Uh what else...Sunday's plan to go to the flea market was a bust since my group had to meet with some Vassar alumni who are on vacation in Europe at the Peter and Paul Fortress. They were nice, and I met a woman named Becky who graduated in '45 and was an architectural history major at Vassar. We actually had an interesting conversation about renovation and restoration of historic sites, and how while some places like the Ise Temple in Japan will recreate the temple using the same materials and techniques every 15? or so years, Americans would rather keep the facade, but then change the interior to last longer with new materials and style. But yeah, free dinners both days were very welcome.
Monday was meh. Tuesday was eh. Wednesday was :D and -_- at moments. The -_-: paying 4 dollars for a coke at lunch (never again.), the rain, the line at the Hermitage, getting lost at the Hermitage, STILL not deciding what to write about for my paper, and realizing "ladies' dance" was in fact not ballroom. But the :D overpowered all the -_-s like
- having my Russian professor be her wonderful self and suggest going to the ballet, and bringing me to her datcha one weekend in November.
- seeing the Rubens and the amazing second floor of the Hermitage
- running into Natalya, our tour guide from Novgorod, at the museum and having her ask me how "the talkative boy" is doing haha.
- bento box :O (though really the $4 coke ruined it for me)
- ladies' dance turned out to be good exercise and a nice time to just dance like a fool without feeling like a fool. yay women's self-empowerment through modern and jazz dance! and the music was great, it was all gotan project and celine dion and christina aguilera hahaha
- lols the movie 2012 playing on mute while the pianist was playing music
- jazz club was. amazing. the pianist was cool, and the three people i met were great characters:
Aleksei (aka Obelisk) - 24, camo bandana, lanyard with keys and usb hanging around his neck, fingerless leather gloves, sleeveless sweatshirt, crazy eyes; definitely a strange character, i dont even think it was fully the alcohol esp since he only had like two beers. he first approached me asking what kind of asian i was in russian, only i didnt realize it until he said "koreahna? yaponiya?" and i was like "oh...niet, ya kitaika" and he was very amused that i knew almost no russian. i was very amused he knew almost no english except at one point he was remarking something at the next table and said "holy shit, motherfucker!" hahahah. he got into a cute tussle with another dude over who could get into the bathroom first, and it was just. lols on many levels. he was nice, he invited me over to his table and was very animated. offered to walk me home but i told him i was close and he backed off like a gentleman haha. before he left, he took both my and Alice's hands and kissed them, and then gave me a little kiss on the cheek before he left. haha what a character
Dmitri (aka Brahjah) - 28, tall lanky awkward looking guy, bowl cut; very much embarrassed that he didnt know a lot of english, and he kept trying to ask me things but totally failing. ended up saying "i love you" a lot to me without fully realizing what it meant hahaha. things like "i love you fight," "i love you music," "i love you deutsch." apparently is learning (and struggling with) german. not as much of a character as aleksei, but talkative and nice haha. made me a nice napkin rose since aleksei wanted to know how to make one himself.
and finally,
Alice - 18, college freshman, russian hipster :O since she was wearing red converses, jeans, and hipsterish glasses and was constantly on her blackberry haha; when i sat at the table, it was between her and dmitri, and she kept looking at me up and down without saying anything. i started feeling awkward but then i was like oh fuck it and turned to her and asked what her name was in russian. then she responds "Alice. Do you speak English?" and i was like HOLY SHIT YES I DO, HELLO :D instant bond. hahah she's an international studies major at Smolni Institute, which is where the other international study abroad program is based, so she's met some other people from abroad. she had pretty good english and she doesnt drink alcohol, but smokes. she's also bi and has a girlfriend in Moscow, which is where she's originally from (and then the woman behind us at the next table was like "oh my god me too, we're like neighbors!") she also knew the pianist since he's also a student, and she helped translate some of the questions obelisk and dmitri had for me. she also told dmitri what "i love you" meant and he was like O_O OH and then looked away all embarrassed hahahaha. she was super friendly and also gave me a kiss on the cheek before she left. gotta love russian customs which essentially is sitting with strangers and talking to them as though they've been old chums haha
i got all three of their numbers but i dont think i'll ever see any of them again unfortunately :( but the whole experience was just. excellent.
best decision ive made since being here :)
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