What do men want?

Why they want juicy meat, of course!!

A few random thoughts on the Naval Museum

As part of my attempt to see as many St. Petersburg museums as possible (I've already been to a ton and have barely made a dent), I visited the Museum of Naval history with a couple of friends.   Of course the highlight of the day was seeing Peter the Most Awesome's first boat that he sailed when he was sixteen.  So cool!  But despite all that awesomeness, there were a few random things that I wanted to share.

1. This museum marked my penultimate success in fooling the ticket lady into believing that I am a Russian citizen.  At museums there are different prices for Russian citizens and everyone else (and different student rates too).  In general, our strategy is to give the cashier our студентческие билеты (student IDs) without saying a word.  We don't want to give her a chance to detect an accent.  Even a few words can be dangerous and will result in paying a higher price.  Usually we are successful.  On this particular day we followed the normal protocol.  But the cashier got wise and realized that we weren't Russian citizens...everyone except me.  I got to pay the 50 rouble Russian student price while the others had to pay 120 roubles.  The price was no big deal (a dollar fifty versus four dollars), but this was a very proud moment for me.  Of course this does not at all reflect back on my Russian ability since I said nothing, but all the same I like it when people think that I'm Russian.

2. After we got our tickets (and Max and Ethan had finished being mad at me for getting the lesser priced ticket), we noticed a funny thing.  These tickets were surplus USSR tickets which formerly cost only 30 kopecks (which now amounts to approximately thirty cents).  The new price had been stamped on top.  I'm not really sure what this says about the museum.  Either the original printers of the tickets were a little overzealous and optimistic about the success of the museum, or maybe we were the few visitors that were still choosing to visit.  Anyways, I thought these tickets were pretty funny and very Russian.

 

3.  Every time I visit any war-related museum in Russia, I am always struck by the significance of language and word choice.  Most of these smaller museums are without any English translations, which is good for practicing Russian.  I think we're always amazed at how much information we can glean from such technical descriptions.  I always find it interesting that in the context of WWII Russians tend to refer to the Germans as Fascists and not Nazis like we generally do in the US.  This difference in title says a lot about the historical perspective of Russia.  I feel like the Americans viewed the Germans as an enemy, but to the Russians they were much more than an enemy.  It was an ideological struggle: Fascism vs. Communism.  I think that the Russians felt a real possibility of their system falling to fascism.  The threat was so close and was on Russian soil.  This is something that America did not feel in the same way because the threat was not so immediate.  For this reason I think that the Americans more often referred to Germans as Nazis because this was a more detached term.  Perspective is so important, and it's interesting to see the differences in the perception of history.  These thoughts only scratch the surface of differences in the historical perception of WWII, but this is definitely something that I've been thinking about lately.  

'Tis the season...to eat blini and be a woman.

The recent busyness in my life has led to a lack of substantial blog posts despite the fact that I have so much to say. So I’m sorry, y’all.  You’re about to endure an explosion of all that I’ve been holding back.  Hopefully it won’t get too messy. 

For the past week I have partaken in what is quite possibly the most wonderful holiday of the year: масленица. Maslenitsa is a weeklong holiday with both religious and pagan roots.  In folk tradition, Maslenitsa is a celebration of the sun and the arrival of spring.  In the Christian tradition, it is the week preceding the start of Orthodox Lent, which started two days ago.  Literally translated it means, “butter week.”  During the Orthodox Lent meat, dairy and eggs are given up, so Maslenitsa is celebrated with the consumption of lots and lots of blini.  For those of you who have yet to experience the wonder that is the blin, blini are, in short, thin Russian pancakes that can be filled with practically anything.  Golden, round and hot like the sun, these tasty delights warm my mouth and my heart almost daily.  It would be an understatement to say that my friends and I have become obsessed with blini during our time in St. Petersburg.  We are in love.  Fortunately/unfortunately, Теремок, the local blini chain, has a stand just around the corner from my school.  Sometimes the temptation is unbearable when I stand waiting for the bus and the scent of buttery goodness makes its way to my nose.  Теремок is relentlessly trying to show me just how little self control I have…and it is succeeding.

