Saturday, August 22, 2009
Жди меня, и я вернусь
Friday, August 21, 2009
Hostel Environs
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Na maidani, kolo tserkvi
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The End of a (Very Brief) Era
Monday, August 10, 2009
Stealing Good Ideas
Citizens! In the Event of a Nazi Siege, This Side of the Lake is the More Dangerous!
And another week goes by without me adding anything. I guess this has become something of a weekly posting. If you don’t like that, well, uh, sorry? Much as I enjoy St. Petersburg, the novelty wore off, oh, about five years ago, so I’m not constantly running off to another museum or theatre or something. But I shall now faithfully recount the events of my week.
Actually, another part of why I haven’t posted until now is that nothing of interest came up until the end of the week. The most exciting thing that happened for the first few days of work was that I took a sick day on Wednesday. I didn’t feel terrible, but had been feeling a bit ill the previous few days, so I decided to just shut it down. This definitely proved to be the right decision, as I was back at work the next day and ready to go (not that there was anywhere TO go). Friday was a bit more interesting, in that I went to lunch at a Korean restaurant with the PAO. He’s an interesting guy, and it was nice to eat someplace new. The food was even pretty decent (though predictably not spicy)! That evening I had the second of my two interview sessions for the cable I’m writing. Nothing earth-shattering was said, really, but the guys had several entertaining anecdotes, and even occasionally managed to get back on topic. At the end of the night, I realized just how expensive this little café is when I picked up the check. It’s so expensive…how expensive is it?!...it’s so expensive, I had to call the political affairs officer who lives in my building, and thus just down the street from the café, to come bail me out on the bill. Fortunately, the coin dropped on the beverages gets reimbursed by the consulate. Your tax dollars at work!
Interpreting is infamously hard, and with the amount of language study I’ve done over the years (Russian and otherwise), I’d say I have about as healthy a respect for simultaneous interpreters as anyone who has never had to do it seriously. But I still undersold them. I consider my Russian to be pretty good, especially considering my limited opportunities for speaking over the last several years. Simultaneous interpretation is hard. Really. Hard. You miss one word in a paragraph, and suddenly the wheels come off. Your mind rushes to find that word, and in the meantime, it has missed the next ten, your interlocutor has stopped speaking, and everyone is waiting for your translation. There’s a reason these people get paid crazy amounts of money. There’s also a reason they work in 30-minute shifts. Your brain is toast after doing that. But back to the story.
The museum was informative, I think. I was mostly distracted, but considering the amount of historical study I did of the siege in undergrad, I don’t think I missed too much. Among the most memorable items on display was, of course, an example of a daily bread ration from the starvation winter of 1941-42. However, the museum also featured several trucks (Ford AAs), weapons, bits of airplane, and other war-related detritus dredged from the lake. Those will probably stand out in my mind even more than the bread. Imagine, if you will, driving a vintage 1934 Ford truck, loaded to the brim with flour, medicine, ammunition, whatever. In the dark. On a frozen lake. With no lights. With little or no markings to know if you are going the right way. Without having eaten enough to keep your body from atrophying. While being shot at by German artillery. Sounds pretty bad? Now turn around. There and back took about 8 hours, and you’re still on the hook for another go. Failure means the whole city—around 2 million by that point—dies. Doesn’t sound like a very fun occupation to me, and seeing a truck they’d pulled out of the lake was grim beyond most things I’ve ever seen.
After the cheery tour, we all relaxed by the lake, cooked shashlik (kebabs), and enjoyed the sunshine. We were lucky with the weather, and being out in the country proved a much needed respite from the constant noise and dust of the construction on my block. Of all the things I’ve done here this summer, that’s probably the thing I enjoyed most.
Sunday proved mostly uneventful. I purchased a few souvenirs, took a few pictures, and ate lunch at a dingy stolovaya (cafeteria). Then I made an excursion to the grocery store and enjoyed lounging around for the rest if the evening. It’s hard to believe that I only have three more days of work, and that I go to Ukraine, only the second foreign country I’ll have ever visited, on Friday. I’ll try and get you another update before I fly to Kiev, but if not, have a good week, and you’ll next hear from me from the banks of the Dnieper.
Also, since I know you are all ravenous consumers of photographs, here's a facebook link to the album from this weekend. Again, if you want to see them but don't have facebook, let me know and I'll get you a link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2106263&id=1102272
C
Sunday, August 2, 2009
What Have You Done To Be So Lucky?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Rounding Third...
