четверг, июня 08, 2006

The End

Well, I've decided to close the blog. What can I say I'm not in Russia anymore, which means the title is all wrong. Plus, not being in Russia I seem run out of material real fast. But that's not the real reason. The blog will end as it started. It started in July as the beginning of a new era in my life. That era has come to a close, and so will this blog. One year later and one year better. It's been really fun keeping this thing up, and I'll be honest I didn't really think I could do it. Thinking back on this past year I'm surprised in how different I am (although as much as I've changed I really have stayed the same). I'm also surprised in the amount of Russian I've learned, studying abroad really works you know. Anyways, I've got another year of school left (hooray for super seniors). But first I have a whole summer of working all the time (ya real summer vacations left the day I got my first job, not that I'm complaining money is fun). Don't worry about me, I'm not leaving the blog scene altogether. I'll be back real soon, but for now so long, farewell, and thanks for reading.


(P.S. I WILL be posting the name and address of my new blog soon right here, so check back every once and a while)

суббота, мая 27, 2006

Movies

Last night I went to see X-men 3. As far as the movie goes I guess I was disappointed. I don't really know. I did enjoy the movie, well until the end. I won't give you any spoilers, but let's just say the ended destroyed many of my hopes and dreams. What happened to Rogue angered me the most, she was always one of my favorites and well ... Anyways, sitting in the theater I was reminded of something.

During my year abroad I discovered that Russians applaud really um odd. After every play, concert, or even the occasional movie, they would applaud. Nothing too weird right? Well, unlike most, the clapping ALWAYS ended up synchronized, always. They clap at the same time, like to a beat that wasn't there. I don't really like clapping in synch, I find it annoying. But, I find this interesting, in my experience audiences don't usually do this.

понедельник, мая 22, 2006

America

Well 10 months, 2 semesters, over 4300 hits, and 160 posts later I've returned home. It's quite a feeling. I'm so glad to be back. My own room, my family and friends, I just can't complain! So what's next? Well, I've still got a few things to go over, and a few stories that haven't made the blog yet. I guess I'll still be around for a couple more months. Who knows, perhaps there's yet another blog in the future. Anyways thanks to everyone for following me through this year and all my ups and downs.

среда, мая 17, 2006

End of the Semester

Yes today officallt ended my year abroad with my last day of class. Man I am so glad to be done for the summer. I can't wait to get home and do nothing for a change. This week has been pretty wired. I 've been running around here and there more times than I can count. We had our big banquet last night and today will be my last meeting with my tutor. After that I'll pretty much be packing until I leave.

As far as packing goes, I'm sure I'll be leaving plenty behind. I simply have to much stuff collected over 2 semesters and not enough strength points or item slots to hold it all.

I do belive I might fit a post in tomorrow, but if I don't until Amercia everybody! I hope to see many of you when I get home too!

понедельник, мая 15, 2006

Dogs

Here is probably my best Sochi adventure. Myself and 4 friends were walking back to our hotel after a walk on the beach on our first day in Sochi. On the way we come across an ad for a Mexican restaurant. Of course we can’t pass up the opportunity for Mexican, so we make a pledge right there to find this place. (This pledge will actually start to consume us later on, but that’s a different story). Anyways, the ad had no address, so we pick a path and go. Now Sochi is pretty built up, but the path we chose somehow lead us into what was almost a little hidden valley town within Sochi. The road was small and bordered houses, each with a fence up to the road. Basically it was like walking down a deserted corridor, we really had now choice but to follow the one path. After about en minutes we realize that we can’t really get back to the main roads from where we are. We can either turn back or keep going. Seeing no reason to turn back we push on. After a few minutes we come to a separation of the path. One direction continues in our current direction. The other takes a winding way up the one side of this valley. We choose to continue our chosen path. This eventually leads us across the small stream at the center of the valley and up a short path.

Here is where we found a problem. Walking up this path, we start to worry a little bit, it seems to be leading to a dead in. We come into a clearing with a house and large garage. Looking around we see about 3 dogs laying in the grass, two in one spot, one in another. We seem to lock eyes and suddenly they realize they’re not alone. It begins with backing, then other dog joins in the noise making from an unseen area. We stop in the middle of the clearing. That is when we notice the dogs have come pretty close to surrounding us and are starting to cut off our exit. We start to back out and the dogs hold their ground. No more than a few feet from us, they are barking like crazy. Their leader seems the most eager, and as I walk past him his eyes are wide open, like big marbles, completely round and completely white. I never seen a dog look like that before, the dead eyes.

We continued to back out and the dogs continued to follow. After a couple more meters they finally retreat. The whole group is very aware as to how close that came to getting rather ugly. Although we all agreed we could’ve taken those uppity dogs, we thought it was best we didn’t have to try. We made our way back to the fork in the road and took the other path, which did turn out to be the correct road and we finally made it back to the hotel. But I wasn’t the only one to notice that dog’s dead eyes and upon further recollection they were pretty creepy.

