REGATTA!!

The highlight of the weekend was, without any doubt, the Tall Ships' Races -- an international regatta and festival of sail that is in Saint-Petersburg for four days! Vladimir Putin himself presided over the proceedings yesterday, but the layout of the supposed parade was absolutely ridiculous and the bureaucracy of the layout of the place so bizarre and we walked around for an hour trying to find a place from which we could actually SEE what was going on (even though we were RIGHT there)... Eventually we were unsuccessful in finding the parade, but I'm ecstatic to say that I got the chance to tour at least ten large Class A tall ships! Exploring the tall ships, I think, aside from a few other occasions, has been the best experience I've had in Russia so far.

I now know that when I finish college, I'll want to spend at least a couple of months working on board a tall ship, though I can't see myself making a career out of it. I thought maybe I could do some kind of naturalist work, maybe something like leading kids on Outdoor Ed trips, because I know just hoe much it has meant to me. But I'll worry about that when the time comes, because the next two years of my life are pretty much already predetermined, at least in terms of where I'll be geographically. There is one new development, though, and that is that I'm starting to think about some sort of European experience for the summer immediately following my graduation--possibly including some kind of program in France or something, if I can get financial aid and/or a scholarship for it. But that's a long ways away, and there's a lot of other stuff to deal with first.

Other than that, last night we had a cultural excursion to the Banya, and I have to say it was an amazing experience. We did six rounds - rinse, steam room, sweat, beat yourself (and each other) with the oak (leafy branches - oak because it's manly), rinse, cold pool, rinse, repeat. After the third round we took a break to have snacks and try out the pool table. It was a very manly experience, I have to say. I remarked that during this summer abroad, I seem to be learning a lot about skin exfoliation. Anyhow, my host mother had told me that it is necessary to drink beer after the banya because it's a "Russian tradition," but I was exhausted and I'm broke anyway so I went back and slept. After the banya and a huge meal (as usual), I slept amazingly, though my body still didn't seem interested in getting up with the alarm I had set. But! I got an A on the exam from last week, so things seem to be going fairly well, though I don't feel like my language skills are improving quite so quickly as I thought they would.

Past the halfway point now--19 days of class left. This weekend is our other weekend overnight trip, and this time we're going to Novgorod. Today we went to the Leningrad Blockade Museum, and I have to say it was powerful, though not as much as it would have been had I been able to read all of the stuff in there. Still, the photos of the people within the city during the blockade and the patriotic posters hanging on the walls really gave a sense of what it was like during that time. All this led to a discussion once we got outside about how Americans haven't experienced anything close to that, and how most of our current generation knows so little about war. I hate seeing apathy in people, but I know that I've felt it myself, toward my own country. That changed gradually over time, for several reasons (and it's still gradually changing, I think): growing up and getting older is the obvious explanation, but seeing Obama elected president and having a part in the whole political process started to mean something too. Then, when I went to Israel, I really saw an eye-opening perspective of people who really believe in something, and it made me feel good that I could connect to it. My friend Dean in the IDF was telling me that the army makes you a man "instantly," to which I replied that I could certainly see the appeal in that. Meanwhile, I'm traveling internationally, studying foreign cultures, and almost all of the money to do it comes from other people. How can I reconcile that? Ironically, that's part of what I'm out here to learn. Nothing is so simple, I've discovered, and nor am I. I've spent my life painfully aware of the opportunities I've been given, wanting only to make the most of them. I've started to realize very recently that the way to do that isn't to agonize over what might be good for me, but rather to follow my interests and my heart. They're not mutually exclusive goals, but it's good to begin to feel that I don't have to be ashamed of opportunity. I've been so indecisive so often.

Anyway, I've grown moody now with all this discussion (and maybe it has something to do with the steady rain that's started falling outside), but with my computer still non-operational and the temporary "solution" still not put together (though hopefully soon), I've had little outlet for my thoughts on things. I'd like to put pictures on here, but unfortunately that's still effectively impossible. I think I will call El Al tonight and see what they say.

I'm reading Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky (in translation), and I'm finding it incredibly meaningful. I'll put up some quotes from it in a future post.

Also, in Russia they have Hazelnut M&Ms, and they are delicious.