(no subject)
November 23, 2005
Okay. So break was super awesome.
The flight there was also great. They went around and gave everyone drinks. And I observed that about half of the people (at least those sitting in front of me) got tomato juice, and of the rest only 1 drank pepsi and 2 had sprite. Yay for water and juice! Anyway, I was slightly disgruntled because they didn’t give us any pretzels or peanuts or such, and then I got made because they rolled a cart of wine past us as if to rub it in our faces that first class got wine. But then, they stopped at the front of our cabin, so at this point I assume they’re selling wine, but they stop at every row and give everyone some wine, so I was excited about that, but then, I saw the food. Yes Europe = awesome because even on 3.5 hour flights they feed you. With wine. Needless to say, that made the flight.
I arrived to -19 degree Celsius weather and was cold. Luckily, this was the coldest I experienced and I blame it on the early morning hour. My grandpa met me, and we got into a taxi for the drive to his town/apartment. He lives in Academgorodok (literally, academic town) which is a small (pop 30,000) town outside of Novosibirsk, in the forests of the Sib. (My grandmother lives there too, but she is currently in St. Petersburg helping with her sister, who fell down and broke her hip.)We had breakfast, and then I took a nap while my grandpa went to work. Then he got back and we had lunch and walked around the town a bit. That evening we stayed in because there really wasn’t much else to do. The first days of my stay were fairly uneventful-lots of fish, caviar, and candy.
My grandparent’s apartment is pretty nice. They have large rooms, and a large kitchen. The ceilings are high and there are lots of windows, and there were tons of artwork and pictures (of my family) on the walls.
One day we went to Novosibirsk and went to the market (which had tons of awesome fruits, veggies, fish, and caviar) and then we stopped by my grandpa’s acquaintances when I tried to teach and old guy how to use a computer. Man, I really suck at teaching people things. Of course lots of food was involved.
Wednesday morning I went to visit my dad’s old school. I met one of his classmates who is now a teacher there. She teaches English and asked me to visit her class so that her students could get hands on practice. It was funny. The school was an English language school and for 1-11 grades. Between passing periods (breaks really, 10-15 min) the kids pretty much ran wild in the hallways. It was slightly intense.
After that, I wandered around in the woods and found a place that I had remembered from when I last visited my grandparents (at age 5) it was pretty neat, and the forest was beautiful. It was a clear sunny day, and there was snow on the ground and pine trees and awesome squirrels.
The squirrels there are super cute. They are smaller than squirrels in the US, and their ears are fuzzy and covered with long fur. And they let you feed them. They’re slightly shy, but still willing to come fairly close to you if you have some pine nuts for them (which I did).
Wednesday evening my grandpa and I went in to Novosibirsk to see a ballet. We saw Sheherezad by Rimsky-Korsakov-it was really good, because the lead dancer was pretty amazing. Afterwards, we went to my grandpa’s friend’s apartment that was right near the theater (and new and super nice) and hung out and ate food (as always). I had blini (thin pancakes) with caviar. Both red and black. These people were pretty obviously well off.
Oh, on the bus in to the city, we sat by these boys discussing America and Americans. He didn’t understand why they liked pick-ups so much (he had been, from what I gathered somewhere by Colorado/Oklahoma) and insisted that all Americans were intent on business and making money. I tried very hard not to laugh a few times.
Thursday morning I went to a geological museum and saw tons of cool rocks. And had a hilarious tour guide that told us how to live our lives and all of the superstitions that went along with each rock. He also had some funny comments about Americans, including how we’re all fat. Then a girl chimed in that all we eat are hamburgers and pizza. I laughed.
That afternoon, I went to the beach. And discovered another thing I had remembered-this cross over thing across some railroad tracks right before you get to the beach. So that was cool. The beach is about a 15 min walk from my grandpa’s apartment, and it made me want to go back in the summertime. It’s pretty much an ideal locale-both beach and forests so close to each other. I’m trying to convince my parents to send my brother and/or sister over the summer after next along with me.
Friday, I went cross country skiing in the aforementioned woods. The weather was nice, so it was fun, and I only fell down once. For lunch, I made my grandpa sushi, because I found some cheap (and purple!) nori at the market. Also, there are lots of awesome maritime products with which to fill said sushi including caviar, calamari, crab, shrimp and fish and these awesome carrots (Korean style, whatever that means, they were shredded and spicy!). That night my grandpa and I went to the theater in his town and listened to a string quartet play Vivaldi and then the Beatles. The first Beatles song they played was ‘Yesterday’ and it made me think of the STD song. The second song they played was ‘Come together’, which made me think of Lisa.
The next morning my dad’s cousin and his family (daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and wife) came over. Unfortunately they didn’t stay for very long, but it was nice to see them. We watched some hilarious old home videos, including our graduation which included Lisa and Emily’s awesome valedictorian song!