Recap and stuff

So when I last left you guys I was on my way to Sochi. I had classes, exams, and at least 3 weeks of Russia ahead of me. Well, things have changed a bit. Due to the continuation of time, those 3 weeks have all but vanished, leaving a mere 4 days and change left of my time in Russia. So what happened in those 3 weeks? Well al lot to be honest. I won’t, that is, I don’t want to go into everything right now (at least not in this post). Basically Sochi was a nice 10 days away from school and responsibility. The weather was colder than I would have like (colder than Vladimir in fact). There was a lot of rain, which really cuts down on what you can do in a beach town. Despite that I had a great time, there was good food, a lot of free time, a beach, tons of waterfalls, and a relaxing atmosphere. Sochi’s landscape really reminded me of Maryland, specifically the Appalachian region around where I live. There are rolling hills and mountains, the Black Sea, and even palm trees (although those are thanks to Stalin). The train ride in general was ok, I guess as good as 36 hours on a train can be. I have some good stories, but I’ll save them for another post.

Ok so that was only ten days right? Right, after we got back our schedules kind of exploded. We only had 6 days of class left, about ten days in total, and a ton of test to get through. We had meetings with ACTR bigwigs and about 3 hours of testing. Actually, Saturday I took my OPI (oral proficiency test). My tester told me she saw a lot of improvement from December, so I hope that means I might get at least an intermediate high rating, which would put me where I need to be. Exams are almost finished now, Monday, today I guess, is/was my last (I’m typing this on Sunday).

Right, so what’s left? Monday is my final exam. Tuesday we have our end of the year banquet. Wednesday will be my last day of class (yes we do still have class after our finals!). Thursday I’ll be packing all day and at Midnight we leave Vladimir forever and drove to Moscow for our 7 am flight. Just over 4 days!

пятница, мая 12, 2006

Gosh it's been a while

I think it's actually been two weeks since my last post. Wow, how the time flys. To be honest, this week has been rather busy. Apparently I received one too many important emails during my little vacation and it took some time getting through it all. But here I am I suppose. Unfortunetly I'm low on time right now. Most of my new posts will have to wait until tomorrow or the next day or the next. I only have a week left in this country and things are getting insanly busy. BUT, I do have some interesting stories to tell, so do look forward to them.

Back Again! Hope you are all still there!

четверг, апреля 27, 2006

Easter and Sochi

So it's the end of the week and in about 24 hours I'll be off to Sochi for 10 days. Man have I been waiting for this! The last two weeks have been pretty grueling, lots of work with school and stuff. This will certainly be a nice little vacation. The train ride there will take about 36 hours, plus will be going down 3rd class, which means everyone hasa bed, but no walls. It's all open to the whole train. I will be hot and long and possible smelly by the end, there are no showers on this trains. But it's all worth it, cause the weather in Sochi is supposed to be excellent and there is the Black Sea and tons of waterfalls and beaches and a Mcdonalds I believe. This also means I'll be pretty silent until about May 9th or 10th. I might send off a quick post if I find a Internet cafe in Sochi, but don't count on it. Well, don't worry, I'll have plenty of posts prepared upon my return, so look forward to it.

I also wanted to mention that I did succesfully attend the Orthodox Easter services last Sat/Sun. Yep all 6 hours of it. Man, I didn't realize just how long that Mass was going to be. I also didn't realize I had the stamina to stand for 6 hours (no seats in Orthodox churhes). But it was worht the experience. The Mass was held in the Asuumption Cathedral here in Vladimir, which is very beautiful and covered in frescos and many other things. Un fortunetely I haven't had the time to sit down and really write a good post on how the Mass went, but don't worry I will! (Here's a hint it's pretty much the same as a Catholic Easter Vigil, but twice as long).

Anyways till Sochi or after Sochi or whenever, don't worry I'll return!

понедельник, апреля 24, 2006

The Big 4000

Looking at my hit counter (as I so often do) I noticed that I'd surpassed the milestone of 4000 hits. So of course this required a post to mark this momentous occasion. This number comes almost 7 months of being in Russia and around 9 months of actual blogging. Ah the memories. Hey you guys remember when I did that post on Moscow? Ya that was great.

Well thanks to all for continuing to check me out, and I do hope you continue to do so. This weekend I'm off to Sochi and you can certianly except some good post after that little vacation.

4000 Yay!

среда, апреля 19, 2006

Last Trip to Moscow

So this weekend will be the last time I'll be in Moscow. With just about 4 and 1/2 weeks left, I'm running out of time. My last time to experience the big city, food, fun, and pirated merchandise, hooray! Not to mention that exams are also creepy up. Basically, I have 3 weeks of classes left. The last to weeks are filled with tons of end of semester duties and events, so exams get spread out over about 3 weeks, although we still have classes after we take the exams (lame). Still in a week and 2 days I'll be on the train to Sochi and my pre-summer vacation.

Can't Wait!

