Life in Technicolor

Time for a study break. My first final is tomorrow at 1, and it’s phonetics. If there is going to be any final that I fail, this will be it. All we have to do is read a piece we picked out at the beginning of the semester (I picked a folk tale by Pushkin) with correct pronunciation, and unfortunately, my accent has probably gotten worse since I got here. Жаль.

These past few days have been super busy, but before I get into any of it, I must start with this: I saw Putin! Or at least, I caught a glimpse of what I believed to be the back of his head. How did this happen? Well, Putin was in Petersburg for the weekend for a few different reasons. The main reason he was here was definitely for the economic summit, which lasted three days and was held at Lenexpo, which is on Vasilievsky Island (where I live), and it’s also where they held that Romanov exhibit back in February (oh goodness, back in February?!). The city is also celebrating it’s 311th birthday this weekend, and so there have been lots of events taking place all over. As a result, there have been hoards of policemen literally on every corner of the city. Police really scare me to begin with, so you can imagine how on edge I’ve been walking around these past few days. 

As part of one of these events to celebrate Petersburg’s birthday, there was a massive choral concert of 5,000 participants yesterday in St. Isaac’s square, and according to Sean, whose host dad sang in this choir, there was a rumor that Putin was going to show up to it. I woke up on Saturday morning, started getting ready to go to the gym, and then metaphorically slapped myself across the face. Why would I even consider going to the gym when I could possibly see Putin?! That was enough. I took the day off and met some friends by the Bronze Horseman at 11 am. It took me 25 minutes to get there on foot, and in those 25 minutes I saw dozens of policemen. It gave me this eery, calm-before-the-storm feeling, and it made me excited. When everyone found each other, we walked around St. Isaac’s cathedral in order to get past the barricades that had already been built around the square. We found an entrance and I passed my backpack through the security and metal detectors that were positioned in the middle of the streets.  We made ourselves to an open space in front of the cathedral, and proceeded to bake for a good 45 minutes before the concert started. The weather was beautiful. Almost too nice, actually. It was incredibly sunny and it was at least 80 degrees. I wore a tank top yesterday, and I woke up this morning with that awful, itchy sunburnt feeling on my shoulders. 

There were, as expected, a ton of people. By the time we got there people had filled the first few rows of space in front of the barricade which separated spectators from the choir participants and announcers and whatnot. There were cameras everywhere. St. Isaac’s had undergone quite the transformation. The choir of 5,000 stood on a very, very long bleacher, and there were two television screens on either side of the front of the cathedral, which played on loop a clip about the city’s celebration. To begin the ceremony, the conductor of the choir was introduced. Some important man, who was particularly famous during the Soviet Union, and whose name I forgot. He got a big round of applause though. 

And then, before the concert started, the patriarch (good ole Kirill) gave a speech. His face was broadcasted onto the two televisions, and we could hear his voice projected through all the speakers, but we had no idea where he was. It was impossible to see anyone behind the barricade because of all the rows of people in front of us. He was apparently there though, about 30 feet from us. I wasn’t paying attention to what he said, but I guess if it was something earth-shatteringly important my ears would have perked up. The concert began and St. Isaac’s square reverberated with, well, the voices of 5,000 singers. I took my nalgene out at one point for some water and felt the vibrations of the water through my nalgene. The songs they played were, surprise surprise, incredibly nationalistic. Songs from World War II, songs about Easter, and oh, get this, they broadcasted for one song the choir from, ahem, Sevastopol in the Crimea. Awkward. 

Although there were just as many people celebrating Maselnitsa (blini week) with traditional songs and dance (we saw them at the Peter and Paul Fortress months ago), this concert rubbed me a bit in the wrong way. Maybe it’s because a lot has happened politically since Maselnitsa, maybe it’s because I could read the lyrics on the screens in front of me, but I definitely felt that the songs they sang were a little too aggressively proud for me. Ahh, I don’t know. They were probably all fine, but there were a few times when I looked at all the cameras and wondered to myself, “I’m curious what they’re going to say on Russian television about this celebration, and more importantly, how brain-washingly patriotic are they going to make it all out to be.” Ugh, I feel like a hypocrite. Obviously we do this kind of stuff in the US, but, I mean, it really freaks me out how much the media, especially when it’s practically 100% run by the government, influences the masses. Just to go slightly off topic for a second, I’ve had a few mini-crises while I’ve been here concerning whether or not how I’ve been raised, how AMERICANS have been raised, and the values and philosophies we preach vis-à-vis Russians is right or wrong in the context of the... universe? That seems too grand. This is a complicated thought I’m about to unpack. In the states, we (for the most part - I hate to generalize, but roll with me on this for just a sec) firmly believe that there are parts of Russian culture, such as the corruption of their politics and judicial systems, and how they feel about human rights (gay rights for one) that, to us, are straight up WRONG. But here’s the thing. Some Russians, from the way they are brought up, firmly believe with the same amount of strength that American values are fundamentally wrong as well (this statement can be applied to other cultures too). Could you imagine living in a world where everybody else in the world thought that what you believe with your entire being was inherently wrong? Ok, I’m getting way too philosophical here, and I'm not sure I understand what I'm writing anymore, but what I meant to say was, my world and how I view the world, in a sense, has been shaken up (not that I've changed any of my opinions).

But I digress. Getting back to Putin...

