7/1 - 7/5

7/1 - Tues

Saint Petersburg:

The darkest hour. Err, 30 mins. Probably at 3:30am i suppose.


(only wear white tees)

-St. Isaac's


-Church of Our Savior


-The Hermitage


- some other famous sites but i forget their names. i have pictures somewhere.

-Boat Ride through the city


-Too many people speaking english...
... but definitely not these people. Maybe the little girl.

Below this paragraph is a nice photo of the Russian "pose" progression; from child (see child in pink) to adolescence (girl in background). Russians LOVE posing. They do it all the time. They aren't embarrassed how foolish they look. Here isn't just a flowerbed, it's a hotbed (ZING!) for russians to strut their best photogenic poses. This is just a mild case of the Russian pose, this photo, usually they are standing on something high in the air, with one leg out maybe, or back arched, kissing the sky, breast thrust forward, maybe finger in the lip, who the heck knows. It's like they see these models on billboards and tv and think it's actually normal. As you can see, the young child in the pink has a longgg way to go. where's the sexiness? What is she-- doing the country crap? her mom was pissed at her performance, i wish she was in the pic to show you.

-at night: went to 3bars in a row with dancing, playing alternative music -- slightly American, dirty, grungy, but cool -- some short, thin, blonde russian with a nose piercing grabbed me by the shirt, (this was just after she finished making out with some other attractive, dark-haired russian girl) pulled me into her dancing-groin, unbuttoned my shirt, don't worry i was wearing an undershirt, put her hands underneath the back of that undershirt, then rubbed around my waste to the front, her thumbs into my pants, and danced. I had a couple drinks; and all my friends were watching, so i let it happen. it was hilarious. she was cute too... I think? Then she kissed me. It was one of those laugh-kisses, at least on my part. i wasn't even sure if she was conscious at this point. her lips were quite lively, i know that, and her tongue. i tried to calm this crazy russian down, and soon she she did. she started to dance normally, less groping, and i found out she could speak english. She wants to go to America and live in Nashville. She loves Johnny Cash. So on and so on. I talked to her for about 20 mins, once she calmed down from her dancing high. Got her number, and she's coming to Moscow in a few weeks. I told her I'd hang out with her. We'll see.

Ir was with us, she got trashed. B was upset for some reason and yelled "I'm getting a Gypsy Cab back to 'Em-Gay-Oo.'" (MGU is our university-- 9 hr train ride away). Kicked three beer bottles down the street. Ir hailed us all a cab, B got in, I got in, then Ir closed the door. What the heck! she tricked me into taking B back to the hotel. I pressed both of my hands against the cab window, my face smeared, eyes wide in child-like distress. they just laughed. assholes. I dragged B through the doors and put him to bed. Ir, meanwhile, went to eat late night food with J. i'm pissed about it still. i want some gosh darn blini.

7/2 - Wed

This day we went to Peterhov. It is this huge palace that was destroyed by the nazis, but now has been rebuilt. It's based off of Versailles. I have two pics of me at this place, two posts ago.

this is my Russian

All of these fountains are naturally pressurized by gravity. No pumps are used. Very neat. Very wet.




So sometimes, actually all the time, I like taking pictures of everyday Russians-- or not-so-everyday Russians:

heres' a wet Russian. She's fairly typical. Most Russians look like this. But her pose needs work.
.
So here, I tried to photograph the longest and best legs I've ever seen. This picture doesn't nearly come close to fairly representing those god given beauts.

I thought the strangest family on Earth below is worth to note. And their photographer-- bearing Steelers colors, an american flag bandanna, and a kobe bryant jersey-- but definitely not american. barely even human at that.



We didn't want to pass up a chance to swim in the Baltic Sea. So we did. Some of us. The Gulf of Finland to be more specific. The water was actually not very cold.



We also went to another place.... see my memory is failing me, it's been too long. A fort! yes, it was a Fort of sorts. But i'm forgetting all the history. trust me, i know this. just not now.


7/3 - Thurs

We got a train back to Moscow, at like 12am. My first time on a real train, with real cabs, where i can soundly sleep. And i did. All 7.5 hrs. It was "fancy." Ir hung out with us in our cabin. Our, meaning J, B, Dodge, and I. We're starting to become pretty close with Ir.

The day..... I have no recollection.


7/4 - Friday

it's the 4th of july, and we almost forgot. we actually had to be reminded by our new friend Asya. Anya brought her along on a trip to..... i forget. probably Yolky-Palky, a quick russian restaurant. J has an immediate crush on Asya, and i can't blame him, she's cute, intellegent, well-read, and most importantly is only mediocre at english-- the perfect combo.

J and I buy Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. It's really famous if you don't know. And it takes place pretty much all in Moscow. We're going to read it, then do the book tour. You should probably be reading it now too if you haven't already. Masha told me she has read it about 15 times. I'm shooting for one time, then i'll see from there.


7/5 - Sat.

CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY .... in Russia?? Yes.


This day was maybe one of the most hilarious, and unexpectedly FUN days in Russia. (sidenote: Did you know, there is no word for "fun" in russia. No direct translation exists. It's true that there is no fun in Russia.)

This celebration takes place at the Kuskova estate, a huge palace, they love palaces, built by one of the old tsars to have parties and things. It's beautiful there.

FIRST: American football is being played. J and B play football for one of the best D2 football teams in the country and immediately go into a frenzy. Turns out it's flag football. But we still try to make a team. turns out it's organized (as organized as anything Russian can be) but they might let us play because a team didn't show up. these guys look ridiculous. they have no skills whatsoever, and look as good as the 8th grade squad i lead as quarterback to a 0-8 season.

So the guy in charge says to us, "Are you sure you want to play against semi-professionals?" We all bust out laughing in this guys face. The other team ended up showing, so we couldn't play. damn. i was wearing sandals and shorts. it would have been interesting.

The event was disappointingly more Russian than American, despite the week attempts of Americanizing the thing. A cover band playing typical American, trashy, songs did perform on stage during the afternoon. Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty were both present, on stilts. Red White And Blue Stage, with stars and stripes.
But it was poorly planned, like all things Russian. HUGE lines of people at the 2 or 3 kiosks selling food.... like 2 hr waits to get a slice of pizza and an over priced beer. Etc.
At around 7pm it started to rain... REALLY rain. We were waiting in a 3 hr line for pizza and beer at the time, and when it rained, the line started to disappear, the pizza became closer to my stomach. I didn't have an umbrella but this very cute russian girl wearing pink converses let me stand under her red umbrella; her mother made her share it with me. turns out, her mother teaches english in a high school-- she was terrible at it too. her daughter wearing the pink converses, katya, was 18 and laughed at anything i said, naturally, like most russian 18 yr olds. When we got to the front of the line, i was soaking wet, we ordered two full pizzas, and about 30 cans of beer. We stood in the middle of the rain at a table, drinking and eating pizza, while all the Russians looked at us like we were completely nuts.

Sidenote: we were acting much more obnoxious this day because it was 4th of July. This was the first time we all wore shorts and shirts with huge English lettering. We tried to be the most American as possible, stereo-typical American that is. We succeeded. The Russians mostly just stared at us, wondering why and how we were managing to have so much fun during such a crappy weather day. It's AMERICA