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

volgograd, 4

rodina-mat' zovyot!
so proclaims the famous russian propaganda poster from world war II
she holds out the oath of service for the red army
while beckoning towards the brethren going off to fight the fascists
and so proclaims the icon of mother russia,
brandishing a sword 108 feet high
calling on all russians to defend the volga
striding the top of mamayev kurgan in central volgograd
the motherland statue, rodina-mat' zovyot!

the statue itself is 279 ft [85 meters] tall
it was the tallest in the world when erected in 1967
it [and the memorial at the base] were created as a memorial for the battle of stalingrad
the deadliest battle of wwII [and quite possibly the deadliest ever]
there's even a grand marshall of the soviet union buried there
the memorial has a big hand holding an eternal flame in the middle
there are two guards at both entrances
and they do a changing of the guard similar to the one we saw in moscow
i have to say, it's pretty awesome to see

there's a reason the soviets decided to build the monument on mamayev kurgan
most of the area around volgograd is pretty flat
not michigan flat, more like illinois/indiana flat
mamayev kurgan is the tallest hill around
and during the battle, it was used as a headquarters and observation area
it changed hands numerous times throughout the 200 day battle
the hill is also incredibly close to the river, which was the german goal
so the soviets defended it fiercely, throwing everything they had to its defense
complete divisions were obliterated on both sides fighting on that hill

for any/everyone who cares,
here's a fun little story about the battle
the man in charge of the german army when they surrendered was friedrich paulus
the germans surrendered at the end of january 1943
upon hearing that they were mere days from defeat,
hitler field-promoted paulus to generalfeldmarschall, the highest rank possible
[second only to reichsmarschall hermann göring]
since no german field marshalls had ever been captured alive,
the clear implication was that paulus was kill himself to avoid capitulation
much to hitler's anger, paulus surrendered soon afterwards
commenting on hitler's expectation for his suicide, he said,
'i have no intention of shooting myself for that austrian corporal'
he remained in soviet custody until 1953, and moved to eastern germany

so, yeah, that was my day

volgograd, 3

we have some good excursions coming up this week
monday we're supposed to go to mamayev kurgan
check out the memorial there, and of course see the statue
tuesday we're going to the panorama down along the river
it's a big museum/memorial thing commemorating the battle
i'd really recommend reading about the battle of stalingrad
it was insane
and wednesday we have another concert [i think]
i think we're going to the symphony this time, but i dunno

we had a concert on saturday, and it was awesome
volgograd has a national folk orchestra [along with a philharmonic one]
it has all the fun russian instruments you hear about
balalaiki, domry, bayany, and dudki
they played a bunch of southern russian and ethnic folk songs
they even had a group of bashkiry there
and they played this really awesome song that i can't remember the name of
[bashkortostan is a small republic near the border of kazakhstan]
the concert went a long time, but it was really good music

in the tsentralnyj rajon [the central district], they have a place called alleya geroyev
the alley of heroes
it has a war memorial on it, and there are commemorative plaques lining the sides
they have a pretty decently sized book store on it that i went to on thursday
i was perusing for some more reading material
and i found the complete plays of chekhov there
all four, nice print, good quality book, for 127 rubles
or, in usd, just under $4
by comparison, my english version cost me $20
stuff is so inexpensive here it's ridiculous
i even got room service [pel'meni and borsch] in moscow for 189 rubles [$6]
it's insane

among other things we've found when walking around tsentralnyj rajon,
we came across a really cool bar called belaya loschad', the white horse
it's an experience to say the least
when we went there
they were playing american music,
which happened to be on an italian music station,
all while ordering in russian
it's about as surreal as talking to a japanese waitress and nigerian students in russian
volgograd is crazy
i love it

volgograd, 2

i'm slowly getting used to russia
not that there was doubt that i would
but i wasn't sure how long it would take
gotta say, it's a big culture shock

the classes are certainly interesting
i have four while i'm here
we have phonetics/intonation, practical usage, grammar, and culture
they're all pretty good classes
phonetics is taught by lyena's mom, who is awesome
and the culture guy is really cool
he's got all sorts of fun stories and stuff like that
the kicker?
every single class is entirely in russian
this entire trip is basically a baptism by fire
and it's definitely working

