Daily life for Petersburg residents

In two weeks you are able to observe at least some aspects of daily life of Petersburg residents.
The very first thing you encounter while finding your way around in Russia, is the communication with the Russians. Russians do not smile. At least not when they meet you or when they talk to you. If you smile, like I am used to in the Netherlands, people will foremost think that there is something funny about them. Politeness is shown by saying "here you are" and "thank you" and not all kinds of difficult constructions that I am used to like, "would you please..., could you be so kind...", Russian style: say what you want and add "thank you"! When you come across people in the street you don't say "hello". Now here's the challenge for me. When I entered my apartment the other night, someone else entered the building as well. I just said "hello" in Russian and... he said it to me too. We went in the elavator together and when I left, I looked at him and said "goodbye". I had the man smiling and saying "goodbye" to me too :). My teacher said that I must have met a quite nice Russian guy then.
In earlier pictures you have already seen some of the buildings surrounding our apartment. Nastya showed us a little different way of living during one of her pratica. Small alleys and many courtyards, where people get together. Tey either sit together on a couch in a small parc or in a childrens playing ground.

 

Find the cat

This is another old/new example: take a look at the elevator on the left on the outside of the building and the elevator on the right.

Besides the small parcs there are many spacious parcs. One example is the Mikhailovsky yard, where you can watch many newly wed's taking their pictures of their Big Days.

Mikhailovsky yard surrounding the Russian Museum

Bride and groom with their guests

Not only the parcs, but basically all the streets are very very spacious here in Saint Petersburg. You must be really carefull though crossing the street, because people are driving like it was the German highway. And of course there are traffic rules, but why bother following them?
In the streets of Saint Petersburg you'll find all kinds of public transportation: busses, small busses called marshrutka, trams and taxi's. The main transportation remains metro however, the one in Saint Petersburg being the deepest of the world, because of the rivers and the canals.

While walking the streets of Saint Petersburg you have a big chance of reading a love message written by a boy in front of the house of his lover, something typically Russian.

"Ja lublu tebja" (I love you)

Speaking of typically Russian, being here can not go without having tasted Russia's most famous dish, accompanied by a typically Russian drink, both worth trying:

Borsj en mors

Well, that was a short and certainly incomplete description of Russian residential life, but it reflects my acquaintance of the Saint Petersburg people and I hope you liked it!

Hidden beauty

Nastya very well knows her way around in the city and can show you what she calls "Saint Petersburg secret places", places that are not in the tourist guide, but very well worth visiting.

Mosaic

On Friday 6 August, Nastya took Marta and me to see a small garden ornamented with mozaics. Children studying on the academy of arts, beside their regular education, decorated the playing ground and lower parts of the buildings with mozaics. The small garden is hidden between high buildings, representing the typical Petersburg life.
After our walk along the Neva, Nastya showed us the museum of Anna Akhmatova, a well known Russian modernist poet. She wrote while living under the difficult conditions of Stalinism and her work was censored. She choose, however, to continue living in Russia (Wikipedia, 10-08-2010).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova

Ballet!

One of things I admire the most in Russia is it's culture, in specific, the beautiful theatres, opera's and ballets. So visiting a ballet or an opera was definitely on my to-do list. In summer there are no shows in the famous Mariinsky theatre, but luckily the Mikhailovsky theatre presented the Swan Lake.

Mikhailovsky theatre

Yoleen, Luba, Nicole and me went to see the show on Thursday 5 August. When you enter the theatre, you go through detection portals. As I always carry a large bag, because who knows what you might encounter, of course, the alarm went of. If I had any metal stuff with me. After having seen my telephone and keys, the guard asked me something in Russian I didn't understand. Luba, Yoleens Russian friend translated it for me and so asked me if I carried a gun. Taken by complete surprise and driven by sarcasm in a reflex I answered I carried ten. In hindsight I'd say that was not the most smart remark, but it actually made the guard smile. He obvioulsy understood I was a tourist from a non-gun-carrying country. The lounge of the theatre looked nice, more elegant than in Dutch theatres, but while entering the actual hall I couldn't suppress a pleasently surprised "aaah" which made my neighbour smile and me explain that I had never been to a Russian theatre before. Nicole and I sat on the fourth balcony, so very high. Down we could see the orchestra. The theatre was beautifully ornamented with the use of a lot of gold.

