Ra-Ra-Rasputin Russia's Greatest Love Machine

The title of this post comes from a song that played on the radio Monday--my first morning at my host family's. It really doesn't have any meaning other than my extreme surprise and amusement upon hearing it.

So. I've finally bought a modem. It was quite an experience as the guy who was helping me had trouble reading my American passport (he had to ask me which one was my last name and which my first). As always, he was, I think, a bit confused that I don't have a patronimic. Russians tend not to understand that other cultures don't use them. Anyway, I've got it now, and it's pretty fast now that I've stumbled through the set-up in Russian--no small feat by the way (technical terms are NOT in my vocabulary). Very excited to finally be able to connect to the world again.

Now on to more interesting stories of life in Russia. I'm going to start with a list of stuff that's happened so far and if you'd like to hear more about any of the following, please contact me in some way.

• Stray dogs
• Getting lost last Saturday night with most of the other semester kids. First to find a grocery store, then failing to get back to the dorm and somehow ending up on the wrong side of one of the canals (I have no memory of going over a bridge)
• Living in a Soviet-style dormitory for a couple nights (partly covered in previous post)
• beer can be cheaper than water (depending on the brand of each)
• the Metropolitan (as my host mom calls it)/ the metro to most
• buying lunch and struggling to understand servers
• accidentally pouring Emergen-C into sparkling water and the disastrous results
• Russian malls/ food court
• host family oddness
• tales of Soviet-style apartment building and my ghetto-ish neighborhood (complete with a couple photos)
• my host grandmother's patriotism
• Personal space has a different meaning here (even to pigeons!)
• impressive amounts of locks/doors involved in getting into the family's apartment
• tales of Nastya, the hyperactive 6-year-old (my host sister)
• Kasha and other...interesting Russian foods
• pickpockets (Piter is famous for them--even within Russia)
• Walking to school as the sun rises
• Losing but recovering my ATM card (don't worry, Mom, it's safe)
• Some parents in the neighborhood pull young kids in sleds instead of pushing strollers
• Classes--Grammar, Speaking practicum, Politologia (mix of current events/history/politics/cultural studies), Sytaxical phrasing (probably a bad translation--basically a class about idioms, etc.), and Phonetics
• First attempt at buying a modem (Tuesday)
• You can't do anything in this country without a passport
• Meeting my Peer Tutor (Vika) and bowling
• Weather/street cleaning practices/falling icicles/men cleaning roofs of snow
• My host grandmother's flagrant disregard for me perhaps wanting her not in my room while I'm not here
• Discovering Russian versions of American TV shows (including Married...with children)
• Style/culture-wise the nineties have just gotten to Russia (much like the 80s arriving late to Canada--10 points to first one to note the reference)
• Sickness in Russia and my trip to the clinic (not nearly as sketchy as I expected it to be and they all spoke English)

Wow. That's a longer list than I expected for only one week. Поэтому, I'm not going to write all the details in this one post and I'll leave it up to the collective which tales I expand upon. So please, let me know what you want to hear about!