Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Birth of a Nation
In 1991, Ken’s and my world was rocked because we became parents. We felt depths of emotion that we never knew we had; we became broker and richer than we ever had been; we even found out about a world of products that we never even knew existed; but our lives became fuller by far for the event.
In 1991, the Soviet Union fell. The Russian world was rocked; the people felt deep emotions they never even knew they had regarding their old condition and the new; they became poorer (85%) and richer (15%) than they had ever been; they found out about a world of products that they had never even known existed; their lives are richer by far for the event.
I realize the analogy is far from perfect, but there are some points of comparison to childbirth and the new Russia that I’d like to explore.
The changeover in 1991, like a gestating baby, was a long time in the making, and yet it was all at once. The process has certainly not been without birth pains; we have been told by several people that corruption within the governmental system is so rampant it’s a given that many officials, small and large, are “on the take.”
And the results are mixed. With any newborn, you really don’t know what you’re getting. A blessing, yes of course, but what will this new creature look like? How will she function? What will she be like?
She retains some of the characteristics of the old ways. Russia still has a flavor that is uniquely Russian. People may talk about 1991 and its events and the new government, but Ken and I were in the Kremlin (can you believe it?) and we looked at some of the tombs of the tsars dating back to way before Columbus discovered America. This kind of rich history impacts a place, so that people have a sense of where they’ve come from. The earliest mention of Russia, after all, is in 1147. Old. Very old.
I’ll give you an example that happened to Ken last year when he first visited here. The newspaper conducted a poll to ask St. Petersburgers to list their top fears. Now, you who are reading this blog, please stop for a moment and think, “What would I say are my top fears?” Perhaps death, spiders, ill health, money problems, the death of your spouse or child?
The number one answer from the people, a smattering of people all ages, was famine. Famine? I’m fairly sure famine wouldn’t make my top 100. Not my top ONE HUNDRED. But they—or at least their parents and their grandparents tell them, remind them, imprint on them— remember the shortages, the problems, the hundreds and thousands and yes, millions of deaths that happened during the 900-day siege and the crop failures and the bread lines and…
and… and…
This old yet baby country has characteristics of the new being she is becoming as well: for one thing, products previously unattainable are available now; one of them is yogurt, of all things. Of course, everyone is
delighted that such things are available in every grocery store, small or large, now. The woman we went around with in Moscow, Valeria, remembers when one of her classmates missed, not one, but two days of school in order to buy new shoes with her mother at the state-authorized market.
But there are less pleasant things too that come with the new freedoms: cell phone rudeness, overfondness of western phenomena like McDonalds, young people decorating their faces with studs the way the tsars studded their living quarters with precious metals, AIDS. The dilemma is poignant: how can one make people choose wisely? Free will is a double-edged sword indeed.
The story doesn’t stop, of course, with the birth of a new baby or a new nation. In our case, we changed and shaped Katie—and Katie changed and shaped us in ways unthinkable to the childless us. And then, shortly thereafter, another birth occurred in our household, and this one continued the process even more, because there were now interactions between the new beings, and things were happening, happening, happening, everything changing, growing, altering exponentially.
And our new baby, Krista, has blue eyes, just like her mother and her mother’s mother; and yet, she has this
one small spot in one of her eyes that is hazel, exactly the color of her daddy’s and sister’s eyes, a complex, fascinating combination of all the flavors and genes and experiences that went into her conception and birth, and this new being, like the “new Russia,” will become—her own self.
In 1991, the Soviet Union fell. The Russian world was rocked; the people felt deep emotions they never even knew they had regarding their old condition and the new; they became poorer (85%) and richer (15%) than they had ever been; they found out about a world of products that they had never even known existed; their lives are richer by far for the event.
I realize the analogy is far from perfect, but there are some points of comparison to childbirth and the new Russia that I’d like to explore.
The changeover in 1991, like a gestating baby, was a long time in the making, and yet it was all at once. The process has certainly not been without birth pains; we have been told by several people that corruption within the governmental system is so rampant it’s a given that many officials, small and large, are “on the take.”
And the results are mixed. With any newborn, you really don’t know what you’re getting. A blessing, yes of course, but what will this new creature look like? How will she function? What will she be like?
