I could be working on my taxes....

But I'd rather be doing this:


You're Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice by
Jane Austen!


Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?
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pagan rites of spring

Now I understand why people worshipped pagan sun gods and the like. Today, for the first time since I arrived in St. Petersburg 2 months ago, the temperature went above the freezing point (and it did it with a bang, hitting a whopping 43 degrees! Go spring!)

I'm going running tomorrow morning (it's also light at 6am now)

In the meantime, I'm going to have to pay the Academy of Sciences 28 EUROS for scanned copies of 2 sketches I need for the diss. 3 Euros each covers the actual cost of the scan, while 11 Euros each is what I am paying for my right to receive these copies.

If that's not a racket, I don't know what is.

Went to the Hermitage yesterday with Marina to see an exhibit of Italian Futurists and wandered around other exhibits too. Will definitely have to pay for the photography permit next time.

I hate the IRS

There, I said it. Arrest me.

So to file a completely paperless e-file tax return, I need a PIN number. To get a PIN number, I need my 2003 AGI and I have to call the IRS and ask for it. I asked my dad to call, and he did, and they said that as of this year, they can only give the AGI to the person to whom it belongs. Fine. So I tried to call the 800 number today. (Using a calling card from Russia). I was told by a lovely automated voice that the 800 number is not toll free from outside the United States and I would be charged internation DIRECT DIALING rates. Ha ha ha ha ha. Bastards.

Does anyone want to pretend to be me and call the IRS for me?

In the meantime, I went for a walk the other day to an huge, old cemetery a few blocks from where I live. There is a church in the cemetery and I went inside. It was a Sunday so there were various services going on....and a funeral. I had made it this far without seeing a dead body here and I went to a cemetery church and ruined the streak. So now the dead bodies I've seen in Russia count official starts at 1. Lets hope that's the last. (You may wonder why this is an issue, but I am one of few people I know here who has not seen a dead body - usually on the street or in a doorway. In Moscow there is a separate crime statistic called "bodies discovered").

It almost, almost got to above freezing today. The sun was really bright. I think the beginning of spring is also called the "death-by-falling icicle season". I'd rather walk in the street and get hit by a car than be impaled by an icicle. Yikes.

the good, the bad, and the ...

Okay, so I couldn't think of a witting ending for that title. I just woke up.

I am currently experiencing the coldest March of the past 30 years. The other day I went into the living room to look at the thermometer. Marina was in there drying her hair and was a witness to the fact that I actually gave the thermometer the bird. I'm really sick of temps in the teens. But we had a little snow storm on Friday which prompted Marina to say "its snowing, that means its warming up." Go figure, I'm no metereologist. The experts do, however promise a bonafide spring in April with temps in the 50s. According to everyone I know, spring in April means that winter will come back in March.

The good news is that here in St. Petersburg, we already have MORE than 12 hours of daylight everyday, and its getting longer by more than 5 minutes everyday. In fact, we have 12 hours 13 minutes of daylight today, and Charlottesville will have only 12 hours 9 minutes. (www.wunderground.com), but their daylight increases by only about 2 minutes everyday.

I've been working lately. Went to an art exhibit at the Marble Palace, which Catherine the Great built for her lover, Orlov, which was the are of Natalia Nesterova, a contemporary Russian artist who emigrated to New York and paints very interesting realist, yet not realist scenes. I also went to a concert at the Sheremetev Palace to see the friend of Marina's friend Sveta play several piano concertos. The palace is in the middle of downtown, and Sheremetev seemed to live quite well there, considering it wasn't his main resident. He was a count, and one of the richest people in the Russian empire and owned a tract of land which encompassed what is now most of northern Moscow (and the international airport, incidentally is called "Sheremetevo" because it was built on his former land). While Beethoven was playing I imagined the Russian aristocracy milling around, speaking French and German and discussing European politics. When Chopin was playing, I imagined them later, at the turn of the century, probably a little less smug and a little bit scared.

I may (this is not anything yet, I haven't even applied) but there is an opportunity to be an instructor at a college in Lynchburg next spring for one course on Soviet history. (!)

The parrot is being an absolute terror lately.

HOORAY!!!!!