понедельник, апреля 17, 2006

Happy Easter

Well well well, I've returned. The big news being that Masstime.org has finally failed me. No, I did not find a Church (Only got to go to Holy Thursday). Here is what happened. The address I got off of Mass times was wrong, no Church there. I asked around, but no Church in the area. Back at the hotel our tour guide mentioned that the Catholic Church was closed, more bad news. However, this meant that there was a Catholic community here, they must be going to Mass somewhere right? Well, upon finding the location of this Church, I walked around for another hour and still found nothing. So as far as I know Yaraslavl has no Catholic Church, at least at this time.

But, I guess it wasn't all bad, the weekend was fun (Yaraslavl is about double the size of Vladimir, with many more things to do). Plus the hotel was full of nothing but singles, so I had my own room, that was awesome. Anyways I think I'll be attending the Orthodox service this coming Sat/Sun. Should be interesting, it will be my first time at an Orthodox Mass.

Well, I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter, with lots of good will and eggs and celebrating!

четверг, апреля 13, 2006

Yaraslavl

Hey everyone,

Tomorrow, very early (like 8 in the morning), I leave for 3 days to Yaraslavl. Yaraslavl is actually twice the size of Vladimir, I guessing it will be much like the other weekend trips we take around here. Fun, old museums, and 3 days of much needed vacation. Man, this week has been hard, at least 4 hours of homework a night (5 last night), but it's all over now. It's relaxation time, as well Holy Week. I do hope I find this church in Yaraslavl, I don't really want to break my streak of consecutive Easter Masses (or consecutive Russian Masses). But things are looking good, I have the address and even a few of my friends have expressed interest in going with me! So I'll be out till Monday.

Happy Easter Everyone!

(How about a prayer for my Easter church hunt success?)

Saint Sebastian




Check this picture out, a while back we had a meeting with a Russian lacquer master, after a little presentation we got to try it out for ourselves. This little baby is my own personal creation. I even added the Russian in there for your viewing pleasure (although I'm not really certain on the correctness of the name Sebastian in Russian).

Winter Recap

As the winter comes to a close here in Russia I thought I would share a bit on just what a Russian winter is considering most of you have never seen one.

So I heard from somewhere that this particular winter was one of the worst in recent history. A fact I am inclined to believe after that one week in January with the 30 below temperatures. Ya, that was cold. Ok so in general we got our first snow in Vladimir around November, as I recall I think it had snowed in Maryland, back in the good old US, before I saw snow here. Snow was sparse until mid December. What I mean by sparse is that it would snow and then melt before it snowed again. By the time I left the temperature was hovering around -10 C, I think, I don’t actually recall it being extremely cold in December. Of course I then returned home and was a bit surprised when I got back to Russia.

When I left we had had a lot of snow, enough that it had stopped melting. Now, mid January, there was at least 3 feet piled up around every road and sidewalk, plus a good bit on the roads and sidewalks as well. The temperature, as I said was about -30 C. Going outside, you first notice this temperature by the freezing of your nose. The first breath you take just kind of ices everything. If your dressed properly, you can be outside for a bit with out to much discomfort, but anything long, like a half hour and your legs really start to freeze. Anyways, it didn’t snow too much in January, but the temperature remained about -20 C. February brought a lot of snow, it snow almost constantly, and this snow never melted, it was just too cold to do so. March brought warmer temperatures, around -10 to 0 C. I can’t tell you how nice 0 degrees was after that winter. I mean you walk outside and you really feel the difference, you feel it’s actually warm outside, which is weird when you think about how cold it still is, but no one cared. By April things were starting to melt and by now, April 12th, the snow is almost gone, the temperature is usually around 10 C and we get sun at least 50% of the time, as opposed to 0% in February.

So the snow last from mid November to about April, it does get very cold, but only for about a month and a half. Although by mid April, I really can’t wait for summer. Winter is pretty much over, but it certainly managed to kill almost every plant around here and there is dirt everywhere, it reminds me of disaster clean up. Yet, this happens every year, amazing ( I will also say that the winter is exponential worse the further from Moscow you get, My host family said something about 5 feet of snow around the dacha, village home).

вторник, апреля 11, 2006

Weird Surprise

I was walking around town the other day and to my surprise I see an orange Nissan 350Z (hardtop). I found this not only surprising in the fact that it was an expensive Japanese car in Vladimir, but that it happens to be my current favorite. I tend to be a big fan of any car that comes in orange, I especially like the metallic finish. But, The 350Z is also one of my dream cars, one I haven't seen in about 7 months. So it was a nice little surprise, and a little weird. I think that has been the only Nissan I've ever seen in Russia.

On another front, has anyone ever heard of "Nochni Dozor"? In the States it'd be called "Night Watch". I believe there is an American remake running around somewhere, but it's actually a Russian movie, along with it's sequel "Day Watch", which has been getting a lot of advertising lately. I saw the first half of "Night Watch" today and it was pretty interesting, vampires and all. If you get a chance check it out.

пятница, апреля 07, 2006

Weekly update

Pardon my recent absenence everyone, I've been busy registering for the upcoming fall semester and that has really sucked up all of my time.

So I've got 6 weeks left in Russia. The more I think about it, the more it seems like such a short amount of time. In a week it will be Easter, then in 2 more weeks I'll be vacationing in Sochi (Ocean City of Russia), and 2 weeks after I return from Sochi I fly home. Time is really gonna fly!