She retains some of the characteristics of the old ways. Russia still has a flavor that is uniquely Russian. People may talk about 1991 and its events and the new government, but Ken and I were in the Kremlin (can you believe it?) and we looked at some of the tombs of the tsars dating back to way before Columbus discovered America. This kind of rich history impacts a place, so that people have a sense of where they’ve come from. The earliest mention of Russia, after all, is in 1147. Old. Very old.
I’ll give you an example that happened to Ken last year when he first visited here. The newspaper conducted a poll to ask St. Petersburgers to list their top fears. Now, you who are reading this blog, please stop for a moment and think, “What would I say are my top fears?” Perhaps death, spiders, ill health, money problems, the death of your spouse or child?
The number one answer from the people, a smattering of people all ages, was famine. Famine? I’m fairly sure famine wouldn’t make my top 100. Not my top ONE HUNDRED. But they—or at least their parents and their grandparents tell them, remind them, imprint on them— remember the shortages, the problems, the hundreds and thousands and yes, millions of deaths that happened during the 900-day siege and the crop failures and the bread lines and…
and… and…
This old yet baby country has characteristics of the new being she is becoming as well: for one thing, products previously unattainable are available now; one of them is yogurt, of all things. Of course, everyone is
delighted that such things are available in every grocery store, small or large, now. The woman we went around with in Moscow, Valeria, remembers when one of her classmates missed, not one, but two days of school in order to buy new shoes with her mother at the state-authorized market.
But there are less pleasant things too that come with the new freedoms: cell phone rudeness, overfondness of western phenomena like McDonalds, young people decorating their faces with studs the way the tsars studded their living quarters with precious metals, AIDS. The dilemma is poignant: how can one make people choose wisely? Free will is a double-edged sword indeed.
The story doesn’t stop, of course, with the birth of a new baby or a new nation. In our case, we changed and shaped Katie—and Katie changed and shaped us in ways unthinkable to the childless us. And then, shortly thereafter, another birth occurred in our household, and this one continued the process even more, because there were now interactions between the new beings, and things were happening, happening, happening, everything changing, growing, altering exponentially.
And our new baby, Krista, has blue eyes, just like her mother and her mother’s mother; and yet, she has this
one small spot in one of her eyes that is hazel, exactly the color of her daddy’s and sister’s eyes, a complex, fascinating combination of all the flavors and genes and experiences that went into her conception and birth, and this new being, like the “new Russia,” will become—her own self.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Ugly Americans
No, I’m not talking about physical beauty, because as we all know, Americans are the most gorgeous people on the planet – Not! I’m talking about how much I dislike Americans who go someplace and expect—and want—it to be just like the place they just left. OK, I dislike that—until I realize that there are many ways in which I too am an ugly American.
I can’t tell you how excited I am that, as I type this blog entry, I am sipping away at my Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light), which didn’t cost me any more than it costs in the States.
I like that I am in fact typing on my personal laptop just like I do at home and will utilize the internet to send my blog entries to my friends.
I like that I don’t have to know Russian in order to function here, because I’ve met a wonderful woman named Lina, who is functioning as my guide and who speaks beautiful English.
And don’t even get me started on how overweight Americans are compared to the rest of the world—oh yes, I’m overweight too, aren’t I? Hmmm….
All this self-reflection is a bit depressing, so I think I’ll just continue to sip on this Diet Coke and type another blog entry about this strange and wonderful place called Russia.
I can’t tell you how excited I am that, as I type this blog entry, I am sipping away at my Diet Coke (Coca-Cola Light), which didn’t cost me any more than it costs in the States.
I like that I am in fact typing on my personal laptop just like I do at home and will utilize the internet to send my blog entries to my friends.
I like that I don’t have to know Russian in order to function here, because I’ve met a wonderful woman named Lina, who is functioning as my guide and who speaks beautiful English.
And don’t even get me started on how overweight Americans are compared to the rest of the world—oh yes, I’m overweight too, aren’t I? Hmmm….
All this self-reflection is a bit depressing, so I think I’ll just continue to sip on this Diet Coke and type another blog entry about this strange and wonderful place called Russia.
Monday, May 22, 2006
The Orient Express: The Soundtrack
Ken’s and my anniversary on May 8th always hits us at a terrible time. It’s always finals, grading, and graduation; this year, we barely saw each other for 15 minutes, but during those fifteen minutes, we managed to plan to celebrate our anniversary in Russia. And, folks, we did.
