A letter home from study abroad
5 september 96
well, the first thing that happened to me after I got off-line
last night was that I discovered that my journal entry for the 2nd had
gotten eaten by the damned machine. It's too bad too. Here's the really
short version: We had placement tests in the morning. in the afternoon,
we were given a tour of the university's main building. As we were
entering the building, I ran into Alyosha, whom I hadn't seen in about a
year and a half. I had called his house, but somebody else answered and
said that nobody by that name lived there. He was rather surprised to
bump into me at his university. On to today...
I woke up at about 8...to discover that nobody else was up yet. I
didn't know whether to wake people or not. I opted for not. Nobody was
up by 9 when I had to leave to walk to school. It took about 20 minutes
to walk. there's a trolleybus (called an electric bus in the states) that
runs most of the way, but I didn't feel like waiting. Besides, it was a
nice walk. I ran into several classmates as I was entering the building.
We all headed up together. Today's first class was "Film" -- taught by
the literature prof. After waiting for about 10 minutes, we found out
that Film takes place in another room....one with a television. It sorta
makes sense now that i think about it. Well, just like in junior high,
the teacher didn't know how to use the VCR. (Note: explaining how to use
a VCR in Russian is a bit easier than explaining how to use a mouse and
microsoft word in russian. I just wouldn't want to explain how to set the
clock on the VCR) In the end, the professor handed me the remote and told
me when to play, when to rewind, etc. It turns out that I've already seen
the first film we're watching in class. I feel so bad for the poor
professor..I've already read the story she chose for us to start with
_and_ I've seen the movie she picked. Both are worth doing again, but she
seemed disappointed.
After Film, we had a brief break before conversational hour. I
had what might be the best meal I've had at the stolovaya so far: Tea
and a piroshok c yaitsom (with egg). We were a few minutes early for
Conversation and passed the time debating which of us speaks the worst
russian. As in:
"I don't understand half of what the professor says to me!"
"Hell, I don't understand half of what _I'm_ saying."
The prof is a very funny middle-aged lady. She accused several of us of
being sadists, because we talk to softly and she has to strain to hear us.
I'm told that the other class spent the time talking about beer.
After classes, alicia, george, adrian and I went off in search of
food. Before I knew what was going on, they had settled on McDonalds. I
kicked and screamed and Alicia caved in and admitted that she had another
idea....she knew about some woman who makes "really great hot dogs...So we
hopped on the metro....She was right...for 3000 rubles, you can get a
hotdog with a steamed bun and either ketchup or mustard and parsely. Most
of us ended up having two. And then it was back on the metro to the dorm.
As we left the metro, we saw Katya...she handed us our "yedinij billeti"
(public transit passes) for the month. Now we don't have to spend 30
cents every time we get on the metro..
Back at the dorm, we found a bunch of people hanging out.
Somebody had decided to put together an expedition to BDNX. BDNX stands
for something that translates roughly as "Exposition of Soviet Economic
Achievements." Now, it's a huge amusement park/electronics emporium. In
at least one hall, there is a huge steel bust of lenin looking out over a
vast hall full of off-brand japanese TVs. It is truly a sight that must
be seen to be believed. Shiloh insisted that jerry had told her that she
could buy her chekhov book there. I told her I doubted it, but would come
along for the ride.
When we got to BDNX (that's actually a mix of russian and english
spellings....it's pronounced VaDinHah) Shiloh immediately gravitated to a
bakery kiosk and spent about 10 minutes trying to decide which of 20
really good looking pastries she wanted. Every bakery cart we saw was
swarming with bees. I'm amazed that the women working in them weren't
covered with welts. BDNX was sorta neat. Shiloh and Liz split a
Shashlik. The man who sold it to them said something and refused to take
their money. They were under the impression that he had given it to them.
Actually, what he had said was that he wouldn't take their money unless
they were completely satisfied. They were a bit surprised when they
complemented him on how good it tasted and he asked for their money.
Unfortunately, I had to head home at about 5, because I was
supposed to meet Alyosha at 6. I waited for him until about 6:30, but he
never showed. I still haven't heard from him...I guess I'll call him.
After that, I went home. As I was walking up the street toward my house,
I saw a tiny grey and white kitten cowering in an alcove outside a shop.
The poor thing looked tired, scared and defenseless as hell. It was all I
could do not to take it home with me.
The evening was fairly uneventful. About half an hour after I got
home, my host mother went out. Half an hour after that, my host-sister
told me it was dinner time...Yum! Cold chicken, a tomato and instant
potatos...:( Not terribly tasty. She told me that she'd be leaving for
work in about an hour and wouldn't be home till about 6 am. She said I
could have her key if I wanted. The only catch was that I'd have to wake
up to let her in at 6. I declined. She said she didn't know where her
brother was.
I had about an hour to myself before Oleg showed up. He's nicer
than I thought. The only annoying thing is that once he saw my computer,
he wanted to play doom on it. I should have explained to him that you
can't really play games on it. Instead, I admitted that I had a newer
game that was similar called Quake. Now all he wants to do is play quake.
About 10 minutes into his first game, something happened and my machine
got really horked. :( I had to spend the rest of the evening fscking with
it.
jesse