Чудо

Despite their various shortcomings, Russians have some things really figured out. As you can see this is yogurt in a bottle. It’s DRINKABLE. You get half a litre for a dollar and you can consume it anywhere. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. What a beautiful creation. In fact, the guys in the dormitory literally lived off чудо for their first week here. It’s a testament to the yogurt that they are still alive. The last I heard though they had bought 5 pounds of steak and things were looking up. But anyway, it’s both delicious and convenient. America – Get to work on bottling yogurt.

Чудо also happens to be one of the only Russian foods with protein. My family hasn’t been serving me a lot of meat (a single chicken leg or medium-sized hot dog are common at dinner and there’s no protein in the oatmeal I eat for breakfast) and so I’ve been desperate to find other sources at lunch and at my other various snack times. My greatest success so far was with a Big Tasty from McDonalds, but as we all know that’s not a great road to start down… I’m working on some sort of protein supplement but it will be a while before I can find a safe one at a reasonable price. So I’m complaining about the food, but my family really has been serving me a lot. Along with said chicken morsel I’ll be given an entire plate of vegetables, a whole potato, soup, biscuits, bread and tea. They’re all healthy, hearty foods in great quantity, but they haven’t stopped me from losing ten pounds while I’ve been here. All I want in the world is a steak. Will someone send me a steak in the mail?

So I started off talking about the wonderful bits of Russia (incidentally чудо means wonder. They really thought the yogurt thing through). Here are just a couple positive observations, many of which will speak straight to my Dad. First of all, the metro stations are all made out of regularly polished marble and the ceilings are like 30 feet high. As if that weren’t appealing enough, it’s a flat rate of 75 cents and trains leave every three minutes (there’s a timer so you can track them). The unsurprising consequence is that everyone takes the metro. Rush hour is CRAZY. There’s no wasted space on the train. In fact it’s rude if you’re not shoving to make more room on the train. Escalators are the same way. The metro is way below the city (because Peter the Great built it on a swamp - great thinking – and you need to dig down to get concrete foundations) so you spend a lot of time on the escalators. On the way down you either stand to the right or run down the left. If you don’t stand to the right, it’s your fault when someone running down the left knocks you over. So that’s just the metro. But it’s unbelievably efficient.

I’m on a new paragraph but I haven’t finished with my observations. I’m just going to go with it. So change in stores: This can be ridiculous. Russians are obsessed with paying in exact amounts and will often get angry if you make them count out change. I had a woman refuse to serve me because I tried to pay with a 1000 rouble note! (That’s a little more than $30) If you pay with an amount close to the price, the cashier will ask if you’ve got a rouble or two so he can give you an even amount. This is something you go through every time you stop in at a store. It’s amazing that an issue of minor concern has caused this full-scale national preoccupation.

I’ve got to write on this blog more often so I can share everything in smaller chunks. I’ve been writing for a while so I’m going to take a break… Okay I’m back. That was way less time for you than it was for me.

So I signed up for classes this week and am hoping that they’re going to work out well. We’re all taking RSL (Russian as a Second Language) as part of the program, so we only sign up for two classes at Smolny. At the moment I’m registered for a history course and a literature course. ‘History of the Russian Empire’ and ‘Life and Culture in St. Petersburg’. If I can’t make it through the history class on Tuesday I’ll have to change both courses. It’s definitely going to be difficult. They’re both in Russian, but the history class is a 300 level with a hundred pages of Russian reading a week. Could be too much but we’ll see!

I found a gym on Wednesday so I’ve been able to get my normal workouts in. It’s about 40 minutes away on the metro, but it’s a great gym. I often forget that I’m in Russia when I’m there. Plus it’s called Alex Fitness (Destiny?). The members are an interesting crowd. Unlike the US where there’s more of an even spread, gym-goers here belong to one of two poles: noticeably out of shape or on steroids. I mean… in shape. But for realz, (Did I really just say that?) two of the trainers at my gym must be on steroids. Or if not steroids, they’re on something else. The bigger one must weigh over 300 pounds. That’s huge! But who knows, maybe the sheer terror that I experience will coax me into working harder in the gym. Really liking the gym so far, just a long commute!

We’re having a surprise birthday party for one of the girls in our group so I should get going. I haven’t been on the internet since Thursday but I should be able to post this when I get to school tomorrow (Monday).

Tomorrow’s going to be a laugh, I have class from 11:00-20:00. I’m pretty sure that would be illegal in the US. Welcome to Russia, Alex!