Getting to know St. Petersburg

Saturday, June 18^th

I’ve realized that I need to start dating these entries. Because of my lack of internet access at home, I tend to write these out in a word document then post them when I can make it to an internet café (a coffee shop that offers free wifi with a purchase, or something similar). So, sometimes when I say today I really mean yesterday.

Also, this entry comes before the one I posted about the Red Sails…but that story had to be told. This does too, but not right away. However, I did get some serious knowledge from this first day in my homestay…so I think it’s important.

Anyways. On to the good stuff.

I woke up with some serious stomach pain, and I was nauseous all through the night. I think the change in diet is really starting to get to me. Not only are all the foods different, but my meat intake has gone up by about…one trillion percent. I eat it with every meal. I know…you don’t believe me. But I think my body’s having a similar reaction to most vegetarians’ when they start eating meat…freaking out. Not that I’m a vegetarian. I just don’t like meat. But, as I don’t think that would fly in Russia, I suck it up. And as the memory of half of a million people dying of starvation during the siege of Leningrad is still alive in the population, I sure as hell don’t leave anything left on my plate.

So at breakfast I told my host mother, Inga, over my eggs in a basket that my stomach hurt. She snatched my yogurt away, gave me more bread with cheese, and two pills that would calm my stomach. There was no “how does it hurt?” or “do you want anything for it?” There was just her taking action. But the pills helped, and she gave me more for tonight and tomorrow morning. In other words, Inga’s pretty dope.

After breakfast, Inga and I trekked to the metro to meet the group for a city bus tour. As in the Russian fashion, Inga donned a lacy tank top, a wool cardigan, and 3-inch wedges. Russian women dress up to do absolutely everything…to go to work, to go to the store, to take out the trash… They always want to look their best. And they do. The women here are gorgeous, and I feel like a frumpy douche. I think that’s how they spot us Americans so easily. We smile on the street and dress like hobos.

So, back to the metro. A token costs 25 rubles, or about a dollar American. After going through the turnstile, you get on the escalator. Now…I’m not afraid of heights like the rest of my family, but my stomach shot straight up into my throat when I looked down. Because St. Petersburg is built on a swamp (great economic and political location. Terrible in all other ways), the metro had to be built really far underground. Like, almost a mile underground. So the escalator, basically a sheer cliff face, takes almost 4 minutes to ride. Doesn’t sound like much, until you consider the escalators at the mall take about 30 seconds at most. When you first get on, you can’t even see how far down the low-ceilinged tunnel goes. I would take a picture for you all, but the metro can be a dangerous place to draw attention to one’s foreigness…pick pocketing is a serious problem in the city. We’re told to try to only speak Russian in the metro and really maintain our metro faces, hence the name.

After riding the metro, we got to a gorgeous cathedral to meet the group and I hopped on the bus. Our tour took about 2 and a half hours, even though we couldn’t stop anywhere because of traffic. I paid attention for the first half…then started spacing out. After the tour, in which we saw the best of St. Petersburg both historically and aesthetically, we went to Teremok for lunch. Teremok is Russian fast food, and their specialty is blinny. Blinny are thin pancakes, sort of like crepes, but they roll them with everything from cheese to berries and cream to caviar. I could really get used to that kind of fast food, let me tell you.

After the planned events, my 13-year-old host sister Lena met me at the metro station and escorted me back (I’m getting picked up by a 13-year-old. Talk about humbling). I’ve only been taking it for a day or two, but I already feel like an old hand at the metro. The high escalators, the pissed off faces, the pushy crowds, and the complicated stations, so daunting just a day or two ago, are now part of my daily life.

Then I took a nap in preparation for the festivities of the night…but I’ve already told you all about that. The next challenge lies in the actual classes starting this week.