Sarah is coming to visit! Sarah is coming to visit!

(now I need to find a place for me to live and for her to stay in Moscow!)

Desi does it again

I think I jinxed myself by claiming that nothing worth posting has happened to me recently....

.....because I am now the only person I know who has almost died cross country skiing in a city park.

And yes, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I also have tendency for hyperbole.

Yesterday I decided to rent some XX skis and try them out in the same park where Marina & co. and I rented the Finnish sleds a few weeks ago. So I go, get me some skiis and head off. And let me tell you, this is my kind of sport. Aerobic, low-impact, smooth, meditative. Pretty cool. I'm tooling around the park and I decide to ski along the paths on the canals, which are frozen over. Now, normally, I am not the sort of person to walk on frozen ice, even if its been -25 for 2 months straight. Its not my thing. I wish it hadn't been my thing yesterday. So I"m skiing along, pass other skiers, also on the canal. I wanted to ski out to the gulf of Finland to see the snow-wind surfers (on the frozen gulf). Well, suddenly I notice that where I'm skiing is not really that firm anymore. *fuck* I say to myself *I'm going to fall in the fucking ice, in fucking skiis* Thankfully I wasn't that far from the bank, so I ran, as well as anyone in cross country skiis can run to the edge, with the ice breaking and slushing all around me. (Did I mention that it was like 8 degrees F. yesterday?, well it was cold). The bank, however, was quite a slope so I throw myself up the hill, skiis, poles, body. Right as I fling myself up, a couple walks by and asks if everything is okay. *yeah, sure, its just my first time skiing, I'm a novice*. Nichevo. Well, since my skiis and bindings got wet, ice formed immediately so I had to stand there, after convincing myself that I was still alive and chip the ice off before continuing on my way.

Now Marina told me that the canal is like, oh, knee deep, so I really wouldn't have died out there, although my feet may have frozen! Then I taught here a new English word - hyperbole.

Ellen and Sally are my sworn enemies

And they know WHY. Pppbbbbblllllllth. (or however you spell that sound)

But Sarah is coming to Russia to see me so she is my favorite person ever!

negligent poster

That's what I feel like, but I haven't had any interesting stories to tell lately...

Last week, because of women's day was another holiday in the middle of the week kind of week, so I didn't get much work done. I also have a cold. Blah.

The parrot bit me on the nose last week. I was trying to kiss him and he got scared. The scab is almost gone but I don't know if I'll have a scar. People will think I'm aggressive and get into fights, but no, its really because I got bit by a parrot.

Saw the movie "Turkish Gambit" which is a home-grown Russian blockbuster based on some guy's historical detective novel about the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 (Russia lost, incidentally). I am SOOOOOO in love with the main star though. Ooh baby. I'm not kidding either. Oleg Menshikov, my former Russian object of obsession has been pushed aside. Bring on Egor Beroev.

Family life here is crazy crazy crazy, and that's all I'll say about that. Half the reason why I don't write much is because everything I do is so wrapped up with my family, and I don't want to air their business over the internet, necessarily. I haven't even met any other people here, except through them. I haven't felt the need. Oh I did meet a Canadian graduate student in the archive the other day.

Went snowboarding again. It sucked and I injured almost every part of my body, so I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. Although we're stuck in one helluva deep freeze here. I can't remember when it was last warmer than, oh 22 degrees F. Its March damnit! I even had a dream about daffodils last night. Of course by the time I get to VA in late April it will be summer and I will have missed the Virginia spring, that is probably my favorite thing about Virginia.

I leave for Moscow tonight, for 2 days. I have a one-day IREX conference thing on Monday - a research exchange workshop. I don't really want to talk about my topic though. Oh well.

Happy International Women's Day!!!!!!

Happy 8th of March everyone (only if you're a woman, though!) I wish you happiness, health, success, inner-peace, strength, and joy!

Happy Maslenitsa to everyone (and literally everyone here)! Maslenitsa is the Russian equivalent of Mardi Gras before Lent and we eat blini all week long until we can no longer walk. Blini are like crepes but better, and they are eaten with sour cream, jam, consensed milk, etc. YUM! we had some last night at Alina's grandmother's where we celebrated Maslenitsa, part I.