Теремок's Maslenitsa advertising.  SO MANY BLINI!!

Since Maslenitsa gave me the opportunity to gorge my face with blini for a week in the name of cultural enrichment, I took full advantage by eating blini multiple times a day, everyday of the week.  And it was GLORIOUS!!  If I had any doubts of what is my favorite holiday, I know now that Maslenitsa is the one.  Early in the week my friends and I celebrated the holiday with a blini potluck.  Each person brought their own favorite ingredients, which included: Nutella, bananas, strawberries, an assortment of jams, sweetened condensed milk, Snickers, sour cream, honey, mushrooms, cream cheese, salmon, and the list goes on and on.  It was a fun night of relaxation and appreciation of Russian culture.  There’s nothing like gathering in a Russian apartment and sharing in a meal.  These are the kinds of moments that I want to hold onto forever…

Blini flipper extraordinaire.

Beginnings of our blini potluck.

We flipped lots and lots of blini.

Meagan and her Snickers blin.  Best idea ever.  

Salmon and cream cheese blini.

The penultimate moment of the Maslenitsa festivities takes place on Sunday, the last day before чистый понедельник (clean Monday).  To begin the day I gathered with my whole host family (mama, sister, sister’s boyfriend, brother, brother’s wife) for our last blini feast until Easter.  This was by far the tastiest blini I’ve eaten in my life.  My host mama pulled out all the stops and provided us with luxurious fillings, such as caviar, homemade apple butter, and homemade cranberry jam.  Unfortunately, I have no pics to document this occasion, because I was so excited about eating that I forgot until we were finished (I’m sure that’s not surprising to anyone that knows me).  After the feast, we headed out to a park where a Maslenitsa festival was in full force with all the traditional shenanigans: singing, dancing, games, and most importantly the burning of the чучело.  This tradition basically entails the burning of a 15-foot doll named Lady Maslenitsa while dancing around her in a circle as a symbol of bringing in the spring season.  Russians really do know how to celebrate, and I love it.  We had lots of fun dancing, hanging out, and making new friends.  I captured a few videos of the merriment, which I hope will give you a little of idea of the fun that was had. 

Me with a mini Lady Maslenitsa

Чучело pre-burning

Burn, baby, burn.

Sorry it's sideways, but here's the чучело burning.

A little too much fun...

Orthodox Lent began on Monday.  After a wonderful fairytale day spent in Pushkin (which I have not the time to expound upon here, but let me just say AWESOME), my friend and I visited an Orthodox church.  Many gathered in the church to pray and ask forgiveness, preparing themselves for the next forty days of sacrifice.  While Orthodox tradition is still very foreign to me, I am beginning to understand it more and more.  As I am walking I often stop into random churches just to think, pray, or light a candle.  Despite my ignorance, I am inspired by the deep spirituality that I see in the men and women practicing the rituals of their faith.  Examining my own faith in light of the faiths of others is helping me to see in a new light.  I have agreed to observe Orthodox Lent with my host family, which means no meat, dairy and eggs until Easter.  We’ll see how that goes.  If you know anything about Russian food, you’ll know that such a diet is almost impossible to imagine. I’m three days in and so far, so good.     

Church that we visited on Clean Monday.  
We think it looks like a cake.  

If there wasn’t already enough celebrating, Tuesday was the 8^th of March, Международий Женский День (International Women’s Day)!  This is a state holiday in Russia, which meant no school Monday or Tuesday (because why would we work one day after the weekend just to have the next day free?  I love Russian logic!).  Women are celebrated on this day with congratulations, flowers, chocolate, presents, etc.  I’m continuing to reap the benefits of this holiday as my apartment is now filled with flowers and lots of tasty treats.  Just when I thought the holiday was over, I arrived at school today to find that the boys of Smolny had organized a cotton candy machine in the café for all the ladies.  Russia (and Smolny) never ceases to amaze me.  I am absolutely in love with the Smolny community!  I am reminded everyday of how lucky I am to have such a unique experience abroad.  If anyone’s on the fence about studying abroad, DO IT!!! And come to St. Petersburg with Smolny.  You won’t be sorry, I promise.

