There are cats everywhere, no one recycles anything, people don’t smile for no reason/you don’t have to be happy, calling someone just the word for ‘girl’ isn’t an insult, sweet things, flowers and shoes take great precedence, public transportation is rampant and small children take it by themselves, tea is just as or more popular than coffee, there are blini stands instead of pizza places, there are riot police at hockey games….
So, that last one. At the hockey game we went to – the Petersburg Spartans (or ‘CKA’ pronounced like ‘ska’ which I think is great) against the Moscow team - the Moscow section/fans were surrounded by riot police. Just, you know, in case things got nasty. It was actually a fairly calm game, although it did get more aggressive towards the end, and there was a fair bit of shouting. Beforehand they played the Russian national anthem, which was something to hear, along with a fantastic video featuring various aspects of Russia. Hockey is a much more interesting game than I ever thought, very smooth and fast and a little terrifying given the tendency to pass the puck behind the goal and then into play. I can also report that hot dogs in Russia are very similar to hot dogs back home, although I suppose I’m not in the best position to judge. I didn’t expect to at all, but I really really enjoyed hockey- and the Spartans won, which made the vast majority happy. Unfortunately, that same night the beloved St. Petersburg soccer team ‘Zenit’ (previously first in Europe and truly prized by the city) lost their game, against who I’m not sure. They beat Manchester United a few weeks ago, though.
And about the cats. I think the divorce rate in Russia is something like 60 or 70 percent, which is really rather high. But if Russians can’t love each other enough, they certainly do love their animals. Not only are there cats draped all over the Hermitage (or all place, a national museum? Really?), but they feed pigeons and let their dogs wander around without leashes on. It really is all about the cats, though. One of our professors works at the German embassy, and apparently when applying for a German visa you must list the things ‘of value’ that you leave behind (e.g. family, job….). And in many cases, in the first spot comes ‘cat’. Before ‘spouse’ or ‘apartment’. In addition, they were advertising in the paper a desk that comes with a built-in sleeping shelf for your cat, right next to the keyboard. No more moving the cat when you need to type!
I think cats and children get the most love here. And sweet things. Russians are all about the sweets; I think half of every supermarket is dedicated to them. And to answer inquiries about the chocolate, it is really quite good; even the one dollar chocolate bars have real cocoa butter and solids. So far I’ve tried three; ‘creepy baby chocolate’, so named because of the picture on the front (guess what it depicts), the ‘pyckuu’ (Russian) dark chocolate, and ‘letnii sad’ (summer garden) chocolate, which is produced in Saint Petersburg and is a 54% dark (or ‘bitter’) chocolate. The last was probably the best, and I want to try the company’s other varieties, especially if they have a darker one. As to ‘red october’ chocolate that I’ve heard about, apparently it is produced in Moscow so perhaps while I’m there I will sample it. Actually, I most certainly will since I haven’t seen it here. And besides, it might be the only thing that I can afford in the most expensive city in the world.
I went to volunteer at the Hermitage again on Tuesday night, this time to watch ‘Giselle’, which is really a rather ridiculous story because 1) a girl dies of grief because her lover was married and only pretended to be a peasant but was a prince and then 2) SAVES HIM FROM EVIL SPIRITS while letting her spurned lover die and so finds salvation. Moral? If you’re a man who is unfaithful and seduces some poor girl on false pretences you’ll be fine in the end. If you’re the poor girl, you’re dead. Make sense? Well, it is French.
The dancing of the main ballerina was fantastic, but overall it didn’t quite match up to ‘Swan Lake’, even ‘Swan Lake’ with the fake happy ending apparently invented by the Marhinsky theater (the main ballet in Petersburg). It was still stunning, of course.
And I am now living with my host family, and it is pretty dang sweet. Kiril still doesn’t talk much, but Tanya is amazing and has been making all sorts of delicious fall things, like apple and ‘cowberry’ (aka red bilberries? Never heard of them before, but they grow all around here) compote, apple ‘jam’ and blackcurrant syrup like you can buy in New Zealand. It is all very exciting. Tonight I had dinner here for the first time and ate soup, salad and lamb ‘plof’, the first time I’ve had lamb in probably 8 years. I’m not really thinking about it. I’m also a little worried that I’ve run out of things to talk about with Tanya, since my vocabulary is so limited, and I get very flustered trying to talk Russian. I really am not very good, but what to do? I think I was feeling optimistic because I realized that I knew more than I thought, but now I’ve realized that I know much less than I’d like. So the optimism has vanished, to be replaced mostly with frustration and a desire to become instantly good at Russian. Looks like I’ll just study a lot instead.
In other news, I spent three and a half hours walking around the city today with a friend. Parts are starting to be familiar to me, which is an amazing feeling. And while walking I love watching the leaves fall through the wind; its like bits of gold scatter and flutter. Of course, in St. Petersburg there could well be gold leaf in the air...
And I’ve been here for a full month as of yesterday.
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