After about five or six songs, over the microphone all of a sudden I heard something something something ваш президент российской федерации (the president of the Russian Federation...), and then I ceased to hear anything else that was said. I felt the mood of the entire crowd in front of me shift into action. Cameras were out, and heads all turned to the same direction. And then all I cared about was seeing the one and only, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Regardless of how I feel about that man as a politician (or as a human being, for that matter), it all went out the window. I tried as hard as I could to push and shove my way through, but it became apparent very quickly that I probably wouldn’t be able to see him. At this point I started jumping up and down. I put my wide zoom lens on my camera specifically for this moment, but I also realized that it wouldn’t be any help to me. I jumped and jumped and then, like seeing the loch ness monster or big foot, I think I caught a glimpse of the back of Putin’s head. But again, all of his body guards were in similar suits and bald, so I could have easily been mistaken. That is going to drive me crazy for the rest of my life, but I can’t deny that my memory, especially when I really want something, can be deceptive. In any case, I can say for certain that I was about 30 feet away from him, and I was in the audience he gave a quick speech to on the 311th birthday celebration of St. Petersburg. It’s closer than I’ve ever gotten to any of our American presidents! (Famous people don’t really exist in real life anyways). 

So that’s that, and my day actually got better too! After Putin showed up we left the choir, which, I must add, is хор in Russian, pronounced exactly like the word “whore” in English, I walked back home, made lunch, and studied briefly for one of my finals. A few hours later, I set off for the second time that day to the Bronze Horseman to meet friends for a picnic on the grass there. I bought cookies, and because I had plans to meet more friends to play soccer around 6 pm, found myself walking around the streets of Petersburg in my neon pink Conn College nike shorts and a grey tank top (gasp!). The next hour and a half was spent lying barefoot in the grass in between the Bronze Horseman and St. Isaac’s cathedral (who says that?). Becca brought henna, and others brought fruit and more sweets. We alternated between English to Russian (April had brought a few of her Russian friends), and we enjoyed the summer weather in lush green grass. 

Around 5:30 I set off for Smolny, which is located about 20 minutes away, to meet some guys who planned on finding an empty soccer court to play on for a while. We all met around 6, and then, dear god, for the next TWO HOURS we basically walked around the whole city trying to find courts that weren’t occupied (we ended up going back to the Bronze Horseman at one point). Eventually we took the metro to Primorskaya, one metro stop north from me, and walked for another half an hour trying to find a space to kick a soccer ball around. We finally found a small ice hockey rink that had turf on it around 8 pm. By the time we got there, after all the walking I had done that day, my little legs were just about ready to give out. It was sweltering hot out, and I hadn’t had dinner yet, but oh my, I REALLY wanted to play soccer, as did the six others, so we kept on. 

The next hour and a half playing soccer on that small turf filled ice rink was probably one of the best few hours spent during my entire time abroad (I’m so serious). It was me, Dylan, Will, Adam, Bill, Hunter, and Lea on and off, and we were all so into it. We took frequent water breaks (I was happy to know that all my work on the treadmill still left me huffing and puffing), but we kept on until 9:30. I can’t tell you how nice it was to touch a soccer ball again. I absolutely made a complete fool out of myself on multiple occasions and Hunter and I both went down at some point, but it felt so good nonetheless. Hah, there were a few times when Bill had the ball in a corner, and I found myself practically body checking him. I have my Waynflete soccer coach, Todd Dominski to thank for that one. The last time I played soccer with a guy was indoor gym soccer with Todd, and Todd was so convinced that all of us on WVGS were all painfully “soft. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it!” He always told us to “PUT A BODY ON HER!” or just “BE AGGRESSIVE!” And so when we had the rare opportunities to play with/against Todd, he would take the liberty to up the anti and in a very safe but playful manner, completely rough us up. It was all in good fun of course, but I guess it left an impression, because I actually treated Bill the same way I did Todd when we played. That is to say: sloppy, aggressive and slightly dirty, but only cause we weren’t taking the game seriously. After I did it the first time I was so taken aback that I kind of grinned to myself for remembering such a habit from high school soccer. I also found myself shouting things like, “one on!” or “turn!” or “time!” Oh, how WONDERFUL. God, I knew I would miss playing for Todd, or just on a soccer team in general as a senior in high school, but wow. I really do. Frisbee is great, but it’s not the same.  

We played until 9:30 pm before we called it quits, but we could have kept playing because the sun doesn’t set anymore! How insane. I was absolutely beat, and I headed back to the metro with Adam and Will. I made dinner, showered, and fell asleep after ten minutes of the first episode of 30 Rock. 

Today I woke up sore, but it was a good sore. Later this afternoon we went for a boat cruise around the canals and the Neva for our end of the semester celebration. There were fruit, pies (pies filled with meat and salmon, and others with strawberries), and some champagne. Until I left my apartment to meet everyone outside Gostiny Dvor it was just as beautiful and hot out as the day before, but, alas, it started to downpour and the sky darkened just as I left. The downpour just became rain, but the boat trip was still on. The boat we took had a downstairs (what's that nautical term... below deck?), and so we didn't have to worry about getting wet. Eventually the rain stopped completely and the skies started to clear. It was pretty awesome to be on a boat throughout all the canals of the city, and it felt especially amazing to exit into the Neva in front of the Winter Palace and in and around the Peter and Paul Fortress. After having walked along all those embankments and along that same bridge a bagillion times since I arrived at the end of January, it was so cool to see all the views of the city from the river. 

Okay, I’ve written enough. Exams start tomorrow and my monthly internet runs out in two days. I’m not going to buy another month because I’ve got less than two weeks left here, so my blog posts may be a bit absent for a while. I’ll do my dandiest to keep you updated during my last few days here. 

AHHHHHHH.