Flowers for March 8.

Cotton candy for the ladies.

So happy to be women!

I’ve got so much more to share, but all this celebrating has worn me out.  I’ve been burning it at both ends, and I think Russia is beginning to catch up with me.  So I think I’ll just try running faster, and maybe I’ll end up ahead of her.  Let’s hope. 

Rhodes in Russia ♥

Salamanders are dangerous!!

Like I said, it's a small world.

Even Crocs have made it to Russia with their own store (though I can't really imagine any situation where I could see a Russian actually wearing them).  Oh, the glories/horrors of globalization!

It's a small world (after all)

Time flies so, so fast.  I cannot believe that I’ve been in St. Petersburg for over a month now.  I have roughly 100 days left in this wonderful place.  I’m trying to hold onto every moment and savor its wonder, but most of the time it feels like time is slipping through my fingers.  Every moment that passes is a moment that I’ll never have again.  Sometimes I just want time to stop to hold onto a moment, but most of the time I’m glad that it keeps moving because everyday, every second brings me something new to love, live, and experience.  Today was the first day of spring, and although there was little change in the weather, a fresh hope for the future was tangible in the air.  Smolny students celebrated the beginning of the new season, but also the beginning of a new chapter in the life of our school.  Yesterday the Academic Council of St. Petersburg State University voted to create a new Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences from Smolny College.  While I’m sure that this fact means nothing to 99% of people who are reading this blog, it’s a really big deal to the people around me right now.  This development has major implications for the future of Smolny.  It’s really cool to not just be studying abroad but to be a part of a project that is working to change the system of education in Russia. 

So, I thought that living in a foreign country would help me to understand the expanses of this big world in which I live, but I’ve found that quite the opposite has occurred.  The more I travel and the more that I experience, the more I realize the truth of that slightly annoying song: it actually is a small world (after all).  I’m sure that this wasn’t always the case.  It probably felt pretty darn big to the dudes that discovered new pieces of land and all, but in our globalized, tech savvy world of today it feels a little cramped.  Of course when I came to St. Petersburg, the window to the West, I expected to feel the influence of the global world on Russian culture, but I’ve still found so many things that I didn’t expect to experience here.  For example: I didn’t expect to buy the exact same shampoo/conditioner that I use at home (same brand, same scent, just in Russian) in a corner beauty shop.  I didn’t expect to walk into a club and realize that 90% of the music played is either American or British and that everyone there knows every word (and I don’t).  I didn’t expect to watch Friends (dubbed in Russian) with my host mama every night after dinner (or Sex in the City or Desperate Housewives or ER).  I didn’t expect to see more iPads and Kindles than I’ve seen in the States.  To be honest these things don’t really surprise me, but they do make me so aware of how life in Russia can be so similar yet so different from life in the states.  It’s such a beautiful paradox, and because of it I never know when something will feel foreign or familiar. 

When I first got here I had this great desire to avoid all things that seemed “American” and to live a very “Russian” life.  I tried to be that anti-American girl.  I boycotted McDonalds runs, tried to limit my English usage, avoided eating foods that I could eat in America, didn’t watch/listen to any American movies/music, etc.  I didn’t want anything to do with America.  I’d come here to be Russian after all, but I have quickly realized that no clear line can be drawn between what is strictly American culture and what is strictly Russian culture.  Our cultures are hopelessly tangled with one another.  Things that I am accustomed to at home are often still considered normal here, and indulging in these things does not make my Russian experience any less authentic.  Actually such indulgences probably makes my life more true to normal life in St. Petersburg.  But despite my ability to find tastes of home all around me, I’m most definitely in a foreign country.  For every similarity, there are a hundred differences.  Russia is its own place with its own character, and for that I love it dearly.  It daily captures my heart, and I find that my love for this place is growing deeper and deeper.  If someone knows a way that I can live in two places at once, please let me know.  I don’t know how I’m this blessed to love life on two continents so much.  I’m such a lucky girl.   

All my love from Russia.