Saturday afternoon I went to the university with my grandpa’s next door neighbor. She’s an English professor there, and wanted me to come and talk to her students. I had to pretend that I didn’t know any Russian, which was weird. I felt bad, fooling them like that. The first class that I went to were first years (so high school seniors in the states) and they were really funny. One guy tried to get my phone number, which I thought was funny, since they had just started learning English, and I (apparently) didn’t know any Russian. But I gave them my email address, so I could be getting some hilarious emails soon. The second class were fourth year students (juniors by US standards) and they were slightly depressing, at least one guy was-telling me about the economy and how physics majors don’t have a future. What do you say to things like that?
Saturday evening we again went to the local theater, this time the entire symphony performed, and it was pretty good. Afterwards, we packed and looked at old pictures. My dad didn’t look like himself when he was a baby. I wouldn’t have recognized him.
I left early Sunday morning. It was really sad, because my grandpa is in poor health. So it really could have been the last time I’ll even see him. I’m planning to go visit them for the summer after graduation…but I have lots of plans like that. Hopefully, I’ll be able to accomplish all of them. I still want to live in the south with Adrienne and Caleb, and anyone else that wants to come.
So coming back to Moscow was a drag, because well vacation is tons better than school. Sunday I spent all day doing homework. Monday class and then more homework. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, so I went to her place and helped with the baby and we ate dinner. It was a small get together, her mother-in-law was the only other guest. She was a very typical mother-in-law, I felt kinda bad for my sister, and she had lived with her for 3 to 4 years, as she just moved out. That’s what I like about America, we don’t really have generations of families living under one roof. Especially newly married couples living with one or the other’s parents. I don’t think I could handle that. The baby is looking like a baby now, instead of a doll. I can sort of think of him as a real person now. Although he’s pretty boring and doesn’t do much besides lay around. Got home late, did homework. Bed.
Today was an okay day. Everyone seemed to be talking about everything that they would do when they first got home/to America. It was funny, and we’re all so excited about coming home. I finally got around to sending those postcards, so you’ll have to apologize for the extremely dated nature of their contents. Maybe you’ll even see me before you get them, because mail is really slow. Hopefully postcards are faster…
Tomorrow (actually if you’re reading this, then I’m already there!) I’m moving in with my mom’s high school classmate for about a week. She has internet access. And two kids my age. She reminds me of my mom, and there’s a cat. What more can I ask for? If I really like it there, I may just stay for the rest of the semester. But we’ll see. It’s a lot closer to town than my sister’s grandparents apartment.
Okay. So break was super awesome.
The flight there was also great. They went around and gave everyone drinks. And I observed that about half of the people (at least those sitting in front of me) got tomato juice, and of the rest only 1 drank pepsi and 2 had sprite. Yay for water and juice! Anyway, I was slightly disgruntled because they didn’t give us any pretzels or peanuts or such, and then I got made because they rolled a cart of wine past us as if to rub it in our faces that first class got wine. But then, they stopped at the front of our cabin, so at this point I assume they’re selling wine, but they stop at every row and give everyone some wine, so I was excited about that, but then, I saw the food. Yes Europe = awesome because even on 3.5 hour flights they feed you. With wine. Needless to say, that made the flight.
I arrived to -19 degree Celsius weather and was cold. Luckily, this was the coldest I experienced and I blame it on the early morning hour. My grandpa met me, and we got into a taxi for the drive to his town/apartment. He lives in Academgorodok (literally, academic town) which is a small (pop 30,000) town outside of Novosibirsk, in the forests of the Sib. (My grandmother lives there too, but she is currently in St. Petersburg helping with her sister, who fell down and broke her hip.)We had breakfast, and then I took a nap while my grandpa went to work. Then he got back and we had lunch and walked around the town a bit. That evening we stayed in because there really wasn’t much else to do. The first days of my stay were fairly uneventful-lots of fish, caviar, and candy.
My grandparent’s apartment is pretty nice. They have large rooms, and a large kitchen. The ceilings are high and there are lots of windows, and there were tons of artwork and pictures (of my family) on the walls.
One day we went to Novosibirsk and went to the market (which had tons of awesome fruits, veggies, fish, and caviar) and then we stopped by my grandpa’s acquaintances when I tried to teach and old guy how to use a computer. Man, I really suck at teaching people things. Of course lots of food was involved.
Wednesday morning I went to visit my dad’s old school. I met one of his classmates who is now a teacher there. She teaches English and asked me to visit her class so that her students could get hands on practice. It was funny. The school was an English language school and for 1-11 grades. Between passing periods (breaks really, 10-15 min) the kids pretty much ran wild in the hallways. It was slightly intense.
After that, I wandered around in the woods and found a place that I had remembered from when I last visited my grandparents (at age 5) it was pretty neat, and the forest was beautiful. It was a clear sunny day, and there was snow on the ground and pine trees and awesome squirrels.