Theatre interior

 The ballet, performed by Leonid Jacobson State academic ballet theatrefrom Saint Petersburg, was absolutely amazing. AT first, I must say, dancing didn't seem to by synchronised, but later on that improved. The soloists danced very very beautifully. The decor and the costumes of the performers, ranging from the leading part to the smallest part, were all lovely and fitted so well within the theatre, making it one big spectacle.
Going to the theatre in Russia was a whole new experience and definitely one that I would like to recommend!

Yoleen, Luba, me and Nicole in front of Mikhailovsky theatre 

Classes and practical

Today I will update you on my classes; what do they look like and how are my language skills developing. Some students follow group lessons, while others are taking individual lessons. Marta and I are pretty much at the same level, but where as she understands almost everything that is being said and finds it harder to speak, I'll just throw every word I know in a sentence and have to pay very close attention to what is being said. The third lesson was really hard because I hadn't had much sleep, as there is so much to do here in this big, big city, but luckily we have a very patient teacher who is very nice and explains well! The Thursday lesson went better and today we had a different teacher with whom we talked about grammer, but mostly practiced our communication skills. We have got four hours of class each day  and then some homework, which, as I believe I have mentioned before, is mostly done at night.
In addition we have practical lessons, which are intented for improving conversation. Tuesday afternoon Marta and I met our teacher Pasha in the city. Pasha helped us to buy tickets for the Swan Lake. He prepared a city walk and Marta and I could mention what we wanted out of this afternoon. We walked through the Field of Mars, where participants of the February Revolution of 1917 were buried. It was transformed into a park in the 1930's and in the centre of it burns an eternal fire for those who died.

Eternal fire in the Field of Mars

We crossed the bridge over the Neva and went to visit Peter and Pauls Cathedral. This main building within the fortress stems from the 18th century. The design of the church is a combination of traditional western religious architecture and ancient Russian Church design. Detail our "guide"mentioned, is that the bells were supplied by Belgium. The fotress was built to protect the city from possible attacks from Sweden. The building was only finished after the Swedish were defeated and the fortress became more of a prison. The entire family and staff of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, were shot to death are still buried there, as well as other Emperors and Grand Dukes.

Peter and Pauls cathedral

After this visit the three of us strolled along the river side, very much enjoying the view of the Hermitage at the otherside, to finish standing in the Neva with bare feet and sitting down to write down some of the words we leaned this afternoon. It was a great day, Pasha new a lot about the history of Saint Petersburg and I was really able to put some Russian verbs, adjectives and nouns into practice!

Take a look at the beauty inside
the Peter and Pauls cathedral

Pasha and me with in the background on the right the Hermitage

Between history and modernism

One of the first impressions you get when you are exploring St. Petersburg, is the huge difference between for example buildings and cars. Some look very very neglected, while others are new and luxurious. As I believe pictures tell more than words, I will add a few. What I very much like to see is that there are a lot of playing grounds here, outside the centre, between the high flats. Really a lot, also ranging from very old with fainted colours to brand new ones, and they are usually occupied with families, quite lovely to see.

Old meets...

new! 

History and modern times are actually not that far apart

Lessons!

Besides all the lovely sightseeing, work is also calling! Books need to be open and languages need to be learned, so... Monday morning, 9 a.m.: first lesson in Russian! Together with my roommate from Poland, Marta, I went to Nastya's class. This trip from bedroom to class has actually been the shortest of my whole life. Was primary school situated at a walking distance of 2 minutes, now, if I have a lesson let's say at 9, I start to think about leaving at 8h59, because the lessons are in our apartment! Perfect! The four hours were spent intensively, which I very much appreciate! Focus is on communicating, and that is so hard!!! Reading and writing in the Russian language actually goes quite well, but to speak and use all the cases and verbs in the right way is  very very difficult. While our schedules are so full, homework was done in nightly hours the first day. I think I closed my books at around 2.20 a.m. and my other roommate from Belgium, Yoleen, honestly, I haven't heard her come to bed, so it must have been after 3 o' clock when she closed her books!!!

Tuesday started by picking up our registration carts at the registration office in the centre. A very important thing to do as to the authorities would like to be sure you are not lost in Russia. Having done that, Marta and I headed back for class, stopping along the way to visit some stores at Nevsky Prospect, of course. The second lesson today in the afternoon went well. It becomes clear that we really need to focus on grammer and speaking!!! Grammer we wil tackle tomorrow!

Well, that's it for now, love from Peters city, Russia!

Me standing in front of the cathedral of the spilled blood

Some more pictures to share

Enjoy!

 Let me introduce to you Peter (l) and Giovanni (r) in the metro













 St. Isaacs cathedral

 Statue of Nicholas I

The so called boulevard

Another pretty sight

Kazans cathedral












Dom knigi