Last Friday night at midnight, we took the expensive overnight sleeper train to Moscow, eight hours each way. We immediately thought of the Orient Express, which we’re calling it, but it was really called the Red Line Express or something like that. For $280.00 (2 people round trip), we had what is a unique experience to us. Our berth was private, had two bench seats that convert to beds, box suppers with caviar and vodka (I only took one sip, Mom, and that was more than enough!), and a table for two set with cloth napkins.
I’ve converted the picture of us on the train to black-and-white, because we both totally felt like we were in an old romantic movie! We slept well both nights (we returned Saturday night on the midnight train as well; of course we sang “Midnight Train to Georgia”), nestled in our berths, lulled into sleep by the humming and lurching of the train.
And you know the funniest part? Think about that triumphant music that always plays at the end of those old movies, right when the credits are rolling. No kidding, when we stepped off the train—two young lovers who have now been married longer than we haven’t been—that kind of music swelled in the station, broadcasting
our triumphant return from Moscow, our successful managing of this trip where we didn’t know the language, and its confidence that this couple will make it for the long haul! How cool is that?!
Last Friday night at midnight, we took the expensive overnight sleeper train to Moscow, eight hours each way. We immediately thought of the Orient Express, which we’re calling it, but it was really called the Red Line Express or something like that. For $280.00 (2 people round trip), we had what is a unique experience to us. Our berth was private, had two bench seats that convert to beds, box suppers with caviar and vodka (I only took one sip, Mom, and that was more than enough!), and a table for two set with cloth napkins.
I’ve converted the picture of us on the train to black-and-white, because we both totally felt like we were in an old romantic movie! We slept well both nights (we returned Saturday night on the midnight train as well; of course we sang “Midnight Train to Georgia”), nestled in our berths, lulled into sleep by the humming and lurching of the train.
And you know the funniest part? Think about that triumphant music that always plays at the end of those old movies, right when the credits are rolling. No kidding, when we stepped off the train—two young lovers who have now been married longer than we haven’t been—that kind of music swelled in the station, broadcasting
our triumphant return from Moscow, our successful managing of this trip where we didn’t know the language, and its confidence that this couple will make it for the long haul! How cool is that?!
Friday, May 19, 2006
Cabbages, continued
OK, I told you I’d answer the cabbages question. It’s because they are cold-natured, and all winter long, they could be found bundled up with layer upon layer (like a cabbage) of clothes to keep warm!
Showers of Blessing
Technologically, Russia is so behind America on so many things, and then there are some things that blow me away, they’re so ahead, efficient, and stellar.
For example, our shower is unbelievably great; it’s a cubicle you enter (think teeny-tiny spa) with sliding doors, and you can set the spray to come from the hand-held bar, or a regular shower head, or a complete rain from the entire top of the unit (various strengths and droplet size), or jets that shoot out from the walls. (There’s even the incredibly random golf ball cleaner that you open and close them in that I can’t figure out how to turn on, which is fine since I didn’t bring any golf balls with me anyway.) But you have to turn the water on up to 15 minutes ahead (I know; it bugs me to waste this kind of water as well, but Joel assures me that there’s lots of water here!) in order for it to get hot.
There’s a great front-loading washing machine in the kitchen that is so cool that it can dry the clothes as well after it spins them. What a great idea! This is so advanced for America that I’ve only seen one before, and that was in Bobbie and Bernice Wolfe’s RV. However, almost nobody has a washing machine, and nobody, but nobody, has a dishwasher.
I’ve mentioned the improvements since last year in, for instance, the internet--many more people and places have excellent high-speed service--but the internet didn’t work at all yesterday at the Institute because inexplicably there was no electricity or phone service that day!
Many, many people have cell phones now, and their service is reliable and cheap; my guide Lina, for example, has what she calls the second-to-the-cheapest plan, and she pays about 1¢ to 2¢ per minute—no minimums or maximums, no 2-year plan—using a great, inexpensive phone that is smaller and cooler than mine anyway. So, for those of you with a, say, 750-minute plan in America, you would pay only about $7.50 to $15.00 that month for, and you wouldn’t have any overage charges, and you know how expensive those can be, because you still pay the same rate, and you don’t have to know ahead of time how many minutes you’ll talk in a given month. Way better.