Today is Maslenitsa, part II and International Women's Day, and we are having a devichnik, or a girls' only party with Marina's co-workers.

And man did it snow, today would be a day for the snowshoes! Maybe this weekend.

I know it looks like I know what I'm doing, but I really don't... 

I'm a snowboarder! 

a winter sports extravaganza

Well, if I hadn’t taken proper advantage of the Russian winter, I made up for it these past few days. Wednesday was a state holiday: Defenders of the Fatherland Day. Once upon a time on a February 23rd far, far away, the Red Army was founded. The moment is now commemorated in a sort of men’s holiday to balance out the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8. So all men get gifts and cards and congratulations, even if they’ve never served in the military.

So to make a short story long, we had the day off on Wednesday. Alina didn’t have class, Sasha didn’t have school and of course the archive was closed (when is it ever open, I ask you?). What do Russians do when its -15 and a holiday? Do they sit inside and watch TV like normal people? No. When Marina came in on Wednesday morning from work, she announced that it was a bonafide Russian winter day – sunny and ass cold. We had decided earlier that week that we would go to Krestovskii Island to the park and rent Finnish sleds, or sani. Finnish sleds are, well, interesting. They are made of two long runners, on top of which is mounted a seat. One person can sit in comfort, while the other person pushes the sled. We rented two and took turns. Quite fun. And it can also be a workout when you decide to race and you’re pushing another grown adult in front of you. Needless to say, Alina, Marina and I all took turns pushing Sasha, who weighs considerably less.

The park was packed with people on sani, on cross country skis, and people just out for a holiday stroll in the cold. On the island are several palaces left over from Catherine the Great’s favorites, whom she gifted with elaborate homes. The island has been mostly protected from development, but around the metro they are starting to build apartment buildings and other such developments that look to ruin an otherwise idyllic park. Shame.

Marina had convinced me to bring along my snow shoes (“for entertainment” she said) and after we turned in the sleds, everyone took a turn on them, walking along the frozen creek. Sasha actually took quite a liking to them and didn’t want to take them off. Then we went to the winter amusement park where I actually wrote down an ice slide on an inflated innertube. In retrospect, not a good thing for my back.

Thursday and Friday were full on work days, and I’m happy to say I got a lot done. That’s an unusual thing these days because of various bureaucratic obstacles that keep popping up. Oh well. I keep plugging along.

Today I went snowboarding with Alina, who’s quite a serious snowboarder. Boy was that fun….and painful. My butt is once again reminded of the trauma it suffered during my ill fated plummet from a tree in the middle of the woods.

Snowboarding is rough, but lots of fun. Much more interesting than skiing, as memory serves (it’s been 15+ years since I’ve been skiing, actually). First of all, it is easier on the knees in that because your legs are both attached to a board, they can’t splay out in opposite, dangerous directions. Their movement is somewhat limited. The rest of your body, however, can go in whatever direction you happen to fall. I spent a lot of time on my butt, trying to stand up, falling down, and trying to scoot side to side before I had any concept of aim and direction. Imagine me, scooting myself and a snowboard sideways along a hill. I also did several somersaults, forward and backward. Unintentionally.

Alina says I have a natural sense for it because early on I successful executed a helicopter maneuver, where I turned 360 degrees. The fact that I achieved this completely accidentally because I couldn’t control the board did not seem to be an issue. After two hours of crashing to the ground with various parts of my body, I called it quits and headed in for a beer. Mmm….beer. Tomorrow is Alina’s birthday, so we began the celebration a little bit early. Tomorrow there will be a huge, nastoiashchii Russian party at the apartment. Should be interesting.

In the meantime, I want to sleep so bad it hurts.

****Addendum - I wrote this earlier, but only got around to posting it now!

Alina had her party, which was overflowing with people and with Russian salads made with either fish or mayonaise. Sometimes both. It was fun. I didn't get drunk and I'm glad, my body can't put up with that stuff anymore. Alina did though and boy did she feel like ass the next day. Poor thing.

My visa is currently unregistered and I'm a big fat illegal resident right now, so I have to go take care of that.