Cock'er? But I don't even...

This entry is horribly overdue. I apologize for that. Keep in mind that I'm in Russia-- nothing gets done in a timely manner here.Anyway, last Thursday night, I went to a Joe Cocker concert in Dvortsovaya Ploshad (Palace Square) with a couple of students in my group, Alex and John. It was excellent. Such cool place for a concert. Right in front of Catherine the Great's former residence. Heh heh. The old nympho was probably rolling over in her grave.If you've ever seen old video of Joe Cocker performing back in the day...yeah, he's still like that. I was not disappointed-- the guy delivered. He was just as, um, animated as ever. And his voice has not changed a bit. He could still emote and screech, and he sang his heart out on every song. It was definitely a memorable night.I think Joe Cocker might be more popular in Russia now than in the States. My host sister Lena was really jealous that I got a ticket to the concert. But it was interesting-- the songs that were big hits in the US weren't the favorites of the crowd at the concert. Alex and John and I were absolutely going nuts (screaming and jumping) when we heard the opening measures to songs like "Feelin' Alright" and "With a Little Help From My Friends." The rest of the crowd didn't seem as impressed with those particular songs, but they did go nuts during songs that we had never heard before.I wish I had pictures of the actual concert, but they wouldn't allow photography past the security checkpoint, so here's a picture I took of the square before the concert:

Pictures Coming Soon!

I have a lot of photos of all my St. Petersburg sights and peeps, and I will upload them and link to them soon. In the meantime, here's a classic, in honor of the football season that I'm currently missing. *sniff!*Go Cardinal Football! I'm with you in spirit. Keep kickin' ass, ABF Drumz! For the love of God and all that is holy, my ears are bleeding! :)

Lysistrata Ivanovna

Last night, a bunch of us ventured into janky-ass South Central St. Petersburg to see a performance of Lysistrata. I have to say it was really cool to see a Russian performance of the play. It's usually difficult for me a to really get into a play. I mean, I enjoy going to plays, but it's hard for me to get past the intrinsically over-the-top acting of the stage. I can't help but roll my eyes.That wasn't the case this time. I was totally sucked into the performance and I didn't once have the urge to roll my eyes at the acting. I think the reason I was able to get into it is because the Russian language is by its very nature over-the-top. It's so dramatic as it is-- intonation is crucial, and the range between accented and non-accented syllables is much broader in Russian than in most other languages. As a result, the language is very animated and dramatic in its everyday usage. If you observe Russians on the street, whether they're conversing with their friends or just buying something from a kiosk, you will witness very animated exchanges. This language isn't just spoken, it's performed, and I think I was able to enjoy the play last night because it was performed on a dynamic level similar to that of the everyday interactions I've been witnessing since a I came to this country.Also, Russian women are characteristically ballsy. They are no pushovers, honey. It was really awesome to see a bunch of sassy Russian women bark out classic feminist dialogue. So much chutzpah and moxie. It was a very cool evening.In other news, an unfortunate member of the program must have accidentally ingested some local tap water, because he came down with the Russian equivalent of Montezuma’s Revenge. I don’t know if it goes by a name here. The Romanov Curse, maybe? The Tartar Retreat? The Cossack Saber Dance? I'm open to suggestions here, people.