This Sunday we'll be having our semester feast at our Resident Directors apartment. Last semester this was Thanksgiving, for spring we're doing Easter. We'll be having ham and many other wonderful things. I really can't wait, this will be so good. A week after that I'll be in Yaraslavl. I've managed to find a Catholic Church there so all should be well, assuming I find it. Easter being as important as it gets for Mass I really hope I do, but it should be fine.

So what have I been upto recently. Let's see, I actually saw a really good horror movie, it was English or American, but it was great. I highly recommend it, "The Dark" (which in Russia they translated it to Dark Powers for some reason). It's set in Wales and deals with a lot of the local lore there and some really scary sheep. The tag line read "One of the living for one of the dead" this translates to "You will love this movie!" School has been good for anyone whos wants to know and the weather has been great. It got upto 50 degrees today. I've shedded my winter coat and can't wait to lose the jacket altogether! Tonight I'll be heading to a cafe to celebrat another birthday, always fun.

So you all real soon.

понедельник, апреля 03, 2006

Canals


If you have ever been to St. Petersburg, then you should know that that city is full of canals. In case you haven’t, I’ll just tell you that that city is full of canals. They pretty much all resemble this one in the picture. A funny little piece of history is that this were built by Peter the Great. However, when they were completed they turned out to be too small to allow the major shipping traffic that Peter had hoped to get. Apparently it was a big regret for Peter that he could never have the canals he had wanted. Of course they are still here and are very pretty. The neat thing is that during the winter, with the almost constant freezing temperatures all the canals in the city, as well as much of the Neva (river that runs through Peter), and some of the Gulf of Finland too. As you walk around the city you can see tons of paths that people have made walking across these frozen canals. It’s really cool, I even saw one guy doing jumping jacks in the middle of the Neva (it’s a big river my friends). So of course I had to try this for myself. I mean how many people can say they’ve walked across a river? Not many. We also had a snowball fight on the Gulf of Finland. (Peterhof, next to the Gulf of Finland)

Weird

I'm looking over my college transcript right now (As I'll be registering for classes tomorrow) and I've noticed a little irregularity. I seem to only receive Academic Honors (GPA above 3.5) during the spring semesters. Every spring semester, academic honors, but every fall semester I seem to be just below the line. I wonder what that means. Do I simply take easier courses in the spring? Or, does it actually take me a whole semester to get back into school after 3 months off? Oddly enough I feel this year will be much of the same ... Shall history repeat?

суббота, апреля 01, 2006

Assisi

So we got to Rome yesterday, but classes don't start again until Monday so I can relax a bit. Assisi was great. I really enjoyed spending a few days in my favorite Italian city. I went with a couple friends during our "Spring Break" (It's really just an extra day and a half off but, good none the less). We spent the whole time just walking around the city, it's very beautiful. Of course I was decked out in my patented yellow, which everyone around here seems to know me for wearing. What can I say, it is my favorite color. I think that after a few months my language skills are definitely improving, but I guess that's easy to say I am here to learn Italian right? I think my favorite part of the 2 days we spent there (Thursday and Friday) was the night life. If you've never been to Assisi, you should go. Every Friday night they flood the all the streets and basically the whole city becomes a huge water slide, it was pretty fun. (In the winter it's a huge skate rink. The bars were fun to, they actually soak you in beer the moment you walk in the door, then you have 5 minutes to dry off or they throw you out, always a blast. Of course the zombies are always a problem, but you get a free 12 gauge when you stay at our hotel, so everyone was fine. The Cathedral there is also extremely beautiful, I went to hourly Mass the whole I was there, it was great.

Well, that's it for now have fun and Happy April 1st!

понедельник, марта 27, 2006

MLB one week away!

I'm not sure if you guys know or not, but I happen to be a pretty big baseball fan. In fact, I watch just about every Baltimore Orioles game that appears on TV. Last season I believe I hit 90% in that catogory. (I would have gone to a game but, well things happen, and tickets get sold out after a 2 hour drive and I don't really want to talk about it). Yes in just one week Baltimore Orioles Baseball will be back in action. Gees, just one more sport I will be missing while in Russia. Well, I'll only miss a month and a half, BUT that just happened to be the most winningest time for the Orioles last season. Hmm, maybe this season we'll actually win when it counts and not die after the all-star break. Well, I believe and I always will.

Orioles World Champs in 06 Baby!


P.S. be sure to watch opening day for me (April 3rd!)

среда, марта 22, 2006

Music

This will be quick, the computer is working strangely today.

Last week in Petersburg, I managed to make a return trip to the Money Honey club. I really like this place. It's rock your typical "American West" looking bar with a great Rockabily band and plenty of swing dancers (that's only the first floor). This is followed by a second floor with a discoteka, billards, air hockey, shooting gallery, and another stage for what is usually a rock/punk/whatever band. This week was no expecption. I really liked the band that played. I guess I would call them punk, but they played everything from ska to indie, plus they even covered some traditional Russian songs, which was really cool. The best part is the cover is only 5 bucks for the whole night and this place it open till 6 in the morning (and one my friends was actually there to see the sunrise).

