the american revolution (now with fur lining!)

Not much to report this past week.  I'm settling into some semblance of a rhythm, though I've had the added task of gathering all the various documents, photos, etc. required to obtain my visa extension.  While I'm here for ten months, it's easier for the university to apply for and obtain a 90-day, single-entry visa first and extend it rather than get a 12-month, multi-entry visa right off the bat.  So I have my list of a dozen or so things to get turned in to the visa registration office at the university by next week.  The good news is I've taken care of the most complicated portions (including another HIV test, which is mildly annoying seeing as I got one in early August for the first visa, which is technically still usable under RF regulations).

That aside, however, things have been going swimmingly.  As per their own suggestions, I'm currently doing units on American subcultures with my fourth-year students and early American history with my second- and third-years.  We talked about the greasers in class last week, which was fun.  Despite their claims to the contrary, my fourth-years understand English very well and already have a good foundational knowledge of American culture.  It's great because I can have a bit more fun with them, such as teaching them about the important American idiomatic concept of "The Man."  Let's just hope they don't emulate the anti-rebellious creed of the greasers too much and decide to "stick it to The Man" (aka not do their homework).

With the two's and three's I've done lessons on the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.  It's been a lot of fun because they know just enough to volunteer guesses when I ask them questions, but not so much that they already know all the details of what I'm telling them.  I'm also getting a better feel for what makes them participate and what scares them back into their shells, so that's an improvement.

The other big news is that I've recently purchased the winter coat that will see me through the Arctic Russian winter.  Tanya and I were on our way to a computer store to purchase a microphone when we passed a coat store.  We went in on a whim and she laughed at me wearing various ridiculous leather/fur combos for about twenty minutes.  Even though about half the coats I tried on were plainly too big for me, the salesman (and what a salesman he was) insisted that they would fit better when I had a sweater on under them.  At one point he even had me put on a light jacket underneath to simulate the look, and looked at me triumphantly when the shoulders fit better.  They did, but I looked like the Michelin man.

On Tanya's thankful suggestion, they steered me toward the down coats, where I quickly found one more my speed (and for less than my month's rent!).  It's a beautiful steel gray with a wolf's fur lining.  Okay, it's not wolf, but that's what I'll be telling people.  Our little secret, okay?  To sum it up, I look like Paul Walker in Eight Below, except for the part where I look nothing like Paul Walker.  Observe:

Paul Walker in Eight Below. 

 Me, in my living room.

I can't wait to break out the sled dogs.  The thing is seriously warm.  Only problem is it takes me about five tries to get the zipper, but I figure it'll be easier when in below-zero weather with enormous gloves on.  I'm not concerned.  I'll leave you with a shot of my favorite feature of the coat, which is it's comically-large hood.  I defy you to put on this hood and not make that face.

 

the internet has arrived

As given away by the title, I finally got my internet connection up and running beautifully in my apartment.  Okay, "finally" might be a bit exaggerated, given that it was only a shade under two weeks, which isn't really that long.  But I'll be damned if it doesn't feel like a long time when it means you get to check your email once a day for an hour.  If I were in the field of psychology, I would most certainly do my research in the psychology of the Internet.  While it sounds a bit silly, I just feel so much more connected to the world now that I can get an email whenever someone sends it to me and actually take the time to look at things like the news and what's happening in the world.  It almost feels like the first time I discovered the Internet all over again.  I remember I was in college at the time, and Al was off with another one of his crazy ideas, but darn if it didn't turn out to be a good one.  Oh, and while we're on the subject, you've probably heard that Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones were roommates in college.  What never gets mentioned, much to my chagrin and their respective delights, is that it was a triple, and I was the third guy.  It's not my fault I'm not famous, and for the record, it stinks.  It's like being the one Wayans brother who didn't go into acting.