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Bonus Post: The Godfather
Around Town
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Kastkovo? Kaykovo? Keykovo? Karavello? Whatever.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
It's Official!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Spare Ribs and Sleep Deprivation
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Boats and Baseball
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Like It’s My Job
Ah, what to tell, what to tell. Life here in Russia continues pretty much apace. Thank goodness my regular schedule is not like last week’s, or I might not long be bound for this earth (not to mention I’d definitely outgrow all my clothes).
As you probably read, we had a fairly successful summit with the Russians this week. I would have to say that the outcome was pretty predictable—we made progress on nukes, which everyone expected and which everyone wanted, but we remained divided on the missile shield, which everyone also expected and everyone feared. Nothing particularly fascinating, I would say. There has been a lot made about President Obama’s “star-power” not carrying much weight in Russia. In fact, the CG was asked a question about this today at a meeting with several young American professionals here on Alfa Bank fellowships. First of all, I think too much has been made of this phenomenon. (Warning: this is all anecdotal and observational). Average Russians by and large don’t dislike Obama or hold him in disdain. They are, however, hesitant to jump up and scream about him. They did that for Clinton and were disappointed, then they got to watch Bush muddle through multiple foreign policy mistakes in regard to Russia and its interests, and now, in my humble opinion, there’s more of a wait and see attitude. I think a lot of Russians are optimistic about improvements in relations between our two countries. But they do not subscribe to the notion that he’s going to magically fix all the quarrels and problems between the two countries. So let’s all calm down a bit on the Russians don’t like Obama rhetoric. I think a bigger problem, and I'm not the first to say this, is that there has been a little too much Obama-centrism, so to speak in foreign policy. There aren't a whole lot of new ideas so far (I remain optimistic that this will improve); rather, the visits have mostly been about the genuine excitement Obama brings most of the rest of the world as a symbol of change. The Russians, I think, (and eventually the rest of the world, too) are going to need to see less style and more substance. But I don't want to get to political here.
As for me personally, work is work. As I have mentioned, I am working as the Public Affairs Officer in lieu of our permanent staff member, who has been in Moscow helping with the visit. This honor/trial by fire explains why I was so wiped out by the end of last week. This week, especially the last couple of days, have been significantly and mercifully lighter, and the genuine article PA Officer gets back either tomorrow or the next day. Whatever the precise arrival date, I will slide back into my normal job as intern on Monday. This weekend should offer some excitement, though. First of all, the annual Baltic Tall Ships Regatta is set to sail through St. Petersburg from Gdansk, Poland, with all of the teams mooring along the river for the weekend and opening to the public! I am definitely going to see them, come Hell or high water. Also, ALLEGEDLY, the weather here will be nice with plenty of sunshine this weekend. The weather forecasting in this city, for lack of any nicer way of putting it, absolutely sucks, so I cannot say with any certainty that the weather will cooperate with my plans. But if it does, you can anticipate not only stories about the boats, but also the long-awaited pictures I have been promising you! Other than all that, I am going to sleep a lot this weekend, and I can hardly begin to explain to you how excited I am about that. Until then, enjoy Vinni Pukh, and tell me if I am using my dryer wrong.
Also, this made me giggle out loud at work today: http://www.theonion.com/
C
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Great Burden of Freedom (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Russian Beef Products)
If you, like so many of your compatriots, are desperate to know more about what I’ve been doing for the last several days and just exactly how the American government abroad celebrates the Fourth of July, then today, my friend, is your lucky day. I shall now regale you with tales of drama, suspense, intrigue, romance, conflict, and danger.
Or maybe just food.
Thursday, July 2:
This is the only completely work-related thing I will tell you from last week: I got to help in an interview with the CG at Ekho Sankt Peterburga, which was kind of cool. The CG had practiced her (Russian) answers diligently, but was still not that confident in her abilities. A Russian staffer and I, thus, sat in the studio to help out (mostly, I figured, the Russian would feed her words, should she get stuck, and indeed that was the plan). However, about a minute into the LIVE interview, the Russian started having a serious coughing fit and had to leave the studio. WHOOPS! Now it’s my job to try and interpret/help answer the questions in Russian for the CG. All in all, I’d say it wasn’t disastrous, although when the question arose of “why didn’t Benjamin Franklin ever become president?”, I found it quite difficult to keep from telling the CG to comment on his womanizing. But there were no such missteps, so all’s well that end’s well. It wasn’t a pristine interview, but it went over fine.
