Улыбаться - to smile

Russians are known for being pessimistic, unfriendly, dull and alcoholics.

And at first this does seem to be true. Hardly anyone laughs in public, no-one is smiling and everyone seems to just walk past engrossed their daily activities. Even more embarrassing is when Gentos and I are laughing (ie pretty much always) people literally stare at us and shake their heads spitefully at such obvious foreigners.

However in our culture lessons at Uni, we actually learnt why Russians are never seen smiling on the street. In the same way that English people feel uncomfortable when in America with their overtly polite tones, Russians believe that a smile has a very specific and significant meaning. This meaning normally signifies friendship or being acquainted, or in the more alcoholic environments the first sign of taking an interest in someone (watch Austin Powers for more details in basic flirting principles).

So therefore if one smiles on a daily basis it is considered very strange, as it makes people feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. There is even a saying that a person who smiles for no reason is a fool. Hence no one can be seen smiling on the street and everyone at first seems very dull and glum.

But once you get to know Russians, they really are some of the nicest people I have ever met - you just have to break the (Berlin) wall first.

Cathedral Update

Smolny Cathedral was build between 1748 and 1764 originally for Peter the Great's Daughter when she decided that she wanted to become a nun. However she soon changed her mind and had a quick spell as Empress.

The building itself was designed by the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli who is famous for designing the Winter Palace, which is something I will talk about later on in the year.

Its distinctive sky blue and white makes the cathedral absolutely stunning and surreal as it almost resembles a fantasy palace from a disney film:

I found it extremely sad that I was the only tourist there. The only other people there were a newly wedded couple who were taking some wedding photographs in the Cathedral's grounds. I find it absolutely amazing that this cathedral is a 20 minute walk from the city has virtually no visitors, though admittedly it made the visit all the more tranquil for me.

Now the Cathedral and its surroundings are used for Orchestras and is the modern languages department for St Petersburg State Uni (which despite the name is one of their best Universities) - which as i am sure you will agree trumps Elvet Riverside. So as one can conduct, this building is probably the epitome of bourgeois Russia. And the Smolny Institute which is right next door is no exception. Originally built as a school for Noble Maidens, it is a fantastic building as well:

Yet the more I learn about Russia the more I get confused as this building was used by Lenin as his Bolshevik headquarters in 1917 - which is probably the last building i thought he would choose. In fact Lenin preferred Tsarist St Petersburg over Moscow and he originally planned to swap the capital back to St Peterburg, though the change was never actually instigated. The building is now used as the Major's office but right at the front of the building, its history is clear:

Written at the top of the building is one of the most famous Soviet phrases 'Proletarians of the World UNITE!'

Apples

Yesterday I cam back from Uni to find my Babushka crouching and hobbling around the stove. When i first saw the contraption I thought she was making illegal alcohol (similar to the scene in The Great Escape with the Moonshine). 

Actually she was making a kind of traditional Russian drink with the apples from her dacha. Which explains why I found 3 5kg boxes completely filled with apples, returning from lectures one day (though i didn't think anything of it at the time - one sees stranger stuff here).

This strange contraption is actually very simple. The bottom is filled with water and is heated up while the 2nd and 3rd layer is filled with 5,000,000 sliced apples and a lot of sugar. The water slowly heats up the apples which let out its juices slowly dripping into the jar.

Here is a better photo:

I was surprised by how much juice she was able to get out of it and in total in came to around 4 litres. Here is some of her finished product:

The juice itself is really tasty. It is a very similar texture to syrup and you can either drink it straight or dilute it with hot water, for those cold winter days (which will come).

Though am still very disappointed she wasn t making illegal vodka

My Favourite Building

On my daily walk to Uni, I always pass this block of flats:

This absolutely stunning building is tucked away on a little side street and is a constant reminder of St Petersburg's bourgeois history. The building reminds me of one of my favourite films 'A Bout de Souffle' and its scene in the hotel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQ2Q-_bl8k

Strange I know but thats the way the cookie crumbles.

Bits and Bobs

Ola,

here are just a couple of photos from this week, that i thought were pretty funny:

до свидания!

Capitalism

Hey Hey,

Sorry for my lack of blogging, have been busy with some pretty time consuming stuff. I now teach a group of Russian students as i am effectively a language assistant at the University where i study. We discussed many different topics but one that kept on coming up was McDonald's.