i'm starting to understand more of what's being said to me
i feel like less of a complete idiot, at least
so far, the only thing i can do successfully is order food
thanks to our continuous jaunts through petersburg and moscow
but, with four more weeks of classes tol'ko po-russki
coupled with my homestay and conversations with other random people
my comprehension should see some improvement

and, sadly,
i have yet to take a trip to mamayev kurgan
i have, however, seen the statue
we passed by it on the train ride into town, and it's huge
i think we're taking an trip there sometime next week
we went to a concert last night of more contemporary russian folk songs
popular songs from movies, plus some early 1900s fok songs
the concert hall is the old soviet office for political propaganda
it has the faces of marx, engels and lenin carved into the façade
it's like a soviet mt rushmore
we have another concert there tomorrow, more folk songs
should be a good time

volgograd, 1

so, after all the sights and walking
after all of the museums and palaces
and after a nice 19 hour train ride
here i am, in volgograd
the former namesake of stalin himself
the seat of volgogradskij oblast'

i have to say, i feel like a complete idiot
my host mom's name is lyudmila [or lyuda, as she told me to call her],
and i can't understand most of the things she says
i was expecting to pick up at least a little bit more
but man, my comprehension absolutely sucks
hopefully this will get better as classes gear up
and i actually practice my conversing
but damn
they could be telling me anything and everything under the sun
and all i can do is smile and nod and say da
wish me luck at all that
otherwise it's going to be a long five weeks
a long, misunderstood, awkward five weeks

moscow, 2

we started off the day by heading back to krasnaya ploschad'
we had to leave yesterday because the square was closed down
i guess some bigshot had stopped by and we couldn't stay
we headed to st basil's cathedral
which we got to just after it had opened
man, that place is insane

it was the original cathedral built with the onion dome style
it was commissioned by ivan groznyj, and it was actually built by an italian architect
as one legend says,
ivan was so impressed with its beauty
he ordered the eyes carved out of the architect and his assistant,
so they could never build anything as beautiful again
that wasn't true, but it still makes for a good story
these cathedrals really put american churches to shame
i couldn't even imagine trying to worship in one

after that, we took a little stroll around the other side of the kremlin
got to see the statue of marshall zhukov in front of the istoricheskij muzej
he was the recepient of four 'hero of the soviet union medals'
he had the most of anyone, tying with brezhnev
[which really doesn't count; brezhnev gave himself three for his birthdays]
we even saw the changing of the guard in front of the memorial by the gate
it reminded me of the changing of the guard at arlington
just imagine it being done by russians, and that was pretty much it

after our trip to there, we took another metro ride to patriarch ponds
it's this really nice little park tucked away in downtown moscow
it originally belonged to the patriarch of the church
but it was eventually given to the city folk who lived around there
it's also where, in master i margarita, woland comes to berlioz and bezdomnyj

speaking of master i margarita,
on our travels, we went to the apartment of mikhail bulgakov
for those who don't know,
bulgakov was a well-known russian playwright in the early half of the 20th century
he also penned a novel in the late 30s entitled 'the master and margarita'
it's about the devil making an appearance in 1930s moscow
i definitely recommend it, it's an interesting read
but anyway, we toured his apartment [which housed eight other families]
and toured around the neighborhood

that concludes our incredible tour of the two largest russian cities
i'm really impressed with moscow, i have to say
i was expecting it to be much grittier and more soviet
but, they were both beautiful cities with so much to see
i'm definitely going to have to come back here

we leave for volgograd tomorrow afternoon
and a 22-hour train ride later, that's where we'll be
i'll meet my family, get fed, hopefully sleep some
then begin my second round of classes this year
at least my russian is improving somewhat
should make all that easier

moscow, 1

we took an overnight train to moscow from petersburg
it was a pretty good trip
though none of the windows opened, so it was ungodly hot
we got to our hotel, the izmajlogo, at about 7 in the morning
much to everyone's surprise [dr merrill's too], our rooms were ready
so we dropped our luggage off and hit the city

our first stop was the eternally famous krasnaya ploschad'
or, as we americans know it, red square
i was expecting it to be much bigger than it was
regardless, it was incredibly imposing, and breathtaking
we walked up next to the istoricheskij muzej, the history museum
and as we crested the slight hill, there, in all its beauty,
stood st basil's cathedral, with the kremlin wall and lenin's mausoleum to the right
i'm surprised i couldn't hear the red army singing in the background
we toured around the square for a while
looked around at all gigantic buildings

