Hello!!
Well, things are moving right a long in Astrakhan. I finally found out how it was possible to have extremely hot weather, torrential rain and hail in one afternoon...and believe me, it was not a very fun!
On Thursday, we had an excursion instead of a lecture (hurray!); we went to a publishing house that publishes both books, boxes (?), and a newspaper. It was very interesting to meet the editors and journalists of the newspaper and talk with them. One of my classmates asked if there was a problem with free speech in Russia and they said "no...of course not!" Then another students said that she heard that if a Russian journalist wrote something contrary to the government's position that it was hard for them to find work. The editor replied that it was just a misrepresentation and that it definitely isn't the case in Russia. Maybe it's not a problem this far south. When we viewed the actual place where they publish books and the newspaper, one of the tour guides gave me a book about Astrakhan. It's basically handmade, we saw a lady gluing the binding together. Maybe someday I'll be able to read it.
On the way back to school, it started to rain but our teachers didn't want to close the sunroofs of the bus, so we all got a little wet. Then it started raining even harder; we had a small mutiny and shut the windows and sunroofs. By the time we approached the school, our bus was driving in about a six inches of water and it had begun to hail golf-ball sized pieces of hail. By the time we got to school, we had to wade through the rather deep puddles into the main building on campus. I didn't know that it was going to rain, so I was wearing a sundress and flats (which are ruined) and didn't have an umbrella. I thought I could just use the computer lab and wait out the storm, but unfortunately the computer lab was full of large puddles and they had shut the server down. So, I decided to go home...which ended up being more difficult than I thought. I was determined to get there by myself, though, so I didn't call my family. I was completely drenched by the time I got to the Marshrutka stop and had to stand out in the rain waiting for one to come. The first two didn't stop, but 30 minutes later I finally got on one. Most of the streets were flooded and there was a lot of traffic due to cars that were stuck, so I was on the marshrukta for almost two hours...most of the time I had no recognition of where I was because the van was taking different roads in order to avoid all the flooding. When I finally got to the apartment complex, I had to wade through small rivers of water to my building...only to find out that our power was out! Luckily my host family has a gas stove, so I still got a warm dinner.
This weekend, we boarded a train headed for Volgograd at 9:30 pm and arrived in Volgograd at about 9 am. I wasn't sure how well I would sleep on the train, but it actually wasn't that bad. After getting over the dirtiness, unsanitary bathrooms (seats, beds, mattresses, floor, tables, hallways...well, just Russia in general), and the noise of my fellow students, I managed to sleep pretty well. The funny part was that we only got electricity for about 5 hours and the bathroom only operated at certain hours. The attendants would walk past our rooms and tell us "tyalet zakrit" or "tyalet okrit." I asked our director why...his answer for everything is: "Well...we're in Russia."
After getting off the train, we got breakfast at a cafe. Here, they weighed the food they gave me...you only get a certain amount and they make sure that you definitely only get that amount. I had a blini and potatoes, which were cold. A cute old couple were our tour guides...he drove the bus and she talked to us (in Russian) about every single thing that we passed. Volgograd was named "Stalingrad" during WWII and was an important battle for the Russians--which you can see by the five hundred monuments and statues around the area. My favorite was the "Rodina Mat'" or Mother of the Homeland. It is an enormous statue of a woman wielding a sword. We also saw a statue of Lenin (yawn..there's one in Seattle), many memorials to the soldiers who fought in the battle, and a lot of Soviet monuments.
For lunch we went to a restaurant called Stalingrad, which was decorated in a very communist style, complete with pictures of Lenin and Stalin and waitresses/waiters dressed like the Pioneeri (the Soviet boy scouts). We were all excited because from far away it looked like they were serving us mashed potatoes and steak! Finally, a meal that I could eat. Imagine our horror when we realized that it was, in fact, huge hunks of fried, greasy liver. I tried one piece but couldn't actually swallow it. The potatoes and parsley were pretty good, though. That's a good representation of my diet thus far.
After lunch we went to this amazing museum called "Musey-Panorama," which has a circular, panoramic painting of how the battle of Stalingrad was fought. The picture kind of comes out onto the ground, where there are actual pieces of shrapnel, ammunition and other supplies in dirt. It was amazing. The museum also has weapons that were used and huge maps that show the tactics of each side, uniforms, and virtually everything has to do with the battle. One thing that I found particularly interesting was the gifts that other countries gave the city after they won the battle--France gave a plaque, the Czech Republic gave a doll, the US gave a sword, Japan--a bell. There was an entire wall full of these presents.
We also went to a planetarium which gave a very cheesy presentation of the planets and then sun. It was really dark, so I took a nap. :) We also went to the Volga River and walked a long the pier. The river is just amazing; it's so vast and blue. The weather was great too--in the morning it was cloudy and rained (I kinda miss Seattle) but by the afternoon it was warm and sunny. I'm pretty sure I want to move there since Scotland didn't work out.
I really love being in Russia but there are just somethings that I don't understand and could never get used to. First of all, I don't know how a country can survive without toilet paper and soap in the bathroom. And if you think about how there's no toilet paper, no soap, and the people making my food don't wear gloves and wash the dishes by hand (without soap)...well, I try not to think about it. The university gave us girls a key to a bathroom on campus that has everything that should be in a restroom, but the Russian girls aren't allowed to use it. It's a little weird to be segregated from them.
Second, the food sucks. Last week for lunch they served us this meatloaf textured ball of grease, which ended up being beef the first three days, chicken the second, and fish the last day. Our "salat" is sliced ham, egg, cucumber with a huge scoop of mayonnaise and cheese sprinkled on top.
The other day I went to the store to buy some things and while I shopped, four of the store keepers were following me around to each aisle and stared at me while I looked for things. Everywhere I went, there was someone watching me! I almost started laughing. I tried to ask one of them where I could find contact solution, but I didn't know how to say solution, so she ended up showing me five different types of eye makeup remover. I found out later that they were following me because I didn't leave my bag at the front.
There's also a lot of miscommunication: Natasha (my host sister) talks a lot about cars, so I asked her if she wanted one. In Russian, the word for car is машина (mashina). She started talking for a couple of minutes about how people in Russia don't usually get married until their late 20s, but that she'd really like to date someone...but what I thought she was saying was that she wanted a guy with a car instead of a car (all I could think to say was...uh...me too?). It took us a couple of minutes to figure out that she thought I said мужчина (myshchina--man) and was answering that question instead. We had a good laugh.
Anyway, it's getting late so I need to go to the store and buy (edible) food. Until next week!
Cheers,
Maria
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