Anyways, classes have been going well.  I'm going right through American history with my group of second-years, and with the fourth-years I think I might skip ahead to the 20th century.  They're fourth-year historical archiving students, so they already know most of what I would tell them.  On the first day of class one of the things they wanted to learn about was American subcultures, so I figured starting with 50s beat-era stuff and then going right into the subcultures-as-mainstream 60s would be good.  Now that I've got the net I can do some proper research for these things, too, and not have to really on my memory.  And trust me, that's better for everybody.

more classes, optimism

Sorry for the lack of updates--I'm currently trying to resolve an ongoing internet access situation.  While my apartment is hooked up to the net, in Russia most people still pay usage instead of a flat monthly rate, so there's no money on my "card."  In order to put money on it, I need the account info, which is proving harder to get than it should be, not because of any technical difficulties but rather...how shall I put this...lack of focus on the part of the girl renting me the apartment.  While it's not a priority for her, it means everytime I want to check my email I have to go to the netcafe or one of the cafes with free Wi-fi.  Not the end of the world, but it gets a bit tiresome and makes it near impossible to coordinate Skyping opportunities with people back home.  Hopefully it will be resolved soon, however.

In more cheery news, I had my first full day of classes on Friday with fourth-years, third-years, and first-years.  The third- and fourth-year classes left me very impressed.  Turns out the second-years I had first are just a wily bunch, as the others were much more interested in and focused on learning and speaking English.  While most of the class time with the first-years was dedicated to separating them into two classes based on their skill level, to their credit they spoke very well for their first college English class.  Both the 3's and 4's had lots of good suggestions for what topics of American culture they'd like me to cover this year.  As expected, holidays and history were both very popular choices (oh, I forgot to mention they're all history students) which is great for me as a teacher as I'll enjoy both subjects.  It looks like I'll be taking over the 4's class once a week very soon, maybe even next week.  I'm sure the same sort of format will emerge for the 3's.  It's still unclear how we'll handle the 1's and 2's.  While I'm certainly not afraid to take on my own classes, I'll probably be best utilized with the more advanced students, as I'm not a trained teacher of English, something I think Tatiana appreciates.

I'm to prepare a short lecture on a topic of my choice for tomorrow.  I decided since holidays were so popular in the suggestions I'd start with the Fourth of July.  It seems a perfect choice for many reasons--it's the quintessential American patriotic holiday, it's got a lot of history tied up in it, and I get to talk about fireworks, barbeque, and Will Smith blowing up aliens.  I'm looking forward to it, and trying to scale the follow-up activity based on skill level.  We'll see how it goes!

first day of class

Well, today was my first day of class, both for the school year and as a teacher.  It's more than a bit weird to be on the other side of the desk with everyone looking at you for instructions.  I'm starting out by just teaching with Tanya as her in-class assistant and resident Superteacher of English®.  The class was made up of second-year students, so they weren't total beginners in their English studies.  It was a little less weird than I had thought it would be being the one in semi-charge, as kids tend to start university a bit younger in Russia and thus there was a larger age difference than I'd feared.

There was a lot of Russian spoken in class (I'd estimate up to as high as 90-95% of the words spoken), but it was the first day back from summer vacation so I'm trying not to put too much stock in it.  I'm definitely planning on running things a bit differently if/when I take on my own classes, though.  Tomorrow I've got three classes, including fourth-years, third-years, and first-years, so we'll see how those differ.  I've been tasked with preparing a 10-minute activity for the third- and fourth-years, sort of an icebreaker type thing, so I'm going with the one where you write three sentences about yourself, two of which are true and one which isn't.  The rest of the class then has to figure out which is the lie.  It's simple, but it'll use vocabulary they know and it'll get them talking.  We'll see how it goes.

In other news, I'm going to have to take some kind of instruction at the university as I'm here on a student visa.  While I'm obviously here to teach, they need some kind of official reason for my having that type of visa, so it looks like I'm going to be getting some private instruction in Russian a few hours a week.  It's fine with me, as it's something I'd wanted to do anyway, and I could definitely use it.  Not much else news as of now, more later.

I did want to say thanks to those of you that have subscribed as followers.  If you'd ever like to ask any questions or anything, you probably know of other ways to get a hold of me, but I will check the comments on any posts and respond as soon as possible.  If you'd like to post a comment, you just need to sign into a Google account.  If you don't have one, it takes about forty seconds to sign up for free.  I'd set it to let anyone comment, but I could do without the automated comments offering me real natural male enhancement.  You understand.

new digs, part two

Here are the rest of the shots of my apartment.  Darina is coming over later so I can pay my first month's rent and she's bringing the information on how to pay for the Internet service, so hopefully I'll be connected at home soon.  