The Metro, too, is cheap, efficient, and fast, and, if you know me at all, my preferred way of getting around, since I dislike driving. You can have a “smart card” that is so clever that Lina doesn’t even take hers out of her pocket; she just goes through the turnstile and it reads that she has her card with her. If, for example, she had given her card to me to use last year when she was in the United States, it wouldn’t have worked because it “knows” that she’s outside the country on a visitors’ visa. This is the kind of “Big Brother” that I find good and helpful. Even my temporary, works-for-one-week-only card doesn’t even have a bar code; I simply place it on the scanner, a green light comes on, and I’m cleared for the metro. However, when I arrived at my metro stop yesterday, the doors were all locked up inexplicably, with no sign or anything, messing up the many native Russians’ schedules who had to be somewhere. They--and I--walked to the next station, which was working just great, and all was fine—but again, it simply didn’t work that hour (it had earlier that day), again with no explanation (the posted hours said it would be open, and apparently it is, most of the time, working at that time, as best as I could figure from the Russian speakers around me).
OK, here’s another example: Russia, like France, has a fantastic mosquito killing system that I would love to have in the States. It’s a palm-sized ball into which you insert a tablet (think Glade Plug-in Scents) and plug the whole thing into an outlet. It’s so good that you can sleep with the windows open, and you won’t get a
single mosquito bite, and that’s saying something since Ken is so sweet he attracts bugs from Siberia and beyond. And yet you can’t find many, many useful products,such things as spot remover or carpet cleaner--and peanut butter is so expensive you have to sell your children to get any.
So, it just goes to show you that--well, I don’t know what it shows, but they’re interesting differences anyway.
For example, our shower is unbelievably great; it’s a cubicle you enter (think teeny-tiny spa) with sliding doors, and you can set the spray to come from the hand-held bar, or a regular shower head, or a complete rain from the entire top of the unit (various strengths and droplet size), or jets that shoot out from the walls. (There’s even the incredibly random golf ball cleaner that you open and close them in that I can’t figure out how to turn on, which is fine since I didn’t bring any golf balls with me anyway.) But you have to turn the water on up to 15 minutes ahead (I know; it bugs me to waste this kind of water as well, but Joel assures me that there’s lots of water here!) in order for it to get hot.
There’s a great front-loading washing machine in the kitchen that is so cool that it can dry the clothes as well after it spins them. What a great idea! This is so advanced for America that I’ve only seen one before, and that was in Bobbie and Bernice Wolfe’s RV. However, almost nobody has a washing machine, and nobody, but nobody, has a dishwasher.
I’ve mentioned the improvements since last year in, for instance, the internet--many more people and places have excellent high-speed service--but the internet didn’t work at all yesterday at the Institute because inexplicably there was no electricity or phone service that day!
Many, many people have cell phones now, and their service is reliable and cheap; my guide Lina, for example, has what she calls the second-to-the-cheapest plan, and she pays about 1¢ to 2¢ per minute—no minimums or maximums, no 2-year plan—using a great, inexpensive phone that is smaller and cooler than mine anyway. So, for those of you with a, say, 750-minute plan in America, you would pay only about $7.50 to $15.00 that month for, and you wouldn’t have any overage charges, and you know how expensive those can be, because you still pay the same rate, and you don’t have to know ahead of time how many minutes you’ll talk in a given month. Way better.
The Metro, too, is cheap, efficient, and fast, and, if you know me at all, my preferred way of getting around, since I dislike driving. You can have a “smart card” that is so clever that Lina doesn’t even take hers out of her pocket; she just goes through the turnstile and it reads that she has her card with her. If, for example, she had given her card to me to use last year when she was in the United States, it wouldn’t have worked because it “knows” that she’s outside the country on a visitors’ visa. This is the kind of “Big Brother” that I find good and helpful. Even my temporary, works-for-one-week-only card doesn’t even have a bar code; I simply place it on the scanner, a green light comes on, and I’m cleared for the metro. However, when I arrived at my metro stop yesterday, the doors were all locked up inexplicably, with no sign or anything, messing up the many native Russians’ schedules who had to be somewhere. They--and I--walked to the next station, which was working just great, and all was fine—but again, it simply didn’t work that hour (it had earlier that day), again with no explanation (the posted hours said it would be open, and apparently it is, most of the time, working at that time, as best as I could figure from the Russian speakers around me).