then, because we got there just at the right time
we walked around back to the entrance, and got in this somewhat long line
we checked our bags, and got checked by the okhrana and metal detectors
we took a walk down the kremlin walls, passed by some placards
and came to this stark building, with two large metal front doors
we went inside, passed by the guards who were stationed at every corner
walked inside... and there, for god and the world to see,
lay the body of lenin
perfectly lit, laying entombed in his glass sarcophagus
i couldn't even begin to describe the feeling of being in there
it truly was a one-of-a-kind experience

from there, we exited back into the square along the kremlin wall
there, in a long line stretching quite a ways
were the graves of all the soviet general secretaries
followed by a litany of soviet demagogues, all bearing headstones [and some busts]
stalin, brezhnev, andropov, chernenko, they were all there
i didn't see khruschyov; i dunno if he was buried somewhere else or not
but yuri gagarin was there, by god
along will all sorts of other important soviets [like kalinin and molotov]
and i was arm's length away from all of them
it was ridiculously cool
makes me wonder if gorbachyov will get buried there when he kicks the bucket

after that little trip, we took a trek inside the kremlin walls
we visited a few of the cathedrals inside [i forget the names of them]
but we did see the tsar's cannon
it was a giant cannon made for ivan groznyj [i think]
it never fired, but it wasn't supposed to; it was all about size and imposition
we also saw the tsar's bell
again, never rung, it was just there to be huge and russian
apparently they had some issues getting it out of the mold
and a piece of it fell off
the piece was about the size of a small car
and it was completely dwarfed by the rest of this bell
that's how huge it was

after we left krasnaya ploschad'
we headed off to yet another art museum
our destination this time was the tretyakovskaya galereya
the tretyakov gallery, basically moscow's version of the russkij muzej
almost all of the art was collected by a man named tretyakov
it was a gigantic gallery, it seemed to stretch on forever
virtually all of the art in there was from russian artists
it was really interesting to compare their art to their european contemporaries
it covered the same time spans as the ermitazh and the russkij muzej
and there were at least half a dozen wall sized paintings
depicting everything from jesus to the strelniki pyotr I had executed
it was sweet

after our trip around the square, we went to the arbat
it's a famous trading street in the heart of downtown moscow
they had virtually every souvenir anyone could want
i even saw steelers' matryoshka dolls
i didn't get them though; they were expensive beyond necessity
we tooled around the arbat for a while, and then took off back to the hotel

st petersburg, 4

on our last day in petersburg
we took an excursion to yet another museum
this one was over by the spasa na krovi
a big yellow building [like half the big buildings in petersburg]
the russkij muzej, the russian state museum

this museum was home to art not collected by the royal family
it was similar to the hermitage, but it was much more varied
[i have photos from there, but none from hermitage,
so i can't provide a photo comparison]
regardless, it was incredible
they had a lot of medieval eastern orthodox icons, entire sections of them
as well as having a lot of other early dark ages collections
it was just as immense as the hermitage, just across the city a bit
i gotta say, nevskij prospekt is huge
it's like fifth avenue in new york; it's all encompassing

before we left, we took a quick tour of the canals
they were trying to imitate venice when they made the city,
so they dug a bunch of canals connected to the river
it makes for a really cool effect [and a ton of bridges]
we went around the main areas of petersburg in the boat
passed by the bronze horseman state of pyotr the great
even passed by the mariinskij again
we also passed by this tiny little statue near one of the back streets
i guess a bunch of university students put it up in the early nineties
some sort of drunken joke thing
anyway, it's become a sort of city-wide legend
and the tour guide described it very officially,
calling it the shortest pamyatnik [statue] in all of petersburg

i really liked petersburg
i'm defintiely going to have to come back here
i can't wait to see how moscow compares

st petersburg, 3

the day after our excursion to the peterhof palace
we made a stop at another palace [one of at least six in the city]:
the winter palace [zimnij dvorets] and the hermitage [ermitazh]

the building itself is mint green
but inside, it's incredible
there were such amazing statues just on the main staircase
and on the second floor, past an immense ballroom
through a portrait room dedicated to the war of 1812
[just the war; they had portraits of virtually every general,
and there were a couple of the tsar too]
there was the throne room, and the throne of the russian empire
i gotta say, given the russian proclivity towards immensely sized things,
it was rather small [still impressive, though]