The squirrels there are super cute. They are smaller than squirrels in the US, and their ears are fuzzy and covered with long fur. And they let you feed them. They’re slightly shy, but still willing to come fairly close to you if you have some pine nuts for them (which I did).
Wednesday evening my grandpa and I went in to Novosibirsk to see a ballet. We saw Sheherezad by Rimsky-Korsakov-it was really good, because the lead dancer was pretty amazing. Afterwards, we went to my grandpa’s friend’s apartment that was right near the theater (and new and super nice) and hung out and ate food (as always). I had blini (thin pancakes) with caviar. Both red and black. These people were pretty obviously well off.
Oh, on the bus in to the city, we sat by these boys discussing America and Americans. He didn’t understand why they liked pick-ups so much (he had been, from what I gathered somewhere by Colorado/Oklahoma) and insisted that all Americans were intent on business and making money. I tried very hard not to laugh a few times.
Thursday morning I went to a geological museum and saw tons of cool rocks. And had a hilarious tour guide that told us how to live our lives and all of the superstitions that went along with each rock. He also had some funny comments about Americans, including how we’re all fat. Then a girl chimed in that all we eat are hamburgers and pizza. I laughed.
That afternoon, I went to the beach. And discovered another thing I had remembered-this cross over thing across some railroad tracks right before you get to the beach. So that was cool. The beach is about a 15 min walk from my grandpa’s apartment, and it made me want to go back in the summertime. It’s pretty much an ideal locale-both beach and forests so close to each other. I’m trying to convince my parents to send my brother and/or sister over the summer after next along with me.
Friday, I went cross country skiing in the aforementioned woods. The weather was nice, so it was fun, and I only fell down once. For lunch, I made my grandpa sushi, because I found some cheap (and purple!) nori at the market. Also, there are lots of awesome maritime products with which to fill said sushi including caviar, calamari, crab, shrimp and fish and these awesome carrots (Korean style, whatever that means, they were shredded and spicy!). That night my grandpa and I went to the theater in his town and listened to a string quartet play Vivaldi and then the Beatles. The first Beatles song they played was ‘Yesterday’ and it made me think of the STD song. The second song they played was ‘Come together’, which made me think of Lisa.
The next morning my dad’s cousin and his family (daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and wife) came over. Unfortunately they didn’t stay for very long, but it was nice to see them. We watched some hilarious old home videos, including our graduation which included Lisa and Emily’s awesome valedictorian song!
Saturday afternoon I went to the university with my grandpa’s next door neighbor. She’s an English professor there, and wanted me to come and talk to her students. I had to pretend that I didn’t know any Russian, which was weird. I felt bad, fooling them like that. The first class that I went to were first years (so high school seniors in the states) and they were really funny. One guy tried to get my phone number, which I thought was funny, since they had just started learning English, and I (apparently) didn’t know any Russian. But I gave them my email address, so I could be getting some hilarious emails soon. The second class were fourth year students (juniors by US standards) and they were slightly depressing, at least one guy was-telling me about the economy and how physics majors don’t have a future. What do you say to things like that?
Saturday evening we again went to the local theater, this time the entire symphony performed, and it was pretty good. Afterwards, we packed and looked at old pictures. My dad didn’t look like himself when he was a baby. I wouldn’t have recognized him.
I left early Sunday morning. It was really sad, because my grandpa is in poor health. So it really could have been the last time I’ll even see him. I’m planning to go visit them for the summer after graduation…but I have lots of plans like that. Hopefully, I’ll be able to accomplish all of them. I still want to live in the south with Adrienne and Caleb, and anyone else that wants to come.
So coming back to Moscow was a drag, because well vacation is tons better than school. Sunday I spent all day doing homework. Monday class and then more homework. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday, so I went to her place and helped with the baby and we ate dinner. It was a small get together, her mother-in-law was the only other guest. She was a very typical mother-in-law, I felt kinda bad for my sister, and she had lived with her for 3 to 4 years, as she just moved out. That’s what I like about America, we don’t really have generations of families living under one roof. Especially newly married couples living with one or the other’s parents. I don’t think I could handle that. The baby is looking like a baby now, instead of a doll. I can sort of think of him as a real person now. Although he’s pretty boring and doesn’t do much besides lay around. Got home late, did homework. Bed.
Today was an okay day. Everyone seemed to be talking about everything that they would do when they first got home/to America. It was funny, and we’re all so excited about coming home. I finally got around to sending those postcards, so you’ll have to apologize for the extremely dated nature of their contents. Maybe you’ll even see me before you get them, because mail is really slow. Hopefully postcards are faster…
Tomorrow (actually if you’re reading this, then I’m already there!) I’m moving in with my mom’s high school classmate for about a week. She has internet access. And two kids my age. She reminds me of my mom, and there’s a cat. What more can I ask for? If I really like it there, I may just stay for the rest of the semester. But we’ll see. It’s a lot closer to town than my sister’s grandparents apartment.