OK, here’s another example: Russia, like France, has a fantastic mosquito killing system that I would love to have in the States. It’s a palm-sized ball into which you insert a tablet (think Glade Plug-in Scents) and plug the whole thing into an outlet. It’s so good that you can sleep with the windows open, and you won’t get a
single mosquito bite, and that’s saying something since Ken is so sweet he attracts bugs from Siberia and beyond. And yet you can’t find many, many useful products,such things as spot remover or carpet cleaner--and peanut butter is so expensive you have to sell your children to get any.
So, it just goes to show you that--well, I don’t know what it shows, but they’re interesting differences anyway.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Cabbages
OK, so here’s a question for you: Why would Russians call Nadene Henry (my grandma) and Gayla Herrington(my friend) cabbages?
(answer next blog)
Who’s On First?
OK, so it’s hard to speak Russian, but who says it’s easy to speak English? Think about these words:
through, thorough, though, thought, and tough.
They all start with a “t,” and they all have the letters “ough” in them in a row, and yet, their pronunciations are widely different.
Ken has been cracking me up with his variation of a “Who’s on First?” Russian routine. We bought and ate a delicious pancake sort of thing from a street vendor, and he attempted to tell one of the students about the experience. He told her, “We ate BLEE-nee.” She had no idea what he was talking about, so he repeated the sentence over again, only louder this time. Finally, she understood and said that it’s blih-NEE (emphasis on the 2nd syllable, but otherwise the same). Ken told me it’s like he kept telling someone over and over, “I ate an up-PUHL” instead of saying “APP-puhl” (apple)!
He continued by doing a couple more variations of his Russian shtick to me, saying things like “Have you noticed that ‘what’ and ‘100’ are the same in Russian? They’re both pronounced like “sh-TOE.” So, he proceeded to demonstrate, first in Russian and then in English:
Question: sh-TOE? (meaning what)
Answer: sh-TOE (meaning 100)
Question again: sh-TOE? (meaning what)
Response, only more frustrated: Yeah, that’s what I said, sh-TOE (100)!
Oh well, you get the point (or at least Abbott and Costello would have)!
(answer next blog)
Who’s On First?
OK, so it’s hard to speak Russian, but who says it’s easy to speak English? Think about these words:
through, thorough, though, thought, and tough.
They all start with a “t,” and they all have the letters “ough” in them in a row, and yet, their pronunciations are widely different.
Ken has been cracking me up with his variation of a “Who’s on First?” Russian routine. We bought and ate a delicious pancake sort of thing from a street vendor, and he attempted to tell one of the students about the experience. He told her, “We ate BLEE-nee.” She had no idea what he was talking about, so he repeated the sentence over again, only louder this time. Finally, she understood and said that it’s blih-NEE (emphasis on the 2nd syllable, but otherwise the same). Ken told me it’s like he kept telling someone over and over, “I ate an up-PUHL” instead of saying “APP-puhl” (apple)!
He continued by doing a couple more variations of his Russian shtick to me, saying things like “Have you noticed that ‘what’ and ‘100’ are the same in Russian? They’re both pronounced like “sh-TOE.” So, he proceeded to demonstrate, first in Russian and then in English:
Question: sh-TOE? (meaning what)
Answer: sh-TOE (meaning 100)
Question again: sh-TOE? (meaning what)
Response, only more frustrated: Yeah, that’s what I said, sh-TOE (100)!
Oh well, you get the point (or at least Abbott and Costello would have)!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Sunday afternoon excursion
Instead of taking my ever-popular Sunday afternoon nap, Ken and I went out exploring with the tour guide Lena whom we had met that morning in church. She is great, a student in her final year at the University of St. Petersburg in the Art History program. She really knows her stuff; she took us first to the Russian museum, which is an old museum dedicated entirely to the works of Russian artists. It was great; she showed us works by such painters as Bryullov, Siemiradzki, and others, and some fine sculptures, especially of Catherine the Great. The museum itself is beautiful, an old palace that has been a working museum since 1898, which in itself is impressive, I think. We then wandered around Nevskiy Prospekt, Russia’s most famous street and the hub of St. Petersburg. We saw the Winter Palace from the outside only, as it was already closed to visitors for the day and went into three different churches for a look at a Russian Orthodox, a Catholic, and an Armenian Orthodox assembly. And that was only the first day! Stay tuned...