My kitchen.

Another view.  Those windows are actually to my small balcony.

Main living area, view from bedroom door.

Main living area, view from the kitchen.

The enormous bed the sofa turns into.

It's actually quite spacious for one person, though the pictures don't really capture that.  That shimmering curtain in the living room is a rather roomy closet with good storage space.  I haven't included any pictures of the bathroom because, well, it's a bathroom, and they're never really much to look at unless you put a far amount of money in them.  But it's got hot water and a shower head, so I'm happy.

First class tomorrow, then a full day of classes both Friday and Saturday, so I'm sure I'll have more to report then.  For now, I'm just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather.  It's been sunny and in the high 60s (F) since I arrived, so I'm trying to soak it in while it lasts.  It's going to be a cold winter.

new digs, part one

The move in was a success, and I've finally been able to unpack my bags eight days after packing them.  I'll never take the drive from Columbus to Toledo for granted again, I can tell you that.  As I already described it in my last post and don't have much new to report, this post will mostly be some photos I took of the place.  Unfortunately, as I started uploading them, I realized that for some reason about seven pictures I took of the main area of the apartment weren't transferred to my computer.  I'll make this a two-parter, then, putting up the ones that did make it now and posting the others later.

The entrance hall...

...complete with coat and show rack.

Entrance to my bedroom, with fish tank on left and standalone freezer full of fish (dead) on the right.

Bedroom.  Not much to it and nnot very large but it does what it needs to (and there's a real bed!).

Stream of consciousness interruption: as I'm sitting here uploading photos in the Neubrandenburg Bierstube on Prospekt Lenina, a Russian guy my age just came in wearing shorts.  I'm sorry, but this is a first for me and I thought it worth mentioning.  Where were we?  Right...

 My desk in the corner of the living room.  I'm probably going to have to buy a proper chair.

My dresser/bookcase.  

The top of that dresser actually unfolds to become a changing table.  Thankfully, I won't need it, because my Depends give me all-day dryness protection.  The desk and dresser are both in the living room area, but are unfortunately the only photos of that room that made it onto my computer.  It's really quite spacious.

As far as other developments, my first class is on Thursday afternoon.  Looks like I'm going to be teaching a healthy variety of everyone from beginners to advanced speakers.  Tatiana took me to the university yesterday to meet everyone.  For some reason, everyone thinks I'm British, presumably because they get more Brits than Americans around here and I have bad teeth (apologies for that generality, Your Majesty).  I'll have more to report after that, but for now I'm just continuing to settle in to my new digs and enjoying the lovely weather before classes start.

a place on railroad street

What a difference a few days make.  My host contact and her friends and family have been extremely gracious, going above and beyond the call of duty to make me feel at home.  With their help, it's been extremely easy to get situated in town.  It may have been aided by my international travel woes, but it took me all of three minutes to fall in love with Petrozavodsk.  It's a very nice little town, much smaller geographically than Tomsk (where I studied last summer), but I regard that as a plus because I can walk most anywhere.

The weather's been very good overall.  It rained on and off the first two days but it's been a very nice autumn temperature pretty consistently.  Yesterday I was invited to dinner at Tatiana's, and ate so much that I'm planning on having my next meal, say, October 3rd or so.  Maybe a light snack around the 20th, we'll play it by ear.  After touring the town's hotels (I had to move from my original hotel because the only rooms it had available after yesterday were the über-expensive suites), we went to see "Daughter of the Yakuza," a Russian comedy about a Japanese girl that gets lost in southern Russia and needs the help of a young prison escapee to outrun the various people chasing her for the reward on her head.  It was quite funny, and I followed the vast majority of the dialogue, which is encouraging (I find dubbed American films easier to follow than authentic Russian-language films).  Afterward, the four of us (me, Tatiana, Kolya, her significant other, and Kostya, their friend and comedian philosopher) went to grab a beer and Kostya regaled me with stories of ancient Novgorod and Kievan Rus'.  It was a genuinely good time.  Kostya and Kolya both have cars, which is a new thing for me when in Russia.  It's actually quite nice just to be able to zip around town, especially one as small as this with relatively uncrowded roads.

