exhibit that I walk by every time I leave.
Please note the crying, severed head.  So epic.  
Okay, so I know that these two artists have very different styles, but they are both awesome in their own way.  I never imagined the Rembrandt to be so powerful in person, but it is.  Words don't do it justice.  If you haven't read Henry Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son, you should and then come to St. Pete and stand for hours in front of this painting in awe.  And then you should catch this lesser known masterpiece, which I like to call "Crying, Severed Head."  It's pretty epic.  I love the look of satisfaction on the face of the decapitator.  I walk by this children's exhibit to exit the Hermitage, and this picture makes me laugh every time.  What can I say, I have high taste!  

Monday, April 4, 2011

Весна?

So I started to write this post about spring arriving a couple weeks ago, but I realized that it was a little too premature.  Just as I started happily writing about the sunshine and warm weather, the snow started falling again and the temps plummeted once more.  What people say is spring here is like the worst of winter weather back home.  But spring really is here (by Russian standards), and the long held hope of a warm and bright future becoming a reality.  Relativity is everything, so this last week of highs in the mid thirties (and in the forties today!) has felt as good as 70-80 degree weather in the States in March.  I can feel the winter depression lifting off of the city, as people in general seem happier and warmer.  I’m really glad to witness both the physical and emotional transformation of the city.  Though I am so happy to see the arrival of spring, I really am glad to have experienced the Russian winter.  It’s true that the bitter cold wasn’t always very fun (mostly it was miserable), but winter is the real Russian experience, especially since it’s winter for half the year.  It’s the melancholy of the depressing grey skies and the unbearable temperatures that breed the deep culture and art that is so prevalent here.  What would people write about/what would they create/what would they lament if it were warm and happy all the time?  Russia is really Russia in these conditions.   And it is the harshness of winter that makes spring so much sweeter in comparison.  That's really a metaphor for the Russian experience, I think.  Going through the dark, rough times make the good moments so rich and beautiful.  
We're up to spring snowmen now!
So much is changing so quickly.  It’s lovely to walk through the streets on a bright day and realize that the sun actually feels warm again and that there really are sidewalks under all that ice.  Who knew?  The first time that I walked around Дворцовая площадь (the square in front of the Hermitage) without it covered in snow I freaked out.  Same sort of freak out occurred when I saw water actually flowing down the middle of the Neva.  Weird!  It almost feels like I am rediscovering the city all over again as I see things in completely different ways.  Probably the biggest plus of the weather change is its implications for my wardrobe.  I cannot express the joy I felt the days that I didn’t wear leggings under my jeans, wore spring boots instead of snow boots, took my fur hood off my coat, and abandoned my down coat altogether.  If you know me well, you probably know my general aversion to clothes and how much I hate bundling up.  I’ve jumped at the opportunity to abandon any clothes that I possibly can.  Though some days I’ve been a little too hasty.  Let’s just say that Sperry’s in the snow=worst decision in Russia to date.  I guess I should be glad that a wardrobe mishap is my worst decision in Russia; I figure it could be way worse (you should be proud, Momma and Daddy!).  
Such a bad idea...
Spring’s a coming and the city’s a changing.  What is Russia without ice and snow?  I do not know the answer, but I guess I’ll see soon.