Good times had by all.

Gliches

There seems to have been a slight glitch in my last few posts, all posting under the same date. I don't really know why, but I seem to have fixed it, I haven't been that inactive.

вторник, марта 21, 2006

Back From Peter

Well it's been a week and I've return from my little vacation to Petersburg. What can I say it was great. I managed to hit all of my planned sites too (that would be the Mexican resturant, Sushi bar, and blini (pancake) stand). The best way to describe the trip would definitely be delicious. I'll have a couple post coming on this one. I managed to do quite a few things in Peter, don't want to bore ou all with a huge post.

I also returned with quite a few pictures. I noticed that I haven't been posting many pictures lately. Well I've certain;y replenished my supply of choices so you should except a few in the next few days or weeks as well.

The big news today would be Spring. Happy spring everybody, as today is the first offical day. I see that back home it is well underway too. Here we got a snow storm. Well, it's not that bad, the snow is melting very rapidly, I'm actually surprised. But I can say that we are almost averaging above freezing temperatures, should only be a few more weeks, can't wait. Yesterday was also my name day (That would be St. Joseph), of course it was also Sunday, so perhaps you forgot, I know it happens.

Anyways Happy Spring, Happy St. Joseph Day, Happy Lent, etc, etc, etc.

понедельник, марта 13, 2006

Off to Peter

Let's see, tonight I'll be on an overnight train to St. Petes. My teachers have graciously opted not to assign any homework, so I've got a very nice vacation ahead of me. I'll be in Petersburg till Sunday, so I most likely won't be posting. (There is an of chance that the big beautiful Petersburg internet cafes will be to nice to past up, but we'll see)

Winter is finally starting to thaw out. Right now I believe it is above freezing, somewhere around -1 to +1 C. It's great, I don't think I've ever enjoyed 0 degrees weather so much. I don't need my heavy coat, I'm wearing light gloves and everything. But I can already see that the next few weeks will not be all that fun. There is a lot of snow around here, and when it gets warm snow tends to melt. This means there will be a lot of water and slush real soon. Well, actually there already is a lot of slush. Plus you have to be careful where you walk. Stay away from buildings, because the snow falls off of roofs pretty frequently.

One more thing, in case you follow the show, "American Idol" has finally hit Russia. I've seen plenty of clones here before but now the actual copyrighted show has premiered, same music and everything.

Sometimes watching TV here is like going back in time, I see shows that I used to watch 5 years ago, but have already died in the US. Strange.

вторник, марта 07, 2006

Week here week there

I'm going to complain about the internet one more time. I find it very inconvenient here! There I said it.

Moving on, I was in Moscow last weekend for a birthday. Fun was had all around and I had an excellent Thai dinner, Moscow has the best food ever! Actually I will be back in Moscow next weekend too. Why? Well, I' ve got another birthday to attend. Hopefully that will be the last Moscow trip in a while, as fun as it is, Moscow can be expensive. The big thing is I'll be going to Petersburg in 1 week exactly. I can't wait. Not only will it be 5 days of no class, but Petersburg also happens to have some of my favorite restaurants and bars. I plan to eat very well there, sushi, Mexican, sbarros, it will be great.

P.S. I finally saw Underworld 2 the other night and I must say that felt none of the disappointment I expected to feel like after I saw the first one. There was general improvement all around and I actually enjoyed the movie (plus Kate B. even say a few words in Russian!).

четверг, марта 02, 2006

More on Lent

So with Ash Wednesday already yesterday I thought I would expand a little on Lent here in Russia. I was surprised last night at Mass to see that here we receive ashes sprinkled on the top of the head, not on the forehead. It was weird, but ashes are ashes I guess. Does anyone else know of it being done like this elsewhere, or is it just a Russian thing?

I've found a few interesting things on the Orthodox Lent that I also thought I'd share. First off in Russian Lent is called "Velikii Post" (basically the great fast). In America we have Mardi Gras of "Fat Tuesday", I think in Brazil they have the Carnival, or maybe I'm wrong in that, but here in Russia we have Maslinitsa, or the Last day of Blini (pancakes). It's your standard pre-lent food celebration. Since Orthodox lent begins next Monday, this will be celebrated on Sunday, which should mean a lot of blini for me to eat.

воскресенье, февраля 26, 2006

Lent

With Febuary coming to a close and Lent fast approaching, Wednesday to be precise. I thought I'd let you guys know what I'll be doing.

Actually it's not that interesting. Of course I'll me going to Ash Wednesday Mass this Wednesday. There I will recieve ashes and then go home.

Anyways slightly more interesting than that is the fact that I went to the new chinese food restruant that recently opened up and it was basically the best food I've ever eaten. The food was excellent and to add to that it was incredable cheap, like any meal would be under 5 bucks. It also served the best green tea I have ever had. Overall it was an excellent meal and I can't believe a restruant like that exisits in Vladimir. So I'm quite happy.

Let's see we also had another birthday last week and there will be another this week. Birthday parties are always fun.