 

I had been getting increasingly worried about locating an apartment.  Tatiana, the saint that she is, had been making phone call after phone call and sending email after email scouring the city for available apartments.  Petrozavodsk, like the rest of Russia, is in the midst of a prolonged housing shortage, and since the vast majority of people still buy rather than rent apartments, it can be difficult to find one short-term.   She said she knew of two that would become available on the 12th, but that would mean a full week in a not-so-cheap hotel.  We were able to look at one today, however, and I was hoping that perhaps after the torment of the past week's travel the universe owed me one.

I got to the place about an hour early, it taking me much less time to walk there than I'd thought it would, so I surveyed the area.  It's just off one of the main thoroughfares, so there's plenty of grocers, cafes, and banks.  The immediate surrounding neighborhood is very peaceful and quiet, and best of all it's about a five minute walk to the university/central downtown region, so say goodbye to the bus!  At this point, I was already sold, and just crossing my fingers that the apartment was nice.  In Russia, the exterior of most buildings (except those that are extremely new) look more or less the same, and the quality of the apartments inside varies wildly depending on how much each owner wants to spend on them.

Turns out the universe did owe me, because the place is great.  I had assumed it would be a studio, but instead it's a one bedroom with a large combined living room/kitchen space.  Now let me tell you all the incredible perks it comes with:

• An actual bed (usually such an apartment will have a couch/futon type sleeper)
• A large and very cushy couch
• Refrigerator and standalone freezer
• Gas stove, oven, microwave
• A dishwasher(!)
• A washer(!)
• Internet(!)
• And, for good measure, a very large fish tank with live fish(?)

The fish thing isn't a joke, either, Darina (the girl who showed me the apartment) told me all their names.  I did ask that they be removed.  It's not that I don't like fish, it's just that I've never kept fish and thus know that I'd forget to feed them, and the last thing I want is to be responsible for the death of Leon Troutsky (Running Terrible Pun Count: 2).  While I know you're never supposed to go for the first place you see, I couldn't imagine finding a better place in a more advantageous location if I looked for a month.  Plus, there's a housing shortage on, man!  I've already got my key and will be moving my stuff in a bit as soon as Kolya can pick me up.  Thus, in but a few hours I'll be living on Ulitsa Zheleznodorozhnaya (Railroad Street).  I'm withholding the building number and apartment number because while I really love that you're reading my blog, the last thing I need is you showing up announced at my door hocking some new long-distance plan (my apologies to those readers who are not door-to-door salesmen, but you understand I need to play it safe here).  Girl scouts selling Thin Mints are acceptable, however.

I've got more new information, including some details on my actual teaching responsibilities, but this is already a ridiculous long post (and there's not even a poem this time), so I'll save it for tomorrow.  I need those daily hits for my ad revenue, see.  I knew you'd understand.

estimated time of departure: tbd

Sheesh.  I don't even know where to begin.   Prepare for a massive post, there's simply no way around it.   The good news is it contains an original poem (I'm not kidding).

If you're wondering why it's Saturday and I'm just now posting, it's not because I've been having too much fun in swingin' Petrozavodsk (though I am now).  Remember that 40 hours of travel I told you about?  Yeah, make that 96.  You see, all was going well until I landed in New York.  I knew it was going to be a little close, as the flight was scheduled to depart about 45 minutes after my flight from Columbus landed, but I got there in plenty of time.  So we're sitting on the plane ten minutes...thirty minutes...one hour...two hours.  The A/C isn't working properly in the cabin.  Of course.  So they move us off the plane and into the terminal for our comfort, handing out the $6.00 meal vouchers that can buy you approximately 2 and a half packets of ketchup at JFK.

They end up delaying the flight until 11p.m., at which point they inform us that the plane will not be flying.  Perfect.  Not like I need to make a train that I've already bought tickets for the next day.  Luckily, my sister lives in Brooklyn, so after the short HOUR AND A HALF wait it took to get rebooked on the flight the next day, I grabbed a taxi on Delta's dime.  Naturally, I was already in the cab before I realized I should have demanded a voucher for the ride back the next day.  You stay classy, Delta.

