Arrival
I fell asleep on the bus in the middle of St. Petersburg. When I woke, I found that my surroundings had undergone a drastic change. I was in the middle of a dark green wood, which I quickly found out was indeed an old folks' sanatorium. Hotel Zarya was actually a pantsionat in Repino, which is basically a rest home for pensioners out in the country, so they can get away from the chaos of the city and recuperate. I learned that I would be living with a Russian woman with two older children (who no longer live with her). I was really nervous because this was my first real time out of America for an extended period of time, let alone my first time living with a stranger. I got off to a bad start by committing a couple of cultural faux-pas because I was a dumb American. First, I greeted her in the doorway, and doing so is a big superstition amongst some Russians. Second, I didn't remove my street shoes when I entered, and proceeded to tramp around her immaculate house with my nasty flip flops on. And, after I chipped the wardrobe in my room with my suitcase, she ran in with a pair of house slippers and told me to put them on and then disappeared into another room for awhile. Despite the rough beginning, I had a pretty good first night.
St. Petersburg
I fell in love quickly with St. Petersburg. Parts of it were incredibly beautiful and others looked like there was a war yesterday. I perceived the city to be... sort of bipolar in appearance. There is a huge gap between the rich and poor in Russia (and not much of a middle class) and you can see this in all facets. You could walk downtown, surrounded by some quaint shops and little kiosks, then look down a small, random alley and see a huge pile of twisted scrap metal.
I lived outside of the city on Vasilevsky Island- on the half that can be a bit questionable at times. On occasion, I saw cars on fire, or similar junk piles, if you will. It was odd. There weren't always sidewalks or streetlights, and some of the roads were really messed up. One minute you could be standing in front of a building that is so amazingly beautiful like the Church of Spilled Blood or Smolniy Cathedral... and the next in front of desolate, run-down Soviet-style apartment buildings. It can be a very lonely city at times.
The harsh climate (a lot of rain, snow and very little sunlight in the winter) combined with many very ominous Soviet-style buildings can provide for a landscape that incites feelings of desolation... sometimes the architecture was so uniform and just... gray... and it made me feel uniform and gray. Sometimes I felt I was in an unusual paradise, and other times in a wasteland. But at these times when the scenery and mood were bleak, Russia still had an intense beauty. There was just something so endearing about it once you got past the surface. To me, Russia (or at least St. Petersburg... there are 3 "Russias"- St. Petersburg, Moscow, and then the rest of the country) was mystical, quirky, horrifying at some points, depressing... but very special and interesting all around.
The Banya
One of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday morning/afternoon, especially when the weather was crappy and cold, was the banya- or sauna. We went into a hot room (which is so hot you literally can't breathe at first until you get used to it). I covered my hair because the extreme heat is really bad for it... then sat naked on my towel. I had an experience that is probably similar to being on fire, but it actually felt really good once I started sweating. Some places will even put drops of eucalyptus oil on the wood stove because it is good for the skin and is very aromatic. While in there, it is essential to use the 'veniki'. These are dried birch branches that are soaked in a tub of hot water. The leaves absorb the hot water and expand. I beat them all over my body. Sounds a little kinky, but it felt really good, and was a kind of massage for the skin. It helped to open my pores, allowing more moisture in. After around 10 minutes or so, until I couldn’t stand it anymore, I submerged in a cold pool. In some rural places, people might go jump into the snow or a river/stream/lake. This shock to the system was insane. I thought I was going to have a heart attack the first time-the rapid and drastic change in temperature literally makes you freeze and I think my heart stopped beating for a second. It was a little scary, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t like it in a strange way. After the cold shower I had some tea, and then went back into the hot room to do it all over again. I think it is normal to do 3 rotations or so. When I have a home, I am totally building a banya in my backyard.
Culture
One of the things I liked most about St. Petersburg is how history is so tangible; the city oozed history and I loved it. In most places in the US you have to go to a museum or a specific section of town to see historical things, but here, you can see things the second you leave your house. The building my faculty was in was behind the Smolnyi Cathedral; it was part of the university Catherine the Great built for girls! The cathedrals here are beautiful, especially the Cathedral of Spilled Blood. Its colorful domes and intricate mosaics covering the whole interior are especially interesting. The Byzantine influences in the church’s architecture and décor are awe inspiring. I am not religious, but I grew to love visiting ancient cathedrals. It was humbling standing in a place that was so old, and had made it through many wars, while still remaining mostly in tact. These places have truly passed the test of time and I am privileged to have seen them. Russian Orthodox iconic art is some of my favorite. The colors and style are beautiful. Some of them are a little dark in appearance, but still very appealing and interesting.
Architecture
Most of the apartment buildings looked like crap, but they are very nice on the inside because that's where people put their money and bother with upkeep. There is a severe lack of housing in Petersburg, so Russians take extreme pride in the appearance of their apartments rather than the building itself.
Food
As far as the food, I can sum it up in 7 words: bread, fat, meat, sour cream and/or mayonnaise, dill, tea and beer. I like a few things quite a lot. For instance, blini, which are similar to crepes that you can top with a huge variety of things- fruit, sour cream, whatever. Pirozhki are also awesome… they are basically rolls filled with anything you want- meat, cabbage ,tvorog (farmers' cheese), potatoes, onions, fruit, whatever… it's the same idea as Hot Pockets, except not completely disgusting. Other than that, I honestly can’t stand this food. I like flavor and a lot of spice, and this is not the place to come for that. Also, it is so difficult to find a sandwich as we are used to in America. Sandwiches and good pizza are what I missed the most. The food I really hated, however, was borsch. It doesn't taste THAT bad, but it creeps me out… it's pink and just looks like a concoction of things that get blown out of your colon after eating at McDonald's. .. plus, I can do without the pound of dill they put in it, or the half container of sour cream that just ends up getting chunky. My breakfast every morning for four months was porridge, awful porridge with a layer of oil on top. On my first day back in America, I woke up and came out to the kitchen to find that my lovely mother had prepared me a bowl of porridge and left it as a joke. It wasn’t funny.
An American Girl in...Russia
Being a foreigner has shown me how we take so many of the little things for granted… for example, at home running two errands will take you an hour but in a foreign country that you don't belong to it might take 3. Doing the simplest things, like ordering food, asking for directions, going places and buying stuff becomes exponentially more difficult when there is a communication gap. Some days I find myself wandering around in a perpetual state of confusion about where I am and what's going on because sometimes I really have no clue. Our lives are so easy in America, and most other places are definitely not like that. We take it for granted and are really thrown off when something unpredictable happens or when we lose control. It's difficult to relinquish control like that and just sit back and say, "I have no idea what's going on, but I'm not going to freak out," but I think it will help in other areas of my life. Every American should experience being a foreigner because it really does put a lot of stuff into perspective.
Language truly does create our reality and I feel much different about a lot of things now that I've actually witnessed this. Being the foreigner is a really humbling and occasionally mind-numbing experience… and I have a new sense of respect for foreigners in the States because it really isn't easy at all and can be really scary… even for the most open-minded and intelligent people.
article by Kala Fryman |
