Bonnie: 1, St. Petersburg: 0

Well, it's been a long week of tests and near-death experiences, kids. As far as the tests go, well, we've been assured that they're just for the teachers to assess our progress and tweak their methods accordingly. They aren't testing us to see who gets voted off the island (or islands, as it were-- damn swamp city). Which is a good thing too, since I did craptacularly. Have fun with that one, LJ spellchecker.
They made the mistake of telling us that the tests didn't really count towards any "grades" before we took the tests. Knowing that, I was so tempted to go all Mad Libs on the tests. That would have been great:
The Sofia Cathedral is the lumpiest cathedral in Russia.Peter the Great died after someone bet him he couldn't eat fifty eggs.In the Peter and Paul Fortress ladies drink free every Wednesday.
Oh, right-- I promised you near-death experiences. Well, I've gotten used to my life flashing before my eyes every time I try to jaywalk here. But this morning was extra special. During rush hour, the metro trains are filled to capacity. Everyone crams in, and if you find yourself in a pack of people moving in a certain direction, you have no choice but to go with the flow. Well, this morning I was caught in a crowd of people trying to cram into an already-full train, and I lost my footing at an inopportune moment: my right leg slipped between the train and the platform, down to my knee. Quite a moment. I said to myself, "Self, you're going to lose your leg, or your life, or both. You're gonna die ugly." Fortunately, a good Russkii Samaritan grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up just before the doors closed. I was too embarrassed to look him in the eyes when I thanked him.
But despite the city's best efforts, I escaped both its language tests and its transportation system with my life. Hence the score, Bonnie: 1, St. Petersburg: 0.
On to cheerier topics, here it is, abiding byim_no_robot 's rules: the Sex Mix, coming in just under the wire at 79 minutes, 59 seconds.
Cruisin', D'AngeloI Feel Love, Blue Man Group & Venus HumThe Wind Cries Mary, Jimi HendrixI Wanna Mmm, The LawyerDream On, Depeche ModeLatour 'Blue', Buddha Bar 5God Put A Smile On Your Face, ColdplayRapture, BlondieRez, UnderworldI Put A Spell On You, Nina SimoneFirst Cool Hive, MobyLove Song. 311You Can Leave Your Hat On, Joe CockerPurple Haze, The CureThe Way You Dream, 1 Giant Leap and Michael StipeDelicate, Damien Rice

Picture Dump

As promised...My host family: Tatiana Nikolaevna, Lena, Tanya, and Lena's boyfriend MityaMy apartment buildingMy bedroom. It's still this clean. I swear.Ema. The dog that God forgot.The statue of Pushkin in front of the Russian Museum.Let me put it in perspective, SAT style...RUSSIANS : PUSHKIN :: GERMANS : DAVID HASSELHOFFThe cast of characters: Hilary, Melissa, Mike, Carrie, and JennBadasses.Hilary and meJohn and AlexMe and Johnsome art museumWe're going on a tour of Novgorod tomorrow, so I'll hopefully have some moregood pics soon. I really like the other students in the group-- we all get along great. We're all feeling the stress of our classes and the workload, but having each other's encouragement and reassurance at the end of the day is a lifesaver. Plus we have fun on the weekends. Next up: a visit to the Russian Ice Capades and the Baltika brewery(fingers crossed!)So I'm having fun, and I'm getting an education. And I'm developing quite an affinity for seaweed salad andSoviet Champagne. Yum...

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?