But it wasn't all bad, got to hang with my sister on the roof of her apartment building and take in the Manhatten skyline.  I arrived back at the airport the next day only to find that the plane had been delayed again.  Weather?  Nope.  A/C again?  Nope.  Flight crew mix up?  That would only make too much sense.  No, my dear readers, we were informed by the captain, WITH A STRAIGHT FACE MIND YOU, that a baggage cart had HIT THE PLANE.  Just drink in the insanity of that statement (I felt it demanded bold, underlined italics).  I'm fairly certain that this has happened, like, never in the history of aviation, so it's fitting that this once-canceled, ten times-delayed God forsaken flight to Moscow should be the inaugural occasion.  This is when the yelling started.  As the impromptu mob seemed to have the shouting fairly well covered, my frustration manifested itself in the form of a 36-line poem in the fashion of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride."  Hey, what can I say, that's what my frustration does.  Criticism, as always, is strictly prohibited, and keep in mind  wrote this in twenty minutes leaning against a trash can at JFK airport.

"Delta's New Punching Bag"

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of a desperate traveler without hope or beer.

From the Glass City he set out early

To board that sky bird white and pearly;

His first connection troubled him not

As he came to the airport of Camelot.

And climb he did into the belly of the beast

Ready for restless legs and a cart-bound feast;

But 'lo! Fly the beast did not

The broken A/C made the cabin too hot.

Fix it they tried as he waited and waited

And hour upon hour his excitement abated;

'To the terminal we'll move you, for comfort' they said

And hour upon hour the beast remained dead.

Six hours, seven hours, 'fore they canceled the flight

And our haggard young traveler lamented his plight;

As he surveyed the rebooking line his shoulders did sag

For he knew he'd become Delta's new punching bag.

Having suffered the perils of this logistical twister

He cabbed it to Brooklyn and the refuge of dear sister;

With the aid of Sam Adams he worked through the rigor

And the next day returned with vim and with vigor.

Yet no sooner did he enter that a dull voice did herald

Yet even more trouble in the House of John Fitzgerald;

Incredulous news came just 'fore the scheduled flight:

In the vast field of machines had occurred a great sight!

A mere baggage cart, the least among least

Did rise up in anger and slay the great beast!

'Just one half an hour for inspection' they said

Then surely you'll be off to the Square oh so Red.

But minutes turned to hours in the true Delta fashion

And passengers of all creeds did yell with a passion;

Collapse 'gainst a trash can he did with a wail

With naught left to do but record his sad tale.

And there he still sits as the desk jockeys nag

For he is none other than Delta's new punching bag.

Two points for anyone who caught the Airplane! joke in there.  The plane did finally get off the ground, some four hours later than expected.  When I finally got to Moscow, it took me so long to get through passport control and baggage claim that the driver hired to take me to the Fulbright Office left.  As the payphones at Sheremetyevo airport aren't really payphones at all but in fact post-modern wall art, I decided to take the express train to the metro rather than risk getting ripped off by the gypsy cabs.

Though it took me more than an hour, it was surprisingly easy to navigate the metro with all my luggage (though I wouldn't recommend it).  I ended up getting to the Fulbright Office too late and too mentally and physically exhausted to try to make the evening train to Petrozavodsk.  I slept the rest of the business day at the office and stayed with Anthony, the Director of the Fulbright Program in Russia and Moscow IIE office, as well as all around awesome guy.  We went to the 1950s Americana-themed Starlight Diner across from his apartment and then watched the season one finale of White Collar on DVD.   It was all quite surreal.  I'm sure I started to annoy him with my 'thank you's, as he thought the whole thing was no big deal.  I think it's a real testament to the Moscow office that its director would go out of his way to help somebody on the lowest rung of the Fulbright totem pole like me.

I was able to make the train the next day no problem, and settled in for my long winter's nap (again, fifteen hour train).  There were only two others in my four-person second-class cabin, and they both disembarked by about 2a.m. so I had it to myself from then on.  Can't complain about that.  I was able to meet Tatiana, my host contact, seamlessly at the train station, the first thing in ninety hours that could be described as "seamless."  I'll include more impressions of the city in my next post, as this is already pushing the word count record in the "greatest monument to self-pity" category.  At least I'm here in one piece.

Oh, and in case you were worried I walked away from my troubles empty handed, I got a $200 dollar voucher from Delta that can only be used to purchase more Delta tickets in the next year.  

You stay classy, Delta.