the defense of petrozavodsk

Regular readers--all five of you--might remember I mentioned that I attended a reenactment in town a few weeks back.  It was my first time actual witnessing a reenactment in person, and I have to say it was quite interesting.  I don't know how they do things stateside, but in Russia they let you stand basically on the battlefield, which is naturally where I planted myself.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it was actually quite intense.  Despite the fact that they're using blank rounds, the rifle fire is still extremely loud up close.  I could certainly appreciate the intimidation one must have felt upon hearing the infamous MG 34 open fire.  You feel the sound in your chest as much you hear it in your ears.  I won't be volunteering to lead a charge on one of those bad boys anytime soon.

 Me with one of the good guys.

The reenactment itself was of the defense of Petrozavodsk during the Continuation War in 1941.  Sadly, Finnish forces, with the aid of Nazi Germany, captured Petrozavodsk on 1 October 1941 and held the city for three years.  This wasn't really reflected in the reenactment, as there was no real choreographed conclusion as far as I could tell.  Everyone just sort of stood up once they'd run out of ammunition.

That said, they had clearly planned a number of set pieces, the most entertaining of which featured an armored vehicle leading a charge on a nest of Finnish/German mortars.  It suffered a direct hit from one of the mortars, and a small band of Soviet soldiers dashed forward in a daring attempt to save the tank driver's life.

I took some video with my digital camera and compiled the best bits into the 2-minute clip embedded below.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture the tank driver rescue, but I did get them blowing up an actual tree.  You can see the explosion at around 1:34.  I panned away, as I thought it was just some kind of effect, but you can see when I pan back after about three seconds the thing's already gone timber.  The let us walk the battlefield afterward, and I can confirm that it was, in fact, a real tree.  Was being the operative term.

wait, you mean there's an american here?

Despite my initial misgivings, the Moscow trip was highly enjoyable.  We got to visit the  massive U.S. Embassy complex,  which is an interesting experience if a bit underwhelming.  The problem is security is so tight there that we got to see basically two things: 1) the room all of our scheduled activities were held in; and 2) the hallways leading to that room.  Anyways, it was just nice to be back on U.S. soil (Note: before I get snarky emails, I know that's not actually true).  Additionally, the two-day ETA training was extremely helpful and, frankly, everything the D.C. training should have been.

By far the highlight of the trip was getting to see all the other ETAs again.  It was very interesting to see the sheer variety of experiences people have had so far.  One thing that became very clear to me was that my arrival had garnered the least interest out of all of us.  This, of course, proving that Russians are nothing if not excellent judges of character.  That said, things are certainly looking up.  Shortly before I left, I had finally been invited to a class other than Tanya's, though, fittingly, the new teacher's name is also Tanya.  Wouldn't want things to change too rapidly, after all, lest I get confused.  Apparently it went well, despite my best efforts to the contrary, as I've been invited to make it a standing arrangement.

Yesterday, I paid a visit to the American Corner at the National Library of the Republic of Karelia--impressive name, right?--where the coordinator, Marina, and her co-worker Natalya were extremely happy to see me.  I ended up staying for around three hours, which included much tea drinking and cake eating as I was informed it was Marina's birthday.  Natalya was particularly pleased to inform me that we were celebrating as Americans, because it is American tradition to eat cake on one's birthday.  It was a good reminder that Russians are awesome and amazingly hospitable.

After my library excursion, which I should mention included my volunteering to speak at what's destined to be way too many universities and schools in the area, I returned home and received two invitations to two different classes within ten minutes.  Already, today, those two classes have turned into three classes and my participating in the Department of Foreign Language's annual drama  performance.  It appears after four weeks of lying prostrate in the middle of Prospekt Lenina with an American flag draped across my chest that the word is finally getting out.  The American is here.

off to moscow

Now that I've been teaching classes on my own for nearly a month, it seems as good a time as any to attend an orientation meant to teach me how to teach, right?  I'm joking.  Mostly.  However, I am leaving tomorrow night for Moscow and the in-country orientation.  Much like the orientation in Washington, the real deal is on Friday with the ETAs staying for an extra two days of workshops.  I wish I could say I was more excited about this mini-trip, but it feels a bit like I'm being pulled away from my new city and my teaching just as I was finding a rhythm.  

This is compounded by the fact that I'll need to leave Wednesday night.  Since the orientation begins Friday morning, I need to be there by Thursday night; since the regular trains from Petrozavodsk to Moscow are overnight trains, I have to get on a train Wednesday night to be there Thursday.  And lest you think I missed the obvious choice, yes, the Thursday night train would get me to Moscow too late.  I don't want to be a total Debbie Downer, however, as there are aspects of the trip I'm definitely looking forward to.  It will be nice to see most (if not all) of the other ETAs again and swap stories, theirs destined to be cooler than mine.  And despite the fact that it feels a bit like getting safety instructions after already having jumped out of the plane, it will be useful to pick up some new methods during the ETA sessions and hopefully find some solutions to common classroom problems I've encountered.

I'm not taking my laptop with me, as it's large and clunky and not particularly essential to have over the next five days, so I'll be incommunicado until Monday.  I should have plenty to write about then, both about Moscow and about the live reenactment I attended over the weekend (with working armored assault vehicle!).  I've got pictures and some footage from the event to put up; it was actually quite exciting.  Oh and don't worry, the good guys won.