labor daybor

I found out that, sadly, Labor Day is NOT and internationally recognized holiday. So while my friends in the states have been enjoying a long weekend, my weekend was regular-length and is already over. I did enjoy it, though. On Saturday, I went to the Russkii Muzei (Russian Museum) with a couple of students from my program. The museum is hosting a ginormous Chagall exhibit until the end of the month, including works on loan from other museums (including my beloved Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow!) and private collections. As cool as the Chagall exhibit was, I think I got more of a kick out of the museum's regular collection. Since the museum exclusively hosts works by Russian artists, I got to see many paintings that I had previously only known from my language textbooks. It was really neat to finally see the full-sized murals as opposed to the 3" by 5" prints they wedge between boxes of verb conjugations.Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time since I've been here. I got a membership to a gym called Galaktika. :) It's adjacent to the Petrovsky Stadium, and gym members are allowed to use the stadium's track (provided there isn't a soccer match going on). Since the weather here is still unbelieveably nice, I spent almost two hours out on the track. There's something about a completely empty stadium that's so zen. I couldn't leave. I wanted to stay out there for as long as possible-- just me, the blue sky, and a couple of stray tabby cats that found their way into the stadium.After hitting the internet cafe to check my email and read the news (Bush gets to appoint ANOTHER Supreme Court Justice?! WTF?!), I had dinner with my host family and watched some TV with my host sister's boyfriend, Mitya. He's a pretty cool guy. They started showing that ABC show "Lost" over here (dubbed, of course), and Mitya's almost as big a fan of the show as I am. He kept asking me what was going to happen-- they're only about halfway through the first season over here-- but I refused to give anything away. "Ya nye skazhu! Eto surpriz!"Today-- Labor Day, ahem-- we had our first official day of classes. It went a lot better than I thought it would. While I'm still pretty sure that my Russian is the worst in the group, I don't feel like I'm hopelessly behind. We have two 90 minute classes, followed by an hour one-on-one with a tutor. My tutor, Olya, is really nice. Since it was our first session, we just introduced ourselves and talked about what we would work on this semester. I told her that I really want to focus on improving my conversational Russian. It's always been my weakest area. I know that my problem that I'm so self-conscious about my speaking abilities in Russian that I end up staying pretty quiet during any conversation, and I don't get the practice I need. She assured me that we will work on it and that soon, I will feel comfortable speaking Russian. She even told me that the Russian I *do* speak is almost totally correct, and that I barely have an accent. Zuh?! Um, thanks, but are you sure you're talking to ME, Olya?Do vstrecha!

Hot.

Check out my student ID card.What do you think? Can I pass for a russkaya studyentka?

Zdravstvuyte!

Well it's official: your Bonnie lies over the ocean. Greetings from Russia. Where they keep the cold when other places aren't using it.Actually, the weather's been pretty good so far. What's funny is that it almost seems to be making the locals uneasy. They're so used to things starting to turn ugly right about now that they don't know how to react to summer lasting as long as this.I arrived in St. Petersburg on Friday afternoon with a group of 9 other American students. My host family is just as sweet as can be. I'm living with a mother (Tatiana Nikolaevna), her 2 daughters (Yelena, 21, and Tanya, 17), and their dog Ema. Oooh, boy. Ugliest. Dog. Ever.Not only is the family incredibly nice and congenial, but their apartment is great. It's absolute luxury by Russian standards. I think it's safe to say that I totally lucked out in terms of my housing assignment for this program. Tatiana has even offered to do my laundry!After dinner and a much needed shower (great water pressure, by the way), I went to bed. It was a bit of a fitful night, though, between the jetlag and the early pangs of homesickness. On Saturday, the other students and I were led on a walking tour of the area around the university. Our department's building is right on the Neva River, and the view is amazing. We walked across a gorgeous bridge to the square where the Hermitage is. That's right. The freaking Hermitage is within walking distance of my school. As is the Bronze Horseman. It's such a trip that I'll be spending everyday so close to such iconic Russian landmarks.After the group walking tour, Tanya took me and a couple of other students to the Peter and Paul Fortress. It's a small island that has a prison (where Dostoevsky was held) and a church (where many of the tsars and tsarinas are entombed, including Catherine the Great and, as of recently, the entire Romanov family). We lounged on the island's strip of sandy beach for a while, just conversing and taking in the unseasonably nice St. Petersburg weather.Classes officially start later this week-- we've just been having introductory lectures so far-- but first they're going to test us (exhaustively) to see how our language skills measure up as of now. Wish me luck (I think I need it)!

Goodbye!

"Goodbye" is a word that's been on my mind a lot recently. This month has been full of goodbyes-- some expected, some unexpected, all of them sad. I've known for months now that I would have to say goodbye to all my friends at the end of the summer, but even so, now that the moment has arrived, I feel horribly sad. I know I'm about to embark on an adventure, and that I'll be having fun and keeping busy once I'm in Russia. Right now, however, I'm just worried about making it through the next three days without collapsing in on myself from the sadness of leaving everyone I love. I know we'll keep in touch with email and IM and phone calls. It's just... that ocean is just so large...Goodbye, everyone. My next entry will be from Russia. With love.