the story behind the ermitazh is thus:
the russians wanted to have an immense collection of art
so, starting with pyotr the great [and continuing with yelizabeta and yekaterina]
agents would be sent out throughout europe with tons of money
they would buy everything they could get their hands on
and from there, they would send it back to petersburg
so, needless to say, the hermitage was packed with art
there were over four floors [i only got to two of them]
there's a story that goes along with its size:
if you saw every piece of art in the entire museum
and spent just one minute in front of every single piece
it would take you eleven years to see it all
considering how little i saw in just under an hour and a half
i'm inclined to agree

that evening, we went out to the mariinskij theater
we had a choice to either see opera or the ballet,
and we ended up going to the ballet
that night they just happened to be playing stravinsky
music freaks, you're going to love this:
they performed 'the wedding', 'the rite of spring', and 'the firebird' for us
[svadebka, vesna svyaschennaya, and zhar'–ptitsa, respectively]
that's right, all three
i have to say, the rite of spring is so much more intense when you watch it
the music is pretty epic in its own right
but coupled with that staging,
damn
that's really the only way i can describe it
and the firebird was, of course, beautiful as always
i really geeked out about the whole thing
and, as the final touch,
we got a box on stage left, right next to the percussion of the pit
we were close enough to see the whites of their eyes
it was quite the experience

st petersburg, 2

today we only really took one trek:
the petergof dvorets [peterhof palace], right on the baltic
my god, that place was absolutely insane
it was gorgeous, and immense, and covered in gold leaf
there was an entire room just of portraits [over 300]
i could only imagine what it would've been like to arrive there
let alone live there
plus, in the garden grounds on the sea
there were fountains all over the place
some of them were set up to drench the guests
it was great

after we took a boat ride back to the city
we stopped by marsogo polye, across the river from the peter/paul fortress
they had this big memorial right in the middle
apparently the bolsheviks commandeered the field
and turned it into a cemetery for early communists
it was really cool
they even had an eternal flame in the middle

we stopped by lyetnij sad [the summer garden] on the way back
there were a bunch of greco/roman statues and busts dotted around it
pyotr I used to use it to entertain guests away from the palace
it was across from a palace that pavel I built around 1800
after pavel was killed, it was turned into an engineering school

and after that, i napped
and it was good

st petersburg, 1

so,
after a 4 hour layover in amsterdam [which was really nice], we landed in petersburg
we toured around a little bit last night
got food at the chajnaya lozhka ['the teaspoon'], which was fun for EVERYONE
it must've been hilarious to the cashiers
we stopped by the dom knigi, got some books, and headed back

this morning, we started out at 9`30 and headed down nevskij prospekt
we stopped first at the spasa na krovi, a cathedral right on the canal
it was built on the spot aleksandr II was killed back in the 1800s
it was sweet
we also visited the kazan cathedral [kazanskij sobor]
and st isaac's cathedral [isaakskij sobor]
god those places are beautiful, so ornate and gold-leafed
they really put american cathedrals to shame

we also went to the ermitazh [the hermitage], though we didn't go inside
we're supposed to hit that up tomorrow [or thursday, don't remember]
we saw some really cool large buildings on nevskij prospekt
we stopped by gostinij dvor, and some other building i don't remember the name of
there are an incredible amount of statues here, too
we saw kutuzov, monferran, yekaterina I, pyotr I, aleksandr III
and that was only in a few hours, in a small section of town

after an excursion to pizza hut [which is a tale in its own right]
we went to petropavlskaya krepost', the peter and paul fortress in the center of town
it was the original establishment of petersburg
pyotr I built it to stake his claim on the area and keep out the swedes
that place is absolutely amazing
at the cathedral in the center [our fourth of the day],
all the romanov tsars were entombed [even nikolaj II, in a separate room]
i got photos of pyotr I, yekaterina I, yelizabeta I, and nikolaj II in all their dead glory
and this is all in the first day

T-1

so, tomorrow i leave for russia
which most of you should know

i set this up so anyone [if they cared to] could keep up with my trip
i dunno how often i'll update it
since i have no idea where i'll have internet access
but i'll do what i can

since i'm too lazy to make one of my own,
i'm stealing this from sara

we fly into petersburg, stay there for four days
take the train to moscow, spend two days there
then take the [incredibly] long train to volgograd
where we'll be until the end of june

hopefully this will be at least moderately interesting
i'll try to upload some photos [if i can]
otherwise they'll have to wait until i get back

and with that, i depart