In the evening, we had our much-anticipated Independence Day reception at the Consul-General’s Residence (CGR), which is really quite the swanky pad. America’s bounty was on display courtesy of an entirely Russian kitchen staff, leading cuisine ranging from delicious and accurate in its portrayal of traditional American food (pulled pork and baked beans) to bizarre (completely spherical hamburgers?) to slightly off-the-mark (key-lime pie with berries on it) to the culinary equivalent of giving up (50 pizzas ordered from the local Papa John’s). Of course, as we worried that we would not have enough food, the consulate staff was told to try to go easy on the food until the party was winding down or we had a better idea of how we were doing. This would normally have been a difficult task for me, but I hadn’t eaten lunch (which was a recurring theme throughout last week’s hectic schedule), and once the roughly 300 guests/friends/dignitaries/
Perhaps owing to other social engagements, the party cleared out fairly quickly, leaving me to enjoy whatever food I wanted. Alas, we had run out of cutlery (perhaps another reason the thing started to break up), leaving me to eat the copious supply of leftover pizza and soda (I was heartbroken, as I’m sure you could guess). Before long, it was mostly just us consulate faithful, which was nice, as we could all relax, take a deep breath, grab a slice of pizza or piece of cake, and unwind. But the weekend, for me, at least, was only beginning.
Friday, July 3
Friday was, for most people, a much needed and well-earned day off. Not for me, however, as the Committee of Foreign Affairs for the City Council of St. Petersburg (yeah, I know) had decided to finally release its much-anticipated volume St. Petersburg and the US: 200 Years of Russo-American Relations on that day. What did they care, after all, they just HAD a Friday off (June 12). So I went along with the CG and Elena, one of the local staff who often serves as an interpreter/point woman for the CG at large public events. Feeling sorry for me, the CG invited me over to the residence for lunch, where I got to eat leftovers from the night before (turns out the barbecue and beans were pretty good). She seemed displeased with the in-house cook, but in all fairness, he did seem like a flake.
The release was not a terribly exciting event. There was a brief panel of presenters who talked about the importance of such a book, especially now (the eve of Independence Day and the 200th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1809), and then a few questions. I was tasked with recording the event for posterity by taking lots of pictures, and I did so faithfully. But once the ceremony itself was over and we moved on to the buffet/reception, my new job was pack-mule, and I accumulated quite a collection of items, ranging from a hardbound copy of the book signed by all the authors to be given as a gift to President Obama (a brush with greatness!), to half of a hamburger that the CG intended to eat (a brush with mayonnaise!). The CG also granted a couple of interviews, while I mostly stood around and smiled. The food was okay. Basically, when Russia wants to honor America or Americans, they make hamburgers and corn, which, perhaps accurate, can get old over the course of a long weekend. All in all, it was a mildly interesting event. I met a few fairly high-ranking muckety-mucks from the local United Russia administration, I ate lunch for free, and I didn’t mess anything up. All in all, a successful day, even though it did take 6 hours out of my day off.
That evening I met with my friend Christine to take some of the Princeton undergrads she is leading out to an Uzbek restaurant. The kids seemed a bit shy/shell-shocked, but they’re all 19 and in Russia for the first time, so I don’t know what else you could really expect. The food…..suffice it to say the best part about the restaurant was the teapot-cozy that looked like the best hat EVER. Although the really loud Turkish techno-punk music with accompanying Russian (I assume by her appearance) belly-dancer were a close second. After dinner, Christine and I lost the undergrads and went to a bar/club/trashy establishment called Smiley’s where I learned, much to my excitement, you could purchase beer a liter at a time! Not one to back down from such a menu-offered challenge, I of course ordered one. It was like they brought a barrel of this swill. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t drink it all! That was about enough to last me the rest of the night, so after hanging out a bit, Christine and I parted ways, and I ate a khychin from a nearby kiosk and then called it a night.