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Church in Russia
For those of you who know us from Minter Lane, you know that we have an ever-so-slight punctuality problem. Well, not so attending church services Sunday here in St. Petersburg! Apparently, all it takes is for us to be on time—or even early—is the following:
(1) live about 30 feet from the church building;
(2) don’t have any clean clothes to change into;
(3) don’t have any make-up to put on (Karen) or don’t have a razor to shave with (Ken).
So that’s a good plan for us to enact when we return home. Don’t be surprised if we wear 3-day old clothes and come looking like the natural beings God made us!
Services were wonderful. The people who spoke were passionate, heartfelt, and kind. We had a translator named Natasha, a kind student at the Institute who did a beautiful job of filling us in on the actual words that the folks spoke. But we could tell anyway about the joy these Christians felt regarding their being together.
Perhaps my favorite thing was when a man called Alexei blessed the children, who knew to come to the front with him, before they went off for “children’s church” during the sermon. This is apparently done every week; he spoke to them directly first, and then he got down on one knee and prayed for the Lord to watch over them now and for always, for their lesson (that they were about to learn) to mean something to them and to bless them, for them to grow up to be faithful examples of believers in the days to come. It didn’t come across in any way as a “token” reminder that children are important; it came across—to me anyway—as I think Jesus would have been with the children whom he so loved. I was moved.
And our clothes arrived toward the end of services; who says that the prayers of righteous people don’t availeth much?!
(1) live about 30 feet from the church building;
(2) don’t have any clean clothes to change into;
(3) don’t have any make-up to put on (Karen) or don’t have a razor to shave with (Ken).
So that’s a good plan for us to enact when we return home. Don’t be surprised if we wear 3-day old clothes and come looking like the natural beings God made us!
Services were wonderful. The people who spoke were passionate, heartfelt, and kind. We had a translator named Natasha, a kind student at the Institute who did a beautiful job of filling us in on the actual words that the folks spoke. But we could tell anyway about the joy these Christians felt regarding their being together.
Perhaps my favorite thing was when a man called Alexei blessed the children, who knew to come to the front with him, before they went off for “children’s church” during the sermon. This is apparently done every week; he spoke to them directly first, and then he got down on one knee and prayed for the Lord to watch over them now and for always, for their lesson (that they were about to learn) to mean something to them and to bless them, for them to grow up to be faithful examples of believers in the days to come. It didn’t come across in any way as a “token” reminder that children are important; it came across—to me anyway—as I think Jesus would have been with the children whom he so loved. I was moved.
And our clothes arrived toward the end of services; who says that the prayers of righteous people don’t availeth much?!
Monday, May 15, 2006
Russia: Better Than Ever
We were able to stay at our “permanent” place, the place we will be the whole two weeks (except for the trip to Moscow that we will take next weekend), the very first night we arrived in Russia. This is different than the way Ken had to do it last year, and it represents a great many changes for the better that the Institute has undergone in the last year alone.
Ken had to stay at the Hotel Morskaya in St. Petersburg the first night last year. Why couldn’t he stay at the apartment? One has to stay at a sanctioned place in order to validate/stamp one’s passport and entry/exit visa, so even though he had a free place to stay the rest of the time, he was extorted encouraged into staying at an expensive one instead.
This year, the Institute can utilize an “inviting agency” to validate our trip, which is much less costly. Also, this year, the Institute is a 100% certified part of the University of St. Petersburg, and the students sleep in a dorm that is part of the University system, yet separately located on the floor of the large building that the Institute utilizes in part. The church that’s affiliated with the Institute, the Church of Christ (where we’re staying) is only a 2-minute walk away, and it has undergone a major facelift, with all new floors, beams, paint, etc. It looks great. Our room is almost exactly the color of Katie’s bedroom back home, so she would feel right at home. We have high-speed internet directly in our room, if you can believe it, and we can call the States for a mere penny or so per minute utilizing a phone card we were given upon our arrival here. However, our kids can only call us from the States for about $5.00 per minute. Needless to say, we’re using the card!