Other than that, not much has happened. I'm still 2 weeks away from our St. Pete's trip. Can't wait. I guess it's been about 5 weeks into the last semester? Really it feels like time is going to fly. After Petersburg we have a week an then 4 days of independent travel, then a week, then it's Easter and another excursion, then a week, then I'm off to Sochi for 2 weeks, then it's exams and I come home. Well, I guess its about 11 weeks no matter how you look at it, whatever.

вторник, февраля 21, 2006

Back Online

I'm starting to lose faith in my current internet cafe. I came in yesterday to finally get back online after a weekend away and I find that the power is out, again. That was the second time the power has gone out in this place. Oh well, not much I can do, this is just about the only game in town, I really don't like the other place.

Ok so, last weekend I was in Suzdal again. I really like that little town. The food was excellent, they have this really good pork fired in egg and covered with cheese, and the best blini (like a pancake) desert I've ever had. Plus we went back to the hotel we stayed at last semester for a little pool/sauna fun. They have a really great pool. So Suzdal was fun.

Coming up this Thursday is a Russian holiday, Men's Day. It's actually not that big of a holiday, but we do get the day off from school. The big day is Women's Day on March 8th, I hear that is a huge holiday. But this Men's Day is also my friends birthday, which of course we will be celebrating.

In other news, I've offically passed the 1st month mark for this semester, only 3 more months in which to live in Russia. I'am sure I'll miss it when the time comes, but I'm itching to get back to UMD and America in general (when I say get back I mean get back and stay back). I'm pretty tried of lugging my life around in suitcases. It will be nice to feel at home again. Still, I've got a lot to look forward to here. in 2 and 1/2 weeks I get my Petersburg trip, can't wait!

четверг, февраля 16, 2006

Batman

Some of you may know that I have a certain affinity for the Dark Knight. Well, I stumbled onto this story and thought I'd post it for your reading pleasure. (By the way, I'm also a Frank Miller fan).

Holy Terror, Batman!

Silence

I notice that I’ve been pretty quite for a couple days. I do apologize, but let me explain. Lately I have found myself unusually busy. For some reason This whole week has been filled with at least 3 hours of homework a night, plus various other projects I’ve had to work on. Well it is summer job season and as always I’m a bit worried about my prospects, although this year looks promising. So basically my time at the internet café has been filled with many emails to various people and a bit of researching as well, with much more still to go. Do you guys realize that I actually have to register for classes soon!? Exactly how that will go done with me being in Russia and rather restricted when it comes to internet access, I don’t know, not to mention I’m not entirely sure how this years worth of credits will pan out. Aside from that online job applications take a long time when you only have an hour a day in which to do them. Plus I also have the little things like school, home life, and my various appointments. Example? Well today was basketball. That probably took up 2 hours of my time after school. But I had to keep up my dominance on the court (man I had this sweet 3 pointer in one game).

So long story short, or whatever, My blogging access has been severely restricted. However, I have been keeping up a few posts at home and if you scroll down you will be sure to see them.

Russian Hospitals

So I promised a Russian hospital story right? Well over Christmas break my friend flew down to Turkey to visit some friends. While he was there he happened to be bitten by a cat. Weird right? Well by the time he got back to Russia the bite had turned into an infection and he had to go to the hospital to fix it.

First let me describe the American procedure to this problem. Walk in, talk to the doctor, receive quick treatment and antibiotics, then live. Form what I understand from my friend this was not an overnight problem.

Ok so here is what really happened. He went to the hospital and was treated. This involved slicing open the wound and draining it, then applying some antibiotics (this doesn’t really affect the story but in case you wanted to know …). As it turns out, a blood infection earns you a two week stay at the hospital, that’s right two weeks, no less. So my friend found himself in a ward with a couple other Russian men, all in for various things, although I believe they were related. My friend spent 9 days here until our teachers finally convinced the hospital to let him leave. It actually took the doctor ordering the hospital to let him leave, they were really bent on the 2 weeks.

During those two weeks my friend received daily injections of something (he wasn’t quite sure), two shots right in the butt, which is apparently pretty painful. Other than that his stay was pretty boring. Every week the nurses would “sterilize the room.” This involved them wheeling in a big ultra violet projector and basically irradiating the room clean. Whether or not this actually works, I don’t know. What I do know is that the en in the room are simply asked to cover their eyes for the ten or so minutes they are doing this. Needless to say my friend was conveniently absent from the room the next time they did this.

Something I found pretty interesting from the whole story was the room dynamics between all the guys. They really get to know each other and become good friends. My friend said that they would frequently raid the hospital store and cook up some home made “spirits”(i.e. rubbing alcohol). They also managed to smuggle in some vodka often enough.

My friend got out of the hospital a few days before classes started, and was plenty thankful to be out. Of course it’s funny to talk about it now, but he would definitely never want to go through that again. This brings me to another funny point in that a few weeks later he got another infection, this time a staff infection, in his arm, possibly from the Russian hospital? We may never know, but this time he happen to be in Moscow when the infection got bad again and got to use the Western hospitals available there.