In Russia, McDonald's is huge and an even weirder observation is that there seems to be more McDonald's on street corners than in the US, which is strangely ironic.

For the late night out, the overwhelming majority have a drive through counter but for pedestrians so you can get that McD fix anytime you want:

Shop hours are also very strange indeed. Instead of your English operating hours of 9 till 5, every shop here is open from 9 till 10, even on Sundays. And where else in the world are shops like this? CHINA

The world operates in mysterious ways

Destination Unknown

Woah am I in Paris?

oh wait i'm not:

(Vodka section in a local shop)

Street Art

Having now received my timetable, I have a free day on Wednesdays so I thought that I would go for a walk to the city's avant garde art area. Unfortunately the whole building was closed until the 11th so i will do a big post about that in the near future. However on the way, I noticed a lot of Street art:

Its interesting to see that it was all in english as well...

And my personal favourite:

I have also noticed a few more Banksy spray paintings all over St P. Basically this just confirms that St P is the cultural capital of Russia and makes me all the more annoyed i couldn't get into this avant garde art complex!

Bear Baiting

Strangest photo so far...

Russian Churches

Ola,

I have always had a soft spot for Russian Churches (strange I know!). I find the architecture absolutely amazing and for a country which is only a 3 hour flight away radically different from anything else I know in Europe. So since I had the weekend for sight seeing, yesterday i thought i would pay a couple of churches a visit.

I actually went to the first church on Saturday. It is called Trinity Cathedral and with its blue roof looks absolutely amazing:

It was built in 1828 and functioned as a chapel for the military center just next door. What is all the more amazing is that Dostoevsky got married in this very church. There is a super cool statue in front of it which is completely made out of cannons in celebration of the Russo-Turkish war in 1878:

The second church is St Isaac's Cathedral. It is absolutely massive:

It took from 1818 to 1858 to build and  has more than  100kg of gold leaf on the central dome alone ( I took this picture from at least 100m away!). You can climb up to the colonnade from where you have a great viewpoint of the whole of St P:

HOWEVER by far the best and personally one of my favourites (there are loads for me to go to still, just haven't had enough time to visit them yet!) is the the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood:

It was built to commemorate where Alexander II was assassinated by a grenade in 1881. What is so significant about Alexander II is that he was the tsar who introduced the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, which was massively controversial at the time and made other huge state reforms, trying to radically modernise Russia in a very short period. That is why this church is built in a very strange location right on the very edge of a canal. However I am sure you will agree that it is amazing:

Anyway today I had my first day of University but i will give you the low down (hipster language) on another post when i have actually been to some lessons as today was just sorting out administration stuff which Russians absolutely LOVE.

ciao

The Beginning

Hi everyone,

Most of you are well aware that i am going off to Russia for my year abroad for 2010/11, so i thought that i would create this blog so that you can see what i am getting up to and hopefully allow people to see Russia in a different light, rather than just referencing vodka.

Anyway I have arrived in St Petersburg and finally have internet and starting to settle in. I am staying with a 'babushka' which literally means grandmother, but rather is the name for an old woman. Unfortunately i have not had that much of an opportunity to talk to her yet since she went straight off to her dacha (summer cottage), however i will give a more detailed post about her later on.

Anyway her flat is pretty cool. it hasn't been decorated in ages so therefore it has loads of crazy stuff, giving the flat a very strange atmosphere. Here are some photos:

And the kitchen:

Since i have the weekend free i decided to do some sightseeing and actually find out where my university is. Fortunately my Uni is only a 15 minute walk away and the building itself is extremely nice:

The area where i am living is actually really interesting. Dostoevsky actually wrote his book 'Crime and Punishment' two streets away from the university. The area was known as the dirtiest, grimiest area of St Petersburg and is where the homeless and beggars lived. i actually went to where Raskolnikov was supposed to have lived:

Though admittedly the house looks nice, this area (called Sennaya) has been the subject of renovations since 2003, but i think its pretty easy to imagine it as a dusty outer suburb of St P.

I also live right next to the really arty part of St P which i have yet to explore but here is a bit of graffiti that definitely made me chuckle:

Thats it for today since I need to cook dinner but i am aiming to have a new post every 2 days or so make sure to stop by when you have a bit of spare time!