You can see where Ken had to stay last year on the internet (a pretty nice hotel by Russian standards but that Ken said was mediocre at best, with its water coming on and off inexplicably, etc.); what follows are some fun translations you can find excerpted from that site. OK, OK, I know it’s mean, and I confess that the translator’s English is better than my absolutely non-existent Russian, but then again, I’m not pretending I know Russian, either! So, it’s still fun to look over some translation, like this one:
The arrangement of hotel allows reaching to historical and business places of city easily and quickly… Fascinating excursion over hotel is offered you with our site. Due to three-dimensional to the image you virtually will visit rooms of all categories. Interiors of suite, services, halls of a bar and restaurant will dip you into an easy, pleasant atmosphere of hotel and, having arrived to us, you will feel pleasure of the travelers who has come back from distant wanderings in the paternal house… Due to that all rooms are located on 7 floor, green plantings do not close beautiful views from windows.
Of course, if you’re exhausted by the time you arrive at the hotel, and I’m guessing you would be if your travel over from the States was anything like our long trip, fortunately, you will be engulfed in – well, again, I’ll let the hotel’s own brochure tell you:
All rooms after eurorepair 2003, are perfectly equipped, and offer a necessary set of services: the TV, one or two sleeping beds, a joint bathroom with a bath, the city phone with an output the international lines.
Cosy really the domestic atmosphere is created by professional designers and reached by use of warm beige tones of high quality finishing materials, soft carpet coverings and modern furniture.
So, none of that applied to us, since we were able to go directly to our apartment on the floor with the church. We slept well enough anyway; after all, it was “cosy really the domestic atmosphere.”
Special Russian Literature Bonus
I don’t have the Cyrillic alphabet loaded onto my computer and you may not, either. However, just humor me by saying this phrase aloud:
Voy-NAH e-e MEEr
Congratulations! Now you can tell your friends that you have read "War and Peace" in Russian.
Ken had to stay at the Hotel Morskaya in St. Petersburg the first night last year. Why couldn’t he stay at the apartment? One has to stay at a sanctioned place in order to validate/stamp one’s passport and entry/exit visa, so even though he had a free place to stay the rest of the time, he was extorted encouraged into staying at an expensive one instead.
This year, the Institute can utilize an “inviting agency” to validate our trip, which is much less costly. Also, this year, the Institute is a 100% certified part of the University of St. Petersburg, and the students sleep in a dorm that is part of the University system, yet separately located on the floor of the large building that the Institute utilizes in part. The church that’s affiliated with the Institute, the Church of Christ (where we’re staying) is only a 2-minute walk away, and it has undergone a major facelift, with all new floors, beams, paint, etc. It looks great. Our room is almost exactly the color of Katie’s bedroom back home, so she would feel right at home. We have high-speed internet directly in our room, if you can believe it, and we can call the States for a mere penny or so per minute utilizing a phone card we were given upon our arrival here. However, our kids can only call us from the States for about $5.00 per minute. Needless to say, we’re using the card!
You can see where Ken had to stay last year on the internet (a pretty nice hotel by Russian standards but that Ken said was mediocre at best, with its water coming on and off inexplicably, etc.); what follows are some fun translations you can find excerpted from that site. OK, OK, I know it’s mean, and I confess that the translator’s English is better than my absolutely non-existent Russian, but then again, I’m not pretending I know Russian, either! So, it’s still fun to look over some translation, like this one:
The arrangement of hotel allows reaching to historical and business places of city easily and quickly… Fascinating excursion over hotel is offered you with our site. Due to three-dimensional to the image you virtually will visit rooms of all categories. Interiors of suite, services, halls of a bar and restaurant will dip you into an easy, pleasant atmosphere of hotel and, having arrived to us, you will feel pleasure of the travelers who has come back from distant wanderings in the paternal house… Due to that all rooms are located on 7 floor, green plantings do not close beautiful views from windows.
Of course, if you’re exhausted by the time you arrive at the hotel, and I’m guessing you would be if your travel over from the States was anything like our long trip, fortunately, you will be engulfed in – well, again, I’ll let the hotel’s own brochure tell you:
All rooms after eurorepair 2003, are perfectly equipped, and offer a necessary set of services: the TV, one or two sleeping beds, a joint bathroom with a bath, the city phone with an output the international lines.
Cosy really the domestic atmosphere is created by professional designers and reached by use of warm beige tones of high quality finishing materials, soft carpet coverings and modern furniture.