Pretty crazy right? Basically I try not to think about the hospitals here, it’s just easier that way.

Something ...

It’s been pretty warm around here lately, like -10s or something. I’ve been enjoying it. It’s pretty weird that I will walk out into below freezing weather, but still feel thankful for the warm weather. Things have certainly been going over here. This weekend I’ll be in Suzdal again. I like that little town. However were staying at a new hotel, the last one had a bowling ally, billiards room, sauna, pool, and like 5 bars. I can’t say if this new place will live up to my expectations, probably not though. Still it should be fun. Of course after this weekend I have 3 straight weeks and no trips (I know! No traveling for free for 3 weeks, you guys must feel so bad for me). I learned today that Vladimir has no decent video store. My friend and I were looking for various DVD’s to buy and found none, oh well that’s what Moscow is for I guess.

The one thing I have been doing is watching the Olympics. Were only 2 hours ahead here, which is pretty nice. Actually I’m really looking forward to the Men’s hockey which starts today! We don’t get many mainstream sports on TV here, so it will be a treat to watch. By the way, if any of you bothered to watch the women’s hockey you might also know that Russians women’s team is pretty bad, they lost 7 goals to Canada in just the first period of the one game I saw. Surprising, it really just adds to my suspicions that hockey is not has big here as everyone (or at least me) thinks. Actually I’m pretty curious how is the Olympic coverage in the US? Here, unless you watch the sports channel, you only see little updates on the News. I get the feeling it’s not as popular here, but I could be wrong, my observation area is pretty small. Don’t worry through I’m still rooting for the USA.

четверг, февраля 09, 2006

3 Weeks .. or maybe 4

Well the time has slipped my mind for the moment, but I'm somewhere around week 4. Things are good, I gotta says this semester has been so much easier then the last in terms of just about everything. But I still have lots of work to do, so don't worry about me, I keep busy. I've been working on a rather interesting post about the Russian hospital experince (not mine). Look forward to it.

понедельник, февраля 06, 2006

Letters

I thought I would let you guys know what you could send me this semester if you so decided again. I know last semester I aked for swedish fish (and that offer is still open, yes I will accept and eat any swedish fish sent to me for FREE). But I'll be honest you don't have to send to bucks to ship those out here unless you really want to. What would be great to get are letters. Letters are cheap and fun to get, Nothing special just a hello, maybe a picture, who knows maybe I'll return a reply (well, you'll at least get a thank you email).

Anyways my address is

600000 Vladimir, Tsentr Russistiki KORA,
ul. Vorovskogo, d.14, Joseph Tercero, Russia

(Ya, there's my real name, oh well I suppose)

By the way, If you would like to use my courier services go ahead and send me and email, space is limited, so first come first serve. I can bring back anything really, just let me know. Delivery date: May

So I'm Back

Yup, back from Moscow again and back into another week of school. Moscow was fun, as usual. We were able to see the armory museum in the Kremlin, which was cool, and the World War 2 museum, also neat. The Armory is full of tons of things owned by the Tsars. Thrones and carriages, dresses, dinnerware, personal items, and an awesome weapons section. It was well worth seeing, but how much can you say about a museum. The same goes for the World War 2 museum. It had some neat guns and stuff, as well as several battlefield dioramas (those were particularly awesome). Aside from the museums I also went to Gorbushka, Moscow giant indoor music and video market (that is pirated music and video), plus it has a whole bunch of electronics and related things. I picked up some DVDs and a CD by a band called "Naive" (great russian punk band). This CD I had wanted for a year or two, but for some reason I could never find a place online to sell it to me, don't really know why. That was cool. Other than that there were a few bars and meetings up with Moscow friends. Not much to say of the bars, it's still hard to find a dark beer in Russia.

среда, февраля 01, 2006

Moscow

This weekend I'll be in Moscow. Yeah for that! So of course you probably won't see a post until I get back on Monday. I know, you can hang in there.

So tomorrow marks the week point and I can say with confidence that I am settled in again. (Much faster than last semester). Classes are in full swing and have actually been fun so far (we got to do a little political debating about Yeltsin in class today, it was hard in Russian but fun none the less). It seems this semester we have picked a new place to be "Our Cafe" and this one has a movie theater too (no dark beer though). Speaking of which, last Friday I saw "Cry Wolf", Of course it was in Russian but moving pictures aren't that hard to understand in any language, especially horror flicks. The movie was well ... I liked the idea, but not so much the presentation, plus the last five mintues were stupid.

I don't think my sleep schedule has caught up with me yet, I still wake up a couple times a night. Last semester this didn't go away for like a month or two. Oh well I guess.

See you in a few days!

понедельник, января 30, 2006

Skating

I went skating with my tutor on Sunday. It was really cold. I mean really like about -19 C or something around there. The really weird thing was that skating while it was that cold felt different then when it is still above freezing. I don't mean that it felt colder, I mean the actual feeling of skating was different. The ice was, I don't know, more frozen (if that's possibly). Still it was fun, skating is fun. Well, ok that ice rink had some problems. I don't really know how the ice got so many deep holes in it but they were a little dangerous, especailly when you are skating backwards (no I did not fall).