Saturday, July 4
Happy Independence Day! Or as I like to call it, another work day! Actually, this was much less labor intensive, but it was that day when finally, the long-awaited trip to Peter and Paul Fortress for the firing of the noontime cannon occurred! I had spent a large amount of time organizing this trip for the previous week or so, getting names and transportation and so forth figured out, so it wasn’t just a walk in the park. I walked out to the fortress (about 40 minutes from my apartment) with both SLR and video cameras in hand, or rather on my back, at around 10:30 so that I could meet everyone at the meeting place at 11:15. Some people drove there with the CG, while some walked, but fortunately, everyone arrived in a timely fashion. Other than my taking a ton of photos and video of the group, this story doesn’t have a lot to tell. We went to the Naryshkin Bastion and climbed up the rampart, where we saw the cannon and a grizzled old Russian artillery officer who played his role impeccably. He explained how to fire the gun to the CG, while instructing the rest of us where to stand. At about five seconds before noon, we heard a beep (through our earplugs—thanks, International Paper!), and the officer gave the countdown. Neither the CG nor the cannon disappointed, as she fired it right on time, and the muzzle let out a large plume of smoke and confetti (not to mention a shockwave that nearly knocked a couple of kids on their asses). More photos followed, and the CG was presented with the spent shell for her own personal amusement.
After that, some of us headed to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) BBQ, which was pretty much what you would expect from such an event: lots of American food and drink, some made by Russian businesses, some by American. As with all these type of events, several people were invited to the stage to say a few words, greet the guests, thank the sponsors, et cetera. They had music piped in for each one’s ascent to the microphone, and amusingly, it was the same ten-second clip from “Simply the Best” for every presenter. I must have heard that clip a dozen times in roughly five mintues. Furthermore, there was some sort of “entertainment” (I use the term loosely) going on in the form of a Russian announcer, whose voice bore a tragically-striking resemblance to Sasha Baron-Cohen’s Borat, exhorting everyone to get up and dance/play random percussion instruments distributed onstage. Suffice it to say I stayed as far from the stage as possible. I didn’t eat all that much, but I did make the unfortunate mistake of eating two of these little golf-ball sized chocolate balls. They have since become the legend of the event thanks to their incredible density. They were delicious, which prompted me to eat a second one. Now folks, I have eaten a lot of horrible things, or just horrible amounts of things, or even horrible amounts of horrible things in my life. But I have never, ever, EVER felt put out of commission as quickly as I was by this second ball of dark matter masquerading as chocolate. That thing hit my gut like 30 white castles all at once. Not surprisingly, I went home shortly thereafter (the weather was getting nasty, anyway), and ate nothing else for the rest of the day. I spent the rest of the night watching the 1864 portion of Ken Burns’ The Civil War, which I spoke about in the last post, and otherwise goofing off and trying to enjoy some rest.
Sunday, July 5
Finally, a day without work. Too bad I couldn’t sleep in, for whatever reason (perhaps the chocolate-flavored cannon ball I had ingested the day before played a role). I had another cookout to attend, but fortunately, this one was a small affair, consisting of about a dozen Americans from the consulate who had nothing better to do than get together and grill leftovers from the previous events. It was actually quite refreshing, and I ate entirely too much food, but it was good times. I also began my tutelage of the CG on how to throw a baseball for her upcoming first-pitch at the Russian Baseball Association tournament (this Saturday; post to follow). I then went home and fell asleep, only to be awoken by a call from Christine and Ally, a girl from another Princeton Slavic grad student’s summer language program who, for a long and complicated reason involving an upcoming internship with State had to make a voyage from Astrakhan to S. Petersburg to get fingerprinted and needed a place to crash. Fortunately for her, I have a couch and the inability to say no. They were at a nearby Georgian restaurant and wanted me to come join them. For some reason, the 30-minute nap had made me hungry again, so I obliged. Ally had signed a language pledge (to only speak Russian) at the beginning of her program, so we indulged her and refrained from English for as much as possible. She did a decent job, held her own. Then we went home and I went to bed, mercifully, but not as early as I might have liked. I sent her on her merry way this morning with Nathan, as she needed to go to the consulate, and I had to go to Public Affairs.
And so ends my highly eventful weekend and my correspondingly long post. No pictures, as my camera’s memory card was engaged with the consulate all weekend, and I didn’t have a lot of spare time on my hands. All the same, my promise still stands that I will soon take pictures of the city. Just as soon as I get an entire weekend off….
C
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Guns of July
Monday, June 29, 2009
A Strangely Awesome Day
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Don't They Have Locks at Dartmouth?!
"You don't have a key for that?"