Me with the Garden King/Poseidon/I really don't know what it is, but it's funny in Vyborg.Wow! I guess it has really been quite a while since I have written. Sorry about that. I just get caught up in what I'm doing here sometimes and forget. Everything has been going well since I last wrote to you all. There really hasn't been too much exciting going on, just alot of studying and trying to improve my Russian.
A few weeks ago we went to see the Nutcracker. It was at the end of October, so it was a little weird. I usually think of the Nutcracker as a very Christmasy ballet, and therefore it was odd to see it so far before Christmas. It was really good though. I liked it alot. It was quite different from the versions I've seen in America though. Mainly the ending was different. Instead of Clara waking up at the end and everything having been a dream, the ballet just simply ended after the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. So, that was kind of odd. I was also somewhat disappointed by the Russian dance. I guess I was expecting something really spectacular since I was in Russia, and it just wasn't really anything that special.
T weeks ago we had a very nice 5 day weekend. Thursday, November 4 was a national holiday. I think, roughly translated, it was the Day of National Unity, but I'm not really sure what the holiday was supposed to be commemorating. But anyway, we got that Wednesday off because we never have school on Wednesdays, then Thursday was the holiday, and Friday was given off to us as a "gift" from the Russian government. However, that "gift" wasn't really a good one since we had to make up that Friday by going to school yesterday (on Saturday). However, I enjoyed the long weekend. On that Wednesday some friends and I went to the banya again. That was a really fun time and a nice way to relax. On Thursday we went to another hockey game, and on that Friday I volunteered at the Hermitage. I've been volunteering at the Hermitage regularly now. The Hermitage is the most famous museum in St. Petersburg and probably the most famous one in all of Russia. I've been helping out there with various things, often working with the public. It's a nice way to work on my Russian skills. They've also asked me to help edit their English language newspaper.
Me at the top of Vyborg castle with the town in the background.On that Saturday, some of my friends and I traveled to Vyborg, a town on the Finnish border. It was really nice to get out of the big city for a while and enjoy the fresh air. We travelled there by elektrichka (commuter train), and it took about 2.5 hours. There we saw the Vyborg Castle, a clocktower, the market, and just did alot of walking around the city. The weather was great, so it was a really good time.
I believe somewhere there in the distance is Finland.
Church in Vyborg.This past week, as I said, was a long week. We had to go to school yesterday to make up for the Friday before. So, that really wasn't fun. Nothing else too exciting has really happened. It's getting very dark here and it's raining alot. When I first got here people told me that it would rain every day in November. I thought they were exaggerating, but it really has rained every day this month. It's pretty ridiculous. I've realized that St. Petersburg really has horrendous weather, and because of that I would probably never want to live here permanently, but I'm enjoying the city while I'm here.
Coming up this week we are trying to find a place to go see the new Harry Potter movie in English. In Russia they dub all of their movies, so this is proving to be a hard task. You'd think in such a big city that there would be at least one theater that would show it in English with subtitles, but it's seeming more and more like that might not be the case. We'll see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Well, that's about it for now. I hope everything is going well with everyone in the States. I'll try to not wait so long before I update again.