So, none of that applied to us, since we were able to go directly to our apartment on the floor with the church. We slept well enough anyway; after all, it was “cosy really the domestic atmosphere.”
Special Russian Literature Bonus
I don’t have the Cyrillic alphabet loaded onto my computer and you may not, either. However, just humor me by saying this phrase aloud:
Voy-NAH e-e MEEr
Congratulations! Now you can tell your friends that you have read "War and Peace" in Russian.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Zdrast-vuyt-ye! Hello from Russia
Hey guys! We're here in Russia! I can't get my cox webmail to come up nor Karen
s myacu.edu e-mail, but Ken's is working. Next, I'm going to try IM, but I'm not hopeful! We'll see, but I'm going with this as long as it's what's working right now.
It took forever to get here, and, so far, our luggage hasn't yet arrived. :( We actually didn't expect it to, because our flight from Detroit to Frankfurt was an hour late in landing, and we only had an hour and ten minutes layover there. So, you should have seen Ken and me hoofing it through the airport; we stepped onto the last transit thingy to the airplane, the doors shut, and that was it. We had a sneaking suspicion that our bags weren't moving through the airport system as fast as we were! As you can well imagine, Ken was in much better shape for such an adventure than I was.
So, we're hoping to be able to wear something clean to church in the morning; we do, thank goodness, have a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Our room here is great; it's just like a little hotel room, but it's on the same floor as the Church of Christ, so in the morning we will exit our room door, turn right, and walk down two more doors to the service. We're smack-dab in downtown St. Petersburg; Ken and I just got back from a nice walk around to see what's what and to try not to fall asleep until 9 or 10 o'clock, so we can get on the right time schedule. It's 9 hours ahead here, and we each got 3-5 hours sleep each of the last two nights .
They had GREAT entertainment options on the long airplane flight over, however, which was nice if you were too cramped and miserable to sleep (which we were). We had our own personal video screens with about 15 or 20 movie selections for free; you could also play video games, listen to music, etc. Ken and I watched the new Woody Allen movie, Match Point, which was good but not great. Then Ken watched the new King Kong while I slept a little; I woke up from my night's sleep (told you we didn't sleep much) in time to see the big Empire State Building scene/ending.
In the morning, it will be Mother's Day, and there's nothing I've enjoyed more in my whole life than being my mother's daughter and Dad and I becoming parents to our two girls.
Mom/Karen
s myacu.edu e-mail, but Ken's is working. Next, I'm going to try IM, but I'm not hopeful! We'll see, but I'm going with this as long as it's what's working right now.
It took forever to get here, and, so far, our luggage hasn't yet arrived. :( We actually didn't expect it to, because our flight from Detroit to Frankfurt was an hour late in landing, and we only had an hour and ten minutes layover there. So, you should have seen Ken and me hoofing it through the airport; we stepped onto the last transit thingy to the airplane, the doors shut, and that was it. We had a sneaking suspicion that our bags weren't moving through the airport system as fast as we were! As you can well imagine, Ken was in much better shape for such an adventure than I was.
So, we're hoping to be able to wear something clean to church in the morning; we do, thank goodness, have a toothbrush and toothpaste.
Our room here is great; it's just like a little hotel room, but it's on the same floor as the Church of Christ, so in the morning we will exit our room door, turn right, and walk down two more doors to the service. We're smack-dab in downtown St. Petersburg; Ken and I just got back from a nice walk around to see what's what and to try not to fall asleep until 9 or 10 o'clock, so we can get on the right time schedule. It's 9 hours ahead here, and we each got 3-5 hours sleep each of the last two nights .
They had GREAT entertainment options on the long airplane flight over, however, which was nice if you were too cramped and miserable to sleep (which we were). We had our own personal video screens with about 15 or 20 movie selections for free; you could also play video games, listen to music, etc. Ken and I watched the new Woody Allen movie, Match Point, which was good but not great. Then Ken watched the new King Kong while I slept a little; I woke up from my night's sleep (told you we didn't sleep much) in time to see the big Empire State Building scene/ending.
In the morning, it will be Mother's Day, and there's nothing I've enjoyed more in my whole life than being my mother's daughter and Dad and I becoming parents to our two girls.
Mom/Karen
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