Snow

I think I should point out the large amount of snow here in Vladimir. I mean I know it's Russia and you might say to me, "Joey of course there's a lot of snow in Russia!" Well, you didn't and now you've lost your chance. There is a lot of snow in Russia. Every sidewalk and street in this entire town is bordered by at least 3 feet of piled snow. I think back to my winters in Maryland where we might get a big snow here or there but after 2 weeks you forget all about it. The thing with snow is that if it stays below zero, it's not going away. So do a little math, it's been snowing here almost everyday since mid December. All that snow is still here, buried as it may be. Good for skiing, not for snowballs (too cold for snowballs). Anyways, this is something I've never really experienced before, constant snow and a lot of it). It's interesting to say the least.

вторник, января 24, 2006

All things considered

Hey Everyone,

So yeah, I made it back to Vladimir and so far things are going pretty good. My flight into Russia was fine, no problems. Getting through the Moscow airport was actually easy, which was not expected. I ended up taking a taxi home to Vladimir, that is a taxi from Moscow to Vladimir (3 hours). Clearly not the cheapest solution, but definitely the quickest and easiest. Still it was expensive. I got into Vladimir around 2pm Russia time and almost instantly fell asleep. My host mother wasn't home so it was a bit of a shock to her to find me there when she got back. Apparently, despite me telling her when I would get back several times, she thought I wasn't going to be home until Friday, not Thursday. No harm done, just kinda funny now.

I spent the next few days getting resettled and unpacking. Basically everything came nicely together, I kinda feel like I never left, which is weird, good but, weird. Of course my new computer is performing admirably and it is nice to have a little library of American movies to enjoy on those long winter nights.

Which brings me to the subject of winter. I do recall complaining last semester about the Russian winter's lack-luster performance. Well I guess I was wrong. Apparently this thing doesn't get going until January, but when it does, oh man. The day I got in it was about -30 C currently it is hovering around -20 C, this is very cold. I mean I really never imagined how cold this actually is. Basically my legs start to freeze if I am outside for more than 5 minutes, hello long johns. I must say that my winter wear is well prepared. My big coat, hats, gloves, scraffs, and boots, all very good and all very warm. So in other words I love this, it's sooo! cold it's great. I've never been this cold before and it's kinda fun to experience (of course I say this with the knowledge that when I do get cold I have a nice warm apartment to retreat to).

Well, classes have begun again and I'm doing my best to start out on the right foot (you know paying attention even when it's really really really boring) and it's seems to be working. 2 days into classes and I'm doing good, no problems, I really like my new group too. The classes were switched around a bit and I think the one I am now in will be fun. Of courses 2 days doesn't give me a huge perspective, but I've got good feelings about this.

So everything is back to the same old same old. I'm only 2 days out of vacation and I already want it to be summer. But in two weeks we'll be heading to Moscow for 3 days, which will be much fun. I've got a real good travel schedule lined up this semester. Moscow, Yaraslavl, Suzdal (yeah!), Petersburg, and Sochi (which is on the black sea and supposedly has palm trees!). Sochi is our big 10 day trip (although that's 35 hours on a train) and it's in May (nice and warm), something to look forward to.

Well that's it for now, I'm back to blogging so stay tuned.

среда, января 18, 2006

Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.

I couldn't resist posting this, The Chuck Norris Random Fact Generator. I found it hilarious.

Beards

So I've decided to make an attempt at a "chin strap" beard. This is basically just a line a hair following your chin. So far I have discovered two things. One, growing a beard with blond hair takes a long long long time. Two, apparently different sections of my face grow hair at different speeds (and I don't mean like 1 or 2, I mean like 3 or 4, it's annoying!) I don't plan to give up, but this may be the only time I've actually regreted having blond hair (well maybe for a second).

Back to Russia

Hmm, well yes so I didn't post much over the break. Sorry. I'd like to say there were many factors in this lack of posting, but to be honest I was just lazy. Well okay technically I had a week of holidays and being back in the States days, then about 2 weeks of some very annoying computer problems, including one with my new computer. But even with that there is still a week unaccounted for, so oh well, no posting.

Well that really is about to change. Tomorrow I head back to Russia to finish up this year abroad. That means I will be looking forward to many things (but not everything, it wasn't all smiles ). It does mean that I'll be posting regularly again. So if you have stuck with me over these past few weeks, then congrates I reward you with new posts! If you haven't, well you wouldn't be reading this so who cares about you!

A whole new semester of stories and pictures and who knows what, stick with me people!

среда, января 04, 2006

Why I've been silent for weeks

Right now I am typing up my first post on my new computer. It's a nice computer, good deal too, but that's not important. The important thing is that I now have a computer again. You see a few weeks ago my old computer decided that it just wasn't fun to work anymore and it died. I should mention that I was able to get all my pictures and various other things off before it finally stoped working for good. Anyways everything is better now, this new computer is very nice and I finally seem to have some time on my hands, which means I can post. Hurray!