volgograd, 5

classes seem to be going pretty well
our subjects are pretty rudimentary
but for the most part pretty helpful
the phonetics/intonation is kinda irritating, though
mostly because we're learning things we aren't going to use again
like pronunciations
i've heard the way russians speak
both on the street and in academic settings
and i know they don't pronounce the way we're learning
especially that soft l ['ль'] and 'ы'
they go by at a mile a minute
oh well, all part of the degree i guess

on saturday, in the midst of a steady rain,
we took an excursion out to rossoshka,
a small town in the volgogradskij oblast' countryside
there, straddling a country backroad, are two cemeteries
commemorating the dead of the battle of stalingrad
on one side, the german memorials
large stone cubes with thousands of names etched into them
a large cross, and plenty of explanatory plaques
it looked very german
on the other side, the soviet memorials
some rows of identified soldiers with helmets on the gravestones
next to huge mass graves, marked only with the number of interred
[on one stone, it marked 700-something people buried there,
only three had any sort of name fragment]
it was very soviet
the rain gave it a cool kind of atmosphere too

last week we took an excursion across the river
directly across from volgograd is the town of volzhskij
it's this small town [comparatively] in the crook of the river
it's an industrial city about the size and population of flint
only it's beautiful and awesome instead of disgusting and depressing
i love it there, it's so cool
the architecture is sweet, and it just has this sleepy town feeling
we went to their lone art gallery in the center of town
when we got there, we met up with some russian english–language students
we had awkward conversations with them most of the night
it was a glorious experience
i even got a photo book of the art at the gallery,
since we went on my birthday

today dr merrill leaves us for the states
he teaches at middlebury college in mass for the rest of the summer
so yesterday we had a going away dinner for him
we also met the lady who's taking over for him, natalya yuryevna
we ate at the yolki-pal'ki; they had really good food
i'm definitely going to go back there

a quick note on the money angle
it's about 31 rubles to the dollar right now
and stuff here is ridiculously cheap
example:
last night i went with my host sister to the belaya loschad'
the bar on prospekt lenina i mentioned before
there was a concert that night [which was really good]
cover charge was 100 rubles [3 dollars]
three guinness [each 1/2 liter] were 360 rubles [10 dollars]
1/2 liter of pepsi was 50 rubles [1.5 dollars]
and the cab ride home was 90 rubles [3 dollars]
so the whole night was just under $18
no one, no one can have a night that cheap in the states
they can't even come close

god i love russia